[[like that]]

i'm a creature of habit.

2012-01-15T18:08:00.000-06:00

i guess that's the main reason why i got hit in the back with a ski lift -- i wanted to take the picture from the very same spot i always do. doesn't that make sense when you're trying to do a time lapse and show the different seasons? unfortunately, that favorite spot i have happens to be right behind one of the ski lift chairs and when you are dumb and forget they are all moving, the next one behind will hit you square in the back. after that, you will feel mortally embarrassed, then look around and realize no one even noticed so you just go back to snapping pictures from a few feet to the right. the end.

this creature of habit is straying a bit this weekend. it's the first week (in months!) that i've been home and haven't gone on my weekly rib mountain run. unfortunately (again), my throat has been hurting for a few days and i figure if it hurts to talk / breathe, it will probably hurt more to run up a mountain. so this week -- i'm taking the day off. boo.

to make up for my lack of speaking ability, allow me

to dazzle you with my other skills.

first off -- making caramel from scratch

(as pictured with apples and sean's feet):

^ yes, that was sugar and some other ingredients and i magically turned it into caramel.

another (rather time-consuming) skill i utilized is uploading my christmas pics to facebook.

want to see? click here.

(mom...that means you!)

most of them include my awesome sibs --

and my adventures with this guy --

also this week -- i finally fixed my back blinky turn light.

and when i say i fixed it, i mean i supervised while sean fixed it.

winner winner chicken dinnner.

as a final random side note, i found this on my work facebook page and it totally made my day:

being ON tv isn't my favorite thing, but i'm glad some people like my stories. this particular comment came after a series of stories i did about a soldier in our area who was killed on christmas day. it was a rough experience, meeting his family and trying to tell his story well but i'm glad i got to do it.

ALSO...!!!
thanks to all who supported me in my
bowling for kid's sake charity beg-a-thon.
sean's the first bowler. i'm the second.
yes, we tied.
and more importantly -- YES. i broke 100.

also i got strikes in my first two frames.
thank you, spring term college bowling class.

where's winter?

2012-01-08T22:57:00.001-06:00

...just wondering.

also, here's my ski lift pics from the past four months.

if you would have told me when i started that i'd still be running rib mountain in january, i'd have laughed in your face.

but that's what i did today. and it was lovely.

^ today was the first time skiers were using my lift (there are many lifts on the mountain and yes, it is mine because i take pictures with it ever week). also i got hit in the back by one of the chairs right after i took this picture, but that's a completely different story.

a very kdash christmas.

2012-01-03T23:55:00.000-06:00

after this christmas, i'll be able to dress like a kardashian --

...accessorize like a kardashian --

...and even smell like one!

also for the first time ever, i can bake with a TRUE no-stick pan.

(thanks, mom!)

miss you, dolls.

more december updates to come ( :

merry christmas from the krondashians.

2011-12-25T22:59:00.003-06:00

just miss you guys sometimes.

an amazing race.

2011-12-15T13:57:00.001-06:00

i don't watch a lot of TV shows (mostly because i have a major commitment issue) but one i've watched all the way through this season is "the amazing race." it wrapped up this past weekend, with one of my favorite teams being cut right before the finale (for a mistake they didn't make...completely unfair). anyway, i'd been watching it with sean and he was pretty upset with our fav duo getting axed right before the end. how angry? enough to dump the dvd in the sink after we watched --

yikes.

anyway, it feels like i'm on the show lately because i've been going all over the place. i got to come to ohio for a long weekend last week, drove back to wisconsin for two (very long) days of work and then sean and i made the trek back home yesterday.

here are some pictures from ohio adventure: part one --

^ most ridic pet store ever where animals just wander around freely.

^ lunch with favorite cousin!

^ most adorable nephew ever!!

^ ice cream sandwich time.

after my "long" weekend, i got to drive through indiana and its crazy windmill farm...

...and ended up back in snowy / half-frozen wausau --

on the way home yesterday, sean found this delicious pizza place in chicago -- giordano's.

deep dish pepperoni (nearly) as big as your face.

oh, and did i mention this guy's famous?

he's got his own billboard!

well...time to go hang out some more with this guy:

zero-point-three miles.

2011-12-03T19:26:00.000-06:00

that's how far i currently live from where i work.

not even kidding.

(^click on picture to enlarge)
google maps says it takes 29 seconds to get to the station.

why did i not move here a long time ago?!

here is a preliminary picture of one part of my house:

i know. i have a lot of decorating to do.

more pics to come later.

also of note, i ran the turkey trot on thanksgiving --

i finished in just more than 24 minutes, but i spent the first 15 seconds of the race standing still (as i waited for the people in front of me to start moving) and the next minute after that just-barely-moving so i like to think my time should be slightly better in real life.

^ click on picture to see full chart -- name / city / bib number / age / gender / placement within age group (19th in women 20-29) / time behind winner / gun time / chip time / pace

and afterwards?

orange slices ( :

also in my not-so-distant past, i went to the annual tomahawk venison feed and ate my very first deer-burger.
surprisingly, it wasn't totally gross.

^ also, this little girl was adorable.

DEER BURGER AS BIG AS YOUR FACE.

anyway, it's december and things are going to start getting exciting.

from decorating my apartment to going to ohio for a kdash reunion, i'm pretty pumped.

can't wait to see what the next few weeks have in store ( :

moving day.

2011-11-21T19:09:00.001-06:00

first of all, this picture is from last week.

this is where clean laundry goes to die (my couch).

i like having clean clothes. i don't like putting them away.

also (before we get to the main event),

here are some pictures from my rib mountain run this week.

icy ski lifts --

the snow-making machine on top of the mountain ( :

the trail i ran down on, all pretty and snowy --

(going to need to trade in my running shoes for snow shoes soon)

and tracks from...something?! not really sure what.
forest chickens, maybe?

but most importantly, i've been in the process of moving this weekend.

yesterday, i moved some things.

this morning, i found some manly men to help move my big things --

now i've got maybe one more trip of stuff left before i'm all moved in.

expect pics of my awesome new place next time around.

hope you're all having an awesome week.

THREE.5 WEEKS TIL OHIO ( :

that elusive sweatshirt.

2011-11-13T22:33:00.000-06:00

well...here it is:

tonight i made spaghetti squash for the very first time --

my bff emily used to make it but i'd never done it before.

it's DELICIOUS.

all you have to do is pop it in the oven for like an hour and then it's awesome and ready to eat (after you take the seeds out). yum!

over the last few weeks, i said "goodbye"

(sort of) to one of my friends, danger phil.

he started working in madison earlier this month.

here's a picture of him with his mom --

since he left, i'm moving into his apartment this weekend.

it has vaulted ceilings. i'm pumped.

this will probably be a separate blog post, so stay tuned for that ( :

one reason i'm excited to leave my apartment?

my freezer can't make ice properly.

i swear i fill the trays full of water.

and yet...when i go to take the ice cubes out, they are only this big --

how is that possible?! i don't know.

also, just over ONE MONTH until i go to OHIO for CHRISTMAS.

speaking of christmas, we had our first snowfall this week.

^ it was not-so-impressive when i went to work in the morning but by the middle of the day, it was kind of crazy out there --

AND...

^ here's a picture i took this week that i like.

as i sat (parked) on the road, i watched this group of strangers gather and help push this car out of the intersection. maybe there are still some nice people out there after all.

youyou + meme.

2011-11-05T13:30:00.001-05:00

it's halftime during my buckeye game, so i figured it was about time for me to reply to my super-challenge by briane. his responses are probably more interesting than mine, so i advise you to check out his as well if you want so read something really fun.

1.If you could go back in time + relive a moment, what would it be?

in 2003, i started my junior year of high school. i had a new group of friends -- "my boys," as i called them. we rallied behind a team we had never really cared about before (the florida marlins) and hung out at buffalo wild wings pretty much every day after school as we watched them win postseason games and eventually the world series. when they won, we celebrated with them. we were young and invincible. me and the boys went on to watch football together every saturday morning that year and become really good friends (still are, to this day) but that was how it all started -- that one moment when the marlins won the world series.

2. If you could go back in time + change one thing, what would it be?

DINOSAURS. i want some. i'd make sure they never got killed off by a meteor or whatever and then they'd hang out with me and be my pets. also they would carry me to work so i wouldn't have to deal with lame traffic (and those awful 25 MPH zones) every morning.

3. What movie/TV character do you most resemble in personality?

i don't watch a lot of movies / tv shows but i used to. my favorite show for a long time was "the OC," and i secretly wanted to be rachel bilson's character -- summer roberts. i think she is so pretty and i loved her character and her character's adorable boyfriend.

but when it comes down to personality, i guess i'd have to go with the obvious -- kim from "keeping up with the kardashians." she's a workaholic but still manages to have fun plus she has an awesome (and attractive) family. don't get me started on her recent drama though. regardless of what anyone says, my opinion of her will never change -- she is cool and i still secretly want to be like her.

4. If you could push one person off a cliff and get away with it, who would you choose?

...really? i guess i'd pick myself, but i wouldn't die. instead i would discover my incredible flying abilities and travel around the world.

5. Name one habit you want to change in yourself.

if i said i was un-careful about my money, that might be the understatement of a lifetime. i literally put zero thought into my finances, choosing instead to buy the things i feel like i need and save whatever else i can. somehow, i am still in the black but i wish i was more savvy with my $$.

6. Why do you blog?

i started blogging because all the cool kids in the broadcast program did it (mostly this guy) and i wanted to fit in. now, i do it to stay in touch with my friends and family who live way-too-far away. plus, i like to write so it's fun for me.

7. Name three people to send this to:

mrs. d.

surrah.

emily.

BONUS: micae and rach ( :

who says / never say never.

2011-11-01T21:57:00.000-05:00

first of all, thanks for the new cookware, mom (& mrs. d)!!

i love baking and it's even more awesome with two pans.

^ pumpkin chocolate chip muffins

anyway, i got within ONE STAMP of getting my sweatshirt...

...and then i finally got it.

twelve workouts in fourteen days?

if that doesn't deserve a free sweatshirt, i don't know what does.

(sadly, i was too lazy to take a picture of it. maybe next week...)

but i DID go to a halloween party after an AWESOME

(ridiculous, unbelievable, heart-stopping) ohio state football game

and took some pictures there.

this is courtney -- she taught me how to swim a few weeks ago.

