Mr. & Mrs. Thanksgiving

This time last year Carl and I had been dating about seven months and we decided to tackle a "real" Thanksgiving dinner...including our firt attempt at cooking a turkey. It ended up being the juiciest turkey either of us had ever eaten.

Fast forward to November 22, 2012 and our first Thanksgiing as a Mr. & Mrs. After a turkey juice spill, accidental spice overload and a few tense moments - we had ourselves an awesome meal!

Here are the recipes we used. Typically when we cook, we try to do most by scratch and with healthy ingredient substitutes. However, turkey day is our exception for healthy!

Becoming a W. Rules for Cooking
1. Recruit your husband to do all of the chopping & heavy-duty stirring.
2. Allow for messy hands.
3. Taste test, taste test, taste test!

Turkey
I found this recipe last year. If you like getting messy when you cook - this recipe does the trick. You can find the recipe here...in my opinion, the intense butter and the oven bag are the secret to the ABSOLUTELY PERFECT turkey.

Stuffing
Growing up I always detested stuffing. But now that I can cook my own, I've realized that I love fruit-based stuffings. This one is my favorite that I've tried so far. So tasty - get the recipe here.

Tator Tot Casserole
This recipe has a lot of memories behind it. It is my dad's recipe for a common dinner in my parent's household while I was growing up. I really never liked it as a child...probably because the word "casserole" was in the name.

But man oh man, Carl and I LOVED this! Here's my dad's recipe:
NOTE: The dish in this photo is before it's been cooked


Ingredients:
1.5 lb ground round (We substituted ground turkey for less grease, etc.)
1 package frozen seasoned tator tots
8 ounces sour cream (We subsituted fat free)
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 can of french style green beans (We substituted fresh green beans
2 stalks of chopped celery
Shredded Mozzarella cheese
Salt & Pepper (We use just a pinch of salt when recipes call for it...avoiding salt as much as possible.)

Directions:
Brown the ground meat with chopped celery. Drain. Combine all ingredients in a large dish, saving 1/3 of the tots to top off the dish. Bake 350 degrees for one hour. Add shredded mozzarella cheese when 15 minutes remain. Eat and enjoy!

Cranberry Sauce
I always loved cranberry sauce from a can...until I began doing my own cooking from scratch. Now the canned stuff just seems wrong! This recipe is a sweet & spicy cranberry sauce. We followed the recipe and the end result was way too spicy for us - so we made another batch of cranberry sauce with nothing added and mixed it in with the spicy sauce. Now it tastes perfect and the leftovers are heavenly.

Oh Martha would be so proud...here's the recipe.

Pomegranite Rosemary Champagne
Yummo! The recipe called for Rosemary Water...we didn't have that, so we just sprinkled actual rosemary in the drink. Made the texture weird - I totally don't advise making that substitute. Other than that, it was very tasty. Recipe Here!



If you try any of these recipes, let me know how they turn out! Hope you all had as great of a Thanksgiving as I did...I mean, just look at how cute my two boys were while cooking away in the kitchen :)

The Little Things

I now write as Mrs. W.

It's been a little over two weeks since the "big day" and I have one hope: that I never forget the little details...including having my sister at my side through it all.

But before I get to that - let me tell you two things I took away from the wedding:

1. I FINALLY understand why all bride's dance the same. It's next to impossible to dance in that dress, especially when the corset inside is sucking you in to extremes!

2. No bride should ever sit down. Ask anyone that celebrated with us, I danced until the last song. I just kept telling myself, keep going - just one hour left. If I would've sat down, sleep would've overtaken me.

And now, onto the portion of this post that is mostly for me and my memory...hope you enjoy.

Never forget:

W. Playing bar trivia a few days before with ALL of my current and future siblings...

W. Waking up without a single nervous or anxious feeling, just excitement...

W. Saying bye to my future husband as he leaves for the hotel and giving him one last fiance hug...

W. My little sister helping me unveil my wedding dress...

W. My future brother-in-law so willingly following us girls around with a camera all day long and playing "Bike Race" on his phone during any possible downtime :) ...

W. Feeling like a celebrity while getting my make-up done in my home...

W. Forcing myself to eat lunch - even though my stomach was refusing any hunger...

W. Stepping into my wedding dress and having my sister button me up...

W. Peaking out the window, watching my soon-to-be husband stepping out of the limo looking like the most handsome, sexiest man on the planet and causing my heart to jump into my throat.

W. Having the time with my sister and hoping she could feel how crucial she was to my life that day and always.

W. Dance Party USA in the back room with my sister and the cutest flower girls EVER...we call this one "Flowergirl 'tude":

W. Standing in the back room with just my dad and telling him to talk to me the whole time...

W. The feeling that I was about to enter a dream...

W. The first steps out to the crowd and the gratefulness of having my father with me as my rock and support as everyone's eyes are glued on me and me alone...

