It’s here!!!

Photo courtesy of HGTVRemodels. 

Planning a home remodel, or want to learn more about remodeling in general?

Meet your new best friend, HGTVRemodels!

That’s right; the project that I worked on all summer has finally launched, and it is REALLY cool!!!

Being able to see and share the final product of my work at Scripps Networks Interactive this summer feels awesome... and it makes me want to help remodel a house again (anyone need help?). 

At the end of my internship I was asked to write a guest blog post for the SNI corporate blog about my experience as an intern. Along with the launch of HGTVRemodels, my blog entry (which includes my top five favorite things at SNI... including coffee!!) was posted online. Such an exciting day!

Instead of posting everything that I worked on this summer, I will just share my favorite photo gallery from this summer: Amazing Landscape Designs (I want that grass bed in photo No. 9!!!). 

I’m still sad that my time in Knoxville, Tenn., is over, but I am incredibly happy about my experience as an intern at SNI. Although I’m not sure where I will go from here, I am excited about my future and can’t wait until my next adventure!

Is it really over?

I miss walking through the impressive
Scripps Networks Lobby every day!

My internship is over, and the fall semester of my senior year is underway. 

Adjusting back to life at school has been difficult for me (especially with my 8 a.m. chemistry class), and I miss working at Scripps Networks Interactive. Although my work is over, I still feel connected with Scripps and I am excited about the upcoming release of HGTVRemodels!

As I fill out my Dow Jones News Fund final internship report and reflect on my experience at Scripps, I miss my job even more.  

Spending a summer away from home in a city that I had never visited was not easy, however I do not regret anything about it. 

I am incredibly lucky, and grateful to have been given the opportunity to work for such an awesome company. I am also glad that I have kept a record of my experience on my blog (it's fun to relieve everything that happened this summer!). 

I still feel like I should head back to office W386 and get back to work! I can’t believe it’s over!!!


Hopefully, I will end up working somewhere as amazing as Scripps in the future!

P.S. I’m keeping my Scripps ID and parking pass in my car... just in case!!!

Almost Over: Week Nine

My W386 office buddies, Liz Dunlap (left) and 
Hilary Johnson (middle).  

It’s hard for me to believe that my internship at Scripps Networks Interactive is ending next week. I am not ready for my internship to end. Although, I am excited about my senior year at HPU.


My life has been fun and busy over the past four weeks (during which I fell behind on my blog posts...Oops!)

With our looming website launch (which was, by the way, pushed back to give us more time to get everything ready), I have worked on many assignments to help prepare our content.

I can’t wait until the website launches, when I will be able to see the final product of everything I’ve worked on this summer. 

Last week was my final week sharing an office with my fellow HGTV intern, Hilary Johnson, and one of Scripp’s contractors, Liz Dunlap, who have gone back to school. My office is awkwardly quiet. 

Hancock Pond - Embden, Maine

Outside of work, I’ve spent much of my time preparing for the Graduate Record Exam - I’m taking it on Saturday (scary!)- and applying for a writing job for this semester, which I will hear back from next week. 

The sublease for my summer apartment ended earlier this month, and I am now living with a family who formerly lived across the street from me in Atlanta, Ga. 

The family that I’m living with have been extremely accommodating of my schedule and work, and my commute to work has been drastically reduced. However, their cat hates me and sits outside of my room to monitor everything that I do, and attacks me whenever I move. Haha!

Last weekend I traveled to Embden, Maine to visit my girlfriend and her family, which allowed me to recharge and prepare for my busy weeks ahead. Maine is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited, and I am glad that I was able to travel up there again this year. 

Well, my lunch break is over now, so I should better get back to work! As my internship here comes to an end, I will post more about the conclusion of my awesome experience here at Scripps. 


Check out my school's recent press release about my internship at Scripps!

Halfway Update: Week Five

Great Smoky Mountains - 
Maryville, Tennessee

I have worked at Scripps Networks now for nearly five weeks now, which means my internship is halfway complete - I can’t believe that it has already been five weeks!!

We finally have access to the program with which we are building our new website, and I have attended countless meetings and training sessions to learn how to add the content that I have prepared to the website.

Starting tomorrow I will be able to add my work to it - I can’t wait!

I’m still working on my kitchen content, due to all of the meetings I’ve had, but I’ll probably move on to bathrooms pretty soon.

The most difficult task that I’ve encountered so far, has been my quest to find photos for one of the kitchen packages I’m working on that compares different features available for small, mid-range and large budgets. Unfortunately, there are not many pictures of features that fit into small budgets in our archives.

Nevertheless, I’ve been able to find photos.

As we add to our to-do list for the new website, it seems like the days get shorter and shorter!

My life outside of work is going well also.

Last weekend, which was my first weekend staying here in Knoxville, Tenn., was really great. My girlfriend, Valentina, was able to visit from North Carolina, where she is working at High Point University and studying for the Medical College Admission Test.

My girlfriend, Valentina, and me during our trip to 
Cade's Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

While she was here, we drove about an hour away to Cade’s Cove, which is part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The park was beautiful, and we both enjoyed spending some time outdoors.

Additionally, I was able to show off the Scripps office building to her (she even took a few photos for me at work - check out my ‘About Me’ photo!!), and take her out to some of my favorite places around town.