(try to ignore my awkward leg)

after the game, i changed into my real costume:

p.s. this was sean's idea.

in case you're not sure who we are, here's a hint --

clever blog post title? yes, please.

and here's a picture of me with some of my other cool friends --

(jessi, jayson, emily, ryan and eric)

also the rib mountain run was a little rainy this week --

the end.

better blogging next week...i promise.

prenatal vitamin dilemma / hot meat on my front porch.

2011-10-23T20:13:00.005-05:00

okay. i haven't always been good about vitamins. but there are some times when you really should be, right?

...like when you're pregnant?

sadly (or perhaps not-so-sadly) i'm not actually with-child.

but i did run out of my regular multivitamins.

and i did find these ones.

here is the story of why i have prenatal vitamins:

a long, long time ago, i saw an ad on TV that advertised FREE vitamins. and i figured, "why not, right?" vitamins are expensive. i'd totally take some free ones. so i signed myself up and guess what arrived at my home a few short weeks later? you guessed it -- prenatal vitamins. because even if you're not pregnant RIGHT NOW, you could be VERY SOON and whoever started this free-vitamin-campaign assumes every woman is at least border-line pregnant. i kind of laughed them off but for whatever reason, never threw them away (or gave them to my pregnant sister or roommate? such a considerate friend i seem to be). and now i have these prenatal vitamins.

so here's my dilemma. is it okay to take them if i'm not pregnant?

i've heard it could help my hair and nails grow better.

but could it also sprout a child?!?

THAT'S WHY I'M ASKING YOU, BLOG FRIENDS.

HELP ME.

okay. moving on to other things in my life.

like how i'm just four workouts away from getting a free sweatshirt --

and how the best thing about baking tiny bread is eating tiny toast

on a tiny plate (about 6" in diameter) --

and how (in theory) peppermint clif bars should be gross

but this one was actually not-bad --

and how i just got a new car insurance statement

and now i'll pay $15 less a month --

and how i walked outside today to find hot meat on my front porch --

...never a dull moment.

fortunes come true.

2011-10-16T21:32:00.000-05:00

some of the things i had in my wallet were these fortunes:

i don't know why i've always liked to keep them.

but i do.

my favorite one has a story, if you haven't heard it already.

i went to a chinese restaurant with my college professor / mentor / reporter i was interning with (all one and the same person) on one of my last days at my internship at ABC4 in SLC. i had already graduated and was working on my documentary and still doing some internship stuff on the side, plus i was trying to find a job and figure out what i was going to do with the rest of my life. that was on may 11th.

my fortune: "remember three months from this date.

good things are in store for you."

one month later...nothing much had changed.

two months later...i'd had a job interview with WAOW.

and three months later...a job offer.

coincidence?

maybe.

but maybe not.

so whenever i get fortunes, i keep them.

some are funny.

some are profound.

but they all find a home in my wallet.

here are some of my other favorites:

"trust others, but still keep your eyes open."

"you will take a pleasant journey to a place far away."

"stubbornness is not a good virtue."

"share your abundant humor with others at this time. they need it."

"an exciting opportunity lies ahead of you."

"everybody feels lucky for having you as a friend."

"next week, green is a lucky color for you."

"an attractive visitor will bring joy to your home."

"opportunity awaits you next monday."

"the simplest answer is to act."

"you will accomplish more later if you have a little fun this weekend."

"do not mistake temptation for opportunity."

"be careful and systematic in your business arrangements."

"live, think and act for today. tomorrow may be too late."

dolla' dolla' bills, ya'll.

2011-10-16T20:13:00.002-05:00

somehow, my wallet got soaked this week

(but everything else in my purse is fine)

so i took all the stuff out to take a look.

- seven $1 bills.

- two $2 bills.

- one $20 bill.

- one 1000 yen bill.

- my ohio driver's license.

- pnc credit card.

- us bank card.

- huntington debit card.

- victoria's secret credit card.

- YMCA membership card.

- blockbuster card.

- roundy's card.

- key card for getting into work.

- AAA card.

- progressive (car) insurance card.

- blue cross blue shield (medical) insurance card.

- delta dental insurance card.

- red cross identification card.

- BYU id card.

- mini BYU diploma.

- dave & buster's card.

- graeter's ice cream card.

- social security card.

- olive garden gift card.

- three forever stamps with pine cones.

- one utah jazz ticket.

- one orem owlz ticket.

- eleven movie ticket stubs from ohio.

- ten movie ticket stubs from utah.

- four movie ticket stubs from wisconsin.

- four random tickets from different carnivals and fairs.

- one patriarchal blessing.

- one temple recommend.

- one coupon for a free car wash.

- one fortune from a las vegas machine.

- thirty-four fortune cookie fortunes.

- one grocery receipt.

- two business cards from my two favorite news people.

- sixty-two cents.

...HOW DID THAT ALL FIT?!

in other news, i made some delicious bread while ruth was here from these adorable pans my mom got me. they are so tiny!!

(powerade bottle shown for the sake of comparison)

this week, sean told me to sign up for the YMCA's passport to wellness program. so i did (why not, right?). basically, you have to work out for twelve days in october (doing at least six different kinds of exercise) and you get "stamped" for different countries. in theory, if you do it through out the month, it's not a big deal, but i didn't start til the 13th. so here's hoping i can go to the gym pretty much every day for the rest of this month so i can get a FREE SWEATSHIRT!!

i did a story at a humane society. this cat loved my tripod.

here's proof sean doesn't hate the bucks as much as he pretends to:

...also that he loves to sleep on the floor...

p.s. listen to this song.

my sisters, my heroes.

2011-10-09T23:12:00.002-05:00

they run half-marathons.

they visit me when i live far away.

they have kardashian hair / style / smiles.

they're master healthy-chefs.

and they're basically the most awesome people i know.

just saying.

ruth surprised me by visiting wisconsin this weekend, which was awesome and ridiculous all at the same time (with sean working reconnaissance to make sure i'd be staying in town, which was good since i was thinking of leaving...) and one of the things we did was the "fall ride." basically you ride a ski lift up rib mountain and take pictures of how cool wausau looks:

but what fun is riding a ski lift when you can
run up rib mountain with your own legs?

a lot has changed in the past three weeks around here.

here are the pictures from the top of the look-out tower each week:

now for three random things.

#1: kids cleaning up after doing ARCHERY in gym class.

i miss doing fun stuff like that in school.

#2: twilight jewelry.

don't worry. it's only like $400 a pop.

better start saving your pennies...

#3: i really want this to be my halloween costume this year:

going off the deep end.

2011-10-02T19:54:00.000-05:00

okay. don't freak out, but i went swimming yesterday.

for those of you who don't know, krons don't really swim.

(most ohioans i know don't either so maybe it's a state thing too)

we're not good at it. and we never do it.

which came first? we'll never know. but yesterday...i did.

i've started looking into alternatives to running (boo) because my knees will probably break by the time i'm 30 if i keep running like i do. and swimming seems like something that would be low-impact. the only problem is that i don't really swim. at all.

enter the new "saturday morning swim club." me and two other kids i work with invented it this weekend. they swim laps for about an hour. i practice remembering to breathe while i take stroke after agonizing stroke while attempting not to die for an hour. and then we sit in the hot tub. i didn't die yesterday and hopefully i won't next week. plus, it's a good excuse to get out of bed before noon on a saturday, right?

in other news, i've been experimenting with foods lately. bryon's bday was this week, so i baked creme-filled chocolate cupcakes and made decorative frosting with mini-chocolate chip B's (for bry and his brewers, who made it into the post-season this week). i thought i took pictures, but apparently i didn't because i can't find them.

also this week, was my friend jack's last day at work ) :

for his last day, he requested a treat with three ingredients: pop rocks, gummy bears and bumblebee tuna. needless to say, i swapped out the tuna for chocolate and made these delicious brownies instead.

^ i think these will be a regular item in my bakery someday.

and this weekend was WEEK 2 of running rib mountain.

spent about two hours -- running up, hiking around, then jogging back down. so gorgeous. people who don't love fall are dumb.

now for two completely random things.

#1: here's the fuzzy caterpillar that was inching its way in front of my door. long as he stays outside, he can be as adorable as he wants.

#2: if you haven't noticed, my buckeyes haven't done terribly well so far this season. they haven't been ranked for a few weeks now in the AP polls, but apparently OSU fans never say die because they're still in the top 20 in the fan rankings ( :

i may need a bigger bread pan.

2011-09-26T23:02:00.002-05:00

i made a loaf of bread this weekend.

don't worry though -- it still tastes delicious.

also tonight i'm experimenting -- cupcakes with frosting inside?

we'll see how those turn out in a short while.

and now i'm going to publicly announce a goal i made for myself.

(mostly so that i actually follow up and do it)

GO FOR A RUN ON RIB MOUNTAIN EVERY SATURDAY.

here's how it looked from the top this week.

now that the colors are changing, it's going to start being awesome.

plus i've actually done a bunch of my DZP goals in the past little while.

so...expect blog posts about them later this week?

all better.

2011-09-18T19:33:00.002-05:00

lex got fixed this week!

he went from this...

...to this...

yes, it's raining and dark but i wanted to blog about it
NOW instead of waiting for the storm to pass.

yay for a new bumper and whatever else
because now lex looks as good as new.
(take that, girl-who-hit-me's insurance company)

as for the question of whether i have travelled farther than lex in my lifetime...i'm going to have to give that one to myself in a landslide.

i got him when he was around 50K, so i've shared (nearly) all of the miles after that with him.

when i count my mileage -- just with air travel -- i beat him by a lot.

* trips to chile (about 10K round-trip)

* back and forth between ohio and utah during college (1,700 miles if i flew straight over, but with layovers, i know i did more than that)

THEN take into account my drives before lex came into the picture.

* vacations to disney world (900+ miles each way)
* trips to myrtle beach (600 miles each way)

* roadtrips to california, vegas, pittsburgh, vacations out west, etc.

...i think you get the idea.

anna - 1.

lex - 0.

anyways, now that he's better and we put a 100K miles on him already, sean and i decided a few more hundred wouldn't hurt and headed to milwaukee for the brewers game on wednesday.

^ sweet view from the press box

we barely dodged getting hit by the sprinklers after the game

(going on the field: yet another perk of being in the tv biz)

^ awkwardly scrunching down so he

doesn't look nearly as tall as he actually is...

^ seriously, so tall.

but he's my best friend (in wausau) so it's no big deal.

p.s. just found out you can click on any of the pics to see them bigger ( :

getting old.

