Home for Christmas! Part 2.

Christmastime at home in Wisconsin always flies by and with Christmas falling on Wednesday I knew my trip back home was almost half-way over.  It had snowed the day before Christmas so the backyard looked magical and white.  That's exactly what I want when I'm heading home; it just doesn't feel right here in California to see Christmas lights and no snow.  It was a perfect White Christmas!

Wegner Christmas Family Photo!

Gifts had been opened on Christmas morning and I was proud of some good finds, including a cool Beatles shirt for Bobby, a new Nintendo so Mom could play Dr. Mario, as well as a Lady Antebellum Christmas CD, a matching scarf and pants for my Dad, as well as a Duck Flop I found in Santa Barbara were some well-received gifts.  Later that day the rest of our family came over and we had a nice feast and played games late into the evening.  Mom and I did our annual after-Christmas shopping trip on Thursday and since we had been efficient we had enough time to stop by the Casino for an hour so Mom could get her fix and so I could win a little money on the Wizard of Oz game.

It's on...

On my last night back home I got to see some of my close friends while going out in Downtown P-Town as well as spend some time with my cousin and have a couple cocktails.  No trip to Wisconsin is complete without an Old-Fashion or two, a Leinenkugel beer (this time it was the Vanilla Porter) and Beaver shots which are Cherry Liquor dropped into Orange Soda.  Yummy!

I even spent a couple days in Chicago with Neil and his family, including Diego, enjoyed some amazing Football food and an edge of your seat game when the Packers beat the Bears to become division champs.  Unfortunately, my Fantasy Football team saw it's demise again falling into 4th place even though I had a great game from Cordarelle Patterson, Vernon Davis (whom I needed to have a good game the week before), Gostkowski, my Kicker whom got me 15 points and my Cincinnati Defense.  It wasn't enough to beat Travel Belly but he probably had icky tummy when his Bears lost to my Pack and I'll take a Packer win any day over a Fantasy win.  We watched American Hustle on Sunday night and I really enjoyed it.  I wasn't a huge fan of Silver Linings Playbook and enjoyed this movie much more.  I loved Amy Adams performance, and wanted to wear all the ladies outfits and costumes, and thought the movie moved quickly and kept me entertained.  It's one of my favorites so far!

It was back to LA before I knew it and now I wish I could be back in Wisconsin for a couple more days without the responsibilities of the holidays and just time to enjoy family and relax.  I'm already looking forward to Christmas 2014 :)

Home for Christmas!

I love to go home for the holidays to be around my family, celebrate with friends and good food, give gifts, and enjoy the snow and Christmas cheer!  Of course, after being home for over a week I'm ready to come back to LA and escape the two degree weather but while I'm there, I try to take it all in until the next time I come home.

Grandma & I during a Grandparent's Day Lunch
and even though I have a mouthful of muffin
this is still one of my favorite pictures of us :)

Unfortunately, I had to head home a little early because my Grandma passed a week before Christmas.  It was sudden and I was devastated that I couldn't get home to see her before she took my Aunt Nadene (her daughter's) hand into Heaven, as she kept telling my Dad while in the hospital, that the Angels were ready for her.  This was one of those moments where I realized, that's the closest I'll be to Heaven for hopefully, a long time.  She lived a very long and wonderful life and as I stood at her funeral with my family and Grandpa and accepted condolences I was reminded of what an incredible woman she was, how generous and friendly, always polite and inviting, helpful and talkative.  It made me even more proud to be her granddaughter, remembering all the great moments we shared these past 30 years.  There were always cookies waiting for me, games to play, envelopes to seal and mail, crafts to be done, things to be sown, drives to be taken, and recipes to be made.  I will miss her but know she's watching over me and proud of my dedication and hard-work.  To top it all off, one gentleman I met said that my Grandpa was his Hero.  It brought tears to my eyes to hear these people say such special things about my Grandparents.  I'm definitely lucky.

Business Select...thank you Southwest!