W. The immediate rush of sheer joy when I can finally see my future husband...

W. The pull of not being able to take my eyes off of him as I stand with my father...

W. The electricity that ran from me to him when I grabbed his hand...

W. My entire body literally shaking and gripping his hand so hard that he cramped...

W. The flood of emotion that ran through me when the words "Where you go, I will follow" were spoken...

W. The way my nose began to ever so slightly run when he spoke his vows to me... --weird, I know :) --

W. The moment I "accidentally" hugged and kissed him too early...

W. The sense of confidence and purpose I felt when speaking my vows...

W. And our first moment alone immediately following the ceremony - jumping into his arms, kissing him and taking our first photo as husband & wife (not exactly the best photo of us, but yet the best photo of us!):

W. The amazing food and great speeches.

W. Our first dance feeling like we were floating on air.



W. The one time in my life, not feeling like an awkward fool as the center of everyone's attention.

W. Dancing all night long, barely leaving the dance floor and loving every moment with my friends & family.

W. Ending the night, dancing with my dad, sister and husband to Frank Zappa's "Dancing Fool."

W. And then, waking up on Sunday, October 28th as Mrs. Sara W.

Forever Young Wedding Weekend

Here's a look at our wedding weekend leading up to the actual wedding ceremony. Thanks to my awesome sister, Amy, for putting the video together and my awesome soon-to-be brother-in-law, Brett, for taking all of these photos.

Brings the rush of happiness and pure joy to us all over again...

Wedding Weekend from Sara Krause on Vimeo.

If you are interested in having Amy & Brett take photos at your wedding, let me know and I will get you in contact with them!

If you love my hair and make-up as much as I did, give these ladies a call:

Capricio Salon
Hair Stylist: Kim

Kristal Sherman Makeup
Makeup Artist: Kristal Sherman

Car Song

Just four days away...

This is a week for new experiences! Having my last single moments ever, being a wifey, forgetting that I have to include the pastor's name on the wedding program..and oh, let's not forget: getting rear-ended by another vehicle.

Ah yes, amongst the final tidbits of wedding planning and wrapping up work before I'm on vacation for 7 days, today was my turn to experience a vehicle rumble. I call it a rumble because in the grand scheme of things, it could've been way worse and no one got hurt. That's what really matters. But it still irks me a bit! :)

I've always been an awkward duck. Well, this experience didn't disappoint. And one point I hugged the other driver because I didn't know what else to do. Mind you, I am not a traditional hugger like the rest of you chickies out there. I'm much better than I used to be, but still!

And then after making small talk about the wedding and her recent cruise, the cop came back from his car and pulled me aside to give me instructions. When he was done I walked over to the woman and told her it was nice to meet her. Ugh, seriously - why am I so weird.

Anyways, like I told the woman that hit me - things could be way worse and she shouldn't let it ruin her week. So that's my motto!

Hmmm...I've been wanting a new car - maybe Carl will finally join the bandwagon :)

Incognito

The dress...incognito.

Six.

So six days from now, you'll have a new, official Mrs. Wierer on your hands. Here's my little recap of the rollercoaster ride since January 13, 2012:

It started with a birthday.
And followed with shaky hands, kind words and a "Are you serious?! Is this for real?!"
As we basked in the Jamaican sun for the next seven days, our close friends & family struggled to keep the news to themselves.
Back in the states, the hunt for a venue begins.
Stress ensues.
And then...finally, a 2012 date at Swig!
Dresses galore leading us back to the first very first one.
Photographers, djs, dreams, reality and more.
Money worries, stress and bits of arguing.
Happy reinforcement from family and friends.
Awesome summer visits to NYC, Miami and more.
Work stress consuming time away from wedding planning.
Final meetings with Double Platinum DJs, Swig and Photographer, Mark Hines.
Lots of blog posts.
Lots of fun.
Lots of stress.
And all worth it to bring me to where I'm at this very moment. One week away from having myself an official teammember in life.

I found this the other day. It feels very fitting...no worries, Carl agreed :)

Six more days.

License to Marry

We're down to two weeks.

Yesterday Carl and I decided we should probably get our marriage license. Did you know that it costs $105.00 just to apply for the license?! Thank you government for finding yet another way to take our money. You know what I say to them, "Pish Posh!"

So I went online to figure out what we needed...all the basics:

1. Birth Certificate
2. License
3. Proof of Residence (mail)
4. Social Security Card

All good...except for Carl didn't have his SS card. So he had to apply for a new one and luckily they gave him a temporary certificate. Otherwise - who knows how long it'd take to receive. Then you all would be coming to a party with some weirdos dressed in a white dress and nice suit instead of an actual wedding! :)

I had never been to the courthouse - when we pulled up it was pretty impressive. Granted, if I were pulling up for different reasons, I'd probably have had an extremely different reaction.

