My Office

Ninety percent of the time, this is where I am in the morning.  Reporting from Indianapolis's Monument Circle.  We have a studio down there, a plug-in point from outside, and as a result, this is my second home.

Getting Healthy

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

Catching Up

Posting this as I sit in a station car, waiting to go live to show off how windy it is. Yes, slow news day.

I keep regretting not blogging. Not taking a moment to pause and grasp everything in words. I'm really happy right now. I have Spencer, who is beyond amazing, my new job, and Indianapolis. It's working out.


Spencer's Halloween Costume, Indiana Governor Candidate John Gregg

Spencer has a job now, although likely temporary. He's doing contract IT work with Eli Lilly.  Working a normal schedule of 8 to 5.  Indianapolis has grown on him too.



Spencer first time camping!





Zoe's first time camping too.  She wasn't a huge fan.

The homemade carrot cake I made for Spencer's 29th.

We've tried to make the most of being here.  Last week it was a Colts game, before that we went camping with Walker and Allison nearby, and every Friday evening we get our growler filled for five bucks at Sun King Brewery, just a couple miles from our home.

Mason Jennings!

This past weekend, another one in which Spencer and I took to the town like tourists. We ran into Mason Jennings (a singer-songwriter I once had a poster of on my dorm room wall) while getting Thai. I swooned, chatted his ear off, and then, after being put us 'the list', we went to his show.
Saturday it was a dog costume contest in Broadripple.  Spencer and I threw together an Ewok costume for Zoe, who didn't end up placing.  *sigh*
We took advantage of some free Heartland Film Festival passes I acquired and saw a documentary in theaters on dyslexia. Then later Saturday night joined our neighbors for our first burlesque show, where, by the way, my transvestite cowgirl costume took 'best costume' making up for our earlier injustice.
Sunday was pumpkin carving and Ghostbusters II. And we finally put the scarecrows out that Spencer's mom gave us when the family visited us last week.

Ashley (Spencer's Sister), Spencer, and I at our first Colts game.

After every weekend, as Spencer and I settle back into our opposite schedules, he tells me 'I had such a great weekend.' And I feel the same. We're a new couple in a new city. It's pretty awesome.

Don't get me wrong, I have my days: I came home from work crying yesterday and seeing a woman at the film fest who looked like my mom from behind threw me in a depressed spiral for hours.  But still, I'm happy.



A gift from Spencer's parents.

Bingo Bango Bongo

As Spencer and I drove to 'Hanna's Haunted Acres' last night he was full of song (as usual).  The song he chose this time though, oddly familiar.  "Bingo Bango Bongo, I don't want to leave the jungle.  I refuse to go," he sang.  Bingo Bango Bongo.  My mom used to say that all the time.  She'd clap her hands together and say loudly, in a silly way, "Bingo Bango Bongo, would you like to go to the Congo?"  I always thought it was a phrase she made up, purely out of rhyming.  Thanks to Spencer, and a video game that it turns out drilled the song into his head, I now know my mom was projecting altered lyrics of an Andrews Sisters song.  A piece of my mom, and my childhood, I never fully got, being explained.
'Civilization' by the Andrews Sisters has since become our song for the last 12 hours.  Spencer hooked up with his computer speakers, and as I sat downstairs reading this morning, I heard him blasting it upstairs in our office.

Now some randomness.  First, let me brag about how amazing Indianapolis's downtown library is.  Six floors of anything, and everything you can imagine, about a mile from our home.  Glad I didn't wait to check it out.

 

And some cute pet photos.  Zoe in wrap-around shades Spencer found among his belongings.  Livey, thinking she's hiding as usual, as she sits in a small open box in the middle of the living room.  And a photo of the cats in the kitchen, gathered around me shortly after I got home from work the other morning.

Indy

Living in Indianapolis about a month and a half now.  My weekdays consist of my working overnights, coming home, running errands, working out, and going to sleep by 1:00 pm.  At work I cover breaking news: fires, police chases, overturned semis, and again, fires.  Lots of fires.

I'm healthy, happy, and getting the hang of this.

And using Twitter a lot.  For a look at what I'm doing day by day...check out by feed in the right column.

New Roomie

The boyfriend moved in this weekend.  Party time.
He says we're going to take over Indianapolis.

We spent the weekend unpacking.  Made it to Fort Harrison State Park to try out kayaking during the Hoosier Outdoor Experience event.  This 'morning' as I headed to work, he made me coffee, sat with me as I ate my breakfast, and stood outside in the dark as I left for work, holding Zoe and waving her paw at me.

 I feel like we're playing house.  But I like it.

Also, Zoe is better.  After getting sick again thanks to a swollen paw, she was given another rounds of meds...and as of today, is back up and running.

Not in my job description...

...But a very welcome addition.  Rode in the station's chopper three times last week.  Am being trained on how to operate the camera.  Not sure how often I'll actually be riding.  But thrilled I've already had so many opportunities.  Indianapolis is beautiful from above!

  Right, Kurt?

Kurt Vonnegut mural in downtown Indy.

Back to Work

I didn't get another animal.  This is Scraps: A dog up for adoption at the Indy Humane Society, and the station's Pet of the Day.

Well, I'm back to wearing makeup and doing my hair.  Two days into my new job reporting in Indianapolis and I couldn't be happier.  Everyone is welcoming, the station is giving me a full week of training to acclimate me into my position (on air next Monday!), and I have lots of fun new gadgets.  I've been given a Galaxy 3 phone, a brand new Mac Book Pro, and HR gave me a Fitbit today, which is basically a high tech pedometer. 

Fancy new computer!

There is a downside, although as an optimist, I now see it as a positive: My shift.  I'll still be doing the morning show as planned, but with in a half hour of my first day was told I'll be starting my day at 11pm, rather than 3 or 4 am as proposed.  Soooo yeah.  11pm-8am.  Gather new content (primarily crimes happening overnight), get it ready for the show, go live, and go home.  It made me sick to my stomach at first, working overnight hours.  But upon reflection I've realized it simply means I sleep during the day, wake up as Spencer presumably will be getting home from work, spend the evening with him, and then head to the station.  "We'll make it work," Spencer said.

Speaking of Spencer, our six month is today.  He's back in Chicago, working for another month as he tries to find a job here.  But flowers greeted me when I got back to our apartment.  My first bouquet from him.  Flowers, mind you, that I may have implied a couple weeks ago I wouldn't mind receiving.  He did well though, and within two seconds of placing them on the mantle Emma showed her appreciation for them.  I've since strategically put them somewhere the cats can't ruin them.

This post has an air of gloating, but in the last few weeks everything has worked out really well for me.  I got the job I wanted, have a boy I love relocating for me, now live two short hours from Allison (who already visited me for a spontaneous weekeday dinner) and well, the third item I want to mention: I love our apartment.  I apologize for my recent good fortune.

 

Our two-story duplex.  Still unpacking and yet to be decorated. 

Finally...pictures of the actual move.  It happened so fast.  More luck: the movers I hired on both ends were amazing.  I'll miss Chicago, but am feeling pretty good so far about Indianapolis.