In switching over my flight so I could get home early, my Mom upgraded me to Business Select on Southwest for about $30.  As I got to LAX about 90 minutes before my flight was scheduled to leave I was greeted with two insanely long lines that wrapped around five times.  I didn't think I would make my flight but as I asked a Southwest Employee where I should go, she looked at my ticket, opened that velvet rope, and sent me to the front desk where I easily checked in.  Security was next but once again, my ticket did all the talking as the Security Clerk held his hand up to the long line and a group of three and told me to come through first.  Of course, the flight happened to be delayed for 40 minutes so having to wait wouldn't have been a big deal but Business Select made it so convenient especially with the holiday travel.  When it came time to board I was A1 which meant I was the first person on the airplane (aside from Priority Boarding) and to make my flight even more comfortable, got a complimentary cocktail.  I had an hour-long layover in Las Vegas where yet again, I was the first person on the plane and got another free drink.  That cocktail certainly helped since there was some major turbulence right before our descent into Wisconsin but overall, the whole Business Select experience was one of my best flight experience's ever and something I would highly recommend.  Thank you Southwest Airlines for making my flight a very enjoyable and easy to manage trip!

The first couple days in Wisconsin flew by with Christmas preparations like wrapping gifts, cleaning and getting Dinner's ready.  Having the whole family together was really nice and at night we were all able to sit down and relax to watch some of the SAG Screeners like Captain Phillips and Gravity.  We all really liked Captain Phillips; I really enjoyed the story, liked how the pirates made you feel for them, and how different a role this was for Tom Hanks.  Although, I wasn't a huge fan of his accent.  Gravity on the other hand, kind of bored me.  Usually, the Awards Show nominee's are a little lengthy and can be shortened some but I felt like Gravity kept going but wasn't getting anywhere.  I've seen Sandra Bullock do more in other movies but I would give it another chance and see it again.

Christmas Vacation continues in my next blog...

December Karaoke

A couple weeks before Christmas everyone is prepping for the holiday's: Shopping for gifts, baking cookies, decorating tree's and houses, and celebrating with friends and family.  LA is an ever-busy city and I always look forward to the holiday season when I'm hosting karaoke at Gabe's.  It means that there's at least one themed-holiday music night for everyone to enjoy.

Since I'm catching up on two weeks, half-way through December started off with a song I haven't sang for a while, Stevie Wonder's, 'I Just Called To Say I Love You,' and then I did 'One And Only' by Adele since I was more prepared this week than the previous and what a beautiful song to sing.  My new song of the night was 'Everytime' by Britney Spears and then I switched over to some Alanis Morissette, 'Head Over Feet,' before singing 'These Boots Are Made For Walking' which was another song I hadn't sang in a while.  McCracken and I sang 'Another Day' and this was our first time singing it together.  I closed out the night with Dolly Parton's 'Jolene.'

The week before I left for Christmas was our holiday-themed karaoke night and a lot of people got into the festivities and sang some Christmas tunes.  I opened with one of my favorites, 'Rocking Around The Christmas Tree' and then did a bunch of new songs throughout the night.  One was 'Winter Wonderland' and another was a duet, 'Baby It's Cold Outside' although it was a different version than the Dean Martin one but was still a great song to sing.  Since Rent revolves around Christmas time in New York there were more duets during the evening including 'Light My Candle' and 'Another Day.'  McCracken, Neil, and I all tried a new song and did a little Alvin & The Chimpmunks singing 'The Chipmunk Song' which was super cute and I gave Mariah Carey's 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' a whirl.  It went far better than expected thanks to lowering the key!  I closed out with 'Mary Did You Know' because it's one of my Mom's favorite Christmas songs :)

Alvin, Theodore, and Simon...The Chipmunks!

It was a really fun way to get into the holiday spirit and I loved that so many people got involved.  It always proves that themed-nights bring more participation from the audience and patrons of the bar and that's what I try to do when I'm hosting karaoke at Gabe's!