Celebrate Galentine’s Day with Bryan Anthony’s

Happy Hump Day!

One week from today, Walgreens and CVS will be putting their Valentine’s Day on half price. Until that glorious moment, you’ll be bombarded with “What to Get Your Boyfriend” and “Non-Flowers and Chocolates Gifts for your Bae this V-Day” (trust me, I know this, I work in PR).

But aren’t really seeing is gifts for your pals on Galentine’s Day!

I’m a big believer of Galentine’s Day- the day before Valentine’s Day were you celebrate your go-to ride-or-dies, those kick-ass friends who are by your side no matter what. My friends and I have even done Galentine’s Day gift-exchange parties to celebrate how much we love each other – something I definitely recommend!

Though it may be too last minute to plan a party, there’s still time to shop for some goodies for your BFFs! My current favorite? Bryan Anthony’s!

What I love most about the jewelry site is that all of their pieces tell a story – whether it’s about your best friend being your soul sister, or you’re following your heart despite the odds, or connecting the dots of life when the going gets tough. There’s something for each of the moments – and that something is a gorgeous piece of jewelry.

I recently purchased the soul sister ring set for my soul mate of a best friend, Lauren!

soul-sisters-rings-gold-silver-model

Lauren and I call each other other our soulmates, in honor of the infamous Sex and the City quote, “Maybe our girlfriends are our soulmates and guys are just people to have fun with.” After three hour long coffee dates, long drives with the music blasting, and late night FaceTime sessions, we realized more and more how true this was for us.

So for her 21st birthday, I knew that the perfect to celebrate her birthday, our friendship, and distance not coming between us would be these soul sister rings.

It really is a great reminder of how amazing our friendship is even though we are states away.

Now go celebrate your amazing friends, like Lo, this Galentine’s Day by going to Bryan Anthony’s and ordering from their different collections.

Happy shopping!!

Have you checked out Bryan Anthony’s before? Are you going to now? Comment below and let me know!

28Jan2014

My Monday Musts

by sparkleandshinesami

Happy Monday, readers!

Hope you had a fabulous week! I survived my first week of classes of my second semester of sophomore year – YAY! Granted it consisted of some snow, much early than expected library trips, and stress, I made it through! From here, it is now back into school mode for me as I tackle this semester. More importantly, I will be blogging my way through it, of course.

This weekend, readers, I came to realize that even at 19 years old sweet sixteens are still my thing. I celebrated one of my best friend’s little sisters sweet sixteen’s this weekend.

So special shout in this week’s Monday Musts goes to you Anna! I’m so glad that you had such a great sweet sixteen, baby hlush!

And now, without further ado, this week’s Monday Musts!

1. “All the Boys Love Mandy Lane”

So Julia and I decided to stay home this weekend and relax by ordering in phone (hellllo cheat day!) and watching a movie in sweats. We haven’t watched a scary movie in a while together and were both in the mood for one. We browsed through Netflix, waiting for one to catch out eye. We ended up hitting play on “All the Boys Love Mandy Lane.” Any college or high school kids looking for a horror movie to just veg out to with your best friends, this is it. If you’re looking for a scary movie to watch with your fam, this isn’t the one I would pick. Julia and I laughed at the stereotypical horror scenes, but then would get engrossed at the plot twists (what you’re thinking is the end, I can promise you, is not it.) Soon we found ourselves putting ourselves as characters into the film, which was about high schoolers who go to a ranch miles away from civilization for the weekend. Next time you and your BFF are bored and want to watch a scary movie without being legitimately scared, pop on “All the Boys Love Mandy Lane” on Netflix.

2. “The Carrie Diaries”

Ask me who some of my role models are in life, I’ll name my mom/grandma/aunts, Marilyn Monroe, Khloe Kardashian, and Carrie Bradshaw. I love “Sex and The City” and all the life lessons and fabulous quotes that can from Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte living in the fabulous NYC. I’ve read “The Carrie Diaries” to learn about young Carrie, but I have yet to watch the show. So I have finally decided that I will watch it on Netflix! Since I am being a good blogger and writing this in advance, I unfortunately haven’t gotten to start the series yet. However, my excitement to begin it (and see the beautiful Austin Butler on camera) is through the roof.

