That's Willie!

Haven’t done a survey in SOOO long… and after @AllMaddenTeam tagged me on one… I HAD to do it. So without further ado, my 100 truths. And I haven’t read through this yet, so hopefully there’s nothing too embarrassing.

1. Real name: Sarah Jeannine Willets

2. Nickname(s): Willie, Swillie, Swillets

3. Zodiac Sign: Pisces

4. Male or female: Body parts of a female, but I think like a male much too often.

5 Elementary School: Mason Central Elementary

6. High School: Erie-Mason High School

7. College: Grand Valley State University

8. Hair color: Auburn (Reddish-Brown)

9. Tall or short: Tallish- 5’7″

11. Sweats or Jeans: Yoga pants!!

12. Phone or Camera: I love being able to take pics! 🙂

13. Health freak: Ehh, I have my phases. On a protein-only kick right now.

14. Orange or Apple: Apple the fruit, Orange the juice

15. Do you have a crush on someone?: I love men in general, and I love to flirt… but I no longer have crushes.

17. Piercings:  Ears & Nose currently

18. Pepsi or Coke: Diet Pepsi

19. Been in an airplane: Yes

20. Been in a relationship: I’ve had 3 guys I’ve called boyfriends (and one was eventually a fiancee)

21. Been in a car accident: little ones

22. Been in a fist fight: not a fit, but some physical ones that included pushing, slapping and scratching.

23. First piercing: Ears

24. First best friend: Erica & Hilary

25. First award: hmm, won some spelling bees and some young authors stuff. won $2 in a coloring contest, too haha

26. First crush: Aaron Russeau.

27. First word: not sure? da-da maybe?

29. Last person you talked to in person: someone at work, but we’ll say Julie-B cuz she actually sat down & talked w/me for an hour.

30. Last person you texted: Will the ex-arena football player. (each person in my life has a title)

31. Last person you watched a movie with: Aside from myself? LOL, umm  we refer to him as “prisoner”. (i have a very eclectic set of people in my life LOL)

32. Last food you ate: turkey burger

33. Last movie you watched by yourself: currently watching “The Bounty Hunter” on netflix right now

34. Last song you listened to: hmm… i think black-eyed peas was playing on the radio on my way in but i was talking on the phone to my old roommate.

35. Last thing you bought: Skim & Sugar Free Nutty Buddy at Biggby.

36. Last person you hugged: Hmm… I guess it was Will the ex-arena football player.

FAVORITES

37. Food: chinese

38. Drinks: the nutella latte at Chez Zara now & jim beam-diet.

39. Bottoms: yoga pants

40. Flower: ranunculus

41. Animal: squirrelies & birdies!

42. Colors: Blue will always be my fave.

43. Movies: Tombstone, The Hangover, Goodfellas, Home Alone, The Burbs, most Will Ferrell movies

44. Subjects: Writing & Philosophy

.HAVE YOU EVER: (Put an X in the brackets if yes)

45 [X] fell in love with someone

46. [X] celebrated Halloween.

47. [x] had your heart broken…

48. [x] went over the minutes/texts on your cell phone (don’t bring this one up to my boss please. whoops)

49. [ ] had someone question your sexual orientation.

51. [ ] got pregnant.

52. [ ] had an abortion.

53. [ ] did something I regret. yes & no. there are things i wish i wouldn’t have done, but instead of regret, i try to learn from my mistakes.

54. [X] broke a promise.

55. [X] hid a secret.

56. [X] pretended to be happy.

57. [X] met someone who changed your life.

58. [ X] pretended to be sick.

59. [x] left the country.

60. [ ] tried something you normally wouldn’t try and liked it. (I’m sure I have… but I will normally try anything once. I’m not afraid!)

61. [X] cried over the silliest thing.

62. [] ran a mile. <more like ran walked. i cant run for the life of me. no matter how thin i’ve been, can’t run. Swim it? No problem there.

63. [x] went to the beach with your best friend.

64. [X] got into an argument with your friends.

65. [x] hated someone. probably.

66. [] stayed single for 2 years ? I don’t think since I started dating that I’ve been single that long. Going on nearly 9 months, although I haven’t been necessarily “Single” during this past 9 mos lol.

