Day 59

Blurb: I should seriously own stock in this place.

Backstory: My family has a serious Tres Potrillos problem. When you look at my blog it's easy to see that this is the place I go most frequently, and I can admit it was the place I missed most while living in DC. The food is just so cheesy and fried and the margaritas wet your whistle in just the right way.
Of course tonight was discount Cadillac night so we were obligated to go. It would be a crime against America if I didn't, seriously. A jumbo drink normally cost about $9 but on Monday nights they only cost $4.99. That's a huge savings, and I'm a woman who knows how to appreciate a good value.
Now I'm ready to nod off to a happy drink induced sleep. Thank goodness I saved the majority of my dieting calories for dinner. It's the meal that always gets me because measuring the calories is so difficult. I would seriously weigh over 300 pounds if I lived any closer to Tres.

Day 58

Blurb: This is an awful picture but the visit to Tasi was delightful.

Backstory: It's been almost two months since my last visit to Tasi because I've been trying to save money and diet. The only bad thing about today's visit was the CRAZY line. Who knows how long we waited but it was longer than any previous trip. Tasi doesn't make people get up when they're finished with their food, they just let them sit there and keep talking. They regulate the flow of traffic by making people wait at the counter until people get up. It's very inconvenient but their bacon and pancakes are delicious.

Day 57

Somedays you get a little crazy with the camera. This is Emily and we wished her well this weekend. She has moved on from channel six and is getting ready to get married. She's a great reporter and we all had a great time at her goodbye.

Day 56

Blurb: It's one of the least glamorous places in the world, but it's definitely my favorite.

Backstory: The best thing about Friday nights is that I know I'm going to sleep about ten hours in total darkness. This is really the only cure for the kind of exhaustion you get working from midnight to 9 am, especially when you have a rough week. Today weather and macaroni and cheese descended on my life in a mass ball of chaos. If it had been one or the other I would have been able to handle it but together it makes for a day when you just want to say fuck it and head to bed.
Today the chef judge for the mac and cheese cook off told me my dish tasted like prison food. He is clearly full of shit. We did a blind taste test in the newsroom and the consensus was "it's not prison food." Granted, it probably helped that I was standing over them like a warden with my ladle.
Now it's all over and I am moving on to a happy weekend. This is one of those days where there's nothing to say. It was a long day filled with news jargon and I'm moving on. Here's to a good night's sleep and tomorrow morning.

Day 55

Blurb: These are thing ingredients it takes to win. And if there not then I'm in trouble.

Backstory: It takes a lot of people to get a tv show on the air, especially when there's food involved. There are people that actually "style" food for a living. They use crazy tricks like maple syrup to make things shine and painting color onto food. So every time you see Sandra Lee or Rachel Ray on air just know they had at least two people prepping ingredients and putting everything in order.
I'm trying my had at food styling for work in our mac and cheese cook off. The only problem is my food actually has to be edible or else I would have totally used some of these tricks. Specifically a torch to make it the cheese on top look browned and orange paint to make the cheddar look cheesier. Instead I'm just resting on my cooking laurels which are actually up to par with other people my age. It also helped that I picked the easier recipe we had. The moral of the story: I'm resting all my hopes and aspirations of winning with Boomer's Taco-Mac.

Day 54

Blurb: We've now started "Luchador Lunes" at ABC 6/Fox 28. Don't mess with us.

Backstory: Who knew bringing a Mexican wrestling mask could bring so much joy to a work environment. A few of us are going to WWE in about a month and I wanted to get in the spirit by wearing my favorite mask and buying wrestling silly bands. Needless to say this was a hit and many people took turns wearing it.
This is something I actually already had lying around the house. I bought the mask about two years ago in Cozumel because it's shinny, ridiculous and it kind of looks like a Captain American mask. For some reason the visuals of Mexican wrestling are very appealing to me. So get ready because I'm going to wear this a few more times this year.

Day 53

Blurb: We are ladies who lunch.

