Today is a BIG DAY! After 12 years of blogging and almost 7,000 blog posts (crazy, right?!), we decided to dive headfirst into the podcast world! We are really excited to have a new, very casual, format to connect with you.
For our launch, we decided to go ahead and put up three episodes so can have a little mini-marathon and get a more well-rounded feel for the types of topics we want to cover.
You can stream the episodes here on the blog or you can stream them on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, and Stitcher.
Episode 1: Welcome To A Beautiful Mess Podcast
We decided to devote a full episode to just introducing ourselves and sharing some of the topics coming up in our first 10 episodes. We are big believers in the Ira Glass quote (below) and decided to JUST START. We know our podcast will not be, and can’t be as incredible as we want it to be out the gate, so we consider this our practice session!
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.” –
Show Notes + Links:
-The enneagram book Emma mentions: The Road Back To You.
-Not sure what enneagram you are? Take a free test here (and more importantly, read all the descriptions of the ones you test higher on—you usually know in your gut which one it is).
-Our friend Ryan O’Neal did a deep dive episode on his podcast for each of the nine types.
-The astrology app Emma references is Co-Star.
As promised! Here are a few embarrassing childhood photos!
-Hell yes! Found a link to watch Escape to Chimp Eden. 31 EPISODES OF PURE JOY!
Episode 2: Forever Homes
Emma and I are each currently shopping for our “forever” homes. In this episode, we explain what that means to us, what we are looking for and also a little history of the homes we have owned up to this point.
In the episode we promise to give a lot of links! Here we go!
Elsie’s favorite IG: @cheapoldhouses
Show Notes and Links:
My very first home we lived in pre-blog, so I don’t have any photos to share (at all! so sad!). However, we’ve lived in two homes we owned since this blog has been around. The first one is immortalized in a 20-minute video tour. You can also see the dining room, kitchen and living room here. That home (and also Emma’s first home) are the main spaces photographed in our book, Happy Handmade Home.
My current home has been toured much more extensively. Here’s a quick run-through: Kitchen, Den, Master Bedroom, Master Bathroom, Closet, Guest Bedroom, Guest Bathroom, Kiddo Guest Bedroom, Living Room, (that was before we added the rainbow shelves), Nova’s Bedroom, Marigold’s Bedroom, Kid’s bathroom, Jeremy’s Studio, My Office, Dining Room and Sunroom. Also here’s our exterior and our DIY a-frame and play set. Oh, and I have to add “what my home looks like on a normal day.”
And you can see a full video of the “befores” here. It was a big renovation that took three years and was the learning experience of a lifetime!
I put my whole heart into this home and am so proud of the transformations!
OK! On to Emma’s home links. We’ll start with her first home. As I said above, her first home was pretty well covered in our first book, Happy Handmade Home. But there are tours too! Emma’s Bedroom Tour, Living Room, Kitchen and Dining Room.
And then Emma’s current home: Living Room, Kitchen, Dining Room, Office, Backyard Patio, Front Living Room.
Also! Here’s the “scary house” Elsie wanted to buy. We explain why it didn’t work out in the episode.
Here are the links to our Guilty Pleasure Treasures!
-Elsie’s current obsession—The Righteous Gemstones. Here is the trailer.
-Emma’s romance novels … Book one, Book two, Book three, Book four, Book five.
*wow—the covers really are amazing!
Episode 3: How To Do a 100-Day Challenge
Earlier this year I published this post, How I Changed My Life, and the number one comment (DM, etc.) that I heard from you all was asking for more detail on exactly how I structured the challenge. So we spent a whole episode going over the details and giving tips for doing a 100-day challenge! I really hope it is helpful!
We created this simple worksheet that you can download here.
Show Notes + Links:
-Elise Blaha Cripe book: Big Dreams, Daily Joys. We are also big fans of her planner, Get To Work Book.
-Get 20% off the e-course, Launch A Podcast (or any of our e-courses), with the code podcast.
-Also, just in case you haven’t listened, here is a link to John + Sherry’s podcast, Young House Love Has A Podcast.
-OK, I have to say I am getting slightly jealous because Emma’s guilty pleasures are always WAY better than mine!
Whew … well, there it is! Three episodes for your listening pleasure. We truly hope you enjoy it!
As with anything new, we feel super vulnerable! Learning a new skill publicly does that to you—haha. So please be kind to us and remember that we are still in the midst of our learning curve. We want to produce a high-quality podcast for you, but we also have to learn how by doing it one week at a time. Thank you so much for the love and support you’ve already shown to this new project.
