Turn to the next Paige

Sunday, December 31, 2006

Yeah, let's start building some hurtin' bombs!!

Ladies and Gents, this is my new slogan. The boy and I saw Rocky Balboa last night. It was better than I had expected. I like Rocky movies. They are clean in nature, fun to watch, and of course, very inspiring...to go beat the sense out of anybody. I like all the Rocky movies...even Rocky IV. Not so much V...but I like the Russian in the fourth movie. I always crack up when he tells Rocky "I will break you."

I started laughing during the training montage part of the movie because I could look around the rows in front of me and see all the men start to slightly move around in their seats. I just felt at any moment one would get up and start running out of the theater and go punch up a popcorn machine. At the sudden end of the training, the men started clapping and started yelling "YEAH!!" Thats what I like...to know that the movie has actually stirred emotions within the audience. So needless to say, the movie was worth my money. Oh, and many props to Sly Stallone to looking beastly even at the tender age of 60!! Did anyone else see the veins popping out of his arms and shoulders??

Tonight will be a low key celebration of the New Year for me. I have work at the station at 6am on New Year's Day so Andy and I are staying at my house tonight...until I kick him out so I can get some sleep. I am pretty excited about our plans to cook our first New Year's dinner. I believe we have decided on some homemade spaghetti (made from scratch), some sauteed spinach, crescent rolls, and a chocolate assortment of some kind...that is still in the works. In just a few hours we will be heading to the grocery store to pick up our ingredients and such. He is also bringing over his Wii that he got for Christmas. I have to say I am pretty excited to see this thing and I have heard nothing but good things about this Nintendo. So if I don't see you this New Year's, I hope you have an amazing one and God Bless!!!

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!?????!!!!!!

That's right!!!!! I am not engaged. READ: I am NOT engaged. Apparently there was a rumor that Andy was giving me a ring and popping the question at Christmas. Usually when rumors arise, I shrug it off...but this rumor went through a few sources and caused phone calls to happen to see if this was in fact true. Ladies and Gentlemen....I am NOT engaged. Andy and I have only been together for 5 months and in no way feel we are ready to be engaged. And trust me...if I was engaged...you would hear my scream in whatever region of the country where you are located. Andy and I laughed about this and now Andy calls me to speak to his "fiance." I am sure those of you reading had no idea of this rumor...but I thought I would at least extinguish it before it spread. Again, I am not engaged.

Friday, December 22, 2006

Everybody goes to Dollywood

Yesterday, I went to Dollywood. OH wait, let me say that the right way. Yesterday, I went to Dollywood with my three nephews, my sister, my mom, and my grandmother. I am worn out. I will have to say that Dollywood does an incredible job with decorations and lights for Christmas. It was quite impressive. The weather was pleasant, it was not too crowded, and we got to go for free. Not a shabby deal, right? You are right. Except for one tiny detail...taking a 20 month old child that would not stop screaming unless there was a piece of food or a drink in his mouth. I am saying this in a literal manner. My goodness! The rides were good. My sister and I did the Tennessee Tornado rollercoaster twice. During the ride, they take your picture while going down a hill. I wish I had bought the picture now. On the second ride, I was prepared to make an awesome expression. My fishface while holding up two top guns. Pretty funny. My sister and I laughed for about 10 minutes.

Get ready...Christmas is coming!! Have a Merry Christmas!!

Friday, December 15, 2006

Eek!

The station is reportedly haunted. Stop giving me that look...it is! When I started working at the station last year, I was not told anything about any strange stories or ghosts...I only EXPERIENCED strange things during the overnight shift. The scary thing about my usual time for my show is that during a majority of my time, I am there by myself. I feel pretty safe at this building because of what I do and our security system and the actual location of the studio within the building. However, during the night I will do some walking around one of the floors to get my blood going again. I have a reputation of screaming because on occassion a producer will come in and I won't be aware. I will be walking around leisurely when someone will pop out of the corner and I will have a slight stroke...and screaming loud enough with my fist ready to go. This also makes the other person have a slight stroke. One of the producers, bless his heart, will yell out across the floor "Paige, its Josh" so I won't be alarmed. I think he does this more for his sake, because I have come close to doing some Matrix moves on him and he is scared of me.

