Patience is an interesting concept. Children struggle to be patient when it comes to sharing toys or waiting for Christmas morning.  Adults struggle to be patient with children and each other. It’s not something you magically achieve with age.  Everyone is tested a little differently in this category.  Some people are naturally more patient than others and but everyone is tried by one thing or another.  So what really pushes your patience button? More importantly, do know where the patience button on your spouse is located? She Said:  I think I am a reasonably patient person.  I enjoyed …

Is it just us, or is spring cleaning the worst way to celebrate nice weather?  “It’s gorgeous out honey, so grab the rubber gloves, 409, and the vacuum cleaner and let’s hunker down indoors with some chemicals!”  It doesn’t compute.  Now that spring is giving way to summer fast, we’re feeling even more anxious to organize and clean (which we’ve in no uncertain terms, put off).  But the peskiest of all the clean- out chores is dealing with paperwork…something the two halves of this couple handle very differently. She Said:  I’m a fairly good steward of paperwork, but not good enough.  I keep …

Friedrich Nietzshe once said, “sleeping is no mean art: for its sake one must stay awake each day.”  The power of a good night’s rest or a hearty nap should never be underestimated.  Sleep is healing, mood changing and inspiring.  It allows us to dream, rejuvenate and restore.  Sleeping is such an important part of life that it requires special clothes and alarms to jolt us back to the world of the waking.  But no two people have the exact same sleeping habits, and that can spell trouble for couples.  So how do you catch your Zs, and more important still, how does your style mesh with your …

May means good weather and great opportunities to get out of the house and do something.  A lot of people travel this time of year and a lot of festivals and concerts kick off across the nation.  While most people really enjoy getting away from it all, some people have a harder time with spring crowds than others.  Would you rather spend the day at an amusement park or on a deserted stretch of beach?  Would you prefer to mosh around with die-hard fans, or enjoy live music from a reserved seat?  Just because your other half is outgoing doesn’t mean they’re a fan of crowds; take it from this …

There’s a big difference between being stressed and being overwhelmed.  Stress you can live with.  You can muddle through work and errands and carry on conversations.  You may have to do it all with a clenched jaw or a crease between your eyebrows, but you can function when you’re stressed.  When you are overwhelmed, the wheels start to come off.  You can’t exist in an overwhelmed state for very long; you need to retreat or escape.  So what do you do when the world is crashing down? One piece of advice: find out how your other half copes when things get overwhelming. She Said:  When life …

When spring starts to melt into summer, people get antsy for a little travel.  Gas prices go up, plane tickets shoot skyward, and work vacation requests start to pile up.  It’s hard to resist all those commercials touting cruise specials, all inclusive stays at Caribbean hot spots and plush big city destinations.  It’s in our nature to wander.  But do you dream of a week away, or a permanent move?  The two halves of this couple suffer from varying degrees of wanderlust. She Said:  I love to travel and there’s no one type that holds my fancy exclusively.  Two weeks in Italy sighing over …

Ah, caffeine. To some, it’s life liquid. To others, a necessary evil. To one well disciplined group, it’s simply forbidden. Once you and your other half get serious, you’ll learn their morning ritual quickly, whether you want to or not. So how do you start your day?  Is there a precise routine or a little bit of spontaneity mixed in?  Do you wake up ready to seize the day, or do you need some sort of boost to drag your bones out of bed?  Odds are, you and your significant other don’t do mornings identically, so it’s important to take notes on each other’s a.m. habits. She Said:  I’m a unique …

Have you ever taken a trip to the grocery store and witnessed a couple having a hissed fight on the cereal aisle?  Have you ever sat next to a couple at the movies who can’t stop smooching long enough to eat their Junior Mints?  What about sitting one table at Outback Steakhouse from the couple loudly detailing their upcoming vacation with so much step-by-step precision that you feel entitled to chime in with hotel recommendations?  What is and isn’t acceptable in public differs for each couple, but sometimes, the two people involved have different thresholds.  Unfortunately, this couple …

The deeper you get into a relationship, the more you discover about the person you’re dating.  But most people harbor something for a long time — a secret they’re not keen to let anyone in on. What I’m talking about, of course, is your nerd superpower. A nerd superpower involves either encyclopedic knowledge of or intense devotion to a single subject. Sometimes, the superpower involves both. So what’s yours?  And more importantly, have you let your other half in on it?  Both halves of this couple are fully out of hiding. She Said:  My nerd superpower is television, and branches out more …

Spring always makes me think of students getting accepted to college or grad school.  It’s the time of year when families decide whether to re-enroll their child at their current school or move to a new district. In short, it’s the time of year when a lot of people make big decisions. So how do you handle to process leading up to big decision making? There are a lot of different ways to go, and this couple can vouch for that. She Said:  I know I usually describe myself as the more organized, prone-to-planning half of this duo, but for some reason when it comes to big decisions, that all goes …

