Try-Hard Valley

Graham Gilbert has already been a TV star, an interior-design wunderkind, a Make-A-Wish playhouse designer, an actor, an improv performer, and the almost-star of a potential HGTV show that was derailed by COVID.

Now he’s heading to the Land of Lincoln to start the next chapter. We talk theater, college, figuring out what you want from life, and why keeping lots of doors open is a good plan.

Also, I added a bell 🔔 to the epis...

After a brief hiatus, Try-Hard Valley is back! Carrie and Yael sit down for a proper catch-up.

Carrie talks about what happened after her hysterectomy, including the bizarre anesthesia-induced hallucination that somehow turned into an entire puppet show starring a robotic Ross Perot. (Yes, really.)

Meanwhile, Yael has been traveling in the August heat, schvitzing her way through Fresno and Las Vegas.

We’re back, baby! Hopefull...

After a quick health update from Carrie, Yael welcomes one of the most quietly impressive people we’ve met: Chad Kawahara.

Chad’s résumé is almost comically stacked. He grew up playing junior tennis alongside Pete Sampras and Lindsay Davenport, won NCAA championships at USC, attended Harvard Law School, helped rewrite part of NAFTA while working at FedEx, and somehow found his way back to the sport he loves as a coach an...

This week on Try-Hard Valley:🤖 Carrie prepares for a robotic hysterectomy… and a uterus retirement party.🥒 Yael gets jalapeño hands.💪 We meet Andrew Hamel, owner of Pleasanton’s Prodigy Fitness, who reminds us that everyone can get stronger.

“People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.” That philosophy has shaped the culture Andrew Hamel has built at Pleasanton’s Prodigy F...

In this episode, Yael sits down with her sister, Shiera: government affairs specialist, tennis ace, and the person most likely to lovingly call Yael out on absolutely everything.

They chat about:

* Growing up together and staying close despite living in different countries

* Cooking catastrophes (including fire alarms and garlic powder gone wrong)

* Competitive tennis, the Maccabiah Games (aka “the Jew Olympics”), and why p...

It’s the halfway point of the year, so Yael and Carrie are taking stock of the podcast and revisiting the reasons they started Try-Hard Valley in the first place.

Along the way, they discuss Adriatic cruise ports, the male loneliness epidemic, aging out of tech, aging into senior living, parasocial relationships, podcast success, and Carrie’s ongoing campaign to get Randy Johnson to return her Instagram messages.

Livermor...

This week on Try-Hard Valley, Yael prepares for her Adriatic adventures and Carrie wonders if her running career has one more chapter left.

Then Carrie sits down with one of her favorite writers and longest-running intellectual crushes, author and perfume critic Tania Sanchez.

Tania. Sacramento. Extended Stay America. Canned vodka mule. The glamour is subtle.

Tania shares the unlikely story of how a finance writer from New York became...

This week on Try-Hard Valley:

* There’s something growing in Carrie’s uterus (NOT the Messiah)

* Yael explains her two names situation (again… for your/Carrie’s edification)

* Airplane turbulence coping mechanisms

* Carrie invents a new “Melan-Choli-Day™” and realizes the podcast is an attempt to communicate with her dead mom

* Audio that intermittently sounds like a hostage tape recorded inside an ...

Aloha from Maui!

This week’s episode comes to you from Wailuku, Hawaii, specifically from the home of my delightful friend Sherri Ann Dante, and even more specifically from the sweet spot just after happy hour.

We also debut brand-new theme intro and outro music by my friend Beanpole, whose album All My Kin deserves your ears immediately.

Then things get complicated.

Our first-ever remote interview with my beloved cohost Yael Stu...

They say “try hard” like it’s an insult. Around here, it’s a lifestyle. Welcome to Try-Hard Valley.

This week’s episode has it all: 🎭 A dramatic reading from The Music Man (you’re welcome) ⚕️ A candid convo about a prolapsed uterus 🧘‍♀️ Pelvic floor mantras you didn’t know you needed ✈️ European travel plans, e-bikes, and scary cycling stories 📚 A heartfelt reunion with a beloved high sch...

In this episode of Try Hard Valley, we’re joined by Kevin Kuhlow, executive coach and licensed drug and alcohol counselor, who works with high-performing men navigating stress, identity, and major life transitions.

We talk about:

* Alcohol, stress, and coping mechanisms

* Rebuilding your life from the inside out (brain, body, purpose)

* Kevin and Yael’s second date, featuring light spanking

* Why Kevin loves the Miami Dolphi...

There are two kinds of breaking news in this episode:

* Michigan wins the national championship.

* My husband gets laid off.

So naturally, we process it the only way we know how:By singing a 19th-century fight song, letting the cat in, and unpacking a corporate layoff that affected roughly 30,000 people. Ya know… like… normal podcast stuff.

This episode has everything:

* A passionate defense of The Victors as the greatest ...

In this episode, I:

- Demand answers from my mysterious Japanese audience (respectfully)

- Attempt to become “swims before work girl” (thwarted by Big Goggle)

- Pitch a new podcast: Ear Candy with Randy and Andy

- Reflect on bombing at a winery and then… doubling down

- And come to a life-changing realization:

I am not a strawberry. I am a Kalamata olive.

In this debut episode, I introduce you to the Tri-Valley corner of the San Francisco Bay Area and explain the top ten reasons this podcast had to exist—whether the world asked for it or not.

Along the way, we’ll cover:

• Why “try-hard” should be a compliment, not an insult• The strange comfort of parasocial relationships with podcast hosts—and their dearly departed pets• Tri-Valley grocery stores that ar...