September 26, 2024 • 40 mins
The leaves are changing, school’s back in session and there’s a cool breeze rolling in. Here at More Better, that means we’re in our cozy era. Enter, hygge. A defining characteristic of Danish culture, hygge is all things cozy and comfortable. This week, Stephanie and Melissa share what hygge means to them and how they intentionally create cozy spaces in their homes. So put on your cozies, grab a warm cup of cocoa by candlelight, and snuggle into hygge season with us.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Huggy, huggy, higa ulga huga uga uga ooga like a boat.
Oh yeah, it does sound like a boat.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Uga More better, more better, more, a little more better.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Welcome to More Better, a podcast where we stop pretending
to have it all together and embrace a journey up.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Becoming a little more better every day, or at least
trying to. That's Deephanie Beatrice.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
That's mostly for Marrow hey Brand, Welcome back, Welcome back,
friends who are listening.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
How's it going?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
It's going, man, it is going. Every day is going?
Have you done anything lately that's a little more better?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
You know? Here's the thing? Is this more better? Is
it more worse? I don't know. I finished Love Island.
It was fantastic. All that's good. Those of you more
better if you have you know, it's more better for
me and my brain because I need something sometimes cause
you love it. It's your escape, it's your it's your guilty pleasure. Honestly,
(01:13):
it was kind of fantastic this season. Not only were
there like multiple moments where I cannot believe this has
just become a Love Island podcast. Sorry everyone, but there
were like a bunch of moments where I was like, ugh,
toxic masculinity, Like I was not into these guys playing
these dumb games.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yeah. And then at the end, what was really nice
was like it was all people of color. It was like, hmm,
it was just really nice to see this, Like America
voted for you know who they liked the best. Yeah,
and that made me really really happy.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
For those listening, they need to know that not only
is Stephanie obsessed with Love Island, so are our two
producers on this show. And so every week I am
like odd man out and I'm I'm on. I'm a
big part of me is like should I just fucking
watch it so I can be part of the conversation.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
You should watch Love Island. But then also like I've
got time for that. I don't. I don't know, I
don't know. I don't know if I can do it.
I don't know if I can I don't know.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
I don't know, but maybe I will because it feels
like every single person on the planet is watching Love Island,
and I feel.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
I mean, it's over, well, so you're gonna have to
wait till next season? Okay, can I just do I
have to watch the other seasons? Could I just like
pick up on the next music so you can start. Honestly,
the best season to start with is UK the first
season because first of all, their accents are amazing. There's
(02:51):
this guy name hot. I'm not well, she talks like that.
It's so amazing. I think the accent is called scout.
So many episodes and it's there's like backdap bustles are something.
They're so nice. Now I'm doing like a bad Irish accent.
(03:12):
I'm sorry, Wait episodes. I think there's like a lot
of episodes. Yeah, because the thing is it goes It
goes on for six weeks and there there Monday through
Friday there's a new episode. Oh Sunday. Actually, it's like
a soap opera. It's a soap opera, Melissa, it's a
soap opera. It absolutely is a soap opera. That is
(03:32):
a big They're very hot. It's a lot of horniness.
The first season. They're still giving them alcohol. People get wasted.
Oh my god, it's so funny.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
The thing is is like I know my husband would
like get really into it, like if I see you.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Would get so into it.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
David has a little bit of a love for reality TV,
like he will get sucked.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
In last season, there was a guy that we called
We pretended that he was David, and we called it
because his name was Dobby Day. So Brad and I
would be like David Dane Melissa like it mean, her
her name was something else. I can't remember what her
name was. She was crazy. Oh my god, I can sue.
Her name was, I can sue. And there's this great
(04:16):
where like she she like sneaks behind his back and
like kisses somebody else. He's like Yura Lia. He's Italian. Also,
he like screams on her across the villa. Oh my god.
Sometimes Brad and I saw her be like liar. Sorry,
(04:36):
this was really devolved into I got you more better.
It just went on. Listen. Love Island makes my life
more better. I will never give it up. I will
never give it up. America has spoken. I respect it.
What about you? What have you been been up too
lately that may or may not be more better? You?
Never work related, not child related. I want to hear
some absolute bullshit fluff. Yeah, give it to me.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Okay, I don't know if it's fluff, but and it
kind of goes with our what we're talking about today. Okay,
I am little by little purging my house.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
I love it. I am like picking a closet.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
What I would love is to be able to clear
my schedule and do like three days straight of just
like absolutely shing purge.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
She was ever going to doganizing, but like that's unrealistic.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yes, So I am just making sure I have like
an hour to two hours when I can and picking
a closet, picking a drawer, picking just like a smaller
area and just going through it and throwing out shit
and throwing out and just like putting I have donation
(05:47):
piles put together. And then yeah, god, why does that
make me like horny? Not like it makes me horny,
It makes me horny every time I do it. I'm
just like, I feel so fucking good right now. We
haven't done it in a long time, so things have
accumulated in a way that it just got away from us,
(06:09):
you know what I mean. You put shit in a
basket and you're like, I'll deal with that later, or
you shove dude's there a shit in the back of
a closet and you're like, I'll figure it out later.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
And this is why people when they die. Yeah, houses
like accumulated like.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Fifty years of stuff and it has just gotten and
I mean it's not Listen, I'm making it sound like
our house looks like a fucking hoarder's house. It doesn't,
but it is at a level to me that is unsustainable,
and it causes me so much stress because I've been
wanting to like address it for like a year, and
so I'm finally doing it good.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
More better.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Okay. So that is topic adjacent because on today's episode,
we're talking about h y gg Melissa, how would you
pronounce that if you read it off the page? Oh?
Speaker 1 (07:04):
If I read it off the page without knowing the
actual pronunciation. Yeah, yeah, huggy, huggy huggy like higa or higu. No, guys,
it's huga houga uga huga. I think it's I think
it's like huga huga hugua like a like a boat.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Oh yeah, it does sound like a boat.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Huga.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Yeah, we're horning for huga, Garney for huga. Okay, what
is he?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
So?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Yoga is it? It's a defining characteristic of Danish culture,
a quality of coziness and comfort that engenders a feeling
of contentment or well being. You know, huga when you
feel it so like coziness, cozy, I'm gonna be cozy,
you know. Like yeah, some of it is like some
(07:54):
some of it's like about togetherness, relaxation, indulgence, presence. There
was like a big movement about huga, like and I
think it was like twenty sixteen, seventeen. Okay, this is
from the New Yorkers. To quote, it is candles, nubby woolens,
sharing slippers, woven textiles, pastries, sheepskin, rugs, latches with milk, foam, hearts,
(08:19):
warm fireplace. Yuga can be used as a noun, adjective, verb,
or compound noun like hyuga, busker oh, otherwise known as
that schlobby pair of pants you'd never wear in public
but secretly treasure. Uga can be found in a bakery
and in the dry heat of asana in winter, Oh,
surrounded by your naked neighbors. I don't know about that one.
(08:40):
It's wholesome and nourishing, like porridge. Oh, that reminds me
of that line. But that Andre said on Brooklyn where
he's like love is like oatmeal. It sustains you. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
that's the feeling of it. That's the feeling of it.
It's like cozy, the warm, cuddly.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
So it's like it's a feeling, it's an aesthetic, it's
it's it's a vibe, as the kids would say, Yeah,
it's a vibe.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
It's a vibe aka huge. You're in your cozy era uga.
That's what that means.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Huga, Huga, huga.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
I think it's very you know, the idea of hugo
is really interesting because I mean not to get too
about it, but it's very Eurocentric, right, like it is Danish, right,
and it's just like an idealized sort of sense of
like Eurocentric comfort and coziness. But I think, like, I
(09:44):
think the idea can exist they obviously they've got a
name for it, but the idea can exist cross culturally.
