Relationship

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!

Spending Valentine’s Day Together

Looking forward to spending Valentine’s Day together? It’s easy to spend the whole day together when Valentine’s Day falls on a weekend, which unfortunately; is not the case this year. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t celebrate it on the weekend or take a PTO day to spend it together (if you have time-off available).

We’ve searched around and put together some ideas for meals to help you celebrate the love between you and your sweetie this Valentine’s Day without having to leave the comfort of your home. This will take some prep as far as making sure you have all the right ingredients, so be sure to make a list and pick up the items you need along with a movie or two…and then you’re all set!

Breakfast
Make heart-shaped pancakes and add your favorite mix-ins (i.e. chocolate chips, blueberries, bananas, etc.) for some extra flavor. Or use food coloring to dye your pancakes red! If pancakes aren’t your thing, you could make your favorite breakfast foods and enjoy them together. Need heart-shaped Pancake Egg Rings? You can purchase them through Amazon.

Lunch
What could be cuter than the two of you making a homemade heart-shaped pizza? You could practice your dough tossing skills and see who can throw their dough the highest! Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a friendly competition… even if you end up throwing a little flour at each other.

Dinner
Do a web search for valentine’s dinner for two recipes. We particularly like this one for a seafood bake for two. Don’t forget to pair it up with your favorite wine or cocktail…you’re not leaving the house so celebrate however you want to!

Dessert
They say Valentine’s Day is for lovers and they are right, it’s for chocolate lovers! The possibilities are endless when it comes to dessert: chocolate covered strawberries, cake, cookies, brownies…pick your pleasure and enjoy!

What’s your plan for spending Valentine’s Day together? Tell us about it by leaving a comment below.

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!

Wedding Anniversaries: Traditional or Non-Traditional Gifts

Wedding anniversaries are something new to look forward to as a newlywed! Before I became a newlywed, I was completely unaware of the fact that there are traditional gifts that you exchange with your spouse on your wedding anniversary each year! Okay sure, I’ve heard of the 25^th as the “Silver Anniversary” and the 50^th as the “Gold Anniversary”, but aside from these two celebrations (what can be considered as monumental achievements these days) I didn’t know that there are actually specific gifts for each year.

I was pretty excited about this list of gifts, since I never know what to buy for my hubby, or even if I’m actually supposed to get him anything. This makes things a lot more interesting than flowers, dinner, and a movie (don’t get me wrong, I love these things but for your anniversary you like it to be… um… a little something more! My hubby and I have started our own tradition from wedding anniversary #1, to re-visit the venue where we had our reception where we have a nice romantic dinner, a bottle of wine, and end up sneaking ourselves into the reception room in the midst of another wedding taking place, just for one dance!

Here is a complete list of annual traditional wedding anniversary gifts. You may use this guide for sentimental gift exchanges between you and your spouse or you can make it more fun by doing your own thing! Whatever you choose, this list will offer some ideas for you, and the opportunity to participate in this tradition which dates back to the Middle Ages. You can find out more on the background of this tradition by reading the history.

Is this a tradition that you and your spouse participate in? Do you and your spouse have your own traditional wedding anniversary gift or celebration with one another? We would love to hear about it!

Fairytales vs. Realistic Expectations For Your Marriage

What are your expectations for your marriage? Most girls grow up dreaming about their wedding day. They dream about wearing a beautiful gown and walking down an aisle flanked by loving friends and family. Or they dream about an amazing ceremony performed on a beach. Either way, it’s a fairy tale. Even men tend to have fairy tale ideas about their wedding, and, their marriage as well. One reason why so many newlyweds have a hard time in those first two years of marriage is because they go into it expecting to live a fairy tale.

Unfortunately, all of married life can’t be a fairy tale. A fairy godmother isn’t likely to come sweeping into your home brandishing a beautiful gown for you to wear to the ball, nor is your new husband likely to cover you in chocolate and roses every day. While you should expect your new marriage to be a wonderful time in your life, you might want to tone down your fairy tale expectations to avoid putting too much pressure on yourself and spouse.

If you want your marriage to last, the most important thing is to recognize that married life isn’t a fairy tale, it requires work. Yes, there are a lot of fun and amazing things that you can do together, and there are certain days where it will feel magical, but eventually, you’ll find yourself dealing with the mundane or the frustrating. You’ll have to deal with in-laws or boring friends or demanding work schedules. How can you keep your relationship together with real life intruding?

Make your relationship your top priority. No you’re not Cinderella and that’s not a prince that you’re married to (unless you’re Kate Middleton), but he is your partner, and together the two of you are a team. Like your favorite sports team, you have to learn how to work together in order to keep your marriage together.

A big part of making sure that your life together is a happy one, and is the fairy tale that you hope it to be, is in enjoying the simple things that your share. Enjoy the time that you have together, and the silly and fun things that you do as a couple. This makes your married life much better than a fairy tale, it makes it a happy, healthy relationship! Now that’s something they should write stories about!

How are you keeping your marriage happy and healthy? Have you both been working to make your expectations for your marriage a reality?