A couple of months ago, I was walking around and I could smell this awfully strange odor. I went into the kitchen area where the coffee maker was turned on...and no coffee was brewing. The maker was burning the pot. Wow, great fire hazard. I got alarmed because no one had come by and I had not turned the pot on myself. Stop rolling your eyes. So I turned off the maker and watched my surroundings for the rest of the night.

By the end of my shift, the next guy comes in and I ask him about the incident. If the coffee maker is usually set or if he new of anyone that would have come in. He knew nothing of the sort but then told me how similar incidents have happened to people in this building. One of the full time overnight people, who is one of my favorite people, has incidents happen all the time with strange stuff. The coffee maker will just come on, the coffee that he had just made will in fact be missing, he has seen things, etc. He believes it is in fact a spirit of one of the former overnight workers who passed away a couple of years ago.

On top of that, I found out there was a lot of history to the building. It used to be an old coal company. There was in fact a man who committed suicide in one of the bathrooms. Again, I thought this was a joke but after further asking, it is in fact true. While I covered a shift from 7-midnight last night, one of the janitors came in and chatted with me. She is absolutely adorable. Somehow we got into talking about the history of the building and SHE brought up how she has experienced strange things happening to her. She will feel things in the bathrooms, she has seen things pass by her, and some other things that are quite strange.

People...I don't deal well with this type of stuff.

If this is a joke...its definitely an elaborate one. Seriously, I am waiting for Ashton Kutcher to come out and practially tackle me with camera lights shining bright on me.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

You're a mean one...

My favorite Christmas movie is the orginial "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss. Christmas Vacation is a close second. But the Grinch really has sentimental value to me...for very humorous reasons. When I was little, I used to watch this movie over and over during the holidays because the Grinch reminded me of my own Father. My family used to call him the Grinch because he complained about putting up decorations and all the trees in our house. Since I was 5 years old, we had a pet Chihuahua named Mitsi. So "Max" the dog looked like Mitsi and my dad was the Grinch. That was my belief growing up. Mom would say I was like little Cindy-Lou Who because I was so tiny and my night gowns were always way too long for me. I was always stepping on them. The story and the movie are hilarious to me. One of my favorite scenes from the movie is when the sled is going down the mountain with Max being dragged behind it. The scene sort of pauses and Max just looks right at you with one of the best illustrated expressions EVER. It's hilarious!

Anywho, I love Grinch stuff. I even have a stuffed Grinch and Max on my bed right now to add some decoration for Christmas. The past two weeks, Andy had been talking how he had a gift for me before Christmas. I tried to guess but the boy would not budge on any hints...except that it was for Christmas and it was red.

First off, knowing that I have a present and that it is coming soon is like Chinese water torture to me. You are reading about a girl who PICKED DOOR LOCKS to get into rooms where I knew my presents were hidden (I know, it is terrible). I am the master at gently tearing tape so that it won't rip the paper on presents so I can get a peak. Yes...it is that bad.

So all this time, I did all I could...but Andy is very smart. The present didn't arrive here in Tennessee until today. So all day I had been waiting to see what this great gift was. He came over earlier with a neatly wrapped gift....I wait so pictures could be taken...I put the bow on my head....and unwrapped this package. I look down and see that it is an ORIGINAL, 1st Edition of my favorite Christmas story by the Seuss man from 1957. I am still in a little bit of shock. I have no earthly idea what he paid but its just the attention to detail that he put into this. It's not that he went and bought the book at Borders...he wanted something different and special. He paid so much attention to something that he knew meant a lot to me. See...now I'm starting to tear up. I didn't cry earlier because I was in a bit of shock...so here are the tears now.

