There have been a lot of interesting and nice people I've met this year, but I've also met a lot of strange people. 

Here's my 2009 list of the strangest people I've met while reporting.

1. A guy walking through downtown Cleveland with a cross on his back, complete with a Jesus looking outfit. The even stranger part is the fact that I was the only one who gave the guy a second look.

2. A guy who has never heard of the Cavaliers...he said to me, "Is that the football team?"

3. I went to a house fire that happened in Tremont and a woman I was interviewing got sprayed a little bit from the firefighters putting out the flames. She said "That feels good!" Her sons also got yelled at because they were getting too close to where the firefighters were working because they wanted to be sprayed by the hoses.

As far as the top story of the year for Cleveland, I would say it's the 11 women found dead at Anthony Sowell's Imperial Avenue house. This is the biggest story I've covered and it made international headlines. My voice was not only heard on WTAM with reports, but I also made it on Fox news radio. Several of my co-workers did interviews with stations as far away as Ireland!  My thoughts and prayers go out to the victim's families and hopefully 2010 is a happy and peaceful year.

For years I've heard people say how Wicked is the best play they've ever seen and now I know what they're talking about. Wednesday I went with my fiancee Greg to the production at Playhouse Square and I would definitely put the play in my top 5 favorite plays.
 
I enjoyed how they told the story of the two witches and how they ended up being the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch. Here's something that won't ruin the plot if you haven't seen it...the two met in school and used to be friends. The play also incorporated how other characters came to Oz like the Tin Man and the Scarecrow. The play picks fun at elements from the movie ,Wizard of Oz, with Dorothy even making a short guest appearance.

Also all of the songs are memorable and are hard to get out of your head. Defying Gravity and Popular are the ones I keep humming.

If you get a chance I highly recommend seeing Wicked, it gets a two thumbs up!!

I had some family bonding time on Friday with my parents and grandma. My dad set up a suprise for us to go on a tour of Harry London's chocolates in North Canton. I love chocolate so this was the perfect treat.



From the moment you walk into the building you smell the aroma of chocolate. We were first given a sample of their caramels and buckeyes (chcolate covered peanut butter candy) before watching a film on the history. We learned that Harry used to make candies for his friends until his requests for orders were so great he quit his job at a steel mill to start up the business in 1922.

The tour guide then takes you through the factory where you see all of the work behind making candy. Every worker has one task: the woman who puts a big slab of caramel through the machine to cut it, others putting candy through a machine to be wrapped etc. That must be a tough job to do the same things over and over again, and they're standing on their feet all day long. Thanks to their hard work we end up with yummy candy.

We bought some candy and then went to Hartville for some shopping where I picked up some Amish treats.

I never knew how much work went behind putting together a wedding until I started planning my own. From the dress to the reception site...it takes a lot of work.  I've already picked out both of those, and the church.

The next goal, find a photographer and pick out a bakery for the wedding cake. I started the process over the past week, and by far the best part of planning so far has been looking for a cake.

I'm probably going to pack on some extra pounds before the big day because so far we've tried three bakeries, and every one sends you home with a box of goodies. Homer Simpson moment mmm...cake!

Even this part of the wedding has been more invovled then I could have guessed. Square or round cake, what kind of designs on the cake, fondant or icing, and what 3 flavors and 2 types of cake on the inside. I guess I'll just have to keep eating more cake until I come up with the answer. Here's one of the cakes I liked at the bakery.

I took my nieces out trick or treating on Halloween and it raised the question, when are you too old to beg for candy?

This became the topic after I saw three people probably around 50 going door to door. At first I thought they were taking their kids door to door but realized there weren't any kids with them. Then I thought, maybe they're going to a party. That wasn't it either as they went up to each house asking for candy.

Now, I'm not exactly sure how old they were but one woman saw my niece Kaitlyn dressed as a pumpkin and told me..."My son dressed up like a pumpkin when he was a freshman in high school." Definitely too old to be asking for candy.

This is the conclusion I've come to...If you're old enough to drive or own a home you're too old to trick or treat. Old enough to vote or drink, too old to ask for loot. If you disagree or want to add in comments email me: colleen@wtam.com.

On another note, there were some cute trick or treaters this year in my neighborhood. The one that really stuck out, two kids dressed as the Peeps candy.

Another Halloween has come and gone, Election Day is tomorrow. I can't tell you how happy I'll be when the recorded messages to vote for this issue or this candidate stop coming in.

The list of the top 2009 Halloween costumes has come out and dead celebrities come out on top for adults. Michael Jackson comes in number one followed by Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, and pitchman Billy Mays. Am I the only one freaked out by this? That's just too creepy for me. Also would anyone know who you were if you dressed up like Billy Mays? When he died most people said "who?" It wasn't until you explained he's the guy with the Oxi-clean and Orange-glo products on TV that people went...ohhh. This explains why I haven't dressed up in years.

There's also the fact that if you go into any costume shop, women are limited. I remember seeing an army costume that I was going to buy but quickly put it down. Across the chest it said Army bootycamp. Most of the costumes for women have this type of theme...sexy nurse, sexy angel, sexy ladyburg...it goes on and on.

I miss the innocent, sweet days of being a kid during Halloween. This year's most popular costumes for kids are: princess, witch, spiderman, pirate, pumpkin, vampire, disney princess, star wars character, tinker bell, and batman. My neices, Rachel and Kaitlyn fall on that list. Rachel is going out as a princess and Kaitlyn is a pumpkin this year. Here's a picture of the three of us during Clear Channel's trick or treating.



Trick or treating is still a new concept for Kaitlyn but she's starting to get the hang of it. She wouldn't take candy at first from people, and at other times she would take it and give it to her sister. Either way, they both had a blast and it was fun for me to see how excited they got over candy. Happy Halloween!!!