If you want to support our new podcast, you can do so by leaving us a review on any of the platforms where you listen, subscribe so you never miss an episode and post on IG (or wherever you like to post) to share it with your friends! Those little steps would help us SO much to get a strong start!
Moving forward, we will be sharing one episode per week, every Monday! Since we did put up three at once for this first one we may take a couple weeks off around Christmas, but we’ll see. We will aim to keep it at one episode per week consistently. And we are treating these first two months like an experiment, so PLEASE let us know which episodes are your favorites and what you’d like to hear more of!
xx- Elsie + Emma
P.S. Special thank you to Mara Dockery, who designed our show art, Amber Ulmer, who took the photo, Jeremy Larson, who wrote our podcast music and Keely Rust, who edits each episode! If you ever look at us and think “How do they do it all?,” it’s because we have amazing support and work with some of the most talented, hardworking people. We are lucky!
47 Comments
What an exciting new venture! You guys always come out with the best things – A Color Story is one of my favourite editing apps. Can’t wait to give your podcast a listen! ❤️✨
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
My husband listens to podcasts everyday and I just could never get into it, but listening to you guys has got me hooked!!! I swear, my sister and I are soooo similar to you both and it just makes me so happy to see another set of sisters be so close! I love it so much and look forward to each episode!!
I listened to all three episodes and I have to say that I love listening to you guys chat. I’ve been reading your blog since 2009 or 2010 but it’s nice to hear you just talking amongst yourselves. I’m a podcast fan and also work in the audiobooks industry and thought the podcast’s subjects and quality of audio were great. I hope you can continue to do it. I know how much work it is! If you CAN’T commit to doing it every week, that’s okay. Don’t give up because you can’t stick to that schedule. Congratulations!
I’m excited to listen to the podcast!
this is so exciting! cant wait to dive in. i’ve always held myself back for fear of many things but have finally grown out of that by fully adopting a “just do it” mindset. sharing more on that here: https://tps-steph.blogspot.com/2019/10/0047-just-do-it.html
I can’t get OVER how much you got those houses for! Even ten years ago you couldn’t get anything in the interior of British Columbia for under $200,000. Now you can’t get a mobile home, in a mobile home park for under $100,000 and old one bedroom condos are around $230,000.
Are the housing issues mainly in New York and LA? Are there housing/rental crises anywhere in the US right now?
Hi Haley! There are tons of “expensive” housing markets in the US- I would even think Nashville is closer to the top than it is to the bottom. There are definitely lots of cities where it’s expensive to rent or own. Of course, a lot of that is relative too- I used to consider 500k expensive for a home when I lived in Missouri- now it seems like a deal. XX
I’m so excited about this! I’ve been dreaming of a podcast from you two for so long! The first three episodes were amazing and I can’t wait to hear more!
Laura
http://www.laurelandfern.com
congrats on this exciting leap! I would love to listen via Spotify
however, it seems that my desktop version won’t allow me to play as the episodes are marked as ‘explicit’ content + the website wants me to sign up for an account in order to listen – which I find odd as I have the desktop version :/
suggestions?
thanks + here’s to many more ‘casts + new learning ventures
Hi!
Hmm. I’m not sure if you can change the settings (I would think so!) or maybe try streaming one of the other ways. Our episodes are marked explicit, but they have like 3 mild curse words- so don’t worry it’s nothing much! XX
…not phased myself with explict, but obvs its enough to trigger the warning + stop it from being accessible on free/desktop versions :/
Will try an alternative. Will you have a page on your blog that hosts them too that maybe I/others could follow for updates? I know some folks do that, but know you are figuring things out too.
No worries + thanks for suggestions.
Xo
Finally!
I’ve been a reader from the start and now being able to listen to you girls it does create this “closeness” feeling. I’m on the second episode, listening while I draw… hoping the next ones are longer though!
xo
Thank you Victoria!!! 🙂 This makes our day. This is definitely why we wanted to do a podcast. Thanks for listening!
Hey ladies! I’ve been reading your blog for damn near 10 years and I appreciate you both dearly. The podcast, like everything else you do, is a delight and inspiration. Thank you to the whole ABM team for being so great. <3
WHOA baby Elsie is sooo Penny!
This is just perfect!
Of course I had to take an Enneagram test too only to realize I’m a 9er, which describes me perfectly and makes so much sense. Especially the procrastination part 😛
Thank you for this!
Needless to say I love love love ABM and am so happy to hear your voices after years of virtually following you. Thanks for getting this podcast on the road 🙂
Hi Elsie & Emma,
I have been following you both for years and have loved watching your businesses and family grow. Really happy that you are doing a podcast! I enjoyed getting to know you both more and finding out my enneagram, I’m a 4 apparently!
