Story time with Sami: That time I ran a match-making service for my sisters

Happy Thursday, babes!

I don’t know if it’s because I am a blogger or because I’m addicted to social media, but I love when bloggers are transparent – whether this means on their Twitter, Instagram, or sharing personal stories for their readers. Some of my favorite YouTubers often post “story time” videos about crazy events that happen to them or weird memories they made with their friends.

And if you know me in real life, then you know that I have a tooooon of stories. This is why I decided to create a series called “Story time with Sami” where I share some funny stories about things that I’ve done. So for the first edition, I decided to share about Sami’s Sexy Singles, my match making service.

for all age

Now, Sami’s Sexy Singles originally started as a joke my sophomore year at Quinnipiac. One of our sisters, Tammy, was the sweetheart of SigEp and would always try to match make sisters with her brother – I mean, she made Google spreadsheets and PowerPoints. I would have a lot to live up to! When she graduated, that left someone to try and arrange sisters with dates for all of our events. Somehow, I don’t even know how, the position fell into my lap. I joked about Sami’s Sexy Singles but nothing ever came of it.

All of a sudden, for a grab-a-date last semester, Sami’s Sexy Singles re-appeared. I’m friends with a lot of affiliated men who wanted to come to our grab-a-date, so I thought I would jokingly bring back Sami’s Sexy Singles. Unknowing to me, a lot of my sisters were interested in being matched. So in true senioritis/lack of motivation fashion, I decided to pour my all into Sami’s Sexy Singles – even staying up until 3 AM one night to make a professional Google Drive through the official Sami’s Sexy Singles e-mail account!

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I even had my friends Kristina, Courtney, and Dale get involved! We would send out e-mails to those who were matched and even to our entire chapter reminding them to e-mail us if they wanted dates and the “rules” for the match-making service (including no liability and about customer satisfaction). We would try to keep the e-mails as professional as possible, to add to the humor of the entire situation. Our dates also received e-mails, to help them realize how serious we took our match0making responsibilities that night.

We weren’t the only people taking Sami’s Sexy Singles serious…. We had people tweeting about us with the hashtag “#samissexysingles” and e-mailing us about getting matched. Guys were coming up to us and e-mailing us asking to be added to the list of eligible bachelors! We were a hit.

One day I was getting lunch in a Greek-life populated area and I had some fraternity men that I wasn’t friends with come ask to me and ask if I could match them for their formal. People that Kristina, Courtney, Dale, and I weren’t friends with even knew about Sami’s Sexy Singles and were interested. I bet that’s like what Kim K. felt the first time someone recognized her as more than just Paris’ BFF….

The day the grab-a-date rolled around, we had over 15 couples – that’s more than 30 people who were coming to the event because of Sami’s Sexy Singles. Our phones were blowing up with questions and e-mails, I felt like a real life C.E.O!

In the end, I had a blast at the event, Kristina, Courtney, Dale and their dates had fun, and so did our sisters and their dates!

Here’s my date and I at the event. His little was one of our eligible bachelors who came to the event! Gotta keep it in the family, you know? –

Here is me and my date, Justin, from the event. All the seniors celebrated the event in a duck-hunting themed (aka my dream theme due to my “Duck Dynasty” obsession). Recognize this picture? If you follow me on Instagram, it’s the picture I posted that night!

Now, I’m not saying Sami’s Sexy Singles was extremely successful (I haven’t finished our customer satisfaction survey yet, but I’ll say it was pretty dang successful), but I am saying that many sisters asked what would happen to it once I graduated. Since Kristina is a year younger, I passed down Sami’s Sexy Singles to her in my senior will, so my legacy will live on.

I would love to know how you feel about Story time with Sami!! Comment below & tell me some different types of stories you would want to hear or tweet them to me @sparkleshinesam!

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22Apr2014

Looking for a good book to read? Check out “Here and Now.”

by sparkleandshinesami

Hey, readers! I’ve got something special to share with you all thanks to Seventeen Magazine!

As a member of the Seventeen Social Club, I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of Ann Brashares’ novel “The Here and Now.” Now that novel is on sale for anyone to buy it, I recommend going out to get it ASAP!

I was able to relax with the novel during my spring break and recently finished it. It was so hard to put down, that I wish all my school work didn’t get in the way. Luckily, thanks to Easter Break, I was able to finish the futuristic novel by “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” author.

Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.

Does that capture your attention yet? Good.

The 288 page novel is a romantic thriller about seventeen-year-old Prenna James. James immigrated to New York when she was only twelve-years-old; except, she didn’t come from a different country, she came from a different time. Prenna James came from the future – a future where a mosquito-borne illness mutated into a pandemic, killing millions of people and leaving the world in ruins.

Prenna, and the others who have escaped to present day must follow a strict set of rules: NEVER reveal where they are from, NEVER interfere with history, and NEVER be intimate with anyone outside their community.

Prenna follows all of these rules, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day destroy the Earth.

However, everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves.

This novel is completely different than “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” but still a must-read.

For more information on the novel, I recommend reading Seventeen’s interview with Ann Brashares here.

1Aug2013

Guess Whose Cartilage is Pierced?! Mine!

by sparkleandshinesami

My best friend got her cartilage pierced when she was in the 8th grade.

A girl in my sixth grade class got hers pierced when she was in the fourth grade.

I got my cartilage pierced at nineteen after waiting years for it.

For me, it is more than just a piece of jewelry. I have always wanted my cartilage pierced, however, I am putting in my deceased father’s earring to always carry a part of my guardian angel with me. After waiting three years, the time was right to finally get the piercing.

With my best friend in tow (who took pictures, of course) I went and got it done earlier this week!

When I tell you I was freaking out, I was freaking out. Even with having broken multiple bones and had surgery, I still turn into a little baby and freak out when I know I am about to face pain. With only having two holes in each ear, I was so unsure what the stabbing of a needle for my cartilage was going to be like.

Thank goodness, the piercer, Ian, was so used to people freaking out (he said that I was nothing compared to most people, but I don’t believe him). He totally tricked me, which helped make it easier. After marking a dot on my ear in Sharpie as to where the piercing would go, he said he was going to mark another one so I could decide where I want. While talking to my best friend, he stabbed the needle through without me even noticing! Since it felt different than the marker, I started asking profusely “did you do it?! did you do it?!” to which he kept denying until the earring was fully clasped on my ear and the process was over. He definitely made the experience a lot easier!

I am so happy with the way it turned out and am so glad I did this. I can’t wait for the six weeks to pass so I can put my daddy’s earring in!

Do you have any piercings with a story behind them? Tell me about it below!