67. Eating: Nothing

68. Drinking: Water

69. Listening to: The Bounty Hunter

70. Sitting/Laying: Sitiing

71. Plans for tomorrow: Working 230-1030; probably getting coffee before work as usual. Love going & seeing the hot arabic dude that owns the place. he’s like a work of art. i appreciate his beauty lol.

72. Waiting: for my little bitty weekend to come

YOUR FUTURE:

73. Want kids? I’m sure I will once I get married. Hopefully get a little girl 🙂

74. Want to get married? Sometimes I wonder if I’m cut out for it,I can’t imagine finding another guy like Eric who could put up w/me =P but i’m sure he’s out there. I won’t settle though, that’s for sure.

75. Career: NEWS! duh =P Can’t wait to see what more is in store. Producing in the 11th market at 25 years old. There’s lots of room ahead, although I’m loving Detroit. I may just wanna move up the ladder to a manager position in this market.

ONE OR THE OTHER:

76. Lips or eyes: i love a pretty pair of eyes. shoot, i love a pretty set of lips too, but ill pick eyes.

77. Shorter or taller: Taller

78. Romantic or spontaneous: i’d like both, but i’d probably go with spontaneous if i had to pick one. I love excitement!

81. Hook-up or relationship: right now my answer would be hookup, but eventually I’d like to find a good Tigers fan w/a cute butt to settle me down 😉

82. Looks or personality: I’m not a tough judge on looks, personality will win me over… but i need to be attracted to you.

HAVE YOU EVER:

83. Lost glasses/contacts: I dont wear ’em. Lost Sunglasses before though!

84. Snuck out of a house: Yes… and a hotel room ;-p

85. Held a gun/knife for self defense: I’ve shot a gun, never had to defend myself though.

86. Killed somebody: Don’t think so

87.Broken someone’s heart: Pretty sure.

88. Been in love: only once

89. Cried when someone died: of course.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

90. Yourself: about 98% i’m pretty confident, but I have my insecurities

91. Miracles: yeah i think so

92. Love at first sight: I fall into it all the time lol… I think Eric & I sorta had that. We noticed each other and were instantly interested… but we weren’t in love right then lol

93. Heaven: yep

94. Santa Clause: I love Christmas!

95. Sex on the first date: If it happens, it happens I suppose.

96. Kiss on the first date: If he makes the move.

TRUTHFULLY

97. Is there one person you want to be with right now: Not just one. I’m just trying  a few out… nothing has been steady enough to be into *just one*… right now it’s all about getting to know people.

98. Do you know who your real friends are: Yeah, it’s always a changing field though. People come into our lives and leave ’em. It happens.

99. Do you believe in God: Yep.

100. Post as 100 truths? Done. I expected worse. LOL 🙂

Sitting here at 4pm on a Thursday, I’ve for some reason felt moved to post the hottest bald guys I can think of.

That’s all. So without further ado, I give you sexy, hairless men:

Bruce Willis

Jeremy Piven (p.s. the ascot look is SUPER HOT)

Yul Brynner (he played Rameses in “The Ten Commandments): Oldie but Goodie

Tyrese (I’m not even sure he’s actually bald, but he’s beautiful)

 

So which hot bald celebs did I forget? Leave your comments.. and don’t say Britney Spears, Demi Moore, or Susan Powder from their bald days.  =P

Now that I’m 25.. it’s time to take a look at my “24 things to do during 24” list. For the last few years I’ve made these lists as a way of challenging myself to try new things or to just get a few tasks completed. My next list will be 30 things to do before 30 instead of an annual list. But first, let’s see what I did… or didn’t… accomplish.

