Champagne, Capers, and Cuddle Parties with Se’era Spragley Ricks
40:39 Share

Hello, my beautiful flock of gossip birds. Welcome to a bonus episode of Normal Gossip. I'm your host, Rachel Hampton. In case you have somehow missed that news, check out the season finale of season seven for updates and a delightful slash stressful tale that takes place on the high seas.

We have got a little treat for you today because let's be real here. It's a rough time and you deserve a treat. But before I can serve your little treat, we have got to get down to a little bit of business. Some exciting news. We have officially started production on season eight of Normal Gossip, which will come out this spring.

We have picked a lot of the stories, but we still have a few spots left. So if you have gossip for us, now is the time. Send all your mess to normalgossipatdefector.com. As a reminder of some of the kinds of gossip that I am absolutely desperate for...

Real estate gossip, gossip that is secretly a romance novel, fandom gossip, service industry or retail gossip, mega church gossip, Pokemon Go gossip, polycule gossip, road trip gossip, tabletop gaming gossip, and family lore gossip. If all of that sounds amazing and makes you think, wow,

I miss normal gossip so much. Don't forget, we have a newsletter. It goes out every two weeks and has blogs and recommendations from me and Kelsey, Alex, Sierra, and Jay, and a bunch of our defector buddies. If you'd like to sign up, the link is in the show notes.

Okay, last bit of business, I promise. Kelsey's book is coming out soon! Is that even business? That's also a treat. If you haven't pre-ordered it yet, that link is also in the show notes. There are still tickets to see me and Kelsey gabbing about her book on February 11th in New York at Town Hall.

I'm just saying. I'm just saying. Okay, that's it. I promise. On to your first of many little treats. I am thrilled to welcome Normal Gossip's new lead producer, Sierra Sprague-Rix, to the front of the microphone.

As some of you may know, Sierra and I worked together on Slate's Internet Culture Podcast, in case you missed it, where we found out we're both March Pisces. It shouldn't then be surprising that we fell in love immediately. Sierra, hello. Welcome to the front of the mic. How are you feeling? Hi.

Hi. Oh, I'm feeling vulnerable. That's so real. That's so real. But if there's a space for vulnerability, it's right here with me. With my bestie. So for today's episode, we've got a real buffet of treats. First, we're going to answer some burning questions that y'all have for me and Ciara. Then later in the episode, we'll be reacting to some delectable morsels of gossip. And finally...

New Year's resolutions. Y'all have them and we'll be giving our thoughts. I'm excited. Are you excited? Listen, feed it to me. Yes. Just picture me steepling my fingers like a villain. That's what I'm doing right now.

But before we get into the morsels of gossip, some questions. So the very first one, and I'm excited to hear this one, is one of our listeners says they need to know Ciara's relationship with gossip immediately. Gossip is like ancestral for me. Like it's in my DNA. My grandmother raised me. I grew up in the South. I'm from Virginia. Yeah.

And my grandmother had 10 kids. I like to think I'm her honorary 11th child because I stayed with her during the weekdays. And her having 10 kids, of course there was mess. Of course there was like interpersonal messiness. That's a football team right there. I don't know how many players are on a football team, but that's a football team right there. Yeah.

It is chaos. So, like, her kids would call her and be like, Mom, so-and-so did this. And she's just like, what? And then they would hang up. And then, like, moments later, the person that they were having a problem with would call my grandmother. That's beautiful. They was like, Mom, did you hear that? And she was like, no, baby, what's going on? Even though the other kid literally just called her moments before. So I was sitting there and I was getting a tea. I'll be watching cartoons.

And I'll like turn it down a little bit. So it was effort. Like I didn't have a remote. So I had to go to the TV and like turn it down. And I would just kind of be listening. And then when they like come to the house, my grandmother was like big on Sunday dinners, like shit like that. They would come in and I'm like, ooh, I know you said this about this person. And I know this about that person. And I'm like,

trying to, like, decipher who's telling the truth. Yeah. And then sometimes my grandmother, like, when she was making coffee and she was feeling chatty, she would, like, talk to me about the gossip. And I'm like, ooh, grandma, what do you think? Honestly, I was producing then. No, you really were. You were orchestrating. You were hearing the sides. You were putting them together. You were making a coherent storyline. There's nothing better as a child than being in grown folks' business. It...

feels life giving. You're just like, oh, I'm at the big kids table. I felt like a grown up.

see gossip as like a negative thing it is storytelling and it is no surprise that i enjoy it of course how could you not with an introduction like that but i do think this segues into the next question which is how long have rachel and sierra been friends based on the way we're talking you would think it's been 20 years at least and it's been like what two

Two. Yeah, we met at the beginning of 2023. So it's been two years as of this January. But I mean, we're both, as you said at the top, March Pisces. So I understand why our connection feels like it's been longer, like a long time in the making. We also come from, I think, pretty similar places in terms of like region, ethnicity. Yeah.

