Career change - Anchorwoman

I was on Cheyenne's Ch. 5 news again this morning touting another Wyoming-made product.

Today's is Berried Delights out of Newcastle, Wyo. They make single and combination flavor jams, jellies, syrups and fruit butters.

I actually tasted these before going on - which was easier to do than last time's raw meat - and can say they were all very tasty.

The wild chokecherry jam is apparently their top seller, and I can see why! It was yummilicious!

Aside from the fact that I have to get up earlier than normal for a three-minute segment, I like it when Annie's gone and I get to play anchorwoman! haha.

Local celebrity

Today I went on Cheyenne's Ch. 5 news to talk about Wyoming Pure Natural Beef, a company out of Wheatland, Wyo.

One of the programs in my office is Wyoming First , which helps market products and companies located in Wyoming. One of the ways we do that is by having a segment every Thursday on the local morning news.

My friend Annie heads this program up and is usually the one to go on air, but since she's traveling today I got to take her place.

Since I've spent time around studios in previous jobs I wasn't nervous, but it IS hard to talk knowlegeably about a topic that you've just learned about. I think overall it went alright and I'm looking forward to going on again - I think even this month - when Annie is on another trip.

Hmmm...I've always kind of wanted to be an anchorwoman...

Here, there, everywhere. And now here.

I've been super busy these days...just the way I like it.

I'm a little out of practice though because, well, things mostly move at a different pace out here.

But for the past two weeks I've been swamped at work and I've had something going on every night except one.

There is no letting up in the foreseeable future either. I'll finish up the work week with a column and a stack of press releases to write and any number of articles to edit. I'll also have a friend in town, and a quick over and back to Laramie to check out a baby shower venue. All this before I leave on Sunday for 10 days in Chicago on two back-to-back work conferences! So...figure in some packing...time to sleep (wait, what?)...work out...

Ahhh. The refreshing normalcy of it all!

The only thing about all this hub-bub is that I've not had any time to really comprehend that it was exactly one year ago this month that I was packing up my old life for an unknown new one.

I told Linds H. today that I'm a little disappointed with this. I've wanted to spend some time reflecting on the past year and all that has happened in my life during it. I kind of feel like right now is really my "new year's eve."

I also told Linds that not having time to think about it might be a good thing. Because then I might be all emotional.

So, until things settle down just a bit I'm going to focus on the present and leave the past alone.

Chicago here I come!

AgXpo Extravaganza

My coworker Matt and I are spending all weekend at the AgXpo in Casper, Wyo., for work. Our Agribusiness Division hosts this "ag"travaganza each year and Matt and I were asked to come along to shoot some video and stills.

It's going to be livestock and tractors all weekend long!

These guys are such characters. Check out the mop on his head! And I love how he's kind of like, "Yeah, you read right. I'm an alpaca."

Well, hello there!

I have a new friend or pet or something in this lil' lady. She really got her moo on at one point. I have titled this photo, Last Moo, since I clicked it as she let one last, long one out.

She was totally into me. Maybe it's because I had this tasty food pellet in my hand. I attempted to feed her unsuccessfully a few times and just ended up getting slimed. Check out my hand...


Finally, success! We are now best friends.


From the youth talent show Friday night...


Cows crack me up. I can't help but give them (and pretty much all animals) human personalities. These are bouncers saying, "You're not welcome here." Not like I haven't heard that before...


And this guy...


...thought he could be sneaky...

Does Wyoming have a problem with dogs trying to break into human establishments or something? See here also...

Fine, then!

Office Antics and a Random Comment

When I worked for the Senator I was the office photographer. I took tons of stupid, crazy, funny pictures of all the stupid, crazy, funny things people did in the office. And there was lots of that going on!

I'm happy that in my new job we also have "office antics." I haven't formally started documenting them - until today.

I was inspired when I came back from lunch and this random back scratcher was sticking like a creepy skeleton arm out of my desk drawer. Still don't know who's responsible for this...

