All Things Cozy

More About All Things Cozy

Host Matt and Jillian describe their show like this: It’s a biweekly podcast about all things cozy, light, ascended candles. Curl up with a mug of coffee and join us every other Sunday for a new episode. The length of each episode is between 45 minutes to an hour. This series is ongoing with new episodes available every other Sunday. 

FPG Guide to Kid Podcasts

One of my favorite parenting tools is Kid podcasts. I use them when I’m running errands with the kids to keep them from complaining the whole time. Or when we’re going on a road trip and I want the littles to stay entertained so I don’t have to hear the dreaded, are we there yet? Question A million times.  I know that Kid Podcasts would help you in your life too, which is why I made a Guide to Kid podcasts. There are eight different categories ranging from science to mindfulness to audio drama with at least three different podcasts in each category. There are 27 different podcasts in total. I’ve listened to each of the podcasts on this guide so I can attest to them being kid friendly, and I put my email at the bottom of the guide so that if you try a couple with your kids and none of them are a good fit, you can email me and I will personally help you find a kid podcast that works for your kids and you, you can grab this guide at the link in the show notes.

Introduction to Matt and Jillian

My name is Jillian. I’m Matt’s longtime friend, . This is the first thing I say about myself.  I’m only Matt’s friend. But I am an editor. At an entertainment website, and I live in Los Angeles with my two cats, Reese’s and Snickers, and I have a partner and I’m originally from Long Island, if you can’t hear it already. So that’s pretty much all about me. I’ll kick it to Matt.  Well, hi, I’m Matt and I am also Jillian’s  longtime friend. And we actually met teaching together in Baltimore. That’s, that’s the, our origin story, and we hit it off and we’ve been friends ever since. We now both live in Los Angeles where we do the podcast. And I’m an educator and I’m an avid reader of cozy mystery novels.

The great thing about cozy mysteries is that they are light on murder. It’s like it’s there, but it’s really there and it’s high on high jinx and just general coziness, which is why I love them so much and why they’re a huge part of our show as well. 

How All Things Cozy Got Started 

We started the podcast in Los Angeles. I was just finishing up a podcast I did with my friend called After Smash, which was about the NBC musical com drama, not comedy, cool smash. It’s, if you know it, you love it, and if you don’t, you’re fine . It is, it is kind of insane if you do wanna check it out.  It’s always great to find another Smash fan. And so I, that was my podcast book and I was like, I wanna do more of this. And as you know, I love reading cozy Mystery novels and so I was like, what if I did a podcast where I could read Cozy Mysteries and talk about them, but my other podcast that was about something so specific ended and I was like, I want it to be longer than something that just ends when the show I’m reviewing ends.

So I reached out to Jillian and I was like, “Hey, would you be down to just doing a show with me? That’s generally about cozy stuff.” And she was a part of that process too, of defining like and broadening the scope of what the show is about. So that was like literally the reason we started the podcast was a hunch on, hey, what if we just started a show about cozy things. I love that. Yeah. And I think for me, I’m pretty much a yes person. I, I like to say yes, . And the, the main thing that was motivating for me is that I got to spend more time with Matt. And we always have the Coziest times or friendship is very cozy. So if some, you know, someone else came up to me and said, Hey, you wanna start a cozy podcast?  I might have to think about it. Cause I think you need that, coz. Vibe that bond and that’s what makes our. What it is truly love the listeners comment and say, one of the fair fear things is our, our friendship, so there wouldn’t be the coziness of our show about our cozy friendship.

What to Expect from All Things Cozy

I would say I would want them to get a small piece of relaxation, whether that’s a new tip for a scented candle. We review a scented candle every episode, which if you just tune in to listen to us, try to describe ascent via podcast form.  Or you know, just laughing at us being clowns. . Another reason we made the show was because so much of what was out in the media landscape was snarky or really was designed to talk about things and tear it down. And we wanted to make a show that was positive and we actually liked the stuff we talked about and people came away feeling better about the world and not like everyone was just picking everything apart negatively and everything we talk about in the show we really sincerely enjoy or are curious about, and we hope that our listeners discover those things alongside of us. 

Around that time I felt like I was listening to a lot of shows or experiencing a lot of shows that were kind.  Entertainment Podcasts or, you know, TV shows that were really just people like Talking Heads, tearing down, like whatever that was like making fun of it. And I was starting to get, actually this came out of talking about Smash, that show, which started kind of in a similar vein, but by the end we had talked to so many of the filmmakers and the actors who, and, and the fans who genuinely love it, even for, even despite all of its flaws.

