Shari Maurer

It's almost Valentine's Day, so it's time to start thinking about what to get the new mom in your life. Yeah, sometimes Valentine's Day can feel like a trite Hallmark holiday, but there's really a lot of value to taking a day and making extra sure…

Friends are often the family we choose, particularly around the holidays. Whether you don't have a relationship with your family or they live too far away for you to get there this Thanksgiving, it can be really fun to celebrate with a great group…

By the time pregnant women get to that last month before their due date, they will look for any hopeful sign that labor may start soon. Late in their pregnancies, women have been known to drink castor oil, go on bumpy car rides, take a long walk,…

Halloween party games for kids are easy to come up with, but Halloween party games for adults? Not always as easy. When I was nine months pregnant and ready to burst, my partner and I were invited to a Halloween party. Knowing it might be our last…

Getting ready to have a house full of people on July 4th? Bringing your fave dish to the neighbor's house or dragging coolers of meat to the beach or the park? If so, it only follows that sometime before the holiday, you'll need to stock up on all…

If you are a Trader Joe's groupie (and once you go, you tend to join the following), you come to count on their unique-to-them products when planning a get together. Head into a Trader Joe's and you find all these delicious things that you didn't…

It's almost July 4th and while you can't control the weather for your get together, you can make sure you have all the food and drinks you need. Some folks think the holiday isn't complete without some grill time. Others rely more on salads or…

Whether you're having a small family dinner or a big gala barbecue in your backyard this July 4th, it's vital to know what your food resources are, especially if you are super-busy or a high-level procrastinator and can't shop until the big day. The…

Even on the most sedentary of days, a pregnant woman's muscles can ache. Add in a long day at work, chasing after toddlers, and taking care of things around the house and you have a compelling reason for hopping into a soothing bath at night. When…

It feels like the best thing you can do for your kids in the summer is encourage them to play outdoors, but that can come with some scary health risks. Besides the bumps and bruises they can get while playing outdoors, there's also the chance they…

Celebrating the Fourth of July pre-parenthood a pretty easy affair — figure out what you want to do and go do it. Now that there's a baby in your family, it's slightly more complicated. In many ways, this is the most portable your baby will be and…

With the Fourth of July falling on a Wednesday this year, there's no clear weekend to designate "July 4th Weekend." This can be really freeing — you can celebrate the weekend before, on Wednesday itself, the weekend after, or any combination of the…

Summer is the perfect time to catch up on all the reading you've been meaning to do. Whether you've got a ton of beach reads on your Kindle, you have lots of papers to get through for work, or you're finally enrolled in that class you've been…

Thinking of July 4th, we picture backyard barbecues, picnics on the beach, hanging with friends, and after the sun goes down, fireworks. Some families light the night waving around sparklers, some blast bottle rockets on their driveways, and others…

You have a new baby and can't stop staring at them. They are gushingly adorable and absolutely perfect. Except you look a little closer and notice something's amiss: their beautiful eyes look like they are a little watery. Or they wake up after a…

No matter what kind of relationship you have with your dad, you might be looking for something to do with him on Father's Day after brunch and before the barbecue. It could be fun to take a little time a pick a flick you both might enjoy. If you…

When you become a duchess, your new country and, really, the whole world, expects you to be perfectly polished and coiffed at all times. There's no room for chipped nail polish or a scruffy pony tail when you run to the market for a quart of milk.…

Summer is a great time to play outside with your dog. The grass is green and inviting and the weather is great – what better time to throw a ball with your dog or go on an hours-long walk? Unfortunately, all this natural beauty and the extra…

Ever since Sophocles wrote Electra and Shakespeare wrote King Lear, father-daughter relationships have been the stuff of high drama. It's a relatable bond and the emotions are extremely powerful. Anyone who has ever watched Full House knows that…