So I think, especially in journalism, finding someone who understands that background and kind of speaks the same language as you. I remember the first time that I said something and got Sierra to respond with, bitch!

And we were working, obviously, and we didn't know each other that well at that point. It had maybe been like a month or two. And I was over here just grinning because I was like, got her. And Sierra was like, I'm so sorry. You're my host. And I was like, girl, we're in for a ride. We're locked in now.

My gosh, like, I have crossed so many lines and boundaries. But then after that, it was like a wrap. Like, we were already locked in, but we were really locked in. Yeah, and you know, we've been through some shit together. That's gossip that is not for this podcast, but we have been through some shit together and nothing bonds you like going through some shit together and making it out the other end. The trauma bonding is real? It's real. I just remember...

When I would go on vacation, you would do the little like sealy crap from Color Purse. I was like, this girl is ridiculous and she is for me. Like, I'm like, girl, I'm going to be back next week. And you would just be like, I'm like, no.

Don't leave me, Rachel! And now you're stuck with me forever. Stuck? This is an active choice, okay? Like, we are locked in, man. We're here. Wow. The next question is, do we have any defector gossip? We had a little party for the finale of season seven, which was my first episode hosting. I don't know if this is gossip, but...

When I get nervous, like most people, I'm just like, give me another drink. So that day...

Everyone came over to my apartment basically to watch the episode publish. Let me tell you, there is nothing more anticlimactic than publishing a podcast episode. Oh my God. You're over here thinking this is something I have spent the last many months of my life being nervous about. And then it just goes live and nothing happens. Because obviously nothing happens. You're pressing publish on audio. So anticlimactic. And we're just waiting for it to hit the airwaves. Yeah.

Exactly. And so someone brought champagne, which was very nice. And everyone left my house to go get ready and there was half a bottle of champagne left. And if there's one thing that is true in my household, it's don't waste champagne. Because you can't save it. I mean, I don't have the means to save it. I know there are means to save it, but I don't got it like that. So...

I drank half the bottle of champagne and then went to dinner with my friends where they ordered a bottle of wine for the three of us. And then went to the party where they had this lovely little menu of special drinks, including one that was a delicious little vodka drink. Had three of those. So the gossip that I have is that I was three sheets to the wind that night. I was just like...

I can't feel how bad my feet hurt in these shoes. The best part is I couldn't even tell. You just look happy and you always look happy. So I didn't know. That's beautiful. I think I was too nervous to reach the normal Rachel state of drunkenness at that level, which is just me being like, I love you guys so much. I did cry at the bar that we went to afterwards. I was wondering if you did cry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So actually I did get there, but I think I would have done that sober. It was an emotional day. Yeah.

It was an emotional day. Something did happen. That coat swap. Yes. Oh, my God. I forgot. Oh, my God. Let me tell you, when you called me at that point in the night, I was definitely three shoes to the wind because I had had another beer at that bar.

So please tell the story. So there's a coat check. It was our Christmas party slash normal gossip, like just celebration. And I had my grandmother's coat that is like an old school wool coat, gray, unassuming Swedish looking. And it was in the back and it was in our coat check. And

Between my friend Pallas and my husband Justin, they were like, you know, we were all mingling. We were saying goodbye. I think I was talking to you when they went to go grab my coat. They grabbed my coat. I put on the coat. We go to eat because I was still hungry when we left. Yeah. The food was, it was finger food. It was finger food. And I needed something hearty. Like I was hungry. So we went to Sister's.