I realized that snark was not the way that, we just have to earnestly love things and own it and not feel embarrassed about it. That’s awesome. I want that on a bumper sticker. Snark is not the way I love. Oh, that’s a new mug idea, Matt. So for, for me, what I love about our podcast is the community that our listeners can get out of it.

We have a Facebook group and it is, Over. It’s just spilling over with cozy tips, sharing things about them, their life and their family, or their decorations, or whether they’re going through a hard time, a great time. They actually have a card. Was it a holiday card thing going on, Matt, where there’s card exchange. And sometimes when I wake up, I’m just having a bad day or a bad moment. I’m just so anchored by the folks that we’ve met and the friends that they make. Like I sincerely say that. I can list off a bunch of people that I consider now friends even they’re, they’re virtual friends. I never met them. Well, we’ve met one of them in person. Hope to meet some more in person. Sorry, two people. . I gotta make sure I get it right. Get it right. Jillian, two people. And it was a lovely experience. And so that’s, that’s really what I hope people get out of it. Of course, you know, if the community’s not their thing. We have a lot of introverts. That’s fine too. But it seems that the majority of our folks want to connect with others and share and be earnest about the things that they, they love, which is true for us too. That is one of my favorite parts about podcasts is the community that’s behind.

We’re really lucky. Our, our listeners are amazing. We have a lot of parents in our, in our, your fans too. Well, I would assume that a lot of parents like coziness, we need, we need something that’s relaxing, right?

The Vibe of All Things Cozy

I would say cozy, . . Yes. Silly. I think a little silly, certainly. We definitely embarrass ourselves a lot on the show, whether it’s our ridiculous baking, we try, we keep coming back to baking and neither of us are free at it, but we both enjoy doing and really enjoy talking about it even more than doing it. I would say cuz I love hearing about Jillian’s baking. It’s always I, the things that she does to food, she always says like that, indescribable. But, I would also say earnest as well. I think, now we’re, we’re genuine about what we talk about.

Yeah. Genuine’s a good word. Honest. Our anecdotes, even if they don’t paint us in the best light, they’re embarrassing. We share them. Sometimes we have noise in the back of me. My cat’s jumping on my head. Who knows? Oh, I think also, yeah, just a lot of love is the vibe of our show too. Those words are such a wonderful combination.

Where to Find All Things Cozy

We’re on Apple Podcasts, you know, Spotify, Google, all, all those things.  Stitcher. And you can find us on social media at All Things Cozy podcast on Instagram and on Facebook, where you can also find our Facebook group by the same name, All Things Cozy podcast. We also have Patreon as well for those who wanna support. . 

Jillian’s Favorite Episode

I think it’s. Well, I won’t say my favorite episode, but I’ll say the type. And so when we’re making something, not necessarily food, but when we go on a craft excursion, so we had like a di I d I y Valentine’s, it’s one of the episodes that we, we did anytime  where we’re waiting into creating. So we had a science experiment episode, and I think Matt’s husband joked this when we’re jumping the shark, and perhaps so, but it was, it was, it was fun, it was ridiculous. So I like hearing what Matt came up with when we, when we do those kinds of episodes. And of course there’s always you know, laughable moments and where it went wrong, but also it, it’s just very childlike and fun and, and that’s cozy to getting to work with your, with your hands and, and try and experiment, and be creative in ways that I don’t typically get to do in my day-to-day. Yeah, that, thank you.

Matt’s Favorite Episode

For me, my favorite episode was when I got to talk to my favorite cozy mystery author of all time. Oh, it started at Beat A Dead Horse. I’m going back to the Cozy Mysteries, but Leslie Meyer is a cozy mystery author, and she was the person who got me into the genre when I found her book at a Barnes and Noble, like on a hall, she does holiday mysteries. And it was Halloween time and there was a jackline on this mystery read. I was like, I had to, I had to read it. It was just calling to me and it pulled me into this whole genre.  And to get to sit down and talk to her about her craft and her garden was incredible. It was a. It was a dream come true. 

All Things Cozy & Little Ears

A hundred percent I would say. So. We don’t say any bad words. There’s no cursing on our show. I’m very clear not about that. If a guest makes that mistake, I cut it out.  No naughty talk. No potty talk. I feel like there might be some like silly innuendo sometimes, but generally speaking, I’m aware that my niece listens to my show, so. And she’s in middle school, so I’m very aware that kids listen.