Cleveland rocks?

Special shout out to the Cleveland airport for the free wifi! What am I doing in the Cleveland airport? Allow me to explain…

Soooo it all started yesterday afternoon. I went to check in online to my red-eye flight from LAX to Washington DC airport (with a connection onto Raleigh) and discover it’s canceled! Of course they hadn’t notified me. No email, no phone call… nothing! Thank goodness I went to check in online that early. So with a phone call from a special helper I got a new flight with a layover in Newark. This one would leave 90 min earlier and get me in an hour later. A small sacrifice, still very doable.

Last night the flight left a touch later than expected due to excess baggage. They made the last 25% of passengers gate check their bags (including myself). But I deal with that just fine. I don’t have to pay for it and now I don’t have to lug the thing around. No big deal. We made up for the delay in the air and arrived in Newark on time (about 6:15am). Only as soon as I get there and look to the monitors to find where my Raleigh connection gate is, I discover that flight has been canceled. :( MAJOR bummer. It really feels like the floor has been taken right out from underneath you.

I get in a MONSTER of a line at customer service and when I finally get to the front they tell me that they can put me on STANDBY for a 4pm flight to Raleigh- mind you it’s 7am! I say okay (what choice do I have?) and they set me up. They also get me a ticket/seat for a 7:30pm flight in case I don’t make the 4pm. Ugh!

I walk off on my way, make a few phone calls, cry a little (yeah, whatever, I’m exhausted, deal with it). Then I look on my phone and see there’s a flight leaving Newark at 10am for Cleveland with a connection to Raleigh at 12:45pm. That’ll put me into Raleigh at 1:30pm! So I run back over the the agent and they set me up for that. They also check in on my luggage and tell me it’ll be on the 4pm flight and wait for me in Raleigh.

I get to my gate for the flight to Cleveland and everything seems to be moving on time. I’m confused why my flight to Raleigh at 9am was canceled and this one appears okay. If it’s weather, what really changed? In my humble opinion, it was BETTER when I arrived than it is now. I figure at least I’m getting out of Newark and Cleveland should be clear and good to go.

Unfortunately my luck in this whole ordeal settles in and we end up sitting on the tarmac for over an hour while other planes take off, they try to de-ice the runway, etc. It was a real joyous occasion. When we are finally cleared for take-off, it’s quite clear I won’t make that 12:45pm flight from Cleveland to Raleigh and I am correct.

I land in Cleveland at 1:15pm and go straight to customer service. I learned my lesson this time and I was the first one in line. :P

I get some new flight details from a jolly agent. I have to admit, Cleveland has been treating me pretty nice thus far, granted my scale is probably a little out of whack.

Anyway, that’s where this story ends (for now). I’m sitting in the Cleveland airport waiting for a 3:30pm flight to Charlotte (it’s 2:30 now) and then I have a connection there at 7:50pm that puts me in Raleigh at 8:42pm. There is an end in sight!

It’s time to get my boarding pass…. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

***UPDATE***

I knew it! Can’t be sure of anything these days… I went to get my boarding pass with the confirmation/schedule I was given by the customer service agent and because it was a different airline, I guess the seats didn’t show accurately because the flight was full. Arg!!

I walked back over to the customer service desk and talked to someone new. Now I’m on a 6:35pm flight to Charlotte with a connection to Raleigh that will get me in at 11:30pm. COME! ON! This time I have boarding passes for both the flights. And the lady took pity on me and gave me a meal voucher. That was nice. Gonna get dinner and probably a brew in an hour or so.

I don’t want to go without mentioning once more how thankful I am that this place has free wifi. Phew! I found an outlet and I’ve got a netflix movie loaded. Let’s kill some time!

Again, keep good thoughts for me PLEASE! With Murphy’s Law clearly in effect, I need all the help I can get.

Cleveland - looks A LOT better than Newark did

Happy New Year! (barely)

It’s the first of the year! (barely) Thank goodness I’m writing this from the pacific time zone, otherwise it’d already be the 2nd of the year and I’d be outta luck. Or I guess one could argue if I were writing this from that time zone it’d be the same time just in that time zone, because I’d have gone about my day just the same, only earlier. Right? Hmm, who knows? Hurts my brain a little to think about.