I think it's more about like what we said, like
the vibe of it of sorry, my dog's barking in
the background. It's not huga. That is not cua. It's
not you get with the yuga. Like the vibe of
(10:06):
it is like comfy, cozy, like like I'm into that.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Those are all of my what's it called? I was
going to say trigger words, but that's not correct. That's
not the no.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
No, it's your like descriptive words.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
You're like, it's but but it hits all my al
my points, you know what I mean, Like everything you
were reading that paragraph. I was just like, yes, all
of that, I want it all, Get it to me. Yeah,
I am Yeah, I think I am a bit. I
live a bit huga ish because I love a robe.
I love slippers, love a robe, love a throw blanket.
(10:42):
I have multiple throw blankets in my living room. I
have I own like three robes for different times of years.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Of the year. Oh my god. Yes, yes, I.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Also own two different slippers, a summer pair and a
winter pair.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Yes. And I have a travel pa Oh my god,
Oh my god, a dedicated travel pair.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
A dedicated travel pair I bought. I found that like
on my last.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
One I stole from a hotel, but not like a
dedicated travel I'm gonna send you a picture of it.
I found them in Target. Okay, they're just they're really
like cozy.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
They feel like those like really fuzzy socks that you
get that are like those socks, but they're but they're
shaped like a slipper, but they're flimsy, so they're flat.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
So you can like, oh, they're packable, They're so good,
that's really cute. This is something that I'm embraced seeing
more in my in my life now. And maybe that's because,
let's be real, like, as adults, most of the time,
we have a little bit more of expendable income. We
can say like, I am gonna buy myself an extra robe,
(11:55):
I am gonna buy myself that candle. I am gonna
like take take care of myself and make me myself
a little cozier. But also I think I just have
less I don't know if that's pandemic or age or
like wisdom, but I just have less time to be uncomfortable,
you know what I mean totally Like I'm not trying
(12:17):
to be uncomfortable in any way, shape or form, one
hundred percent agree. I want comfort. I want comfort.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
I have always wanted comfort. But I will and I
will say, like, you know, there was when we were
younger in living in New York and like not really
making a lot of money. We lived in this tiny apartment,
tiny one bedroom in Midtown and uh, but it was
(12:48):
but we loved that apartment and whenever we talk about
it and like it wasn't listen. Our furniture was not cute,
like the esthetic was what it was, but it was cozy.
And that is what we talk about when we when
we think about that apartment, we're like, oh, it was
so small and like we didn't love like the location
(13:10):
per se, but we were so comfortable in that apartment.
It was so cozy. We just had a cozy vibe
in there. And then I think the thing that I've
tried to get better at as I get older is
maintaining that coziness but like trying to be a little
bit better about aesthetics and like design and like you know,
(13:32):
trying to make my house pretty always. Yeah, my not
necessarily a strength of mine. I mean we have very
like David and I have very similar taste and like
be like what we like, but like, yeah, putting it
together and like putting more effort into it.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Yeah, that's interesting because your house is very like I
feel like, esthetically it's like all doing one thing. So
it's interesting here you say like, oh, I don't feel
like I'm putting things together in a way that makes
it feel like Okay, well that's nice to hear.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Yeah, I think I think we've gotten a little bit
more help along the way, like people with a better
ie being like like the blue wallpaper that I love
in the little front room way, Yeah, that was a
suggestion of somebody like who had a better eye than
I did.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
They were like, you.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Should wallpaper this, and I was like, oh yeah, wallpaper this. Yeah.
It's been like people along the way going like you know,
you know you like you need to put this there,
like yeah, yeah, I feel like we've had some My
sister is so good at it.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
I mean speaking of you're so good at it, I
do love it. I'm not gonna lie you are really
if I'm good at it, my sister's great at it.
I mean, your house is beautiful.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
The choices you made for your kitchen are think gorgeous gorgeous,
and I feel like I wouldn't necessarily think of them, and.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
I feel like they're very How the fuck do you
say this word? Who uga huga? I can only remember
it if I sayug.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Better.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
So here's here's my like pro tips for for doing
this and like bringing these things into your life. Yeah,
is pinterest. I know Pinterests had a big moment the
early two thousands, and we're all pinteresting everything and like
you can quickly get overwhelmed with pinterress.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Yes, I get over bounded and over stimulated by pinterest.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
I I feel like I give myself, Like I'll do
like a little bit on my phone, you know, I'll
just go like what do I like in in bathrooms?
Like what do I like? And I'll go through pictures
and like bookmark stuff like make a board just for
a bathroom or just for a kitchen and like and
then I'll go back and look at the pictures and
go like, what is the thing that's tying all these
things together? Is it the tile in the background? Is
(15:57):
it the lighting? Is it? Oh? There's look, there's gold
accents everywhere. Oh look they've got like you know, oh
their sea foam green. Like for me, it was painted
cabinets in the kitchen, and I knew I wanted painted cabinets.
I didn't want just white. I knew I wanted paint.
And originally, actually I really wanted pink, and I pushed
hard for pink, but Brad did not want pink. He
(16:18):
fought me really hard on it. So what shade? It
was like this soft blush The color that we ended
up painting are better. Oh, that's a beautiful color. So
like I got what I wanted. Yeah, yeah, but beautiful.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
And whatever you guys look like that's the thing, right,
Like I think so much of creating, you know, Huga
is mostly about home.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
So creating a space that feels cozy to you is
going to look different for everyone. Yeah, it's gonna aesthetically
look different for everyone. And Huga specifically is very like
I said, like eurocentric, so like blonde woods and you know,
sweater that are very like Danish, like look like nordicky whatever.
(17:05):
That's not always going to be the aesthetic that I
go to because I grew up with other influences, like
I grew up with Latino influences, you know, and like,
but what it means to me, like and what and
the translation of coziness to me is like every for example,
like every piece of art that we have hanging on
our walls is framed, Like everything is framed and has
(17:27):
like an ornate frame or like a stylistic frame, or
there's like a bunch of different frames that are all
very very different, but they've all got like like there's
a lot of gold frames in my house. Like probably
because there's time back to like a lot of like
religious art that my mom had framed and like gold frames.
But to me it's it looks cozy and like together
(17:51):
and it all is of a piece, you know, or
like there's I have leftover feelings about Ikea, like moving
to New York for the first time and outfitting my
whole apartment in Ikea, and that is Danish or like
not Danish where Swedish. But I tell you what is
very yuga and very cheap. Those fake sheepskin rugs are
(18:14):
like twenty bucks. Listen, They're everywhere in my house. They're everywhere. Yeah,
the back of a couch, the back of a chair,
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
The throw pillow covers from my sauces are yes, so
cozy and practical.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
They wash so well when you have little kids, they
wash great. They wash so good, you know.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I also like this idea of huga as contributing to
happiness and like happy vibes and peaceful vibes. Yeah, it
made me think of one of my first apartments that
I ever lived in was in Queen's and I was
really young, and I had lived in that apartment with
(19:01):
an ex and it was sort of just like whatever
slapped together you know. I did buy my first like
nice couch, like a leather couch. That was like my
first big purchase from an acting paycheck.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
That I was very proud of.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
But everything else was like leftover some of his shit
and then like leftover shit from my college days. I
at an attempt to like make my bedroom look cool.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
I painted one wall like a burgend red.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
The one wall.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Remember, oh my god, one red wall. Didn't have a
one red wall exactly. Don't do it, you guys.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
One of the most romantic things that David and that
David did for me when we first started dating was
he hated that fucking red wall.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
First of all, he was like, the red wall is all.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
I came home to like a makeover of my bedroom.