1.) Be a vegetarian for at least a month—- I *did accomplish this. It wasn’t all that fun, but at least I pulled it off. Protein is my friend, I have happily returned to meat.
2.) Get my schedule normal enough to be able to sleep 8 hours a night. — Between being an overnight tv producer, to owning a 24-hour coffee shop, I had a lot of trouble finding time to sleep a normal schedule. After selling the coffee shop I was able to start getting the sleep I needed. It took a few months to finally feel rested up. No joke.
3.) Start a new hobby — I did take on cake baking. I baked a few & decorated them. It’s not something I do all the time, but I did learn a few things about the skill.
4.) Read a whole book… start to finish. for real. — During 23 I tried to accomplish a similar feat and failed. During 24 I actually finished SEVERAL books including “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” “The Girl Who Played with Fire” “Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil” “The Time Traveler’s Wife” all GREAT BOOKS!
5.) Redecorate my bedroom — I had 4 bedrooms during the age of 24… no joke. And to be honest, none of them really got all the way decorated 😦
6.) Lose 15 lbs. and “tighten”. aka get back to hot sarah. — Failed miserably at this. But I am now back at the gym and losing some l-b’s… I’m down about 6 lbs.
7.) Grow my hair back long — It’s definitely on its way! I haven’t let someone cut my hair since Dec. 2009- instead I’ve just trimmed it myself 😉
8.) Buy the straightener I’ve been wanting for over a year now. — Did it. Love that straightener.
9.) Visit a new state. — Didn’t visit a new state… but I did visit a new country! I went to the Bahamas in June.
10.) Sleep under the stars. –-Didn’t do this.
11.) Get my nails done. — I put this on my list because I hadn’t pampered myself in quite some time… I’ve since had my nails done several times.
12.) Figure things out. — This just shows you how messed up my life was feeling. I can now say that I have figured things out. I ditched the ex, ditched GR, and started taking care of me. I’m back in news, happier than ever, and back around my family. I know I made the right decision and that’s a great feeling.
13.) De-clutter my life. — I guess I did this? I’m not sure what I was meaning by this back then. But I’ve gotten rid of a lot of extra baggage & items.
14.) Do shrooms again. —didn’t happen. every year i put this on my list, and every year i’m a good girl.
15.) Go to a concert. — don’t think this happened.
16.) Not get pulled over for having expired plates —HAHAHA! This definitely DID happen, along with my expired license and no proof of insurance. Over $200 later I learned my lesson. I did however, manage to make it until almost October.
17.) Get my license so I can stop using my passport at the bar –—  Happened! Probably only because I got pulled over and busted for it.
18.) Make one new, real friend —I’ve actually made a couple. My roommate has become like my best friend, made some new friends at my job, but moving has also cost me some relationships as well.
19.) Scrapbook — Did it!
20.) Be promoted at my sales job… get a raise on top of more hours — I did get this…but then I left to get back into news and broke into the 11th market. It’s been a great ride.
21.) Again, be a good aunt. — I moved  back to this side for a reason… and my niece and nephew were part of that. I love getting to see them more often.
22.) See my family more —Again, I chose my family over everything else. And glad I did. Everything else fell into place after I made that decision.
23.) Be a better friend — I don’t know about this. All the changes in my life have caused changes in my friendships. But I also know which friends matter the most.
24.) Live in the Oakwood again! — Ended up moving into Ramblewood instead. Liked it there a lot.
Now I just gotta figure out what 30 goals I want to work towards next!

No matter what, I’ve always been stuck somewhere between a redhead and a brunette. I always say my hair color is “auburn”… Sometimes I’ll brighten it up a little and go to the redder side, other times I’ll go a little darker to my brunette roots. Well, the time has come to dye it again and now I’m gonna let my twitter followers decide which color I should do… The lighter red or the darker color? Check out the next few pics and decide by sending me a tweet to @SarahWillets… Thanks!

Redheaded Willie?

 

OR!!!!

Darkheaded Willie?

 

Alright, what’s the verdict? Let me know on Twitter @SarahWillets

In honor of my 25th birthday, which I’m pretty much not doing anything for since I gotta work… I am releasing the top birthday songs, of course, not including “Happy Birthday”.

They all happen to be rap-esque, too… so my apologies if you’re not into rap music. I am open to birthday suggestions in other genres… leave a comment!

First up… 50 Cent “In da Club” cuz we ‘gon party like it’s yo birthday… and we ‘gon sip bacardi like it’s yo birthday…

Next up: Jeremiah “Birthday Sex” because it’s the gift that keeps on giving. While for the last three years, which ironically I was in a relationship, I was not so lucky to receive this gift, this is still a fave. The up-tempo remix is better, but this is the official video.

Finally, Trey Songz “Say Ahh” …this song makes you wanna have a full cup and a few shots lined up to celebrate, cuz “Go Girl… it’s your birthday.”

