Andrew greeted me with this little number

He knows me too well.

So this might be silly but...

I'm pretty excited about my birthday this year. It's going to be awesome. Good friends, good food, my husband, General Conference, secret presents hiding in the back of the truck, fall weather, last year of school... and feeling calm about the future, for some strange reason.

Life is good.

Turley resignation

Hey, guess who's at the top of the newscast! Check out my story:

It's always fun to squeeze in next to KSL and KUTV for an interview. 

Real news

That's what I did for tomorrow. I was at the Provo City Council about "what to do with Steve Turley"--I'll give you a hint: he didn't show up. Trepidating stuff (no, really).

And I met a real classy lady this evening. Cristina Flores from KUTV. This was kind of a big deal apparently, so all the SLC stations were there. As soon as they adjourned the meeting everyone rushed out to interview several key people and one lady was completely surrounded. I tried to squeeze my way in to get a good shot of her face, but try as I could I wasn't getting my mic close enough. Cristina Flores was right next to her interviewing her and motioned to me to hand her my mic, and there I had it: great audio. I was really touched that she would go out of her way to lend me a hand (quite literally). Especially when you expect angry cut-throat people (and let me tell you, trying to squeeze my camera in there was pretty scary. You have to get aggressive...), it was nice to have a friendly face in the crowd. She certainly won my respect tonight.

Hey, don't forget to watch tomorrow at noon! :)

Uninsured in Utah

Hey, my story's up! Check it out here.

On an amusing note

Andrew apparently thinks that he can do better than our weatherman. It's on. I am most certainly going to stick him on set next time we have a chance and see if he swims or floats. Maybe it'll turn out like this:

LIVE from Provo

Hey, this is it! First live newscast. Definitely a few... brain melts (and prompter issues) but I think it went pretty smoothly. Don't mock our very awkward banter... we're working on it. Also, I smile like a ninny.

I'm just sitting in the newsroom right now finishing up my story for tomorrow, it should be good. Not the most exciting story ever, the video's kind of boring, but it's solid news at least. Tune in tomorrow to watch!

Uh oh

I'm working on an investigative report right now. Woohoo! We're talking bad guys ripping people off and it may end up involving a GRAMA request. Real stuff in the making. I have Jourdan to thank for the tip, by the way.

In the meantime though, since that's a little bit more involved than just an afternoon of interviews, I have another story for tomorrow that's shaping up quite nicely. And I'm finally anchoring live tomorrow! Tune in on KBYU (channel 11) at noon to see Jenné and I work our magic :)

More stream of consciousness

I know I've complained too much in the past months, but life is really good these days. Plans seem to be materializing, things seem clearer.

I love my classes--without exception, and it's crazy that it would take until my final semester at BYU. I love reporting, I love anchoring (we're finally going on air this week! Watch at noon on KBYU channel 11 or catch it later on the ElevenNEWS website) and I love my international media systems class and my world religions class (I highly recommend taking them concurrently by the way. Random how that worked out) and I even like my advanced writing class, which I was kind of dragging my feet about. Crazy! And somehow, even though I'm ridiculously busy, I don't feel overwhelmed. (Yet.)

Also, I went for a nice sunset drive tonight and picked flowers and did plenty of homework this weekend and... lots of good stuff.

Oh, and did I mention I found a navy blue blazer that looks great and cost only $21? Yup, you read right. For all of you fellow broadcasters, check out Forever21 for a crazy selection of blazers all the colors of the rainbow for under $30. It's broadcast heaven. And new mascara is nice too. Isn't it sad that you only get to appreciate a new mascara wand once though?

Ha ha

Seriously. Life is good. And since it's Sunday, here is my latest favorite thing from the Round Table. It's a great podcast in general, you should definitely check it out. And here's my new favorite mormon message--this guy is too sweet!

Wrap watch

I'm thinking it would be really easy to make your own version of this.

I have an old watch with a similar face that has a dead/broken strap, so all I'd need is to find some good leather and hardware and there you go: a new watch!

