An Uncluttered Life

Treating your relationship like a lab rat isn't as weird as it sounds. You track what happens, learn from your mistakes, and improve over time. As nerdy as it sounds, you can improve your chances at love by paying attention to what you're doing right in the quest for love...and what you're doing wrong. In today's episode, we start by revealing some of our more geeky relationship rules, lessons we've learned through trial and error: Our annual love contract Why we ask the hard questions of each other BEFORE the shit hits the fan How we used a pen and paper to save our marriage

Episode 70 comes to you from the sunny Andalucia region of Spain. Today we’re talking about the 6-week Romance Experiment - what it is, how it worked, and how you can get in on the action. What a fantastic adventure through Europe. For 6 weeks we traveled through Europe exploring romance in a variety of locations and ways to keep the spark alive in our relationship. In this episode we share what we loved the most and how important this journey was to help us reconnect as partners. Plus, we introduce our Romance Bucket which you can use to inject a bit more romance in your relationships. You can download the list of 52 romantic ideas, one for each week of the year, by signing up to our newsletter list. It's a fun show highlighting romantic adventures to help spark ideas to do with your mate.   

Episode 69 was recorded in live on a farm in Belgium. Today we're talking to a couple who went from the city life to the farm life without ever having even owned a pet before. Embarking on a big dream together requires a strong commitment to each other and a serious amount of communication. We're chatting about big life changes today and how one makes the leap from corporate life to stepping off the "standard path". It is a fun episode filled with cheese, and pigs, and baby goats...oh my. This is fun show for all of you who are dreaming of a new life or simply love the idea of going after something completely different.   

Episode 68 comes to you from sunny Madrid, Spain. Today we're addressing the question we get all the time: How do you find someone to follow your dreams with you? You're going to love today's unconventional guest, and you’ll want to listen through to the end to find out how to win one of 3 copies of his new book. How else are you gonna find other freaks if you don't out yourself as a freak? This is one of the key lessons we talk about in this episode, the importance of sharing your interests with others. We dive into how you can find people who share your passions and, ultimately, that big dream you have brewing in your mind.

Episode #67 comes to you from the waffle center of the world, Brussels, Belgium. Today we're talking to a couple who's relationship has survived and thrived in the midst of a life-changing trauma. Let's face it, the odds are that most of us will encounter illness or injury in our lives, and the odds go up as we get older. Besides staying as healthy as we possibly can, how can we insure that our relationships are strong enough to weather whatever comes our way? Today's interview is a refreshing and powerful look at how a couple can choose to handle a significant trauma together. You'll hear just a little background noise toward the end as Rachelle and Chris's dogs Peaty and Roger sneak into the interview with their favorite chew toys.

Episode 66 comes to you from the quaint village of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany.  Today we're talking about strong women and their nice guy partners. How do they learn to move toward the middle to get more pleasure and enjoyment in the relationship? Are you a nice guy partnered who wishes his partner didn't always try to run the show? Or an outspoken woman who wishes her partner would take charge sometimes? Todays' guest is going to show us how to equalize this scenario – especially in the bedroom – to get more pleasure without compromising who you are.

In this week's podcast, we talk about our visit to a Viennese sex product store (and how it weirdly looks like an Apple store). Why did we do it and what did we learn about each other? Well, you'll have to listen in. We're in Vienna right now as part of our International Love Affair tour, celebrating the release of our fourth book, Married with Luggage: What We Learned About Love by Traveling the World.  Vienna is magical, and we could easily imagine ourselves living in this gorgeous city. But back to the topic at hand. To expand on the topic of sex and intimacy in a long-term relationship, we're talking today with Janet W. Hardy, coauthor of the landmark book, The Ethical Slut: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships and Other Adventures. Even if you're not interested in adding more people to your relationship, you will learn a lot about communication, boundaries, and the expansion of love for your own monogamous relationship. We certainly did!