He Oh my god, that's so romantic, right he It
was such a move.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
He painted my whole bedroom.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
This beautiful like sagey green that kind of almost similar
to your kitchen color.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Go.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
He bought a new bed, he rearranged all the furniture,
he moved my bed and so the room looked bigger,
and he got me a new bedspread for my bed
that like matched the wall. It was all like I
came home and I cried so hard. I was so surprised,
and it looked so beautiful. But it also was the
(20:39):
first time in my kind of adulthood that I had
a space that felt so peaceful. I ended up spending
more time in that bedroom than I did in the
living room for the rest of the time that I
lived there, because it became this little sanctuary. It was
so cozy, and I realized, I think I didn't realize
(21:03):
it at the time until later, that it was contributing to, like, right,
like my inner peace and my mental health, kind of
having this.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Space that felt really good.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Yeah, And and so then that that you start to
think about that more and more as you get older,
and like you buy your first house or like then
you have kids, and it's like your home does really
And that's like why I'm purging it right now, because
I'm like, we have too much shit, Like we need
to make space, Like we need to not feel overwhelmed
(21:36):
when we open closet doors and drawers.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
And like breathe to breathe. I want to feel more peace.
I want to feel.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
More coziness in my house. Yes, because it really affects
me so much. Sometimes we don't notice, but it's in
these it's these little stressors. Right, you open that drawer
and you're like, fuck everything, I can't find the thing,
or this is so disorganized and I don't have time
to address it right now.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Like all of those things.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
It's like fung shue and like all like I think
these are all like similar ideas of like how do
we get better at making sure our space is working
in tandem with our mental health and the self care
and all the things that we're trying to like do
for ourselves and our family. Like the house has to
(22:24):
contribute to that, right, Yeah, Like that is like the yeah,
at the core of this like idea, and I really
like that.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Yeah. They say, like your space really can reflect how
you're feeling, how you're holding yourself inside. And like I
know when when I've been like at my most depressed
or my most down, certainly my space reflects that. Yeah,
shit is everywhere. Like I remember when I was dating
(22:53):
Brad not letting him into my apartment at one point
because it was so disgusting. He was like, no, it's fine,
Like I'm not gonna to judge you. And I was like,
you don't understand. There's like pizza boxes in here that
I've been in here for a month on the floor,
there's like crap everywhere. I haven't done laundry in two months,
Like you cannot come in right, and like it does.
It's hard to it can be really hard to like
(23:17):
climb out of that. But I guess, like what I'm
trying to say is I mean, obviously there's other stuff
at play there, right, Like there's like mental health stuff
and like addiction stuff and you know where you're at mentally.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
And I just have a hard time letting go of
things like some yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, close one for me.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
It is a hard one, but like yeah, or what
if I need this? Like what if I need this?
What if I need it?
Speaker 1 (23:44):
That I worked on throughout the power cords the other
day and I was like.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Oh, you don't need those.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
I don't, but save them all because he's like, I
don't know they need it. Like as I was throwing
them out, he was questioning them like what if that
goes to a toy that we.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Don't really And I was like, I don't remember the
toy also should go to the good Will. Sorry a
toy doesn't work like it be the toy. But there's
also like stuff like embracing the idea of making your
space your own. Can be as simple as it doesn't
have to be expensive. It can be as simple as like,
like that thing that I said that I do when
(24:23):
I go in my closet, I force myself to hang
up a couple of things that are on the floor. Yeah,
just like a couple of them, like put them away,
and then before I know it, the weeks passed by
and like there's more shit hanging than there is on
the floor. It can be as simple as like rearranging
or taking I love one of my favorite things to
(24:43):
do is take furniture from rooms to other rooms. Like
I'm constantly moving things around. It's just so fun because
I'm like this table could maybe work better in my
living room. This table could maybe work better next to
the window, next to the chair. You know, Like I'm
constantly doing that shit because like I shop what I
think they call it like shopping your own house, Like
(25:04):
you just go and look around and be like does
this work here? Like maybe there's another spot this could work.
Like I moved a big I had this big sideboard
that was my first purchase. That was my first like
Brad's always like, what's a sideboard. I'm like, don't worry
about it. If you don't know what it is, you
don't need to worry about it. Don't worry about it.
Beautiful sideboard that has like a chevron pattern. And yeah,
(25:27):
it didn't work in the it didn't work. It was
like it didn't And then like I put it downstairs
and I ended up putting like I put all my
like awards on it. Yeah, like I like even like
dumb stop like even like little things that like, you know,
no one knows what they're what they are, like I
got them in high school or whatever, you know, like,
but it's like that's my little like area for and
(25:50):
now it's like, oh, that's where that fits, you know.
Like yeah, it's so so much about having a space
that's your own, even if you have roommates, even if
it's just like half of a even if it's like
a bunk. You know, like your boys are very good
at making their shared room their own space like their bunks.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Yes, and now, actually we took the bunks apart because
they wanted to, I know, they went through, Yeah, they
wanted to have their beds on the floor and they
were strangely. I mean, Enzo was kind of leading the
charge and Axel was going along a little bit, but
they were in agreement for the most part. But it's
kind of nice because what it did was it gave
(26:31):
them each a side of the room instead.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Of being on top of each other. And yes, they're
like hanging things on the wall.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Axel has things hanging on the drawings he did or
whatever that he specifically told me to put on the
ceiling so he could look at them when he's like
going to bed and yeah, and it's really it's like
self expression. But it's also I think endeared them to
their room more and now like yeah, and it's even
(26:59):
you know, and so was for a while, you know,
trying to be like I want my own room. But
now I've noticed since since they did that, he's campaigning
to move them into the bigger bedroom which is our
guest room, eh, which we had planned to do anyway,
(27:21):
like a little bit down the line.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Oh I love. I love letting him campaign though, make
him like do like a PowerPoint present. Yeah, yeah, like
now he's doing paying for it.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
But when he talks about he goes and Axels bed
can be here, and like he's talking about both of
them moving to the to the to the bigger room.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Oh my god, side note, make him like campaign like
actually like put up posters and then you guys can
have like a vote, like oh he gave us when
the present he did, he took us both through a
whole presentation of like where everything would go.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
And yeah, he was like, hear me out, like here, Michael,
here's what we do, and here's where my bed goes,
here's where actual bed goes, and you know this can
be our homework desk, and like you did a whole thing.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
So yeah, like.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Taking ownership of his spade now and like including his
real brother, which I like. But but yeah, so we're
probably gonna try to make that happen for him.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
But that's really cute.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Yeah more, Okay, wait, okay, So I want to ask
you this because like I think our styles are so
different aesthetically.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Yes, so this is a little for.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Those of wait, let me give I feel like I
should give context for listeners. So here is how our
styles of our houses are very different. Is Stephanie is
so stylish and her house is just to me so beautiful,
and there's like this very like calming, peaceful, like energy
(29:04):
when you walk into it and there's beautiful things everywhere,
and everything's like place really beautiful in the finishes, or
I love your bedroom. Your bedroom is like an oasis.
It's just gorgeous. Everything is beautiful. My house is like
if my house is like if your grandparents maybe had
(29:24):
really good taste. And there's a lot of things that
don't go together, but also do. I had someone describe
our house as like what did they say, globally eclectic, and.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
I couldn't tell if it was a compliment or an insult.
