The Bittersweet Life

Latest Episodes:

Bittersweet Moment #41: MORE SNOW Jan 23, 2020

Show notes

Michigan, Minnesota, Montana... oh my!

Katy's sister and father have lived, respectively, in some of the snowiest places in the US. What do they think about the snow nostalgia that plagues so much of the non-snowy world?

Do they agree with the theory that people who are "dreaming of a white Christmas" or joyfully singing "Let it Snow" are actually people who've never had to deal with the grim reality of constant snow? Tune in to find out.

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NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Episode 297: SNOW Jan 20, 2020

Show notes

Most people either love snow or hate it. How much of that depends on where you live and how much snow you see in a typical year?

Or maybe our love of snow is determined by how much it gets in the way of our day-to-day lives?

A recent snowstorm hitting Seattle—a city that doesn't see snow often and is ill-equipped to handle it—inspired this episode that looks at the fluffy white stuff, and why people feel so differently about it.

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ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.

BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Bittersweet Moment #40: TRAVELING TO WRITE (with Jess Walter) Jan 15, 2020

Show notes

There's nothing like curling up in your favorite armchair and traveling the world via an amazing book. But what about when the shoe is on the other foot? What about the writers who must craft stories that bring these exotic cities and countries to life? How do they go about it?

On this week's mini-episode, Katy interviews Jess Walter, best-selling author of Beautiful Ruins and We Live in Water: Stories, about how travel influences his writing, whether its Italy's famed Cinque Terre or his own hometown of Spokane, Washington. He also explains why the memoir of Gabriel Garcia Marquez has him dreaming of a trip to Bogota, Colombia, and shares a sneak peek of his forthcoming book, The Cold Millions.

Find Jess at on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or at his website.

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ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.

BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Episode 296: READING (with Nancy Pearl) Jan 13, 2020

Show notes

Most book-lovers would agree that reading is the best way to travel without leaving the comfort of your favorite armchair.

This week, Katy sits down with librarian and world-famous book expert Nancy Pearl to discuss what makes a book a great armchair travel read, as opposed to simply a book set in an unfamiliar place.

Listen all the way to the end to hear Nancy's scandalous and controversial strategy for dealing with the weight of too many books while traveling. Also, discover the one setting Katy avoids when it comes to travel reads.

Nancy Pearl's top armchair reads:

Non-fiction:

The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux

Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown by Paul Theroux

Between Terror and Tourism by Michael Mewshaw

The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey by Rinker Buck

Fiction:

The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Woman who Lost Her Soul by Bob Shacochis

The Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macaulay

Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernieres

The Raj Quartet by Paul Scott

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ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.

BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

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Bittersweet Moment #39: ROMAN RESOLUTIONS Jan 09, 2020

Show notes

So you set yourself a bunch of New Year's resolutions and now you're on your way to Rome. How in the world are you going to keep them? Do you even want to try?

Well, we've got good news for you! This week's mini-episode is all about how to keep your New Year's Resolutions while in Rome! Want to save money? Eat healthy? Get active? Learn a new language? You've come to the right place.

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ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.

BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Episode 295: VENTI VENTI Jan 06, 2020

Show notes

What are your resolutions this year? And did you get your resolutions done last year?

We start every year with our Resolutions episode, where we look back on last year's accomplishments (or non-accomplishments, as the case may be), and look ahead with ambition (if you're Tiffany) or playfulness and curiosity (if you're Katy) to what we want to do or change in the year ahead.

Tune in to find out if we managed to stick with last year's resolutions and to discover what goals we've set for ourselves this year.

And we want to hear from you! Send in your own resolutions by voice memo or email here, or tell us via social media. We're on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. (Catch up with us there to see some photos of last year's resolutions!)

Listen to the interview with Nancy Pearl that Katy mentions here: Episode 76: BOOKS.

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ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.

BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Episode 294: SHAKESPEARE Dec 30, 2019

Show notes

What did Shakespeare think about his own mortality? Is it possible to discern how he felt about death from his writing? We explore the intersection of art and death in this special presentation of the pilot to non-starter podcast In Black Ink that Katy created years before The Bittersweet Life. In it, she talks with Richard E. T. White and Amy Thone, both veteran Shakespearean actors, directors, and professors at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle.

They end the episode with a deep dive into Sonnet 65.

What do you think of the show? We're curious. Let us know!

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ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.

BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Episode 293: HOLIDAY MAGIC Dec 23, 2019

Show notes

Has Christmas lost its magic now that you're all grown up? Katy and Tiffany brainstorm ways to bring that holiday magic back even if you don't believe in Santa anymore. Katy tells the story of the time she played Santa's secret helper to someone she barely knew and they muse on those magical moments when heaven and earth seem closer than usual.

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ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.

BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Bittersweet Moment #38 COCKTAILS Dec 19, 2019

Show notes

Who doesn't love a good cocktail, especially around the holidays?

On this week's Bittersweet Moment, Katy revisits Monday's episode and her interview with author Adrienne Brodeur to discover her mother's secret for making amazing cocktails, especially her signature Manhattan.

Katy also shares a creative game she likes to play with her favorite Seattle bartender, Daniel.

Grab a shaker and some ice and tune in.

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ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.

BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Episode 292: WILD GAME (with Adrienne Brodeur) Dec 16, 2019

Show notes

Can you keep a secret? Author Adrienne Brodeur was asked to keep an explosive secret at just fourteen years old when her mother confided in her about her extramarital affair. From that moment on, Adrienne's life changed; her innocent childhood was over, and her new life of secrets, lies, and drama began.

Today Adrienne joins us for a thoughtful and intimate interview. She discusses her newly released memoir, Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me, in which she tells this extraordinary story. She also explores the challenges of writing memoir, and how perspective, persuasion, and longing all shape how you remember events. She also points out that sometimes, to tell your story well, you have to distance yourself from your own narrative.

Find Adrienne Brodeur on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, or at her website. Pick up a copy of her book here.

**We'll be giving away three copies of Wild Game, so follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to see how you can win.**

This episode was recorded at Town Hall Seattle.

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ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started.

BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

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