Spring cleaning and tax time are two foreboding concepts we face this time of year. It’s hard to enjoy the cherry blossoms and all the outdoor events scheduled right now with crammed closets and W-2's hanging over you. Or is it?  Some people have a really hard time enjoying themselves with a long to-do list, while others are just fine with hitting the pause button on their obligations to enjoy some R and R. Unfortunately, when a couple is made up of one of each type, things can get hairy, and the Yin and Yang in this relationship can attest to that. She Said:  Figuring out which side of this …

There’s a reason so many brides-to-be choose to get married in the spring and summer. The mild weather, green grass and blooming flowers gives the whole world a lighter-than-air romantic feel. Birds are singing, pink sundresses are in store windows, and children are selling lemonade in homemade booths. It is a sweet time of year; a time to fall in love or get swept into someone else’s love story. While women may be a tad bit more inclined to sigh over a sappy story, men have heartstrings too. But what’s sweet and what’s saccharine?  This couple has opposing views. She Said:  I’m not an …

Now that spring feels within our grasp, a lot of couples are planning getaways. I think it’s a combination of the milder weather and tax return checks.  Traveling as a couple is so much fun. You get away from day-to-day stresses, pack the best of the best of your wardrobe, eat at restaurants 24/7 and snap memorable photos.  You learn a lot about the person you are with when you’re off an adventure, but sometimes your travel styles don’t always perfectly align. If that sounds familiar, rest assured that these two, different types of tourists know where you’re coming from. She Said: When I …

Free time is a beautiful thing, isn’t it?  Some people were lucky enough to benefit from last Monday’s holiday; nothing takes the chill out of late winter quite like a three day weekend.  A whole day with no work obligations is blissful on paper, but some people have a knack for filling that free time up with personal obligations.  So do you savor your days off, or stack them full of chores?  The two sides of this coupled coin tend to trend in opposite directions. She Said: I don’t really know how this happens, because I love vegging out more than anyone!  When I first find out that my …

Nothing is more cliché than a reference to a man and woman fighting over a television remote.  It’s the punch line of dumb jokes, it’s sprinkled into sitcoms, and it’s a comic strip staple.  I can’t stand gender stereotypes or clichés, but I have to admit, this particular tired refrain has a ring of truth.  While this couple really enjoys sharing their regularly scheduled programs, it’s a much more contentious story when it comes to channel surfing. She Said:  I like television; I’m not too erudite to admit it. I aspire to be well read. I love traveling and expanding my horizons; but I also …

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!  Valentine’s Day on a Monday is a little lame, but I guess it gives the start of the work week a little kick.  I know my husband and I usually square off on every issue we toss up in this column, but our views on Valentine’s Day aren’t far apart.  While different aspects of this romantic date on the calendar may strike our fancy, we pretty much line up on how we like to celebrate and the degree of importance we feel February 14th deserves.  So here are our thoughts on this Cupid-infused Monday. She Said:  Valentine’s Day is a fun holiday, simply speaking.  It’s…

I’m going to admit it, I celebrated my last 20-something birthday this weekend.  I love birthdays and Pete and I always celebrate them with gusto.  This weekend I brunched with a friend, had dinner with my husband and our favorite couple, opened a pile of presents from Pete and my family, slept late and junked out on my favorite TV shows.  I really enjoyed being pampered this weekend, but I did stop and think a little about getting older.  But my other half and I have differing views on the intensity of aging. She Said:  Maybe I’ll change my tune in another few years, but getting older doesn’…

You may think the world is divided into neat freaks and slobs, but we’re here to tell you, that is not the case.  When it comes to clutter and organization, there are many shades of gray.  There are people who are unabashedly messy, people who clean wildly once a week and then let the clutter accrue until the following week, and people who mimic the cleanliness of those they spend the most time with.  There are people who only clean at night or when company is en route and there are people who only let mess stack up when they’re stressed or depressed.  With this many possibilities, a lot of …

You know the expression, “you are what you eat?”  Well, I’m not exactly a walking bagel and my husband doesn’t resemble a Reese’s Fast Break, but there’s a ring of truth to creeds like that.  This column isn’t about dieting though; it’s about being defined by your environment, more specifically your work environment.  What does your chosen profession say about you, or do you even care?  This husband and wife team has two very different answers to that question. She Said:  I consider myself a modern women and I love my job.  I guess I should say jobs because I’m both a journalist and a …

Nerd alert!  This couple is made up of two, certifiable book worms.  We’re not ashamed of our super reader status in the least, however.  This time of year especially, nothing is more fun than curling up with a good book on a weekend afternoon or squeezing in a few pages before you drift off to sleep.  Reading keeps your brain active and expands your horizons, but when it comes to choosing a book, we have two very different philosophies. She Said:  I first discovered how much I loved to read for pleasure when I was seven years old.  It was Christmas and someone had given me a box containing …