Advertising, advertising, advertising - always on my mind.

Here are some fun advertisements I've found recently:

ok to fill you in on what is going on with these bp logos...a site is having a contest to redesign bp's logo and contestants must portray three required elements listed above. The winner gets $200 and I promise you bp is not too happy about this.

Successful Mother-Daughter-Aunt Weekend

Well the past week went by crazy fast. I was busy on the last half of the week. I did a lot of writing and sitting in on meetings. On Friday we had our daily morning meeting, pizza friday meeting/presentation/update, our pharm exec ad meeting, and our Manegait video meeting...oh and I had to slip into a TKMG meeting for a few.

My momma came in to Dallas around 2pm on Friday, but I didn't get to see her until after work. I was so exhausted by the time I got home from work that I was worried she didn't think I was very enthused to see her haha.

Last week I went to Barnes and Noble and was on a hunt for a craft book. I found this WONDERFUL craft book for those like me who live and breath crafts! It's called the Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin. It helps you learn how to sell your crafts locally, globally, and online. I try to sneak a read or two in when I can at work during my down time. Speaking of down time, on Friday morning I decided to take the strengths quest that Tech tries to get its' students to take to understand our strengths. It took about an hour to take the survey and answer the questions. I had only 20 seconds to make a decision between two questions. If you are a Tech student and haven't taken that survey I highly suggest taking it because it was really neat to see my results.

Here are my five strengths:

ACTIVATOR

People who are especially talented in the Activator theme can make things happen by turning thoughts into action. They are often impatient.

FUTURISTIC

People who are especially talented in the Futuristic theme are inspired by the future and what could be. They inspire others with their visions of the future.

ACHIEVER

People who are especially talented in the Achiever theme have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive.

FOCUS

People who are especially talented in the Focus theme can take a direction, follow through, and make the corrections necessary to stay on track. They prioritize, then act.

INDIVIDUALIZATION

People who are especially talented in the Individualization theme are intrigued with the unique qualities of each person. They have a gift for figuring out how people who are different can work together productively.

On Friday night we all went out to eat at a great restaurant called Houston's. It was delicious and I thought it was funny that it was called Houston - oh how I miss home :) We did a lot of chatting and hanging out when got back. It was good to catch up with my mom. 

Saturday, My mom, Aunt Lori, and I went in search for bedding for my apartment. I was so ready to get some grown up stuff and figure out what colors I would want for my room. So long zebra and hot pink! I found a GORGEOUS bed spread that is a light light light greenish blue. It reminds me of a spa color. I am going for a cottage, natural, earthly, spa look in my room. Somehow I am going to make all of those ideas come into one. We stopped by Linz's house and visited and I love to see my little cousin, Tanner, any chance I get :) He is so cute :) Then, that night we went to a movie at Northpark. We saw The Killers with Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigel. It was super cute and super funny. AND of course Ashton looked SO GOOD.

Today, we went shopping for Granddaddy's 80th surprise birthday party. We are currently decorating boxes that we will stack up to hold the cupcakes we are making instead of a birthday cake. I am dying to start doing crafts for decorations for my room! I will be getting supplies soon and posting them when I finish - so look for those.

BIG DEAL: I get to go home Wednesday through Monday to Cypress and I'm super excited. Gdaddy's bday party is Saturday so that is why I am taking off of work. It is going to be great having only 2 days of work this week and I am excited to see my family and RYAN :) hehe

Well, off to do some crafting...this week is the 6th week of my internship - CRAZY!

My gorgeous big girl bed spread :)

Had to try it out on my bed here in Dallas 

The best craft book EVER

Cute pic in the book that is SO TRUE :)

Over halfway done and yet to accomplish it all

So this week marks the 5th week of my internship! woohoo. Can't believe I have been interning at Numantra for that long. Monday and Tuesday of this week went by pretty slow and then today sped right up! I do love our morning meetings at 8:30am at Numantra, they are always so eventful. I did lots and lots of proofing today. I helped the copywriter proof a bunch of stuff for one of our client's upcoming gala for the fall. It's called the benefit of giving and the art director did a fabulous job on all of the invites/emails/sponsorship packages etc. I LOVE hunting for things to correct and edit...who knew I would love to do that so much. Oh wait I did :) In my newswriting class in the fall I longed to edit the other's students writing assignments when it was time at the end of our writing lab. I always wrote tons and tons of remarks and had so many editing marks on their papers and I would always get mine back and it would barely have stuff. I'm not saying that mine didn't need some serious editing, but the other students just didn't have as much fun editing and proofing as I did.

I can't wait to get all of my stuff printed to go into my portfolio. One of our clients partners with Walgreens for promo stuff, so if you are in the Dallas area soon you will be able to see some of the stuff I collaborated on in stores :)

Needless to say, I know I am in the right major and I can't wait to graduate and go places in advertising. I am soaking up everything this summer like a sponge. I have three more weeks left at my internship and then I will be headed home to Houston - until then I will continue to enjoy my time in Dallas :)

Oh ya I forgot - my Aunt Lori and I went to paint some pottery after I got off of work. We were pretty disappointed in the selection, but I found a cute mug to paint and what did do with it??? Paint it in THETA letters of course :) It was kinda a stressful experience for us because it was super hot and humid in the shop and the lady working there was a little crazy. We both got frustrated with our pottery and I decided to finish it another day, but Aunt Lori is getting hers fired and we shall go back soon and see how it looks.We ended our day at Olive Garden and it really felt like today was a good summer day :)

What's a summer without the sun?