3. Alpha Delta Pi’s Theta Theta Chapter’s Newest Director of Social Enrichment

I would love to share with you all some very exciting news I have recently received: I am now an appointed member of my sorority’s Executive Board as the Director of Social Enrichment. It is now my honor, and my privileged, to put together the best semi-formal and formal my fabulous sisters could ever ask for. As you’ve seen in many posts, Alpha Delta Pi means so much to me. Being able to be a member of E-Board, holding a position I dreamed of having leaves me speechless. One of my loves is party planning. Planning my sweet sixteen, helping plan friends’ sweet sixteens, and many others has left me with a favorite past time. However, unlike blogging or watching Netflix, party planning isn’t something I always get to do. Ever since I first help my family plan my aunt’s bridal shower & baby shower, I have loved event planning. Being able to do event planning for ADPi is incredible. Deep in my heart, I love my ADPi.

And here’s a little something new I’ll be adding to each Monday Musts! So, besides being a sister of Alpha Delta Pi, I am a member of my school’s newspaper and my school’s chapter of Her Campus. At the bottom of each Monday Musts, I’ll be linking up my articles from the previous week!

For the school paper, I most often write Culture Shock, which is some celeb dirt for this week! Check that out here.

And for Her Campus, I interview different Campus Celebs at QU! Check out this week’s interview here.

Have a great week, readers! Keep sparkling!

21Oct2013

My Monday Musts

by sparkleandshinesami

Happy Monday, readers!

Hope you all are having a fabulous Monday! I know I sure am! Guess who got a 100 on her last nutrition exam after studying for over 8 hours?! Me! And nothing can put me in a better mood than knowing that all my hard work is paying off during my 8 a.m.

However, now I’m stuck back in reality though after the incredible weekend I had. It’s no more city streets, but back to my campus. There’s no more hole-in-wall dining, but a cafeteria. I’m just stuck with all the memories, tired legs, and a new Facebook profile picture.

But another part of my reality though, is bringing to you all my Monday Musts!

1. How I Met Your Mother

Once I returned home from New York City, my little diamond, Amber, began to tell me about her newest obsession, the television show “How I Met Your Mother.” I’ve heard so many people talk about, read so many tweets about it, but never had any interest in it. I always felt that it was in someway similar to “Friends,” and nothing could ever compete for my heart the way Chandler, Ross, Joey, Rachel, Monica, and Phoebe have. After a much needed few minutes of relaxing, I decided to give the show a chance and watch with her. I quickly became obsessed. We have watched so many episodes in just a short amount of time as we try to figure out who the mother is. It’s safe to say that I finally hopped onto the “How I Met Your Mother” bandwagon!

2. Quinnipiac got an Alex and Ani

I looooove Alex and Ani bracelets! My collection includes the anchor bangle, the Alpha Delta Pi bangle, and the daughter bangle. Quinnipiac’s campus was in uproar when Alex and Ani released the Quinnipiac University bangle, decked out with the Bobcat and our school’s name! I, like every other girl on campus, was in love and obsessed – and may have even stopped breathing for a few seconds. I can’t wait to hopefully add this to my collection, especially since Christmas is just around the corner( if you really want to know, I like it in silver)!

3. Ice Cream IS Happiness

By accident before, I opened up my Tumblr app, which hasn’t been open in forever thanks to Pinterest. The first photo that popped up said “…You cannot buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream (which is almost the same thing).” I instantly fell in love with the photo and had to screenshot it to save it and now share it all with you. Fun fact, one of my all time favorite foods is ice cream. Whenever I’m happy, whenever I am sad, or almost whenever in general, I could go for a big bowl of ice cream! Almost every Monday, my big diamond, Katherine, and I go to a local ice cream place, called Wentworths. We catch up on each other’s weekends and give each other a play-by-play of our nights. The only thing that gets me through the dreaded Monday is our weekly big diamond/little diamond ice cream dates! Seeing this photo made me realize how true it is- my true happiness from Mondays comes from ice cream dates with Katherine! If you’re stuck in those Monday blues today, grab yourself some Ben & Jerry’s! Yummy!

Hope you all have a great rest of your week, readers! Keep sparkling!

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!