Interior Design: Common Living Spaces

Like I mentioned in this post, my husband and I recently moved from a two bedroom townhouse into a four bedroom single family home. Read: I need to bring my interior design and decorating A-Game with all this additional space to deal with!

I also mentioned that we have very different styles. One of the challenges I'm facing is how to appropriately blend our two styles together so that our home feels like home to both of us, yet doesn't look like a "her stuff" "his stuff" situation.

Behold! The bookshelf in our living room:

What I love about this is besides the books (we each had a small library to contribute to our married home) the majority of these items we either got together or got as gifts for our wedding. I think incorporating these items is really important for our "common" spaces, like the living and dining rooms. It's suppose to feel like OURS; not like, "dangit, there's that stupid hockey jersey hanging in the middle of my living room" or "uhhhhhh, why does she feel the need to put sparkles everywhere?!"

And I WOULD put sparkles everywhere. Because sparkles are awesome.

Here is a view of our entertainment center. It's a blend of photo's we both had in our independent homes, plus some Tiffany votive candles we got for our wedding. The black frames keep the display masculine enough while the randomness of the mismatched frames keep it interesting. The candles help provide variety and add femininity.

(These votive candles are also a safety measure. They're crystal and SO HEAVY that if someone attempts to break into the front door or large floor to ceiling window in the front of the house, I'll grab one and chuck it at the intruder. There's no way the intruder wouldn't get knocked out!)

As important as creating comfortable common living spaces is still feeling like you have "your space" in a home. My husband has his office, full of masculine furniture and artwork only he picked out. I have a section of the master bedroom with my girly, white wicker vanity, French lounge chair and yes, even a sequined pillow!

Demystifying Group Fitness Classes

P90X, Insanity and CrossFit full of sweaty, ripped bodies and grunting faces that likely reek of AXE Body Spray. Yogi's who showcase their own gun show in expensive Lululemon gear. Ballet Barre studio's where, apparently, nobody has one spare pound to loose and nobody is over 30.

Yuck.

I mean, next-level YUCK.

Just to keep it real with you, dear reader, I fully recognize that I, pre-pregnancy, fell into more than one category above. I mean, looooooove me some AXE Body Spray! I kid, I joke. And yet, "these people" STILL annoy me! So I can only imagine the public perception, annoyance level, and general disgust with the likes of me. I totally get it because I feel it too! Anyway, I digress...

To avoid these scenes at all cost, you commit yourself to outdoor activities to get in or maintain some level of fitness. But I'm here to tell you: Walking or running outside alone isn't going to cut it.

It's fairly common knowledge, at least in the fitness world, that to remain in top-notch shape, you should mix up your exercise routing regularly. To keep your body, and therefore muscles, "guessing", you should incorporate quick workouts of intense, high heart rate movement; weightlifting in some form to promote muscle development and growth; longer, slower workouts for maximum fat-burning; and stretching and balance work for muscle rehabilitation.

Well. That sounds like a lot of work. Also, that sounds like a gym is necessary.

While a gym isn't necessary, per se, unless you have some weights and other materials at home and know how to use them in a number of diverse ways, yes - you'll want access to a space that has these things. You'll also want access to someone who can teach you how to use the equipment with proper form to avoid injury.

Well, that sounds expensive. So what's a person to do?!

I HIGHLY suggest taking advantage of the group fitness classes at gyms! You have access to the instructor to guide you through the movements to ensure you're doing them correctly, you'll listen to their music to give you some variety to your old mixes, you'll be motivated to work hard by the folks around you, and the BEST part?! No, not everyone in there knows what they're doing, so NO, you won't look like an idiot.

I've been teaching yoga for about a year now. As a fitness instructor of sorts, please allow me to tell you that new students are the best students!  You know who we can't stand? The dude in the front who tries to take over the class by incorporating advanced moves that I haven't instructed and that others try to do that could result in serious injury, or the woman by the mirror in just a sports bra who busts out a handstand in the middle of my flow, intimidating everyone else to the point where they just sit back wide-eyed and watch her. Trust me, we love new and inexperienced students!

We can usually spot the "newbies" out, and if it's a good instructor, s/he will come and introduce her/himself to you and ask you a bit about yourself. But if that doesn't happen, go up there and and tell them! They will help you get set up for class and keep an eye on you to ensure you're catching on and don't have questions mid-class.

