Canadian Shopping Spree!

Most people come to the states to shop.
But not me and Tom, we go to CANADA!!

The more time I spend outside of Canada, the more I want to buy things that say Canada on them. (I've lived in the U.S. for 3 years now)

This past trip to Calgary over Thanksgiving weekend, I may have gone a little overboard...

I bought this bag at the Roots outlet. It's one of my FAV purchases.
Wanna know why?
It was only $2!!!!
LOVE IT!
It even has the Roots beaver on the back!

Remember this post from last year? I was SOOOO excited to get the Canadian Olympic mittens for my birthday from my dad!
(Yeah, I know I went a little crazy)

Well, over the past year of wearing my mittens EVERYDAY on my freezing cold bus, they've gotten a little worn out.

Luckily, the Bay has NEW Canada mittens.
I bought them 5 seconds after I laid eyes on them.

I love how when you put them together, they make a maple leaf!!

Old mittens, new mittens.
I can't decide which one's I like more!
I hope they have new ones every year!

Last but not least, I bought this super adorable shirt from Bluenotes!
It was $2.50!!!
I love the lumberjack-plaid pattern in the maple leaf. It screams Canada!

Tom even got into the spirit of things, buying a Canada hoodie from Roots!

Isn't he sooooo cute?

Oh yeah, I also bought a little souvenir for my desk at work.
Meet Zed, the Canadian beaver.

Thanks to Christina for the name and everyone else who suggested names.
Other ideas were:
Foreign Exchange Student
Beaver
Hoser
Timbit
Poutine
Loonie
Benjamin
Lonny
America Jr. (:S)
Canook/Canuck
Sorry (said like a Canadian "Soorry")
Bucky
and Mahonri Moriancumar!

My Real Job

With all this photography, I bet you forgot what my real job is.
Here are a few of the promos I've produced for KSL during this past ratings period.

This is the most recent promo. I got to work with Nadine Wimmer on this one. She is the nicest, most talented anchor ever! The eye-opening story airs Monday at 10.


This next one was for a story by Jennifer Stagg. Definitely one of the BEST reporters at KSL. You should see how many friends she has on Facebook. Everyone loves her.
The story is definitely a tear-jerker, so beware if you watch the complete story.


This is a promo for an "Ed Yeates Special". He's our medical reporter. He actually retired a while back, so he only comes back for the REALLY good stories. The full story is here.


This next spot isn't a promo for a regular story, it's a promo for our COVERAGE on Election night.
We call it a POP, or Proof of Performance spot.
I take clips that actually aired on television and make them into a promo that shows off how AWESOME we are.


These promos are only a fraction of the reason I've been so busy lately.
My boss has been off for the past month and a half because of surgery and I've been working his night shift. It's a nice change, but A LOT of work on top of the fact it's also Sweeps.
When this month is over, I think I deserve a day at the spa, don't you?
(Tell Tom will ya?)

The Orange Photo Shoot

This is Beck "The Situation".
I did this photo shoot a while ago but I couldn't decide what pictures to post because there were SO MANY awesome ones!

So I'm just going to post ALL my favs.

Beck's mom is my good friend Mallory. She has the best style ever and dressed Beck in the CUTEST little outfit!

There's a beautiful orange building in Lehi that I've been dying to shoot at, so we made orange the theme of the shoot and went to a bunch of different locations.

You could light up a room with that smile!

Location #2 was at the pumpkin patch!

Location #3 was a random spot with a ton of construction drums. Beck loved running around them like he was in a maze!

Location #4 was on a farm.

I've decided I really like shooting kids and families. They're so fun! Candid photos like these are my favorite.
And there's definitely no shortage of kids in Utah!

Yoda the Tiger

For Halloween, our dog Yoda transformed into a ferocious tiger!!

Sooooo cute! Best $3 costume ever!

Occasionally Yoda would try to catch his fake tail. It was super hilarious so I tried to catch it on camera.
Beware, the video may give you motion sickness, but at least you can watch it in HD!!

For Halloween, Tom was a...
...Cubs fan.
(He was even wearing Cubs Crocs)
I'll let you make your own jokes here. I have to live with the man.

For work, I wore a blond wig.
But 8 hours later I was ready to rip the stupid thing off.

So for the ward activity, I borrowed a pink wig and wings from a friend so I could be a fairly princess.
Not bad, considering I put it together an hour before the event.

That's my friend Ashley. She was a hot Cat Woman.Yes, I realize these pictures are blurry.
That's what happens when you let someone else use your camera. LOL!

The Things I Do for my Blog

Like getting up at 5:30 in the morning to take pictures of a stranger.
The other day my friend Ashley was doing a shoot for Studio 5.
(This is Ashley. Can you believe how good she looks at 6:30 in the morning?)

The story was about a dad who gets up every morning to wave to his teenage son on the school bus.
The kicker?
This dad dresses up in a DIFFERENT costume everyday to embarrass his son!
I know, hilarious right!
He's worn more than 40 costumes!
I went along because I thought it would make a pretty great blog post.
Here's some of the pictures I took during the shoot.
What does the teenage son think about his crazy father?
Turns out he thinks it's pretty cool and he's even gotten some extra attention from the ladies.
Today Dale, the crazy dad, is a red devil. This is his wife. She takes pictures every day for their super-hilarious blog: waveatthebus.blogspot.com
You can see ALL the different costumes on their blog. He's been everything from a princess to Nacho Libre!
That's me and Dale! (I don't look as great as Ashley at 6:30 a.m.)
Dale doesn't just wave at the school bus, he waves at all the neighbors as they walk and drive by!
Everyone thinks he's a hoot!
Dale trying to show affection to his son.
Like father, like son.
Ashley doing a standup for her story.
And here's Dale waving at the bus!
Did I mention he has a fake leg? He lost his leg in a motorcycle accident 20 years ago, but his "replacement" totally works with his costumes.

Here's the story that aired on Studio 5.

Isn't he awesome!

I kinda want him to adopt me.

Tonight I Won an Award for Prostitution...

Remember this promo?
I made it nearly a year ago.

(It should be 16x9, but it may play distorted. It uploaded weirdly.)

The promo was for a story called "Prostitution".
Tonight I received an award for that promo!
Get it? I won an award for Prostitution!
LOL!!!

Dave and Lance were the guys who helped me PIMP out the promo with graphics and editing.

Yeah, the award may look like a laminated piece of paper, but trust me, it has powers.

Amazing powers to enlarge egos!

Our department also won an award for the promos we made to play during the Olympics.
This is one of them.


And here is the award.
My name was even in the program! It was all nice and shiny!
I like shiny things.

:D

I will always remember the night I won an award for Prostitution.
Tom was so proud.

Talking Pumpkins on Live TV!

I'm almost puked from nervousness today.
Seriously.
I've had a month to prepare for this (unlike my other Studio 5 appearances which were only days notice), but nonetheless, I was 10 times more nervous.
You see, I had to TALK on television.

If I hadn't promised some people I would post this, I'm not sure I would.
I've been picking it apart in my head all day.

I can't believe there are people who do this for a living!
Don't be fooled by the fact I may look like I'm having fun.
I'm just excited about my new blazer. (It's cute right?)
Definitely the plus side to my TV appearance.
Yay for new clothes!