Siblings' Shopping Day!

Metta, Connor and I did a little Christmas shopping today. And then we celebrated our success.

Jimmy Wayne!

I met up with Jimmy Wayne on the set of his new music video for "Sara Smile." It's an old Hall & Oates song that got him a record deal in 2002. And in fact, Hall & Oates just got nominated for a Grammy for that song off their "Live at the Troubadour" album. Jimmy shot the video at the old train depot in Columbia, Tenn. His new album came out at the end of November. I was so mad at myself when I left the interview, because I had my digital camera with me but forgot to take a picture with him! So a stock photo will have to do. :) Text: Jimmy Wayne's Big Break Came From A Bargain Box

Hockey time

My mom, little sister Metta, and I went to Detroit to watch my brother, Connor, play in a hockey tournament for Buffalo State. Here's a short video of our adventure and Connor's action-packed, goal-scoring weekend. He ended up with two goals and two assists during the two games his team played, and the next week he was named Athlete of the Week at Buffalo State!

Christmas spirit!

I had the opportunity to see up and coming country group Carter's Chord perform live on Wednesday night. These three sisters are absolutely adorable on stage. They definitely helped to put me in the Christmas spirit with their rendition of "O Come O Come Emmanuel."

Here's a video of them performing it.

Little Richard

Did you know that Little Richard lives in Nashville?! He just had hip surgery at Vanderbilt Hospital and gave a statement exclusively to the AP when he was released today.

The short article is here.

Wedding Video Highlights!

Well, according to The Knot, Nick and I have been newlyweds for 73 days. I figured it was about the right time to post a video of our wedding highlights. I put together a quick 3 minute music video, set to the song my dad wrote for the occasion, "Love Led Them Here Today." My cousin, Casey King, lends her exquisite vocals to the song. She also performed it during the wedding ceremony. I hope you enjoy!

CMA Awards

Our red carpet crew. If you look closely at the photo above, you can see our spot on the carpet, next to CNN. This was a busy week. I forgot to bring my camera to the CMA rehearsals on Sunday, and I just flat-out forgot to take pictures at the BMI Awards on Tuesday, but I did snap a few photos on the CMA red carpet. If anyone's wondering, I wore a long, blue dress from... COLLEGE! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I bought that dress years ago for a sorority formal. The beautiful necklace was handmade in Croatia. My aunt and uncle who live there gave it to me as a wedding gift. Thank you!! Here are a few of my video packages from the week: Video: Preview of the five CMA entertainer of the year nominees Video: Brad Paisely- Official CMA 'Zipper Tech' Video: CMA Red Carpet (My boss did the standups, b/c well, she's the boss) And I got a contributor line for this text story, leading up to the CMA Awards, for providing the Taylor Swift quotes.

I wish I had a personal hairstylist...

who was with me at all times! Wouldn't that make life better? Or maybe it would get annoying. Either way, Taylor looks great here, and my hair could use some styling.

Billy Ray Cyrus

Billy Ray Cyrus was in town today. He was filming a music video for the theme song to his upcoming Hallmark channel movie, "Christmas in Canaan." The song is called "We'll Get By Somehow (We Always Do)." I'm beginning to learn that if anything is located out in the country, I need to just be ready to get lost - GPS, Google Map directions and all. The addresses and roads are never exactly right. Anyhow, I finally made it to Billy Ray's 500 acres of property. It was incredible - such beautiful land on a literally perfect fall day. I met his mom and his daughter, Noah. Very sweet family. Here's a pic from after our interview. The text piece and video are not out yet. Oh, and here's a piece of trivia. Billy Ray is wearing his Dad's coat!

Justin Bieber - SO CUTE

Video of the Day: Teen Hearthrob Justin Bieber Performs "One Time" for Ellen - The Ellen DeGeneres Show Love love love this video of Justin Bieber (BEE'-buhr). Had to share. Maybe someday he'll collaborate with a country star so I can interview him. Did I mention he's 15?!