To add some zest, my family was around us and we turned on the tv to see that ABC was airing the movie and had all the makings of the Grinch at the exact time when I was opening up the gift (wow...thats a long sentence). Pretty GROOVY!! Now I think the gifts I got him suck...

Monday, December 11, 2006

Call me Paula Dean...or that wierd Italian chick...

ok...maybe that was a bit wrong...Guida..Gooda...Guiaida...I don't know her name exactly. Anywho, she is not wierd. I actually dig her in a sensual cooking type of way. Have you ever seen her cook and eat? It's a little bit sensual for the cooking channel.

Now, onto to my post. I have been taking up a cooking interest the past couple of months. SHOCKING!! Maybe not so much as "cooking" but really more of baking. I call myself a baker. I have one of the biggest sweettooths a dentist has ever seen and baking sweets has always fancied me. I've always been able to throw cookies or cakes into a pan and bake but now I am taking it to the next level. I have put myself in charge of the Christmas desserts. BIG UNDERTAKING in mi familia. I could possibly be banished if I mess this up. Oh I'm just joking...I won't mess up. The banishment part is quite real though. I bought Williams Sonoma recipe book to help me along and help me figure out what would be the best dessert spread. A chocolate cake of some sort will be good..but...the mack daddy will be the homemade Key Lime Mousse Cake (thank you, Paula Dean). That is looking to be my showoff piece. It's not necessarily hard, just a bit time consuming and the recipe is a bit more detailed than the usual.

I thought the Key Lime would be different for the Holidays. Bringing the tropics to Tennessee, ya know? The big test will be the father. If my dad approves, oh man...guess who is moving up in the will!!

This weekend was a lot of fun. Saturday, I went with Andy to photograph one of his aunt's horses. Thomas, a gorgeous Freesian (sp?), was HUGE. He took pictures at the stables where they keep him right now on Northshore. It's gorgeous out there. I never knew that place existed and I lived on Northshore for a majority of my life. Anywho, I was able to get on Thomas and was walked around the barn a couple of times...without a saddle. Yup, I'm like a pro. I've never been on a horse before but I believe this might have sparked a new love. Andy took a few pictures of me so maybe I will post some of them once I get them. After that, we headed out to Maryville where Andy is building his house. It's really coming along marvelously and I must commend him on his taste for building. He might be able to move in next month if everything stays on track. After tromping through mud we drove around Maryville and ate lunch..and of course shopped. We went to a store called "Little River" which is pretty much a "Blue Ridge Mountain Sports" place. I bought my first ever North Face jacket...which was on sale. I had never really cared for all that stuff. I remember back in high school when outdoors apparell was the craze...and a majority of people wearing it never skied, hiked, backpacked, or even camped out. The only cold I was used to was East Tennessee fickle weather and the ice rink. So why would I spend the money on a fleece that I could buy at Target? But I tried on this jacket and I understood. Its just enough weight to keep you warm during this time of year in Tennessee AND it keeps you dry in times of rain. I guess I sold out.

It was a fun all-day extravaganza with my darling. He even introduced me to video game playing. Yes...he plays all the video games that some of you reading do. I can appreciate video games to some extent. But it's like crack to some people. I learned...no...attempted to learn how to play some. WHEN DID THEY BECOME MORE COMPLICATED THAN CALCULUS?? I mean seriously, I played the "Gears of War" game. What the freak? I was used to my Super Nintendo setup but you have to push more buttons on this thing than starting up an airplane. Andy actually got nervous watching me play because my poor guy ran around in circles. I did kill some aliens though.

After Church yesterday, I went to the mall with my parents to help with holiday shopping. The mall is at that point where its in "feast or famine" mode. I always enjoy Christmas shopping. I like the crowds, seeing what new stuff is out, shopping for loved ones and it's always nice to bump into old faces. I love Christmas chaos.

