Design is so much more than paint colors and flooring. Design is all about creating the right atmosphere. Dave and I lived in our last house for over 10 years and never finished our master bedroom. It was always the room we said we'd get around to decorating - which we did, just in time to sell. Our bedroom was a catch all place for piles of stuff when we did the quick clean up before someone came over. We've committed to making our master bedroom one of the first rooms we decorate in the new house. One of my besties, who is a freelance designer, is on the podcast today sharing some tips for creating atmosphere in your master bedroom. For more design inspiration, check out https://www.instagram.com/neverstopcreating17

Life, Love, and Everything in Between

Creating Atmosphere

We all want to be happy in our relationship. One of the stumbling blocks of happiness is disappointment. No one wants to be disappointed in their partner, nor have their partner disappointed in them. Sometimes disappoint unintentionally creeps it's way into our lives.Dave has a theory: when expectations exceed reality, that's when disappointment sets in. In this episode we're talking about ways to navigate disappointment and possibly even prevent it from happening in the first place. The book referenced during this episode is Present over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living by Shauna Niequist

Navigating Disappointment in your Relationship

Change gets a bad reputation. Too often we think of change as a bad thing, when in reality it can be exciting and full of potential. We just need to shift our mindset.Don't think of change as starting over. Think of it as starting right where you're at, making a pivot, and walking in a different direction. Don't like where you end up? That's ok. Pivot again. Life is full of choices. That's one of the beauties of it. 

Making a Change

It was a dark and stormy night . . . isn't that how all love stories begin? In a way that's how ours began, well that and Starbucks coffee.Today we're sharing how we went from pilot/controller to husband/wife. Our wedding didn't go quite as planned . . . I never thought I'd marry the same man, twice. 

Where It All Began

Happy New Year and Happy New Decade!There are lots of exciting changes on the horizon for us. Today we're sitting down to reflect on 2019 and share our vision for 2020. Join our mailing list to stay in the know as we get closer to book publication! https://view.flodesk.com/pages/5d75403fcd8d73000fe2f7b0

Looking Ahead

I'm sitting in my closet recording this episode so the girls don't hear what I'm about to say.*Warning* I talk about Santa (aka Mommy).Last year our black lab Maggie passed away. Kennedie was her person. Those two were inseparable. It was hard on all of us, but especially hard on Kennedie. This year she asked Santa to bring Maggie back. It broke our hearts. Thanks to some amazing Instagram followers, I found this website that would make a stuffed animal that looked just like Maggie.https://www.mypetsies.com

The Best Christmas Present

Last year Dave came up with an idea to reach out to one of our friends who was in the middle of a divorce and invite them to Christmas dinner. Dave shares the story of his first Christmas after him and his first wife divorced. It was his first Christmas without Brendan (his son from his first marriage) and it was a tough Christmas to be alone. I've never been alone for the holidays. There was only one Christmas after I moved away from Alaska before I met Dave and we had our own family. That first Christmas in Vegas, my family had come down here for the holidays. I thought it was an awesome gesture and was happy to have him join in our Christmas dinner. In this episode we're diving into how a simple gesture can have the greatest impact.  

A Christmas Invitation

Today's episode sounds a little different. Dave's sitting this one out.If you follow me on social media, you know last week I had a full hysterectomy. I am a BRCA1 gene mutation carrier which puts me at a high risk for Breast and Ovarian Cancers. I'm recovering well and thought this week would be fitting for this episode.5 years ago I underwent a preventative double mastectomy. I didn't have a community of women who had to make the decision that I did. I silently struggled after my surgery. Through sharing my story, I've connected with amazing women at all different walks of their journeys. Today I'm sitting down with my friend and fellow BRCA1 previvor Amber. We're sharing our journeys from finding out we were carriers of the gene mutation, having the surgery, and what our physical, and emotional, healing looked like. This is a real and raw episode full of emotion. If you or someone you know is walking through the BRCA journey, we are here to support you. Please reach out to us. Ashley @ashley_callenAmber @funfitmama1

BRCA1: Making the hard decisions.

We're welcoming our friends, Erica and Bryce to the podcast! Erica and Bryce are high school sweethearts with an amazing Disney story to share that's sure to bring a smile to your face. There was a time in their marriage when Erica wanted Bryce to be a mind reader and unfortunately, Bryce . . .wasn't a mind reader. Together they came up with an almost-to-simple-to-be-true solution that's saved a lot of heartache and frustration in their marriage. Women, we're shining some light on how to get exactly what you need. Men, this is the episode you'll be saying yes! Do that!

Is it really that simple?

We're kicking off a series on communication. We've both spent the majority of our adult lives working in professions where we communicated for a living so you'd think we'd be great at it! Truth is, we're great talkers . . . not so great listeners!Turns out we speak very different love languages. Ashley is all about acts of service and Dave is Mr. Physical Touch. For years we weren't speaking each other's language, which lead to frustration and eye rolling. Do you know your love language? Do you know your partner's love language? Are you wondering how in the world you'd ever get them to take the test to find out? Today we're diving into that! Dave's sharing some advice on approaching the topic with your spouse.Find your love language here: https://www.5lovelanguages.com

Communication: Are we speaking the same language?

The first time we spoke at a conference we loved the conversations that continued well after our time was up. We love getting to know the stories of those sitting in the audience. The more conferences we spoke at, the more we began to wonder how we could increase our impact and that's when the idea of a podcast was born. As you'll learn in this episode, I (Ashley) have always been the dreamer. Sometimes my ideas are met with open arms and sometimes Dave gives me the side eye. He's always Mr. Realist. We're excited to share our debut episode and take you behind the scenes of how we went from just surviving marriage to a thriving marriage. 

How Did We Get Here?

The past decade of marriage hasn't always been easy for us. We've made it through some hard times and celebrated some great ones. We know it's possible to have a thriving marriage, even when it didn't start out that way. Each week we'll share the highs and lows of life, love, parenting, and really anything that's on our mind. We'll give you simple advice you can implement immediately to put your marriage first and avoid becoming a statistic.

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Life, Love, and Everything in Between

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