Now I’m ‘thirsty’. So what are my 25th birthday plans? I’m going out tonight w/the roommate for drinks after work. But then I gotta work all Saturday (birthday night) and then gotta be up early to shadow some producing. So while it’s a little sad to not get to celebrate my birthday with some huge bang, I am getting the chance to progress my career here at WXYZ. So that’s a great gift, and about as adult as it comes 🙂

You may remember at the beginning of January, there were a series of rapes in the Detroit area. Well during that time, three different composite sketches were released in hopes of catching the so-called “Serial Rapist”. However, none of the three sketches looked anything alike, and after they actually caught Raynard Coleman, he didn’t look like the composites either!

As the media spread the story and the public got involved, the police scanners would keep going off about people who had possibly seen the Serial Rapist.

Well, in the Channel 7 Newsroom, we noticed one of our photographers had an eerily striking resemblance to one of the composite sketches.

So… judge for yourself, WXYZ Photojournalist Jeremy Johnson… or Serial Rapist suspect? Even Jeremy doesn’t deny he looks *exactly* like the sketch. It was like someone drew it while he was sitting in front of them.

I love that Jeremy agreed to pose for it. He knows it’s all in good fun. Notice the thin mustache, the big brown eyes, and of course, he even wore a skull cap into work today. I think he likes looking famous. =) Just glad they got the real serial rapist off the streets, and that one of our best photogs didn’t get hauled in for questioning!!!

I got 100 people in one day to follow me on Twitter by promising to show my twitter based tattoo.

So without further delay:

 

Yes. I have the Twitter bird original logo tattooed on my back.

It was in August of 2007. My ex and I were wanting to get tattoos, but I really wasn’t passionate about anything. So finally I decided I’d like to get a little birdie tattoo. So that’s what I googled: “little birdie”… and what I found was a picture of an adorable blackbird with cute little stick legs… but it was standing on top of an RSS Feed symbol. [That should’ve tipped me off.]

So, I printed it off and took it to the tattoo artist… of course asking that they remove the RSS symbol.

My ex at the time says “That bird looks really familiar.”

Me: “Well of course, it’s a little blackbird.”

Two weeks later, he sends me a devastating text while I’m at work. “That bird… it’s the Twitter bird.”

Literally… Twitter exploded onto the scene soon thereafter… and now people always say things like “You’re a walking billboard for Twitter.”

So I figured, I would use it to my advantage to extend my news reach. Yes, it’s silly, and the word tattoo automatically seems risqué, but it’s a way for me to get more follows and therefore, inform more people locally and even nationally… and have a little fun at the same time. Thanks for following!

So many people ask me what my job is at Channel 7. Then, when I tell them that I’m an assignment editor, they still have to ask what do I do.

Basically, I am a little jill of all trades. Assignment Editors run the assignment desk which is basically the heart of the newsroom. We monitor breaking news, keep an ear on the scanners, try to get facts confirmed by talking with police, government officials, etc. We tell crews which stories to cover and where to go and what to do. A lot of times we also yell, pull our hair out, and whine.

However, as television news continues to change, and social media takes the forefront, TV news has to find a way to stay relevant. People want to be able to access news the moment it happens. In recent weeks, I’ve started to increase my usage of my Twitter. I discovered that our lead male anchor, Stephen Clark, developed a hashtag called #backchannel that’s turned into a community where our staff & viewers share ideas, jokes, stories, just about everything with each other. It’s really moved me to want to get more involved and be more in touch with our viewers.

I went out, unpaid, and covered my first story that was given as a tip to me by one of our backchannelers.

http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/local-charities-to-benefit-from-interactive-marketing-challenge <-check out the story there.

I’m really inspired by what social networking can do for our market if we utilize it correctly. I’m hoping to continue my participation in the #backchannel and cover more stories that can help others. Maybe some day I’ll even get paid for my extra work, too! =P

Check out my article on what the backchannel is here!

So I haven’t posted in quite some time. Looks like August 17th was my last post. I stopped not because I was getting lazy [I actually missed blogging], but because my life kept flipping upside down and around that it would’ve been a waste of my time. So I’ll give you a quick, and as dramaless update as possible on the last three months.

Everything in my life has changed, yet again.  Eric and I broke up in late August. While yes, we’ve broke up a few times before, we’ve never been off three months. It’s been hard, but it is what it is.

We’re both selfish people and we want what’s best for ourselves. Undoubtedly for me, that was moving back to the eastside. I’ve been sure of that for some time now. My family is my number one support system and no matter what stupid mistakes I’ve made, or what I’ve needed, they’ve been there for me. They’ve always trusted me and haven’t stood in my way. Not once. I knew I had to come back home. I said for the longest time, “I’ll never move back there.” Well, here I am, and I feel better than ever. I haven’t had one panic attack in the month I’ve been here, and while sometimes I am lonely, I am happy.