Here's a picture of a picture of me that is now hanging on our marketing shop wall. It's from pumpkin picking this year. Another colleague took precious time out of their busy day to make it...


No idea which coworker this mug belongs to, but I seriously wanted to just take it. And I must go to Dirty Sally's. Must.


And this might be my favorite. If you are an animal rights activist you might not want to look. The same demented colleague who made the pumpkin photo "slaughtered" this poor foam animal a while back. Somehow Matt, my office mate, was able to produce the crime scene tape. He still won't say how. He's sketchy like that...


Ok, my random comment that pretty much everyone already knows: A bagel with cream cheese and lox (and tomatoes, capers and onions) is maybe my most favorite dish in the universe. It brings me complete and total happiness. After my ghetto Beaujolais celebration last night this sandwich was all my tummy desired. Bliss...

Rejection Slip

It's been months since I ended my job search, but remarkably those darned rejection letters keep trickling in.

I got one today from a job I had truly been interested in. It was in Vail and it was perfect. Right down my alley. I knew I could do it too.

But I never heard anything from them...until today!

Today - five months after sending in my resume. Today - four months after starting my current job. I don't get it - why post a job listing if you aren't going to fill it until five months later?

I'm confounded.

All of this being said, I'm really happy things worked out the way they did. I don't think I would have been as happy in Vail as I am here. Imagining a job and life in Vail is actually very strange. It just doesn't seem to fit like I thought then that it would.

However, I still can't help but scratch my head.

Speaking of Worlds...

Yesterday was a whole new one.

A colleague and I had to meet up with K2 News, a Casper t.v. outlet, for work yesterday, and it just so happens their Cheyenne office is in the capitol building.

My coworker and I walked up the stairs to the front of the building, walked through the big front doors and, interestingly, kept right on walking to the K2 office without having to stop once for security purposes.

There were no metal detectors, no "capitol police," no getting wanded because your high heels set the detectors off, there wasn't even anybody who wanted to peek inside your purse. There was somebody behind a visitor desk, but they didn't say a word to us as we just breezed on by.

I know it's Wyoming 'n all, but still - it's the capitol!

I was amazed at how no one ever asked us our business, even as we went in to each of the chambers and meandered the halls waiting for our meeting to start.

Darn it all - it's things like this that make me love being back here.

It's just SO Wyoming, and sometimes SO a different world.

Back on the Horse

Today was my very first day of work at my new job!

I've traded in my daily wardrobe of workout clothes for work clothes complete with high heels, which were a little hard on the ol' tootsies since I've been flip-flop and fancy free for a while now.

It was a pretty typical first day with paperwork and introductions. I did, however, send out a news release under my name (though my boss is really the one who wrote it), and will begin drafting two more releases tomorrow.

Seeing all the old reporter names I used to work with and trying to get up to speed on Wyoming news/issues I've fallen behind on gave me a "blast from the past" feeling. I was really involved with Wyoming stuff and people from Wyoming while in D.C., but getting back into the thick of things made me feel like I was in the senator's office again.

It's neat - and totally weird.

Here's something fun that I'm really looking forward to with my new job: Cheyenne Frontier Days is coming up and part of my job is to help manage media who are attending. The CFD has a rule that all media wear "cowboy attire" at all events, which means I must also cowgirl myself out.

The first event is Thursday evening.

I guess I should start polishin' up my boots!

9 to 5

Or 8 to 5 as will be the case with my new job!!

On Friday morning the organization in Cheyenne I was waiting to hear back from offered me a position. So, after four months of unemployment - not counting the brief stint at the kitchen store - I'm a workin' girl again!

Starting July 7, I will be working and living in Cheyenne.

This is not at all what I thought would happen when I left D.C. I was focused on Colorado, Colorado, Colorado. I didn't want to return to Wyoming yet. I even went out of my way to avoid this. But try as I might to create other windows of opportunity in Colorado they all slammed shut. The one and only window that remained open was in Cheyenne, and I figured it was like that for a reason.