Looking forward to the future episodes, especially the one about new years resolutions!
Kayleigh
This is so cool. I have been following your blog forever it seems. So nice to hear you ????
I just listened to the first podcast and am halfway through your second. Love it so far!!! I can’t wait to hear more!!!
This announcement made me so happy! So I dived right in and listened to all three episodes in one go, what a joy 🙂 I’ve been reading the blog for 8 or so years now and I always felt like I was on a similar vibe to you Elsie…which makes a lot of sense now that I know we’re both 7s! Thank you both for sharing another part of your lives, looking forward to many episodes ahead x
Hello Ladies,
First, congratulations on the Podcast, your production values are wonderful, very professional from the start! My only negative is that the episodes are too short, you both have such lovely personalities and really soothing voices so I want to listen for longer ! Really though, I am very excited to listen to all of the episodes you eventually put out and thank you Emma for the index card/goal idea, I am going to write mine down this evening!!
Loved the podcasts!! Been a follower for at least 10 years and I already felt like you were friends (weird, right?!) so hearing more about you was great. Loved the topics. I think I might be enneagram 9; gonna take the test to find out. I listened on Spotify but couldn’t find a way to leave a review. What am I missing??
Hi Lisa! Thanks so much for listening. You can leave a review via the podcast app on your iPhone .
I am not usually a podcast listener but I really enjoyed these three episodes and have now subscribed. I’ve been a ABM blog reader for a number of years and am excited to follow you on this next venture too. As others have said, it really feels like getting to hang out with the two of you for a little while.
For Emma, since you like period novels, I highly recommend the Lady Helen trilogy by Alison Goodman if you haven’t read it. It’s historical fiction set in regency England and she’s done a lot of great research to make it period accurate (down to the weather and moon cycles) while creating her own unique world. It’s especially fun because Lady Helen has to juggle society’s expectations for a female of her class with trying to save the world. The first book is called “The Dark Days Club.”
I have been hoping for a podcast from you all for so long – thank you for taking the plunge! I’m halfway through episode 2 and just had to pause to let you know how fun it is to get to “know” you on a different level. I’m a huge YHL fan and feel so connected to John and Sherry from all of the podcasts and now I get to add you two to my list of podcast friends. 🙂 I hope you have as much fun recording these as we have listening!!
I loved getting to know you guys better, especially Emma. But as a long time blog reader I was surprised to learn Elsie had an ex-husband! And Emma may have convinced me to read a romance novel…..maybe.
Loved the 100 day challenge episode & how Elsie said even if you slip up you don’t need to start again. That was a real light bulb moment for me & has inspired me to do my own challenge. Thank you.
Here’s to many more eps!
Hi there
Long time reader also 10 years with plenty of back reading to catch up and down they way – interesting that you were comfortable to slip the ex though and dont want to pry but it was certainly a surprise.
Love both of you for everything really just amazing what you both have a achieved.
Im not sure if anyone already gave you the address for Chimp Eden but here it is -https://www.chimpeden.com/ – you can “adopt a chimp” too on there!
Also love the 100 day challenge especially at the moment were I am looking for something to motivate me more, so will go back and read your article.
Have a great week further ladies.
Regards
Marcia
Ps South African here *hi*
I LOVE your podcast!!! I’ve been following you for a long time now but I think this is my favourite content from you guys 🙂
“I have a tendency of not finishing things!” What??! It’s probably because some things are worth finishing; you do A LOT. And your podcast is fantastic, I loved to hear about the 100 days challenge. Thank you for opening up so much.
Thank you!!
I’m so excited that you guys started a podcast! I live in LA, so I spend a lot of time in the car listening to podcasts and now I feel like I get to hang out with my favorite bloggers on my commute! Also — I’m so excited that you are loving Righteous Gemstones!! I worked on the show as a VFX editor and I had so much fun! It is such a funny, clever, well-written show!
This is my first podcast post! Admittedly I am not an avid podcast listener! However I enjoyed binging on your episodes so much that I’m eagerly awaiting your next post! Congratulations and all the best for you both!
Thank you Patrice! I wasn’t either until this past year! 🙂
I have two more episodes to go and I am already looking forward to the 5th. Congratulations and I am very happy you chose to podcast. I am hooked!
Thank you SO much Trish!!!! 🙂
In one of the episodes you mentioned wanting to feel a different connection to your followers…You NAILED it! I love it and I feel like you guys are even more personable! Great work!
I love your podcasts!! I’ve been listening to them on my commute home and they have been amazing! My favorite has been #2 Forever Homes, but they’re all great. Please make more soon 🙂
By episode 3, I enjoyed the way Emma dug for deeper answers from Elise. Emma should be a professional interviewer.