Great choice. I love sisters. So good. Every time I go to Brooklyn, I make sure I like hit up sisters. Yes. So we go, we leave. We say goodbye to my friend Palace. We go back to the hotel. I'm in the elevator. A couple comes in and then the couple is like, oh my gosh, I just love your coat. And I was like, yeah, thank you. My grandmother gave it to me. Like, you know, she has since passed. So this is like my coat that I always remember her by. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Then I, like, stick my hand in the coat and I feel a set of keys. And I'm like, wait, keys are there? Yeah. Important note, Sierra does not live in Brooklyn. So there's no reason for her to have her house keys in her pocket at a party in Brooklyn. Her house keys were probably in, like, your luggage or some stuff in the hotel. And then I look at the coat. And as beautiful as this coat is, it is not my coat. Yeah.

And I'm like panicked. Yeah. I remember you calling me in the bar. And again, I was what? Half a bottle of champagne, half a bottle of wine, three whiskey drinks and a beer into the night. So I just teeter my way outside and I'm like, why is Sierra calling me? And you're like, I have the wrong coat. And I immediately, as much as possible, sobered up and was just like, we're going to get it back. Yeah.

You were. You were very encouraging. I was like, don't worry. We're going to get it back. The thing is, I told you that, hung up, and was just like, I'm too drunk to deal with this. I don't know what to do. And so I went into the party where Kelsey still was, and I was like, my Virgo queen will fix everything. Yeah.

And so I go up to her and one of our staff writers, Gideon Nathan, and I'm just like, Kelsey, I have a problem. She's like, what? And I'm like, Sierra lost her coat. It's a family heirloom. It's been traded with someone else's. So she has someone's coat, but we don't know whose coat it is. And I was just like, I don't know what to do. And she just lays out a plan. And she's like, we're going to do this. She's like, we can't do anything tonight. She's like, when does Sierra leave? And I'm like, okay, okay, okay. And then...

You found out who had your coat? Yes. So I look, I'm like going through the pockets at this point now. I've already walked to the venue that we were at before and like the coat wasn't there. So then I'm like walking back and I'm like, oh shit, I haven't looked through the pockets. I looked through the pockets and there is a piece of paper that was like for an event and it was like a reserved piece of paper and it had Israel's name on it. Just incredible information.

incredible luck that that was in there. And Israel is Israel Daramola, who is a staff writer at Defector, who I'm not surprised that y'all swapped coats because you're both very fashionable. So once you told me it was Israel's, I was like, oh, okay, yeah, that tracks, actually. I understand. Yes, and I emailed him. We were able to swap the coats back. We both took very good care of each other's coats. And it was just a nice little...

scavenger hunt, if you will. I just remember getting your Slack message that you figured out it was Israel and that you were going to swap. And I was the most hungover I've ever been in my entire life. And I was just like, if I could pull myself up into a vertical position, I would be jumping for joy. But I simply can't do that. I was like, I'm so happy for you. I need to go lay in a dark room somewhere. Yeah.

I love that. Crisis averted. Y'all, it's like crisis averted. Okay, great. I can go back to being hungover. So that's the defective gossip. I got too drunk. Ciara had a caper all on her own. Listen. Okay, next question. What is your favorite piece of celebrity gossip of all time? Remember when Solange punched Jay-Z in the elevator? Oh!

That was one of the most iconic moments. That like TMZ shot of her walking out the elevator, her face just absolutely so angry. Beyonce in the background trying to look serious, but you can see her smiling a little bit because she was like, someone had to do it and I couldn't do it. And then Jay-Z just in the background, head down, angry.

And she's kicking. Julius? Julius was like, let me just, I'm gonna let you get a few licks in. The way there was a bodyguard in the elevator and Solange still got her licks in. We wouldn't have known if we didn't know who Julius was. Like,

My favorite part is when Solange is over there, like, getting her elixir. And Beyoncé just takes the train of her gown and just, like... Moves it out the way? Moves it over to the side. Yeah, she's like, oh, yeah, like, you can tag him a few, but, like, just make sure you don't step on this. No, exactly. She's like, I gotta give this dress back. This was a rental. I don't condone violence publicly. However...

That was iconic. I love Solange. The love of a little sister for her big sister. I don't know because I don't have sisters, but I've seen it play out. That is my sister. We grew up in two different households, but my sister is an Aries son. Oh. She don't play about me. So the last question is, I'm running for political office against my boss's best friend. How do I tell my boss? Like, okay.

First off, your boss is probably not going to vote for your ass anyway. So, like, why even tell them? My instinctive reaction, which is maybe not helpful in this situation, is you don't owe that bitch anything. They'll find out when they go vote or whenever they see the campaigning slogans. They'll figure it out. Why do you have to tell your boss about your political aspirations? Your boss's best friend. Who is that to you? Right. And it's not on company time. Right.