Alright so when I last left you all it was Christmas Day and I was SICK. AS. A. DOG. That hung around for the duration of my visit in Fort Lauderdale. Major bummer. And DEFINITELY NOT what I had in mind for that visit home. I was really disappointed. To make matters worse, I wound up infecting my dad too. He got sick our last day down south and prompted the Restas (Marcia and Mike) to kick us out! Haha. They didn’t technically force us to leave but merely encouraged us to take our germs out of a house with a toddler and a pregnant woman. Smart thinking really.

So, we moved on up!

On Tuesday, the 27th, we headed back up to Orlando. I started feeling a little better though the cold is still lingering with me even now. Good news it’s that it’s not NEARLY what it was. I was really laid up. Now I’ve just got some nasty congestion and some sluggishness. Hopefully some vitamin C will turn things around in a few more days.

So I was inspired to post on here this evening by a 2011 year-in-review summary from the WordPress people. They sent out this yearly report basically outlining the posts that were popular, where people came from most (aka most popular referring domains), and other fun stats that I actually found quite interesting. One such stat made me laugh and I’ve decided to share it with you all. It really needs no introduction, so here…

 

So there you have it. Among my 5 top commenters were 3 (THREE) of my immediate family. I guess this shouldn’t make me laugh, it’s just the fact of the matter when it comes to a personal blog. But, it made me giggle, and die a little inside, so I thought I’d share.

On another note I’d like to say a VERY special thank you to Wendy and Stephen for being the loyal blog followers and moreover, active participants, that they are. The readers truly make this thing worth writing and your comments motivate me.

That being said, if you’re out there reading this, LET ME KNOW IT! Either here on the blog or via a Facebook comment on the link that directed you here. It means the world to me. :)

Okay now I must warn you, I’m laying in bed and my lap is getting really hot from this computer so I gotta get going pretty soon. But, there is one last thing to share!

Today I went snowboarding for the first time this season and IT WAS A BLAST!

 

Me, syd, Evita, and Ana at Mt. High

 

When I say “I went,” I of course don’t mean I went alone! I took some penguins with me! Syd and Evita (above) play on the Fire Breathing Penguins (my basketball team) and Ana is E’s cousin (aka a psuedo-penguin). It was Ana’s first time and she picked it up QUICK! Meanwhile I dusted off the cobwebs early on and went right back into LOVING it! Soooo much fun! I can’t wait to get back out there again. :)

Before I go, let me leave you with one note: Tomorrow (aka in 11 hours) the Florida Gators will take on Ohio State for a bowl game that is pretty much to fight over Urban Meyer. Not that we want him back, that’s not the case at this point, we just want some retribution. He left us for “medical reasons” and we all understood. Then he signed on to coach those stupid trees/tree nuts and now it’s time to show the nation who’s better. It’s sure to be an intense game and suffice it to say the Buckeyes are GATORBAIT!

Alright, this laptop is officially burning my legs. Goodnight!

(Thanks for reading. Till next time…)

 

KtotheCulimnation

Annnnnd we made it! The 9 Days of KtotehChristmas draws to a close today! Unfortunately, I don’t have anything real exciting for our final day. In fact, I have the anti-climax for this final day. What’s that you ask? A whole bunch of NOTHING! Today I woke up sick. It wasn’t really surprising after several days of fighting off this lurking icky-ness, today it finally culminated in some REAL symptoms. Correction: last night it culminated.

Whilst Santa made his visits delivering presents, I spent my night between bed, the couch, and the kitchen. Twas most unpleasant. Buuuut, that’s the way it goes. This morning when my family woke up, I took some NyQuil so I could pass out get get the sleep I failed to achieve the night before. I made it through breakfast and most of the present opening and then went to bed. Then I spent most of the day on the couch while my family visited Marcia’s Mike’s grandma’s house for a potluck and gift exchange and a pick up kickball game. You can imagine my disappointment at missing all of this, but I really wasn’t up for it. I slept and slept some more. Ha. And now, after being up for about 5 hours, I’m ready to go back to bed.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring my health back, at least somewhat. I’d like to hit the beach since the weather is so nice here in Flat Top. :) We shall see.

