Holiday Work Party

As if the month of December wasn't busy enough, I also squeezed in an NBC.com work party for the holidays. This year, the party was held at super hip club of the moment, Voyeur in West Hollywood. It was casino-themed and the party planners pulled out all the stops. We were each given 500 dollars of fake money to gamble on all types of casino games. At the end of the night, each 100 dollar token was worth a raffle ticket. They were serving up prizes from iPods to 500 dollar gift certificates to Vegas.com. Needless to say, I didn't win anything, BUT, it was still very cool to see so many of my coworkers in a social setting. We manage to have fun and it reminded me I work with such a great group

I Love New York

Almost immediately after coming home from Australia, I had to pack my bags, again. This time, it was my first work trip to the concrete jungle of New York City. I was accompanied by my boss and it was an amazing trip. Not only was it great to get back East to the excitement of the Big Apple, it was great to finally get face time with people I had been on emails with for so long. The first night, we attended our sales department's holiday party in their building and watched the lighting of the big tree. The rest of the trip was filled with visiting the set of Law & Order: SVU, where I was placed in the prison, where all the perps go. Then, it was heading to Long Island to the set of 30 Rock, where I sat down with Tina Fey and watched a filming of an episode. I was also able to grab dinner with my friend, also named Maggie, who had recently transferred to the sales department at NBC in New York. The trip was capped off by attending a taping of Saturday Night Live with Blake Lively and Rihanna and getting to go to the after-party and then going to the after-after party and finally crawling to the hotel at 7 am, only to have to be at the airport at 11. The only way to do it in the city that never sleeps.

Academy Celebration

As many of you know, from reading my blog, that I was nominated twice at this year's Creative Arts Emmys for my work on The Office and 30 Rock websites. It was a true honor to be nominated. Earlier in the week, I was invited with my dot com team to attend a Grey Goose-sponsored cocktail hour to help celebrate the achievement in just being nominated. That was fun and very generous of the Academy of Television and Arts to hold an event in our honor for just being nominated. Not to mention it was very fun to celebrate with my coworkers and talk to other people who work in my field.

Daytime Emmys!

I know it's been a couple of weeks since my last post and I should have done this one earlier, but, hey, I was busy. As you can read from my title, I am blogging about one of my favorite perks about work, award season! I love this time of year because you have an excuse to get dolled up and party. This year's Daytime Emmy ceremony was special because "Days of our Lives" earned a record 13 nominations, including Best Drama. The ceremony took place in downtown LA in 103 degree heat. But, regardless, the red carpet was a lot of fun. I found myself walking it with Elmo! Very surreal experience. Once inside The Orpheum Theatre, we were able to watch history take place as Sesame Street accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award and the audience was encouraged to stand-up and sing with Big Bird, Oscar, Elmo and all the others. So much fun. After the cocktail ceremony and banquet dinner, the NBC crew headed to downtown's Broadway Bar, where we were hosting our party. That went on until closing time and we all had reason to celebrate. We might have not won Outstanding Drama, but Darin Brooks won Outstanding Younger Actor and Tamara Braun won Outstanding Supporting Actress for our show. Gave us good reason to toast a round of drinks or two and commend the cast and crew on what a wonderful job every has done this season.

Emmys!

So, I am proud to announce that yours truly has been nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Digital Experience with her work on The Office and 30 Rock. That's right, two of my shows, one award. I don't want to get my hopes way up, because there is always a dark horse contender, but the odds are pretty nice. And if anything, it's very cool to say I was at least nominated. No, I mean that. But, the competitive side of me really wants the victory, to know all of my hard work is finally going to pay off in the end. And if it doesn't, I'll take full advantage of the open bar at the ceremony. Keeping in mind, the actual award won't be given out during the big ceremony, but the night before at the event that Kathy Griffith so affectionately calls, "The Schmemmys." I don't care, I'll take it! Keep your fingers crossed for September 20th!
Just a sample of the content I worked on for my nominated sites:

http://www.nbc.com/30_Rock/exclusives/dealbreaker/ladies-behind-the-catchphrase.shtml
http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/video/categories/adventures-with-angela/31258/

