I finally did IT. The “It” that I have been talking myself out of for years. The “It” that has kept me up at night, led me to spend countless hours cowering in my living room comforted by marathons of Vampire Diaries (do NOT, I repeat DO NOT judge me. Vampire Diaries is pure cinematic genius and deserves all kinds of accolades. After all, there were eight seasons AND a spin off series…. So There! ) all in the name of keeping me in my safe space, also known as my comfort zone. No, I didn’t do the nasty. Gosh, you all are immature. The “It” to which I am referring is the launch of The Pretty Professional’s Guide. I am going to take a moment bask in the joy of how anti-climatic that was. HA! (Of course you know this because you’re reading it! Now go like, share, and subscribe to my YouTube channel. Please and thank you!) *shameless plug inserted*

The picture of the American dream has historically been painted as a single family home with a garage, a white picket fence, and a dog. This year I embarked on my journey to acquire a slice of the “dream”, well at least the home ownership part. Truth be told, I am terrified of the responsibility associated with a single family home and I am allergic to dogs so needless to say my American dream is definitely improvised.

Why now? With the interest rates reaching an all-time low this is the perfect time to purchase a home. Having been on the journey for a couple of months now, I wish I would have done it sooner. Someone put it to me in the simplest of forms – “in paying rent you are literally giving the money away vs. owning where your mortgage is building equity into your home. Think of it like a savings account where the worst case scenario is that you sell the property for less than you purchased it for as opposed to renting, where once you move out of the property the money you spent to live there is just gone for the same exact utility of home ownership.

If you have been following my Snap or Insta Stories – for those who don’t know: a Snap/Insta Story is a series of ‘0 - 60’ second videos stored chronologically in the Story timeline within the Snap Chat and Instagram application — you would have encountered the bad and boujee version of the JessTheProfesh (what had happened was… whenever I am on vacation and I tend to channel my alter ego Zsa Zsa Gabor thus resulting in me feeling myself–Don’t hate the player; hate the game). My recent lapse of humility is caused by my realization of how “lit” my life is (for those of you not fluent in urban vernacular: Urban dictionary defines LIT as “having qualities pertaining to dopeness or greatness – usually about an object, thing, or event” loosely translated as awesome and/or amazing).

Kellogg, Nike, and Apple–what do they all have in common? For one, I own something created by each: Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes (breakfast of champions), Nike Air Max (legit footwear that makes me taller–I like being tall), and Apple’s iAnything&Everything (because it is a cult, and you have to commit once you bought the phone–read the manual). Aside from taking all my money, they are better known as global consumer brands. Unless you bought into the tiny house craze and have lived in a remote location for the past decade, it is probably safe to assume that you have had a personal connection to at least one of the above listed brands.