Newlywed

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!

Go Vote Ladies!

It’s time to go vote ladies! As newlyweds it can be easy to focus on how awesome married life is and miss out on what’s going on in the rest of the world. Newsflash: Tomorrow is Election Day! Don your blue or red ensemble (depending on your party preference) and go cast your vote.

Women fought for generations for the right to be heard, so I feel that it is our responsibility to do just that…voice our opinions via ballot. Worried about long lines? Plan a time to go vote with your friends or co-workers. You can use the wait as time to catch up on the weekend and holiday plans.

Heads up if you changed your name after marriage. Be sure to bring your new driver’s license in your married name to make sure that you get to vote. If you haven’t changed your name yet…no worries you’ll be on file under your maiden name. You have no excuses, go vote ladies!

5 Newlywed Silver Linings of Hurricane Sandy

Here’s hoping all of our readers made it through Hurricane Sandy okay. The constant media coverage of impending doom likely scared most people on the East Coast and ruined many peoples’ plans/yards/cars/homes. I’m here to help you find a few silver linings of the storm:
5. Your wedding wasn’t ruined or delayed by Sandy. Just think of those poor other girls and their families this coming weekend.
4. If your basement flooded you can finally replace the carpet down there (with the help of insurance dollars)!
3. Years from now you can regale your children with stories of Frankinstorm and how “Grandpa” kept you safe.
2. The power may be out, but you have love and someone to cuddle up with to stay warm. Here’s hoping you have a bottle of wine too!
1. You & your spouse are alive! Seriously. A massive natural disaster happened and didn’t affect the most important relationship of your life.
I encourage you to take a minute to realize how fortunate you are in surviving this storm as a newlywed. If you don’t have to go into to work today, consider using that feeling of gratefulness to motivate yourself to volunteer somewhere where you can make a not-so fortunate person’s life a little easier post-Sandy.

Unplug to Reconnect!

It’s time to unplug to reconnect. Now that you’re settling into the newlywed life, do you ever feel like you don’t have time to talk or connect with your spouse the way you did before you said “I do”? Balancing jobs, a new marriage, family obligations and all the other joys of life can make for a grueling schedule.

My suggestion to you? Take an evening or weekend and unplug so you can reconnect. Turn off your phones & computers and sign off of all your online vices (from Facebook to shopping). Having uninterrupted time together is precious.

So you’re unplugged and staring at each other…now what? Take a walk through your neighborhood or a park and hold hands. You can talk, or not. Just being together is a good thing! Do activities that you love to do, but never have time for. Restaurant hop and have an appetizer at a few places, discover a museum or get a couples massage.

Another option is to tackle a project that has been on your joint to-do list forever. Need to paint the kitchen? Go pick out paint colors and roll up your sleeves. Completing a task together is rewarding and has been shown to strengthen relationship bonds.

As your unplugged time draws to a close, talk about what you liked about uninterrupted time together. Did you both de-stress? Learn something you didn’t know about your spouse? Have mind-blowing sex? You may realize that the time you spent together makes it easier for you to handle your spouse’s or your own work travel. Whatever the positive outcomes were, make plans to unplug on a regular basis!

What do you do to unplug with your spouse? Have you seen it benefit you relationship and marriage? We’d love to hear about it in a comment!

Newlywed Interest in Pinterest

Explaining the newlywed interest in Pinterest. We have to admit, we’re a bit obsessed with Pinterest. Not sure what it is? It’s a virtual pin board that lets you collect ideas/images/recipes/you name it! What does that have to do with nearlywed and newlywed life? Um…everything!

This is the perfect way to plan your dream home (room by room). Pin color palettes, furniture, plants, and artwork that would make your perfect place. When you click on the picture you pinned you’re taken to the site it came from, so you can purchase the items as you need them.

No more searching in vain for the perfect pillows you saw online, somewhere. Pinterest is also a great way to plan a shower and allow input from your friends. You can allow other people to add pins to your projects if you’re looking for help. You can find inspiration boards for healthy eating or any type of exercise.
Here are a few of our boards to give you ideas for your own!
Married Name Change

Are you using Pinterest to make your newlywed life more fun and more organized? We’d love to heat about your boards….so leave a comment!

I Heart You 4 Budget Friendly Ideas for Valentine’s Day

Looking for budget friendly ideas for Valentine’s Day? The holiday is around the corner…so every business is doing their best to convince you to splurge to show your love. While every newlywed loves receiving an amazing gift, simple and unexpected surprises are often the ones that touch your heart the most. Here are a four ways to say “I love you” without breaking the bank.

Dinner Delight – Heard the expression “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”? Whip up a batch of pancake batter and pour it into heart shaped cookie cutters f

or an adorable breakfast sure to make him feel loved. You can also make fried eggs this way too!
Fill in the Blank– Surprise your spouse with a valentine tucked into his/her car visor or computer case. Purchase a box of heart candies with sayings like “You’re the one” and glue them onto a piece of construction paper. You can fill in sentences around the sayings to make a romantic or racy Valentine’s mad lib!

Jock Shock – Married to a guy who’s more into football than the whole girlie holiday thing? We can guarantee he’ll love seeing you in a pair of undies proclaiming you’re his “tight end”! We’re going to bet you’ll feel pretty cute too!

Fond of You Fondue – What’s more romantic than dipping fruit and cake into chocolate? Here’s a great chocolate fondue recipe that takes less than 10 minutes to prepare! You can get creative with your dipping items beyond fruit: pretzels, marshmallows, cookies and even potato chips are fantastic coated in chocolate.
Do you have any fun ideas for celebrating Valentine’s Day as a newlywed? We’d love for you to share them in a comment!