2011-09-12T21:41:00.003-05:00

also of note:

yesterday, lex went from this...

...to this...

happy 100,000 miles, lex.

(and thanks for not blowing up or going all Y2K on me or anything)

<3 <3 <3

everywhere.

2011-09-11T22:31:00.004-05:00

ten years ago, i walked into my fourth period biology class and watched as the second plane crashed into the world trade center. it seemed surreal then and it still feels weird now. there's no denying the sadness and the heartbreak, the lives lost or the tears shed. some have argued how there could possibly be a god -- why would He allow something so terrible to happen?

but the world didn't end after the towers fell. first responders rushed to answer the call, volunteers pitched in and everyone held their loved ones a little closer. on september 12, 2011, the sun rose again, just like it had done for thousands of years before. the pain was still there, but it was mother earth's reminder -- life goes on.

when i look around my little slice of the world, i see His influence everywhere. from the cool breeze on my face -- to the traffic light turning green at the perfect moment -- in the wondering eyes of the kids in my sunday school class -- and the way dustbuster tells us what sound a fish makes. for all the awful things in the world, there are certainly so many wonderful things too.

He never said it would be easy, only that it would be worth it.

and when all else fails, He will be there.

an american girl.

2011-09-07T21:47:00.002-05:00

last week, i got this in the mail:

the GREAT AMERICAN SURVEY.

basically, they ask you a lot of (anonymous) questions about how many toilets you have at your house, how long it takes you to get to work, how much money you make, etc.

as of next week, i'll have been employed for an entire year.

(actually: i get to do fun things with cool people every day and twice a month, i magically have money deposited into my bank account)

i drive a car i almost fully own (xox lex xox).

and i have a toilet at my apartment.

i'm sort of like a real human / adult.

weird.

my summer vacation 2011: sneak peek!!

2011-08-25T22:25:00.006-05:00

an entire album (100+ pictures) will be posted on FB soon.

here's a taste of how awesome it will be:

the worst part about being in a car accident.

2011-08-10T22:19:00.004-05:00

^ you get a zillion letters from attorneys who want you to hire them.

who knew reporters weren't the only ones to read police reports?

^ the girl who hit my car last thursday.

did i mention i got rear-ended last week?

i did.

we weren't driving too fast, but lex got pretty scratched up.

(something that will hopefully be fixed up soon)

more importantly, i made a SOUFFLE.

^ easy cheese souffle.

want to see some other random pictures?

okay.

^ styx concert last friday

(yes...the 80's band STYX came to wausau.

and yes...they played "come sail away.")

^ me on TV in the new HD studio.

where i WON'T be after tomorrow because i'll be in OHIO and UTAH.

can't wait to see all of you soon!

happy half bday to me.

2011-08-04T23:09:00.002-05:00

today i'm officially 24 and a half years old. wow.

about six months ago, my bff sent me a gift card to amazon.com and i must have lost it because i found it the other day and decided to buy some cool stuff.

woody-buzz x 2.

naturally 7.

michael buble.

goo goo dolls.

LOVE YOU, EM!

xox (see you in a week.5)

july was...eventful.

2011-08-02T22:10:00.003-05:00

you know the rules -- a phrase a day for each day of july.

best kind of fireworks.

sounds of silence.

slice of ohio.

one of the big kids.

you're that TV girl.

money maker.

chips / one.5

my asthma.

rib master.

season 2 complete.

montage maker.

baseball HP surprise.

determined to finish.

blood, sweat and tears.

finally done.

truth or dare.

pretzel bread.

time to think.

super sandy storms / not-so-baby d.

so you think you can what?

back in the grind.

this is why.

DK13.

number one fan.

christmas cookies.

rib mountain run.

breaking it down.

we already know.

wausau's best news crew.

ice cream experiment.

love love love.

we all scream for...

2011-07-31T18:50:00.002-05:00

i could make up a lot of excuses for why i haven't been cooking a lot lately, but to be honest, it's just been too darn hot. i DO bake some sort of treat for my sunday school class every week though and this weekend, i decided to try something a little cooler: ice cream.

before i start, let me must say that my way is a little different than most people do. i don't use an ice cream maker (mostly because i don't have one) and i don't use the double-bag method (too messy).

it's my way or the highway.

first, you start with a base.

you can use pretty much any milk-based product you want, but the less-fatty the base, the icier it will be. for example, if you use skim milk, it will be more icy than if you use whole milk or cream. i use 2 cups of half and half (half milk - half cream). i added about four tablespoons of sugar and 1 or 2 teaspoons of vanilla. put all of these in a medium sized bowl. put that bowl inside another, bigger bowl that's half-full of ice and rock salt (to melt the ice, thus creating an even-colder atmosphere for your ice cream to be made). i used about 3/4 cup of pretzel salt (since it's bigger than regular salt and i have a ton of it) but you can use any salt you have.

then...get mixing!!

if you have an electric mixer, you probably only need to do about 10 minutes, but since i'm poor, i did it by hand for about 20 minutes.

you want to get the base nice and "aerated" --

basically, you want lots of bubbles.

after your mix is good and bubbly, put the two bowls in

the freezer for about an hour with a towel on top.

it should have a thick consistency by now, like partly-frozen pudding. take it out of the freezer and it's back to mixing again. you should do another 5 minutes if you're using a mixer, 10 if you're mixing by hand.

if you're cool like me, you add some magic shell in so you can have chocolate chips a la graeters (starting with one huge chocolate chunk and then mixing it down). don't forget to wait for the shell to harden before mixing it in!

you could really put any other toppings in at this point too -- frozen fruit, mini peanut butter cups, m&m's, chocolate chips -- anything that's not too big, because that'll just make it sink to the bottom of your ice cream mix.

then take the small bowl out and cover it with plastic wrap. make sure your plastic touches the ice cream.

pop it back in the freezer for at least another two hours. it's best if you do it overnight, but a few more hours is enough to do the trick.

and then...voila. ice cream.

^ one batch vanilla and one batch chocolate chip

each batch is supposed to be about four scoops, but i fed my entire sunday school class with just two batches (about 10 kids).

two notes.

2011-07-28T23:10:00.003-05:00

dear childproof medicine containers:

if you are supposed to keep little kids out, you probably shouldn't spill into my purse without me even touching the bottle.

just saying.

xox from anna.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

dear self:

i think you have a problem.

holy cereal sale, batman.

just saying.

xox from anna.

hip hip zoombinis.

2011-07-24T16:36:00.004-05:00

that background music was pretty much the theme song of my childhood with this guy --

between that and clips from this all-time favorite kron family movie --

i can't believe he's grown up so much in the past few years.

seriously? when did he get so big?!

it seems like just yesterday we were cleaning up the 50,394 matchbox cars that he would meticulously line up all over the living room.

the baby that always wanted to be held by his favorite sisters.

and refused to stop quoting "woody-buzz."

i like this guy.

happy 13th bday, DK!!

can't believe you're a teenager!

(EEK!)

can't wait to see you next month!

(maybe we can even sing the doom song)

oh baby you...you got what i need.

2011-07-20T13:14:00.003-05:00

no matter how much i grow up or whatever changes in my life, i will always have a special place in my heart for justin timberlake.

p.s. i'm coming to ohio and utah next month ( :

love letters (part 1 of 2)

2011-07-17T21:48:00.001-05:00

i miss all of you.

and then i got asthma.

2011-07-11T21:53:00.004-05:00

remember this fun picture from my sophomore year of college when i loved to make fun of my asthmatic roommate, kimmie?

well, now i actually have asthma.

must be karma.

weird, right? i mean, my family history is pretty asthma-free (as far as i know) and i don't ever really remember having a hard time breathing (minus thinking i was drowning at wyandot lake once). but the past few weeks, i've been coughing pretty much non-stop, even to the point of these ridiculous cough attacks when i thought i might vomit up a lung (yuck). anyways, i went to a doctor on friday and he diagnosed me with late-onset asthma. awesome.

to be perfectly honest, i didn't believe him at first. maybe he was just making it up. but once i started using the inhaler, i stopped coughing. i started breathing regularly. and now i'm starting to feel better.

he talked about how it might not be totally unnatural for someone like me to develop asthma. i'm breathing different air than i'm used to with new allergens, plus i'm working at a very stressful job (?!) -- all of which could be contributers. the only weird thing is i don't cough when i run but that might be just because i (subconsciously) force my lungs to work correctly when i push them that hard.

after talking to my coworkers, some have it or had asthma before. each gave me some tips so hopefully i won't be stopping-breathing anytime soon. that's especially good since i've been hanging out with these guys lately (my two anchors plus one photographer) while putting together my one-hour special that airs this weekend.

some days i still wonder how most of my reporter-friends got assigned 2-3 minute sweeps stories and i landed the 48-minute extravaganza. oh well.

here's a song a heard on the radio the other day. it sounded familiar but i couldn't figure out the words but i like it. breathe easy & enjoy.

you know you are old when...

2011-07-05T21:46:00.004-05:00

...you end up with the boring bandaids because you can buy 80 of them for $2.50 instead of getting 20 cool ones for $2.25

not so many words.

2011-07-03T09:03:00.004-05:00

one of my co-workers says i have allergies and that's why i've been coughing so much lately. to appease her, i've started taking allergy meds (which has helped a little maybe?) and put my voice on vacation over the weekend. yesterday, i may have said three words -- "paper" (as in, paper or plastic) and "thank you" to the bagger who gave me my groceries. the rest of my day was spent in silence. i didn't cough as much and my throat didn't hurt so bad. unfortunately, i don't have the luxury of giving my voice a break like that on a regular basis. but in case you think i'm ignoring you, i'm not. my voice is just tired.

also in a few words or less, here's my word-a-day from june:

whirlwind. pineapples. eight. thin. slide. sofa. alright. heat. solo. falling. phone. them. oops. mike. rainrun. without. co-anchor. flashfloods. trains. really. socks. panini. awkward. hurry. frisbee. sun. softball. cough. backpack. want.

sock stalker / shark supporter.

2011-06-25T10:01:00.007-05:00

my weekly shopping trip included some of these:

^ look familiar??

hah. i just loved, okay? plus i needed new socks.

my shopping trip was sort of a mixed bag, as i accidentally bought the expensive milk (same color as the milk i always buy but like $2 more! oops) and expensive grapes ($8 for a bunch of grapes, grumble grumble -- maybe the world's retribution for me getting two bunches so cheaply last time?) but at least i got to make another delicious chocolate chip banana shake with these ingredients (plus a few more).

also, my yogurt will expire on --

^ DK's BDAY!!

i'll probably eat it all before then. but it was still funny.

also...remember this?

here's what it looks like now --

i'm no mrs. D but i think it looks pretty cool.

