Thank you, Seventeen!

by sparkleandshinesami

After two years of working with my dream company, I am now passing on my Seventeen Social Club torch to other social media mavens and bloggers. My contract with the company has wrapped up, there is now an end-date listed next to Seventeen Magazine on my LinkedIn, and the chapter in my life has ended.

My favorite memory was during my first year with the company. My little and I got to attend the 2014 New York City Makeup Show. We skipped a day of studying for finals to go gallivanting around the beautiful Big Apple. It was the first time I got to introduce myself as press at a big event, leaving me with butterflies that I could certainly get used to. Once inside the Metropolitan Pavilion, Amber I got to talk to different vendors, sit through tutorials, test our new beauty products, and of course, make some purchases! To find out more about that incredible experience, make sure to check out the post from May of 2014.

Besides being able to attend the New York City Makeup Show, I was exposed to a lot of different companies that I may not have gotten the opportunity to contact otherwise. Maybelline and Milani cosmetics became staples in my makeup bag after receiving so many awesome products from them. I also got hooked on ABC Family’s one-season show “Chasing Life” after ABC Family and Seventeen helped me host a season premiere party for “Chasing Life” and “Pretty Little Liars.”

While working for Seventeen over the past two years, I have gotten to experience so much and realize how much I truly love the media industry. Here’s to hoping I continue to reach more goals, continue to fall in love with this industry, and more as graduation (eeeeek!) keeps creeping up on me.

11Jun2014

My Pretty Little Liars & Chasing Life Party

by sparkleandshinesami

My contract with Seventeen Magazine, as a member of Seventeen Magazine’s Seventeen Social Club, helped me land a once in a lifetime opportunity.

To kick off the “Pretty Little Liars” season premiere last night and the premiere of ABC Family’s new show “Chasing Life,” Seventeen Magazine and ABC Family sent me promotional goodies for myself and some friends. To celebrate the premiere of the shows and the awesome goodies, I hosted a Pretty Little Liars/Chasing Life premiere party (#PLLChasingLifeParty).

My friends (starting from left to the right, in the back) Jenny, Kathleen, Jenna, Lawlah, Allie, Julia, and Vanessa came over to celebrate to start of the premiere with all of our amazing goodies!

Some of the goodies ABC Family sent for our #PLLChasingLifeParty were orange Chasing Life bags! They were super cute and the right size to keep some of the other goodies ABC Family sent us in.

We had so much fun with the other promotional goodies – such as the beach balls, “Pretty Little Liars” and “Chasing Life” mini posters, and ABC Family summer season lineup fans.

Coasters featuring ABC Family’s summer shows were also included. They were perfect to put our drinks on…..

…and to keep the “Pretty Little Liars” fun going during the commercial breaks!

ABC Family also included a WATCH ABC Family flyer and “Pretty Little Liars” season 4 DVD coupons.

As a party host for ABC Family, through Seventeen Magazine, I tweeted some of the pictures above. The official ABC Family Pretty Little Liars twitter account and official ABC Family Chasing Life twitter account retweeted me twice. Now, images of my friends and I at our #PLLChasingLifeParty have over 100 likes each, over 20 retweets each, and I’ve gained a bunch of new followers.

Whenever people tweet at me asking how I received all these awesome goodies for my friends and I, I just tell them that I’m lucky enough to be working with Seventeen Magazine thanks to “Sparkle and Shine.”

Thanks ABC Family and Seventeen Magazine for this opportunity!

P.S. readers, The Collegiate Standard is still offering 10% off with coupon code SAMI10. Head on over to get your shopping on while the coupon is still available!

25Nov2013

My Monday Musts

by sparkleandshinesami

Happy Monday, readers!

Instead of typing this from my normal cubby at my college’s library, I am typing this from the comfort of my own bed in Jersey! Quinnipiac University gives us 10 days home for Thanksgiving break. As much as I miss my sisters and friends at school, it is so great to be home with my family, sleep in, and not wear flip flops in the shower. More importantly, it is now the Christmas season in my household! My mom and I have already put up our Christmas tree, some inside Christmas decorations, and set up our traditional village. There is nothing I love more than Christmas time.

Now for the Scrooges out there who believe that Christmastime does not start until after Thanksgiving, I am refraining from doing a Christmas themed My Monday Musts and do the usual My Monday Musts with no specific theme.

Without further ado, here are this week’s Monday Musts!