Long Time Coming

So, I know I haven't posted on here since my Mom's visit and that was what seems like a long time ago. The truth is, when I get very busy at work, as a writer, the last thing I really want to do is feel like I have to come home and blog. But, never the less, I can give a few brief updates of what I have been up to. Life for me has been keeping me steady. Summer is usually a down time for most, but for me, having two of the top-trafficked websites, that can keep you at work well past the hours it's time to go home. But, because it's me, I still try to manage and have fun wherever I can find it. Even if that means getting box seats with club house access to a Dodgers game with the Days of our Lives cast. Had a great time a few weeks ago with the crew. Sported my Dodger pride, had beer, a soy hot dog made especially for me and a nice extra-innings win for our home team. There are times the perks to the jobs are nice to take, even if sometimes feel you don't always deserve them and then it's nice to take the perks with the job when you really, really deserve them. This was one of those days.

Happy 100 to The Office

This week was a fun and busy week. I covered "The Office" 100th episode celebration of in the Calabasas canyons. Super fun and I managed to hang out with my favorites from the show, as well as interview Steve Carell for the first time. A lot of media outlets were on hand to cover, but I don't think any of them received warm hugs from the cast like I did ;)
We spent most of the day in the middle of the celebration, which was literally located in the middle of nowhere. The next morning, I went up there with my web producer to cover some fun interviews with Angela Kinsey for her "Ask Angela" feature for the website. I managed to also bond a little with Jenna Fischer, someone I had not met before this week. She was super polite and we just kicked it her trailer, as Angela filmed her feature. The entire experience made me realize how lucky I am to have such a cool gig, as well as made me feel lucky that I am at the point where celebrity doesn't phase me. I am more comfortable with my interviews based on the attitudes of the people I hang with and not with the amount of how famous they are. Though, sometimes both are related.
Attached is the interview I conducted with Steve and a sample of the fun videos to come and a photo of my web producer and video producer next to the "The Office" 100th episode celebration cake. A cake that I regretfully didn't sneak a slice of :(
I leave to meet my friends from Portland in Vegas tomorrow. I no doubt, will have plenty of stories to share when I return!

Creative Outlet

I live in a city where it seems like nobody is doing what they came out here to really do. I came out here with no real agenda, therefore, I can't complain. I did land a pretty sweet job that only got better as I climbed the ladder. But, now that I have been at my job for three years, I would love find some other creative outlet to keep me busy/occupied/moving forward.
On Friday night, I attended the opening night of "Beneath Her Feet." A lovely play written by my friend, Laura Birek. The play got me thinking how great it must have felt for Laura to have her day to day job, also find the time to tap into her creative side and sit down and not only write a play, but be involved with searching for a venue and actors. I have promised myself to start finding that kind of free time in my own day to day schedule. I know it exists, I am just not looking hard enough. Would love to sit and and just write and then read what words came out. I have faith this will come together. Don't know if it will be a script or a comedy routine or something else completely random. I guess all I can do now is just stay tuned and to see what happens next!

New Post? Really?

I know it's been a very long time since I have blogged about anything. The truth of the matter is, I have been staying busy. Most of my hours, lately, have been taken up with putting words on a computer screen that the thought of having to actually come home and do the same thing is kind of dreadful. That's not to say I don't have a lot going on, I do. My weekends have been constantly built out with social engagements, surfing, friends visiting and so on. I guess I can say my weekends have been feeling like, well, weekends. And it has been very nice.
So, I guess I can give a brief highlight of some of the past things I could have blogged about, but decided not to, out of just not wanting to.
- One of my closest friends from Portland came to visit me for the first time. That was very fun. I always love when friends visit. It gives me an excuse to take a day off from work, go to expensive, but celebrity-haven restaurants, hit the club/bar scene, and give a tour of my work. Which I rarely take the time to be proud of, until somebody visits me.