Episode 64 comes to you from scenic Lucerne, Switzerland. Today we’re talking about how to have a quickie audit of your relationship if you aren’t quite ready for an all-out love contract negotiation. First we want to update you on the International Love Affair, our tour of 10 cities in Europe by train (thanks, Eurail.com!). We’re sussing out the best love stories as we go through our own Romance Bucket List in honor of our new book, Married with Luggage: What We Learned About Love by Traveling the World. We’ve now visited Valencia, Spain; the Provence region of France; Florence, Italy; and now Lucerne, Switzerland. On today’s show we have a celebrity wedding plus our own take on love Italian style. Today’s interview is with a couple who’s known for getting to the heart of the matter, breaking it down into something doable and repeatable, and then moving on to the next big thing. They turned their attention to our annual love contract negotiation, and you’ll like what they share about this “quickie” that you’

Episode 63 comes to you from historic Florence, Italy. Today we’re chatting about what it's like to turn that hot love affair from your vacation into a lifelong partnership. We travel for romance, we travel for architecture, and we travel to be lost.” ~ Ray Bradbury Have you ever imagined falling in love with an exotic stranger while on a trip? Today's guests did just that, and we'll find out how they went from a fling to a wedding and what it's like to be married to someone who grew up speaking a different language. But first, we update you on the International Love Affair, our tour of 10 cities in Europe by train (thanks, Eurail.com!). We're sussing out the best love stories as we go through our own Romance Bucket List in honor of our new book, Married with Luggage: What We Learned About Love by Traveling the World.

Why in the heck are we taking a 6-week tour of Europe by train? Because it is just about the most romantic thing we can think of doing to celebrate the release of our book, Married with Luggage: What We Learned About Love by Traveling the World (you have read it, right?) In today's show, we'll share the itinerary (which includes George Clooney, a sex hotel, and pasta – though not necessarily at the same time). We also reveal what we're looking for during this journey and which one of us is the most romantic (you've probably already guessed which one it is). You also get to hear a few of our "bucket list" romantic experiences for the journey.

So why do child-free couples hate kids so much? KIDDING!  We don't hate kids, but there are some very well-thought-out reasons why we choose not to have them. Parenthood should be a pretty conscious choice, don't you think? We've always known that we didn't want to have children, but not every childless-by-choice couple comes to it that way, which is why you're going to find today's chat so interesting.

Episode #60 comes to you from sunny Andalusia, Spain. Have you ever wondered if your relationship would improve if you lived in separate houses? Today we'll talk to a couple who did just that…and saved their marriage! Absence makes the heart grow fonder." Lots of people tell us they can't imagine our life of constant togetherness as we live, travel, and work together around the world. That might be true, but let's imagine the opposite. Can you imagine maintaining your relationship while living in separate houses? Many couples do this for practical reasons, like work, but we're talking to a couple today who did it to save their marriage. After 23 years Lise and her husband were headed for a divorce when they decided to make a last-ditch attempt to make it work. Seven years later, they're still going strong with two separate house keys. You can learn more about her story and her book, as well as enjoy links to articles, interviews and TV spots, on her website: www.lisestrykerstoessel.com. Want to hear how they

Today is our 10th wedding anniversary and we're sharing some big news with you. In this episode were talking about our annual love contract (as outlined in Episode #7), launching our 4th book (Married with Luggage: What We Learned About Love by Traveling the World), and announcing our European book tour. We share insights on how it feels to make it to this milestone, one neither of us expected to reach. We share our candid thoughts about the ups and downs along the way and the love we feel for each other now as we enter a new decade together. Plus, we are giving you a chance to win your very own European holiday. This is our biggest giveaway yet and you won't want to miss your chance to engage. Here is a link to jump straight to contest details: http://www.marriedwithluggage.com/contest.