Sorry for the whole KtotheChristmas bummer here. Lol. Before I go, I’ll share a few tid bits to leave things on a higher note!

1) Nathan (my nugget nephew) made out like a bandit this year! Ha! It was funny because he had a huge pile of presents and after the first one was unwrapped, he said, “Open?” and then only wanted to play with it. Lol. He also did that for just about every other present he unwrapped. Haha. It was so cute. Goes to show you kids that young (or any age really) don’t need quite so many toys. But, we do know how (and like) to spoil him. :D

2) This year we did a “Secret Santa” deal and it turns out mine was Jennifer! I was REALLY impressed with her. :D She got me a Gator snow hat and a scarf that’ll be AWESOME to wear while snowboarding. I’m planning to go on New Years’ Day so I’ll get to try it out soon!!! Also she got me some of my FAVORITE perfume that I happen to be out of! :)

3) One of the highlights of Christmas morning was a TOTAL surprise present from one particularly special person. :) Amanda, who you all ought to know by now, sent me a present here to Marcia and Mike’s house. After contacting Marcia and setting it up to surprise me, she mailed a gift here to be presented to me on Christmas. So, as we divided up the presents into piles this morning, there it was, a present from Amanda (which I at first thought was a joke from one of my family members). Super sweet, right?!? :) I thought so too… :D

I’ll guess I’ll stop there. Three is a nice round number as far as ‘tid bits’ go. So okay, maybe this post isn’t a total bummer afterall! :) Keep an eye out for more KtotheC posts. Even though our KtotheChristmas festivities are over, I’ve quite enjoyed this last week or so and I’d like to keep my momentum! :)

I hope all your Christmases and/or any other holiday celebrations were wonderful! Thanks for reading. Till next time…

 

The Eve of Mas Christ

Day 8 is here! It seems like this whole “9 days” deal has FLOWN by! It’s really quite remarkable… Or I guess it’s not really. It’s just consecutive days of blogging. Not really remarkable at all when you think about it. Oh well, so much for hyping it up.

Oh! Here’s something! For hype’s sake let me announce that this blog is coming to you from the East Coast! It’s true, I’m in good ol’ Florida right now. I woke up at the [butt] crack of dawn this morning (that would be 4am Pacific Time… ugh). Now don’t give me any, “That’s only 7am Eastern Kaycee…” because that is NOT the point! The essence is that I got VERY LITTLE sleep (like 4 hours) and then traveled all day only to arrive in Fort Lauderdale and put on a smiley face for all the Christmas Eve festivities. Needless to say, I’m exhausted. But, I’ve got good news: As you can tell, my exhaustion has not stopped me from carrying on my 9 Days of KtotheChristmas. :D

So as I mentioned, I spent most of today traveling. I don’t want to sit here and complain (woe is me…) but the travel thing today- not pleasant.

When I landed in Ft. Laudy, my dad and Marcia’s Mike picked me up and brought me back to Mike and Marcia’s place. Let me clarify a few things real quick: I say “Marcia’s Mike” because both of my wonderful older sister’s are involved with Mikes. One, Marcia, is married, and the other Jennifer, is engaged. Different Mikes, obviously. Haha. So yes, I must specify. My next clarification is why I’m landed in lovely Fort Lauderdale. That’d be because we’re spending Christmas this year in Coconut Creek at Marcia and Mike’s house. It was a pretty outstanding arrival. Before I even got into the house, my mom came out to give me a hug and Nathan (my little nugget nephew) came out as well… pantsless!!! It was SO cute! He was just standing in the driveway with a polo shirt and a diaper. I couldn’t help but smile. I’d post the picture but I didn’t get clearance yet from his mommy. She’s a bit of a stickler about what goes out on the internet (aka Facebook) of that little fella, and rightfully so! :) I did however manage to get this picture of him after Christmas Eve mass tonight. :)

How cute is he!?!?!

He looks like a little limo driver. Lol. And here are a few other pictures from tonight…

My wonderful parents :D

Me and my lovely sisters

Alright, I skipped ahead a little there. I got home, grabbed some lunch (even though it was 4pm, it was 1pm my time). I shouldn’t say that ‘my time’ thing. I really hate that cliche. I don’t OWN time. It’s not MINE. When I arrive on the East Coast, the eastern time zone is the one I’m in. I don’t get to revert back… of course, I’ll probably never stop doing that because it’s important to get traveler’s sympathy. ;) Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about.

So I got lunch, took a REALLY quick shower, and headed out to church. Afterwards, we did a Christmas Eve potluck type deal (it’s a tradition) at Marcia’s Mike’s parents’ house. :) I ate A LOT. It was glorious! Haha. Just what the holidays are about, right? Right.

Wake, fly, land, eat, shower, church, eat. That was my day. Haha. I also wrapped a few presents this evening and now I’m blogging. Blog! That’s an important one! :) But the best one… sleeeeeeeeeeep. :) I’m fixing to do that right now, just have to blow up my bed. Haha. Yeah, that’s right, I’ve been sentenced to an air mattress. (Woe is me.) ;)

Alrighty, thanks for reading… till next time (TOMORROW!!!! CHRISTMAS DAY!!!). Gnight!

Lucky (lucky?) Day 7!

Alrighty! First things first! It’s time for some self-promotion. :D

1) The Grinchmas episode of OTLWK posted! Check it out HERE!!!

2) Check out this cute holiday picture of Adam the Page and I backstage at the Tonight Show. :) You can also find it on OTLWK’s Facebook (On the Lot with Kaycee) and Twitter (@KayceeOTL) should you want to comment on a more popular social media outlet ;)

Adam the Page and Kaycee the Page :)

 

Okay now that that is over let’s celebrate lucky number 7! It’s Day SEVENNNNN of 9 Days of KtotheChristmas! We are SO close! Can you believe it?

Right now I’ve got some Christmas music playing as I fight off the sneezes (I’ve managed to catch a cold) and anticipate a VERY hot shower. I’ve got all the traditional symptoms- issues with body temperature regulation, aches and pains, a runny nose, and IRRITABILITY! Haha. That makes me sound like I’m PMSing but I think we can all agree when you’ve got a cold, you get a little pissy. Lol.

Today was great though! I was SOOOO happy it was Friday! This week moved slower than a my finger nails grow (and I bite them, so that’s SLOW). It’s just one of those weeks I guess. OH! The Peanuts Song! Thanks Pandora Christmas station! :) This song is hard not to bounce to a little bit. :) I honestly have no idea what it’s called… let me go look at my iPad (that’s playing through some speakers in the other room- Christmas Present! Woo!)……

It says the artist is “Linus and Lucy” haha. Song is “Vince Guaraldi Trio.” Interesting.

Okay, what was I talking about? Being sick? Oh no! This week moving slow. Yes, it did. But today was great! We taped the show early so I got out a bit earlier than usual. But the mood around the show was just festive and fun. Everyone is great spirits. So after work I took Gabe and Danielle to the LAX Flyaway Station. I offered an LAX trip but they said the Flyaway was fine. I’m glad too. As a Sicky Sickerson, I really just wanted to get home, which I did, after stopping around the corner at the Grilled Cheese truck which happens to be stationed REALLY close by. I got some grilled cheese and tomato soup. I think that’s the ideal for most people when they are sick, no? Okay good. That’s my excuse. I just finished eating that and here I am. Next up is PACKING! :( Ew.

As much as I am looking forward to going home tomorrow, I HAAAATE packing! Gross gross gross. And don’t you dare say it’s better than unpacking. That is the EASIEST! Everything just goes in the laundry. It’s a breeze. No weather checking, no debating what you can/can’t fit, no THINKING! Packing stinks and you know it.

It could be worse though. I was going to have to do laundry first and that would’ve kept me up super late (no fun). Luckily though my sister/mom said it’d be no problem to do laundry upon my arrival. Sooo that’ll be quite nice. Speaking of which,  it’s time I get on this. Once I pack then I can shower. And after I shower, I can go to BED! :) 4am (the time I have to get up tomorrow morning) is going to come REALLY FAST (despite how slow this week has moved). So I’m outta here!