So our collective choice is don't tell that person. Yeah. Like, I mean, if they ask you, you're like, yeah, I'm running. Yeah. Can I count on your vote? Do you want to hear my platform? Here's my website. Remind them when voting day is. Remind them where their local polling station is. Tell them local elections are very important. The most important. Very. The most important, especially in these times. Become a poll worker. Vote in your local elections.

But other than that, don't tell him. You don't have to tell him shit. You owe them nothing but grateful. Exactly. Wow. You know, January is the month that I feel like I'm always like in a staging month. I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do. I'm trying to make my plans. I'm trying to figure out like what the year is going to look like for me. And I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do.

And one of the things that I really want to do in 2025 is work on being able to meditate better and being able to like calm myself and having a sense of like centeredness that doesn't always happen. You know, there's a lot happening these days. It can feel especially stressful or hopeless when things are outside of our control.

but Calm can help you restore your sense of balance and peace amidst outside chaos. Without a plan, well-intentioned resolutions can lead to frustration and anxiety. This year, try a new approach with Calm. Focus on growth instead of rigid goals. In just a week, you can build a strong foundation for 2025 and gain confidence along the way.

Calm is the number one app for sleep and meditation, giving you the power to calm your mind and change your life. I recently logged onto the Calm app because I was having a very stressful day and I really wanted to calm down. And I found this really nice breathing exercise that had a crackling fire in the background. And I was like, this is exactly what I needed. I will simply do some box breaths while I listen to a fire.

Perfect. Calm puts the tools you need right in your pocket and can help you dedicate just a few minutes each day to live a happier, healthier life. Stress less, sleep more, and live better with Calm. For listeners of our show, Calm is offering an exclusive offer of 40% off a Calm premium subscription at calm.com slash gossip.

Go to calm.com slash gossip for 40% off unlimited access to Calm's entire library. That's calm.com slash gossip. Did you know that an estimated 5 billion plastic hand soap and cleaning bottles are thrown away each year? And if that's not bad enough, most cleaning formulas are 90% water, which is heavy to ship leading to excessive carbon emissions.

Plus, those products are often filled with nasty ingredients like chlorine and ammonia. That is a lose-lose situation for both you and the planet. Blueland is on a mission to eliminate single-use plastic by reinventing cleaning essentials to be better for you and the planet with the same powerful clean you're used to. The idea is simple. They offer refillable cleaning products with a beautiful, cohesive design that looks great on your counter.

Fill your reusable bottles with water, drop in the tablets, and wait for them to dissolve. You'll never have to grab bulky cleaning supplies on your grocery run. Refills start at just $2.25. You can even set up a subscription or buy in bulk for additional savings.

Two Blueland products I am particularly obsessed with are the dish soap and the dishwasher tablets. So the dish soap comes in powder form, which is really cool. And I had never used anything like it before. But you just like sprinkle it onto your sponge and get it wet. And it's sudsy. It works great. I also love the dishwasher tablets because I hate knowing that like other tablets have microplastics in them. And this does not.

Blueland has a special offer for listeners. Right now, get 15% off your first order by going to blueland.com slash gossip. You won't want to miss this. blueland.com slash gossip for 15% off. That's blueland.com slash gossip to get 15% off.

Wow. I really wasn't sure how we would reach a quorum on that last question, but I'm proud of us. We immediately were both just like, you don't owe that bitch shit. Yeah.

But now, on to the part that y'all have all been waiting for, which is the gossip. We've got some little tidbits that have been gathered for us, and we're both so excited. You might recognize the voices reading these morsels. Thank you so much to J. Toviera and Alex Ujong-Loughlin for lending your incredible voice acting chops to this episode. Let's hear the first one.

Our eighth graders tried to collectively boycott the dress code today, and every single one got sent to in-school suspension. Fuck around and find out. Damn. Okay, on one level, I'm proud of your children for collectively organizing. Me too. Okay, I'm just trying to figure out, like, what was the dress code? Exactly. As a bitch with long arms relative to her body...

That fucking rule that's like your dress has to reach the bottom of your fingertips. For some people, that's mid-thigh. For me, that is knee length because I have a really big wingspan. Me too. You and I are literally the same height and we have the same wingspan. And like, seriously, my arms are long. Yes, it makes benching really hard. But yeah, so actually, I think the eighth graders are right. That's how I feel about this. Power to the people.