Backstory: I don't know if I'll ever be a lady who lunches. My friend Kristen is well on her way to being one who does yet still works. I'm actually a lady who stays up past her bedtime to "eat" salad and drink beer. Eat is in quotations because I haven't totally convinced myself I like lettuce yet but I'm working on it.
Today Kristen and I had a delightful lunch in the Arena District. We haven't seen in each other in a while which is surprising because for a good year I spent more time with her than I did with my family. That's they joy of producing the 5 and 6 together. It's like being in the foxholes of war. You never know when you're going to have a great day and take over one of the Kaiser's trenches or when you're going to have a bad day and get hit with a can of mustard gas. Plus, there are certain things only other producers understand. So today I raise my glass to you producers of America. Have lunch beer and take a nap.

Day 52

Blurb: Je suis la jeune fille.

Backstory: Right now I'm a pack of cigarettes and a beret away from meeting my lover in the 18th arrondissement for drinks at a wine bar. At least that's what I'd like to thing. What you see here are somethings I've either found around the house, purchased or received for Christmas that relate to getting me to Paris. Right now the plan is to go sometime in September or October. I don't know who I'm going with or if I'm going with anyone but when the time comes I'll be ready.
For Christmas this year my big gift was level one French on Rosetta Stone. I took French for three years in high school and a year for college, but that whole time period was the equivalent of my Jackson Pollack period of learning. I just kind of threw knowledge at my brain and some of it stuck. Luckily I've remembered basic construction and some of the more important phrases and words but nothing enough to converse in the language. I can the big things: directions, food and money. Outside of that I'm in the woods.
I installed Rosetta Stone tonight almost two months after Christmas, I have no clue why it took me so long to do this and I'm a little embarrassed it did. I didn't do a lesson tonight, that comes tomorrow. Also in the picture, a map of Paris I bought with Christmas money, a copy of Amelie (a lot of people learn English from Police Academy movies), a book about dirty French that was my sister's, a copy of National Geographic about the world under Paris and finally an international best seller by two French philosophers. Once I ingest all this I'll be ready to go! Vive la Paris!

Day 51

Blurb: This is the most frustrating thing in the ENTIRE world.

Backstory: The saga of fixing my iTunes continues. My sister spent the entire day ripping songs from my iPod and getting them onto my computer with as little pain as possible. So, we managed to get all my songs off the iPod but in the process it deleted a bunch of CDs I had burned onto my computer from the library (yes I'm white trash and steal music from the library).
Thank goodness for my little sister and her patience, because I would have torn this computer apart. The process took between three and four hours and I don't think it's over. All I really want to do is get on the internet and get more apps and more music, yet I can't do that. If there's anything that's a little comforting it's that my music I've already bought is safe. Next time this happens I'm buying a fucking Mac and paying someone to handle this because I can't yell at Jenny because the process takes long but I can totally yell at the guy at the genius bar.

Day 50

Blurb: Nothing like white trash Barbie to welcome in the Firery Food festival.

Backstory: The North Market is a great treasure in Columbus. Not only do they support local merchants and farmers they have great programming through out the year. Just as the sun poked out and the snow melted away the Firery Foods festival came around this weekend. It's not a big event but it's just big enough to bring a little spice.
I found white trash Barbie at one of the vendor's booths. The woman didn't make her that way she actually purchased her that way, which is really pretty funny. She looks like Ellie-Mae Clampet with bad teeth. The people who ran this stand actually gave us beer, which was a great thing because we didn't know the rules on drinking beer in the North Market. It was kind of a fair trade, they gave us beer and we bought a hot sauce.

Day 49

Blurb: Yes, that is snow-less ground and yes, that is the sun.

Backstory: We've had at least three days this week where we had sun all day and the temperature was above 40. This is a borderline miracle for the month of February in Ohio. Many years we've seen severe storms that have left us covered in feet of snow or sent our temperatures below zero.
Needless to say I'm very happy to be using the "s" word in February. I'm keeping my hopes up that we're out of the wood when it come to cold and snow but you do have to keep a little bit of realism tucked away. So right now I'm just enjoying the sun and taking Sadie for long walks.