It's on the line a compliment.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
It's the eclectic part that is like a little bit
of a backhanded compliment.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
But I understand that there's a lot as one of
my descriptors as well, there is a lot of different
shit in our house that somehow works together. But yeah,
I love I love y'all's house. I think it's like
it's warm, Yeah, it's very warm. It feels like you're
at home, Like Okay, So when you think about your
(30:12):
ideal cozy home setting, what is like the smell that
comes to mind.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Like like a fire, like a like a fire, not
a fire, like a house burning fire, like a fire place,
like it's so dark, okay, like a fire place, a
fire a fireplace safely.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Okay. So mine is like a specific candle that has
this like very warm like it's like a rich jasmini
rose smell. And I burn it all the time in
my trailers now like whenever I work, I buy a
(30:58):
travel one.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
God, you're gonna have to send me this candle because
those are literally my two favorite flower smells is rose
and Jazzma.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
It's so nice. It's the Voluspa rose auto candle. They
ain't cheap, you guys, but they burn long. And I
have the travel one. I just love it and it's
just like nice. Okay, what do you hear? What's what's
your ideal? Like what you hear in the background, like
(31:25):
in your cozy home. Oh God, I mean again, it's
ocean sounds.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
I was gonna say, I was I was going in
my mind. I was going between ocean sounds or fireplace
like the crackling of a fireplace ocean sounds.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
And that's like, you guys, that's basically free. You could
just turn your phone onto ocean sounds like an habit going.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
My sister, I have my kids sound machine to ocean
sounds because Okay, my sister constantly finds like a YouTube
channel of like she'll have like crackling fireplace or like
she had one the other day that was like Parisian
cafe sounds and it was just like a video image
of there's tons of videos online that you can find
(32:04):
of stuff like this.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
It's like calming sounds or like, but she had one
that was like jazzy wood sounds or something. She's always
got like cozy sounds happening. Yeah, okay, what is your
ideal cozy taste? Oh? I know this is an interesting one?
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
I mean cozy taste automatically brings my brain to like
autumn and like being a basic bitch and being like
cinnamon apple spike cookies. Okay, yeah, cinnamon lattes.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
You know what? Minus what minus minus having a pot
on the stove or like a like a what do
you call them, like slow cooker? Oh, full of nacho cheese.
Just having like a party where people can go like
serve their own like nacho cheese. They'll be the cheese
(33:02):
and rotel tomatoes, true Texas girl right here, rotel tomatoes
and Tina chili pepper. Yes, yeah, me, that's that. That's
that good. I mean you went to my wedding. We
had that at my wedding. Yeah you did, ye, yeah
you did? Uh yeah, I would say yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Also like yeah, my brain goes to like pasta and
like or like chili.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
Soups, something like cozy took tasty for Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I like that.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
Okay, So like I want to lastly go back to
the color scheme in my house is like a lot
of whites, a lot of grays, a lot of like
open space. There is blonde wood in my house, but
there's also elements of like our Latinidad everywhere, Like there's
a framed gold picture of Selena on the wall. There's
(33:52):
like you know, I will say my my bedroom is
probably my favorite room in the house, and all it
has in it is the bed side tables and a
chair and a lamp. That's it.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
I literally want to try to figure out how to
like make a bigger closet in my house so that
I can get rid of some of the furniture in
my bedroom.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
Because I wanted a guest bedroom. Girl just take over
that whole guest room. Yeah, a whole extra bedroom bed, Yeah,
a whole extra bedroom in there. You know how much
people come and stay with us. It's impossible because you
guys have a very cozy house. Molsa isn't selling it.
But like you walk into the first of all, you
(34:33):
walk into their like little entryway and there's this long
table in a mirror and there's all their stuff, like
you just it's like a family lives in that house.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
That table drives me fucking crazy. I need to figure
a better way. I feel like there's a better way.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
And it's like here you are. You're inside now, and
everyone takes out their shoes and then when you when
you get in, there's like this big gorgeous brown couch
that is like it just feels lived in and then
you can just throw yourselves on it and there's no
there's no like, oh can I sit on the couch?
It's just like no, you just throw yourselves on the furniture.
It's like everyone just knows that they can just sit
(35:09):
anywhere they want. Like there's like a fluidness between your
kitchen and your dining room. Everyone's just like enjoying themselves.
There's lots of spaces to talk. You guys built that
cool area outside, so it's like you can go in
and out and like everything's just like it's just like
there's such a good flow in your house, and like
it just feels like it's like family. When you come here,
(35:29):
your family, like the olive garden. It's like very like
I do I do. The house is like they're olive garden. Sorry, listen,
I don't mind it. I don't mind it. I love
the olive Garden. I go there every Christmas. It brings
me hyuga, brings your yoga more better. Okay, so what
(35:53):
did you take away from today? Do you did you
feel like you like learned anything about yourself and your
hyuga tendencies.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Gosh that I'm like super huga, right, you can use
it anyway you use it.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
I think I'm very hugua.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
I think I always have been, but I think I've
honed it over the years. I think I've gotten better
at it, or I like to think so. And I
think it was good today to kind of talk about
and realize the connection between making like living hugolestly and
(36:30):
now it can like contribute to your happiness, like overall
happiness or peace of mind or yeah, you're inner peace.
And I think that that's like an important thing to
notice so that you can I can be more intentional
about it, like I am being right now by purging
my closets.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
Yeah, yeah, what did you learn today? I think I've
I'm like, I kind of had this idea that like
Huga in my head. I was like, oh, well, it's this,
but like, as talking about it, it is what I
said in the beginning, which is like it's kind of
a vibe, right, And my version of it is there's
elements of it that are the danishy elements of it,
(37:12):
but there's elements of it that are just like not
at all. Like my version of it is pink and
florals and gold gilded and like, but I still love
a cozy blanket and I love having like a rug
on the floor be like cozy. It just happens to
have like a big floor print on it, you know. Yeah.
So I guess like my version of it, like there's
(37:33):
there's different iterations of it, so like totally don't be
afraid of like making things your own kind of yeah,
And I also feel like I feel like I feel
like there's so much more that I could talk about,
like especially like cheap ways to do this, like there's
so many cheap ways to do this. I kind of
(37:55):
touched on a little bit, but like, I mean, I
was poor for so long that I feel like I
really learned how to do it on a budget. And
I still tend to do that, like I did it
for my trailer. On this job, I didn't even talk
about my trailer. I should take pictures. We could put
them on the Instagram. Yeah, girlfriend went to home goods
and had a budget and did it up. Baby Like
(38:16):
that is such a good idea because I'm really cute
in there. I'm proud of it being a trailer for
five or six months. Oh my god. Should we do
an episode on Small Space decorating you guys and should
we show our trailers? Then that's a good Okay, we'll
discuss with ices. Okay, okay, great, I feel more better
to you. I do feel more better. This was a
(38:37):
lovely time. I like talking about this too. This was
a fun one. That's fun.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
Yeah, I'm kind of inspired to like, huga up my house,
mourning for.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
You for you, Huga. Okay, thanks guys for listening. Sorry
that we said horny and huga so many times together.
That was probably weird for you.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Yeah, but it was like a steamboat to just to
remember the pronunciation so many times. Thanks for coming, Bye bye,
more Better.
Speaker 3 (39:08):
Do you have something you'd like to be more better
at that you want us to talk about in a
future episode?
Speaker 1 (39:12):
Can you relate to our struggles or have you tried
one of our tips and tricks?
Speaker 3 (39:16):
Shoot us your thoughts and ideas at Morebetter pod at
gmail dot com and conclude a voice note if you
want to be featured on the pod. Ooh, More Better
with Stephanie Melissa is a production from WV Sound and
iHeartMedia's Mike Utura podcast network, hosted by me, Steffie Beatriz,
and Melissa FUMERA More Better is produced by Isis Madrid,
Leo Clem, and Sophie Spencer Zabos. Our executive producers are
(39:38):
Wilmer Valderrama and Leo Clem at Wvsound. This episode was
edited by Isis Madrid and engineered by Sean Tracy and
features original music by Madison Davenport and Hey Loo Boy.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Our cover art is by Vincent Remis and photography by
David Abolos. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.