...and it only took me five trips to the pottery painting store to do it.

my channel 9 baby.

2011-06-15T23:48:00.005-05:00

those of you who know me already know i'm a reporter for channel 9.

what you may not know is that today was my nine month anniversary. that's right, folks. in the time i've been working in wausau, i could have gone through an entire pregnancy and had a channel 9 baby.

i went from here:

^my first (breaking news) live shot when a manufacturing plant exploded in my first week in wausau. also i was terrified.

...to here:

click here to watch one of my live shots from this week.

don't worry though. no real babies here yet ( :

if you like pina coladas...

2011-06-13T20:40:00.002-05:00

...you will want to drink this ( :

made from vanilla yogurt, shredded coconut, frozen pineapple (it was fresh but decided to freeze it so i didn't need to add ice)

and a bit of lemon juice.

in other news, i wanted to buy grapes on saturday but they're usually super expensive. i put a bag in my basket anyways, checked out and went home. it's safe to assume i was pretty surprised when i started putting away my groceries and found...

...TWO bags of grapes?!

i checked my receipt. i only was charged for one.

plus (i also didn't know) they were on sale -- $1.85 for all of these!!

score.

my sister is way more artsy than me.

2011-06-11T17:22:00.004-05:00

my sister make artistic things like it's her job. it actually used to be and now she still does awesome things. like these cool bowls that she's apparently giving away and i WANT.

meanwhile, i am bad at art. i can spend days (literally, days -- mostly because i'm just slow) painting things and they still look like this:

luckily, i finished today and they'll be firing it soon and i'll have a shark mug by next saturday. and hopefully it'll look better than it does in that pathetic picture.

also, even though i haven't been blessed with artistic talents, i do love to cook and make things with food. let's remember back to a few days ago when i wanted a banana chocolate milkshake but then realized i didn't have any cocoa. i used chocolate chips instead (and some of them were still in little pieces after the blending was done) and it was DELICIOUS.

yum.

something random.

2011-06-06T21:36:00.006-05:00

okay. my new blog friend briane tagged me in one of his posts, so i'm going to go ahead and follow through with continuing the chain.

first, i'm supposed to list seven random facts about myself.

1. today i went to three meth houses. just another day in the life of a tv news reporter in wausau...

2. i've been craving a chocolate banana milkshake for about a week now and i finally bought bananas and chocolate. it might be time to make one very soon.

3. i haven't drank (drinken? drunk?) pop since last monday and i'm determined to stop drinking it altogether. i've been trying to minimize my caffeine intake but finally i just decided to quit, cold turkey. so far...i'm not dead. we'll see how this goes.

4. i like cloudy days more than sunny ones. the sun gives me headaches. clouds don't.

5. i spent at least 8 hours in direct sunlight yesterday (at noah's ark!) and i didn't tan or burn at all.

6. i feel naked without mascara.

7. i've never had a ceiling fan until i moved to wausau. now i have one in my bedroom and i leave it on all the time. how did i live so long without one?

now i'm supposed to answer four questions.

1. name your favorite song - "sunday morning," by maroon 5

2. name a song you think is romantic - "sleeping to dream," by jason mraz

3. name a song you would recommend someone listen to - "uncharted," by sara bareilles

4. now name your second favorite song - "the difference," by matchbox twenty

i wrote them down so i didn't cheat. here's what these songs say about me (supposedly)...

1. this tells how you feel about yourself (i think i did the song thing wrong. this kind of doesn't really make sense).

2. this song tells how you feel about a person you secretly have a crush on (does it really? a romantic song? funny how that happens).

3. this song tells how you feel about the person you are in a relationship with (why does this quiz want me to have a secret crush on someone and be in a relationship with someone else?).

4. this song tells how you think other people view you (again, i don't think this really works. but at least you know my favorite songs now).

am i amazed at what i learned about myself? not really. but oh well. it was a valiant effort.

okay. ready for more awkward questions?

1. do you think you're hawt?

haha. how do i even begin to answer this question? was it written by a 13-year-old? (no offense, daniel) it was about 90 degrees out today. that was a little warm for me. let's leave it at that.

2. upload a picture or wallpaper that you are using at the moment.

3. when was the last time you ate chicken?

i had chicken strips at buffalo wild wings last week. yummm.

4. what are the songs you've listened to recently?

according to my itunes, i've listened to a lot of rihanna, maroon 5, justin timberlake and goo goo dolls lately.

5. what were you thinking as you were writing this?

what awesome question might be coming up next?

6. do you have nicknames?

many of them have to do with the fact that my last name changes depending on whether or not i'm on tv. here's a few:

-anna corona

-anna karenina

-anna kron-rera

also, one of my friends at work calls me, "little face," since he says i have large eyes which dwarf the rest of my face.

7. top eight blogger friends who shall be tagged by this (should you feel so inclined, if you actually read this blog post):

1. mrs. d

2. surrah

3. emily

4. micaela

5. rachael

6. natalie

7. colin

8. scott

8. who's listed as #1:

my #1 older sister. duh. she's an awesome blogger so maybe she'll enjoy doing it (with dustbuster's help, of course).

9. say something about #5:

she did not like when we moved our mattresses into the living room for months on end during our sophomore year of college...but she was a good sport ( :

10. how did you get to know #3?

we lived on the same floor during our freshman year. she had a "seussical: the musical" t-shirt. i had a "seussical: the musical" t-shirt. the rest is history.

11. how about #4?

she was my little sister's freshman year roommate. also she's awesome.

12: leave a message for #6:

i'm crossing my fingers for you, since i haven't heard back about that think in that state in a while. and if all else fails, we'll just open that bakery, so no worries.

13: do #7 and #8 have similarities?

well...they're both boys.

14: why does #2's blog interest you? (originally this question was about #5 but it seems dumb to do #5 twice and #2 zero times so i changed it)

BECAUSE SHE'S MY LITTLE SISTER AND I MISS HER.

alright. i think that's it.

* * * * *

dear briane: i did it. and someday when you run for president, i totally expect to ride on your bus when we go visit donald trump.

fruitzilla / shopping(?!) / YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS.

2011-05-31T22:10:00.007-05:00

grocery shopping this weekend got a little out of control.

usually i can limit myself to a couple fruits and veggies, but for whatever reason, i got a bit too excited that so much delicious food is in season and bought a TON of stuff. tomatoes, pears, blueberries, apples, carrots, celery, strawberries, blackberries, oh my.

(also, this is what's left after i've already eaten about half of it.

i know.

i'm huge.

but i couldn't help it.

om nom nom.)

^ which reminds me, i finally bought a new blender after leaving mine back in utah with sarah and micae. FRUIT SMOOTHIE TIME.

^ sean didn't want to be left out of the fresh food party so we bought a REAL pineapple and he taught me how cut it up "properly" today. yum.

i don't know if i mentioned the fact that i had to work on memorial day, but i did. i also had to be at work by about 4:30 AM to get my story and that was kind of insane but it was a not-bad day overall. click here to watch my story if you want.

anyways, since i worked on a holiday, i had today off to finish watching the first season of "24," eat delicious fresh food and go mushroom hunting with mr. expert pineapple slicer. also, i went shopping. if you know me, you know this is a big deal.

even my mom will admit it: i'm a bad shopper.

but somehow...i didn't do too bad.

here's a cute jacket that i always swore i'd never buy:

^ i always thought these half-jackets were so dumb-looking, but now that it's summer and pretty much everything in sight is strapless or sleeveless, it's going to be a necessity. plus i can wear it for work or church or the beach or whatever.

(probably not actually the beach but you know what i mean)

BUT GUESS WHAT I CAN WEAR TO THE BEACH?!

^ these board shorts ( :

some of my friends from work and i have been planning a trip to noah's ark -- america's largest water park. i'm really excited, except for the part where i have to wear a bathing suit. so i wanted something else to wear. so i bought these.

(from the billabong "recycler" line -- made of water bottles?)

also.

board shorts = $10

half-jacket = $15

look at me buy cute things and not spend a ton of cash.

okay.

i know this has been an epic-ly long blog post.

but there's one more thing you NEED to see.

the kardashian cover of katy perry's "E.T."

need i say more?

people i like at the job i love.

2011-05-29T14:03:00.006-05:00

i realize that based on my last post, i seem to have cut off all relations with other human beings. no worries though -- i do have friends in wausau. here are some of them:

^ these are two of my favorites, mike and jack.

mike works / reports on the same days as me (a rarity in this business) and jack is one of our photographers. they are adorable.

^ here is rob. he's from ohio ( :

he's our new weather guy and sometimes he does news reports too.

on his first day of work, we were doing live shots together and he hit his head on the truck and started bleeding so i had to try to fix him up so he'd still look pretty on tv.

also he's like 6'5" tall -- OMG

(what is that even like? i'll never know)

^ this is melissa. she's one of our main anchors.

she's basically the coolest (and closest to my height).

also these are the new work jackets we got...just in time for summer.

^ this is bryon (another one of our anchors) eating circus peanuts.

he used to sit next to me until our boss made him move.

sometimes he's my mentor and always he's awesome.

^ this is a picture from last week's adventure (was it really just last week? gosh...seems like forever ago) at miller park. bonnie, me and mike -- the three veteran reporters at our station now.

who would have thought?

five picture post.

2011-05-23T20:51:00.003-05:00

on my way to a story last week, i found a little bit of ohio:

driving to another story, i found this:

(just reminds me of surrah sometimes!)

here is (a cross-section of) some food i made last week:

chicken pot pie. obviously.

can you see this license plate?

1BUNNY1

also i had an awesome weekend with a few of my work friends.

we went to milwaukee (my first time ever)

and saw the brewers play the rockies.

i love summer.

everything is green again!

oh. and we had more tornadoes this weekend.

no joke. and i thought wausau would be boring...

doing more.