Day 48

Blurb: It's a sad day in the Cultice house, Ginger got a hair cut.

Backstory: Ginger is one of the cutest dogs in the world. She looks like a little puff ball that runs around and hits you with her paws when she wants something. But today she had to lose her magnificent fur coat and go down to her little down coat.
For me, this is one of the saddest things ever. I love to pick at her fur and watch her roll around like a rollie pollie. When she's in full bloom Ginger looks exactly like stuffed animal. Next time her hair gets long I'm going to surround her with stuffed animals and you can try and pick her out.
She gets her hair cut every couple months and her look totally changes. If the groomer doesn't do it right she looks an alien. Luckily things pretty consistent so she's still cute but when she gets a haircut it still makes me a little sad inside.

Day 47

Blurb: Hi baby penguins. If you whistle at them like a dog they do this.

Backstory: This is not a story about penguins, it's a story about cheetahs. Those damn wild cats that run fast; in fact they're running so fast they're avoiding me. The baby cheetahs have been promised to my show four times. Once we cancelled and three times they made a change.
One time we cancelled for weather there was no substitute, the other times I've met a kangaroo, cold weather penguin and now two warm weather penguins. It's kind of sad because if I didn't know cheetahs were coming I would have really loved these animals. Refer to Day 5 where you can see me snuggling up to sweet little Charlotte the Kangaroo.
What I'm trying to say is that cheetahs, I'm done with you. You are not going to hurt me again. You four little fluffy babies can go live your happy lives at The Wilds and traveling around the country with Jungle Jack Hanna. It's a hard life but some cute little face has to do it.

Day 46

This is a hotdog covered in baked beans and cheese, and yes it's delicious. It's been almost 40 days since my last visit to Dirty Frank's. Tonight's dinner was a great way to celebrate the fact that it was sunny and over 40 today.

Day 45

Blurb: I'm declaring a vendetta on iTunes.

Backstory: One of the worst things in world is transferring your iTunes from one computer to the other. So far I've found no way that makes it easy unless you buy a Mac and have them do it. Yesterday I used an external hard drive to transfer of five thousand songs from my old desktop to my laptop. After following my tech savvy sister's directions I've hit a major road block. The computer won't let me open the files even though they're showing up in iTunes.
Sometimes I want to smash technology even though I love portable music and apps. I guess this is what you might call a double edged sword. Adding to my frustration is the fact that I have over a hundred dollars of music I bought on my iPod that I haven't backed up. Thank goodness my sister is coming over tomorrow so I won't have to cry in a corner over my music and lack of WiFi connection on my iPod.

Day 44

Blurb: No concussion, check. No broken tailbone, check. All in all it was a good day on the slopes.

Backstory: Today was my second attempt at the slopes. Learning from my mistakes last time I tried skiing, and it's true it's much easier. Even though my shins and and calves are screaming I don't have the overall body pain that plagued me last time.
This picture was taken on the ski lift (yes, I made it onto a lift)for the beginner's hill. I felt a huge sense of accomplishment getting on the ski lift and making it down the hill without seriously hurting myself. Don't get me wrong, I had a few falls but nothing serious. It should be noted that the first time I went up the lift I almost had a panic attack because it reminds me of an old school Ferris wheel; something I'm very afraid of because I believe they can easily cause death by fall to the ground from crazy heights. Luckily this fear subsided and I was able to go up about five times without crying or screaming.

Day 43

This is my friend Brian, say hi Brian. We celebrated his birthday yesterday by enjoying some dinner at Smokey Bones. It might surprise you to know that not only is he not a fatty fat, he's actually an employed, successful and engaged "adult." So today I salute you BSmith. Happy Birthday.

Day 42

Blurb: "I'm into making bong art now. You see this bone necklace I'm wearing? It's actually a bong."