- I signed up for my first Malibu triathlon. I am very nervous and scared, but since figure there's only one way to see if you can accomplish it and that's by doing it.

- I recently got into the show "Damages" on F/X. If you have not seen it, you must! I rarely get into shows on TV, anymore, because they either suck or get cancelled. This is one I stand one hundred percent behind.

So, there you go. Just a few subjects I could have easily blogged about, but didn't. I promise I will be better. I have a few more fun things coming my way. Starting tomorrow, when I have to cover a photo shoot featuring Days of our Lives hunk, Jay Kenneth Johnson, in a bubble bath. Yeah, sometimes it's tough having my job :)

Golden Globes

This year, I had volunteered to work the Golden Globes. Can you believe NBC needed volunteers for that? I was assigned to red carpet. Talk about luck, out of 40 positions, I landed a red carpet gig. My responsibility was to deliver the memory cards from the Entertainment Tonight booth to the digital press room. I reported to red carpet duty at 2 and was given a brief tour of who I was working with and the path I would take. The ET booth just happened to be the first booth on the carpet, meaning I had to go clear from the other side of the carpet to the entrance of the hotel to drop off the memory cards. The process started out pretty slow because none of the big names had arrived. But, as soon as the show was within 30 minutes of starting, the madness began. I was going back and forth with used up memory cards featuring photos of such stars as Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet and Jennifer Lopez. Even though it was breaking the rules a bit, I even snuck my own pictures on the red carpet. It was such a once in a lifetime opportunity. From helping Leo's mom at the ET booth, where she thanked me with a hug, to spotting Brad and Angelina on the red carpet and snapping two very quick photos for my possible once in a lifetime moment.
I even made the background of some of the photos the photographers were snapping on the red carpet. It was quite a trip!
After the red carpet, I headed to the winner's room, where the presenters and Golden Globe winners go to take pictures with their awards. Back there, I was hanging with the likes of Martin Scorcese, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and the cast of 30 Rock. After the show, I headed to the NBC after-party, but before I could get my groove on, I had to bandage up my poor and blistered feet. I snuck off to the halls of the Hilton and as I was putting the bandages on, a woman tapped me from behind to ask how my blisters were because they looked painful. I look up and it was the one and only Sigourney Weaver. I love Sigourney and always will because she played one of my all-time favorite movie characters, Katharine Parker from "Working Girl". If I wasn't so starstruck, I might have even told her that.
Despite the blisters, the very tired Monday morning, and very long day of working, I wouldn't trade that experience for the world. Now all I can do is hope I actually make the red carpet as an invited guest someday!

Back to Work

So, as you know, I just got back from a wonderful vacation (see below post) but now it's time to enter the real world. And in real world, I mean work. It took awhile to get back in the swing of things. I wanted to shut my office door and avoid contact with people all together, but for some reason couldn't get away with it. I did, however, decide to come back to work on a Friday, which was nice, my boss was out of the office and a lot of people were either already gone for the holidays are too busy in their own work to take notice of my return. Which gave me time to go through my 355 emails I had waiting for me. The good news is this week proved to add a little more fun into my day to day schedule. I got to cover The Biggest Loser Finale, which is always entertaining. The actual waiting process isn't. We sit in a freezing press trailer watching the East coast feed of the show and listen to other reporters comment back and forth. Then, 15 minutes before they reveal the winner, the press has to gather next to the stage and wait. As soon as the credits roll, we have to charge the stage with microphones in hand. It's a little maddening. Especially, since the winner had only 30 minutes to do press before hopping on a plane to do the Today show in the morning. Good news, I got the interview. It was quick, but that's just what I needed. In fact, I was able to grab all the interviews I wanted. It's almost a bit of a rush up on that stage. It's always flattering when Bob and Jillian remember me by name and Alison Sweeney makes her way across the stage to say hello. I must say. Not to mention, that damn show gets my tears flowing every time. So happy that Michelle won. The real tear jerker is next season's premiere, which airs January 6th, 8/7c. Ugh, I just plugged my own show on this blog.
Anyway, here's just a sample of what I did at the finale. There are a lot more on NBC.com. Ugh, there I plugged myself, again

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

NBC.com's Latest Star

I had a pretty cool thing happen to me at work today. I was featured in THREE different web exclusives for NBC.com. I know, this is a total shameless plug. But, it's not everyday, I can look on our site and see my face on the homepage. Then, go to the Days of our Lives homepage and I am featured as the front promote, then go to the Days Insider text blog, and it's my entry and photos and then go to the NBC Green is Universal website and it's my blog! Too much self-promo for one person to handle? Probably. But, what can I say, I am shameless.
Click here for the Green Blog.
Click here for the Days Insider Text Blog
and...
Click here for all of my interviews on the website. Remember, every Tuesday and Thursday, new ones go live.

Enjoy!

My debut!

This has been a very exciting week for me and not only because for the first time in my voting history, my chosen candidate won, but because I made my online debut as a host of my own web show! 

Last Saturday, NBC hosted their very-own Day of Days event for "Days of our Lives" at Universal Studios in Hollywood. NBC.com sent me with a video/producing crew to interview fans and actors from the show. I had my own little room where the actors came and chilled with me. I was nervous around the talent at first, but as more and more actors were being made comfortable, I was being made comfortable, right back! I still cannot see myself on camera, I hate it. But, it makes me feel very good to know that my work is being seen by thousands online. NBC.com has given me a great promote for it and I'll have new stuff going up every week for at least a couple of months. I hope everybody checks it out at the "Days of our Lives" website. I also hope to do a lot more fun stuff like this in the near-future!

Fall is Upon Us

In my line of work, the fall season proves to be one of the busiest. We have new shows premiering left and right and we have old classics returning. Lucky for me, I chose to stick with all the classics, except for Kath & Kim, a comedy with Molly Shannon airing on Thursdays. As I have pointed out before, "The Office" remains one of my favorites to work on. It helps when you are a fan of the show.
Last Thursday, I was scrambling to get all of the updates for the website in place and not even working nearly as hard as the web producer I work with, Joya. She and i team up quite regularly and she was the one who I went to Scranton with the year before. Well, she instant messaged me on Thursday with a note saying to meet her in the hall. Instantly, I was unsure if I should bring weapons for a fight. Because, you know, stress can get the best of people. But, instead, she told me she was attending The Office premiere party in Hollywood and wanted to know if I could go, too. I was shocked and of course, flattered that she asked me. Of course, I said, "yes".
I ran home and changed into something casual and headed to Hollywood Billiards. The valet was crazy because clearly, everybody who was invited to go to the party decided to show up minutes before the show started. Once I was able to get my car taken care of, I walked in with Phyllis and Lesley (Phyllis and Stanley from the show) and loved what I saw. At the private party, they had giant screen TVs everywhere with the show on, a huge buffet set-up and an open bar. Everytime an act ended, people applauded and walked around and got drinks. I was able to see my favorites like Oscar and Craig Robinson and was able to see other NBC friends. I was even more flabbergasted to see Steve Carell, his wife Nancy, John Krasinski, and Jenna Fischer also there. The main cast never really show up to such events. They seemed to hang out together, but it was still a trip to see them making an appearance. I wish I had a little more nerve, or alcohol in me, I would have said something to John Krasinski, otherwise known as my soulmate! But, instead, we enjoyed the party and stayed and watched Creed, Craig, and Oscar shoot pool while I chatted with other backstage members of the show. I have to say, I don't think any of the other shows are going to be able to pull off the premiere night we had on Thursday with the cast of "The Office."

Morning with The Hoff

Sometimes my job can be boring and simply eight hours behind a desk. Sometimes, it can be hectic filled with meetings all over the place followed by strict deadlines. And sometimes, my job can be a lot fun. I like days like that. For example, this morning I had to be in Malibu at 9 for a video piece titled, "Ask The Hoff". The reason I had to be in Malibu was I had to report to duty at David Hasselhoff's very-own Malibu beach house. I had produced the same feature last year, but at his house in the Mountaingate Estates in the hills. But, the beach house was something I had only dreamed of being invited to. It was something out of the movies. The waves literally came crashing right below his desk. When I joked that I should have brought my surfboard and call it a day, he offered up the invitation that any time I wanted a place to surf, I could use the house. Something tells me has forgotten that invitation by now. Oh well, at least he gave me a story.
While shooting the segment with my video producer, I also played David's assistant. I answered his phone, took messages. Meanwhile, he never stops. He truly is one of the hardest working men in show business and I guess that is how he has managed to stay relevant all these years. I give the man credit, his brain goes a hundred miles a minute thinking of ideas and contacts and ways to get his name spread to even further.
The shoot wrapped up at around 10.30 and I got a hug and a kiss on the cheek for all of my hard work. Thanks, Hoff! Look for the feature on NBC.com in September. Can't wait to see how the finished product turned out.

Busy Few Days

These last few days have been very busy for me. But, in a good way that involve a filled up social calendar. Sunday night, I managed to get myself on the invite list for the NBC Press Tour after party at the Beverly Hills Hilton. My biggest fear was feeling out of place, but that simply wasn't the case. I found a lot of friends there, some famous, some night. When the night ended at 10 pm, or shall I say, when the party ended at 10 pm, we just all headed downstairs to Trader Vic's to continue the mingling. I felt like I was at a prom after party, complete with guys dressed in loose ties and girls getting giggly with rum barrels. It was fun and it had me getting in bed by 2.30 am. That part, not so fun. Especially, when I had to get up four hours later for work.
After the very slooooow day at work on Monday, I headed out to another social function at the Sky Bar. The event itself was a young professional networking thing, that came with 20 dollar valet and 14 dollar cocktails. The lighting in the bar sucked, so whatever networking you were there to do, was getting quickly lost with the fact that no light leads to no reading name tags and seeing if that person was worth talking to or not to begin with. So, my NBC crew headed to Mel's Diner up the blog for six dollar food and gossip about the fact Pauly Shore was eating outside and making desperate attempts to get noticed by just about anybody. I ended my night with a small group of good friends from work, the real group of people I wanted to be talking to the whole night, anyway. On the way out, we passed the Stone Brothers, who were a comedian act from our reality show, Last Comic Standing. We chatted with them a bit and they even went as far to say that I should try stand-up because I was very funny and had great delivery and timing. So, thanks Stone Brothers. Because of that little push, I have a notebook full of comic bits and a new fire in my belly to get up on try an open-mic gig. Stay tuned!

Daytime Emmys

I am a still a bit in recovery mode from Friday night, so please forgive me. After all, the Daytime Emmys was an all-day event. I ended up taking the entire day off on Friday and now am thankful for it. There is no way I would have pulled everything off and still made the Emmys in time. From the time I woke up (8:30 am) to the actual time of the ceremony, it was go, go, go. I had a hair appointment, errand running, make up appointment and had to be in Hollywood by 4.30. The make up took a bit longer and by the time I got on the 101 to Hollywood, I was already ten minutes late. To top it off, parking was full and and Hollywood and Highland was closed for the red carpet. It took 30 minutes alone to turn around the block to try my hand one more time at the parking under the theater. Finally, I pulled into the garage (that had been labeled "full", but changed last-minute) and I parked. I rushed to the theater doors and handed my ticket to the security. They saw how visibly shaken I was, afraid I was going to miss the entire event. I had to keep it together for my makeup job, alone. They ushered me in and I didn't feel so bad when I saw Finola Hughes in front of me. I even made a crack to her that if they don't let HER in, we would really be in trouble. Well, they did let her and I both in and we found our tables. Mine was actually closer to the stage than hers ;) 