Speaker 3 (39:57):
Listen to your favorite shows, see you next, big bye,
oh know pok, Thomas Mayhorse,
Huggy, huggy, higa ulga huga uga uga ooga like a boat.
Oh yeah, it does sound like a boat.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Uga More better, more better, more, a little more better.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Welcome to More Better, a podcast where we stop pretending
to have it all together and embrace a journey up.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Becoming a little more better every day, or at least
trying to. That's Deephanie Beatrice.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
That's mostly for Marrow hey Brand, Welcome back, Welcome back,
friends who are listening.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
How's it going?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
It's going, man, it is going. Every day is going?
Have you done anything lately that's a little more better?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
You know? Here's the thing? Is this more better? Is
it more worse? I don't know. I finished Love Island.
It was fantastic. All that's good. Those of you more
better if you have you know, it's more better for
me and my brain because I need something sometimes cause
you love it. It's your escape, it's your it's your guilty pleasure. Honestly,
(01:13):
it was kind of fantastic this season. Not only were
there like multiple moments where I cannot believe this has
just become a Love Island podcast. Sorry everyone, but there
were like a bunch of moments where I was like, ugh,
toxic masculinity, Like I was not into these guys playing
these dumb games.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yeah. And then at the end, what was really nice
was like it was all people of color. It was like, hmm,
it was just really nice to see this, Like America
voted for you know who they liked the best. Yeah,
and that made me really really happy.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
For those listening, they need to know that not only
is Stephanie obsessed with Love Island, so are our two
producers on this show. And so every week I am
like odd man out and I'm I'm on. I'm a
big part of me is like should I just fucking
watch it so I can be part of the conversation.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
You should watch Love Island. But then also like I've
got time for that. I don't. I don't know, I
don't know. I don't know if I can do it.
I don't know if I can I don't know.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
I don't know, but maybe I will because it feels
like every single person on the planet is watching Love Island,
and I feel.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
I mean, it's over, well, so you're gonna have to
wait till next season? Okay, can I just do I
have to watch the other seasons? Could I just like
pick up on the next music so you can start. Honestly,
the best season to start with is UK the first
season because first of all, their accents are amazing. There's
(02:51):
this guy name hot. I'm not well, she talks like that.
It's so amazing. I think the accent is called scout.
So many episodes and it's there's like backdap bustles are something.
They're so nice. Now I'm doing like a bad Irish accent.
(03:12):
I'm sorry, Wait episodes. I think there's like a lot
of episodes. Yeah, because the thing is it goes It
goes on for six weeks and there there Monday through
Friday there's a new episode. Oh Sunday. Actually, it's like
a soap opera. It's a soap opera, Melissa, it's a
soap opera. It absolutely is a soap opera. That is
(03:32):
a big They're very hot. It's a lot of horniness.
The first season. They're still giving them alcohol. People get wasted.
Oh my god, it's so funny.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
The thing is is like I know my husband would
like get really into it, like if I see you.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Would get so into it.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
David has a little bit of a love for reality TV,
like he will get sucked.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
In last season, there was a guy that we called
We pretended that he was David, and we called it
because his name was Dobby Day. So Brad and I
would be like David Dane Melissa like it mean, her
her name was something else. I can't remember what her
name was. She was crazy. Oh my god, I can sue.
Her name was, I can sue. And there's this great
(04:16):
where like she she like sneaks behind his back and
like kisses somebody else. He's like Yura Lia. He's Italian. Also,
he like screams on her across the villa. Oh my god.
Sometimes Brad and I saw her be like liar. Sorry,
(04:36):
this was really devolved into I got you more better.
It just went on. Listen. Love Island makes my life
more better. I will never give it up. I will
never give it up. America has spoken. I respect it.
What about you? What have you been been up too
lately that may or may not be more better? You?
Never work related, not child related. I want to hear
some absolute bullshit fluff. Yeah, give it to me.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Okay, I don't know if it's fluff, but and it
kind of goes with our what we're talking about today. Okay,
I am little by little purging my house.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
I love it. I am like picking a closet.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
What I would love is to be able to clear
my schedule and do like three days straight of just
like absolutely shing purge.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
She was ever going to doganizing, but like that's unrealistic.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yes, So I am just making sure I have like
an hour to two hours when I can and picking
a closet, picking a drawer, picking just like a smaller
area and just going through it and throwing out shit
and throwing out and just like putting I have donation
(05:47):
piles put together. And then yeah, god, why does that
make me like horny? Not like it makes me horny,
It makes me horny every time I do it. I'm
just like, I feel so fucking good right now. We
haven't done it in a long time, so things have
accumulated in a way that it just got away from us,
(06:09):
you know what I mean. You put shit in a
basket and you're like, I'll deal with that later, or
you shove dude's there a shit in the back of
a closet and you're like, I'll figure it out later.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
And this is why people when they die. Yeah, houses
like accumulated like.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Fifty years of stuff and it has just gotten and
I mean it's not Listen, I'm making it sound like
our house looks like a fucking hoarder's house. It doesn't,
but it is at a level to me that is unsustainable,
and it causes me so much stress because I've been
wanting to like address it for like a year, and
so I'm finally doing it good.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
More better.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Okay. So that is topic adjacent because on today's episode,
we're talking about h y gg Melissa, how would you
pronounce that if you read it off the page? Oh?
Speaker 1 (07:04):
If I read it off the page without knowing the
actual pronunciation. Yeah, yeah, huggy, huggy huggy like higa or higu. No, guys,
it's huga houga uga huga. I think it's I think
it's like huga huga hugua like a like a boat.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Oh yeah, it does sound like a boat.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Huga.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Yeah, we're horning for huga, Garney for huga. Okay, what
is he?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
So?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Yoga is it? It's a defining characteristic of Danish culture,
a quality of coziness and comfort that engenders a feeling
of contentment or well being. You know, huga when you
feel it so like coziness, cozy, I'm gonna be cozy,
you know. Like yeah, some of it is like some
(07:54):
some of it's like about togetherness, relaxation, indulgence, presence. There
was like a big movement about huga, like and I
think it was like twenty sixteen, seventeen. Okay, this is
from the New Yorkers. To quote, it is candles, nubby woolens,
sharing slippers, woven textiles, pastries, sheepskin, rugs, latches with milk, foam, hearts,
(08:19):
warm fireplace. Yuga can be used as a noun, adjective, verb,
or compound noun like hyuga, busker oh, otherwise known as
that schlobby pair of pants you'd never wear in public
but secretly treasure. Uga can be found in a bakery
and in the dry heat of asana in winter, Oh,
surrounded by your naked neighbors. I don't know about that one.
(08:40):
It's wholesome and nourishing, like porridge. Oh, that reminds me
of that line. But that Andre said on Brooklyn where
he's like love is like oatmeal. It sustains you. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
that's the feeling of it. That's the feeling of it.
It's like cozy, the warm, cuddly.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
So it's like it's a feeling, it's an aesthetic, it's
it's it's a vibe, as the kids would say, Yeah,
it's a vibe.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
It's a vibe aka huge. You're in your cozy era uga.
That's what that means.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Huga, Huga, huga.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
I think it's very you know, the idea of hugo
is really interesting because I mean not to get too
about it, but it's very Eurocentric, right, like it is Danish, right,
and it's just like an idealized sort of sense of
like Eurocentric comfort and coziness. But I think, like, I
(09:44):
think the idea can exist they obviously they've got a
name for it, but the idea can exist cross culturally.
