The Engaging Conversationalist

The temperatures are slowly rising, the birds are gradually returning and the Easter season is upon us!  It must be spring!  And you know what that means, dear listeners:  it’s time for our annual Spring Trends episode!  What’s in and what’s out in 2024?  Well, stay tuned, friends, as we dig into the food, fashion and travel “its and icks” this year!

Cultivating friendships is deep work.  Heart-work!  But making friends and maintaining relationships can sometimes be easier said than done, especially in today’s society. The desire and search for meaningful friendships remains foremost in many of our lives.  And while we look for those who will leave those lasting footprints in our hearts, it’s also important to consider how we too, by our friendship, impact the hearts of others as well! This week, we're chatting about the changing landscape of friendship, including on how we've changed since recording our first episode on the subject in 2020, how technology and AI may have a bigger impact than we think, what Dunbar's Number adds to the equation and how, in spite of all these things, that perhaps the core of what friendship is may not have changed so much after all.

Join us as we revisit another one of our past episodes!  This one is from our very first season of the podcast in 2019.  We have been wanting to record another episode on friendship for quite a while now, and are ready to finally dig back in - stay tuned for a brand new episode on friendship next week!  In the meantime, though, we invite you to tune in to this episode from Season 1 first.  Enjoy!

This week, where we live, temperatures are balmy and warm, prompting us to begin thinking about spring cleaning!  So we dug through the archives and found one of our favourite episodes, The Cleaning Compendium, from January 2020 to help inspire us:“This week, Michelle and Lindsay tackle the MANY questions they received from The Modern Lady community and dish the dirt on all things housekeeping!  From “The Friday Clean” to “The Five-Minute Tidy”, cleaning with kids to cleaning green, from laundry flow to listener tips and tricks – this truly is the “catch all” of cleaning resources from the ladies!”

Lent is the perfect time to tackle this topic!  The reality of temptation in our lives is guaranteed and hard to ignore.  Whether it’s avoiding sin, or sticking to a new routine or good habit, the temptation to take the easy road sometimes seems to be omnipresent.  But by seeking to understand why we are tempted and how we can overcome it, we believe that we can, indeed, face it with hope!

In every generation, there is a desire to be somewhat of a “radical”, to buck the current culture and trends, and to leave our own unique mark on the world.  But what if there were radical things we could do, starting today, that had the potential to change our own hearts, strengthen our homes and relationships and that would leave a legacy in light of the eternal?  This week, we're discussing three simple things we can do that may be counter-cultural according to the world's standards, but that have the potential to truly transform your new year!

’Tis  (almost) the season!  After decking the halls, many of us are welcoming guests into our homes for the holidays!  And whether you’re hosting a large family party or an intimate soiree with close friends, the thought and planning that goes into preparing to host can be overwhelming!  But what if we reframed hosting this holiday season?  From common stressors, to hosting tips, this week, we're chatting about why it's ultimately important that we, as a society, remain open to opening our homes to others and how, then, inviting others in has the potential to be one of the most special and intentional gifts we can give!

[Originally aired: November 26, 2019]  Michelle and Lindsay dive into ALL things Advent and anticipation for Christmas!  From when to put up the Christmas tree to comparing Advent with Lent, to eyeballs on a platter to profound devotional reading for the season, the ladies attempt to cover all the bases with their usual humour and research!  Join in for a little bit of fun and preparation as we journey through the season of Advent!

It's one of the social media trends du jour: #softlife - encouraging us to strive for a life of ease and comfort. For decades, “hustle culture” has been been top of the podium in terms of lifestyle goals. But in striving to get there, we are often left exhausted, depleted and run down - and a hardness begins to settle in our hearts. And the antidote to this may be found squarely within the “soft life” movement and the deep work it invites us to undergo for our own sakes and for those around us. This week, we are chatting about how and why soft living has gripped the imaginations of people all over the world, what it is (and what it is not!), and discuss what makes Advent the perfect time to soften ourselves.

Everywhere you look in today’s culture, there is an invitation to escape the uncomfortable and unpleasant things in life, and to indulge instead in things that make us feel good. But when the balance tips too far in favour of complete exclusion of anything other than pleasure, one may have to stop to consider… is this truly the way to long-lasting happiness, or is there an even deeper truth that we may be missing?  This week, we are chatting about dopamine detoxes: what we've been hearing and seeing online, and why now might just be the best time to consider doing one!