Why would you do that? Who would do that? That's so rude. There's no...

There are levels to this shit. I almost want to see a side-by-side comparison. No, same. Actually, so true. I need to know how different the fake is from the real. Because if it's a pretty close replica, if it's like, what, that Walmart Birkin that everyone's talking about? Then I'm kind of just like, okay, they tried. But if it's just an immediate fake...

like the Birkins in Canal Street, then perhaps I have questions. And have we found out who it was? Like, these are things we need to know. Your mother needs to go investigation mode. She needs to be requesting the tapes. She needs to be running back to that security footage. She needs to be doing fingerprint dusting because I need to know who took her stuffed toy off her desk and then replaced it with a fake.

My husband is about to be 31 years old at the end of the year. For 31 years, he has gone by Benjamin. This is the name on our marriage certificate, our mortgage, all his bank accounts, and even his new license he got two weeks ago. Recently, he was putting together his documents because he was applying for a passport. When he got out his birth certificate, he did a double take. On his birth certificate, his name is spelled Benjanin.

Why has this never been caught before? Is our marriage even legitimate? The man in my house is a stranger. I don't know this Benjamin. I married Benjamin. There's no way whoever submitted this could have known how hard this would hit for me specifically. You know what it's worth, Ian. So all of you know me as Rachel spelled with an extra L-E at the end. It's giving Rochelle. It's giving French. French.

It's special. It's confusing for a lot of people. The people who pronounce my name correctly upon first meeting me, I'm a little bit just like, where'd you come from? My parents spelled my name the normal way, as in R-A-C-H-E-L. For most of my life, I thought that was how my name was spelled. And by most of my life, I mean up until I was like nine or ten. That's not most of my life at this point, Jesus Christ. Anyway, I found out when my family moved from Chicago to Texas and I started going to Texas public school,

That my name legally is spelled Rochelle, despite the fact that I grew up with my entire family and my old school spelling it the old way. So it turns out my name is spelled incorrectly on my birth certificate because the nurse just kind of decided to go rogue. My parents were like, we want our child's name to be Rachel Danae, spelled R-A-C-H-E-L, Danae, D-A-N-A-E, Rochelle.

And when we got the birth certificate a few months later, I don't know why it was so late. I wasn't conscious I was a baby. It spelled Rochelle Danae with an apostrophe in the Danae. D apostrophe N-A-E. I was born in Chicago. In the south side of Chicago, some nurse was like, this girl needs a little space here.

I must juice up her name a little bit. A little extra, a little razzle dazzle going on. So I go to Texas and the public school is like, we call you your legal name. And so I was like, okay, now I have to tell everyone my name is Rochelle Rachel. And my parents are like, don't worry, we'll fix it.

We have to go back to the county we're born in to fix it. But then I take like my SATs and it's all under my government name. And then I get my passport and it's all under my government name. And then I was like, you know what? At this point, it's a funny story to tell in interviews whenever I walk into a room and they're like, hello, Rochelle. And it's like, actually, it's Rachel. It's spelled wrong on my birth certificate. And everyone's like, what? And then it just kind of breaks the tension a

And honestly, I've gotten every job that I've ever told that story in. So power to the nurse, I guess. Thank you. All the same, Benjamin, Benjamin, I get it. There are a lot of legal implications, which is why I have not changed my name. It's so much paperwork.

And then it doesn't go through for a long time. Like a lot of people who change their names understand this. If you get married, if you transition, like for whatever reason, you're changing your legal name. It's a lot of fucking work and it gets harder the older you get. So I'm sorry, but you married Benjamin. That's Benjamin right there. That's Benjamin. And you know what? It's the same person. That's so true. What is a rose by any other name?

That rose's name is Benjamin. Damn. And he still smells sweet. I hope. I would literally call him Benjamin the entire time. Yeah, this is a perfect opportunity for an extended bit. Like, Benjamin, come over here. I am on a neighborhood Facebook page. And a month or two back, I saw someone asking if it is legal for a landlord to throw a party at your house. Everyone responded that a landlord should not do that and gave varying advice.

Fast forward to this week, and there is a post titled, There might be a potential parking issue on X Street. My landlord is throwing his first cuddle party tonight, and I thought I'd warn my neighbors. I think he is having 18 to 20 people at the house. He is planning on having these parties every Friday night. Does your landlord live in your house? Or...

