Santa Claus is coming to towm

Classy holiday party...

George family 'Christmas' dinner. My younger brother was blessed with the Santa costume this year...
Siblings....Big and little cousins...some are happier than others

Holiday festivities

I can't believe Christmas is next week and 2010 is less than two weeks away! Boy, time goes by faster and faster every year. Last weekend I attended an Army Christmas party with Drew. It was fun seeing all of the soldiers and being able to put names to faces again. The first and last time I met most of them was back in June at the Army picnic. Last weekend's event was a really nice get-to-gether and I think somewhat sentimental for the soldiers because they are deploying next year. As of now, they are scheduled to deploy to Iraq in September. It sucks to think about, but 1. anything can happen before then so there's no reason to worry about it now and 2. it's encouraging to see how well the soldiers get along and are dedicated to what they do/will be doing.

(Yes, that is Drew squatting in the front on the left, and smiling)

This weekend is also fun filled with my dad's family Christmas party tomorrow. It's a pretty big tradition - they have been gathering for Christmas dinner since 1952. Just recently it was changed to the Sunday before to get a better turnout with people having to attend multiple family functions on Christmas day. I'm going to help my mom bake cookies when I get home from work in a little bit. For as long as I can remember she has been in charge of bringing desserts. She and my dad have been making buckeyes all week and I'm going to attempt to make a variety of sugar and or chocolate chip cookies. We'll see how ambitious I am after this shift is over.

I'm not sure what's in store for this evening, but hopefully the snow doesn't get in the way. We haven't had much yet, but there are flakes falling this morning. I love the way it settles on the tree branches...it looks so pretty.

Just laugh

So, this is a bit of a silly post, but I want to share it with you anyways. I was on my way home from work yesterday complaining to Drew on the phone about how windy it was outside (it wasn't raining or snowing, but boy was it windy! At one point I even thought the stop light was going to fall on my car.) when Drew made the mistake of telling me that he had two kites in his basement. I immediately took the first exit I came to and turned around and headed towards his house. Once we decided on the Dolphin kite we jumped into his car and drove down by the river. Now, you're going to have to use your imagination because I forgot to grab my camera,

(this is a replica I found online)

but try to imagine two semi-adults standing up on this hillside near the river, with winds strong enough to blow us over and a blue dolphin kite. I cannot remember the last time I laughed so hard. This dolphin was out of control!! Drew almost took off my head a couple of times with the thing and there was even a point when I felt like I was jumping rope, trying to get away from the string. I, on the other hand, had even less control over the kite. My dolphin looked like a skydiver who forgot to unleash his parachute. He just kept nose diving to the ground. It never got old though - we just kept laughing and laughing at the kite and each other. It was as though we both were 10 years old again - and didn't have a single care in the world. By the time we finished I couldn't feel my toes or fingers and my cheeks had wind burn. At the time though, I didn't even notice because all I could do was laugh...

Moving on up!

Our team won big Monday night. We made a turn for the better and won all three games. That puts us at 9-9 going into next week's final game against a pretty tough team. They are 15-2. Keep your fingers crossed that we can pull off an upset ;)

I don't have anything particularly interesting to update you on. I'm hoping to finish my Christmas shopping this weekend. This past weekend was cut short because I had to fill in at the station. Normally Sunday and Monday are my days off, but they needed help in the studio Monday so it messed with my free time a bit. I really can't complain though. I enjoy getting into the studio every so often. Plus, it was an exciting morning. Mother nature let her winter magic loose and dropped about a half inch of snow throughout the area. It doesn't sound like much, but because the ground was so cold it caused major problems. Since then, things have calmed down, but today is suppose to bring some heavy winds and possibly some more snow. We'll see what happens. I just don't want the power to go out or for it to be so bad I can't drive home!

Other than that, the only thing I really want to share is a little secret of mine. If you are like me, you enjoy saving a buck or two where ever you can. Well, I have become a regular at my local library and not for checking out books, but for checking out movies! It's the greatest thing. I've been able to watch new releases, old releases and even TV series all for FREE. Some of the new releases are tough to get your hands on because you can't reserve them and you can only have them for 4 days, but it's still better than paying nearly $4 (actually it could be more by now) to rent them. And for old movies, my library has a system where you can go online and reserve/put a movie on hold and it can be sent from one library to the next. Now my only problem is coming up with movies I haven't seen. If you have any suggestions...please share!

Work out buddy

Yes, Drew and I have been working out together for the past week. He got me to switch gyms to one that is close to his house. The only reason I decided to do it is because I'm now paying $15 less per month and it's less than a 5 minute drive from work. So far, I'm really happy with the switch because I don't get tired on the drive from work to the gym, plus who doesn't like to save a bit of money. Overall though, the atmosphere is geared towards a younger crowd which I really like and knowing that someone else is going to be there is helping to keep me accountable during these first few weeks while I create a routine.