Also, as I dropped Andrew off at the airport for a 4-day trip and mentioned that I needed to get something out of the trunk of the truck (It has a separate lock and only one key, so I don't really go in there often), he was forced to tell me that my birthday present is hiding there... You have no idea how torturous that is.

Mom teaches son a lesson...

Nothing like good ol' fashioned public humiliation:


"Hi this is XXX's mom. I wanted to tell you he will not be on Facebook any longer due to the choices he made today. He posted some information about someone, that regardless if it was true or not, it was rude. Because he tried to make her made by spreading personal information, I thought he should know how it feels when the tables are turned. He wet the bed until he was 8."

From this month's Reader's Digest

French kids & film

Basically, this is how I'm hoping my little boys will turn out if I only speak French at home.

Well, minus the swearing perhaps. Also, I want to see Monsieur Papa and Le cochon de Gaza.

Yay, an interview

It's up: my first interview for the Mormon Women Project.

Featuring my own aunts of course, where else to start? :) I really like how it turned out, and you can read the original version in French too. I have several more interviews in the works and I'm so glad to be participating. I love the website and you will too, I'm sure of it. It's so inspiring to read about the lives of such incredible women of the Church. I was listening to a podcast that included the founder, Neylan McBaine, and they pointed out that the MWP doesn't "prescribe" Mormon women, it "describes" them--rather than talking about the ideal woman or what a Mormon woman should be, it simply presents a multitude of examples and says: "this is what Mormon women are. Here is how we have lived our faith." I love that. (That's also what I love about the new "I'm a Mormon" media campaign.)

Hey, you can participate too! You can donate, grab a badge for your blog or become a fan on Facebook. You can also nominate someone or just contact me if you know someone who should be featured. The possibilities are endless :)

Because I am, after all, a cougar (in the non-creepy, BYU sense)

And this is pretty cute.

Ha, he got jimmered.

Newsfeed

Why hello there.

So I've been thinking about doing some sort of daily "news selection" posts or at least recommending articles somehow, but I didn't want to overload the blog with news everyday either. I think I've found the way to do it.

I just added a "Newsfeed" widget over to the left here that shows articles I've shared in Google reader. You can click directly on the last few links or go follow my shared items in Google reader. I seriously recommend Google Reader to begin with because it's such a simplified way to get all your news--although it's kind of hard to wade through the information overload. I'm still trying to find a way to narrow down the articles I get. For example, the Deseret News only has one RSS feed for the entire site so I get EVERYTHING they ever post... kind of obnoxious. But we'll get there.

Anyway, if you want more news but don't know where to start I've begun sharing stories I find interesting/relevant/important. It's kind of an exercise for myself, really, so that I'll get better at sifting our what is newsworthy and what's not. But if you want a daily dose of local, national and international news with a little bit of culture, religion and fashion thrown in... go on over and follow my newsfeed if you dare :)

And if you're interested in creating the widget for yourself, go here.

And it's definitely past my bedtime now. Good night.

St Ouen ward in Paris

Wow, I just took these pictures off my camera--completely forgot to download them.

Look, it's my relief society in Paris!

Last day at our ward:

This one time, we decided to go to the fun fair at the Tuileries... but it was pouring rain. We did it anyway.

I'm not joking when I say POURING rain

And the MPA demanded proof, so here it is:

Andrew was here!

The Two Trees

I highly, highly recommend this presentation given by one of my all-time favorite professors to any of you budding (or confirmed) feminists. I recommend it to any woman, really. It's incredibly inspired and I'm amazed at her insights into the story of the Fall.

I absolutely love that she equates pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding with ordinances, and her understanding of priesthood versus motherhood.

Some quotes:

"the situation of women is a barometer of how near death a civilization is"

"Gender equality is not some 'politically correct' ideal to the Latter-day Saints; it is not some maraschino cherry placed last atop a Zion sundae. No, relationships of gender equality are the bricks of Zion, without which you cannot build Zion, because gender equality is how Heavenly Mother and Heavenly Father live."