I think it's more about like what we said, like
the vibe of it of sorry, my dog's barking in
the background. It's not huga. That is not cua. It's
not you get with the yuga. Like the vibe of
(10:06):
it is like comfy, cozy, like like I'm into that.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Those are all of my what's it called? I was
going to say trigger words, but that's not correct. That's
not the no.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
No, it's your like descriptive words.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
You're like, it's but but it hits all my al
my points, you know what I mean, Like everything you
were reading that paragraph. I was just like, yes, all
of that, I want it all, Get it to me. Yeah,
I am Yeah, I think I am a bit. I
live a bit huga ish because I love a robe.
I love slippers, love a robe, love a throw blanket.
(10:42):
I have multiple throw blankets in my living room. I
have I own like three robes for different times of years.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Of the year. Oh my god. Yes, yes, I.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Also own two different slippers, a summer pair and a
winter pair.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Yes. And I have a travel pa Oh my god,
Oh my god, a dedicated travel pair.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
A dedicated travel pair I bought. I found that like
on my last.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
One I stole from a hotel, but not like a
dedicated travel I'm gonna send you a picture of it.
I found them in Target. Okay, they're just they're really
like cozy.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
They feel like those like really fuzzy socks that you
get that are like those socks, but they're but they're
shaped like a slipper, but they're flimsy, so they're flat.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
So you can like, oh, they're packable, They're so good,
that's really cute. This is something that I'm embraced seeing
more in my in my life now. And maybe that's because,
let's be real, like, as adults, most of the time,
we have a little bit more of expendable income. We
can say like, I am gonna buy myself an extra robe,
(11:55):
I am gonna buy myself that candle. I am gonna
like take take care of myself and make me myself
a little cozier. But also I think I just have
less I don't know if that's pandemic or age or
like wisdom, but I just have less time to be uncomfortable,
you know what I mean totally Like I'm not trying
(12:17):
to be uncomfortable in any way, shape or form, one
hundred percent agree. I want comfort. I want comfort.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
I have always wanted comfort. But I will and I
will say, like, you know, there was when we were
younger in living in New York and like not really
making a lot of money. We lived in this tiny apartment,
tiny one bedroom in Midtown and uh, but it was
(12:48):
but we loved that apartment and whenever we talk about
it and like it wasn't listen. Our furniture was not cute,
like the esthetic was what it was, but it was cozy.
And that is what we talk about when we when
we think about that apartment, we're like, oh, it was
so small and like we didn't love like the location
(13:10):
per se, but we were so comfortable in that apartment.
It was so cozy. We just had a cozy vibe
in there. And then I think the thing that I've
tried to get better at as I get older is
maintaining that coziness but like trying to be a little
bit better about aesthetics and like design and like you know,
(13:32):
trying to make my house pretty always. Yeah, my not
necessarily a strength of mine. I mean we have very
like David and I have very similar taste and like
be like what we like, but like, yeah, putting it
together and like putting more effort into it.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Yeah, that's interesting because your house is very like I
feel like, esthetically it's like all doing one thing. So
it's interesting here you say like, oh, I don't feel
like I'm putting things together in a way that makes
it feel like Okay, well that's nice to hear.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Yeah, I think I think we've gotten a little bit
more help along the way, like people with a better
ie being like like the blue wallpaper that I love
in the little front room way, Yeah, that was a
suggestion of somebody like who had a better eye than
I did.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
They were like, you.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Should wallpaper this, and I was like, oh yeah, wallpaper this. Yeah.
It's been like people along the way going like you know,
you know you like you need to put this there,
like yeah, yeah, I feel like we've had some My
sister is so good at it.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
I mean speaking of you're so good at it, I
do love it. I'm not gonna lie you are really
if I'm good at it, my sister's great at it.
I mean, your house is beautiful.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
The choices you made for your kitchen are think gorgeous gorgeous,
and I feel like I wouldn't necessarily think of them, and.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
I feel like they're very How the fuck do you
say this word? Who uga huga? I can only remember
it if I sayug.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Better.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
So here's here's my like pro tips for for doing
this and like bringing these things into your life. Yeah,
is pinterest. I know Pinterests had a big moment the
early two thousands, and we're all pinteresting everything and like
you can quickly get overwhelmed with pinterress.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Yes, I get over bounded and over stimulated by pinterest.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
I I feel like I give myself, Like I'll do
like a little bit on my phone, you know, I'll
just go like what do I like in in bathrooms?
Like what do I like? And I'll go through pictures
and like bookmark stuff like make a board just for
a bathroom or just for a kitchen and like and
then I'll go back and look at the pictures and
go like, what is the thing that's tying all these
things together? Is it the tile in the background? Is
(15:57):
it the lighting? Is it? Oh? There's look, there's gold
accents everywhere. Oh look they've got like you know, oh
their sea foam green. Like for me, it was painted
cabinets in the kitchen, and I knew I wanted painted cabinets.
I didn't want just white. I knew I wanted paint.
And originally, actually I really wanted pink, and I pushed
hard for pink, but Brad did not want pink. He
(16:18):
fought me really hard on it. So what shade? It
was like this soft blush The color that we ended
up painting are better. Oh, that's a beautiful color. So
like I got what I wanted. Yeah, yeah, but beautiful.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
And whatever you guys look like that's the thing, right,
Like I think so much of creating, you know, Huga
is mostly about home.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
So creating a space that feels cozy to you is
going to look different for everyone. Yeah, it's gonna aesthetically
look different for everyone. And Huga specifically is very like
I said, like eurocentric, so like blonde woods and you know,
sweater that are very like Danish, like look like nordicky whatever.
(17:05):
That's not always going to be the aesthetic that I
go to because I grew up with other influences, like
I grew up with Latino influences, you know, and like,
but what it means to me, like and what and
the translation of coziness to me is like every for example,
like every piece of art that we have hanging on
our walls is framed, Like everything is framed and has
(17:27):
like an ornate frame or like a stylistic frame, or
there's like a bunch of different frames that are all
very very different, but they've all got like like there's
a lot of gold frames in my house. Like probably
because there's time back to like a lot of like
religious art that my mom had framed and like gold frames.
But to me it's it looks cozy and like together
(17:51):
and it all is of a piece, you know, or
like there's I have leftover feelings about Ikea, like moving
to New York for the first time and outfitting my
whole apartment in Ikea, and that is Danish or like
not Danish where Swedish. But I tell you what is
very yuga and very cheap. Those fake sheepskin rugs are
(18:14):
like twenty bucks. Listen, They're everywhere in my house. They're everywhere. Yeah,
the back of a couch, the back of a chair,
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
The throw pillow covers from my sauces are yes, so
cozy and practical.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
They wash so well when you have little kids, they
wash great. They wash so good, you know.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I also like this idea of huga as contributing to
happiness and like happy vibes and peaceful vibes. Yeah, it
made me think of one of my first apartments that
I ever lived in was in Queen's and I was
really young, and I had lived in that apartment with
(19:01):
an ex and it was sort of just like whatever
slapped together you know. I did buy my first like
nice couch, like a leather couch. That was like my
first big purchase from an acting paycheck.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
That I was very proud of.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
But everything else was like leftover some of his shit
and then like leftover shit from my college days. I
at an attempt to like make my bedroom look cool.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
I painted one wall like a burgend red.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
The one wall.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Remember, oh my god, one red wall. Didn't have a
one red wall exactly. Don't do it, you guys.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
One of the most romantic things that David and that
David did for me when we first started dating was
he hated that fucking red wall.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
First of all, he was like, the red wall is all.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
I came home to like a makeover of my bedroom.
