Thursday Things #90

Summer shorts, free audiobooks, a documentary, a drink, and a giveaway.

Welcome! Every other Thursday, I share a handful of things I'm loving, reading, watching, listening to or just discovered. In other words . . . what I'd text you about if I had your number or mention if we met up for coffee! I'm so glad you're here. :)

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I started typing the subject line and did a double-take. Ninety. 90!

Also, hello! I’m so glad you’re here—for the 90th Thursday Things, yes, but really that you welcome me into your email inbox a few times each month. I don’t take it lightly.

I write/post the most on Instagram (@kaitlyn_bouch) and within the private All The Things account, but there’s something different about an inbox, something more personal, intentional, invitational.

Truly, thank you. Those words are small, but I mean it. For reading, for every kind response, for sharing your own Good Things in the comments, and for supporting me through ATT/sharing posts with your people/picking up my book. Simply: Thank you for your kindness. It might sound strange, or maybe not since you know all sorts of whatnot about me if you’ve been here a while, but because of your comments and messages, when the same names and/or usernames show up time and again, I smile and think “Oh, Rebekah messaged!” (etc) as if I’m texting a friend.

Except that’s the thing. I am.

Writing online has looked a whole lot of ways over the last decade, but whether this is your first time to receive Thursday Things or you’ve been around since It Just Takes One or The Table (wowowow what throwbacks), there’s room at the table for you. (Had to. LOL.)

Grateful for you.

Running (or just, you know, living) shorts.

Birmingham has officially entered the it’s-90-degrees-every-day space (It’s May. Dear Lord, it’s only May.) and I’m trying to remind myself that I’ll miss this, I mean really really miss it, in August. From here until mid-October when the leaves start to THINK about changing (Fall in Birmingham tends to announce its true arrival around Thanksgiving), I’ll be wearing these on a regular rotation. They’re from good ol’ Walmart and cost all of eleven American dollars.

Between the designs from last summer and the new colors available now, I have five pairs. This, friends, is how I will survive months of 100+. And listen, I have Thoughts and Feelings about wearing shorts (see: the reel below for a sliver of what’s been a long-time thing). But I’m going to emphatically echo what Sophie Hudson said on The Big Boo Cast last week:

Wear the shorts.

You don't have to do more so that you can be less. You aren’t too much; you don’t need to shrink down or suck in. Your "summer body" is your right now body and it’s already good. 💛

Sparkling lemonade.

Another summer thing . . .

What I’m going to say is that the Trader Joe’s sparkling lemonade has a whole lot of sugar, so be warned, but also a glass of this with the good ice (looking at you, Chick-fil-A and Sonic) would be real good on a hot summer day. It’s bright and fizzy and a little goes a long way.

(Image source.)

The Sum of It All.

Life update: I’m now a fan of Ed Sheeran. To be clear, I didn’t have negative feelings before . . . I just didn’t really have any, you know? I sang along when his songs came on the radio and that was that.

Enter: a recommendation to watch the new four-part documentary on Disney+, titled The Sum of It All. (Episodes are about 30 minutes each.) I think it was originally meant to showcase the behind-the-scenes of preparing for a world tour and a new album, and it does—but it also ends up showing a person navigating the loss of his best friend and walking with his wife through a cancer diagnosis. It’s funny in parts, touching and emotional in others, impressive in a way and yet so human and personal. I respect how intentional he is to have his family and friends with him, or to quickly get home to his daughters, and while there are a million things we don’t know of course, the recommendation was a good one.

And then Audible went and blew my mind.

Am I the last one to know that there are thousands of free audiobooks on Audible?! I signed up for a free one-month trial thinking that would equal one free audiobook. One credit dropped into your account each month → books “cost” one credit → one audiobook before canceling my membership.

And I did that. I purchased a book with the April credit that I received in the free trial, listened to it while running errands and traveling for a quick day trip with a friend, and then discovered a whole new world.

Okay, that’s dramatic. But I’m not kidding when I say my mouth dropped open and I spent a solid half hour scrolling all the Audible books that don’t require any credits at all.

For whatever reason, I always thought the “choose from thousands of books” language meant you could use your credits on thousands of books. That’s true. BUT ALSO there’s a whole section of Audible that isn’t tied to credits whatsoever. As long as you have an active Audible account, they’re available for download any time—no credit required. What in the actual world?

I’ve talked about Hoopla and Libby before—two apps that work with local libraries to offer free audiobooks. You just sign in with your library card and check out the title! I listen to 1-3 on Hoopla every month, which is fantastic, but there are about 20 titles on my Want To Read list that aren’t in the Hoopla/library catalog. Almost all of them are on Audible, but I misunderstood it, thinking each one could be ‘purchased’ for a credit. AKA I’d have to pay for 20 months of credits to hear each one. Except come to find out that 14 don’t require any credits at all.

SIGN ME UP. I won’t keep it forever (literally put a reminder in my calendar to cancel in August), but I’ve decided this will be a little summer splurge for upcoming travel and listening while cleaning the apartment, walking the trail, etc. As I said to a fellow book-loving friend this week (who promptly joined Audible LOL), I’m paying $8 for a few months and will be able to hear a dozen+ books I wouldn’t have access to otherwise. Happy summer reading/listening to meeeeee!

If you’ve known about the no-credits-required section all along, you’re a genius and please tell me what audiobooks to add to my list!

If you had no idea,

1. Isn’t this fantastic?!

2. I did a little digging and found a code in my Amazon affiliate dashboard. This link should give you 30 days completely free. If you have any trips coming up, maybe wait until right before to begin the trial so you’re sure to have access while traveling!

Just for fun—because NINETY—on Saturday I’ll randomly select one comment on Thursday Things #90 and Venmo ya $8 so you can extend your trial (or membership) by a month.

Share a book recommendation, a Good Thing you recently discovered, what you’ve having for dinner, or literally just say “hi”—whatever! Here’s to 90 more. Thanks for being here!