This is especially excellent reading in the context of the Celebrate Family event: I think I've found my topic.

Hit the ground running

There you have it. My first news story of the semester. I was pretty dang proud of my camera work, and while there are a few things I'd like to tweak I'm quite happy with this. This is what we call a "feature" story, which means it's not necessarily the most newsworthy thing out there but more of a community snapshot/funny story/entertaining story. But it was great to get back into the swing of things, and to practice technical aspects.



I have so many awesome projects in the works for this semester. I am SO happy to be back in the newsroom, and anchoring (which is so much fun. I feel like things are going really well). We won't be on air for another week so I really have a lot of time to get comfortable too, although it's feeling pretty good so far. My coanchor is another girl, Jenné, which is actually awesome. I think our whole team works real nicely together already. I really appreciate that our directors decided to go on a merit base rather than strictly adhering to the boy/girl ratio and the... well, gender discrimination that implies. Maybe I'm over-thinking it, but I'm grateful for the opportunities they're giving us.

I'm just thrilled for all the opportunities to grow this semester. Great stuff. And what an awesome semester to end on! PS: Look out for my first interview for the Mormon Women Project next week!

Ya know...

in the end, faith is just faith. This is awesome.



I hope someday Andrew gives a prayer and thanks the Lord for his "smokin' hot wife".

Have I mentioned how much I love my major?

'cause I do. I love it a lot. Tonight I had so much fun getting awesome shots of chickens and pigs and all sorts of other farm life. No really, wait until you see it. You'll just have to wait until tomorrow though :)

Also, following the mayor's blog pays off.

Family - a proclamation

So there's this blogger I follow, her name is Jocelyn and she is one of the most inspiring people I know. She used to be in broadcasting (do you see why I like her? :) and is now a stay-at-home mom. She blogs about their family life but most of all about her attempts to teach her children righteous principles. She writes beautifully and I love to hear the small and simple ways she testifies of Christ to her family. I hope I'll be as awesome a mom as she is.

Anyway, all that to say that in September she hosts an event on The Family: a Proclamation to the World





in collaboration with some other bloggers. It's always an inspiring read, and I love hearing so many women's perspectives on the proclamation and its role in their lives. You should come join the party!

Just out of curiosity...

"The nine-woman, three-man jury panel said its last vote resulted in seven in favor of finding the defendant guilty of voluntary manslaughter, CNN affiliates reported."


Why does it matter what the man/woman ratio was?

On the importance of keeping up on the news

I got burned by a current events pop quiz today... Never again.

So I've finally seriously committed to Google reader and added a few RSS feeds. I might have to move it around in the next few days, but this should do the trick... I hope. I am very grateful for modern technology: RSS feeds are a fantastic way to keep up with what's going on.

And I've mentioned this before, but World Crunch is a seriously awesome website. They are dedicated to translating a selection of news stories from around the world into English. Also, I kind of want to work for them.

Stroke of inspiration: that is a job a stay-at-home mom can do "fingers in ze nose" as my english teacher in France used to say. Ha ha. She had difficulty grasping the concept of transliteration versus translation... it's a french expression akin to "piece of cake."

Anyway. This article is interesting, from Le Monde -- a portrait of a Libyan rebel leader. And perhaps a  glimpse of what the future may hold.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the audition went.... ok. I left at a perfectly reasonable hour, but the bus decided to not show up for another solid fifteen minutes so I ended up sprinting across campus and arriving late, red, frazzled and with my hair in a mess. Did I mention frazzled? I did fine, apart from my hair falling into my eyes every three seconds... Oh, and aforementioned pop quiz was part of the auditioning process... Yeah, should have expected that one. I'll have results before Monday HOLY CRAP I JUST CHECKED MY EMAIL.

I got it!!! 

(I think I can allow myself a few extra exclamation points right now.)

I got it!!

I got it!!!!

This is one of those days where this blog is rather appropriately named. My last semester of school is going to rock.