What is this rental situation? Yeah, like, is it, like, a basement apartment? Or is it, like, this is your home that you're renting the entire thing? This is your home and your landlord doesn't live there. You're renting it from them, but they just decided to have a cuddle party in your home. That violates so much. Because that violates your lease 100%. There is 100% a clause in your lease somewhere about, like, warrant of habitability or some shit that...

say this is not legal. Are you invited to the cuddle party? Are they allowed in your bedroom? Yeah, like, I mean, it's 18 to 20 people. They're all not fitting in, like, the living room. Or is it just a cuddle puddle on the floor? The way my brain is doing mental gymnastics. 18 to 20 people feels like a lot of people. I, like, I'm a big...

I'm going to be honest. I have like a pretty decently sized couch. And even cuddling with one other person on the couch gets real crowded really fast. I usually disavow neighborhood Facebook pages because they scare me. But I'm going to need you to stay on this Facebook page. And I need you to get an invite to the cuddle party. I'm sorry. You need to take one for the team. We need inside reporting. Please update us because I have many, many questions. I...

need to know found out that my situationship got cited for threatening pokemon go players on his property none of these words are in the bible i would like to say that's a b why did pokemon go put one of their whatever sites on someone's private property residential property

Like, on one hand, I kind of agree with your situation, Chip. If some random, if, like, just a horde of random people were coming to my home every so often and hanging out in the lawn, I would be a little stressed out by that. On the other hand, why are you fattening them? I, like, just imagine someone having a ring app and, like, you get the ring notification and it just keeps going off and going off because people are, like, on your property. You're like, what the?

happening outside. No, exactly. And then he hears about Pokemon Go, I might get annoyed too. Yeah. No, exactly. I understand why he's annoyed. Is there no way to like contact the app and be like, yo, you put one of your little landing sites in my backyard.

Did this affect your situationship standing, finding out that this happened? Ooh. Because this gossip is told very neutrally in a way that I appreciate, but I also want to know if you were like, ooh, that's an ick, which I get. And threatening. Like, did they go out and like, yo, I'm going to do such and such? Or were they like passive aggressive and just turned on the sprinkler? Exactly. Because that, that's fine. ♪

Huge news. I wrote a whole book of beautiful essays about gossip. It's called You Didn't Hear This From Me, and I'm so, so proud of it. It's about how we use gossip. It's about Britney Spears and West Elm Caleb and Gilgamesh and Picasso, and it's so, so fun, and I think it's really good.

It comes out February 11th in hardback and a sexy audio book, which I read. You can buy it wherever you get books. You can go to KelseyMcKinneyBook.com to see all the retailers where you could possibly buy a book from and to buy tickets for the upcoming book tour, which will be really fun and really exciting. That's KelseyMcKinneyBook.com. I don't know about you, but I always feel my best when I'm eating simple foods with ingredients I can pronounce and

Especially after the holiday season, we are not into January 1st dieting in this house. But I do feel just generally a little sluggish. You know, things are so chaotic and I'm just eating whatever is available to me. And it's nice to slow down once the new year starts and relax.

return to a little bit of intention. That's why I love using Thrive Market. Thrive Market takes the guesswork out of finding safe, healthy food. All their products are 100% non-GMO and free from over a thousand harmful ingredients. And their on-site filters make shopping even easier. For example, I have talked about...

being pre-diabetic a lot this past year, and Thrive Market has amazing options for people with dietary restrictions of any kind. Another thing I love, Thrive Market's smart cart feature. When you create an account, Thrive Market asks the right questions and automatically builds a grocery cart tailored to your needs, filled with healthy alternatives to your favorite brands. I recently discovered the lesser evil brand Himalayan Sweetness Popcorn.

And oh my gosh, it has just a hint of coconut in it that makes it so much fun to snack on. Ready for a junk-free start to 2025? Head to thrivemarket.com slash gossip and get 30% off your first order, plus a free $60 gift. That's T-H-R-I-V-E market dot com slash gossip. Thrivemarket.com slash gossip. Where

Where I live, it is so cold that it is depressing. And so one of the only ways that I am finding joy right now is in getting dressed every day. With a new year comes a new opportunity to reimagine ourselves and more importantly, our wardrobes. This year, I'm resolving to refresh my look with quality pieces and stay on budget.

