A New Podcast Addiction

I travel the entire state of Georgia for my job so that means I have a ton of time in my car. Wyatt and I also have a 25 minute drive each way to school and my office. I used to listen to free audiobooks on Overdrive from the public library but that wasn't very easy to do with Wyatt in the car and for short bursts of time. I heard tons of people talking about the Up and Vanished podcast because it was about Tara Grinstead's story. She was from a small town about 25 minutes away so I decided to give it a shot. After I blazed through all of the available episodes I was HOOKED! I searched out similar podcasts, discovered some along the way, and even found that some of my favorite bloggers have turned into podcasters as well. Here are some I have found that might pique your interest, too!
I broke these down in to themes in hopes that it might help you decide if they are for you.

One of my recommendations, Young House Love Has A Podcast, has a great tutorial about how to get started listening and subscribing to podcasts but I just add mine to my Podcast app on my iPhone. New episodes are dropped in and downloaded overnight or when I connect to wi-fi automatically. Click here for their post.

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POPCAST:
The Popcast gets a category all to itself. I cannot believe I have lived for so long without having known about this. The Popcast is "delightful idiocy dedicated to things that do not matter." It is hosted by Knox McCoy and Jamie Golden. They are well-spoken, well-versed on all things here and now, and really hilarious. I love this show so much that I support it monthly on Patreon to get bonus episodes and back stories. There is a slight learning curve when you hear them use terms like NSFJM or NSFKM (not safe for Jamie's or Knox's mom--they have different levels of crude humor acceptability) but I truly appreciate their straightforwardness! I want to incorporate "lights"into my life too. They include red lights--things they don't like or wish to stop--and green lights--recommendations for books, podcasts, movies, shows, and music.

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Nerd Stuff:

I admit it; I like economics and science and history sometimes. These are fun things to listen to in the car with Wyatt. He especially likes Science Vs. I  carefully choose which episodes we listen to together--I skipped over the birth control and abortion episodes--but he gets a kick out of them.

1) Science Vs

2) Freakonomics Radio (I also support them monthly)

3) How I Built This

4) Stuff You Should Know

Not pictured: Part Time Genius

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True Crime/Non-fiction:

Like I said, I got started listening to podcasts thanks to UAV. I love these stories because they are a finite number of episodes, you can look up the players while you listen so you know what they look like, and they are so well produced. Spoiler alert: Don't go googling these stories before you listen to them. There are some twists along the way and you don't want to let the masses spring the ending on you. S*Town was definitely one of my favorites. Brett Trapp from Blue Babies Pink lives in Atlanta and I love seeing his posts on social media in places that I actually know and love.

1) S*Town If this was a book I probably could have read it in one sitting.

2) Up and Vanished The music on this is amazing!

3) Crimetown

4) Blue Babies Pink Not a crime story but a great life story.

5) Dirty John

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Making a Better Me:

I like to listen to these podcasts when it seems life is spinning out of control and I need to get a grip. They offer practical life tips, encouragement, and just a time to calm down and realize that everyone else is in the same boat. 

1) Stuff Mom Never Told You- Feminism Feminism Feminism!

2) The Art of Simple Podcast

3) Mama Bear Dares Tackling the hard stuff that mama bears face daily

4) Edit Your Life Makes me want to go clean out a closet

5) Adulthood Made Easy This one makes you understand there are simple "adulting" things that no one ever officially taught us and teaches you the basics

Figuring Our Four: I like this one is because it is semi-local (Columbus, Georgia). The McIlraths focus on four ideas centered around a single topic which include dating as a married couple, faith, family, etc. It's a great quick 20 minute listen for a family.

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Bloggers I know and love:

1) The Big Boo Cast: A Tag team of Melanie Shankle and Sophie Hudson (two great authors on their own) that love to talk about football, shopping, and motherhood

2) For the Love: Jen Hatmaker talks about her love for topics that vary every few months. Right now she is wrapping up For The Love of the Holidays. She features fellow bloggers, writers, etc. as guests on her episodes. Also, check out her books if you can. They are hilarious, thoughtful, and practical.

3) Young House Love: This is a home renovaiton and decorating blog I have followed for nearly 8 years now. I like John and Sherry's voice, their advice, and practical tips. I thought a decoration blog would be hard to convert to a podcast format but they make it quick and fun to listen in.

Christmas at the Fritz

Mama and I took Wyatt and Georgia out to spend some time enjoying Christmas at the Fritz Farm. It is such a beautiful place and the owners, Paige and Amy, really want to make it a lovely experience for each visitor. We visited Santa (Georgia needed a Wyatt buffer), rode a Clydesdale-drawn carriage, sipped on warm apple cider, and shopped the vendors!

O, Christmas Tree!

The 2017 Cook Family Christmas tree was procured at our new Christmas tree destination: Rutland Farms! It's neat to see people we know running this operation that will be a tradition in our family for years to come.

Thanksgiving and Cane Syrup Cooking

Mama had foot surgery the week before Thanksgiving so we had a massive join Mastrario/Mathis/Cook/Perry Thanksgiving extravaganza! I think my very favorite part is having family photos every year. The leaves were beautiful shades of orange and yellow and were just perfect for this!

Two days later we headed out to Pa's Syrup Shack for the annual family gathering and cane syrup cooking. We had dinner on the grounds potluck style and over 86 people there. I think when I counted many people had come and gone already so I don't think 100 people would be an exaggeration!

November Work and a Georgia Grown Thanksgiving

Our Georgia Agritourism Association board of directors met at WSBTV in Atlanta and got a behind-the-scenes tour. It was really neat to see the newsroom, the green screen for the meteorologists, and even the lottery drawing room!

I snagged these ideas at a rural summit and made up some graphics to share on social media.

Perhaps the most fun part of the month was touring the state with partners from Georgia Power and SelectGeorgia.org's team to create a 100% Georgia Grown Thanksgiving meal. It was a ton of work but also lots of fun!