Well today I was suppose to go apt decor shopping with my roomie Mel, but granddaughter duty called and she had to spend today with her g-mom. Can't get mad about that.

So I decided to take advantage of the wonderful sun outside and spent over three hours trying to get my tan on. Good news is I don't have a sunburn but the bad news is I think I only got 1/4 of a shade darker.

My Dallas family went to a wedding today so I've been flying solo. I am gunna go drop by super target and buy some things for a care package for Laura at camp. But I am in the middle of watching jerseylicious and oh it's addicting :)

Next post will be more interesting :)

A Numantra Field Trip, Pizza Friday and a Sprinkles Cupcake Later

Well lots has happened since my last post. Time has flown by and I am settling in very nicely at Numantra. I really LOVE all the advice and time the copywriter gives me. I am learning way more than I expected and I don't have to do any of that cheap labor some interns have to do...which is a huge plus.

This Sunday is father's day and I'm really bummed I don't get to spend it with my fam, but that's the cost of growing up and getting a big girl job.

So about this field trip...the art director, copywriter, account exec and I went to one of Numantra's printing companies to make sure one of our orders is coming along - I got to write a tinsy bit of copy on this one but there is no way I can get an actual print of it because it costs over 250 dollars! After we did that we ventured over to a paper company to get some samples and THEN we insisted on taking our field trip to the next level and went to sprinkles! I couldn't eat my cupcake just yet! I had a cuz at home who has never had one and I wanted her to try it! It was vanilla...basic but I enjoyed it :)

I have been taking pictures of my cuz tanner and he is just so adorable. Also I donated some photography to a silent auction for a family friend and that went well. I plan to take some senior pictures when I get home :) I ordered some new photography business cards and can't wait to see them when I get home.


Laura is at camp and we have been writing back and forth-I love getting mail :) next week will be my fifth week as an intern and it's flown by! I can't believe I've been up for work everyday at 7! This is very impressive if I must say so myself :)

I've also managed to go to the gym a lot this week and i think a habit is forming! Now I just have to make sure I get some sun this summer because it seems like I've been in a cave all day :)

Sorry about the inconsistency :) I will try to post everyday because I forgot a lot of stuff after waiting this long!

PS I go home in a week and a half and can't wait :)

Fun bday gift I made for Mel :)

s

Some fun looking M&Ms I saw at Sam's. I wanna try them :)

YUMM a Sprinkles cupcake :)

Time slipped away...as always.

So, I guess I should eliminate the "write on my blog everyday" goal because OBVIOUSLY I am not writing as often as I would like.

Today was the start of my 3rd week and I have to say everyday that I go to work I think to myself how lucky I am to have it so good as an intern. I LOVE the people, I LOVE that they make sure I am getting what I want out of my internship, and I am growing and learning as a copywriter. The copywriter at Numantra is really awesome. She critiques my copy and really trusts me to proof and have input on other copy. It is so strange to find that we have some of the same quirks - it really shows that copywriting is what I need to do after I graduate. I have been working on a lot of copy and research for our big campaign that we are pitching on Friday!!! I have been in meetings after meetings each day and I am soaking it all in like a sponge. I am trying to learn as much as I can before I return to school! Because I have been writing a lot of copy for things they are using I am expecting some great things for my portfolio after this internship :)

While I was doing some research for one of our clients I was trying to find some inspiration and I came across my old friend - real simple. It is my absolute favorite magazine and I really need to get a subscription again! Well while I was navigating around the site I realized how much I missed it and decided to buy a copy on my way home to Houston last Thursday. I had the biggest AHA! moment ever while I was on the airplane! (which if you read real simple you will realize my pun!) REAL SIMPLE IS JUST FULL OF COPY COPY COPY! It really doesn't have many articles and it practically a catalog! and catalog copy is my FAVORITE and I have to say I'm pretty good at it ;)

I will try to keep writing ALMOST everyday...but I won't make any promises this time :)

Oh ya and I ran into someone's trailer hitch last week...sooo that sucks big time, but I can't dwell on it...I gotta keep going!

-Mal

Let me give you an update on my goal list:

1. LOVE my internship and gain priceless experience Duhh that could've been crossed off the first week!
2. Expand my advertising and photography portfolio  Writing copy on things the art director is using....so that is a CHECK! and learned lots of new photography things after shadowing Heinz this past weekend!
3. Complete a scrapbook of this past year I wish I could work on it after I come home, but I am just so exhausted :(
4. Read a book I'd rather watch TV...what else is new
5. Write on this blog ALMOST everyday  Yea, I'm just going to take this sucker off!
6. Go to six flags (Will do when Ryan comes and sees me :))
7. Spend time with my Dallas friends Hoping it is successful because I plan to see Mel on Friday :)
8. Go to 24 hour fitness at least 3 times a week...preferably dance to some ZUMBAAA This will happen when I get Aunt Lori convinced that I can't get my butt to the gym without a workout buddy
9. Become a morning person as a result of waking up early for my internship yea right! not working so far!
10. Complete an online history course Since I didn't pay for my class on time, Lonestar Community College dropped me from the class...how awful
11. Have a great time I have with my family in Dallas Of course!
12. Complete as many crafts as possible That is the last thing on my mind these days!