George Jones

George Jones is a country music legend. He's responsible for many classics, including "He Stopped Loving Her Today," which is consistently at the top of every "greatest country songs" list. So naturally, I wanted to know his thoughts on the state of the genre nowadays. Apparently, he's not too satisfied. Text: Here

Justin Moore

If you haven't heard the song "Small Town USA," you don't listen to country radio. Justin Moore's song went No. 1 a few weeks ago, and I went out to the video shoot for his next single, "Backwoods" to interview him. I had clearly only been on the job and back in Nashville for two weeks, as I showed up in cute black flats and black pants. Not the best outfit choice for a song called "BACKWOODS." My little Honda didn't know what to make of the semi-off-roading, either. Once the adorable publicist met me (with tall rubber boots on herself), and we trudged through grassy mud to the video shoot area, I set up my camera and was good to go. We even broke a little news in the meantime. Text: Click here Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_aGF00OSXc

ANTI-SOCIAL

The third time was apparently not the charm in my efforts to find the Social Security office in Nashville. My wonderful friend Allison heard my frustration about twice trying to find the SS office at this so-called "120 Athens Way," and she suggested I go to the one on Nolensville Pike. "GREAT!" I said. It would be the first test for my new GPS system. Off I went. My first clue was the empty parking lot. I thought, "oh no." But the optimist in me immediately countered, "more cars must be on the other side of the building." My next clue was the tiny paper sign I saw on the double doors when I put the car in park. For good measure, I turned off the car and walked up. Sure enough: "We have moved to 120 Athens Way." AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH! At least my GPS works.

Name Change!

If you look really closely, you can see my new last name! And middle name for that matter. It only took driving down to the DMV twice in one day, because who knew you had to have two forms of photo ID?! My VA license apparently wasn't good enough. Now if I can only find the Social Security office downtown. Third time's a charm, right?

Garth Brooks Un-Retires

Garth Brooks is coming out of retirement. I woke up very early in the morning and drove through torrential rain to cover the press conference in Nashville at the Grand Ole Opry. And I was the first one from the media to get there! That meant I had plenty of time to set up and got to pick exactly where to situate my camera. Check out the video. He looks straight at me a couple times.

Text: I didn't write this, but it will give you all the background

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y98fvz-bMJc

Taylor Swift Times Three

I got the chance to sit down in an exclusive interview with Taylor Swift on Tues., Oct. 6, and two major announcements came out of it - the fact that she is relaunching her Fearless tour next year and that she will be hosting "Saturday Night Live" next month. I ran into her again after the interview, when I was covering the Country Music Hall of Fame benefit concert (Tues. Oct. 13), and that just happened to be hours after the American Music Award nominations were announced. She was the most nominated artist - with six - and obviously excited.

Taylor Swift is 'Fearless' again in 2010

Text: Click here

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5cRUy7-5SI

Taylor Swift reacts to her 6 AMA nods

Text: Click here

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTbIIUK9m94

Taylor Swift to host 'SNL'

Text: Click here

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkOfc0ttddY

Carrie Underwood turns Grand Ole Opry pink

Carrie Underwood turned the famous red barn backdrop on the Grand Ole Opry stage pink to support breast cancer awareness month on October 6. Brentwood High School alumna and breast cancer survivor, Jensen Sussman, came up with the idea. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NiPPHfpcjI

Touch down in Tennessee

No. This is not a sports blog. But I've finally arrived in Nashville after months of talking, planning, hoping and worrying about it. Not to mention the fact that I had the wedding of my dreams just a week before making the move. Talk about stressful. So after flying directly here from my honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta, I hit the ground running covering country music. I've been trying to think of a way to share the articles I write and videos I produce with everyone who's interested and also keep track of them for myself, and I thought the best way to do it is through a blog. I also may throw in a few tidbits of my personal life, too. So here it is, ladies and gentlemen: Calling On Nashville. Enjoy!