You can also follow us on Twitter: Click to follow

Or you can follow our facebook fan page Mazerisms on Facebook

Thanks for your support! Best, Tara

If you are in a hurry and heading out the door, you can check your local stores for any of the following:

• VIGNETTE, it looks like wine but is really juice!  I have to thank my friend Alana for informing me about this gem.  If you still have not announced your pregnancy, and want to hang out with your boozy friends, this comes in a wine bottle aka they will never know the difference!

• When I was a kid, my parents would let my brother and I drink Sparkling Cider at Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner.  Of course, we thought we were soooo grown up drinking out of fancy glasses .  This past year, mom made sure to have a bottle ready for me at dinner again

• You could always go with a non-alcoholic beer such as O’Douls.  Just be aware, that while it is branded as non-alcoholic, it does have a small trace-.4% per volume.  As with any product, just check the label.

If you are hosting a party and need ideas, try some below:

• Sparkling Cran Razzy —1/2 cup raspberries, 2 cups raspberry juice, 2 cup seltzer, 2 tablespoons lime juice.

• The old-fashioned Shirley Temple is made with Ginger Ale, Splash of Grenadine, and garnished with a cherry.  You can order in any restaurant or bar.  I also like to order mine with Sprite as opposed to ginger ale.

• Rasberry Spritzer  —2 cups of seltzer, 2/3 cup frozen raspberries, 2 springs of mint, 3 ounces of raspberry flavored syrup, and don’t forget the ice.

Get creative-mix your favorite juices with seltzer just don’t forget the garnishes:)  Cheers, Tara

Check it out: 18 Joyful Declarations Of Love From Newlyweds In Seattle

As we get caught up in the everyday hustle, it makes you think—-what do you love and admire about your spouse?

Cheers, T

I have always had high expectations for New Year’s Eve because I have always compared life to the movies (I know it’s stupid but I am learning).  Anyways, I always felt a little let down when the ball dropped on #NYE because aside from the horn blowers and pots and pans, there are no fireworks-it’s really just another night.  People ask what your resolution will be and you say the same thing you said last year, knowing that you’re not going to stick with it–again.  My other favorite is when people say they are done with the drama of the previous year.  Hellooo, you don’t have to wait all year to change your life.  Wow-I am starting to sound like an old person!

Seriously–why not change your life on any day of the week?  In all honesty, January is a cold, miserable month and probably harder to stick to the positive lifestyle during that time.  Why not make a resolution when Spring rolls around?  It will probably be easier to stick with.

We build this one night up and many people feel let down when nothing happens. Well, unless your best friend vomits all over your floor, but that’s another posting all together

My point is-whether you head to Times Square, stay at your local watering hole, dine at a fancy restaurant, or order takeout in your sweatpants-spend it the way you want to spend it!  You will enjoy yourself so much more.  Hate to be cliché, but that really is what it is all about.

And as for those pesky resolutions-don’t even stress, they’re not all that they are cracked up to be.

Hope you have a Happy New Year and may your 2013 bring many new adventures!

Cheers, T

Things that have come to light in the 18th week of my pregnancy:

• Buying a Bella Band  is a must.  I recently purchased one and felt human again when I was able to wear my jeans.  Don’t get me wrong, I love leggings but let’s be honest-sometimes they make our butts look bigger.

• The holidays are the best time to be pregnant! You can eat cookies with no guilt and everyone seems to make sure the pregnant person eats first and has dessert to take home.   This may be the first year that my New Year’s Resolution does not include dieting, #WINNING!

•  I have finally learned to pace myself in the Pregnancy Bible, What to Expect When You’re Expecting.  Yes, reading the chapter for the month that actually pertains to you is not as overwhelming as reading multiple chapters ahead.

• Registering for your baby is a lot more fun than the wedding registry-everything is so tiny and cute!  Mom and I spent 3 hours in one store and could have easily stayed longer but they were closing.  Well, to clarify I could have stayed longer, Mom had already found a rocker recliner to sit in. #TrueStory

• Weird dreams do happen, don’t over analyze them.  For instance, the other night I dreamed we found out the gender during the sono and when I saw it was a boy,  I started crying my eyes out.  Up to interpretation if I cried because I found out the gender or because I thought I was having a boy.

• And then there was heartburn, backaches, and a whole lot of excitement.  Just buy some Tums, turn on the heating pad and enjoy this exciting time!