Group classes, whether a vinyasa flow yoga class, circuit training class, or kickboxing, will keep your muscles guessing and keep you interested in coming back for more. You'll start to see the results you want much faster than slow laps around your neighborhood in your worn out running shoes, and despite what you may think about the other participants, no, they're not experts and they're not judging you. One-handed push-up bro is too self absorbed to even notice you're in the class, and the sports-bra woman put herself by the mirror because she's focused on one thing: herself. And likely her boobs, to make sure they do/do not come out in class.

*Sorry, I had no pics to include with today's post! I'm adamantly against any/all "gym selfies" and while I googled some hysterical pics of "gym bro's" I wasn't exactly using the term in a positive light and didn't want to attach a person's photo - whom I don't even know! - to my negative review. Onward with more photos tomorrow! Enjoy the short novel I wrote.

Healthy Creamy Shroomy Quinoa

Confession: I've never followed an exact recipe, not even once in my life. Which is why I'm an excellent cook and terrible, no good, very bad baker. (What do you mean I have to measure off exactly one teaspoon of baking soda?! can't I just throw it in there and call it a day?!)

I love to look at what is "suggested" in a given recipe and then make amendments to the ingredients, the amount of an ingredient, or simply get an idea from a popular recipe and change everything all together.

I came up with Healthy Creamy Shroomy Quinoa by taking stock of what was in my kitchen the day I wanted to make supper. It turned out fantastically! Who loves not having to go to the store for the ONE thing you don't have in your home that the recipe calls for? Everyone!

Healthy Creamy Shroomy Quinoa (c) An Uncomplicated Life Blog

- 2C quinoa
- 2 chicken breasts (or sub out a can of navy beans or chickpeas if vegetarian)
- 1 package mini portabella mushrooms, cut into thin slices
- 1 small head of fresh broccoli, sliced into small bites
- 1 large shallot, thinly sliced but left in natural rings
- 4C chicken broth (veggie can be substituted)
- 1/2 to 3/4C plain Greek yogurt*
- 1/2 to 3/4C ricotta cheese*
- 1T thyme
- 1-2T white wine vinegar
- 2T butter*
- 2T olive oil*
Salt and pepper

*While you can use reduced/low fat versions of these products, I highly suggest cooking with whole foods. I use 2% Greek yogurt (4% if I can find it), whole milk ricotta, and regular butter (please don't touch or even think about margarine. Please.) Fat got a bad rep in the 1990's sometime for some reason - about 10 years prior to the beginning our obesity epidemic (weird...) Fat doesn't make you fat. Sugar makes you fat. You know what they replace the fat with when you buy reduced fat foods?? SUGAR. And not even real sugar, sugar substitutes. Also, chemicals to preserve the altered food. GROSS. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil baking dish, salt and pepper chicken breasts and bake for about 30 mins, or until chicken is just barely cooked through. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Chicken breasts dry out quickly, so cooking them until barely done will help to keep them juicy and more delicious.

In a large pot, bring chicken broth to a boil. Rinse the quinoa, then add it to the boiling broth. Once it returns to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and cover pot with a lid. In a large skillet, melt butter and add the shallots. Once you can smell them cooking (and what a glorious smell it is!), add the olive oil, broccoli and mushrooms. Saute until just barely tender.

Saute the veggies in the butter/olive oil combo

When the veggie mixture looks nearly done, add the thyme and salt and pepper to taste. Set mixture aside. The chicken should be cool by now; take a fork and "pull" or "fork" the meat into bite size pieces, then set those aside. Once the quinoa doesn't have any standing broth left, turn off the heat. Add the Greek yogurt, ricotta cheese, white wine vinegar and mix together. Fold in the forked chicken.

Mixing the quinoa, cheese/yogurt and chicken together. You'll want to get these items blended before you add the veggies so as not to "smush" the veggies, and essentially make what looks like baby food. If subbing beans for chicken, drain the beans and add them to the veggie mixture as they'll smush into the creamy quinoa with excessive stirring, too!

Once the quinoa mixture is well blended, gently fold the veggie mixture into the yogurt/cheese/chicken quinoa.  Serve immediately, while still warm. I garnished my bowl with a few more shakes of white wine vinegar and sprinkle of parmesan cheese!

This recipe will easily serve four adults as the main course meal. I LOVE leftovers, so I make this much for just me and my hubby, then I eat what's leftover for the rest of the week while he travels and I dine supper solo. I happen to be a big fan of  the "cooking once, eating many times" philosophy so that I'm not eating junk/convenience foods throughout the busy week.

Happy eating!