Backstory: Some days are more interesting than other, it's the story no mater where you work. Today was one of those days. The comedy duo of Cheech and Chong stopped in around 7:30, which might be a little too early by FCC regulations for them to be on TV.
Surprisingly, they are extremely nice and decently well behaved. When they were just walking around the station they were pretty quiet and didn't run a muck. This is always considered a bonus no matter who your guest is. As for on air, it could have been a lot worse. I didn't have to push my special beep button which I was really worried I might be forced to do.
Of course there was copious amounts of talk about marijuana, SURPRISE! I don't even remember how it started but it did. The quote in the blurb is something Chong actually said on air. In addition to telling America's kids to do drugs, calling Andy a lier when he said he didn't do drugs, doing squats on the set and asking Andy to jump on his back. When you're sitting behind the scenes there's nothing you can do to help your anchor, you just have to hope you they don't jump on the comedian's back.
The funniest moment of their whole visit was not what they did on air but when they came into the booth. My director is a huge fan of Cheech and Chong. In fact he's probably the only person who got their picture taken today that is actually a legitimate fan. He never gets to meet anyone but we really wanted to make this happen. So our segment producer brought them in after the interview and I got my picture taken with them, but Jason was punching the show so he couldn't get up. One of the other producers got them to cuddle around Jason while he was directing. So Jason's picture is of him directing a show with Cheech and Chong on each side.
I also must say I almost had an epic fail during this event. My camera died during my first attempt with Cheech and Chong. Thanks to the help of my friendly producer Stu I was actually able to get my picture with them. So hat tip to Stu for my picture.

Day 41

Blurb: This is a construction project the city of Columbus could barely handle.

Backstory: It was flash back to 1991 at the Cultice house tonight. Dad was forced to relive the joy of putting things together that have lots of small pieces. Meet the tabletop foosball table I bought with my Christmas money. This thing was only $10 and it probably caused dad about $30 worth of annoyance.
He spent an hour tonight putting this thing together. There were sides that didn't match, screws that broke and many other things besides the generial tiny nature of the tools he was working with. But like a true professional he never gives up until the job is done. Me on the other hand, I probably asked five or six times if we could just super glue the whole thing together and call it a day.
At the end of it all we played a hard fought match of mini-foosball to close the night with dad bringing home the W 10-9. This post is going to be the first part of my ongoing series "Using my Christmas gifts." Luckily for dad none of my other gifts require assembly.

Day 40

Blurb: Why, hello there. I'm Bailey and if I wasn't wearing a sweatshirt I'd be ready to do your taxes.

Backstory: Today was a big day for me. I've ended my decade long relationship with L'Oreal Preference Creme Box 6RB. This has been my trademark color since I was about fifteen. After over two hours at the salon that has been wiped off my hair along with four inches.
Long, red hair has always been my thing. For some weird reason I've always been drawn to it. The obsession started with my aunt Shirley's long, red hair she sported in the 80s and kept showing up in my favorite actresses and singers, i.e. Reba McEntire and Better Midler. These three ladies all had what I wanted, the vibrant curly hair that just stood out from the crowd. It's something I've worked on perfecting for a long time but today I'm moving on from that obsession for some reason.
On Friday something it me. I normally don't get my hair cut unless there's some extreme reason or urge. After a few too many bad cuts I try to avoid the salon chair as much as possible. But I got the strong urge on Friday to part with my trademark color and a few inches. Something just said it was time to move on. I'm interested to see if this will be a trend in the year to come, parting ways with things from the past. Hopefully I'll be able to part with the 40 unwanted pounds I'm carrying around.
Right now the color is a little dark, the stylist said it would start to fade in about two to four weeks. So we'll have to see how I feel about it then. Either way I'll be interested to see if this can help me get back to my original color. Maybe there's something said to having virgin hair. Kind of like the old saying make new friends but keep the old, one is silver but the other's gold.

Day 39

Blurb: Either of the following will work as captions: "Suck it Trebek" or "That's not what your mother said last night."