Cheers, T

Now that Christmas is over, it’s back to the grind and back to the routine.  It occurred to me this morning, as I was getting ready for the first day back to work that I need to think of something to make for dinner.  Ugghh-I feel like that is a never ending saga: what are we going to eat?  I know, I know- #1stWorldProblems.  Seriously though, our work schedules and traffic filled commutes are so crazy that a lot of times we get home from an 11 or 12 hour work day and the last thing I want to think about is what am I going to make.  Of course with making the dinner comes the clean up, doing any other chores that have been neglected, get work bag re-packed, and of course try to spend some quality time together.  Before I know it, the evening news is long over and its 9:45pm.

Since this blog is about newlywed life and all that comes with it, I thought I would share some ways you can save time with dinner.

1. Make enough food for two meals.  This will allow you at least one night of leftovers, which means at least one night of not cooking!

2.  Take food out for dinner in the morning.   This morning I  took frozen Italian Sausage out for dinner, so when I walk in the door tonight and Nathan asks, “What’s for Dinner?” he knows and with any luck he has already started cooking the pasta to go with it. 

3. Cook Together.  Use this time to start talking about your day.

4. Clean as you cook.   If you clean the mess as you cook, you will have nothing to do after eating, except put your plates in the dishwasher and enjoy the rest of your night.

Cheers, Tara

These are one of the quickest. easiest recipes and are DELICIOUS!

Ingredients you will need: Rolo Candies, Pretzels, and M&Ms

To start, spread pretzels out on a baking sheet.

Unwrap the Rolo Candies.

Place a Rolo on each pretzel and bake at 350 degrees.  Bake for 4-5 minutes, or until the chocolate starts melting.  You do not want them to melt too much, or you will have quite the caramel, chocolate mess.

After removing the Rolo pretzels from the oven, place an M&M on each Rolo.

Let cool and enjoy!

Nathan and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas.   Cheers, T

VSTDRVUZ7SWX

Anyway-the point of this post is to share with you the delicious cookies I made….Rolo Sugar Cookies.  Though, I have to give credit where it is due and thank my co-worker, Ed, for this recipe.

The only ingredients you will need are Rolo candies and sugar cookie mixture.

Now, of course you can make the sugar cookie batter from scratch, but if anyone knows me they know I am always trying to save time.  SO-there is no shame in buying the pre-made cookie mix and adding the necessary ingredients.

First, you need to start unwrapping your Rolos, and set them aside in a bowl so they are ready when you need them.

Lucky for me, my wonderful friend, Amber was more than happy to help me make 12 dozen cookies on a Friday night. Thats Amber mixing up the sugar cookie mixture.

Once the dough was ready we started wrapping the Rolos inside!

Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 8-9 minutes.

Voila! Let cool and enjoy.

Hopefully you are not stressing as the holidays near and have all of your cookies made.  If not, try this easy recipe and enjoy!  Merry Christmas!-Tara

Joe and I have owned our house for going on two years. Since it was a to-be built home we were lucky enough to get to pick and choose everything from the hardwood floors, carpet color, cabinets and granite to the color of the light fixtures that we liked. All the walls are still the same cream builder grade color they were when we first moved in back in March 2011.

We have yet to hang much on the walls. Mainly since I am scared to do it myself and also because I have no idea where to even start in most places. I have pinned plenty of ideas of gallery walls, art work, etc. on Pinterest and haven’t actually made any decisions about where it would go.

Sometimes starting with a blank slate can be overwhelming when it comes to decorating a room or a house. I have made an attempt to do a few small things here and there to make our house feel like a home and to prevent me from feeling overwhelmed in the process. Although sometimes becoming overwhelmed is inevitable…picking paint colors is overwhelming and then the thought of actually painting makes me want to run for the hills. I’m not very good at it, but lucky for me the hubby knows a thing or two.

I think the hardest part for me at first was how to start decorating since we have an open floor plan on our main level. At first I wasn’t sure if the kitchen and family room curtains should be the same fabric or different. I took the pictures below on the day we settled and got our keys.

Standing in the eat-in kitchen looking into the family room

Standing in the family room looking into the kitchen area and walk out to the deck

It took about a year of living here before I even decided on fabric for our family room curtains. And the actual process of picking out the fabric consisted of my sister and I in JoAnn Fabric for about two and a half hours…literally on the floor going back and forth between fabric choices. #Indecisivemuch Once I FINALLY decided on the fabric my sister came over and worked her sewing machine magic.