2011-05-08T13:32:00.005-05:00

wow. i didn't realize how long it had been since the last time i blogged. life continues to be busy and fun and i'm enjoying life in wausau and every where else (just in case you were wondering).

two weekends ago, i went to my friend's roller derby in appleton.

if you've never been to one, it's kind of like this:

there wasn't quite as much punching, but it was still very cool.

we also went to a mall there. it wasn't the best mall ever but it was still a significant improvement over the one we have downtown.

then last weekend, me and some other channel 9 people did a scavenger hunt for charity.

we had to breakdance at the mall:

give someone an "under-duck":

(isn't it usually an under-dog??)

throw grapes into someone's mouth:

give someone a piggy-back ride through a drive-thru:

and about a zillion other things.

it was really fun and, of course, for a good cause ("Donate Life").

then surrah came and we spent the next few days being wild and crazy and playing trouble and eating food and watching the kardashians and staying up late and making pizza rolls from scratch and doing frisbee and reporting on house fires and other cool stuff like that.

now...i'm kind of relaxing. doing research for a BIG story i'm working on plus hitting up softball practice with the channel 9 team and enjoying what seems to be shaping up as a very fun summer.

who knew?

anyways. anna's advice for the day:

...also, if you want to see something incredibly adorable and you don't typically check out the other blog i do with my sisters / friends, click here. literally might be the cutest thing i've ever seen.

disclaimer: i love my job.

2011-04-11T21:33:00.005-05:00

don't get me wrong.

my job is slightly insane.

i work long hours. i don't have a very regular schedule.

and sometimes, the responsibilities i take on seem

well over my current pay-scale.

it can be really hard sometimes.

when storm clouds loom...

...when buildings are destroyed...

...when emus lose their homes...

...there are no words to express the devastation.

my stories can do no justice to the sheer amount of loss.

it breaks my heart to see the sadness-filled scenes that surround me.

but i wouldn't trade my job for any other.

i share their sorrow, their stories

and try to help them hope for a better tomorrow.

these people who have experienced so much more than i ever have.

i have so much to learn.

my name is anna and i'm a workaholic.

2011-04-05T21:10:00.007-05:00

WARNING:

if you are my mom, you might not want to read this post.

here is what my work week has been like:

sunday: 12PM-11:30PM

monday: 6:30AM-10:30PM

tuesday: 6:30AM-7PM

wednesday: 7AM-?!?

here's hoping i'll have some time to relax this weekend. eesh.

p.s. the reason i've been working so much is this crazy trial i've

been assigned to. the courthouse is an hour away and i have to

be there half an hour early. also they start at like 8AM.

don't worry though. the trial is only slated to last 3-4 weeks.

my anti-april fool's.

2011-04-01T20:40:00.003-05:00

"i used to love april fool's. it was always fun to play jokes on people and do crazy things for no reason at all.

...then i came to byu.

in provo, the only april fool's joke people can come up with is changing their facebook relationship status to "engaged," which is SO three years ago. no one believes you, and it's not funny anymore.

so [a few years ago], i started my own anti-april fool's. for one day only, i will answer any question that anyone throws my way. complete, blatant honesty...no sarcasm and no messing around.

i've been 100% objective (just like a journalist should be), 100% candid and 100% straight-forward. for one day only, i just tell it like it is.

so if you have any questions, hit me up. the next time this chance will roll around is next year ( : so don't miss your chance."

^ that's what i wrote last year. i'm posting it late this year (since we had lame late meetings at work) so i'm extending my blog question deadline into a little bit of tomorrow. happy anti-april fool's!

snow tires..?

2011-03-30T16:12:00.002-05:00

i looked outside the other day to find these:

two tiny tires.

how did they get on my balcony?

...just wondering...

tiny victories.

2011-03-27T14:36:00.007-05:00

yesterday, i was super-productive.

among other things, i cleaned my house and went grocery shopping.

^ and yes.

by "grocery shopping," i do mean, "bought 5 boxes of special k."

* * * * * * * * * *

also, here are my two favorite pictures that i've seen this week.

1. duck-face dustbuster.

2. a postsecret ( :

THUNDER SNOW!

2011-03-22T22:57:00.007-05:00

six months in wausau and i have finally found my favorite thing:

i guess they call it "thunder snow."

it's like a spring thunder storm (since it's march) -- only it's snowing.

love it?

(video courtesy of my friend phil -- i couldn't figure out how to

shoot / edit video like that if my life depended on it)

what's wrong with this picture?

2011-03-20T12:57:00.002-05:00

need a hint??

i know. it's sad.

(because seriously. 118 SNU?? what does that even mean?)

compare to lex from last month:

he was happy and ohio.

now...he's wisconsin.

not that wisconsin's bad...just that it's not the same.

in other news, i love bunnies. and graeters.

(^due to the untimely retirement of the easter bunny,

you're pretty much on your own this year)

also i miss DK and dustbuster.

and everyone else, of course.

but today it's raining so some of the snow is melting and maybe even a thunder storm will pass through (keeping my fingers crossed).

i've heard spring in WI is lovely and i'm excited to see what it's like.

to get in the springtime mood, i got new candles. now my house smells like -- COCONUTS. get excited to come visit, surrah.

it smells delicious.

OH. and for my mom -- here's a song emily did with her sister.

being awesome.

2011-02-27T22:07:00.005-06:00

i've been meaning to update my blog. really...i have. but between all the craziness around the newsroom lately and me actually trying to have a social life (movies! hockey games! dinner dates with friends! basketball games! polar plunge! cooking! planning sunday school lessons! parties!), my blog life has been lacking. but don't worry...

i've been practicing.

and soon...i'll be awesome too.

20 hours in wausau.

2011-02-21T21:57:00.002-06:00

yesterday afternoon i could see my balcony.

this morning, i could not.

hello, foot of snow that fell overnight.

good to see you too.

welcome to wisconsin.

2011-02-17T22:03:00.001-06:00

maybe i've just never paid good enough attention to national current events before this past year or so, but it seems like ever since i moved to wisconsin, it's been all over the news.

from our flash floods in the fall to our overnight 15+ inches of snow...from our missing girl (who nancy grace still talks about) to our parents who decided to pray over their daughter instead of take her to a doctor (sadly, the girl died from complications due to diabetes -- totally preventable if her parents would have done more than exercise their "faith" over her)...from the packers winning the super bowl to wisconsin teams beating #1 unbeaten OSU teams not once but TWICE. crazy.

and now -- our governor wants to fix our state's budget by doing some major cost cutting and the entire state is up in arms about it. a bunch of our senators FLED THE STATE to escape having to vote on the bill today. i mean, seriously, people. can we be a little more ridiculous?

if you don't know a lot about our budget crisis, it's pretty standard. click here for a link to a CNN article that explains it more.

basically, wisconsin is poor (like pretty much every state in the country) but now our governor wants to fix it all within his first month and a half in office, by getting rid of collective bargaining for unions and cutting some health care and other benefits for state employees. one of our photographers likened it to "fixing" a family budget by saying, "oh, this year we just won't buy food." sure...it will save you money. but also, it's not healthy. i still haven't decided what i think about the issue, since it still needs to pass through the legislature and that could totally change all the rules. but the people here are passionate and it's been interesting to watch the drama unfold.

what is also not super-healthy?

toy story macaroni & cheese. but it is delicious.

so here's to you, wisconsin.

way to get in the national spotlight and make my life as a reporter

interesting (if not totally ridiculous) on a day-to-day basis.

FIFTY DEGREES.

2011-02-13T17:27:00.004-06:00

it was literally fifty degrees out today.

on my way to see sean, i even drove with my window down.

plus, i saw grass for the first time in months.

i think it's going to be a good week ( :

dear no-stick pan:

2011-02-08T21:34:00.004-06:00

we're officially fighting.

remember when you actually didn't let food stick to you?

that was cool.

you will be replaced as soon as i can find the money (hopefully -- good replacements are super-pricey).

xox from anna.

the minneapolis / st paul airport.

2011-02-03T21:34:00.008-06:00

did you know i went to utah this week?

i did.

i flew both ways through minneapolis.

both times...i got delayed.

here's my pilot for minneapolis --> wausau:

he was trying to get us an earlier slot, but to no avail.

here's the food i ate while i waited:

yes. it was my birthday brownie.

and yes. it was delicious.

also while waiting in minneapolis?

some lady from across the waiting area says,

"HEY! you're on tv in wausau!"

small world, right?

anyways. flying can be crazy but it does have its bonuses.

while walking to my final plane, a guy stopped me

and asked if i had a delta skymiles card.

i told him my dad did.

and then he asked if i was the primary card holder.

i said no.

he said if i got my own, i'd be eligible for awesome bonuses.

so i told him i was only 17 -- not quite old enough for a credit card.

the end.

...right?!

NOPE!

i say thanks and start to walk away

and he chases after me and gives me this:

bonus alarm clock / calendar thing? yes, please.

"oh, i knew you'd sign up if only you were old enough."

haha. thanks, dude.

anyways. now it's back to the grind in the newsroom.

today i did a story at the humane society

and this kitten tried to come home with us.

seriously.

2011-01-29T15:45:00.003-06:00

i know i don't say it enough, but i hope you all know.

one. four. three.

acclimating.

2011-01-25T22:25:00.005-06:00

it's been cold in wausau. really cold.

like last week -- we had temps in the double digits below zero.

(and that doesn't include the windchill)

but guess what? this week has been pleasantly in the 20's.

i didn't even need to wear the awesome

under armor gloves i bought this weekend.

(i'm still glad i have them for the rest of the winter though)

want to know something awesome about my gloves?

each was inspected by a different person.

is that weird?

it reminds me of this movie that some BYU kids i knew made last year about a guy (inspector 42) who says he inspected shirts but they were actually faulty and ended up causing huge problems.

anyways. i guess what i'm saying is that i'm getting used to the cold.

i set my thermostat at around 69-70 degrees (and sleep with a fan on) but since i live on the 2nd floor, my house is always warmer than that. yay for not having to spend so much on my heating bill.

in other news, i was home one day last week and realized the O.C. was on the soap network and i watched an episode and this was one of the songs on it. the video is only so-so but i like the idea.

"Yes I forgot you were a Mormon!"

2011-01-20T23:37:00.010-06:00

as a reporter, i get to hear a lot of crazy things. sometimes they are funny and sometimes they are scary and sometimes they are just ridiculous. tonight, i went to a meeting and a guy told me i looked "different" on TV than i do in person. what is that supposed to mean? i'm not sure.

anyways, the real point of this post is to show this screenshot i took from my work facebook page. this guy (who must really like news because he comments on lots of my stories) said a bad word on my status (about how he doesn't like fox news) and i deleted it. i don't usually censor my page, but i can't have profanity on it. anyways, i never saw that he wrote back but he did:

(click on it to enlarge)

"Yes I forgot you were a Mormon! I'll learn next time!!!"

haha. watch me spread the gospel by

teaching my viewers not to use bad words ( :

anyways, it is still funny when people recognize me in public (a few more did today) and i still never know what to say.

also i got to ride along with a snow plow driver this week.

sometimes my life is awesome. the end.

getting old or going crazy.