Needless to say, we are both unbelievable sore. The gym offers a free consultation with a trainer when you join and the guy definitely put us through a grueling hour of workouts. Drew had his a couple of days before me and the trainer asked him to a boot camp session as a part of his consultation. Drew was up against 2 ultra-marathon runners and an assistant trainer. The poor guy could hardly move the next day! He then joined me during mine, which probably wasn't a good idea. And, considering we are both competitive people who hate to lose, we worked our butts off. I can say though, I kicked butt at the plank. For the most part though, the trainer had us doing different drills/exercises during the entire time so it felt like a one-on-one session.

I'll keep you posted on how our gym experience continues. We took a spinning class together earlier this week and I'm really trying to get him to go to a yoga one with me. He's a bit hesitant right now, but he's starting to realize that it could help his sore muscles. We'll see...

On a positive note, our volleyball team finally broke our losing streak. We have two more games left before tournament play begins. One of the teams has a record worse than ours and the other is ranked first or second in our league. Keep your fingers crossed.

Happy Thanksgiving

I have a lot to be thankful for this year.
I am back home and get to spend the holidays with my family.
Everyone is happy and healthy.
And, it looks like I will be getting a full-time position in the next couple of months. I had a meeting with the news director and executive producer yesterday to touch base and talk about filling in during the holidays. I will definitely be filling in during Christmas week and then who knows what lies ahead, but it is looking up. I will keep you posted on how everything unfolds.

Outside of the newsroom... everything continues to be great. I will be getting off work in about a half hour and plan to stop by one of the parks were Drew and some friends and family are playing Frisbee golf. Then, it's home to nap and get ready for dinner. My aunt is coming over, Kevin is bringing one of his housemates and Drew will be stopping by at some point. Then later on, the plan is to go see "The Blind Side" with Sandra Bullock. Other than all of that, it should be a relaxing day.

For all of my Theta readers out there, I made the Nestle Tollhouse pie from the recipe book. I will obviously not be eating it, but I will let you know how it goes over with everyone else.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Ugly

For those of you following my team's volleyball status, the title of the blog says it all: UGLY!
Boy, did we play terrible Monday night. It was as though we regressed in our progress as a team. And the frustrating part is, it wasn't one area that we had trouble in. We had issues with everything: serving, hitting, passing... It reminded me why I have a love-hate feeling towards the game. I have to keep telling myself that it's just a game...for fun.

Where does the time go?

I was doing so well updating this blog and then bam! it slipped my mind. Well, here I am. It's been a fun and busy two weeks of work, tailgating, and volleyball. The Bengals are kicking butt and making Sunday's a lot of fun. Here are some pictures from the game two weeks ago against the Baltimore Ravens.
I have my third indoor volleyball game tonight. So far we are 1 and 1. The first game was great. We played awesome, but the team we played against wasn't the most athletic. Last weeks game was probably the most competitive game we've played so far (including last session). The disappointing part is we could have and should have won. This facility has referees and they aren't consistent at all. The ref for this particular game was all about blowing her whistle one sets (that wouldn't even be called in high school) and it cost us a lot of points. What made it worse was the team was made up of all adults. There is nothing wrong with playing against older people, I just flat out hate to lose and the fact that I lost to people older than my parents, well that doesn't help. Hopefully tonight's game has a better ending, or at least is a legitimate loss.
Work is going well too. t sounds like I will get to produce my own one hour show the week of Christmas. I'm not sure how many days I will be producing or what morning hour, but I am excited to have the opportunity. And, I am excited to see where the opportunity leads to. I have quite a few things to better understand and get acquainted with, but I still have some time to practice before the time comes.

Goodbye October

For those of you have been following my blog for a while now, you may remember that this time last year I was let go from my job. It's amazing how much has changed since then and I can't imagine where I would be if I hadn't taken the risk and moved across the country. Then decided to move back home. I've grown a lot and am looking forward to the next chapters of my life. Needless to say, I was not going to let another Halloween pass by without a little fun. I attempted to celebrate the evening dressed as the Queen of Pop, Madonna (Like A Virgin) and my good friend Renae was Mrs. Incredible. And yes, that is a sumo wrestler in the background ;)(I should add that I wore that skirt when I was about 10 year's old. It's part of an old ballet costume.) Even man's best friend dressed up as America's superhero.Here are some creative costumes from a costume party I attended last night...

