This weekend I didn't travel much at all because we were doing our 2nd annual WNNJ St. Jude Radiothon all weekend. Friday we were broadcasting live from 6am until 6pm, Saturday from 8am until 6pm. This was a very heavy weekend, but also so rewarding. We were in wall to wall Radiothon mode on 103.7 NNJ. Tons of preparation goes on behind the scenes to pull off a Radiothon. We start working on and preparing for this months ahead of the actual event. Radiothons are definitely heavy with workload and emotion, but it's so well worth it. When you tell people you're helping St. Jude Hospital, many are so happy and eager to help. I am so proud of our listeners and advertisers who came in through the clutch. Saturday at 6pm we announced the total, $40,145! I teared up when sneaking a peak at our dry erase board that displayed the total. Last year our first time ever doing this we raised just over $30,000. Once we surged past our last year total, we all looked at each other and asked aloud "Can we do this? Do you think we can maybe hit $40K? Surely enough, you helped us hit $40K!
Friday and Saturday I had to step outside of our radio stations for a few minutes to take a break and try to compose myself. Friday marked 3 months to the day since my sister Zannie passed away. These radiothons are tough enough emotionally to begin with, let alone the heartbreak I'm still going through. With how much she loved kids, I'm hoping we made her proud.
Wednesday I was able to go to Clemson Brothers Brewery in Middletown, NY. My besties Kayla and Chris were visiting from Massachusetts, taking their adorable twins to LegoLand. I had so much fun getting to see them. I haven't seen the twins in a couple of years, and my goodness do they grow up fast! I had a wonderful time getting to see them. On top of that, not only did I get to enjoy dinner with them, I didn't have to go to LegoLand myself! Talk about a win win situation!
In between working wall to wall for our Radiothon, I greatly enjoyed watching the NFL Draft. I honestly think both my New England Patriots and local teams NY Giants and NY Jets all had terrific drafts. Even though the Patriots might have reached on both a kicker and long snapper, if you want the guys and they are available I say go for it. Kickers can make or break seasons. I remember the amazing run my Patriots had first with Adam Vinatieri, and then later Stephen Gostkowski. That was like 20 straight years almost of amazing games where they came on strong during clutch situations.
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Saturday night after work I finally watched the movie Draft Day. My friends recommended it to me, and I love The Moneyball movie that was a catalyst inspiration for that movie. I enjoyed the movie, thought Kevin Costner was tremendous alongside Denis Leary. I thought it was a terrific movie. I remember it getting slammed in reviews when the movie was released 10 years ago, maybe because Moneyball is such a wonderful movie that this one can't measure up to that level? I do need to rewatch this movie in the near future. I was so wiped out on my couch from the radiothon that I was kind of falling in and out of sleep during the movie. No fault of the movie at all, I was just so wiped out from our radiothon.
Sunday I knew I needed to get up and leave my place just to get out and about for a bit. I ended up at The Irish Cottage Inn seeing besties Artie and Margie. We had fun playing Music Bingo. Yes, I am a nerd who quickly recognizes the songs then gets angry when they play songs that aren't popular that even I do not know.
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This was quite the weekend that we will never forget. Getting to raise over $40,000 for St. Jude was an amazing honor. This was a tall task, but well worth it. Thank you so much for supporting!