2011-01-18T21:35:00.009-06:00

i got home from work yesterday

and couldn't find my hair straightener.

...is that weird?

almost every day, i straighten my hair while watching CNN

and then ditch the iron when i race out the door for work.

typically, it's waiting there for me on the floor when i come back.

yesterday...that was not the case.

first i was confused. -- where did i put it?

then i was worried. -- hair straighteners are not cheap.

then i was confused again. -- seriously. where did it go?

today i went to work and i found my straightener.

it was nestled in the middle drawer of my desk.

now the question is -- how did it get there?

i have no idea.

kardashians and pretzels.

2011-01-09T22:12:00.006-06:00

i love the kardashians. can i just say that? i think all of them are fascinating. here are three reasons why.

#1. i saw something on e! about kim and she was talking about juggling a career and a life and everything else (she is kind of my hero). anyways, she said something about how boys always say girls are SO CONFUSING and yet...we're not. she says something like, "girls want two things -- love and attention." DUH. basically kim's a genius.

2. khloe went to africa last month. i am SO JEALOUS. hopefully in the next year or so, i'll be able to say i've gone there too.

3. i love reading kourtney's blog because she always says funny things and has adorable clothes. she made three new year's resolutions that i think i want to follow too -- enjoy the moment -- be more spontaneous -- cook at least one meal per week.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

in other news, my schedule has been all over the place lately (with holidays and everything) and it was going to be better this week but now it's not (boo). oh well. but at least i'm enjoying my time off this weekend plus i'm cooking things again which makes me happy.

^ the bottom two are from my 1st batch. the top middle is from my 2nd batch and the top corners are from my 3rd batch. little by little...they got better. i think i'll try more this weekend and see if i can tweak the recipe and make them even more delicious. YUM.

being a grown up -- a play in 3 acts.

2011-01-02T13:23:00.007-06:00

in 2010, i got a big girl job.

the assumption is that now i will be a grown up in 2011.

i've decided to change my blog background in response to that notion.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

one of the most common new year's goals for people is saving money / getting out of debt. if you are one of those people, here's an idea.

save $3 a day. if you're me, you might transfer it into a savings account that's really difficult to transfer money out of. if you actually carry cash, you can stash it in a jar or piggy bank.

by the end of the year -- you'll have $1,000+ !!!!

crazy, right? it doesn't seem like a lot, but it adds up.

try it. i know i will.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

here are my favorite quotes from 2010.

"experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted."

"becoming is letting go of what you are not."

I WISH I HAD DVR.

2010-12-30T12:14:00.000-06:00

guess what's on TV tonight?

GRAETER'S!!

(aka best ice cream there ever was)

lame that i will be at work.

check it out tonight if you can -- food network @ 10PM EST.

it'll also be on at 1 AM (maybe i'll watch that one..?) and then again at 7:30 PM on jan 15th, but i sort of NEED to watch it before then so i'll try to find out if there's more times.

i seriously love graeters. please let them go national soon ( :

i tried. i really did.

2010-12-28T00:28:00.008-06:00

i just completed one of my goals from the DayZeroProject. i was going to blog about it, but the server's down and i can't check it off.

LAME.

apparently the DZP site has been down for a few days but i'm thinking it's gotta be up again soon, right? pretty sure they'd have lots of upset people if they can't make goal lists on new years.

but in case you've been under a rock, i went to ohio for christmas (drove the 1,200+ miles from wausau to indiana to ohio

and then back with my bff boy from work within a 36-hour period)

and i will blog about it when i have a little more time...

...someday...

gameeee stopppp.

2010-12-22T21:30:00.004-06:00

been a fun couple of days with surrah visiting me here in wausau, but she left for warmer temperatures in the ohio valley earlier today. lameeee.

i'm not very good about pictures but we did go bowling, watch toy story, get free milk (that leaked all over my fridge), eat yummy grapes, try a sandwich with soft pretzels instead of bread and wake up before 6 AM to go for a run. she's a trooper.

luckily, i remembered to take the one really important picture:

we LOVE game stop.

i mean, who doesn't?

(besides maybe that creeper guy over there)

i'm taking lex to the car doctor tomorrow to get a new (FREE) steering column (what is that? i'm not sure. but i got a letter a lot of months ago that said they would replace it free of charge, so...why not, right?) and then we'll finally be able to get ready for my super-busy christmas weekend where i get to work a lot. yayyy.

in other news, u of u is getting totally pummeled in the vegas bowl.

hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season so far. miss you all.

xox.

but i only want two.

2010-12-15T22:26:00.010-06:00

i know.

we got a foot of snow over the weekend and now you think i'm dead since i haven't blogged in forever. the truth is that i've been working non-stop lately, with everyone taking vacations and holiday days. lucky for me, i don't get vacation time so i get to work every day -- rain or shine...or blizzard. but i'm alive and fine and i even shoveled so i can get lex out of the garage (thank you, snow plows).

^ doesn't he look sad in there?

^ this is lex's view from inside the garage, near the tires.

would you believe that lots of (dumb) people still park their cars outside and let them freeze over every night?

i love lex too much to do that to him.

in other news, i happened to look at my thermostat over the weekend and it flashes this message at me:

"replace battery."

i mean, i should have figured my thermostat was battery-powered. it has power and it's not plugged into anything. that's logical. i guess i just never realized that two "aaa" batteries were the only things keeping my house from turning into a subarctic tundra.

so i went to the store to look for batteries today.

and guess what?

they have these REALLY AWESOME BONUS MEGA PACKS.

SUPER COOL! GREAT VALUE! BEST EVER! ONLY 10 DOLLARS!

but here's the thing. i don't want sixteen. i only need two.

and i don't think i should pay $10 for two "aaa" batteries.

so...my hunt continues for non-mega pack batteries.

and hopefully my thermostat doesn't die before i find some...

the last bag of grapes i will ever eat.

2010-12-05T21:43:00.007-06:00

oh hello, SIX-DOLLAR-BUNCH-OF-GRAPES.

i guess i don't pay attention to how much my groceries actually cost. but after i checked my receipt, i had to make this decision. those were definitely the last grapes i will eat until they're in season again.

in other news, remember these gingerbread houses i made

with the fam when they came last week?

gravity started to take its toll and the roofs are starting to cave in.

eek!

everyday, the ceilings on these poor graham cracker homes stoop a bit lower. i secretly hope i'm around to watch one of them collapse.

a word of advice to anyone making gingergread houses this season:

if you plan to put things on the roof, you need to add more support!

mom is always right.

2010-11-28T21:44:00.015-06:00

i've been stressing this weekend because i need to buy

warm-weather clothes. by the looks of it (online), snow pants

and other accessories were not going to come cheap.

i called my mom. she told me to look at walmart and the boy clothes would be less expensive than the girl clothes. and guess what?

^ pants on the left are girl pants. pants on the right are boy pants. made by the same company, essentially the same thing, right?

^ only the pants in the girl section cost $10 more!!

what's up with that??

i ended up getting the girl pair (since there were only L's and XL's in the boy department) but it was still funny to see how the exact same pants (and even smaller ones that would require less fabric) could be more expensive just because they are marketed towards girls.

and BOTH pairs are exponentially cheaper than

the ones i found online, which were $100+. eesh.

anyways. mom is always right.

also, if you didn't know, my parents and daniel came to visit me for a few days, bringing with them some nice furniture for my apartment (that will surely remind me of ohio) and a few other gifts...

^ like these SHARP KNIVES for cooking.

my mom even cut off the top (before giving them to me)

since they're so hard to open.

^ so i cooked them lots of things for thanksgiving to say thanks ( :

turkey, stuffing, gravy, roasted rosemary garlic potatoes, homemade honey wheat bread, salad, green beans, crackers and grapes.

(plus pumpkin pie from scratch and chocolate brownies for dessert)

a pretty good dinner, yeah?

also we made ginger bread houses.

can you tell which one was mine + DK's and which one was m&d's?

gingerbread house #1:

gingerbread house #2:

anyways...that was our thanksgiving.

plus we watched "a charlie brown thanksgiving," explored wausau, went black friday shopping and ate lots of waffles for breakfast.

pumpkin time.

2010-11-22T22:19:00.007-06:00

pumpkin creation #1:

pie!!

^ i covered it in foil when i drove to church

(to feed it to my SS class). some of it got stuck to the top. oops.

but check out that awesome homemade crust ( :

pumpkin creation #2:

pancakes!!

^ because what else are you supposed to do when you have extra pumpkin pie batter + flour + baking soda + milk?

these were yummy and super-easy to make.

also i made some roasted red potatoes (another test-run before the fam gets here on WEDS) and they were good but i ate them before i took pictures. get excited to see all the awesome food i'm going to be cooking over the next few days for thanksgiving!

victory lap.

2010-11-20T15:41:00.009-06:00

if you haven't been keeping up, my life has been all over the place. since i started working, my schedule's been different from week to week. but as of last week, i'm officially a daytime M-F reporter. so i thought, hey. now i can get in some sort of rhythm. this week...i did.

every day, i woke up around 6, grabbed something small to eat and then fell back asleep for 20 minutes. then i woke up and ran a few miles (between 4-5 on a NOT-empty stomach, since that's bad for you) before showering and getting ready for work at 9:30. after work, i'd come home, make myself dinner, catch up on news and emails and be in bed between 11 and 11:30. CRAZY. i don't remember the last time i've been on a regular schedule like that in my entire life.

last night was a bit of an exception, since i went out to dinner with some friends from work and stayed out a bit later, but i surprised myself by being awake this morning before eight.

i REALLY don't remember the last time i've seen 8 AM on a saturday morning but it was awesome. i got my oil changed (for FREE), went grocery shopping, bought birthday presents / stuff for when m + d + daniel come to visit for thanksgiving next week (!!!), got a sweater at kohl's with a $10 off coupon and ran four miles before being back home for the ohio state game at 2:30 PM. holy productive, batman.

still on the agenda for tonight: baking a pumpkin pie from scratch for my sunday school class, preparing my lesson, watching the OSU game (hopefully they can make a comeback -- they're down 3-7 at the half) and reading "dispatches from the edge" (anderson cooper's book that i started reading during my oil change).

life isn't perfect, but sometimes it's not bad at all.

counting to 300.