I've been invited to some Christmas parties this year. The annual J.P. Coffin's Christmas dinner is tomorrow night. This Saturday night I am going with Andy to his grandparents' party at their house. Then I have the radio station's party. I've had to keep a planner with me this month. I've never had to keep up with a planner until now. Even when I was in school, I could just remember times and plan myself in my head. Not anymore. My days blur together since work splits my time up.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Back in the saddle...

My darlings...I am BACK on your internet. After worthwhile hiatus from internet blogging, I decided that I missed updating and relentless thoughts of "Wow, that would be funny to blog about" moments.

So here I am.

Since the depletion of my last blog...I decided to somewhat reincarnate the old one. Hence the clever title and the same template. By the way, when did signing up on the internet become a bit harder? Since "To Catch A Predator" aired, I guess.

Anywho, a bunch of things have been happening the past year. I was thinking the other day how a YEAR ago I graduated from college. Wierd. My plans on going to grad school were a bit altered. My alma mater was a complete disaster and I have to admit that once I got through the disapointment I am so happy that it was a no go. But the experience left a very bitter taste in my mouth with the mentors of my undergraduate program. Needless to say, we are NOT on good terms. However, I found an alternative route to continue my education and I am very excited. The start date is a bit hazy but the program is wonderful and much more convenient. So hopefully this will be the path I am supposed to be taking.

My jobs (yes, JOBS) are definitely keeping me busy. I am still at the radio station. I have been given more opportunity and doing some pretty coveted time slots. I love this job. After a year and a half of being here, I have finally felt that the work and sacrifice of working overnight shifts is starting to pay off. I am learning so much right now and getting called in to cover a lot. In any media/entertainment industry, you HAVE to pay your dues. There is no way around it. After an internship with WBIR this summer, I found myself appreciating radio a lot more. Don't get me wrong, I am glad I had the television experience but radio is just my cup of tea...as of now. Who knows? I am a big believer in the idea of things happening for a reason. If this career doesn't pan out...hey at least I can brag about it and have fun thinking about all the times I messed up or said something completely out there live on radio to thousands of people. Good stories for the kids. A couple of months ago my mom was talking about careers and life when she brought up a very good point. I started working for one of the BIGGEST radio stations in the country at 20 years old. Sure the hours have been difficult and it's not the easiest industry to survive in...but all those years of having some kind of personality on stage came in handy for something. Either way, I know that whatever is mean to for me to do ...I can at least do the radio voice to entertain. But I love the comfort, environment and the people I work for...I just hope to keep growing.

And yes, I dropped the the radio name that I was made fun of by some of you.

Umm....Christmas is coming and so EXCITED. My family is doing great AND I have a new addition to my life. Yes, this year Santa brought me a boyfriend...as an early Christmas present. Boy, I didn't see this coming anytime soon since I really had not been in an actual relationship in years. Needless to say he is a blessing...keeps me sane. We met on a blind date at the end of the summer (I broke my vow to never go on another blind date after what happened a couple of years ago). I was in that mode of "I'm over dating, concentrate-on-myself" when we were set up. We had talked on the phone a few times before actually going out. I remember thinking to myself after the first time talking that if he is just half as cute as he sounded...I would be in trouble. Needless to say, he came to the door and these blue eyes looked at me...and I was gone. And then he kept cracking me up...then I was just sent to the moon. He is high quality and has become one of the biggest support systems in my life right now. My family adores him and I believe his family feels the same towards me. It's really one of those circumstances that most girls go through when they meet someone special and we keep asking the guy "Seriously, what is wrong with you?" I like the fact how we relate to each other and how our lives almost mirror each others. He is a little bit older...25...went to Bearden (which I make fun of him for), and treats me better than I could imagine. Oh... and his name is Andy.

Have any of you heard of Ray Lamontagne? He is this upcoming artist who is a blend of folk, jazz and a taste of bluegrass. Well anywho, Andy has wanted to see him and guess who got tickets as a secret suprise. Wonderful...check out his music.

Also, what do you think of Obama?? Anybody??