He Oh my god, that's so romantic, right he It
was such a move.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
He painted my whole bedroom.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
This beautiful like sagey green that kind of almost similar
to your kitchen color.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Go.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
He bought a new bed, he rearranged all the furniture,
he moved my bed and so the room looked bigger,
and he got me a new bedspread for my bed
that like matched the wall. It was all like I
came home and I cried so hard. I was so surprised,
and it looked so beautiful. But it also was the
(20:39):
first time in my kind of adulthood that I had
a space that felt so peaceful. I ended up spending
more time in that bedroom than I did in the
living room for the rest of the time that I
lived there, because it became this little sanctuary. It was
so cozy, and I realized, I think I didn't realize
(21:03):
it at the time until later, that it was contributing to, like, right,
like my inner peace and my mental health, kind of
having this.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Space that felt really good.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Yeah, And and so then that that you start to
think about that more and more as you get older,
and like you buy your first house or like then
you have kids, and it's like your home does really
And that's like why I'm purging it right now, because
I'm like, we have too much shit, Like we need
to make space, Like we need to not feel overwhelmed
(21:36):
when we open closet doors and drawers.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
And like breathe to breathe. I want to feel more peace.
I want to feel.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
More coziness in my house. Yes, because it really affects
me so much. Sometimes we don't notice, but it's in
these it's these little stressors. Right, you open that drawer
and you're like, fuck everything, I can't find the thing,
or this is so disorganized and I don't have time
to address it right now.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Like all of those things.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
It's like fung shue and like all like I think
these are all like similar ideas of like how do
we get better at making sure our space is working
in tandem with our mental health and the self care
and all the things that we're trying to like do
for ourselves and our family. Like the house has to
(22:24):
contribute to that, right, Yeah, Like that is like the yeah,
at the core of this like idea, and I really
like that.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Yeah. They say, like your space really can reflect how
you're feeling, how you're holding yourself inside. And like I
know when when I've been like at my most depressed
or my most down, certainly my space reflects that. Yeah,
shit is everywhere. Like I remember when I was dating
(22:53):
Brad not letting him into my apartment at one point
because it was so disgusting. He was like, no, it's fine,
Like I'm not gonna to judge you. And I was like,
you don't understand. There's like pizza boxes in here that
I've been in here for a month on the floor,
there's like crap everywhere. I haven't done laundry in two months,
Like you cannot come in right, and like it does.
It's hard to it can be really hard to like
(23:17):
climb out of that. But I guess, like what I'm
trying to say is I mean, obviously there's other stuff
at play there, right, Like there's like mental health stuff
and like addiction stuff and you know where you're at mentally.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
And I just have a hard time letting go of
things like some yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, close one for me.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
It is a hard one, but like yeah, or what
if I need this? Like what if I need this?
What if I need it?
Speaker 1 (23:44):
That I worked on throughout the power cords the other
day and I was like.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Oh, you don't need those.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
I don't, but save them all because he's like, I
don't know they need it. Like as I was throwing
them out, he was questioning them like what if that
goes to a toy that we.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Don't really And I was like, I don't remember the
toy also should go to the good Will. Sorry a
toy doesn't work like it be the toy. But there's
also like stuff like embracing the idea of making your
space your own. Can be as simple as it doesn't
have to be expensive. It can be as simple as like,
like that thing that I said that I do when
(24:23):
I go in my closet, I force myself to hang
up a couple of things that are on the floor. Yeah,
just like a couple of them, like put them away,
and then before I know it, the weeks passed by
and like there's more shit hanging than there is on
the floor. It can be as simple as like rearranging
or taking I love one of my favorite things to
(24:43):
do is take furniture from rooms to other rooms. Like
I'm constantly moving things around. It's just so fun because
I'm like this table could maybe work better in my
living room. This table could maybe work better next to
the window, next to the chair. You know, Like I'm
constantly doing that shit because like I shop what I
think they call it like shopping your own house, Like
(25:04):
you just go and look around and be like does
this work here? Like maybe there's another spot this could work.
Like I moved a big I had this big sideboard
that was my first purchase. That was my first like
Brad's always like, what's a sideboard. I'm like, don't worry
about it. If you don't know what it is, you
don't need to worry about it. Don't worry about it.
Beautiful sideboard that has like a chevron pattern. And yeah,
(25:27):
it didn't work in the it didn't work. It was
like it didn't And then like I put it downstairs
and I ended up putting like I put all my
like awards on it. Yeah, like I like even like
dumb stop like even like little things that like, you know,
no one knows what they're what they are, like I
got them in high school or whatever, you know, like,
but it's like that's my little like area for and
(25:50):
now it's like, oh, that's where that fits, you know.
Like yeah, it's so so much about having a space
that's your own, even if you have roommates, even if
it's just like half of a even if it's like
a bunk. You know, like your boys are very good
at making their shared room their own space like their bunks.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Yes, and now, actually we took the bunks apart because
they wanted to, I know, they went through, Yeah, they
wanted to have their beds on the floor and they
were strangely. I mean, Enzo was kind of leading the
charge and Axel was going along a little bit, but
they were in agreement for the most part. But it's
kind of nice because what it did was it gave
(26:31):
them each a side of the room instead.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Of being on top of each other. And yes, they're
like hanging things on the wall.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Axel has things hanging on the drawings he did or
whatever that he specifically told me to put on the
ceiling so he could look at them when he's like
going to bed and yeah, and it's really it's like
self expression. But it's also I think endeared them to
their room more and now like yeah, and it's even
(26:59):
you know, and so was for a while, you know,
trying to be like I want my own room. But
now I've noticed since since they did that, he's campaigning
to move them into the bigger bedroom which is our
guest room, eh, which we had planned to do anyway,
(27:21):
like a little bit down the line.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Oh I love. I love letting him campaign though, make
him like do like a PowerPoint present. Yeah, yeah, like
now he's doing paying for it.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
But when he talks about he goes and Axels bed
can be here, and like he's talking about both of
them moving to the to the to the bigger room.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Oh my god, side note, make him like campaign like
actually like put up posters and then you guys can
have like a vote, like oh he gave us when
the present he did, he took us both through a
whole presentation of like where everything would go.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
And yeah, he was like, hear me out, like here, Michael,
here's what we do, and here's where my bed goes,
here's where actual bed goes, and you know this can
be our homework desk, and like you did a whole thing.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
So yeah, like.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Taking ownership of his spade now and like including his
real brother, which I like. But but yeah, so we're
probably gonna try to make that happen for him.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
But that's really cute.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Yeah more, Okay, wait, okay, So I want to ask
you this because like I think our styles are so
different aesthetically.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Yes, so this is a little for.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Those of wait, let me give I feel like I
should give context for listeners. So here is how our
styles of our houses are very different. Is Stephanie is
so stylish and her house is just to me so beautiful,
and there's like this very like calming, peaceful, like energy
(29:04):
when you walk into it and there's beautiful things everywhere,
and everything's like place really beautiful in the finishes, or
I love your bedroom. Your bedroom is like an oasis.
It's just gorgeous. Everything is beautiful. My house is like
if my house is like if your grandparents maybe had
(29:24):
really good taste. And there's a lot of things that
don't go together, but also do. I had someone describe
our house as like what did they say, globally eclectic, and.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
I couldn't tell if it was a compliment or an insult.