2010-11-18T22:40:00.006-06:00

i have a confession -- i have an obsession.

it's all about numbers. and as far as i can tell, there are two parts.

1. the most important challenge i tackle everyday is time. i am constantly battling the clock -- driving from one place to another, shooting video, interviewing people, finding information --all before coming back to the station with enough time to put it all together for the news at 5, 6 and 10. because of this, i am constantly asking myself what time it is and how much longer i have before i need to book it back to home base. all of this...NUMBERS.

2. while i am shooting video, i set a shot and let the tape roll for ten seconds...and i count it out in my head. usually i only need three solid seconds of video for my stories, but ten makes sure i have enough for editing purposes. this is a great habit...until it starts to seep into my personal life. lately i've caught myself counting the seconds during everyday tasks: brushing my teeth, shampooing my hair, stirring my pasta -- pretty much everything. NUMBERS.

anyways, all this -- just to let you know this is my 300th post.

and it only took two years, one month and eleven days.

back to baking ( :

2010-11-14T21:49:00.012-06:00

i haven't been doing much baking since i moved to wisconsin

(due to lack of materials, people to cook for, etc) but this weekend i decided to jump back in. here's proof:

^ one of the two loaves of honey wheat bread i baked (from scratch)

then i made brownies for my

(high school aged) sunday school class --

^ i told them opening a bakery was my plan "b" and one of them told me i should change my game plan to make it plan "a."

did i mention i love my SS class?

i put applesauce in it instead of oil which makes it healthy!

did you know i have been collecting these lately?

^ they are pink yogurt lids.

for each one i send in, 10 cents is donated to breast cancer research.

ALSO...i've eaten 40+ yogurts since moving to WI (about 2 months).

AND if you haven't heard about my new blog -- every day is awesome -- check it out. my sisters and some of our friends all post on it once a week and my day is "spontaneous sunday."

PLUS if you didn't know that i have the coolest, most talented roommate / best friend ever, look at this video she made. i love her.

ain't no mountain high, ain't no valley low...

2010-11-11T21:24:00.010-06:00

i've been in wisconsin for about two months now.

(crazy, right?)

so let's talk about one of the main differences between UT and WI:

MOUNTAINS.

this is a picture i took from the top of the highest

point in north-central wisconsin: granite peak.

(about 700 feet up)

i hiked the mountain with one of the boys from work last month. the trail was pretty much straight up -- crazy steep. but it was a nice hike and a pretty view with all the autumn leaves changing.

for the sake of comparison, here's the view

from the top of "Y" mountain in provo:

how high is the "Y?"

oh you know...about 8,520 feet.

another fun fact:

the cement "Y" itself is about 380 feet high...

a little more than half the height of my new highest mountain ( :

spontaneous sunday - #2.

2010-11-07T17:28:00.004-06:00

so when you move to wausau, you get this giant packet full of coupons and sweet deals on things all over the city.

this week, i checked to see what sort of freebies i could get.

and guess what was on the list?

a decorated quarter-sheet cake!!

(actual retail price: $17.99)

...did i need a cake? no.

but it was FREE! so why not, right?

don't worry, mom. i will save it until you (and daniel and dad) come to visit so you can share my delicious free cake with me.

two days left.

2010-11-06T11:31:00.004-05:00

if you didn't know, this week was a big election so work has been crazy and i haven't been blogging. but hopefully things will be calming down now and we can all go back to normal (maybe).

also if you didn't know, there are only two open days in the blogosphere if you want to claim them for your own. so far, we have --

* spontaneous sunday (me)

* musical monday (daniel)

* wordless wednesday (mrs. d)

* tickle me thursday (surrah)

* frank friday (micae)

so...does anyone want tuesday or saturday? it's not a big commitment -- you just have to post SOMETHING on your day and think of a cute name for it. any takers?

day one.

2010-11-01T23:43:00.002-05:00

yes, i'm also doing a DayZeroProject list and it was actually MY idea that sparked this entire thing, despite being the last one to blog about it / put it on facebook. if you want to look at my list, click here.

i'm really excited to do all of these goals. some will be a challenge, but i thought about what i really wanted to accomplish and i'm happy with the things i decided to choose.

today is day one. so here goes nothing...

spontaneous sunday - #1.

2010-10-31T20:44:00.004-05:00

NOW I HAVE A DAY TO POST THINGS ONLINE TOO!!!

plus i posted some funnier clips on my facebook page. the end.

xox from anna.

welcome inside my house!

2010-10-26T22:35:00.007-05:00

you walk up the stairs of my apartment and you're in my living room.

(i think it has high ceilings, but maybe i'm just short...)

^ i need to get something to put my tv on...but besides that i love it.

^ the green armchair (that i'm not sure i'll keep) and my $25 couch with cover and ohio state blanket ( : plus a coat closet. the wood molding is the top of the wall. i can see the stairs when i look over it.

^ my living room is right next to my kitchen.

love my mirror art? (i didn't want to buy a hammer so i

put the nails in with the top of my round brush. creative, no?)

the hallway to the right leads to my bedroom and bathroom.

^ i love my kitchen.

^ sooo pretty! granite countertops, black stove

and refrigerator and nice wood cabinetry.

^ this is what you see when you look in the door to my bathroom.

did i mention my bath has hot tub jets??

^ yep. pretty bathroom-y.

^ and then next to my shower is my washer and dryer.

(and a few of my bras...oops)

^ and THIS is my bedroom!!

no decorations (yet) but at least i have a bed ( :

and i turn my ceiling fan on every night.

(how did i live without one for so long?)

^ and my walk-in closet which has tons of room for all my clothes.

...so...

who wants to come visit?

reason #260: why i needed a queen-sized bed.

2010-10-24T00:53:00.004-05:00

clean laundry on one side.

space to sleep on the other.

...enough said.

my house -- a preview.

2010-10-21T22:06:00.009-05:00

this is the sign outside my neighborhood.

^ see?? it says STRAWBERRY FIELDS!!

"serene, secluded and secure.

living the good life."

yes...it is all of those things.

^ if you drive up to the fork in the road and turn right, i think my apartment is one of those boxes...but i'm not sure which one. some of them are still being built so it's hard to know for sure.

^ this is the gym that i get to go to for free. two treadmills, an elliptical, weight machines and a tanning bed (not pictured). i usually see more people tanning than exercising while i'm working out...

^ this is the outside of my apartment. it's the right door of the two that are identical to each other: #3. the balcony that is shown is mine too!

^ i open the door and go up the stairs to my apartment...

and you'll have to check back to see how cool it is inside ( :

things my sisters (and emily) will like.

2010-10-13T12:47:00.010-05:00

1. i started on my 2nd loaf of awesome bread that my sisters sent!

^ it's been in the freezer for a while but i toasted some of it

today and it was still delicious. thanks again!!

2. i sprung for some cleaning supplies.

^ guess what was on sale, mrs. d?!

3. i went to the mall and found two of surrah's favorite things:

^ JEGGINGS!!

^ plus yummy auntie anne's pretzels!

don't worry. i didn't have any without you.

^ 4. plus i think it's funny that they call it soda here.

it's pop. it really is.

5. as i type this, i have chicken breasts baking in the oven (like i used to make with my bff, emily). i went to turn them over and they were still kind of icky when i stabbed the fork in (they're only half done, after all) and guess what was the first thing that came to mind?

"...she was gross."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

other random things:

- i got my picture taken at work (on my day off)

because they want to put it on the website. eek.

- i went to open a bank account yesterday (somewhat unsuccessfully, since i forgot to bring cash to put in it). the bank lady introduced herself to me and i told her my name was anna. and she says, "oh...anna carrera! i've seen you on tv." eek!

- i may or may not be getting a couch today. i paid for it yesterday and it's supposed to be delivered today, but i forgot to get a receipt so i'm hoping it gets here at some point. eek again.

I KNOW!

2010-10-11T20:47:00.010-05:00

...you want to see my house.

but it's not done yet!!!

but guess what i got this weekend?

COOKING STUFF!!!!

AND SILVERWARE!!!!!

AND THE SAME PLATES / CUPS / BOWLS AS SURRAH!!!!!

^ it looks so much more impressive when it's out of the boxes.

anyways, rachael (who needs to update her blog more) tipped me off to this ridiculous sale at shopko. i ended up getting an 11-piece set of pyrex stuff (plus a bonus silicone spoon) and a 10-piece cooking set (with three pots and two pans -- all non-stick -- plus a spatula and another spoon) for THIRTY-FIVE DOLLARS TOTAL (after I send in the $10 rebate). needless to say, it was an awesome weekend.

and then i worked today. and now i have two more days off!

...and then i get to work a lot of days in a row...

but no worries. my house is almost done getting put together and then i'll put up some pictures for real.

in other news, the buckeyes are #1 this week (!!!)

and i officially have the same number of posts here as i do

in my personal (private, top-secret) blog. the end.

glasses -- part 2.

2010-10-07T19:56:00.005-05:00

remember how i love justin timberlake with glasses?

i decided i also love little kids with glasses.

i think i will make my kids wear glasses (even if they don't

need them) just because they are so dang adorable.

...guess i should start looking for a boy

with sub-par eyesight to be my future husband...

my life is embarrassing.

2010-10-05T22:34:00.002-05:00

i do a lot of embarrassing things. the main difference now is that i'm on live TV or in a car with my station's logo plastered across the side.

monday was kind of a crazy day...i put together a story about the pumpkin harvest before driving an hour away to do a story about a water shortage and i knew i would have to drive the hour back and then a little more to cover an honor flight, where WWII vets got to fly to D.C. to look at the memorial for free. needless to say, my brain was kind of all over the place that night.

i got in my car on the way out of abbotsford to start driving to the airport. it was nighttime so i flipped my lights on really quickly and somehow managed to turn on my hazard lights at the same time.

let me preface this by saying that we have about 6 different cars that i might be using on any given day, and although i'm familiar with all of them, they are each a little different and unique.

so i am driving towards the highway, trying to figure out how to turn off those flashing lights. i was in a small town, so i'm sure it looked a little suspicious. when i got close to the freeway, i pulled over into a parking lot. i didn't want to drive all the way back with my hazard lights on, and i was sure i could figure out how to turn them off if i just had a minute that i wasn't driving.

needless to say, this was not the case. i pulled over...stopped my car...turned on the lights...and still couldn't figure it out. some guy drove up to see if i needed help and i told him i was fine -- i just didn't know how to turn those darn lights off. he tried to help me but after both of us searching to no avail for a few minutes, i just started my trek to the airport with my hazard lights on.