So we arrived to the courthouse, walked through security and headed upstairs. Basically they have you fill out a form that looks like a basic job application. It was a fairly sterile process for sure.

Once the form is completed - we had to take it to the main desk which looked like a hospital office counter. The woman helping us kept chuckling. I finally said, "Whaaaat?!!" I'm sure she probably just thought we were clearly the coolest future newlyweds she's ever met. #duh



Anyways, I didn't know we were going to have to raise our right hands and "solemnly swear" already! We even had to say "I do." It was kind of cool and I felt a little emotion rising into my throat - great, just great. What does that mean for me on October 27th?!

So it's official. We signed the marriage license application & will pick up the actual license next week!

Becoming a W. (in a word cloud)

I found this cool web site that creates word clouds, check out the Becoming a W. word cloud:

Here's the web site: http://www.wordle.net/. Try it!

Can't Do It Alone...

In case you didn't know, we are just under three weeks away from introducing a new Mrs. Wierer to the world. (that's me, in case you were wondering!)

The nine months since we were first engaged, we have encountered a ton of event vendors. Some good, some really weird and some just plain idiotic. I really feel like we landed on some great peeps to help make our wedding day go as planned.

Oh and if weren't yet aware...wedding's are expensive - even when you're doing it on the "cheap"!



Take a look!

Hair
I've been going to Capricio Salon & Spa for 1.5 years now and love it! If you're looking for a kick-ass stylist - try Kim. She seriously is one of maaaaaybe two stylists in my lifetime that left me loving my hair every time I leave.

I'm excited to have her style my hair for the wedding day and have no doubt it'll look great!

Venue
As I wrote in a previous blog: 3 Essentials of Life, we are super excited about having the wedding at Swig in Milwaukee's downtown Third Ward area.

Check out the menu -

-- WARNING: Do not read with an empty stomach --

House Salad w/Fresh Bread
Sauteed Veggies
Baked Mac 'N Cheese
Peppercorn Encrusted Tuna
Beef Tenderloin w/Two-Potato Mash
Backed Stuffed Chicken w/Fettucini

Vanilla Cheesecake
Red Velvet Cake
And then a special dessert I worked with the chef on...in memory of my grandparents.

So good. Oh, there's hors d'oerves too. Stuffed mushrooms and more. Yummo.

Erin's been great to work with so far. I'll report back after the wedding to let you know how the space turned out!

DJ
We are super pumped for Double Platinum DJ.

He's been so easy to work with and we are very confident in his making the night run smoothly. We actually have our last meeting with him Monday night. So awesome. Here's the services we selected to use:

Uplighting
Music (unlimited)
Time-lapse video of the entire day from guest arrival to ceremony to late night dancing
Monogram Wall Light
MC responsibilities

And he's offered us great advice on how the evening could run. He had ideas we are using that I would've never thought of - we really did get way more than just a DJ from them. So far...we highly recommend Double Platinum DJ.

Manscaping
After a little convincing, I was able to get Carl to agree to a manicure for the day of the wedding. My dad will be joining him as well for a professional head shave. Their appointments are at a local men's salon: Groom.

It's a salon targeting men so I believe most of the stylists are women.I've known a few people that have gone there and liked it. I told my dad and Carl "No funny business with the hot chickies!" I have no doubt it'll be a good experience for both of them.

Photographer
Our photographer, Mark Hines, is a friend of ours and a great local photographer. We are excited to have him use his creative eye to capture real emotion from the day. He'll fit in great with our guests!

Flowers
Bah humbug. So, thinking I was a money-saving genius, I decided to DIY the wedding flowers.

Well, they looked nice enough on the kitchen table...but eventually I overdid the DIY (as I typically do) and they became a big 'ole mess. I decided to march around the house carrying the "done" bouquets and flinging my arms around. Let's just say, the bouquets didn't survive.







BUT WAIT! There is a silver lining.

Carl and I met with The Flower Lady and Loreen is creating seriously gorgeous yet simple flowers. I can't wait. My brain decided to forget about the DIY mess and lost $$. These flowers are going to be really nice. We even ordered two white balloons for our flower girls to carry. Got that idea from pinterest :)






I'll give you all updates after the wedding to let you know how the final things ended up with the vendors. No mincing words - I promise :) Funny - I suppose, if you know me - then you already know I won't hold anything back...

Advice From a Really Awesome Dancer...Me.

Have you seen our wedding web site?!

We used WeddingWire.com: www.weddingwire.com/wierer

If you or someone you know has a wedding coming up - my advice is to set up a web site with all the details. It was so easy to build and it helped manage the RSVPs without the cost of postage.

We even sent our Save the Dates via e-mail.

Things are really starting to come together! Who would've thought my goal of being pretty much done with the planning by June would actually work. Just a few little things left now.

Also...I hope you've been practicing your dance moves. Because mine look a little like this: