How I Make That Money, Honey.

I want to make this blog post short for you, but I have to start at the beginning.

I started the University of South Carolina in the Fall of 2001.  I went in as an undeclared/humanities major. 

My freshman roommate was a Journalism major and she convinced me to be a Journalism/Mass Comm major as well.  "You don't have to take any math or science classes."  SOLD! I was so horrible at math and science was my 2nd least favorite school subject.

Out of the majors in the Journalism & Mass Communications college I chose Advertising.  It seemed fun.

I spent numerous hours in that building above.  It was the location of the Journalism & Mass Communications college and about a 15 minute walk from the rest of campus. #FML

I graduated in August 2005.  Worked odd part-time jobs for 3 years until I finally got a job that actually put my well earned degree to use.  I worked in Columbia, SC, Charlotte, NC, and then finally settled in Greenville, SC.

While I was in college, the professors would suggest advertising agencies to work for after graduation.  It was always a dream of mine to live in Greenville, SC and work for one of the biggest ad agencies in the Southeast.

It took 5 years and over 7 interviews, but I finally got a job at the place I've always dreamed of working.

When I tell people i'm a Media Buyer they usually just give me a confused look and normally they don't ask any further questions about my job.

It's not as confusing as some people think.

But I will say this...Media Buying was my most despised class in college.  I hated it.  It involved too much math and I knew that was something I did not want to do.

Now here I am...into my 5th year of doing Media Buying as a profession.

In short, Media Buyers buy radio and TV ad space. 

The client has a budget for radio and/or TV and as a media buyer I take that budget, work and negotiated with the radio and TV stations to get the best possible ad schedule for the client that is within their budget.

There is math involved but nothing I can't do on a calculator.  There is also a lot of me saying to sales reps "No, this won't work.  Do better."  And eventually I get my way and the client is happy.

So, that's currently how I'm making my moo-lah.  I hope you weren't completely bored.

encouragment.

my mom recently emailed me some of these bible verses and they've been helping me. 

thought that might be able to help others who are going through something.

let's get to know me...shall we?

I've seen a lot of bloggers doing some questionnares lately.

I love doing these, so I wanted to join in on the fun.

And maybe some of you will learn a little more about this ginger that you didn't already know.

1. Where are you from, where do you live currently, and how many places have you lived?

I'm from a small, small town in the upstate of South Carolina called Due West.

I currently live in Greenville, SC and have for over 5 years.

I was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

When I was a year old my parents moved to Due West. They are both from the upstate SC area.

We moved into a big old southern home in Due West upon arrival, but a year later moved into the house where my mom still lives today with my stepdad and stepsister.

Then I went to Columbia, SC to attend the University of South Carolina. I lived in 2 dorms on campus my freshman and sophomore years. Then my junior and senior years lived in an off campus apartment. #Ballin (not really)

After I graduated in 2005, I hadn't found a good "career job", so I stuck around for a year working two part-time jobs.

Added bonus, a lot of my friends still lived in Columbia so I partied with them until the spring of 2006 when we all graduated and moved.

I remember crying for a week after I moved out of Columbia.

I moved back in with my mom and was unemployed for a year until I found a job in Greenville in March 2007 and I've been here ever since.

And that, my friends, is the long ass version of a simple question.

And for those of your keeping count...I've lived in 4 different cities and had 8 different addresses.

2. If you could meet any three people {dead or alive} who would they be and why?

Justin Timberlake...so he could sing to me, make me laugh, and then we could make babies

Channing Tatum...so he could dance for me (or on me).

Aziz Ansari...so he could tell me jokes and we could talk about our South Carolina roots.

I realize this makes me really shallow, but I can't help it.

3. If you had to choose your last meal, what would it be?

My grandma’s country fried steak, baked potato with loads of butter, Chick Fil A fries, Zaxby’s birthday cake milkshake, oreos/milk, macaroni pie and cheesecake.

I realize this is not technically a "meal" but I like to eat and if it's going to be my last I want to die happy (and fat).

5. What did you do most when you were a child to get into trouble?

Talked back to my mom or didn't obey her.

The worst words my mom could say to me as a small child were "go to your room until your dad gets home."

8. If you could hire one helper {like a maid, personal trainer, cook, etc..} who would you hire?

I just want someone to run my errands for me.  Can that be one helper?  An assitant of sorts but mainly to fetch my groceries.

10. Would you consider yourself closer to messy or to organized?

Organized.  I want to be a professional organizer...no lie.

As anyone ever seen that show on Style, The Amanda's?  That's my dream job...except I would do it in comfortable clothes.

2. Did you go to the same schools K-12 or did you move around?

My elementary school was K-7...we had no middle school...and high school was 8-12.

I'm still friends with the majority of the people I've known since kindergarten.

My bff, Devin's husband I've known since kindergarten.

Sandi's husband I've known since we were in 8th grade together.  Sandi and I also went to high school together.

I feel like I'm truly blessed to still have these people in my life and be so close to so many people I've known practically my entire life.