So, over the pass I go to Wyoming's capitol city - and remarkably I am really excited about it. And weirded out. I just can't seem to get over the fact I'll be living in Cheyenne.

Friday night Linds took me for drinks to celebrate. We went to one of our old stomping grounds, The Ranger. If you think it looks seedy it's because, well, it is. But Linds, Jonna, Apes and I used to go there about once a week for Colorado Bulldogs (basically a White Russian with Coke) while we were in school.

Now, the house hunting begins. How wonderful to have a job AND my own place!

Now What?

Now that I've had my big day I have really very little to do.

It's kind of weird. I've been so in the must-find-a-job mode, spending hours at coffee shops on my computer researching, networking and sending my resume, that I feel a little lost just playing the waiting game.

I should enjoy it, of course, because if I don't get offered the job I will be back to the grind.

So, let's all keep our fingers crossed this won't be the case!

Big Day

I had my first interview today in Cheyenne since beginning my job search.

The funny thing is - I'm starting to really see myself there. I never, when starting this crazy adventure (or even until just a few weeks ago), would have said or thought Cheyenne (or Wyoming for that matter) might be a potential place for me to land right now.

Not because I dislike either Cheyenne or Wyoming - I'm quite the Wyoming cheerleader - it's just not the vision I had for myself.

But things don't always go the way you think they might. Of course, I have yet to be offered anything from the organization, so we'll just have to wait and see if this is where I'll be or not.

Until then, just a couple pictures from the ol' state capitol...

Ah...to see a dome-shaped building again! Ha.

The legs on the horse in this sign move. There was a car behind me so I don't have an action shot.

On the pass between Cheyenne and Laramie...wait, Lincoln Monument?? Where am I?

Ok, what does Lincoln have to do with Wyoming or I-80, you ask? Good question. So good that hundreds of people who have passed by it hundreds of times don't really know. So, I Wikipediad it. Turns out the Lincoln Highway, or "The Main Street Across America," was the first transcontinental highway. The idea was thought up by a guy named Carl Fisher and one of his heroes was ol' Abe. The place where the monument is located just so happens to be the highest point on all of I-80, so that's why the statue is there.

Who knew?

Ok, this is maybe a tad bit creepy...

Anyway, my big day ended with beers and watching Battlestar Galactica with my old friend Jonah. This isn't really Wyoming related, but somehow it so is.

First Day!

Today was my first day of work at the kitchen shop!

I'm pretty excited. I'll be working with customers, but also helping with some marketing and advertising projects, the first of which I received today.

Everyone is really nice, and the customers are genuinely happy to be there and seem to love the store, and...I get to wear a cute little apron.

I've definitely made the right choice.

Back to the Grind - An Attempt, Anyway

Today I have done two major things.

I worked out, and I searched for a job.

I figured it was about time to get myself back into a routine, something I haven't had in a little over a month.

During this time I've basically stopped paying attention to the news, stopped exercising, and...stopped working. But today I put an end to at least two of the three. I got up, actually read some headlines on the computer, then got myself to the gym.

I've been a little concerned about kicking up the cardio after what I'll call...a long rest. The higher altitude was definitely a factor here as well. But, it wasn't as bad as I thought, even though there were a few times I wondered what would happen if I fainted on the elliptical. Fortunately, I didn't find out.

Pounding the pavement for a job was a little like a work out as well, but in a different, less intense way. It required strolling into stores, shaking hands, and filling out applications.

Today's visits? A bookstore, a kitchen store, and Starbucks, where I had to go into some lengthy detail about my previous Starbucks experiences, why I liked coffee, and why I wanted to be a part of the Starbucks family. I didn't tell them it was because I aspired to make the most perfect foam ever (good foam is a big deal for me), but maybe they'll like my response just the same.

So, no job yet, but I at least started the process. And if I can keep up the reading/working out elements of my day I will feel pretty proud.

Next stop, a local pet store.