Episode 57 comes to you from the sunny Andalucia region of Spain. Today we're talking about how to climb out of a sexual valley in a long-term relationship. It's gonna get spicy! We admit that we blushed often during this show, but know how important it is to share so we're anxious to put this one out there. This is our most raw show yet so if you are concerned with the details you may want to skip this episode. You may find out more about us than you want to know. Today's episode is our first, but certainly not last, time to dive into the realm of sexual intimacy. It's an important topic in any relationship, especially for long-term couples who may find their desire dropping and are seeking that "spark" to get things going again. Our delightful guide and guest for this show is Cecilie Kjensli, a top sex educator and speaker in Norway with a mission to make sex enjoyable throughout your life. Cecilie has been dubbed the "Dildo Queen of Norway" and is a sex inspirationist providing aide to couples to improve t

Episode 56 comes to you from sunny Andalucia, Spain. In fact, it comes to you from the studio of our new Spanish casa, which is the subject of today's show: What it's like to buy a house in Spain. From why we did it to how we did it and the joys and mishaps that happened along the way, find out why we came to Spain to house sit and ended up buying a house of our own. Does this mean the travel has stopped? Hell no! I mean, stay tuned to find out!

Episode 55 comes to you from the Andalucia region of Spain. We're talking about romance and writing this week. We share how we almost wrote our own romance novel, but decided instead to share our story. We give you a glimpse into our upcoming book (Married with Luggage: What We Learned About Love by Traveling the World) and how it came to be. What would it be like to be married to a romance writer? Today we get the scoop from a best-selling author and her husband. We're chatting with best-selling author Melissa Foster and her husband Les to learn how they bring romance from the pages of her books to their bedroom. Or is it the other way around? Find out more about Melissa's books at MelissaFoster.com. We dive into this and more in this sexy episode.

You love 'em and you hate 'em, sometimes in the very same moment. We all know opposites attract, but how do you keep it together when you're just so very different? If you are a creative in love with a logical mind, or you can't understand why your mate doesn't see the world the way you do, then this episode is for you. We're joined today by Corbett Barr and his wife Jessalyn Haggenjos. Corbett is the founder of Fizzle.co, one of the most successful online business training sites on the internet. Jessalyn is an accomplished artist who prefers a canvas to a spreadsheet. Discover more about her and her amazing art at haggenjos.com. They share their strategies for honoring each other's thinking patterns and working around the deficits. This is an honest conversation about a real relationship, and you'll love the insights they share about how they've learned to make it work better.

Episode 53 comes to you from chilly and beautiful Oslo, Norway. Today we’re talking about the power of questioning the norm. Prepare to be challenged. In this episode we’re talking about changing our attitudes towards commonly accepted “truths” and dispelling the notion about what we “need” to be happy. Robert Wall used to be a packrat before he discovered minimalism. He publishes the Untitled Minimalism website and podcast, which gives practical, solid advice to enable starving college students, middle class paper pushers, retired millionaires, and everybody in-between to accomplish extraordinary changes in their lives. You can find out more at UntitledMinimalism.com. His latest book is Escaping “GiftMas”: Getting Right-Side-Up About Gifts In An Upside-Down Holiday Culture.

Today we celebrate the 1 year anniversary of this podcast. Episode 52 comes to you from the Andalucia region of Spain. Today we're talking being comfortable and proud of who you are. In this episode we're diving inside all of us to talk about what makes us each beautiful. What is it in you that makes you a beautiful person and what do you have to offer the world. We challenge the notion that external beauty defines us and discuss how we can all feel more comfortable in our own skin and with the world around us. We're honored to be joined this week by Denise Jolly, the co-host and facilitator of the Seattle Poetry Slam and Poetry Curator for The Round a live multidisciplinary collaborative arts show. Denise's latest project is Be Beautiful, where for 30 days she photographed her 311-pound self in a nearly naked state, often in public, and posted them on the internet. To view the 30 days of pictures and watch clips of Denise's fantastic spoken word poetry, check out her website at www.denisejollyspoken.com. If