Merry Christmas everyone! 🙂
Oh, I am really getting into the holiday spirit! It’s a little different, because this is my first holiday season living on my own — and in another state, but I’m honestly really starting to get excited!
In fact, I just went out today to get some supplies! I bought myself a little 3-foot light-up tree and ornaments, some candy canes to hang on the branches, a stocking for myself and my Weekend Friend (who will be visiting next week), stocking stuffers (chocolate, a Kinder Egg, a light-up Christmas necklace and cast-iron-skillet-dip-mix-kits) and some Christmas cookie mix!
Now, I have made other cookies as well! I started with these Butter Shortbread cookies (which I tried to make red, but turned out pink) that taste really good! But, I love baking so I thought I’d make more! There’s also some thumbprint cookies I want to make when Weekend Friend gets here — I’ll also wait until he gets here to decorate my very own Christmas Tree! 🙂
Like I said, it’s a little bit different this year because I’m not making cookies with the family, I’m not binging Hallmark Movies, it’s not snowy and I don’t have a lot of decorations — but, I am listening to Christmas music on Spotify and I’m starting to watch some good ‘ole holiday specials (White Christmas, Bah-Humduck Looney Tunes Christmas, Muppet Christmas Carol).
It’s “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” after all, right? 🙂
So that’s basically the big story here. Weekend Friend is coming to visit next week and I got him the greatest presents — oh my god it makes me so excited! I genuinely really love giving people gifts for any occasion, so I’m just wrapping all his gifts (in white printer paper labeled with “Merry Christmas” in black sharpie, because I have no wrapping paper lol) and I’m so giddy, like, Oh yeah, I’m totally gonna win Christmas!
I tell you what, this guy isn’t gonna know what hit him! Most of this things have arrived, but there’s still two components that should arrive by Thursday of this week!
In fact, I’m taking a floating holiday off of work this coming weekend so I can go home for my family’s annual Christmas party, so that’ll be amazing! That’s one thing I really look forward to every year and I’m so happy I’ll be free for it this year.
Also, speaking of Weekend Friend, he gave me the cutest little necklace off of Amazon! I might have told you about it already — but when he cant to visit last time, he ordered it off of Amazon and had it delivered to my apartment and it came in this teeny box! For sake of privacy I don’t want to show it, but it’s super cute and I love it! 🙂
Now, the next biggest things are cooking. So I discovered the Tasty app and now there are a million and a half things I want to try to cook! And I have made some great new things (which will be pictured below) including:
– Baked Avocado with Honey Mustard Sauce
– Spicy Aioli (mayo, Siracha, paprika)
– Pretzel Bun Sandwich with the Spicy Aioli, Sundried Tomatoes, Basil and Pepperjack Cheese
– Baked Cucumber & Apple Chips
– Buiscuts
– Baked Tortilla Chips
– Spicy Shrimp & Noodles
I also bought things to make other dishes, either by myself or when I have company, including (but not limited to):
– Avocado Rice
– Hashbrowns or Potato Pancakes
– Chocolate Banana Bread
– Chocolate Cirssoants
– Cucumber Dill Tea Sandwhiches
– Mac & Cheese
– Kale Chips
– Tartine on Toasted Bread
– Pizza
Next? Well I anchored the Saturday 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. shows yesterday! Basically I covered for a coworker who took paid time off and my shift was from 2 p.m. to a little after 10:30 p.m.
Now, here’s the thing — I was honestly dreading this for the past, like, two weeks because I’ve never done it before and I honestly just didn’t want to mess it up. And while it was stressful (mainly because breaking news happened) I did discover some things that made it easier:
First, the show is shorter — thus it requires less news content. So instead of me having 60 minutes worth of content for the morning show, the 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. shows are only 30 minutes each. So that minus commercials adds up to not a lot of content.
Second, of that content at least half is sports (not including weather, though weather is obviously in all shows). Sports is taken care of by our sports anchors/reporters, so that’s basically another weight off my shoulders.
Third, the background behind the anchor is blue. It’s orange for the morning show. I like the orange better.
Fourth, because of the timing and length of shows, it really reinforces what little happens on the weekends and how important monitoring for breaking news is. Because for the morning show, it’s all about “what happened overnight, what’s on the docket for today, what do people need to know as they head out the door.” I think for these shows, it’s a lot more current and localized.
But, remember that breaking news I mentioned? Well, as fate would have it, it happened. I’ll try to condense this as best I can:
Original plan was (for the 6 p.m. show) to have a reporter to a live shot at the park’s veteran tree memorial dedication, right? Because yesterday was the anniversary of Pearl Harbor and all. Well, closer to 5:00-5:15 or so we get word that two high school students preforming One Act plays at the high school fell off the stage (one female, one male) and one was taken to the hospital.
Cue immediate change in plans.
We’ll all scrambling to get more information, my Slack is blowing up and getting a million messages, reporter goes to the school for the live shot to get some information, and my mind has so much to handle I swear it’s slowing down. But, the liveshot does happen and we get more information for the 10 p.m. show. Now because this is ongoing and a bit sensitive I wont give away too much — not to mention we’re still trying to get more information and follow-up — but here’s the gist:
One male and one female student fall off stage (9 feet and 5 feet respectively). Female is checked on scene and is fine. Male is taken to hospital and is stable but is being monitored. Anonymous student basically says high school didn’t take proper measures with stage glow-tape and that contributed to the fall. We should be getting more from parents, director, etc.
So…yeah, big deal. I was basically given the most opportune day to be the Weekend Anchor and ya know what? I dealt with it, I included what I needed, and I turned out okay! Whoo hoo!
Now, based on my experience I will say that I like the morning show better — I like the variance of stories (local, nation-wide), I like the rhythm (partly because I’m used to it), I like my meteorologist, I like the orange background and the overall feel of the show.
But basically that’s been my week so far 🙂 Lots of cooking, lots of worrying about being Weekend Anchor, and lots of getting into the holiday spirit!
But I’ll keep you updated on what happened next week (which may be late due to my friend’s visit).
See ya!