Move it Mama - The Sparkle Pod

Welcome to the very first episode of Sparkle Pod Book Club - a cosy new corner of the podcast where books, banter, and plenty of tangents collide. In this pilot episode, we kick things off with a relaxed chat all about our reading lives - what we're currently reading, how and when we fit reading into busy life, questioning unspoken reading etiquette, our recent favourite books, and what’s on the wish list for future reads. We're all over the shop today spitting out a LOT of info and a fair few books. In future episodes, we'll take to a little more structure for our book chats (if you know us at all, you're wise to believe STRUCTURE might not happen). Thanks for listening!

Below is a list of the books we discussed today -
Hobbsy - Liz Nugent, Strange Sally Diamond (she's in the middle of it - she gives a decent synopsis without spoilers)
Leece - TL Swan, The Miles High series (finishing the fifth book of the series - no spoilers)
Jess - all books she had been recommended by Hobbs! Current read: Everyone Here is Lying by Shari Lapena, and recent reads: The Vanishing Place by Zoe Rankin, Broken Country by Claire Leslie Hall and What Have You Done, also by Shari Lapena
Up next: The Names, by Florence Knapp.

This is not a formal book club - it’s light-hearted, honest, a little bit chaotic, and full of the kind of conversation that feels like chatting books with friends over coffee. Whether you're a die-hard reader, a casual page-turner, or just here for a LOL, take this as your invite to join the club.

BACKTOSCHOOOOOLLLLL! Hello! It feels like FOREVER. As we point out at the start of the episode, we currently have 20% off our annual plan to the app - just use the code BACKTOSCHOOL at checkout on the web app (app.moveitmama.co.nz). Now that aside, welcome back to the sparkly pod. We're so happy to be here - relishing in our own company with our microphones waffling over A WIDE VARIETY of quality rubbish!

We dissect the last few weeks - school holidays, Leece's family weekend away and everything that encompassed, the constant manage of phones and screen time, lunch boxes upon lunch boxes and botox upon botox!!! For real though we talk a lot about wrinkles and the stupid stuff we're being influenced to do - like sip out of our water bottles without sucking the straw too hard lol lol.

It's good to be back. Thanks for your support and patience as we took a break and a day! X

Hello! Coming to you LIVE and proper from the wardrobe seeking some privacy on this Easter Monday afternoon. A heads up that as Leece wasn't in the office today she is without a mic - we figured we're good enough to go. We recap the last few days and what lies ahead - the typical big topics sat at the forefront of our minds, such as naming a place if we were to 'found it' - Thomas 'Hanmer' doesn't roll of the tongue like it should. We briefly bypass the political state of the world, as well as the meaning of Easter - don't worry, we don't hang around there long lol. Though we would make mention that despite our differences we can STILL BE FRIENDS can't we. The world is a tough place for many at the moment, and Leece finishes with some thoughts off the back of a podcast with Mel Robbins - we'll link it below. It sounds to be highly worth listening to. Thanks for having us in yer earholes. X

Here's the podcast on Spotify -
https://open.spotify.com/episode/21mWHpZiy6ViHeQGlSryfm?si=xR99ROJESIem5wTSbUetUg

It's probably just as well that we're a week out from school holidays so we can stop discussing the conflicted ins and outs of parenting and specifically lunch boxes! We kick off - kind of by accident - talking/moaning about school lunches and the associated politics. No doubt we'll be back on this chat in a few weeks' time (we're definitely predictable like that). From there, the hot cross bun dilemma, accents, kids, phones and rules take up our energy. We then spend the back half of the podcast debriefing Dan and where he's at. Jess asks Leece some questions about what's been happening with Dan, where things are at and what some of the current challenges are. We felt we wanted to revisit this as it's been some time and we get asked about Dan most days. It felt good to talk about this in a way because it reminded us that progress - even if small - is being made. Love you Danny Fong.

This felt a little odd! It's good to be back and TOGETHER nonetheless! Sat side by side, our mouths only inches away from each other after a coffee (gross?) this was equal parts odd and awesome to do LOL! In this episode we get ourselves well back on the waffle train rehashing a wonderful weekend together with quite a lot on. It has been so awesome and we have had many great moments connecting with people inside this community and beyond. It's always so, SO heart warming, reassuring and cup-filling to reconnect to the Move it Mama community in person (our Saturday morning workout), to see people at the netball supporting a great cause and all the rest of it. A big thanks for your messages after our previous podcast episode with James which we know many of you loved. Back to normal programming for now (although with a new intro? Who are we)! X