A Very Merry Christmas

Family, friends, and food.  This Christmas has been amazing.  Spencer and I celebrated twice.  The weekend before the holiday at Allison and Walker's beautiful home in Champaign...and on Christmas Eve at his parents near Chicago.    I really had an amazing week and Spencer continues to say what a great holiday he had.  I, we are so lucky.

Christmas at the Forman's

And finally, a picture from our adventure Saturday.  We tried dropping our Christmas tree off at a tree recycling spot in one of Indy's public parks.  The park hadn't been plowed but we decided to risk it, drive over some old tracks and get to the appropriate parking lot to dump our tree.  Turns out those tracks weren't even on the road.  We ended up stuck in the middle of the park, on top of wood chips/grass, who know.  Spencer saved the day.

Getting Healthy

Kinda.  But look, we ran a 5k!   And this week marks Spencer's 6 month of not smoking.  Go him, go us.

Distracted

Excited for Christmas, to see my family, that my dad is traveling to see us, to give everyone their gifts, and to dress Zoe up daily in some ridiculous holiday get-up...but distracted.  It's hard to not get wrapped up in Friday's tragedy in Connecticut shooting.  Working in news makes it worse.  I nearly started crying this morning as I waited to go live on a completely different subject, because coverage of the funerals aired right beforehand.

I don't have much to say on what happened.  Not going to get into gun control, even the treatment of those with mental illness.  I'm just sad.  Feeling like most everything else is trivial right now.

Also really wishing this amazing show from the late 90s was real.  Yes, that a cat had delivered someone a newspaper with all the day's headlines, a day early...anything to prevent what happened.

The rest of my week, which I have off, will need to be filled with love and alcohol.

Lately

I've been self-conscious.  I'm back on TV and in the same television market as quite a few beautiful women.  Two weeks ago I met with a style consultant through work, which didn't help.  From my makeup to my hair and wardrobe, I was picked apart.  So self-conscious.  I'm not used to this.  It's this feeling that makes me wonder sometimes if TV is for me.

Reporting on a "jaw-dropping" fire.

If I wasn't a TV reporter, I truly feel I'd be fully comfortable with myself.  A lot of things would be different.  I'd experiment with my hair. Have a political opinion that I actually voiced.  I'd even likely get involved with some of the organizations I agree with, but can't publicly support in an effort to stay neutral.

Lately, I feel like being on TV, speaking to thousands of people daily, actually mutes me more than it does expand my voice.  Maybe that will change, I'll grow more comfortable and find my niche on screen.  I can hope, because aside from the whole 'being on air' thing, I really do enjoy being my job.  Which, I assure you, involves way more than just being on air.

Reporting from Indianapolis, Me.

Roomies

I have a job, I pay my bills, I take care of myself.  It's how it's been for years now.  In fact, I lived alone, with no roommate for nearly five years up until September when Spencer joined me in Indianapolis.

I've had to get used to some less-than-ideal things, at least I thought I had, but right now I can't come up with any.  Really.  Okay, maybe I'm a little annoyed by dirty clothes scattered here and there...and that when he throws plastic bags under the sink for re-use he ties them in a knot first.  But really, that's the most I've had to 'deal' with.

The truth, have a roommate and living with Spencer is amazing.  He makes me coffee as I get ready for work, if I'm sweating as I straighten my hair he doesn't even flinch at running upstairs to grab the fan.  He's taken on my pets as his own, feeds them and probably takes Zoe out more than I do.  And this morning, or last night, however you want to look at it, he continued his streak.  I woke up for work to find, on the kitchen table, all the grocery items I'd mentioned we needed just hours earlier along with some cash and a coupon for an oil change, which he insists I need to get immediately.  It was a tiny gesture in the overall scheme of everything he does for me, but it's a good example of why my life in Indianapolis is going so well.

I can take care of myself.  I always have.  But man, it's really nice having someone else look out for me too.

Crafts by the Christmas Tree

Proud to say, I have a real Christmas tree.  Spencer and I picked one up from a tree farm earlier this week.  We had this grand idea that we'd find the perfect tree that we'd then cut down ourselves.  Well, we cut down a tree.  But it was a weak looking one.  The best trees were already gone.  Shortly before leaving we found a pile of imported pre-cut trees at the farm and we did the unthinkable.  Took one of them instead, and placed the tree we'd just cut aside.  I know, awful, but we love our tree now.  No lights yet, that's tonight.  But here's a sneak peak.

 Last weekend was spent in the Chicago area, going to funerals.  Two women, mother to girls my age, passed.  It was tough.  Just a minute ago I was thinking about Frosty the Snowman...how he ran around the streets of town even though he knew his end was near because of that damn sun.  I guess those funerals, coupled with the holidays and loss of my mom have put me in an odd mood.

Work is going well.  Loving that they give me eight days off before the end of the year, even though I just started there in August.  I took three days off this past week.  Gave me the chance to go out in the evening like a normal person, not someone who works at 11:30 pm.  And to craft.  I finished this tree skirt...

I couldn't even tell you how I made it.  It involved a lot of random cutting.  And if you look closely, it's a mess.  My other big project, which is really just a test-run of a bigger version down the road.  Spray painting  a rug...

The rug, $1.50 from Walmart.  Some painters tape and standard spray paint, and voila!  I tried this same project last week with acrylic paint and a paintbrush.  It looked awful.  Next up, a bigger rug.

And finally, another craft project I finished about a month ago ago.  This...

I doesn't look like much, as I need to get a third mason jar...but it's a planter.  Planning to grow some herbs in the jars, which will be hung on the wall, out of the reach of the cats.

And so the weekend begins.  One with little plans, which means it should be amazing.  We're hoping to go see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra live on Sunday.  Looking into tickets in a bit.  We randomly were talking last night about how cool a live show of theirs must be, I looked into it and, of course, they're playing down the street Sunday.

Peace, love, and a five dollar growler fill (because it's Friday and that's what Friday means to me).