1. ABC Family’s 25 Days of Christmas Countdown

Okay, okay, I know I said it wasn’t going to be Christmas themed, but I never said I wasn’t going to include something Christmas related. My television has been stuck on ABC Family’s Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas. They have been playing classic Christmas movies already, like one of my personal favorites “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause.” They also feature classic Disney movies, such as “Mulan,” for getting excited for the Christmas season. With only a few days left in November, the actual 25 Days of Christmas will be starting. I love spending Saturday mornings watch the Christmas cartoons I grew up watching, like “The Year Without a Santa Claus.”

2. Bride’s Special Dance Vimeo Video

This past week, I saw the most tear – jerking video and decided to share it with you all. The bride in the video is facing a tragedy many girls, such as myself, will have to face on their wedding day – not having their father with them because he passed away. The bride’s brother decided to do something very special for the bride – something she will never forget for her dance. I don’t want to ruin the video, so you can all watch it. Just keep your tissues close by, be prepared to have a smile on your face, and open up your heart to the beauty of this video.

3. “The Extra Mile”

I went with another heart warming video for my third Monday Must, except this one will leave you giggling, instead of in tears. After watching the video above, you will definitely now need a smile on your face. My obsession with Total Sorority Move columns has led to me finding this video entitled “The Extra Mile.” In the video, a young boy, named Cole, teaches college boys how to go the extra mile to landing a girls’ hearts – just by being nice. The cute little boy can put such a smile on your face and brighten your day! And as a college girl, I agree with Cole – if college boys don’t get their act together, they may end up like Bruno Mars regretting to buy flowers. Until I find that boy who will make George Clooney proud, I may just be waiting for a little boy in a tux to give me a red rose.

Now even though I am on break, I still have to write a ton of papers and start studying for finals. These videos were a great little study break. I hope they brighten your day, just like they brightened mine!

Enjoy your Monday, Thanksgiving & Black Friday, readers!

14Oct2013

My Monday Musts

by sparkleandshinesami

Happy Monday, readers!

And happy midterms week to most….

I hope you all had a great weekend – I know I sure did! It was my first weekend back at school since my knee injury and I could finally go out with my best friend. It was so good to be back with them, doing what we like to do on the weekends, and spending my Saturday night at Quinnipiac students’ infamous Saturday night club, Toads.

Now, it’s back to reality of the craziness of school. It’s midterm week here at QU – and that means spending hours in the library, studying my note cards til I can barely see straight anymore. It’s day like these that I wish I liked coffee!

With two exams tomorrow, and one on Wednesday, I have only this weekend to look forward to. This weekend my absolute best friend, Julia, and I are going to New York City to visit our other best friend, Vanessa, at school! I am so excited for the three of us to be reunited and spend a Friday night in the best place on Earth together, NYC!

But, in the meantime, I’ll take a study break to share with you all this week’s Monday Musts:

1. Passionately Pink for a Cure Hair Strands

Last Monday, some of my best friends and I got pink clip-in extensions to show our support for breast cancer awareness. According to the American Cancer society, about 1 in 8 women will develop invasive breast cancer during their lifetime. About 40,000 women will die from breast cancer. These are mothers, sisters, daughters, and friends. Grieving offer the loss of a loved one is one of the hardest struggles someone could possibly go through. Our $5 hair strands contributed to making a difference, and making an awareness, to changing these statistics. I am proud to be a female and proud to help fight back against cancer.

2. Wednesday Night TV

In my previous Monday Musts, I discussed my LOVE for “Duck Dynasty.” “Duck Dynasty” airs their new episodes on Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. With some of my closest guy friends, I gather around their television to watch the show. As Connor, Ben, Pat, and I finished up the episode, we decided to then watch the next show, “Bad Ink.” I never saw it before – and I quickly became obsessed. “Bad Ink” follows two Las Vegas tattoo artists who fix people’s bad tattoos – whether they were just bad choices or the original tattoo artist just did not do a good job. The show left me so amazed. So when we all planned on watching only one thirty minute episode, it turned into a 2 hour marathon. I don’t get to watch a lot of television in college, so I look forward to Wednesday night with the boys watching “Duck Dynasty” and “Bad Ink.”

3. ABC Family’s 13 Nights of Halloween

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays – always has been and always will. One of my favorite parts of any holiday are the themed movies. ABC Family’s annual 13 Nights of Halloween kicks off this Saturday and I am SO excited! ABC Family always plays the greatest cliche Halloween movies that we were all raised on, such as “Hocus Pocus” and “Beetlejuice” (two of my favorite movies). Though with the craziness of my schedule, I won’t be getting to watch as much of the Halloween movie marathons as I would like, I’m just happy to know that it is on. Plus, to me, this kicks off the start of all the holidays and all the great traditions that come along with it!