Moving On Up!

Hello, friends! I have very exciting news to share!  I am moving from weekend evenings to WEEKDAY MORNINGS! 

Photo courtesy of ESQ Photography

I feel so blessed for this new opportunity and cannot wait to join the already stellar morning crew of Ali, Kent and Britnee.  Please watch me at my new time from 4-7am on NewsChannel 4 and 7-9am on Freedom 43 TV's "Rise & Shine."  For those of you not familiar with "Rise & Shine" it's definitely a different type of news program!  Lance, Britnee and I have a lot of fun joking around and interacting with viewers. Please give it a try!  The new gig starts January 31st.

Goodbye Weekend Friends

My second week on air at KFOR-TV. Oh the memories!

No, that's not Russell Westbrook...it's Ed Doney!

I started out at KFOR-TV in December 2009 as the weekend morning meteorologist.  Approximately 4 months later Jonathan Conder left and I moved up to weekend evenings.  I started out with Bobbie Miller and then Joleen Chaney took her place after Bobbie left on Maternity leave (and then to Channel 9).  Joleen and I became close friends via fundraising for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through Team in Training (why I started this blog!).  We trained and successfully completed our first Half Ironman in September 2011 and thanks to great support from friends, family and viewers, raised $6,000 for LLS!  We coined our team "Team Jo & Em."  I will miss working alongside my buddy on the weekends but you will definitely see more of "Team Jo & Em" as we train for more events and raise money for various charities!  I'd also like to give a shout out to all of my fabulous weekend behind the scenes crew, my Sunday evening co-anchor, Ed Doney, and our weekend sports anchor, Brian Brinkley.  I will miss working with you all but I'm not going to lie...I will enjoy the perks...

I will miss these goofballs!

The Perks

Morning show ladies! 

For the first time in my career I will have weekends off! WOO HOO!  This means I can race or train in the mornings and actually REST the rest of the day!  I can go to friends' weddings and not have to take two vacation days!  And of course, during the week I get done with my shift by mid-morning and have the rest of the day to workout and do whatever I want!  But most importantly, I will be doing 5 hours straight of doing what I love...giving the weather!  And I get to have awesome and very experienced counterparts!  This will only help me improve and grow as a meteorologist.  I'm pumped.

The Downside

Waking up at 2AM.  Yikes. No one should get up that early.  I am a natural night owl.  I usually stay UP until 1:30 or 2 and LOVE to sleep in.  I'm not talking about 10AM sleep in. I'm talking about I-have-to-set-my-alarm-to-wake-up-at-2PM-sleep-in.  I guess I never grew out of that "teenage sleeping" phase.  This will be a challenge initially but I will have to experiment and see what works best routine-wise.  I know other morning show people in the biz either go to be really early (6PM) or take a nap when they come home after the show and go to bed a little bit later (9PM).  In order to have somewhat of a social life (dinner with friends, trainings), I will likely try the latter.  When I filled in a few weeks ago I was so foggy for the 4AM that I got up and worked out at 1:30 in the morning! Yes, I swam laps at 1:30 in the morning!  That was a first!  But it worked and got ride of some of the haze.  I will let you know how it goes!  But no matter what...mama needs her sleep.

Thank God for coffee!

Timing

Timing is everything.  I believe the Lord had his hand in this whole deal.  I feel so blessed than I even GOT a job at one of the best places to do experience and study weather on Earth. I never thought David Payne would leave but he did.  And he left right when my contract was about to expire. Crazy timing!  I feel blessed that my station's management and fellow employees support me 100% in my  new move to weekday mornings. 

Picture courtesy of ESQ Photography. This is my EXCITED FOR MORNINGS face!

I hope you will join me on this new adventure.  I start January 31st!  See you in the mornings!