Candice Grey

I’m Candice, most of my life has been spent in the Midwest, in Minnesota and Wisconsin. When I moved from Duluth, MN (where I went to college) to Madison, WI (where I got my first full time radio job) it felt like I was moving to the tropics! I met and married my husband Andrew in Madison and he’s always wanted to live in the actual tropics so God directed our path to Florida. Thank God for The JOY FM! I love traveling, I have been to every continent except for Antarctica (even though I got close once). I’m always a YES for adventure and trying new things, even (especially) if they’re scary.

Get to Know Candice

What is your craziest travel story?
I have so many. The top 2 both involve white water rafting so I’ll go with the first. This happened on my first trip out of the country when I was 15. I went to Kenya and Uganda for a missions trip with my church. While in Uganda we heard you could go white water rafting on the Nile river and thought that was the coolest thing you could ever do, so we went for it. We were so excited, I’ve always been a thrill seeker and had zero nerves going into this experience. When we told the raft guide that none of us had ever been rafting before (and most of us in the boat were teenagers) his eyes went big and he said “As long as you follow my instructions exactly, we should be fine!” (did I mention most of us were teenagers??). We found out later that the Nile river consists of mostly grade 5 rapids. This is what Raft Masters of Colorado has to say about grade 5 rapids “This level is for very experienced rafters who are capable of executing preventive and self-rescue moves even in high-pressure occurrences.  Rapids are long, violent, unpredictable, and potentially dangerous.  The expert level requires appropriate equipment, practiced rescue skills and experienced team of experts.” Needless to say, we were ill equipped. Our boat flipped on 15 foot waves, bent in half at the bottom of waterfalls, and was generally upside down. Of course every time our raft launched us into the crocodile infested waters of the Nile river we nearly drowned. Me more than others, because on one of the first flips my top life jacket buckle broke and in the constant chaos I never noticed. I did survive and actually had a good time! But again, I was 15, I probably did not realize how close to death I actually was. Fun fact! The person following us down the Nile river and scooping us out of the water every time we dumped was named Moses.

What is your favorite place that you've traveled to and why?
Every place is my favorite place! However, Roatan, Honduras is up there. It has incredible scuba diving and a community of people I really connected with. Buenos Aires, Argentina was a favorite as far as visiting a big city. I had a life changing steak there for $8 so I don’t know what more you need.

What's the best piece of advice you've been given?
Let go or get dragged. I try to be open handed about most things in life because of this advice. If it’s meant for me God will bring it into my life, and if it’s not in my life it’s not meant for me. It’s my way of dealing with regret and the “what if’s” in life.

What is the worst purchase you've ever made?
This is embarrassing. My husband is incredibly practical. Nearly to a fault, he can’t enjoy something without weighing all of these factors against it. Things like is it worth the cost, how often will it be used, what’s the environmental impact, is it necessary, etc. So purchasing his Christmas gift our first year of marriage was incredibly difficult! I overthought things so much that I ended up remembering that while we were traveling he shared how nice it was to have a bidet. So for our first Christmas I bought him a bidet that can attach to a regular toilet. I know. Romantic. It never made it out of the box.

What 3 things never leave your purse?
ID because what if you die while you’re out and no one can identify you. Library card because I’m a nerd. I always seem to have a polaroid in my purse, unplanned, always different, always present.

Favorite Family tradition?
My family and I are terrible at giving gifts and we all know it. So we will often give each other $1 in a card we bought at a gas station and everyone treats it like the most valuable thing we’ve ever been given. We also camp in our family bus that is a lot of fun. My dad converted a school bus into an RV and it is used for camping, tailgating and looking at Christmas lights.

What’s something you’re always willing to pay a little more for?
I always buy KRAFT shapes mac and cheese. No exceptions. It’s $.29 more expensive but totally worth it.

Outside of radio, what would be your dream job? Probably a tour guide of some sort. So I can talk into a microphone and be funny and informative.
Stranded on a island with an old CD player, the one album I would take is… Kacey Musgraves Golden Hour. I don’t even like country music but her songs strike a feel good chord in me.

Greatest film I’ve ever seen is…
My go to movie is Pride & Prejudice (the Kiera Knightly one) but I wouldn’t say it’s some cinematic masterpiece. I love movies that spark conversation and come at a problem from a totally different angle than you would expect. Like the movie Arrival.

What will you miss the most about Wisconsin?
The people, and fried cheese curds (I still dream about them). But I will also miss the summers. There is so much happening outside because people need to make the most of the 4 months of warm. The lakes are amazing for boating and there are rolling hills full of tall green trees for hiking. It’s kind of perfect.

What will you miss the least?
The cold, of course. But also the pungent waft of nearby farms being fertilized in the spring.

If you had a warning label, what would yours say?
Dangerous when hangry!

What is something people would be surprised to find out about you?
The fact that I played rugby for a decade tends to throw people for a loop. I do not look like what most people expect a female rugby player to look like. And I have all my teeth… now.

What posters did you have on your wall as a teen?
I had a poster of a Porsche 911 up. I was not particularly into cars I just got it at a Scholastic book fair because I thought it looked cool and then never took it down.

What’s one thing you did growing up you thought was so cool but now look back and say “I can’t believe I did that?”
My coat choices were questionable at best when I was in high school. In the fall I wore this tan corduroy blazer that was not in style at all but I got it at Ragstock and I thought it made me look so punk. Then in the winter I transitioned to a floor length patchwork fur coat that I got at a thrift store. I looked like a homeless pimp. But, honestly, it was so warm.

How did you meet your husband?
We met on the dance floor at the Valentine’s Day dance my church threw every year. It feels very Hallmark movie but after meeting at the dance we saw each other again at the small town ice cream shop he owned. I went with my family and my mom talked to him for about 45 min (while the rest of us actually sat down and ate our ice cream) and after she asked how often I spent time with him. When I informed her that I haven’t spent any time with him outside of church she said “Well maybe you should.” And the rest is history.