Backstory: Let's just say the last 10 minutes have been very surprising, eye opening and a bit humbling. For past few years I've been thinking about auditioning for Jeopardy. My entire life I've been a know-it-all with a smart mouth and it seems like the best place to actually test my skills.
Tonight I may have just been schooled. The official contestant test was held at 8pm sharp and was 50 questions of facts I only half knew. I really thought I had a serious shot at doing decent on the test but this may not be true. Chances are I only got about 30% of the questions right. There were definitely more wrong answers than right.
On the test there are 50 questions and you get 15 seconds to answer each one. You can choose to submit your answer before the time is up or let the computer take it for you. The questions were all over the map ranging from Swedish Oscar winners to Mongol emperors. Taking this small test has given me a knew found respect for Ken Jennings, and a much greater look at what I actually know.

Day 38

Blurb: This is the best "People of Walmart" person I could find during my evening trip to the mega mart.

Backstory: Apparently, I go to the classiest Walmart in the world. I only found two people worthy of the title "walcreature." I should have taken a picture of the first woman I saw but I was too scared. Instead I waited and found this sub par guy. The only reason this man qualifies as something interesting is because of the weather. He's wearing a cut off shirt with a barbed wire tattoo and it's snowing outside.
During my quest to find a suitable Internet submission I realized how hard it is to actually get one of these pictures. Besides for the lack of suitable candidates I became really self conscious of what I was doing. During my question I became really embarrassed that I was even looking for people to take pictures of. These are hardworking people just looking for a deal and here I am making fun of them. On the other hand I look like a walcreature myself. With pants a size too big, dirty Ugg boots and my homeless hat, I'd be a suitable submission. Maybe one day I'll take a picture of myself and submit it.

Day 37

Blurb: These ladies keep me young.

Backstory: There's nothing better than getting together with old/young friends. Meet Katie and Chris, two of my sorority sisters. Chris is my grand little, plus we lived together in Washington, DC. As for Katie, I was willed to her by Chris when she graduated. We got together for drinks and delicious food on Sunday at my favorite restaurant Tres Potrillos. I should really get some sort of endorsement deal from that place.

Day 36

Blurb: This is what I've been working against all day.

Backstory: It's been a couple weeks since I've addressed my mess. Obviously, this has been a laborious process that's consumed my day. I've never pretended to be an extremely organized person, in fact I'm pretty messy.

Day 35

Blurb: Some moments are too cute to pass up.

Backstory: While cleaning my room this evening I turned around and saw this little butt. Sometimes Sadie is too funny. I know there's nothing really special about this picture but it's a reminder of how quirky animals can be. Who knows what she was doing but it was enough for me to giggle.

Day 34

Blurb: Getting a little taste of summer as the temperatures drop into the teens.

Backstory: I love margaritas. Tonight we had a family outing to Tres Potrillos which was great. The last couple days have been draining with long weather days and sub-par sleep. Margaritas and cheese dip always remind me of summer for some reason, which is a good thing in weather this crappy. We're covered in ice and snow and I'm drowning my sorrows in Tres. I even fell today on the ice.

Day 33

Very few things are better than waking up to find an unexpected surprise. I slept pretty much all day after doing extended weather coverage. Nothing in television is more exhausting than weather coverage. So needless to say I didn't do anything today except work and sleep. But, when I woke up I found a package from Amazon sitting on the table. It's taken almost two weeks for the package to get here and I've very excited to open it, which I will do when I get home from work. Might as well extend the enjoyment.

Day 32

Blurb: Time to start using the good camera.

Backstory: Central Ohio is in the grips of a major winter storm. What makes this one different from every other winter storm is ice. That's right I said the "I" word. I'm numb from snow, kind of like when kids play violent video games so much they don't care about real violence(I know this is a theory). But ice will make me stand up like a prairie dog and take notice.
Over night about a quarter of an inch of ice fell on Columbus and turned everything into ice cubes. As a Midwestern my windshield was covered in towels preventing the ice from sticking. We got so much ice it formed the towels to my windshield and made it so I could pull them off in one piece, kind of like a mold of my car.
When I got home from work I decided to venture outside with Sadie and take a look at the back yard. Luckily I fared better than she did because she does not handle well on ice. This is an old tea pot sitting in my back yard. Enjoy my beautiful art.