30 BEFORE 30: #11

So I did it! I hit the five year mark of full time employment at KDKA-TV! I began part time while a sophomore in college working a few hours a week to run audio for a very (VERY) simple call-in show. But it was my start! From there I interned with a reporter and a newscast director, then was hired in the Operations and Engineering Department as a part time employee. After a year in Operations I was finally hired full time! I can’t believe how fast it has gone and that I’ve been at the station almost a decade total! 2017 will mark that milestone! 

I feel really proud of myself for setting a goal in TV and sticking to it. I went to college knowing that this is what I wanted to do with my life and I made it happen, with the help of so many mentors and great colleagues. It’s not my perfect job, but it’s TV and I’m happy that I get to do it. It lacks in creativity and sometimes that frustrates me, but I’m thrilled I have a chance to freelance in addition to this work. Shooting and editing, working with a big crew on a live event are some of my favorite parts about freelancing and TV. But I’m glad I have a stable TV home (watch, a week from now I’ll be laid off because I told myself this job is stable) where I know what I’m doing and can work in the field I chose.

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD

This October 1st marked my five year wedding anniversary with the Ginger. Cliche to say, but I can’t believe how fast it went by! The last five years have been filled with so many important and also mundane moments, but it all happened in a blink! 

Our wedding day was so special and I remember so many of the details, as if it all just happened. We really wanted to celebrate the day in the city, not a suburb. We started our relationship while in school, right in the middle of Downtown Pittsburgh and in those dating years we explored so many parts of the city. It felt only right that we celebrate our love (sappy much?) in the city that helped it grow. One of our favorite walks was from our campus on Wood Street over to the North Shore, crossing one of the three sister bridges, the Clemente, the Warhol or the Rachel Carson, and wander in the North Side then back along the water. We were thrilled to find the perfect place for our reception in The Grand Hall at the Priory, and then have our wedding night at the Priory’s Hotel. It’s located right in the Deutschtown section of the North Side, within walking distance of our favorite bridges. Our reception was beautiful and full of so much fun! We danced all night long and laughed with our friends and family! I wouldn’t change a thing about it!

That year, in 2010, we planned on returning to the Priory for our five year anniversary. Back then it seemed so far off! But this was the year and we booked a room with a view of the quaint North Side streets and enjoyed reminiscing about one of the best days of our lives together!  We snuck into the Grand Hall to take a look at the dance floor and then we posed for pictures outside of the garden that our photographer set us up in with our bridal party! 

We made a short list of future destinations for anniversaries and for year 15 we hope to stay at the Priory again! I can’t imagine all that will happen in the next 10 years, but if it’s anything like the last 5 with the Ginger then it will be amazing! 

30 BEFORE 30: #5

OK so I can’t totally cross this one off of my 30 Before 30 list, but I took a first step. Before I’m 30 I would like to run a marathon. 

One problem though. I. Don’t. Run. Like at all.

So when I added this to my list I don’t know why I thought 26.2 miles was going to happen in the next 4 years. But to take some steps (haha no pun intended) to make it happen, I decided to sign up for the relay part of this year’s Pittsburgh Marathon. A few of my friends and I joined together and each took a leg of it. I didn’t train nearly enough, but I ran (sometimes walked) my 4 mile stretch and actually felt pretty great. Compared to the amazing real runners out there doing a half or full marathon, what I did was nothing, but it was an accomplishment for me! 

I hope that I can actually complete this goal in the next 3 years! I should probably put the running shoes back on and get outside! 

30 BEFORE 30: #2

I’m so excited to cross another item off of my 30 Before 30 list, have a drink with my 21-year-old sister! It just so happens I’m going in order of the list…however that will end soon because I can’t afford to go to Liverpool next! 

My sister turned 21 while she was studying abroad in England, so when she returned this past May it was time to take her out for a proper birthday celebration! We had a delicious meal at Girasole in Shadyside and enjoyed cocktails, then a few glasses of wine. 

It still blows my mind that she has grown up…I never expected her to stay my little baby sister, but it still sometimes hits me just how old she is now! She’s lived in Europe, alone, for almost a year, has one year left of college, has held several professional jobs, and so much more. I do love watching her grow up into this amazing woman, maybe that’s a cliche thing for an older sister to say, but it’s true. 

On that sappy note, I also like the fact that we can drink tequila shots together now, too.