This week, I celebrated my “one month” at WXYZ Channel 7. I am very happy, excited, and honored to be working at this station. Even though I am working with 20-30 year veterans in the 11th market, I feel respected. As one of my supervisors told me “you either fit here or you don’t.” I feel like I do. I know I’ll be able to continue to work my way up and I think I can end up doing great things for this station and for this market. You know, I took a year off from news, and I don’t think I regret it. But the reason is this, I’ve seen people get worn down and bitter with the business as they get older. But I think taking that time off now, and then showing up in a major market was enough to realize this is the business I was made for and I don’t want anything else. I’m good at it and I have a lot to give. And as one of my mentors said… and he knows who he is, “Sarah, stop being a fucking whackjob.” That’s the best advice I may have ever received. He went on to say I was wasting my talent, and while that’s not great to hear, it is a type of compliment. I was wasting it, and now that I’m using it again, I feel so good.

Now, taking that advice didn’t necessarily come easy, I still had a few hurdles to jump, but that was a turning point. I knew I wanted that job and I knew I wanted to get to the eastside… two months after that, I got it. Go-getter Willets was back.

But putting yourself first, means putting others behind you. I’m sure it’s meant to be, that all these hurdles and rollercoasters were for a reason. It seems like I could’ve gotten to where I am with a little less pain, but I made it through, and I’m glad I’m here.

BUT…. The most exciting part… I’m kind of living the life of my role model Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore).  She was engaged, they broke up, and then she headed to the city (Minneapolis in her case, not the D) where she ended up getting a job as an Associate Producer (I’m an Assignment Editor), but that’s kinda close. Lou Grant is kinda like a Tim Dye…. and I’ve got spunk just like Mary. If you watched the show, you’d find this amusing.

Here’s to you Mary…

[and you’re jealous.]

Okay, he may not be as rich or sculpted like Mr. Cooper, but he’s the closest I’m going to get to Bradley. Check out my side-by-side comparison of Eric & Bradley below.

And if Pants’ camera had better red-eye reduction, you’d see Eric & Bradley both have some super blue eyes.

I wonder if Bradley has a white fluffy poodle-mix, too? I’ll have to research.

Either way, this leads me to another topic derived from Eric’s Saturday viewing of the new movie “The Expendables”. No, I did not go and view this supposed awesome, macho movie. Apparently it had lots of action, and blowing up of things… and a cast of some of the manliest men of action movies including, but not limited to: Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Sylvester Stallone. After Eric told me about it, I decided that I’m going to make my OWN movie with some of my favorite Hollywood men. I was allowed to cast 10 men, and my choices were actually kind of interesting. I tried to pick some funny guys, some witty men, and of course the ones who brought sexyback. (No, J.T. did not make the cut.)

1.) George Clooney (witty, versatile, and beautiful; he can play any type from action to romance)

2.) Robert Downey Jr. (much like George Clooney, though not as classic.)

3.) Jude Law (because every movie should have a stunning Brit.)

4.) Will Arnett (I am obsessed with him now. He’s so funny and actually really hot when you get into him.)

5.) Owen Wilson (Funny guy, with such an adorably sexy delivery, you forget his nose is messed up.)

6.) Bradley Cooper (when he gets mad or laughs, O.M.G. He actually made me attracted to chest hair)

7.) Noah Wyle (but he HAS to play the part as Dr. John Carter and wear suspenders; he’s the only man who can pull them off.)

8.) Julian McMahon (he’s underrated and beautiful.)

9.) Keanu Reeves (and since I’m casting this, he’s going to be all buff and have his head buzzed like in SPEED.)

10.) Idris Elba (my choice for token black guy. he needs to play similar to his character in “Obsessed”)
Makes me jealous of those casting directors who get to choose lots of awesome men for movies like Oceans’ 11.. 12… 13 etc.

Some other notable men who didn’t quite make the list… Johnny Depp (I think he’s one of the best actors out there because of his versatility, but he’s too much like George & RDJ, and they just come first in my heart.) Also— Paul Walker (that smile!)… if you wanna check out where they fell on the Top 100 celebrity men (at least according to some UK site) check here.

Willie out.