Recently, I went back to therapy. Penn says has already seen a difference in me and I can feel it too. I'm a big fan of therapy and have been in and out of it, for whatever reason, my entire adult life. Doing the work (plus being encouraged by my doctor to go on a pediatric-sized dose of medication) has made the world a little brighter and easier for me to navigate. It goes without saying that therapy and medication are very personal decisions, but I want to be transparent and set an example...

First off, let me say that we are humbled and grateful for you all and the support of our book, ADHD Is Awesome. For the past few weeks, we’ve met so many of you on our book tour and I can’t tell you how incredibly emotional it’s been for us. (I’m a big ball of mush right now.) In this week’s podcast, we reflect on our first two legs of the book tour, what we did after finding out about making the NYT Bestsellers list, a really fun star sighting on an elliptical machine, and which celebrity...

My mother (who I love and adore) moved to town in January to be closer to our family. It’s been wonderful to be able to call her up to see if she wants to go to dinner on a random Wednesday.  So last week, I did just that. Her response? “I have to check my calendar.” Wait, what? As she thumbed through her calendar looking for a free night, I started to think to myself “am I failing at friendship?” I’m exaggerating, because I do have deep friendships and very dear friends here. It’s just that...

As I write this, we are celebrating 19 years of pure, wedded bliss (do you hear the sarcasm?) NINETEEN YEARS. Our marriage is a freshman in college. Our marriage probably has a fake ID and makes bad decisions in bars. But on the balance, I will say I feel incredibly lucky. We have a really great marriage. This week we discuss our best marriage tips... including why Penn doesn't poop in our hotel room. (Yes, he's all mine ladies.) We also reflect on Lola going to prom and parenting advice for...

If you are listening to this on April 30th - the day this podcast came out - our new book, ADHD Is Awesome is out today! About five years ago, we started making ADHD content and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. (Spoiler alert: Your encouragement was a big motivator for us writing this book!) The biggest question we've gotten while writing this was: Will there be an audiobook? Well, today is your lucky day - this podcast includes a preview of our book's Introduction and Chapter 1....

Yay, you made it to the end (and a HUGE thank you for listening!) This is Part 3 of our 3-part ADHD Is Awesome bonus series. This podcast series is inspired by our new book ADHD Is Awesome which comes out April 30, 2024. In this series, we plan to answer three big questions: 1) What does ADHD look like, 2) How do you best partner with someone who has ADHD, and 3) What do you do with your ADHD to (mostly) thrive. This week, we have Dr. Norrine Russell join us to talk about tips and tricks on...

Hi friends, Penn here. As some of you know, I am obsessed with all things sci-fi. This traces way back to my childhood during the Star Wars and Star Trek days that sparked a lifelong fascination for all things space. It’s the main reason that I always wanted to be an astronaut. Fast forward to today, you can see that life took me in a wildly different direction. (Plus I have terrible vertigo so I would have made a horrible astronaut.) Dashed childhood dreams aside, the impact these movies and...

Welcome back! This is Part 2 of our 3-part ADHD Is Awesome bonus series! This podcast series is inspired by our new book ADHD Is Awesome which comes out April 30, 2024. In this series, we plan to answer three big questions: 1) What does ADHD look like, 2) How do you best partner with someone who has ADHD, and 3) What do you do with your ADHD to (mostly) thrive. This week, we have Dr. Emily King join us to talk about how we can best partner with a child or student with ADHD. We also have my...

I love discovering new things about people through great conversation. But lately I’ve been thinking about how to avoid the pitfalls of asking a question that might make the other person feel uncomfortable or awkward. One of the reasons for that self-reflection is the fact that we have a junior in high school and previously, if I met up with one of her friends, I'd ask, “Where are you thinking about going to college?”  I had no idea how much stress just that simple question creates. (I wrote...

Welcome to our 3-part ADHD Is Awesome bonus series! This podcast series is inspired by our new book ADHD Is Awesome which comes out April 30, 2024. In this series, we plan to answer three big questions: 1) what does ADHD look like, 2) how do you best partner with someone who has ADHD, and 3) what do you do with your ADHD to (mostly) thrive. This week, we have Dr. Marcy Caldwell join us who had a big hand in helping research for the book. We also have our producer, Ann Marie Taepke, gives...

Most of you that have followed us for a while know I’m an anxious person. You know one thing that bizarrely doesn’t scare me? Artificial intelligence taking over the world. There's a lot of hills I'm gonna die on. But if there's a zombie apocalypse triggered by AI? Take me first, alien overlords. Penn is extremely worried about artificial intelligence and what could happen if it gets in the wrong hands. So we invited Dr. Helen Crompton, a professor at Old Dominion University and the Executive...

If you had a button to get rid of your ADHD or someone else’s, would you press it? The perception society has around Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder is pretty negative. You would find it hard to believe there are benefits to something that has three unfavorable words as part of its name. I would rename ADHD in a heartbeat if I could. In our book, ADHD Is Awesome, we talk about alternate names we would use or others have come up with. But no matter what we were to rename ADHD, we need...