Thanks for reading! Till next time (CHRISTMAS EEEEEEEVE!)!!!

Late but not never

Oh my gosh! It’s day 6! It’s much later in the evening that I’ve been posting these (aka past my bedtime) and I’m rather sleepy. Eeesh! But the reason I’m awake is a good one… I guess. I’m baking a dessert for tomorrow’s FINAL holiday lunch tradition. Wanna know what I’m making? Okay! Click HERE! I decided to attempt to make these for the first time based on a suggestion from a co-worker. She knew I was open to suggestion for a dessert item and this seemed festive and fun (and easy enough).

I have to admit the first batch I just took from the oven does NOT look quite the picture. :( They looked good going in… But then when I took them out, not so much.

Not exactly...

I’m not sure how to get them so perfectly shaped. But, as long as they taste good, I’ll be happy. So, we’ll see. You’d think I’d have tasted them right? But I didn’t. It’s just gonna be *fingers crossed* because I am BEYOND full! Maybe I’ll cave and try one before I go to bed, but for now I can’t even imagine someone in my mouth. I’m much too stuffed.

Why am I so full? Well that’d be because of yet another STELLAR food consumption day. Haha. Today at the show we had another food truck- 2 in fact. And WOW! Mind-blowing! No joke. I even took a picture. Look!

3 tacos and a choc chip ice cream sandwich rolled in oreos!

It was the Kogi/Kobi? BBQ truck (those are fusion tacos) and the King Kone ice cream truck. SOOOOO GOOOOOOOOD! I mean, seriously, delish.

Then for dinner I picked up Jordan and we went to Which Wich. Yum! This is a sandwich shop that I have had back in Florida but never knew existed out here! It’s quite yummy. I had my favorite and then Jordan bought me an oreo milkshake (their milkshakes are made with real ice cream and are just OUTSTANDING)! He bought it as a thank you since I was taking him to the airport. And that I did. I dropped him at LAX, came home to facetime with one special lady, and then got to baking. And that’s basically been my day. Decent enough huh? I thought so.

Tomorrow’s the last day of work until I’m officially on Christmas vacation! Yayyyyy! :) I can’t wait to come home and see my fam jam!!! It’s going to be so wonderful.

Wish I had more time to share excitement but I really gotta get these cookies done and get in bed! I’m exhausted! Annnnnd my timer is going off! Eeeeek!

Thanks for reading! Till next tiiiiime (tomorrow duh)…

The Other Side of Halfway

Day Fiiiiiive! Makes me think of high fives! Those are the best, aren’t they? I mean, can you think of a better way to display and share your camaraderie and excitement? I could really do a monologue on how amazing they are, but that’s not really Christmas related so I’ll hold off for now. It’s Day 5 of 9 Days of KtotheChristmas! Can you believe it?! As I pointed out in my title there, we’re on the OTHER side of halfway done, since I can’t do a blog 4th and a half blog post. But oh man, if I could, it’d have been THE MOST AMAZING HALFWAY CELEBRATION EVER! Mostly because I don’t think people ever really celebrate halfway. That’d be silly, wouldn’t it? I mean, you’re not really certain you’re going to make it ‘all the way’ when you’re only halfway there. And what if it’s a relationship? You have no way of knowing when “halfway” is, and if you do, it’d likely offend your significant other to think you know when your demise is coming. And celebrating making it halfway to that demise, also not a smart move. So, I guess I don’t really need to be celebrating at all. I’m sorry for my nonsense there.

Sooooo todayyyyyyy, day 5. What did I do? Well, it was yet another day at work. I punched in and out. We had more lovely treats courtesy of staff and crew. Today there was a food truck- the “Let’s be Frank” hot dog truck catered lunch at the show courtesy of a very special musically inclined individual. Tomorrow, there will be another food truck courtesy of another individual at the show. Isn’t it cool? To think for Christmas there’s someone buying the ENTIRE staff lunch? That’s pretty stellar if you ask me. And I have to admit I’m happy to be a part of that staff. :D

So that was pretty cool (and delicious). I topped my beef hot dog with grilled onions, sauerkraut, mustard, ketchup, and their special “devil sauce.” I suppose that sauce wasn’t named in the most festive of spirits but it is SUPERB! Haha. Needless to say, I very much enjoyed my lunch today.