Yes please podcast on Airbnb business side! Also one on time boxing..
Hi Elsie and Emma,
I am really enjoying your podcast! I need to assure Emma she does not have to be embarrassed about enjoying Lisa Kleypas’ books. First, not only is Lisa super talented, and writes fabulous stories, but she is also one of the nicest people in the world. A few years back, I was at a writer’s conference..a total newbie…and she went out of her way to introduce herself and sit and chat. Really lovely person…and I just smile when I read her wonderful books!
Second, because we have to have our things. It can be Abba songs or a love of the Carpenters. Maybe we sing songs by the Monkees in the car or have a secret crush on Harry Styles. Think about it…it was not that long ago that superheroes and comic books were only for nerds. Now it is cool. I love Romance novels. A lot of the modern ones feature self-employed women who are turning their passion into profits…and just happen to meet a suitable love. My major was in 18th and 19th Century English novels and also love Jane Austen…a writer that most of my professors did not take as seriously as Dickens or Thackery!
Btw there is a modern Romance writer who writes about the Regency era is Julia Quinn. READ THE BRIDGERTON SERIES!! Do it now. Because in a few months, Shondaland’s Bridgerton will be on Netflix and when you read these books, you will know why you want to be streaming them. I am SO EXCITED!! (!!!!!!!!!!!) Julia’s heroines are very worthy..and her storytelling is quite charming. LOVE her books! Amanda Quick’s romances also have some quirky heroines and out-of-the-box heroes.
And Second…because Emma, you love enough cool things to feel confident that you can also love these Romance novels. We have too many frustrating and sad things going on in the world. Romance novels gives our minds a respite and allows us to focus on what is good in the world. I love the Pre-Raphaelites and I love Hallmark movies. I listen to Roxy Music and adore the haunting songs of Lana Del Rey.
Thank you both for your podcast. I love how you focus on possibilities!
I am so jealous you met Lisa! That’s so cool. Currently I just follower her on IG like any good internet fan. 🙂
I had someone else recommend Julie Quinn as well, seems like I will need to check out that series soon. Thank you!
I’ve been a fan of your blogs and IG accounts for a long time. Your podcasts are so great you should be really proud. I especially loved hearing about your design no – no’s. I think one of you mentioned ‘boob lighting’ in a blog post years ago and I’ve never forgotten it! I like the tips as you’re always right imo! I don’t even notice until you point it out and then I’m like “oh yeah!”. I look forward to many more episodes to come. Xx
I really like the podcast! It is so easy to listen to and I mean this in a good way… it’s really simple. Not trying to do anything too much or too crazy. I have loved just learning a little more about you, your interests (which are so similar to mine so… lol), successes, etc. It’s just really pleasant. I’m in the thick of a big, full house remodel while working full time and need some inspiration/distraction!
P.S. Thank you so much for the flash back of a walk in the clouds. When Emma described the scene where they’re fanning the grapes, I instantly remembered and couldn’t stop laughing. I was desperately in love with Keanu Reeves and watched ALL his movies in the early 2000s. I think I’ll have to rewatch now too… 🙂
I so loooove listening to you guys! I have learned so much from you two over the years and its been amazing to be able to reconnect with you both via the website, Instagram and now podcasts! You both are still as amazing as you have always been!! keep up the GREAT work you are such an inspiration to many young people (women)!!! love you both!!
You guys need a Podcast tab / link / button on your main page (maybe I missed it?). I need access to all of these episodes in a row for easy listening! 🙂
Also, I love this podcast! Favorite thing you have launched ever, and I have been following Elsie since 2007 when I found her scrapbooking pages online in my high school computer lab. 😛
– Liz
Hey girls! I just started to listen to your podcast! I absolutely love it. I’m writing to you to let you know that in iTunes your website link is this (http://abmpodcast.libsyn.com/website) which doesn’t have any show notes or much info. I had to google your podcast… Other than that great podcast!
Keep it going!
– Pam
Hi Emma and Elsie
I have just been introduced by a client of mine to your podcast and to your Instagram. I am new to podcasts honestly and have to say I LOVE yours so much! First of all I feel a real connection to you both as I work and have lived in Springfield MO for 20 plus years and my youngest son of 2 lives in Nashville along with his wife (a musician) and their baby daughter. I live in Harrison Arkansas now and drive to Springfield to work 3 days a week, I used to listen to books on CD but now I fill my time in the car with your Podcast keep up the good work ladies!! P.S I am hoping to plan a trip to FL in the near future with our children and grands and hope you utilize one of your BnB’s!