Name Change Advice

Looking for name change advice or some tips for newlywed life? The MissNowMrs experts have created state-specific name change articles and checklists for you. We’ve chronicled our recommendations for how to travel while changing your name AND how to handle voting during the transition.

We’ve also compiled our best guidance for how to handle difficult sister in laws, holidays as newlyweds, the ever-annoying baby questions, and much more. Why? Because, while we are name change experts, we’re also newlywed wives, moms, and sisters.

We hope our name change advice articles help smooth your transition to your new name, and a whole new phase of life. Congratulations and best wishes from the entire MissNowMrs team!

5 Surprising Ways To Show That You Heart Him

As thoughts of Valentine’s Day begin to surface, you might be stumped about what to get your husband this year. As a newlywed, you may really want to do something special but you don’t want to be lame either (most guys just don’t love flowers or balloons sent to the office). Think outside the box with one of these 5 Valentine ideas.

Floor your tough guy with a custom (temporary) tattoo on your tush or anywhere else he might find interesting!
Is your man a serious meat eater? Go straight to his heart (via his stomach) with a sweetheart steak. It really is a steak in the shape of a heart! If custom cut steaks are out of the budget, you can always use cookie cutters to make gourmet heart-shaped hamburgers for your sweetie.
Get creative with your spouse’s morning coffee by adding a cinnamon or cocoa heart right on top using one of these cute stencils (also great for dessert decorations).
Appealing to your Italian other half or just married to a guy who seriously loves pasta? Try whipping up this amazing heart-shaped lobster ravioli for dinner.
Heart shaped soap might not be a man’s ideal Valentine’s Day gift until you offer to hop in the shower with him! We promise he’ll love the concept by the time you’re both drying off.

The great news is that whatever you do, your other half will know how much you love them and frankly, that’s what Valentine’s Day is all about. Do you have any alternative V-day surprises for your spouse this year? We’d love to hear about them.
*Image from Lobels.com

Tips for Effective Newlywed Communication

Remember those nights that you used to spend hours on the phone talking with one another when you first started dating? Then, as time passed, you got more comfortable being quiet when you were in each other’s company. That’s actually a good thing. What’s not so good is when you start to have a hard time communicating with each other. Many newlyweds actually find themselves in this type of a predicament right after they’re married. Even if they’ve been living together before their wedding, and they had no problem communicating before, there’s something about that marriage certificate that changes everything, and you may need to learn how to communicate effectively with each other all over again!

How much time do you spend talking with your spouse on an everyday basis? Most couples say that they only spend a few minutes talking with their newlywed husband or wife, even if they have similar work schedules. They get home, make dinner, and then go to their respective ends of the house. She may be working out or chatting online, while he may be watching sports or tinkering in the garage. This is not effective communication, in fact it’s a total lack of communication. If you find that your life is like this, try meshing together what you love. For instance if she loves to get online after work, and he’d rather watch sports, why not get a laptop? Then she can bring it into the living room and can sit right next to her husband while he’s watching sports. Yes you’re both doing two different things, but the simple act of being together in the room will spark conversation, even if it’s only to debate about the benefits of having a high def television.

When you get into arguments having good communication established is the most effective way to end the argument. If you find that you’re having a difficult time talking about the subject with your spouse face-to-face, try doing it another way. Some couples have a very hard time with verbal disagreements because they turn into heated fights very quickly. If this is your situation, try sending emails to each other. When you write an email you are able to compose things to say exactly what you want to say to your spouse, without rehashing things that should be left in the past. Remember to always re-read the things that you have written a few times before hitting the send button. This can open up the lines of communication and can give you both time to cool down before you meet for that face-to-face discussion, and for the best part of any argument: the makeup portion.
What newlywed communication tips do you have for our readers? Please share them with us in a comment!

A Few Minor Changes to Keep Your Marriage Interesting!

It takes work to keep your marriage interesting! Do you ever feel as though you’re living a life like the movie Groundhog Day? Where everything suddenly seems so routine that it doesn’t require any thought and you’re just going through the motions!? It’s important, and natural to get into a daily routine with your spouse, but it’s equally important to keep things interesting!

If you and your spouse discover that you’re living the WES (work, eat, sleep) life, take charge and throw in a few changes in your newlywed schedule! Simply going through the motions with your spouse in your day-to-day life can create a somewhat boring, monotonous atmosphere in your home and in turn can create tension and stress for both of you!

Not sure what to do in order to change it up a bit? Try having a date every other week! Take turns choosing the restaurant, and try somewhere that you’ve never been to before. So instead of coming home and having dinner in your pj’s in front of the TV, get a little dressed up and go out!

Another idea is to make plans with some friends that you haven’t seen in awhile. You may find yourselves having the same conversations, and frequenting the same hang-out spots when you’re around the same people, so schedule a date with some old friends! If you get home from work before your spouse, throw on some lingerie to start your evening off right!

Whatever it is that makes you and your spouse happy, stop putting it off, and make plans to do it this week! If one of you is experiencing stress, boredom, or unhappiness, it affects the other person as well so take it upon yourself to explore some new ideas! A big part of being married is being there for one another and offering your support, love, and comfort. It’s important to keep things interesting and positive in your relationship, so take a look at this article I found to get you thinking about ways to spice up your relationship!

What are some things that you and your spouse do to keep your marriage interesting and spice up your routine? We would love for you to leave a comment!

Fabulous February Handbag Giveaway!

What better way to perk yourself up this winter than by winning an amazing handbag handcrafted in California?!! Winning a CYDWOQ handbag (a $386 value) in this post is as simple as leaving a comment on our newlywed blog. CYDWOQ bag design has earned its place at the top of fashion leadership for the young, powerful and famous. They use only environmentally friendly materials, including vegetable died leathers destined to become even more beautiful over the years.

The design in CYDWOQ is based on an architectural approach of modifying and creating new constructions while using a handmade process to create products that are timeless as well as unique. Influences in the designs come from nature (in terms of shapes used and natural finishes), architecture, automobile design (in creating lines that complement the shape of the body) as well as old films (in terms of materials used as well as modifying classic shapes).

Are your arms aching for our fabulous February giveaway? Leave a comment on this, or any of our CYDWOQ Handbag posts on Mondays this month and you’ll be automatically entered to win. Tell us all about why you should win this beautiful handbag and what you love the most about it.

The randomly selected contest winner will be announced on February 28th!! If we don’t hear back from the winner within 2 weeks, we will randomly select a new winner to make sure someone ends up with this great goodie!

**If you tweet this giveaway by clicking the green retweet button below and then post a comment that you tweeted with your twitter handle, you’ll receive an additional contest entry!**

Announcing our January Skincare Winner!

Congratulations to our January skincare winner, Shazia!! She read our newlywed blog, left a comment and now she’s won an over $650 skin brightening kit from Lumixyl! Whether you’re trying to maintain your newlywed glow, or you’re planning to walk down the aisle this Spring, we’re so glad that you won this great skin care kit!

This skin care kit uses a revolutionary peptide technology developed by researchers at Stanford University to even your skin tone by eliminating age spots, sun spots and any photo damage that you may have. Lumixyl Brightening Crème also has the benefits of several moisturizing ingredients. In fact, study participants reported visible improvements in overall skin tone in addition to a 50% improvement in the appearance of their age and sun spots after 16 weeks! Talk about amazing January skincare!

Shazia please check your email for the details on how to redeem your fabulous prize from Lumixyl!
Bummed you didn’t win our January newlywed blog prize? Not to worry, February’s contest prize will be announced tomorrow morning!