After the show, I also got to take a picture with Jay. Not alone, but as part of the whole little Tonight Show on-air/online family. Jay, Rickey Minor (our bandleader), Bryan (of Backstage with Bryan), Kaycee (of On the Lot with Kaycee), and Adam the Page (of the Adam the Page segments) all got together to pose for a picture- a bit of a holiday card if you will- that they will be posting over the break… or maybe before the end of the week to be honest. They probably want that baby up before Christmas. We shall see.

The interesting part of this is I found out with about an hour notice. This wouldn’t normally be a problem as I can just waltz in to my little pseudo office with web, change into my page uniform, get a touch up by hair and make-up and be ready in about 10-20 minutes. Trouble was, after the Grinchmas reading on Monday night, I figured I was good to go with “Kaycee the Page” stuff and asked wardrobe if they could dry clean my uniform over the break. Now, let me just say, I’ve asked wardrobe to dry clean that suit twice (this time included). Yeah, so one other time and then Tuesday (yesterday). And then OF COURSE, I end up needing it today. Well, I told my boss that I didn’t have my suit and she asked if I could borrow one. So I frantically begged the actual pages to borrow a suit. Then I needed a white blouse because they don’t keep those in stock. That I was thankfully able to get from wardrobe- albeit, I ended up with a men’s shirt that was about 14 sizes too big. Luckily it didn’t matter because it went under my Page jacket anyway. Then, I had the problem of having my hair up… and I’ll admit it, a bit disheveled. Tom, the hair guy at the show, fixed me up right quick, then David added some much needed make up, and I was good to go JUST in time! It was hectic to say the least. But, I made it in time for the photo. Isn’t it fun knowing a bit of the back story? I hope so. Like I said, you’ll probably see that photo soon. When it posts, I’ll be sure to give you a link. :D

When I got home from work, I set up my new toy! A super awesome iPad dock with speakers, a rotating stand, and downloadable app. HERE’s a link to my new toy. :D So I got that baby set up and enjoyed some tunes and then Jordan came over. We chatted a bit (and I showed off my toy) and then we headed to an improv show at the Upright Citizens Bridge Theater. I had REALLY been looking forward to this show because it featured one of my favorite improvisors, Ben Schwartz (you may know him as Jean Ralphio on NBC’s Parks and Recreation), doing a special holiday show with a group he put together. Jordan came along with me to enjoy the hilarity that ensued. The group included Adam Pally from ABC’s Happy Endings (he was SUPER FUNNY), former SNL head writer and the writer/director of Anchorman, Adam Mckay, and former SNL cast member Horatio Sanz.

I mean, it was a FLIPPIN STELLAR CAST and a FANTASTIC SHOW! I was quite pleased.

Now I’m just home enjoying my evening and writing to you all. Not a bad day, huh? I didn’t think so.

But it is time to call it just that… get it? “Call it a day.” Like say goodbye. Okay, you do get it. Good. So thanks for reading! Till next time… (tomorrow)

Halfwayyyyy! (ish)

Day 4, here I am! I’m nearly halfway through 9 days of KtotheChristmas! I should just go ahead and say that I’m halfway because with 9 days, there’s no”4.5th day” where I can commemorate being halfway. Soooo, yeah I’ll just go for it now… Hey! We made it halfway!!!! :) Yayyyy us! I guess you don’t really get a pat on the back, do you? What have you done? Aw, I so don’t mean that. You’re here reading this and that’s all I could ask for. I’ll admit I often sit and think who reads this? Am I totally wasting my time by composing these things? That’s where your comments are SUPER handy. They fuel me to compose. (Wow that sounded almost poetic.) Okay, so I appreciate you is what I’m trying to say. You get it? Great. Now, moving on…

Today marks day 4 of KtotheChristmas and this whole deal isn’t just about blogging for 9 days in a row. Sure, that’s the essence of what’s going on, but it is NOT the point. The point is to share holiday cheer and merriment, to post about something that is filled with just that, or at minimum, to relate the post back to Christmas or the holidays in SOME way. Get it? Okay.

