Holy shitballs a year has passed? Wtf?! Happy Anniversary amentoramuse!

Nik: Congrats Alex! The first year in LA is the hardest – they say if you make it a year, you’ll make it.
Alex: It’s a little freaky how fast it went. Remember when we first hung out on the rooftop at Hotel Erwin and you wore SPF 50 and a hat?
Nik: 55. Yep. Feels kind of like yesterday, but kind of not. So much has happened since then.
Alex: I know! I took my first writing class.
Nik: I finished a pilot. Got new agents.
Alex: I had an internship at Warner Bros. Records and got a job offer from Epic.
Nik: BUT you nabbed your first TV gig on The 100!
Alex: And YOU got staffed on Mozart in the Jungle. Which by the way, looks freaking awesome!
Nik: Dreams coming true. You’re in Hollywood baby.
Alex: Oh, I got my car towed. Over $600 in fines, that was fun.
Nik: I had a skin cancer scare and got that little f$ck$r cut off my nose. Still have a mole hole.
Alex: You can hardly see it. I went skydiving and had sex in Yosemite National Park.
Nik: I had sex upside down and sideways.
Alex: I want to have sex upside down and sideways!
Nik: It’s fun. I watched friends get married, have babies, get divorced.
Alex: My first friend got married! I was a bridesmaid, she’s preggers now. Life’s weird.
Nik: You are.
Alex: You are.
Nik: I did my first sweat lodge.
Alex: I met Red Eagle and learned about my spirit guides.
Nik: Oh, yeah – I still want to do that with you.
Alex: We have a lot of things we need to do together.
Nik: We will. Since you made it your first year…
Alex: I’ll make it a bunch more… I have learned so much from you and I continue to everytime we are together. I can’t thank the universe, or my stepmom enough for bringing us together. I think my abs are even a bit stronger from meeting you, since we laugh so gol’ darn much. I still can’t get over the fact that a year has gone by!
Nik: Cheers lil betch.
Alex: Let’s go drink.

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Alex: I’m sad. Actually, I’m just homesick, but being homesick makes me sad.  So I guess that does make me sad.  I just feel like I’ve missed out on so much back at home.  My brother won State for football, broke his hand and got surgery, graduated High School, turned eighteen and is leaving for college at the end of summer.  The list could go on and on.  And I’ve missed it all. Even some of my friends are getting married, having kids, or getting their own places.  It’s weird and it’s hard not being home for these events.  Holy cow I miss Wisconsin so much.  I miss Brewer tailgates, burgers on the grill, a friendly-turned-competitive game of Bags… usually guys versus girls. The hot humid air married with a cool crisp lake and a fully stocked cooler of Spotted Cow. The 4th of July arrives and the only thing you know for the next 48 hours is festivals, kickball, the beer tent, pool parties, and of course the fireworks.  For the past two years I’ve spent the 4th at Venice beach with awesome friends and food. It was still a lot of fun this year, I mean it’s hard to complain when you’re partying at the beach, but it just wasn’t the same. I think I just really need to go home. Not move home, just go home. I miss being able to ‘just go home’. Grr, the Monday after the 4th really sucks balls.
Nik:  I get homesick too.  And I don’t think those feelings ever go away.  I wish my family lived closer so I could just pop in whenever I wanted.  I think the thing that helps is planning ahead (although if you ask my family they’d laugh because I usually plan trips less than three weeks in advance.) But I try to go home every 4th of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas and they usually come out here once or twice a year. It’s not as good as living in the same city, but it lessens the homesickness because I know exactly when I’ll see them next.  You do realize that you get a ton of time off for the holidays when you work on a show, right? Have you checked your production calendar?  You should look and plan ahead so you can get a cheap ticket home!
Alex: Yep! We have roughly two weeks off around Christmas and I plan on being home the entire time. This feeling also motivates me to write more, finish my script, and start making money so I can have the liberty to travel whenever I want. Well, whenever we’re on hiatus.  As much as I would rather hear that the homesickness goes away, it’s comforting knowing I have you out here to always tell me how it is. We have to make it a point to go to Wisconsin together! Think about how much fun we would have!
Nik:  My dream is to do a Badger/Packer weekend.  Let’s do that.
Alex: That sounds like heaven. So does making out with Aaron Rodgers in a hammock by a campfire post-game.

