What I wore & how I was asked to a fraternity Christmas party

Ho, ho, ho readers!

Are you in the holiday spirit? I know that even with finals being right around the corner, I am makings sure that I am with Christmas music, candy canes, and holiday pajamas.

Right after giving gifts to those that I love, my favorite part of the holiday is the Christmas parties! I love the ugly sweaters, the red dresses, and decorative earrings.

Last week, my best friend and I went to his fraternity’s Christmas party and I wanted to share the look with you all:

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Dress: Red Lace Fit and Flare dress from Dressbarn | Shoes: Embellished caged heel from Lane Bryant

And weeks before the event even happened, Paul had asked me by surprising me with a festive stocking! Weeks earlier, I had asked him to my sorority semi formal with donuts. Here’s how he asked me, complete with a festive puppy stocking (since we call each other puppy):

puppy stocking

See mom, it looks like being on the naughty list for all of these years has finally paid off!

Do you have any Christmas parties coming up? What about ugly sweater parties? Share your looks with me down below!

19Nov2015

Viva Las Alpha Delta Pi {Semi Formal 2015 pictures!}

by sparkleandshinesami

Hey, readers!

Looking back at recent Sparkle and Shine posts, I realized how I shared how super excited I was for my semi formal. I told you how I asked my date and how I was fueling my excitement by wearing my new letters, but then I never told you about how the actual semi formal was!

And it was awesome!

Since I was my chapter’s previous social chair, I haven’t been to a semi that I haven’t planned in years. It was so nice to go to an event and just be able to enjoy it and not need to make sure everything is going smoothly. Plus, I went with my best friend in the entire world so I knew we were going to have a blast.

Plus, since my big is still here for grad school, she came to pictures, too! It was the first family photo with my big, me, my little, grand little, and great grand little.

Check out some of my favorite pictures from the night below:

And after a great night at my semi formal, Paul asked me to his fraternity’s Christmas party on Tuesday. Stay tuned to see more about his proposal in an upcoming post!

6Oct2014

Guess Whose Back…Back Again! {Special Monday Musts}

by sparkleandshinesami

Guess whose back….tell a friend!

Well, it’s not Eminem, readers – it’s me!

Now that recruitment is over and I have 49 beautiful new sisters, I’m able to get back down into the wonderful word of blogging!

I’ve missed blogging so much recently and was reminded about how much I love it during a recent trip out with my best friend.

After breaking my iPhone (whoops), my best friend and I went to the local Apple store to get it fixed. While out, we decided to get Shake Shack and skip the usual cafe food. While ordering, I was asked if I was Sami from “Sparkle and Shine” – I was so surprised!

Julia and I both starred with our mouths dropped. I felt like a mini celebrity; like Paris Hilton before the “Simple Life” gig or Bieber before the YouTube discovery. It turned out to be Emma from The World According to Emma, another college blogger. It was by far one of the coolest moments of my life!

Besides being a mini-celebrity, I’ve been super busy.

I’ve been working on my broadcasting skills. This past week I was the entertainment anchor for my school’s TV station, Q30, and did a package for one of our entertainment segments, #That. Check them out –

Plus, I’ve been getting down and derby with my sisters.

As an Executive Board Member of my sorority, I plan events for our sisters. This past weekend, I executed our first ever Bowties and ADPis event, a Kentucky Derby themed Grab-a-Date on our quad. Sisters and their dates dressed in their floppiest hats and brightest bowties and spent the day playing croquet and other yard games. I brought my best friend, Ben, because there is no one I know who is willing to get fratty and dress preppy! Here’s one of the many pictures of us-

But readers, I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am to finally be back!

Recruitment is over and I am finally back into my blogging groove. I have so many posts planned, so get set…get ready…because Sparkle and Shine is about to really shine.

But, make sure you shine, too, readers! Have a great week and keep sparkling!

16Feb2014

Who Needed a Valentine When You Could Have Had Galentines?!

by sparkleandshinesami

So now that Valentine’s Day is officially 363 days away, I figured now would be a good time to discuss this past year’s without getting any hostile eye rolls. For all the single ladies out there, like myself, I spent Valentine’s Day with some of my closest single friends having a good time, blasting everything but “Single Ladies,” instead of wallowing in my single-ness by watching Nicholas Sparks movies and eating chocolate icing from the container.

(P.S. I couldn’t not mention “Single Ladies” and not include a gif…..so here you go, readers!)

Since I had such an incredible time celebrating Galentine’s (get it gal-instead of val) Day, I decided to share with you all how you can make the most of next year’s February 14. Instead it will help you appreciate the true loves of your life – YOUR FRIENDS!

So first off, we started the night by doing a Secret Cupid.

We made the classic Christmas “Secret Santa,” and turned it into something that will make the night more enjoyable! I mean, who doesn’t love gifts?! At the beginning of last week, we all pulled names out of a plastic bag and then had to get $15 worth of gifts for our Secret Cupid! We then put the gifts on the table and once everyone was dressed and had arrived, we went through and opened our gifts. We each went one at a time, which made it more exciting because we would guess at the end who had us.

Then, to continue on with our Valentine’s Day festivities, we had a party! Keeping in classic sorority girl style – the party had a theme! It was anti-Valentine’s day, so all the guests had to wear black. Except, the hostesses (the group photo above), wore some shade of pink or red to show off that we were the hosts!

Here’s some pictures of me with some of my fabulous Galentines – my sisters and my best friend!

My sisters and I were some of the hostesses of the party – so we all had on some form of red or pink to indicate it:

My best friend, Julia, was one of the guests – so she wore black:

As I said before, you still have 363 days to find a Valentine. But if you don’t I would rather you end up smiling like us…..

…then sobbing in bed while eating chocolate and watching soap operas like Elle Woods.

Either way, single or not, hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day, readers!

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!