Our table didn't produce any winners that night, but it did produce plenty of bottles of wine. The entire ceremony was fun and the cast of Days was in very good spirits, despite being shut-out for the night. After the show, dinner was served, but I was too busy hunting down the one woman I was dying to meet that night, Miss Susan Lucci. I succeeded and managed to even get a picture with the pint-sized diva. I realized most actresses oblige to take a picture with you if you use the words, "perfection" when describing them to their faces. 

The night ended with the after-party, more drinks, and dancing at the NBC party at Twist, above the theater. There was a fun turn-out and everybody was in high spirits. The party ended at around 3 am with a bunch of women and some very achy feet. The next morning, after some heavy napping, I drove down to Huntington Beach to visit a friend from Portland. It was the perfect escape to relax after the mayhem of Friday night. Those events are fun, but exhausting. Now, on to the perfect quiet Sunday, before the craziness of work hits on Monday. 

Free time

One thing that I can say I have done well out here with is finding activities to get involved with during my free time. Working in this business, I surround myself with people who give their entire lives to their jobs. Seven days a week, 12 hours a day. I think that would be absolute misery. Those people may make more money than I do, but are they really happy with their lives? 

I could never imagine devoting so much time to just one thing. Life it too short for that kind of mentality. Since moving to LA, I have managed to train for a marathon, run a marathon, learn to surf, play challenging games of tennis, hike, and practice Pilates all with the use of my free time away from work. And that is just a few of the activities that I enjoy doing. Now, I can't imagine those activities not in my life. Except for maybe the training for a marathon, that might have been a one time thing ;) But, who knows what the future can hold. But, point of the matter is, life is too short to not be doing fun things on the side. Work is not everything and every once in a while, it's a good idea to remind yourself that. Speaking of free time, these are just a couple of pics of me enjoying mine a few weekends ago in Malibu.

Wrap Party

I had a fun Friday night tonight that actually reminds me on why I love my job. Tonight was The Office wrap party and for some strange reason, I was on the invite list to get in. I was completely shocked when I received the invite, but never the less, I took advantage of it. The party took place at the Santa Monica Pier and it was completely shut down for us. The rides, games, food, bar, and photo booths were free. It was insane. Well, it was insane that people pay such an absurd amount of money for that kind of thing to begin with, but anyway. I had a lot of fun. I was able to bond a bit with my boss and hang with fun people from the show. I didn't get the chance to take pictures which was a bummer, but I didn't want to look too cheesy, either. John Kraskinski didn't show up, which was a bummer, but I did get to meet Rainn Wilson, who seemed nothing like his character of Dwight. I saw Jenna Fischer, but just missed Steve Carell, who had to leave early to be with the little ones. Oh well. Still a fun night and also a great reminder on why I am lucky to get paid to do what I do. 

The Biggest Loser Time

It was that time of year again. Time to cover The Biggest Loser Finale. I always love covering this event because it's a joyous occasion. You get to watch these people who have made amazing transformations both physically and mentally. Everybody is in great mood and proud of their accomplishments. This season was a bit chaotic because the finale was taken place at an unfamiliar location, the Sony lots. It was a lot bigger then what I was used to, making it more chaotic. But, once we settled, we watched the results and then, like always, were released on to the stage after the show was done, and grabbed who we could for interviews. 

That is always the fun part. Your heart beats fast and you hope you succeed in grabbing who you need and hope you don't flub your interview and then when it's over, you wish you could do it, again because it was so much fun. 

I guess there is always next season for just as much fun. Until then, I have Nashville Star and America's Got Talent Finales to look forward to :)