Special thanks to Forbes and Google for asking me to take part in Take Your Classroom to Work Day!  What an awesome event!  Forbes hung out with a filmmaker, sports marketers, a celebrity chef... and many more interesting folks.

It's in conjunction with Google's Connected Classrooms!  (See a list of the hangouts from Forbes.)

The students were from Colorado and California and asked great questions, plus I loved hanging with Jaime Casap from Google For Education.  He was a great moderator!

WATCH our hangout here:

Learn more about Google For Education here: 

I'm writing a little ditty on Sol's on the Square for Madison Magazine.  I will tell you more about the place and the lovely owner, Eun Sol, but let's just say... the next day I went back with my husband.

Quick pics - below is Psy.  Yeah, the Gangnam Style guy!  He is now on the label for Jinro soju.  Don't know what soju is?  Get to know it!  It's basically THE Korean alcoholic beverage.  I think it's like a smoother version of vodka... you can try it at Sol's or buy it at Riley's.  

Below is bulgogi.  In English, you'll also see it written as pulgoki, pulgogi, bulgoki.  It's basically one of the most popular Korean dishes... you might know it as Korean BBQ.

Print out my recipe!

Below is bibimbap.  Pronounced "bee-bim-bop", it is a bowl of rice, veggies and meat.  In Korea, you typically get it with a raw egg because the hot stone (dolsot) helps cook the egg when you stir all the ingredients.

The most awesome ingredient is called "gojuchang" - and it is a hot condiment that looks like a thicker version of ketchup.  This is my husband's favorite dish.

One of my favorite banchans (bon-chons) or side dishes, is cucumber kimchi.  The folks at Sol's make it sweet with a little minced onions.  It is so delicious and goes great with a big bowl of rice.  Look at it below, nom nom nom nom.

I took my friend Hannah, and I think she really liked Korean food.  It was her first experience!  She'll have to tell you her favorite on her blog...  In the meantime, I'll let you know when the article is out!  

WISC has been honored with six regional Edward R. Murrow awards.  If you're familiar with news, you get it.  If not, a Murrow is one of the most coveted awards by journalists.  

We don't do it for the awards, but it is nice to be recognized.

So, here's a little humble brag on my co-workers.  They deserve it.  It's not easy to get out there and trek through the weather conditions or tackle difficult subjects.  It's also not always easy to commit to a story from the beginning to the end.  And it's certainly not easy to give it your all... and then get back out there and do it again and again.

You're only good as your last story, but it is nice to be in good company every now and then.  WISC won six regional Murrows - and that is the most ANY station in the country received.  We were 1 of 8 stations in the US to take home so many honors.

WATCH THE WINNING ENTRIES

I'm so glad I work at a station that takes pride in its work.  It's a honor to be here!

This is a picture of my biological father.  He has since become much skinnier, and I have become much wider.  Sure seems unfair... 

But, for real - I think I resemble my birth father more so than my biological sisters.  And, what's hilarious... is that I also think I look like my dad, Charles.  

BLOG: Do I look like my dad?

This is my biological father:

This is my dad, Charles.  Can you see why adoption was a little confusing for me?  I knew I was adopted, but I still thought I looked like my dad.  

Recently my mom and I served as judges for the worldwide mustard competition in Middleton, Wis.  That's where you'll find the National Mustard Museum.

I honestly don't think we were qualified to judge, but Curators Barry and Patti Levenson seemed to think we cut the mustard.  I kill me!  Those two are the greatest.  So. Very. Sweet.  We also met some very cool judges.

Watch TLC's My Crazy Obsession featuring Barry
READ more

Isn't my mom cute?!

Little did we know, there are a ton of different kinds of mustards. We judged fruit mustards, honey mustards, spirit mustards, and even American yellow mustards.  No offense to American yellow, but apparently, they are very boring and usually make judges want to jump off a pier.  NOTED.

You know what I loved?  Singing.

I hope to be back next year!  

I personally loved my time in Dallas, though we were working hard to cover all that was happening.  Susan Siman's typical day started at 3 a.m. and then she would work through the early evening newscasts.  We also had a one-hour special on Friday that kept us very busy.

It looks fun, and it is.  But, there are certainly deadline pressures that give you a stomach ache.

We made sure to take in the moments.  I roomed with WKBT's Leah Linscheid.  She was an intern when I first started working at WISC.  I absolutely loved hanging out with her.  She had so much good energy... and I know she's got great things in her future.

Dave Delozier and Brian Mesmer did an outstanding job catching memorable moments, and I loved working with Jim Rader.  He's so talented and we made ourselves have fun under all the deadline pressure.  While we were on a mission to do a good job, he also got a kick out of my mission to find free swag for the newsroom.

It's so funny because we always tried to find something decent to eat because we just didn't know when we'd eat next.  The truth is, we always found a next place...in a reasonable amount of time!

I learned to be quiet in the press box and in the media work room.  I mean, I don't think you have to really be silent, but some of us did get shoosh'd by a really serious print reporter while we were talking about the Badgers.  I literally wanted to kick that dude in the shins.  Here we were, getting ready for our liveshot in the next 30 minutes and some numnutz was telling us to quiet down so he could write his print story.  But, I digress.

Look below-- 1...2...3... Brian Mesmer and Mike Van Susteren like to be goofy in pics, but I finally got everyone to straighten up by #3.  Steve Koehn is our news manager, and he really gave us terrific guidance during our Texas coverage.  They're all hoots.

We did a bulk of our liveshots on this platform.  All these folks were from Kentucky... various stations.  The CBS affiliate from Lexington was right next to us!

When we lost, I wasn't sure I could keep it together.  I really wanted it for Wisconsin.  They're such a great group of student athletes and fans.  At the end of the game, we did our extended coverage for the news in Madison and went back to the hotel for pizza and beer.  And the girls cried because it felt like a bad dream.  

We had a lot of other great moments, too... just the quirky, fun things we experienced as co-workers and friends... like the Texas-sized waffles and heating up our pizza on the satellite truck's generator.  Great memories... truly!

How many different ways can you say heartbreaking?  We didn't win, but we are proud of the team, Bo Ryan and the fans.  Wisconsin has everything to be proud of, and I'm so glad we had the chance to share this moment.

On Wisconsin.

We've been working around the clock out here... especially the folks who've been working the morning show through the evening.  Can you imagine getting up at 3 a.m. and working through 11 p.m.? It's crazy!  But it's been a really great experience. I love meeting so many Wisconsin fans (they're everywhere! )

Anyway... more to come later.

For now,  we're getting ready for tonight's big game!

How many different ways can you say heartbreaking?  We didn't win, but we are proud of the team, Bo Ryan and the fans.  Wisconsin has everything to be proud of, and I'm so glad we had the chance to share this moment.

On Wisconsin.