Today, Tuesday, December 20th, started out like any other workday. I woke up and worked out (Go me! Can we have a mini celebration for that? It’s not everyday I find the motivation to get out of bed for a workout) and then headed into work. This morning at the show, we had a “Christmas Breakfast” put on by a couple of the guys at the show. They do this EVERY year (it’s SEVERAL years running now) and the special “Christmas Breakfast” is tamales!!!! They are delicious. They prepare scrambled eggs and beans and tamales for the entire staff and crew and we all feast when we get to work! They also had a Mocha Kiss coffee bar set up with a barista fixing custom made coffee drinks. AMAZING! I’m so lucky to work at this place. :)

After breakfast, the day went on pretty normally. One exception is that with the holidays around, there are TREATS EVERYWHERE! I had a slice of pecan pie after lunch (there were several pies brought in by 2 ladies that work on our crew) and some homemade chocolate chip cookies (brought by our receptionist). SO GOOD! It really doesn’t feel like work at all.

A side note: the assistants/talent coordinators (aka most of the cubicle dwelling staff) get together each year and do a special Holiday Lunch deal. They each take turns preparing a special homemade holiday lunch and share with each other. It lasts for as many days as there are people involved and it’s SPECTACULAR! I got involved last year as I was filling in for an assistant during the tradition. This year, I made a point to offer up my services so I could once again delight in the feasts. So, today, we all enjoyed baked ziti and garlic bread for lunch. YUM! :) Shout out to Derek Jones (@TooDerek on Twitter, he’s a writers’ assistant at the show and super funny) for doing the cookin!

Alright, post-work I came home and had dinner (a light one after all the consumption I did whilst at work) and a glass of wine and listened to Ross Mathews (formerly Ross the Intern at the Tonight Show) do his first LIVE podcast. It was really pretty cute. The theme was “Holiday Bitch Fest” where basically he encouraged listeners to call in to vent about their holiday frustrations. I decided to participate and actually got through to talk to him! Check out the re-broadcast HERE (or cut and paste this url http://helloross.blogspot.com/2011/12/helloross-radio-holiday-bitch-fest-re.html into your browser)! The link will take you to Ross’ site where you can click the little “BlogTalkRadio” button. The white/grey bar to the right turns into a time line and you can cheat forward if you don’t want to listen to the whole thing. I come in right about 26:30. :) Go onnnn, listen to it!!  And if you’re really wild, comment on HIS site and tell him you loved it (and me) ;) Maybe then he and I can work together in the future. Wouldn’t that be insane?! Oh my, the thought is simply titillating (I don’t get to use that word enough, but it’s rather appropriate here)!

Now I’m debating going to bed. It’s my whole get up early to work out schedule that’s making me sleepy at 9:30PM. Such a bummer but it’s really necessary given my typically busy evening schedule.

Oh! One more tidbit before I say farewell: Today we finished much of the editing for the OTLWK at Grinchmas episode. It’s not too fancy- no bells or whistles- but it gives you a good idea of what I went there to do. And hopefully will spread a little holiday cheer (much like this blog). Keep an eye peeled for that later this week!

Alrighty, that’ll do it! Thanks for reading! Till next time… (tomorrow)

The Third Day!

Why hello there KtotheC-ers! It’s day 3 of 9 Days of KtotheChristmas and I’m here, loyal as ever, bringing you an update a day up through Christmas Day. It’s really quite exciting, isn’t it? Yes, I know. But hold your excitement, and your bladders- no one likes a pants pee-er.

Today I went to work and filled in for one of the assistants who called in sick. Not just any assistant, mind you, the executive producer’s assistant. That’s always a pretty sweet gig. I like knowing what’s going on with the show and feeling super “in the know.”:D

Things are rather busy at the show this week with a hiatus coming next week. And, being that it’s the winter holiday hiatus, the whole staff basically turns into little elves. There are all kinds of fun surprises this week- some of which have already been revealed including several visits by food trucks and other goodies that are given to the staff and crew as [Christmas] presents. :D It’s sure to be delightful! And the treats will help us power through to that annual celebration of Jesus’ birthday. (You like the way I put that? I thought you might.)