HOW EMBARRASSING.

anyways. about halfway to the airport, i realize that the button for the blinkers was on the column between the driver and passenger seats. why didn't i notice that earlier? i have no idea. i turned them off, but i still felt pretty dumb.

in other news, my house smells like cinnamon and it's awesome.

my bespectacled love.

2010-10-04T13:02:00.006-05:00

if you know me, you know that the man who's held the key to my heart for more than a decade is none other than mr. justin randall timberlake. if you've seen him on tv promoting his latest movie ("the social network"), you've seen his adorable glasses.i've always thought it interesting that most boys i know would rather wear contacts instead of glasses. sure, it might be more comfortable and convenient to do that, but let's be honest...
glasses are adorable. they look awesome on justin and now i've decided that every boy should wear some.
how can you not love a face like that with glasses like those?

i submit that you cannot.

p.s. check out this rap he did on jimmy fallon (with glasses, of course). thanks to drew who sent me the link!

little by little...

2010-10-02T15:29:00.003-05:00

first of all -- thanks to rachael for her awesome gift card that i bought cooking utensils with!!! now i can start to cook things again!

i'm starting to get into the swing of things here...little by little. this week was supposed to be my first week working evenings and that sort of worked. monday i worked at 9:30 AM. tuesday -- 2 PM. wednesday -- 1 PM. thursday -- 11 AM and friday -- 9:30 AM. i think it'll be easier to work nights when people stop calling off work to be sick (therefore making me need to cover for them) but so far i don't mind having my schedule be a little crazy. i'm getting a lot faster with all of the technical stuff (shooting, writing, editing, posting things online, clipping video and such) so that's helping my situation too.

i'm making friends (even with some people from our rival station down the street) and finding fun things to do with them when i get time off and have enough energy to not totally just fall asleep. i've noticed myself going to bed earlier lately and it makes me feel so old! but then yesterday i was working on a story at an elementary school in abbotsford and one of the girls there asked if i went to the high school (which is attached to the elementary school) and i told her that i don't. one of her teachers asked me the same question so i guess i will just always look like i'm 16 years old...even when carrying a monster camera and tripod and stuff all by myself. which reminds me -- i need to start lifting weights or something because everything we have to carry is SUPER-HEAVY!!

as for my settling in at home situation, i've been browsing couches on craigslist but i don't have any cash and probably won't until i open a bank account somewhere in the city (hopefully next week) so that's kind of on pause for now. i've been looking at bookcases and bedding (the two things that i definitely want to get next) but have yet to decide on things that i absolutely can't live without. since i don't want to buy something that i am just okay with, i'm holding out but i'll be going shopping this afternoon so we'll see if i can find anything cool.

OH! and thanks to ruth and sarah for sending me yummy bread and pictures of dustbuster that i got today. i seriously almost died when the doorbell rang (since only a few people know where i live and most of them work during the day) but it was just their package so that was awesome. guess i know how i'll be spending my evening -- catching up on celebrity magazines and eating bread ( : and to mom for sending me those tights (i just got them in the mail yesterday).

p.s. if anyone wants to come visit me (which if you are reading this, you should), you should fly into CWA (the central wisconsin airport). it is the closest to my house and usually has connections to / from minneapolis, denver, detroit and chicago.

more adventures.

2010-09-30T23:32:00.004-05:00

today my smoke alarm went off.

WHILE I WAS MAKING TOAST.

i think my smoke alarm is just super-sensitive. i've made toast here before without any problem, so maybe it's just playing it safe. and it's better to have it be more sensitive than less sensitive, i guess.

other adventures this week: flood coverage in necedah. a gas leak in merrill. water rates increasing in abbotsford. birds being flooded out of their homes in a wildlife refuge. a city that is suddenly opposed to a downtown revitalization project. and wisconsin taking greater strides against puppy mills. so far...an interesting week.

i love that i get to work on different stories every day. my mind is constantly churning...thinking about what else i can dig up...what other stories are out there that need to be told...what my viewers need to know...stuff like that.

oh! and today while i was out on the streets doing interviews, someone told me she had seen me on the news before. crazy!

life is awesome.

having a little bit too much fun...

2010-09-26T20:58:00.010-05:00

i've been working like crazy this week (including breaking news from 1AM-9AM on friday morning -- which included me doing 5 live shots -- and from 4:30-1030PM that night!) so yesterday i tried to get some much-needed rest. i spent the day unpacking and got some basic necessities for my life (like shampoo and more yogurt). my bishop dropped off a dresser (that i want to paint) and some other things that hopefully i can use in my house. one of the boys from my station offered to help me put together my bed frame and then a bunch of the channel 9 and channel 7 reporters went out to celebrate one of our reporter's birthdays. we went to this dancing place and it was a lot of fun...until someone behind me stepped on my shoe, making me trip and fall on my butt. today i woke up to a glorious sight:

hello, twisted ankle that is twice as huge as my other one. luckily today was pretty low-key so i could try to rest it but i don't have any ice so i just took some ibuprofen and tried to keep my ankle raised when i could. hopefully it will be better by tomorrow. or maybe at least i can buy some ice cube trays or something.

p.s. i never felt like a truly "poor" college kid. i always had food and clothes and everything that i ever wanted so i never worried about stuff like that. and now...i don't even have ICE for my swollen ankle. welcome to my poor post-college life ( :

oh! and remember this movie?!

...i feel like meg. love those weak ankles.

the pictures you've been waiting for...

2010-09-23T20:38:00.005-05:00

i moved into my awesome apartment dream house!!

^ here's all the stuff i had in my car.

...seriously. be impressed.

it was quite the feat getting it all in but now i'm working on unpacking and settling in and soon i will have pictures of my awesome new apartment that i love.

did you know that i've been working at channel 9 for six days now

...and i've been live on location for three of them?

check out my live shots:

the first: breaking news -- an explosion at a factory in merrill

the second: a new bike path opening in weston

the third: flooding waters in portage county (today)

in other news, i can't eat anything*.

*that involves the use of a microwave, can opener, blender, cooking sheet, silverware, knives or measuring spoons.

plus, i have an oven / stovetop...but nothing to prepare food in

(like pans, baking sheets, etc.)

no worries...i'll go shopping this weekend / next week. but for now, it's mostly granola bars, carrot sticks and sandwiches. yum ( :

home sweet hotel.

2010-09-19T23:48:00.008-05:00

number one best thing about living in a hotel:

^ you never have to make your bed...

but it's always made when you get home from work!!

i've been living in a hotel for about ten days now.

(i brought in some of the stuff that had been living in my backseat so i could see out the back window, but it's still mostly packed up)

i thought it would be all glamorous and awesome...and it is.

but also, it's a hotel. not a home.

so even though i've been having fun hanging out in my temporary residence, it will be nice to move into my apartment tomorrow night.

^ this was the view outside my window on the first day of work (last wednesday). can you see lex?? the clouds were pretty so i thought i'd take a picture to commemorate the day.

if you didn't know, i stayed at la quinta my first few nights in wausau and then moved to a super 8 when i found out how expensive it was to stay at LQ over the weekend...

^ as you can see in this map, i moved all the way across the parking lot to my new hotel and i've been here ever since.

(LQ is the green one and S8 is the tan one)

if you're wondering how life is at newsline 9...

rest assured that it is AWESOME and i absolutely LOVE IT.

yes, the hours are long, but they are so worth it. especially when you go live on day 3 of work and when you make your way back to the newsroom, your news director comes up to you and says, "are you sure we just hired you this week?" i guess maybe other reporters don't get on the air so quick (or maybe not live? i don't really know) but regardless, it's always a plus to be on the boss' good side.

the ten o'clock news.

2010-09-16T22:50:00.006-05:00

while i was growing up in ohio, the evening news was always on at 11 PM. the fox station ran a newscast at 10, but it was mostly lame and i was not a fan. so you can imagine my distaste for the 10 o'clock news once i moved to utah -- all because the prime time schedules are different in mountain time. i told myself that i couldn't wait for the day when i could go back east and watch (or report on) the news at the "regular" time again.

well, let me tell you something. the central time zone has the same weird scheduling thing as utah so we also have news at ten (with a fox newscast at 9). but considering my epic amount of being-tired lately (and wanting to curl up in bed by about 10:15 each night) i am SO GLAD we have news earlier instead, especially since i will be a nightside reporter in the not-so-distant future.

p.s. this is not to say that i go to bed at 10:15 every night. i wish.

p.s.s. yesterday i worked from 9 AM to 8 PM. and today -- 9:30 AM to 7:30 PM. that might have a little bit to do with how tired i've been...

welcome to wausau.

2010-09-14T19:55:00.000-05:00

i like that all the signs say welcome "home" to wausau.

i live here now.

it's still kind of weird, but so far i LOVE it.

the first thing i noticed about wausau was the stoplights:

^ they are sideways!

the next thing i noticed?

there is water EVERYWHERE.

^ this is the river that runs right through downtown wausau.

^ i love all the bridges too.

want to see a couple weird traffic things?

(you do.)

there are a lot of these:

^ railroad crossings! right in the middle of the city.

many of them don't have the arms at all so you just have to be careful when you cross in case trains are coming!!

^ if you can read the sign, it says: "left turn lane" and it has a nice little arrow showing you where it is. maybe it's in case people don't know what left turn lanes are? there are a TON of these all over town.

^ also...instead of all numbers, some of the roads are letters.

^ here is my favorite part of downtown wausau.

the brick streets are so pretty and i love that there is a park right in the middle of the city!

^ plus, that's where i found the theatre!

and mom -- the blue man group is coming to town in january in case you want to come check it out ( :

^ this is the sign i've seen most frequently here in wausau.

^ not even kidding.

^ pretty much every road is 35 mph!

okay. now are you ready for the best part?

^ this is where i work!

pretty and purple and...

^ ...right across the street from a GIANT cemetery. literally.

anyways. that's wausau.

well...at least a little bit of it.

stay tuned to hear about where i'm staying (now), what my new apartment is going to be like (next week) and what it's like at WAOW.

my first day is TOMORROW!!

wish me luck ( :