Your hosts A some Qs and also have a little summer announcement.

In this episode, Lauren and Katie discuss The Gottman Institute's principles of "accepting your partner's influence" and "yielding to win." HEAD'S UP: Parts of this episode feature summery hum of our neighbors' lawn mowers (the day we recorded this episode was a real beaut...). We know it's a little distracting, sorry! We'll be back with some less noisy content next week.

This week your hosts tackle the research behind the advice "When in doubt, say 'yes, dear" and "Communication is key!" Recommendations: Voting for common sense gun laws. Netflix Movies: Wine Country & Always Be My Maybe

Your hosts consider the research on common marriage advice. Today we begin with "Never go to bed angry," and "Don't keep score."

Spousing: A pro-marriage podcast for the rest of us. Lauren is an elementary school teacher, queer lady and IPA enthusiast. Katie is a psychotherapist who never uses her inside voice. We're best friends, newly(ish) weds and totally would have been in separated for talking too much if we had been in grade school together. Drawing from personal experience, expert opinion, and conventional wisdom, we approach the gravitas of marriage with candor and levity. We take marriage seriously, ourselves not so much.

Birthdays, graduations, new jobs - when you have a lifelong partner, the list of things to celebrate is endless! How do you mark your partner's milestones? How can you manage the stress of expectations? In this episode, we explore the ups and downs of celebrating your spouse. Recommendations: Katie: American Housewife (ABC Sitcom) Lauren: 1. Keeping a list of your friend's recommendations. 2. Dirty Computer (album by Janelle Monae). 3. Know (album by Jason Mraz); 4. Cars with automatic car keys and push start buttons.

Spousing: A pro-marriage podcast for the rest of us. Lauren is an elementary school teacher, queer lady, and IPA enthusiast. Katie is a psychotherapist who never uses her inside voice. We're best friends, newly(ish) weds, and totally would have been separated for talking too much if we had been in grade school together. Drawing from personal experience, expert opinion, and conventional wisdom, we approach the gravitas of marriage with candor and levity. We take marriage seriously; ourselves not so much.

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." - Plato* In this exciting episode RECORDED IN KATIE'S KITCHEN; your hosts dig into the importance of play in relationships. Recommendations: Katie: Mark Manson article -https://markmanson.net/healthy-relationship-habits Lauren: Azul (board game) *Or at least POSSIBLY Plato... It's hard to accurately quote the Greeks.

As Katie's Floridian grandfather used to say, "Life is just waiting for another hurricane." This both was literally true for Katie's grandfather, and metaphorically true for all relationships. On today's episode, Lauren & Katie discuss how to be beacons of light--not rescue boats--for our spouses, and share survival stories from past metaphorical hurricanes. Silliness ensues.

Your hosts dig into some listener questions about date nights, what we like about each other's marriages and what we've learned from past relationships. Check out this artist for all your reproductive organ / body part art needs: https://designsbyduvetdays.com/shop/uterus-anatomy/