Things I've consumed and am loving this week.

Welcome to Things I've Consumed and Am Loving This Week - the now-regular series from the desk of Maddison Sullivan-Thorpe (that's me), sharing what's currently earning my attention. What's in my ears, what's in my wardrobe (and occasionally, what's in my cart). Beauty, fashion, podcasts, books, and the campaigns I can't stop thinking about. Your weekly edit of the internet, minus the scroll. No gatekeeping here.

Go-To Layering Staple
I have spoken before on my Substack about the sheer dread I feel when I hear the term ‘jeans and a nice top’. Alas, this isn’t really one of those tops. Instead it’s the kind of select workhorse that sits in your transeasonal wardrobe and serves as the silent hero while your coats and jackets greedily collect all the compliments. Time has taught me that investing in quality layering basics is short term pain for long term gain. I am a 100% merino loyalist when it comes to winter layering pieces and have multiple long sleeves from them (namely this one), but was glad to see a reimagined cut with a subtle v-neck. An immediate yes! Is it my sexiest rec? No. But it’s a useful one.

Emma Grede’s Aspire Interview with Sara and Erin Foster
Emma Grede’s, Aspire podcast is on heavy rotation for me, but this episode is a standout. So much so that I’ve taken it upon myself to text it to five separate girlfriends with a strongly worded “listen to this immediately, if not sooner”, because I know it will resonate with a lot of them the same way it did for me. I can already tell it’s the kind of episode I’ll come back to when I need to re-centre myself.

There were a lot of takeaways. Not quite the famous parents, or the view from a family that had the connections that opened doors for them - because mine couldn’t, and didn’t - but rather the tenacity and outlook of Erin and Sara Foster. They talk a lot about the tie between being authentically themselves and speaking freely and truthfully, and Emma lands on exactly why it works - people are drawn to people who tell the truth. People who don’t sugar-coat things, who hand over the information without gatekeeping.

Their honesty has morphed into a personal brand - albeit, at times, a divisive one. They put it best, “people are addicted to being mad on the internet.” I’m inclined to agree. Spend long enough on one side of the algorithm and you’re sipping from the venomous cup of the pile-on. There’s a fine line between drinking from the chalice of hate and simply being in the zeitgeist, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them dissect it. They nod a lot to the tightrope of being true to those who resonate with them and copping the brunt of those who don’t.

Which takes me to my next point. They spend as much time talking through their failures as they do their now rather esteemed success. It all blends together into a beautiful tapestry and a reminder that not every season is in bloom.

Erin has endured twenty rounds of IVF. I use the word endured very deliberately, because it is a sort of hell on earth, and for those who’ve done it more than once, it very quickly becomes part of your life. You seem to become more comfortable in the heat of hell.

I resonated with every part of Erin, she felt like the more articulate, American version of myself. It was exactly what I needed to hear right now, sitting on the other side of my seventh stim cycle. Someone else’s journey quietly holding a mirror up to your own and really being able to sit in the happiness and success for others without giving it any weight or envy to your own situation. GAH. I loved it all.

Learning to be happy without the thing. I think this part of the conversation will resonate with anyone missing or yearning for something they’re fearful may never happen - the dream job, the partner, the baby, the house, whatever it may be. It really is a reminder that the thing cannot, and should not, be the determiner of your happiness. Yes, there’s a thing you want. Yes, you might never get it. Are you going to let that stop you from having a good life? Erin has the self-awareness of someone who has decided that hard things can be true without becoming an identity.

When I entered my most recent stim cycle, a lot of people who love me were worried it would bring a lot of PTSD back to the surface. Sure, elements of it did - I’ve done stim cycles through very different phases of my life, some lovely, and some on the inverse end of that spectrum. But the beautiful thing about being 31, with some maturity finally built in, is that I don’t sit here and define myself by the seven rounds. I am not defined by my worst experiences or my hardest times. When Erin said she does not want her story to be twenty rounds of IVF, I felt it deeply and breathed a sigh of relief - because I think, deep down, I feared this round would make me feel the way I did in my early twenties. It didn’t. It made me feel resilient and capable, and it was nice to get a subtle, gentle kick from complete stranger Erin Foster. The hard thing can just be a thing, we don’t need to lean on the story that victimises us. We can let it join the tapestry, part of a much bigger picture.

I don’t think I’ll recommend many things as strongly as I’m recommending this episode. For anyone in business, anyone in their late twenties or early thirties still defining their own concept of success, anyone interested in personal branding, for those wrestling with abundance versus scarcity mindset, or anyone who has charted the IVF waters - this one is for you. (So yes, basically anyone with two feet and a heartbeat!)

Discount Queen Still Reigns
I may have renamed this Substack to better reflect what it is, but the Ghost of Sales Fairy shall always remain. Some killer sale finds for the week below, they’re all outerwear, all over 50% off and all range from $90-$300, while their original price tags read north of $1k - all images have the links. Everything I love as always saved here.