And I can thanks to Quince. However you choose to refresh your look, all Quince pieces are priced 50-80% less than similar brands. And they use premium fabrics and finishes for that luxury feel in every piece. One of my favorite items that I own is this cozy cotton cardigan from Quince.

It's like this olive green color and it looks great with everything and it's so warm and I would love to get it in another color because it really adds something to every outfit I pair it with.

Upgrade your closet this year without the upgraded price tag. Go to quince.com slash gossip for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order. That's q-u-i-n-c-e dot com slash gossip to get free shipping and 365-day returns. quince.com slash gossip. ♪♪♪

I could spend at least half an hour with that last one, honestly. Yes. But unfortunately, it's now time to address the passing of time. It's 2025! It is. Sierra, do you believe in New Year's resolutions? I will set goals for myself, but like...

I don't do it around New Year's Day. Like, my... I mean, both of our birthdays are in March. So I like to use, like, the first three months to kind of, like, catch up on goals that I didn't, like, reach or reflect or things like that. And then for my birthday, I will set goals. So, like, I'll set goals ahead and then I'll, like, officially start on my birthday. I like that. Yeah. I might steal that. It's pretty cool. Resolutions feel like a lot of pressure. And...

I have never really attached a lot of meaning to New Year's. No. It always feels anticlimactic to me. Every single time I'm just like, okay, whatever.

Another year has passed. It's now 2025. I'm not going to internalize that until March. We all know that. I'm going to be writing 2024 for at least the next three months. So New Year's resolutions don't really hit for me. But I'm wondering if these next few resolutions that listeners send tests will inspire us. Okay. Okay, the first one is, I resolve to leave my current job and take my crew with me. As someone who did that, I will go ahead and say, fuck yeah!

Fuck yeah. It's great. 10 out of 10 recommend. I read that and I was like, is this about us? Is this play about us? Why not? Like literally it worked for us. That's a great resolution. 10 out of 10 recommend. The next one is I want to watch all 10 Fast and Furious movies.

That's an achievable goal. I just watched Fast 10 for the first time with my family over the holidays. I hadn't seen Fast... No, I have seen Fast 9. I saw Fast 9 in theaters. That's the one where they went to space. And then I saw the one where there's the safe being dragged behind them. And then I've seen the original three. Everything else that happens in that universe...

This is a good year to watch those movies because they exist in a universe that is not real. Those are superhero movies at this point. It's escapism at its finest.

It's a blend of genres. It's actually quite fascinating because you have action, you have rom-com, you have sci-fi, family, soap opera. It's like... Because the amount of times that a character has died... And then came back? It's like, am I watching Jane the Virgin? Am I watching a telenovela? Is this General Hospital when Luke died and came back? Because there's so much happening. I was watching Fast 10 and someone died. And I...

And I was like, they're not dead. And my dad was like, what do you mean? They blew up in an explosion. And I'm like, in this universe, until you see the body, they're not dead. And then someone came back at the end that everyone thought was dead. And I was like, see, if that bitch can come back, why can't this other bitch that just died?

There's been at least three of them. Three of them who have died and come back. Like, and you mentioned going to space. Like... I laughed out loud when that happened in the theater. And I was one of the only people who laughed. And I was like, please don't tell me y'all are taking this shit seriously. I cannot look at Tyrese Gibson staring at the screen and saying, we're going to space? Shut the fuck up. Shut the fuck up. I...

It's like, okay, in this universe, I'm trying to figure it out because like, what is time in this universe? Because you mean to tell me you go to space and come back like in a day's time, but it takes me 13 hours to fly to Thailand and we just went to space? You sent a car to space in 24 hours? What in the Elon Musk Space Force shit is happening?

All of this to say, this is a wonderful resolution because your mind will be occupied watching these movies because nothing makes sense. Nothing. And it's very fun to kind of just pick apart in a way that's like, what are we even doing here? The perfect escape. The perfect escape for this time. Next resolution is, I want to try a new class every month. Pottery, fitness, etc. Please suggest...

love this absolutely love it I think this is a really good idea one of the classes that I would recommend I've been looking for classes to take with my best friend we get each other Christmas presents and the Christmas present that I got her her sister already got her so I have to think of a second one okay piss me off

But I found some dumpling making classes in New York and some sushi making classes as well. So I think I'm going to buy her one of those and we're going to do it together. So that is an option. I think there's a kind of cuisine that seems a little complicated. Having someone take you through is really fun. Yeah.