Third place went to a spoof of Beyonce's "Single Ladies" video feat. Justin Timberlake that SNL did a skit of months ago. (SNL video from youtube if you haven't seen it before: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5qx-MVrXfk&feature=fvw)Second Place: Snap, Krackle and Pop from the Rice Krispies Cereal boxFirst prize: Rosie and Mr. Red Legs (yes, the heads are huge! They used paper mache.)

Fall fun

Yes, it's that time of the year again. The leaves are changing colors, the stores are filling with seasonal items and of course, the annual pumpkin carving! Drew and I spent the gorgeous Monday outside with the bright orange vegetables trying to carve the perfect jack-o-lantern. We thought about watiting until it was closer to the weekend, but it was so nice out and he figured someone will probably steal or smash them anyways so we went ahead and cut them. If you know me, I can get quite competitve when it comes to carving. Drew likes to believe his is the best, and I'd have to DISagree. You can judge for yourself....

(By the way, the one on the left is a skeleton and the right is a "B" for the Bengals.)

We did take a picture of the two of us holding our pumpkins, but it's on Drew's camera so I'm not sure if I will be able to post it or not.

It's hard to believe October is coming to an end. Time is flying by so fast. I'm sure I will be writing about Thanksgiving before I know it. But first, I need to figure out a costume and enjoy the weekend.

Speaking of time flying, Drew and I brought out the old school Nintendo this past weekend. I was disappointed that Duck Hunt doesn't work on his TV, but we were able to compete against each other in Paper Boy and Dr. Mario. Boy, do I have some practicing to do!! I was awful. It is crazy how much systems and graphics have changed over the years. Everything use to be so simple. It made me laugh to think how much fun we were having stacking colored pills on top of viruses in Dr. Mario. I can't imagine what kids would say who didn't grow up with the game.

We are the champions!

Yes, that's right, my sand volleyball team won the league last night! I have to say, it was probably one of the most fun nights on the court too, and not because we won. Obviously, it's fun to win, but I think everyone was enjoying themselves more than usual because we knew it was our last night playing together.

This is my team between the first and second matches (we played three over the course of the night).

And this is us wearing our League Champions shirts. (Remember back in the day...think grade school...when we posed around the ball.)

Now, our job for this week is to find another sport or activity to play in during the winter. Everyone agreed that it's a fun group to hang out with and we all enjoy having something (exercise related) to do during the week. We were hoping to join a flag football league, but apparently that already started a few weeks ago. There are rumors that there is an INDOOR sand volleyball facility around here, so someone is looking into that. I said if nothing works out, we can start a game night. I've been wanting to pull out the Twister board for weeks now!

Friends and football

Another weekend came and went WAY too fast, but not without a reunion with friends and lots of football! I was able to get some time off from work and work it out so I could go back to Bloomington for Homecoming! I regret not seeing as many people as I had hoped to, but those that I did see, showed me a good time. And in return, I was able to (hopefully) show Drew a good time. I was really excited to share a little bit of my college experience with him.

Reunited with Bolen (and her roommate Kendall)!

All smiles and laughs at Nicks!I think Drew had fun too :)Standing in front of the newly renovated stadium. The Hoosiers won!!

Our time was cut short due to the Bengals game Sunday. The good news was I was able to get tickets through work and took my brothers.

Bump, set, spike!

Good news, my sand volleyball team withstood the cold and won our game last night! In that case, tournament play continues next week. Let's just hope it warms up a bit before then. Surprisingly, it didn't seem that cold, but I was wearing two pairs of socks, long yoga pants, a long sleeved shirt, and fleece jacket. I did have gloves at the beginning of the first game, but those had to go. A handful of my teammates didn't even take off their shoes for fear that the sand was too cold. (I couldn't blame RJ though, his feet turned purple last week.) Besides winning, the hot chocolate was probably the highlight of the night. Dave came prepared with a large canteen of hot chocolate and cups for everyone.

Overall, our team played pretty well. We ended up playing against a friend of mine that I use to play JO volleyball with back in the day. It was fun seeing her again and of all places...the volleyball court. I will let you know how we do in next week's game. As long as there isn't snow...

