Michael-Carson's Blogs

Instead of following the Dawgs this weekend to Jacksonville, I am taking a trip with my boyfriend down to my favorite place, New Orleans. Growing up, I spent half of my summers in this area of Louisiana. With it being my boyfriend's first time in New Orleans, I have laid out all of the must-see locations and experiences. Often, my friends ask me where they should go and what they should do when going to New Orleans as well. Even though there are many lists like this online I figured I would give mine. Here are the "must-do"/"must see" things when going to New Orleans. 1) Bourbon Street I just want to start with this to get it out of the way. Bourbon street is a magical place that smells like beer and puke. While the smell is horrible, it can be a fun place to explore. It is one of the most tourist-y places and is line with stores that each have the same cheap t-shirts and shot glasses inside. I have been many years and the content is the same each time. Howev

In the middle of the summer 5 years ago, right around midnight, a group of friends and I entered the Mall of Georgia theater to watch the premier of "The Dark Knight Rises." It was an amazing experience full of popcorn, candy, and people dressed up as their favorite characters. As we left the theater, we turned our phones back on and reality took over. Many states away, a shooter entered a theater similar to the one we had just left, and opened fire on the crowd. That night is one that I will never forget. It was too close and too real of a feeling that people had been in a movie theater just as I had and ended up losing their lives. That next morning, as the news coverage of the event played in the background, my mom wanted to talk to my brothers and I about something important; how to be prepared for a shooter. Since that day, my mom has stressed the importance of knowing where your exits are in any given environment. Sometimes in the movie theater before the movie starts

Two years ago I was jokingly pestering my mom each week about sending me stuff to college. Whenever someone at the sorority house would receive a care package from home, I would walk up to it and take a selfie with a pouty face and send it to her with captions like “still don’t see one with my name on it.” Once, she tried to create a care package for me—I think just to stop receiving pouty pictures—and she set it down in somewhere in the guest bedroom and forgot about it for months. After being teased for that and STILL receiving the annoying messages every week, she had had enough. My mom found a loop hole for her needy daughter. She signed me up for a monthly Ipsy subscription. Without exerting any effort my mother now sends me something once a month. So what does me being needy have to do with marketing? Well, I’ll tell you. Ipsy is a monthly subscription that people sign up for and they receive a cute bag that’s filled with 5 beauty products that are tailored to their pref

Almost everyone I know has access to a Netflix account. My access came from convincing my mom to buy the subscription years ago to watch a specific movie and then she forgot about it and we never cancelled, oops. However, now she and my dad use the account as much as I do. In fact, they use it so much that we had to upgrade to the highest option that allows three devices to stream at once. Netflix is great! But, I do have one problem with it; it gets boring. Netflix allows me to binge watch shows without any breaks. This is awesome when I am trying to power through a show so that I can discuss it with friends. Though I think that there is some benefit to having commercials. They allow you a mental break to get up and clean, do homework, or walk your dog. Sometimes the never ending stream can be trapping. Netflix is definitely the cheaper option for college students when deciding on what utilities they are willing to pay for. With an average of a $40 cost difference per month, even

I like to be able to go out and have a good time and not be concerned about how much money I have in my bank account. Last minute brewery day? I'm there (Terrapin please!). Want to go see a concert in an hour at the Georgia Theater? Sure, I can afford it. 2 am Insomnia cookies? Let's go! I am able to do this by managing how much I spend at the grocery store each week. Right now I am saving money to be able to take a trip to New Orleans at the end of October for GA/FL weekend. Since a lot of students travel on that weekend too and probably need to save money as well, I have decided to share some tips and tricks on how to reduce your college grocery budget right here in Athens that you may not have heard before, that I follow pretty consistently. Most of these tips have to do with Kroger, so if you don't shop there, sorry.(not sorry) A lot of students claim the reason for the hefty total at the bottom of their receipts is due to their choice to eat only organic foods. Wel

 The other week with Hurricane Harvey we experienced alot of outpouring of help and support for those who lost everything in Texas as a result of the tremendous flooding. Social media acted as a first responder in some ways allowing for people to request for help not only from law enforcement but from other people who were in the area as well. This week we experienced similar scenarios however we discovered a whole new way to use social media for hurricanes as well. If you were on Social media at all you probably saw some events that people where interested such as "Point your fans at Irma so she will blow away from Florida" or my personal favorite that includes a meme from Sponge-bob Square-pants with Patrick star saying "why don't we take Florida and Push it somewhere else". The fun continued into the local Athens, GA area with other events involving the University of Georgia including "Going white water rafting down South Lumpkin During Irma". S