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Alex:  This Thanksgiving was my first holiday away from home. There are some things I knew I wouldn’t miss like the clean up and cold weather. But there are a lot of things that I knew I would miss; my grandma’s perfectly mashed potatoes with a touch of garlic, the sound of papa’s electric knife cutting the turkey, football on the big screen, the array of desserts we could choose from after dinner, the festive table decorations (boy does my grandma know how to set the table), all of us sitting down for dinner, sharing what we’re thankful for, eating until I’m in a food coma, laughing, sharing stories, making history. When I was a little girl I’d go to summer camps, leaving home for weeks at a time. I enjoyed the independence, but I always knew I was going back home. And in college, it was so easy to drive home when I needed a hug from dad after a long week or advice from my step-mom on drama that was outside my comfort zone. I checked the prices for tickets home. Then I compared it with my bank account and got sad when the numbers did’t align. It’s moments like these when I realize just how much I took for granted spending time with my family. My parents would invite me over for dinner, but I’d be so preoccupied with my social life that I wouldn’t go. Now, I wish I could go back and drink that second glass of wine and stay in on a Friday talking with my step-mom. I miss those nights the most. I miss how easy it was being in college, being at home, snuggled in my comfort zone. Even when I go back, things aren’t quite the same. People have moved on, new houses have been built, renovations on old parks where I used to spend so many summer nights playing ghost in the graveyard. My old stomping grounds are only in my memory now. Neighborhoods reinvent themselves and now I’m left in a daze wondering how did life go by so fast? I know I may be speaking like I’m 100, but being homesick makes me feel funny. I’m tapping into emotions I didn’t know existed. The excited feeling of moving to a new state, with new friends, with a new dream has passed. Not being home for the holidays showed me that. Do you remember your first holiday away from home?
Nik:  I’ve only been away from home for two holidays and it was because I was in a relationship and went to my boyfriend’s family’s house. It was really sad. I remember watching his family open presents and smile and laugh and hug each other and even though I laughed with them and wore a smile the entire time, I felt empty and my heart ached. I remember calling my mom and choking back tears when I said Merry Christmas so she wouldn’t hear how upset I was. I know she felt the same. It definitely wasn’t easy. Now, I make going home and being with my family a priority because I see them so little. It never gets easy living so far from them. There are so many nights where I wish they lived closer so I could pop in for dinner or laze around and watch a football game together. I guess when you get lonesome, you can video chat them. It’s not the same, but sometimes just seeing their faces makes everything better.
Alex: Yeah, I face-time with my brother Brock pretty regularly.  My favorite is when my dad puts me on speaker and my brother, step-mom are all in the same room so I can talk to all of them at the same time.

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Nik:  Everyone should stop planning their Black Friday shopping strategy and DONATE to something! It’s Thanksgiving. Be thankful for everything you have because so many people have so much less or nothing at all. I got a letter from Meals On Wheels asking for a donation. I read the letter and burst into tears. I’ve been so caught up in my own “stuff” that I’ve lost sight of how blessed I am and how thankful I should be. Do you know that 1.9 million seniors must choose between buying food and buying needed medicine? And over 50% of the seniors Meals On Wheels West serves live below the poverty line, which means they live on less than $11,170 a year. All are chronically disabled and almost all live alone. The letter also requested that I write something on the enclosed placemat because many of their seniors suffer from loneliness, having outlived their friends and family. Anyway, if this post touched your spirit, you should click on the link and donate a few dollars. The thought that some simple words I wrote on a placement and a few bucks will give someone a hot meal and a little happiness on Thanksgiving, breaks my heart. In a good way. Donate. Really. Please.
Alex:  And to think I was bummin’ since this is my first Thanksgiving away from my family. I am definitely donating.

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