Halloween surprise

Most of you have already seen this, but in the case that you haven't...Halloween is coming!! I hope everyone is staying warm. I can't believe how chilly it is getting here. We have a sand volleyball game tonight and it's only suppose to get to a high of 49 today. I can't even imagine how cold it will be tonight. I will definitely be wearing socks tonight. I'll let you know how it turns out - it's tournament play. And, even though the weekend is not getting any warmer...it is looking up because I am Bloomington bound and I can't wait! I will hopefully have new pictures to post come Sunday :)

Mission accomplished

The surprise party went off with out any problems! The party was for Drew's 26th birthday. His actual birthday is this Wednesday, but with army stuff and other activities it was better to have it early. I was really nervous the entire day because his friends were suppose to take him golfing to get him out of the house and it was raining for the second straight day. Needless to say, golfing was canceled and they went out for food instead. By the time they finished, the guests had arrived and the cake was lit.The following day Drew went with Kevin and me to the George family picnic in the woods. We didn't last too long because the mosquitoes were awful. I did, however, in the couple hours we were there get thrown off a kids playground ride. This thing was dangerous! I flew off this thing, smashed my knees, semi-blackout and jammed my ribs into the foot bar. It definitely needs feet straps. That or a warning to riders to use it with someone of the same size.
The tire swing was much safer.

A bit of downtime

Nothing like some downtime at work to write a little update. I don't even know what I wrote last, but considering it was back in August and it's almost Oct. I can assume a lot has passed since then.
I'm still working the morning hours. My sleeping has been a little off these past couple of weeks, but nothing I can't handle. I usually catch up on missed hours during the weekend. About two weeks ago my brother and I went to the Bengals season opener - I was able to get tickets through work. It looked like they were going to pull off a win, but with less than 40 seconds left they lost it! It was definitely a tough loss. The next home game is this Sunday against Pittsburgh. Speaking of sports, Drew and I are playing in a co-ed sand volleyball league Wednesday nights. Tonight is our third match and so far we are undefeated.

This weekend should be pretty eventful. I am throwing a birthday party this Friday (more details to come after the fact) and Saturday is the fall family picnic on my dad's side. Sunday will most likely be a catch up day.

Work is a little busy right now as we are preparing for the HD launch. The launch shouldn't be too stressful for me, but it does include a handful of changes. We will be using a different graphics program that I need to learn and will probably play around with this week. I also have to practice with the cameras since some viewers will be watching in 16:9 (wide screen) and others will be watching in 4:3 (standard). That just means that I have to be aware of what's in the surrounding area of the shot so those people who are watching in the 16:9 don't have the other anchor's arm or part of the face in the frame.

On the plus side, I will be able to attend IU's Homecoming in Oct. I am really excited to get back to Bloomington and catch up with friends I haven't seen in a while. Well, that's it for now. I need to get into the studio for rehearsals. Enjoy your weekend. Until next time...

Still smiling

Here are some pictures from the weekend and what a wonderful weekend it was! First the Reds game, then the wedding. It was nice to dress up for a special occasion.

On the field before the game.

During the National Anthem.
Wedding time!Catching up with Josh.Dancing the night away.

Life is good

Life is busy as well. I definitely forgot about my blog over the past couple of weeks. That's not to say I don't have anything to write about. I have been busy!! My schedule is a bit out of control with people on vacation so I've been working a lot more days, cutting into my "weekend". I can't complain though because it's given me more opportunities to be a part of the new steam. Plus, I've been in the studio a lot more so I've had the chance to get to know the anchors and reporters better which is something that's harder to do when I'm in the newsroom.

I sure haven't let any of that get into the way of my social life :)
A couple weeks back Drew and I played in a golf scramble with my parents. I was more entertaining than I was helpful. (It was only my second time playing 9 holes.) We had fun though, I just need to get some lessons and practice more. The following day I attended my high school reunion. That was interesting and fun to catch up to people I haven't seen in a while. It wasn't a huge turnout, but it was held at a park so it was a very relaxed environment. I'm definitely glad I went.

Last night was a very eventful evening! Drew was asked to be a part of the honor guard and hold the flag during the national anthem. I, therefore, made it onto the field at the beginning of the game. Boy is that a view. Afterwards, when we were walking off the field I ran into a girl who works at the station with me. She was running a camera and asked if we would want to participate in a game later during the game. Drew ended up playing this jeopardy-style game and won $100 gift card to a new casino in the area. I let him play because I figured I wouldn't have been at the game if it wasn't for him. At least I made it onto the jumbo tron for a short time ;)

Tonight we are going to a wedding. The bride graduated from the same HS as us and coincidentally, the groom went to my grade school. He's a year older than me, but his brother and two cousins were in my class so it should be fun. I haven't seen any of them in a while.

I think that's the condensed version of the past couple of weeks. I will try to post some pictures either today or tomorrow. Side note: my sorority sister who was in the car accident is out of her coma . She has a long way to go in terms of rehabilitation, but she's not giving up. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

Pictures as promised

Bengals training camp. I think they are stretching in the first picture and then the second was take during a drill. You can see two of the players hitting each other in the foreground. And of course, the Jimmy Buffett concert!! Ferry ride to the concert...

A sea of fans...With my brother, Matt...All dressed up...