I really love how the curtains turned out. I hung them using clip rings. To this day that part of our family room for the most part looks the same. Minus the step stool in the corner (it lives in a hidden spot in our kitchen). I still need to hang art work and make throw pillows for our couches. The ones that came with the sofas are hideous and I hate them. I always make sure the ugly patterned side faces the sofa.  

About two months ago while I was at Lowe’s crossing some things off my “to-do” list (buying a new battery for my garage remote and a replacement water filter for the fridge) and as I was waiting for the sales man to come back with the right battery I took a walk through the curtain aisle. I had been looking for curtains for our kitchen window, but hadn’t had much luck. I wanted to find something that would be colorful, but would still go well and wouldn’t compete with the dark tones we already have in the kitchen.

Sometimes it can be something little and unexpected that gives you the inspiration to decorate a room. This time a pattern caught my attention and the colors in the pattern kept my attention! They were so pretty and bright! The pattern wasn’t over the top or too matronly looking and it was colorful. I checked the price and at $14.97 per panel I couldn’t resist! I bought two panels drove right home and started hanging them. This time a pattern caught my attention and the colors in the pattern kept my attention. These curtains were that little unexpected thing to give our kitchen a happier look and a jumping off point for me to put the rest of the room together.

I didn’t take a before picture and I couldn’t find a good before picture, so you will just have to imagine how terribly plain the window was before and how the curtains made the biggest and best addition to our little kitchen!

For anyone interested in purchasing these panels they are Style Selections 84′ L Multicolor Bernard Curtain Panel.

About a month ago I decided to move a dresser that was residing in our master bedroom from our bedroom down to the kitchen and use it as a “buffet” of sorts. Not only did that free up wall space in our bedroom for me to re-arrange our room (it looks so much better now), but it also gave me some much needed extra storage space in the kitchen.

Above is the dresser once it was moved down into the kitchen. Pardon the light, it was dark outside when I got around to taking pictures.

On a recent shopping trip to Hobby Lobby I came across their decorative knobs. I found some really pretty blue knobs that I thought would be an easy and fabulous way to change up the once dresser and make it fit in better in it’s new home.

I am completely in L.O.V.E with how the curtains and the new blue knobs bring together the room. I am also happy to report that thanks to the curtains and knobs I have finally decided on a paint color! Wahoo! My goal is to tackle the painting very soon #wishmeluck! Once the painting is complete I will take care of all that empty wall space.#babysteps
Eventually down the road I would like to do something fun with the currently ORB (oil rubbed bronze) chandelier…maybe a little spray paint action to tie it in with the curtains and break up all the dark wood tones?!

Do you ever feel overwhelmed when decorating your house, apartment or condo? I feel like the more I do the more comfortable I get with it, but still feel overwhelmed at times. Remember to take it one step at a time and try to have fun with it. 

Have you completed any fun home projects recently?

WEIRD, right?

The heartbeat sounded good last week and the Dr. was even impressed with my cholesterol!  This great news overshadowed the fact that I have already gained 8 pounds, when I should have gained about 5.  But, obviously I’m not too upset about it because I am still here eating cheesecake   Another piece of  good news is the nausea has finally subsided and my craving for pancakes has dwindled.  On the flip side, and unfortunately for Nathan, the emotions and tears have kicked into high gear.  Luckily, he can make me start laughing in the next breath and I move on!

My energy has also returned but now my mind is going a million miles an hour with all of the stuff I need to do.  For starters, I need to decide where to register and for what things.  Luckily, Mom is all over this and I could not be happier, I am ready to shop till we drop.  Things still to decide-do we sign up for classes, ie lamaze? Do we book a hospital tour?  The new budget and health insurance have been resolved, man I really am an adult!

What’s left, the issue of painting the spare room aka the new nursery.  Do we hire professionals or suck it up and just do it ourselves?  I will note that it is quite possible I failed finger painting so this is a serious decision!  While I think these are all a big deal, Nathan is focused on the bigger things, like the new bed for the kid, or depending on the length, our new bed Nathan’s Dream Bed.

I am trying to remind myself that while I need to decide these things, I don’t have to do it all today.  Today I am focused on planning a BabyMoon-I need some time in the sun and any suggestions you have are helpful.  All in all, an easy pregnancy and we couldn’t be happier, next month we get our sonogram!  Cheers, T