Okay,  I know what you’re aching to hear about- the Grinchmas reading! Right?! I hope so. If you read my blog from yesterday, you know what I’m talking about. Tonight I was the ‘celebrity reader’ for Universal’s Grinchmas “Wholiday” Tree Lighting. Basically each night during Grinchmas, they do a REALLY cute little show with characters from the classic “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and then light the Wholiday Tree. It’s really well done. Before the “prime time” tree lightings, they have a celebrity reader come out and read an adapted portion of Dr. Seuss’ classic story that sets up the performance. So tonight I was one of those “celebrity” readers! (Please notice my quotation, I know I’m no celeb.) Pretty cool, right? I thought so! I wish I could tell you more and/or show you some pictures, BUT it’ll have to wait. We brought a camera along and are planning to create an “On the Lot with Kaycee” episode from this event so I can’t share any of the good stuff just yet. Rest assured, the ep is coming and hopefully will be finished, approved, and posted by the end of this week!!! I will share one tiny little tid bit though: I had a REALLY good time! :) Ha! That’s hardly a share… oh well. Deal with it. ;)

Alright, that’ll do it for Day 3. Thanks for reading! Till next time (tomorrow)…

Day 2 (for one)

Hey hey hey! Or maybe just two “hey”s since it’s Day 2 of the 9 Days of KtotheChristmas. I was really torn on whether to count up or down. It’s tricky right? Because the 12 Days of Christmas song counts down. And I suppose that’s what everyone is doing really, counting DOWN to Christmas. Maybe I should flip it to go with the flow. Nahhh, when have I ever been one to adjust to the norm? Day 2 it is!

Okay while I mentioned the topic of that 12 days of Christmas song, I have to just bring this up. What the heck is that about?! I get it was created long ago but it still doesn’t make sense. Christmas is ONE day. Chanukah isn’t even 12 days. It’s just some arbitrary number they pulled to make a list from. And the upsetting thing is, it seems like they really had to make some random stuff up to fill in the space. Like 11 pipers piping… 10 lords a leaping? They obviously ran out of ideas there. Oh and don’t even get me started on all the poultry references. 7 swans, 6 geese, 4 birds, 3 hens, 2 doves, a partridge! It seems like they just wanted to sing about birds and then sort of ran out of stuff. Someone should’ve been like, “Hey guys, how about we just stop at 7 then? This other stuff seems out of place? And what’s with the rings in the middle of all of the awesome bird references?” Alright, I’m done.

So, day 2, or for some of you, day 8, or for some more of you just Sunday, I did something pretty exciting! :) I went to Universal’s GRINCHMAS!!! Can I just say WOW!!? They do a real nice job of decorating and entertaining over there at Universal Studios Hollywood and I’m not even trying to toot my own horn (because NBC, my employer, is a sister-company with Universal). That is the reason I had tickets though. They gave us 4 passes at the beginning of this year and I, in turn, gave them to a friend for their birthday. That’s re-gifting at its finest. Today, essentially the last weekend to use them, we finally went! Danielle, Gabe, Jordan, Jeff, and I had a blast! Yes, I know that’s more than 4 people… we did buy one ticket. Lol.

We rode the rides and enjoyed some fake snow and a Christmas tree lighting. It was a joyous occasion.

Being a Grinch! ;)

:D

The timing is actually pretty funny too because I’ll be returning tomorrow night to do a “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” reading before the tree lighting ceremony tomorrow night. They do this celebrity (that term is obviously used loosely here) reading series and they asked me to participate because of my affiliation with the Tonight Show’s website. Seemed like a pretty awesome opportunity to take On the Lot with Kaycee OFF the lot, so I said sure! :) I have to admit I’m a little nervous but it was cool being at the park today to scope things out. And see the little promotions they had for it that MY NAME/FACE will be on tomorrow. I’m even on their website HERE. Look at the 19th. :D

Soooo that’ll be cool tomorrow night. I’ll of course have the full report here on the 9 Days of KtotheChristmas. Woo!

Alright, that should about do it for Day 2. Thanks for reading! Till next time (tomorrow)…