My First Blog!

Greetings!

 I'm Valerie the blogger behind News Girl Takes on the World! I wanted to share a little background information about me and my blog.

I started to blog in 2011 in an effort to share my stories about the wonderful things to do in Central Pennsylvania. See, to those who live here, it's just another town on a map. But to me, if you look harder, there are endless possibilities of adventure at every turn. I wanted to share my journey with all of you about fun things to do around town, awesome eateries, fabulous events and much much more! I'm an avid cook and FOOD plays a vital part of my life! On top of the foodie in me, there is also a passion for BEER! I have to give props to my beau on this one, he convinced me to put down the miller light and try a vast array of beers that tantalize the taste buds. . Now, I know I dedicated a lot of this to my healthy eating habits, and I’m sure you are all wondering where the BEER is coming into play. I like to say everything is okay as long as it’s in moderation! So in this blog, there's a healthy mix of food, beer and sillyness!
In May of 2007 I graduated from THE Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Journalism. (sidenote: I always like to throw a, THE, in front of my alma matter because of jealous tendencies toward Penn State!!!) I currently live in the capital city of Harrisburg with my two cats, Madison and Wentworth! I'm also a proud aunt x5 (we're a rapidly expanding familia) ! My older brother is responsible for 3 of them; Morgan, Allie and EJ. My sister's kids are Lucas and Marilena! I love each of them to bits and spoil them rotten!

My mom and all 5 of the grandkids (my nieces and nephews, AKA the rugrats!)

After I graduated from college I returned back to the eastern side of the state and noticed the unhealthy habits I picked up in college and during the first few years in the "real world". I felt tired all of the time, bloated and I wasn't really happy with my eating habits. I quickly revamped my diet and began adding veggies and fun menus to spice up my new healthy lifestyle! I cut back on eating out, and when I did opt for take out, I got smart about what I put into my body! Oh, and I forgot to mention, I started hitting the gym.

told ya' i picked up bad eating habits. i survived on poptarts and beer!

Now, I'm not a gym girl and the workouts began to get repetitive, so I began to slack off. I wanted to stay committed to a healthy lifestyle so I knew I had to punch up my workout routine. I began researching fun and different ways to get into shape, to make it seem less like a chore. (i.e; hiking, biking, hot yoga, spinning, swimming etc.)

Turkey Path in Tioga County

I’m sure you all know that after working 8 hours or more a day, the last thing you want to do is workout. That brings me to my career! I work for a fantastic news operation in York, Pa. Currently I am the Weekend Assignment Editor for FOX43 News. Since I work behind the scenes, plotting and planning out the stories for the day, I sit in a chair for up to 8 hours under those infamous florescent light bulbs. Not exactly a physical environment by any means! During the first year of working there, I stuffed myself full of donuts, coffee and McDonalds (which was way too conveniently located right down the street). I knew the way I was feeling (gross, greasy and unmotivated) was correlated to what I was putting into my body and what I wasn’t doing with my body (working out). So I made a change. I blocked out a certain amount of time for myself everyday to get healthy. Diabetes, heart disease and cancer are common in my family and I knew I wanted to do all that I could to combat these preventable diseases.
Thus, sparked my passion for healthy eating and fitness.
In addition to writing this blog for all of you out there, this is also to help me stay motivated and continue living up to the healthy standards I set for myself.


Oh—I forgot (FYI, I’m always forgetting something or another!) I wanted to expand on that beau I mentioned in my first paragraph. His name is Jonathan and he is a funny, amazing, intelligent, sweet, attentive and every other complementary adjective you can think of kind of guy!

The love birds!

 I mention him a lot in this blog. So I wanted to introduce him to ya’ll!
Funny story about how we met. Jonathan and I went to the same High School. We actually dated for a few short months. He was a junior and I was a senior (yes, I like em’ young!). The end of the school year was winding down and I knew that I wanted to experience college and all it’s glory without a boyfriend. So, a week before my senior prom, I broke up with him (insert, GASP!). I know, I know…I’m a bad person. But, Jonathan, being the stand up man that he is, stuck to his word and still took me to prom regardless of our breakup status. Needless to say, as much of a stand up kind of guy he was, I didn’t measure up and ditched him halfway through prom to go to the movies with my friends (insert another GASP!). Well, fast forward 5 years later, and there I was, a single gal, freshly dumped from a previous relationship. Jon and I had maintained a friendly status through the years and one night, while on Facebook , he messaged me. We met up for dinner at a cozy little Thai place and the rest was history! I told you he was a stand up guy!


So there you have it, a little slice of my story. Stay tuned as the rest of it unfolds right here!