I am still studying for the Graduate Record Exam, and I recently decided to apply for a grant that would allow me to attend a series of seminars, presentations and visit important media, cultural and political institutions in Germany this December. Even the application process is exciting for me, although it’s pretty stressful also.

Between my work at Scripps, and everything that I have going on outside of work, everything is going really well.

Also, I am pretty excited about this upcoming weekend - my parents and sisters are coming to visit me this weekend from Atlanta, Ga.!

Week Four Update

July 4 Laser Show and fireworks display at Stone
 Mountain Park in Stone Mountain, Ga.

After almost two weeks without posting an update, and a long weekend at home, I’m finally back!

I’m still working on preparing the content for our new website here at Scripps, and I’m learning a lot about choosing photos, writing headlines and captions and editing stories. I can’t wait until I can actually share some of my work, but I’ve got to wait until our website launches before I can post any of that information.

Currently, I’m still writing about kitchens, although I may get to work on preparing bathroom packages next week. I am really enjoying learning about the complexity of kitchen planning and design, and I find myself reading about refrigerator trends, countertops and renovations outside of work. After admitting that, I’m officially the lamest person on the planet.

I’m really glad that I am able to work at a place that challenges me, and where I am able to apply my passion for writing, especially in a subject that is outside of my comfort zone.

I know I’ve mentioned this before, and I’ll probably mention it again; Scripps is very employee focused, and I’m really impressed with how well they treat everyone here.

For July 4, the Scripps office closed early on Friday afternoon and was closed all day Monday, allowing me to go home for the weekend! While I was at home, I was able to relax and attend the firework show at Stone Mountain Park.

I’ve been pretty busy outside of work also.

After two months of remodeling (after all, I DO work for HGTV), I finally relaunched my personal website, which took much longer than I anticipated! It features granite countertops, a glass tile backsplash and stainless steel appliances... wait, wrong remodel.

Additionally, I’ve started listening to NPR’s Morning Edition news program in the morning while I drive to work, and I really love it. I’ve never really been interested in radio broadcasting until now - I can’t wait to try it out.

I started my Graduate Record Exam online preparation course last night, which is a BLAST. I am thrilled about taking my diagnostic test that is supposed to take four hours to complete! I’m sure it will be worth it in the end, but it’s killing me now.

I’ve been looking into several graduate schools, and although I am getting excited about it, I am not looking forward to paying the application fees! I’m going to be completely broke after paying for this GRE prep course and just applying to schools.

I still need to contact some of the local media outlets around here to see if there is any way I can volunteer around their newsrooms, or maybe even write a little bit for them.

Anyway, I’m still enjoying my internship, and although I am overwhelmed with everything that’s going on, I’m happy.

I finally received my official Scripps photo ID 
this week! Exciting!

Hackday

One of the many "Hackday" flyers
 posted around Scripps Networks Interactive
 headquarters in Knoxville, Tenn. 

Today was Hackday at Scripps Networks, which is a contest where Scripps employees get to develop and present their ideas and product prototypes.

The contest is judged by a panel of judges composed of Scripps executives, and the winning idea will be implemented by the network.

I was able to view the presentations in one of the video conference rooms here in Knoxville, where we were able to connect with several other Scripps offices including those in New York and London.

The presentations were really interesting, and many of them could drastically change how consumers watch TV. Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to share my coworkers’ innovative ideas. Ugh!

I’m excited to see which of the ideas will win the contest next week, and I hope to see some of their ideas implemented in the future.

First Week Update

A few of the many Kitchen and Bath Industry Show 
press kits that I've sorted through this week.

I've worked as an online editorial intern at Scripps for one full week now and I've learned more than I expected in such a short amount of time. Instead of spending the next four hours writing about everything that's happened in my life, I decided to make a list of some notable things I've learned both at work, and outside the office.

What I've Learned:

- The Scripps office is HUGE, and it's pretty easy to get lost inside (even with my editors).

- Everyone that I've met in the office has been friendly and helpful.

- The office atmosphere is very relaxed, and there doesn't appear to be a set dress code. (I've even seen a few people wearing jeans and a T-shirt... kind of cool!)

- Surprisingly, working full time as an intern is significantly less stressful than my life at school (Well, I guess that isn't much of a surprise).

- People in Knoxville forget how to drive when it's overcast or rainy... and it rains here pretty much every day. Seriously, I don't know how I'm alive. For example, it rained this morning while I was driving to work, which obviously means thats you can drive in any lane that you want. It was terrifying.

- When people in the office talk about "Jitterbug" and "Firefly" they are not referring to insects - they're actually our content management programs.

- Although the speed limit sign on Frank Gardner Lane (the road on which Scripps is located) says 25 mph, you've got to drive at least 50 mph to avoid being hit by the car behind you.

- Everyone at Scripps knows about the High Point furniture market (I guess I never realized how big it is).

- The coffee machines in the office are amazing. End of story.

- Sharing an office with an intern who started working five weeks before me is really helpful. She knows how to do a lot of the things that I'm just starting to learn.

- Incorporating my writing style into what I've written about kitchens and bathrooms is pretty fun!

- The Brown Squirrel Furniture sign makes me laugh every morning when I drive to work.

- I can never guess the weekly "What the..?" item on HGTV's Design Happens blog (even though I share an office with the intern who picks it every week!).

- Kitchens are like really complex puzzles. If you don't believe me, I can send you a few press kits from the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show. It's incredible how much planning goes into designing a kitchen!