It's on the line a compliment.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
It's the eclectic part that is like a little bit
of a backhanded compliment.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
But I understand that there's a lot as one of
my descriptors as well, there is a lot of different
shit in our house that somehow works together. But yeah,
I love I love y'all's house. I think it's like
it's warm, Yeah, it's very warm. It feels like you're
at home, Like Okay, So when you think about your
(30:12):
ideal cozy home setting, what is like the smell that
comes to mind.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Like like a fire, like a like a fire, not
a fire, like a house burning fire, like a fire place,
like it's so dark, okay, like a fire place, a
fire a fireplace safely.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Okay. So mine is like a specific candle that has
this like very warm like it's like a rich jasmini
rose smell. And I burn it all the time in
my trailers now like whenever I work, I buy a
(30:58):
travel one.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
God, you're gonna have to send me this candle because
those are literally my two favorite flower smells is rose
and Jazzma.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
It's so nice. It's the Voluspa rose auto candle. They
ain't cheap, you guys, but they burn long. And I
have the travel one. I just love it and it's
just like nice. Okay, what do you hear? What's what's
your ideal? Like what you hear in the background, like
(31:25):
in your cozy home. Oh God, I mean again, it's
ocean sounds.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
I was gonna say, I was I was going in
my mind. I was going between ocean sounds or fireplace
like the crackling of a fireplace ocean sounds.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
And that's like, you guys, that's basically free. You could
just turn your phone onto ocean sounds like an habit going.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
My sister, I have my kids sound machine to ocean
sounds because Okay, my sister constantly finds like a YouTube
channel of like she'll have like crackling fireplace or like
she had one the other day that was like Parisian
cafe sounds and it was just like a video image
of there's tons of videos online that you can find
(32:04):
of stuff like this.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
It's like calming sounds or like, but she had one
that was like jazzy wood sounds or something. She's always
got like cozy sounds happening. Yeah, okay, what is your
ideal cozy taste? Oh? I know this is an interesting one?
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
I mean cozy taste automatically brings my brain to like
autumn and like being a basic bitch and being like
cinnamon apple spike cookies. Okay, yeah, cinnamon lattes.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
You know what? Minus what minus minus having a pot
on the stove or like a like a what do
you call them, like slow cooker? Oh, full of nacho cheese.
Just having like a party where people can go like
serve their own like nacho cheese. They'll be the cheese
(33:02):
and rotel tomatoes, true Texas girl right here, rotel tomatoes
and Tina chili pepper. Yes, yeah, me, that's that. That's
that good. I mean you went to my wedding. We
had that at my wedding. Yeah you did, ye, yeah
you did? Uh yeah, I would say yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Also like yeah, my brain goes to like pasta and
like or like chili.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
Soups, something like cozy took tasty for Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I like that.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
Okay, So like I want to lastly go back to
the color scheme in my house is like a lot
of whites, a lot of grays, a lot of like
open space. There is blonde wood in my house, but
there's also elements of like our Latinidad everywhere, Like there's
a framed gold picture of Selena on the wall. There's
(33:52):
like you know, I will say my my bedroom is
probably my favorite room in the house, and all it
has in it is the bed side tables and a
chair and a lamp. That's it.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
I literally want to try to figure out how to
like make a bigger closet in my house so that
I can get rid of some of the furniture in
my bedroom.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
Because I wanted a guest bedroom. Girl just take over
that whole guest room. Yeah, a whole extra bedroom bed, Yeah,
a whole extra bedroom in there. You know how much
people come and stay with us. It's impossible because you
guys have a very cozy house. Molsa isn't selling it.
But like you walk into the first of all, you
(34:33):
walk into their like little entryway and there's this long
table in a mirror and there's all their stuff, like
you just it's like a family lives in that house.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
That table drives me fucking crazy. I need to figure
a better way. I feel like there's a better way.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
And it's like here you are. You're inside now, and
everyone takes out their shoes and then when you when
you get in, there's like this big gorgeous brown couch
that is like it just feels lived in and then
you can just throw yourselves on it and there's no
there's no like, oh can I sit on the couch?
It's just like no, you just throw yourselves on the furniture.
It's like everyone just knows that they can just sit
(35:09):
anywhere they want. Like there's like a fluidness between your
kitchen and your dining room. Everyone's just like enjoying themselves.
There's lots of spaces to talk. You guys built that
cool area outside, so it's like you can go in
and out and like everything's just like it's just like
there's such a good flow in your house, and like
it just feels like it's like family. When you come here,
(35:29):
your family, like the olive garden. It's like very like
I do I do. The house is like they're olive garden. Sorry, listen,
I don't mind it. I don't mind it. I love
the olive Garden. I go there every Christmas. It brings
me hyuga, brings your yoga more better. Okay, so what
(35:53):
did you take away from today? Do you did you
feel like you like learned anything about yourself and your
hyuga tendencies.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Gosh that I'm like super huga, right, you can use
it anyway you use it.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
I think I'm very hugua.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
I think I always have been, but I think I've
honed it over the years. I think I've gotten better
at it, or I like to think so. And I
think it was good today to kind of talk about
and realize the connection between making like living hugolestly and
(36:30):
now it can like contribute to your happiness, like overall
happiness or peace of mind or yeah, you're inner peace.
And I think that that's like an important thing to
notice so that you can I can be more intentional
about it, like I am being right now by purging
my closets.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
Yeah, yeah, what did you learn today? I think I've
I'm like, I kind of had this idea that like
Huga in my head. I was like, oh, well, it's this,
but like, as talking about it, it is what I
said in the beginning, which is like it's kind of
a vibe, right, And my version of it is there's
elements of it that are the danishy elements of it,
(37:12):
but there's elements of it that are just like not
at all. Like my version of it is pink and
florals and gold gilded and like, but I still love
a cozy blanket and I love having like a rug
on the floor be like cozy. It just happens to
have like a big floor print on it, you know. Yeah.
So I guess like my version of it, like there's
(37:33):
there's different iterations of it, so like totally don't be
afraid of like making things your own kind of yeah,
And I also feel like I feel like I feel
like there's so much more that I could talk about,
like especially like cheap ways to do this, like there's
so many cheap ways to do this. I kind of
(37:55):
touched on a little bit, but like, I mean, I
was poor for so long that I feel like I
really learned how to do it on a budget. And
I still tend to do that, like I did it
for my trailer. On this job, I didn't even talk
about my trailer. I should take pictures. We could put
them on the Instagram. Yeah, girlfriend went to home goods
and had a budget and did it up. Baby Like
(38:16):
that is such a good idea because I'm really cute
in there. I'm proud of it being a trailer for
five or six months. Oh my god. Should we do
an episode on Small Space decorating you guys and should
we show our trailers? Then that's a good Okay, we'll
discuss with ices. Okay, okay, great, I feel more better
to you. I do feel more better. This was a
(38:37):
lovely time. I like talking about this too. This was
a fun one. That's fun.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
Yeah, I'm kind of inspired to like, huga up my house,
mourning for.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
You for you, Huga. Okay, thanks guys for listening. Sorry
that we said horny and huga so many times together.
That was probably weird for you.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Yeah, but it was like a steamboat to just to
remember the pronunciation so many times. Thanks for coming, Bye bye,
more Better.
Speaker 3 (39:08):
Do you have something you'd like to be more better
at that you want us to talk about in a
future episode?
Speaker 1 (39:12):
Can you relate to our struggles or have you tried
one of our tips and tricks?
Speaker 3 (39:16):
Shoot us your thoughts and ideas at Morebetter pod at
gmail dot com and conclude a voice note if you
want to be featured on the pod. Ooh, More Better
with Stephanie Melissa is a production from WV Sound and
iHeartMedia's Mike Utura podcast network, hosted by me, Steffie Beatriz,
and Melissa FUMERA More Better is produced by Isis Madrid,
Leo Clem, and Sophie Spencer Zabos. Our executive producers are
(39:38):
Wilmer Valderrama and Leo Clem at Wvsound. This episode was
edited by Isis Madrid and engineered by Sean Tracy and
features original music by Madison Davenport and Hey Loo Boy.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Our cover art is by Vincent Remis and photography by
David Abolos. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.
Speaker 3 (39:57):
Listen to your favorite shows, see you next, big bye,
oh know pok, Thomas Mayhorse,
Hosts And Creators
Stephanie Beatriz
Melissa Fumero
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