hot and spicy cheese bread.

i went to madison a few weeks ago and had some of 

the most delicious bread i've ever tasted. 

(it's called stella's, in case you are ever in the neighborhood) 

my friend requested that i come up with my own version.

so here goes nothing.

some yeast, sugar and water.

flour, milk and (two kinds of) cheese.

-- colby jack and medium cheddar --

salt, garlic and red pepper.

after the dough had risen for the first time, i put 

(what i thought was) a lot of cheese inside.

-- monterrey jack and provolone --

after i stuffed them, i let them rise again.

 

then i popped them in the oven and
out came this delicious spicy cheesy bread. 

not nearly as much cheese as i expected when i opened it up,
but i guess i'll know better for next time.
(they must seriously put an entire brick of cheese inside)

crispy outside and soft inside. yummy and spicy. 
not bad for my first try.

three little (news) victories.

a while back, i went to this very fancy dinner in madison for 

the wisconsin broadcaster's association awards banquet.

you can tell how fancy it was by looking at the napkins in the cups. 

also by the fact that dessert was on our table when we got there.

(so tempting to not eat first)

i walked into that hotel as just another reporter...

and walked out as an award-winning journalist. 

feature news had the most applicants across the state (by far) 

so that was huge for me. 

plus i like to think of myself as a storyteller reporter 

and that's what feature reporting basically means.

spot news is just fun because 

you have to hustle and make stuff to put on TV super-fast.

on a completely unrelated note, we have our top five stories and videos posted to our website and at one point, four of the five stories were mine (all but the forecast). there are so many people who post stories at our station so this is kind of a rarity.

and lastly i posted my "bear burglar" story on a facebook group called "storytellers" to look for critiques and one of the most awesome, famous reporters left THREE lengthy comments on it. i completely geeked out. if you've never watched one of boyd huppet's stories, you should. click here for a link to his series of stories. he is my hero.

emceeing, spying on high school kids and eating candy.

one of the awesome things about my job is 

meeting people who inspire me.

take paige for example.

i met her at an event i emceed -- wishstock 2012.

it was a benefit for the make a wish foundation.

despite all she's been through, she has such a positive outlook on life.

i stole these pictures from her fb ( :

she also has a pretty cool blog. click here for more. 

i also get to drive cars with barely any miles on them.

or at least one...

i get to do live shots and watch high school kids pretend they're me.

and i get to eat gummi octopus candies. YUM.