I heard of schadenfreude for the first time while sitting in the audience of the hilariously wonderful Broadway show Avenue Q. It means pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune. But if schadenfreude is taking pleasure in someone’s misfortune, can you take pleasure in someone’s joy? Enter freudenfreude. On this week’s podcast, we had Dr. Catherine Chambliss teach us how to practice more freudenfreude. Dr. Chambliss shared some of the benefits of freudenfreude and easy...

I have a solid marriage, a great one actually, but most nights I look over to my husband, who falls blissfully asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow, and I’m filled with RAGE. How does he fall asleep so quickly?!? How does his body let him STAY asleep?! Apparently, sleep disruption like I am experiencing is one of the many (many) symptoms of perimenopause. But sometimes, I feel like it’s something *I* have done wrong, something *I* must be doing right. As if it’s all in my head.  I’m...

Penn here! This week, we recorded a live podcast at SXSW in Austin, Texas about how to (mostly) thrive with ADHD. We talk about how the world wasn’t built for ADHD and what systems I’ve put in place to make life more manageable. My hope is that we can find more understanding for those of us with different, but wonderful brains. If you have ADHD, how would you change your school or workplace to be more ADHD friendly? Big thanks to everyone who attended, we are so excited to get our new book...

Recently, we had the privilege of going on family vacation in the Caribbean and one of the activities we planned was snorkeling. He was particularly excited about seeing the “nerf shark.” (Yes, he said nerf shark instead of nurse shark.) Penn is very smart. He’s one of those annoying people who took the SAT and got an amazing score the first time. So, I cannot tell you how happy it made me that he thought a nurse shark was called a nerf shark. Easily my top moment on vacation.  This story led...

We have very fun (but weird) jobs where we have to always be producing something. Small business owners know that you have to hustle in order to make a living. Your success (or failure) is a direct correlation of your work. And it’s a lot of pressure. This week on our podcast, we interviewed Celeste Headlee, author of Do Nothing: How To Break Away From Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving. I have to admit some of her advice about slowing down did not seem like it could work for small...

I am pretty sure I didn’t do “gentle parenting” with my kids. To be clear, Penn and I don’t really have to discipline our children. They are wonderful kids and on their way to be amazing adults. But when they were toddlers having a tantrum, I can’t say that I was gentle. But should I be? Is it too late to change my parenting? Enter our dear friend, Dr. Hope Seidel, a parenting coach and pediatrician. When I posed this question to Dr. Hope, she responded: “Why do you think you need to change,...

There was a time when we’d have a reservation at a cozy restaurant to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Things are different now, but not “bad” different. I don’t love my husband any less. In fact, there’s no way I could love him more, but we are not in our date night era. So this week, our producer Ann Marie Taepke (she also plays our Midwest Neighbor in videos) joins us! When you've been together for a long time, it's hard to find new things to talk about. Ann Marie brought us 10 wacky questions...

Last week, we put out a fun video about Taylor Swift and the Super Bowl. It went viral and for the most part people loved it. But some of the comments got us talking enough to feel like we needed to do a podcast on it. Over the past couple months, Taylor Swift has received criticism for supporting her boyfriend Travis Kelce in his career. Some of the recent claims about her are misogynistic and awful. Would anyone say these things if an internationally famous male musician was supporting his...

This week, we had you join us to play our new game What The Flock? (Thanks for being DTF... which is down to flock, of course.) We also have Peter Denbigh, CEO of Skyler Imagination, join us before we play to give a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to launch a game. We had so much fun making this game, and we cannot wait for you to play it! You can order it from Skyler Imagination or Amazon, and a couple of signed copies are still available: https://skyimagine.com/wtf/ Join Our...

*This podcast talks about weight loss and issues surrounding body image* I love the sentiment around body positivity today. Models of all sizes cover magazines, and performers in larger bodies headline tours. But I don't know if I will ever get there. I grew up in the 90s where being thin was socially rewarded. It wasn't until I met Penn that I realized how you look doesn't have an impact on how you're loved or what you are capable of accomplishing. I talk more about this in a recent blog...

Boundaries have been a buzzword for a while, but what they really? (And are we even doing them right?) Today we welcome Dr. Abby Medcalf onto the show to talk to us about how boundaries keep people in rather than keep them out. She gives us advice and examples on healthy boundaries, how to keep them, and why you shouldn't justify them. Learn more about Dr. Abby Medcalf and her book Boundaries Made Easy here: https://abbymedcalf.com/ Have a question for us? Call 323-364-3929 or email us at...

This year I am trying to worry less, and it’s a hard resolution to measure. But I have a theory about needing to do less of something: Adding more. If I try to do more, will I have time to worry? I wrote a blog post last week that kicked off this topic in our weekly podcast. Penn and I talk through what we want more of in 2024 (which Penn is super on board with for the sole reason that it rhymes. Thank goodness I didn’t think of this in 2025.) I asked a bunch of you want you wanted more of in...

My motto lately has been: "That sounds like a January problem." So when it came to the last podcast of the year, I decided to make it a problem for our lovely team: Ann Marie Taepke and Sam Allen. Hear the 4 of us discuss the best moments from the podcast this year, what Penn & I have learned about each other, and some behind-the-scenes fun. (Should we have Sam and Ann Marie on again?) Have a great holiday break, we are taking two weeks off and will be back on January 9th. See you in...