Goodbye WGRD

This has been a crazy week.  As many of you know I have worked at WGRD here in Grand Rapids for over 5 years, and I have been on air full time for the last 4 years.  I love Grand Rapids, I love rock music, concerts and everything that I did at GRD, but the time has come for a change.

Starting Monday August 4th I will begin working as a weekday reporter for Fox 17 News.  My dream since college was to work as an entertainment/feature reporter and I can't believe my dream has finally come true!  

My time slot is still being adjusted but right now it looks like I will be working on the morning news show covering events, concerts, entertainment and fun in Grand Rapids... Fun is my middle name so I think this will be a great fit!

The thought of leaving GRD, leaving radio in general is daunting.  When I began radio it was scary I didn't know what all the buttons did, I couldn't properly edit commercials down, I felt like I was always messing up.  Now all of those things have become second nature for me.  In other words I have became comfortable.

When I saw Fox 17 was looking for a new full time reporter I thought, "what the heck, ya don't know if ya don't try!"  and I threw my demo reel into the mix.  

I was caught off guard when the news director of Fox called and asked to set up an interview, I was even more caught off guard when he called back only a few hours later offering me the full time position! 

I can't wait to share the fun and excitement of Grand Rapids with the rest of the community, I will be covering concerts, events, restaurant openings, and more!  You can bet I already have a mental note to ask about covering ComicCon, (Wonder Woman costume included!)

I hope my listeners will follow me in this journey, I hope you all will go from rock devil listeners to rock devil viewers ;)

I started writing this post last week and have not been able to bring myself to finish.  Leaving GRD is very hard for me.  Anyone who has made a big life change, getting a job, moving, buying a house etc. can vouch that it is not easy starting over.  I have made many close friends over the years here at GRD... 

I guess the real adventure is just beginning, stay tuned...

My GRD brothers who also moved on, JT, and Shaffee If Dahmer were in this pic it would be the 3 men who taught me radio

New Head Shots With DM Photography

I recently hopped on the motorcycle and drove to Kalamazoo to shoot with my fabulous little sister!  I haven't had head shots taken that weren't glamorous pageant girl shots in a VERY long time... dare I say ever?  Dani said if I drove down to her she would take some for me so helmet hair and all I got some new head shots, check em out!  My sister is awesome!

How I Am Feeling Right Now

I've known since I was very little that I would never be able to have children, and that was okay with me.  I went through the surgery they said I needed, I have accepted the life God has given me and I am an honest to goodness happy individual.

Lately though I have felt a little different.  Everyone seems to have babies, everywhere I look are babies, babies babies.  I feel like lying at this point is stupid, I want one and it just plain isn't fair.  I know life isn't always fair but it sometimes leaves me feeling angry.

Things that do not help the situation are women who do NOT understand CAIS who want to say things with good intentions but are so wrong.  I can't count how often I hear, "Why didn't the doctors try to save your eggs."

I don't have eggs!  I don't have a reproductive system, that's how this whole thing works, that is essentially what the disorder is (kind of).  I also love when people say, "you are so lucky you haven't ever had a period"

I don't consider myself lucky when it comes to that.  Not at all, if you ever meet a woman with CAIS please do not tell her that, its incredibly rude.  

Last part of this rant and I am done is the fact that everyone wants to tell me what my options are for babies like I am too stupid to know them myself.  If going to another country and "saving a life" is so incredible then why don't more child bearing women do it?  Don't get me wrong I know plenty of them do but none of the women I personally know have.

Moral of the story is I know there are options for me I know I can someday have a child but I also know that many people do NOT know that for me to adopt I'll have to have agencies do background checks, take thousands of dollars from me, and wait on a waiting list that is very very very long... It's discouraging and makes me sad. 

It's very rare I write or talk about this openly but I saw a damn commercial with some kid who was calling for her dad and it was so effing cute and then I was suddenly angry... 

Alright, thanks to whoever is out there reading this, if there are any...

Photo Shoot With Hite Design

My buddy Jason is a photographer that works closely with StellaFly, a group that is all over Grand Rapids at the hottest events, Stellafly tracks everything and is everywhere!

Well Jason and I decided to have some fun with my new motorcycle and get a couple shots in over by the Kent Trails off Butterworth Street in Grand Rapids.

Check out the photos here-

 

In other news... My knee is still having some minor pain so the last two weeks have been short 25 mile weeks.  I am really struggling with fear of losing all the speed I have gained, my 3:20 marathon wasn't all that long ago, only 2 months but it feels like an eternity.   I just keep reminding myself that Boston is what my real goal is, and I'm trying to focus on that, I want to do my best there even though EVERYONE keeps telling me it's damn near impossible to PR there... 

Anyone else having issues like me?  Man I had the worst winter with that polar vortex and now here I am with great weather and a bad knee.

It's Been A While

I have become distracted and am slowly bringing myself back down to earth.  I have been an awful blogger and I have had complete writers block.

Here's what's going on in my life currently:

I just wrapped, "A Sleeping Beauty: Somewhere In Time" at Magic Circle Theatre.  Which is the local community theatre's children's theatre.   I played Maelstrom, the chaos fairy who curses the young princess.  The show was an incredible experience and it was so fun to be able to get back on stage and to be evil.  It also didn't hurt that my costume was custom made and BAD ASS!

When I wasn't in the rehearsal for the play, or actually performing in the show I was running, running AND running.  I probably should have listened to my former teammate who is an elite runner for the Saucony Hurricanes, and take some time off after Kalamazoo Marathon.  Yet I did not.  I ended up with some lingering knee pain and just wrapped an entire week of no running/no cross training.  I started back up running on Sunday with little/no pain.  I am doing some special stretches and hip exercises and I think I am on a good road now.  

My friend I was talking about, Tina came down to Rockford today and ran with me actually!  Five mile run at about 7:30 pace.  Not bad!  I was a little tired but I think it's just that weirdness of not running for a week.

This is also day 1 of my #100DaysOfHappy!

Other new stuff!  I bought a motorcycle!  Yeah, I'm a biker chick now...  I took the safety course first and got my endorsement so I am riding legal.  I bought a suzuki blvd 650 sport.  It's my baby and I already am googling things like the sturgis bike rally and other crazy adventures I can have with this bad boy.

Hmm that may be all I have as for life updates.  Nothing crazy has happened really but I am ready for a summer that is jam packed with crazy so my writers block won't be around.  

The only other thing I want to mention that I'm kind of just throwing in here pertains to my "About Me" section.   You will notice I consider myself an advocate for people with disorders of sexual development, or DSD's.  There's a lot of talk about whether that's an appropriate term, or if it should be "differences" not "disorders."  I felt like the subject should be covered but I am not really at a place where I wanted to share an entire post about the topic.

I still consider it a disorder.  BUT that is ME not anyone else.  I don't think that means anything is wrong with me, nor do I think I am not right the way I am but I do think that the way by internal reproductive system is (or the lack of a reproductive system due to my CAIS) can be considered a disorder.

I respect both sides and I even agree with both sides.  I just wanted to drop a mention here because I know that some people prefer differences and not disorder, I respect and love you for you different or disordered :)

I think that covers my, "what I have been up to and what I have been thinking about."  portion of the day.  I'll leave you with this.  I am LOVING this commercial going around about what it means to do things, "as a girl"  

If you haven't seen it, watch it here:

I am a feminist and I love this.  "like a girl" can have different meaning to a CAIS person, this is an amazing step to me.  

Anyway, I won't wait to blog so long next time!  Updates soon, I have a hair appointment today and I am going a little crazy I think, we shall see!