I've looked into woodworking classes. Those are very expensive. But you do come out with like a side table. So I'm going to be honest, the money feels worth it. Yes. Oh, aerial yoga. I walked past someone doing it in a building and I was like, I don't want to be one of those people who's just like looking in on people doing fitness because nothing freaks me out more. But I was like, I want to do it. I want to be swinging from the chandelier like fucking Sia. Yeah.

Yes. Okay. Like on that track, two that I would suggest. One is pole dancing. Oh, yes. Pole dancing is so much fun. It's literally like all levels. And I've been inspired by Alex. So I'm taking a knitting class on the intro to knitting. Yay. I love that. I can't wait. Wow. I can't wait to knit me a sweater like Alex. Actually, one of my friends took... This is the same friend. Yeah.

Took a sewing class at the Fashion Institute in New York, but I think there are probably a lot of places that do sewing classes. And that is something that when I have more free time, I'll be very interested in getting into because I love the idea of being able to like make or mend my own clothes.

Yes. I was reading a book recently, I Who Have Never Known Men. And in that book, the ladies like make their own clothes. And I was just like, hmm, if I got a hole in a garment, I don't even know how to fix it. So I just want to be like, I don't know, more at what

Yeah. And like be able to like create or fix things. So like I love the idea of like when you mentioned the woodworking class. Sewing, knitting. I think these are things that are like really cool and it can cut back on so many things. Yeah. Being more sustainable and just conscientious of like the impact and our imprint on the earth. So I like that.

Wow. And then the last one, I like this one. The last resolution is to give fewer fucks in general. Amen. Girl, whoever. Turn to your neighbor and say amen. Amen.

Pop off. Yeah, truly. I mean, I would say my addendum to this would be to place my fucks in the correct spaces. There are a lot of things that I think we should all just care less about. What celebrities are doing. It's not activism to care about what celebrities are doing. They're never going to represent us. I think...

giving fewer fucks about the just TikTok coverage of the Trump administration. If there's anything I learned from the first Trump administration is that a lot of people will spend a lot of time spinning theories that don't happen. And the things that actually happen will be entirely surprising and devastating in ways that we couldn't have guessed. Yes. And I don't really want to listen to pundits or people on Twitter who are just spiraling and scared and... Mm-hmm.

trying to control their fear by trying to guess what's coming next. I get it. I also try to control my fear by predicting the future. But unfortunately, I don't have that ability and neither does Ezra Klein. So I don't want to pay attention to those people. I want to respond to the moment that we're in. I think just being more engaged and embedded in your community, honestly. So if I'm going to give fucks about anything, I'm going to give fucks about my community.

I'm going to be engaged in those spaces and in those places. And I think that's where we will find healing. Yeah. Sierra?

Thank you for coming on the show. Oh my gosh, thanks for having me. I mean, technically, you're always here. I mean, I am. I'm always behind the mic, which I do love. I love being behind the mic. This was just a rare occurrence, and I did it for our listeners, because they were like, who is the Ciara girl? Like, we know Rachel, but who the fuck is Ciara? And hopefully, you like me. If you don't, I'll come to all of your houses.

and fight you. Ma'am! No! Personally. No, no. I will be getting in street fights for Ciara's honor. This is my bestie. This is the love of my life. I'm so glad that this happened. I know you said it's a rare occurrence, but we might be making it less rare as time goes on. So this hopefully is not the last time y'all get to hear from Ciara on mic. Yeah.

But this was so fun. Yeah. Thank you for allowing me to come on mic and be with you. This was fun. Girl, literally anytime.

This podcast was produced by Sierra Spragley-Rix and J. Tolviera. The co-creators and dowager queens of Normal Gossip are Alex Dujon-Loughlin and Kelsey McKinney. Justin Ellis is Defector's projects editor. Jasper Wang and Sean Kuhn are Defector's business guys. Alex Dujon-Loughlin is Defector's supervising producer.

Tom Le is our editor-in-chief. Dan McQuaid runs our merch store, which you can find at normalgossip.store. Tara Jacoby designed our show art, thanks to the rest of the Defector staff. Defector Media is a collectively owned, subscriber-based media company. Normal Gossip is a proud member of Radiotopia. I am your host, Rachel Hampton, and remember, you did not hear this from me. Radiotopia.

From PRX.