And I hope you've enjoyed today's "getting to know me" post.

bbq, babies, and the bachelorette

Let me start by saying I was overwhelmed by the responses I got for the "pro magic mike" post.  I mean, I knew I would get some love, but I didn't realize how much.  I'm sure there are some haters and that's okay.

I'm happy to report, I've now seen Magic Mike 3 times and I've learned a few things...

1. Magic Mike does a super sexual move on one of the girls at the sorority party and upon noticing this I almost fainted.

2. I'm still single...and it shows.

I'm trying to get back into blogging on a regular basis so bear with me as I start. 

I'll save my crazy Friday evening that went from "meet me for a glass of wine" to "4 vodka soda's and staying until the bar closed."

I love BBQ...unfortunately, I didn't get to eat any at the BBQ festival this weekend but I did run into this gent.

My friend mandy ran into this little baby gent.

Which just so happens to be Sandi's 5 month old.  He's growing too fast.

After watching last night's Men Tell All, I realized I want Emily to be my best friend.

I always picture her as this sweet little soft spoken girl, but after the whole "west virginia hoodrat backwoods" episode I realized she's not like that.

(thanks to Ashley for this little photo)

And last night...proved that even more.

She made me want to go find all the guys I've dated in the past and cuss them the eff out.

The closest I've come to doing either was having one kicked out of a bar and calling another one a "tiny bag of douche."

It also made me love Sean even more.  He just seems like the biggest sweetie of all time.

I'm Pro Mike.

I want a bumper sticker that says I'm Pro Mike.

I'm "pro" a lot of things, like pro choice, pro gay marriage, etc.  But I will not divulge into those things at this time.

I'm not one to ever do a "soapbox" post, but I feel an urgent need to state my opinion on this issue.  That really shouldn't even be an issue.

I've seen a lot of ladies all up in arms regarding this Magic Mike movie that I love so much.

I've seen it twice and I plan to see it again and buy the DVD to watch as many times as I want at my leisure.

I'm single.  I don't have "my own Magic Mike at home", but it really upsets me to see, (mostly married) women, judging other (married) women for going to see this movie.  I understand you think it's a double standard and that if these were women on screen stripping then we as women would be appalled at all the hoop-lah. 

Quite the contrary my friends.  In society, women are expected to be lusted after for their bra cup size, their kardashian booty, etc.  There are Victoria's Secret models that pose in their underwear and guys (married or not) oogle over those ladies. 

This movie should be liberating for us as women to get our chance to ooh and aah over good looking gents wiggle their junk on screen for once.

What really gets under my skin are these people judge others for going to see the movie when they haven't even seen it themselves.

I've seen the movie twice and there is more female nudity than male in the film.  The male nudity is, in my opinion, subtle and insinuated.  Yes, the movie is based around male strippers, but the heart of the film it highlights the dangers of the industry and how Mike wants to get out of this career he's made for himself.

I've also seen other ladies upset that women are reading the 50 Shades of Grey series.  As you know, I'm not a book reader so I don't have any desire to read the books.  But, if someone chooses to do so I don't judge them for it, whether they are married or not.  Just because she does doesn't make her less of a wife to her husband or less of a Christian to her faith.  The same goes for Magic Mike.

Don't judge someone on their choices or preach to them about how it's not the "Christian" thing to do.  If we're going to go the bible route for this argument doesn't the book say "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

Since we're all entitled to our own opinion, I believe that seeing this movie or reading "mom porn" doesn't make me less of a person nor does it make me an immoral human for enjoying it.

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest, friends!

i do not read: a book review

I do not read.  That's a fact.  The last book I read was Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me on my way to New Orleans with this blonde.

I've actually read all her books.

I attempted to hop on The Hunger Games train, but that failed around the part before they were to go into the actual games.  Whoops, hope I didn't give away the ending.

I have books on a shelf and the majority of them I've never even finished.

I usually like to stick with books that have a movie coming out...I successfully got through Dear John, but why does Nick (we're close now so I can call him Nick) Sparks have to ALWAYS have unhappy endings.  Never fails.  I guess Nick is a realist.

But the whole point of this story to let you girls (and one dude) know that i'm officially half way through a book. 

It was a birthday present to myself. 

I saw someone tweet about how hilars it was.  I read an excerpt and knew it would be my kind of book.

Does anyone read The Bloggess? 

Total hilars.

She wrote this book. 

And here is her warning in her prologue.

I wrote a book and it only took me 11 years. (Shut up, Stephen King.)

You should probably go buy it right now, because it’s filled with awesomeness. And cocaine. But only if you hollow it out and fill it with your own cocaine. I’m not buying you cocaine. Because I love you.

And that’s why you should buy my book. Because I’m saving you from yourself. And from cocaine.

YOU’RE WELCOME.

I'm not sure why I titled this post "a book review" because I haven't finished it, but so far it's funny.

And when I LOL for reals I know it's a keeper.

p.s. for the record, i did read ALL 3 million pages of the twilight books.  that's true success.

this post is brought to you by Magic Mike.  suck on that haters.