According to Alyssa

First of all, I just want to say thank you to everyone who took the time to read the last article that I posted and leave me so many lovely comments!  It means the world to me that you all are interested in what I'm doing at work.  I just wanted to leave a quick note to let you know that I've been published in Maniac again!  Though this article is much shorter, I am still so proud of it and hope you guys enjoy it!

This time, I attended an event (thrown by Maniac) that celebrated the grand opening of the cutest little chocolate shop!  I started out wearing a white dress and ultimately had to change because I ruined it with chocolate...surprise!  Haha, but it was a really nice time for me to be able to relax with my co-workers and make some new friends!  Please check it out below and let me know what you think!  (If it's too small to read, you can check it out here!)

Today's post is going to be a bit more of a serious one.  I don't believe that I have ever written anything on this subject before, so I apologize if I'm a bit awkward...

In the past five years, I have lost two very important people in my life to the horrible disease that is cancer.  First, my Aunt Lisa to skin cancer and a few years later, my Nanna to lung cancer.  (Both on my mom's side of the family.)  My father has had a cancerous mole removed, and I myself have had about 6 pre-cancerous moles removed from various places on my body.  It's a very, scary thing.  Because their is a history of cancer on both sides of my family, all of us are required to get a skin check every six months.  So, helping people with this disease has always been very dear to my heart.

Recently, I've been introduced to the story of a brave little girl named Maliyah by her mother Tazz Jones.  Maliyah is five years old and is unfortunately another person in my life who has been diagnosed with another form of cancer, neuroblastoma.


With the majority of her treatments taking place in New York City, Maliyah and her mother are having to constantly travel from Pittsburgh to the Big Apple.  This alone can cost so much money.  When you add the costs of the actual treatments on top of it, the amount is truly unbearable.

But, fortunately for us, there is a way that we can all help this beautiful little girl get her treatments without having to worry about the costs!  Tazz Jones has created an online shop where we can purchase beautiful jewelry and all of the proceeds will go towards helping Maliyah beat cancer!  Isn't that awesome?!  I'm so excited to be able to help share this opportunity to with you.  Hopefully, with our help, Maliyah can become cancer free!

If you are interested in helping out, please check out the shop here!

xx

Though my year has been one of the most exciting ones yet, I think this announcement may be the best of all!  I am so very pleased to share with you that I am writing and self-publishing a children's book!  HOORAY!  I can't believe it is actually happening.

If you are new to my blog, then you should know that I write about beauty, fashion, music, and life for Maniac Magazine which is so much fun!  I truly love every second of it.  But, I've been wanting to do some more fictional creative writing to stir up the pot.

I am also a HUGE fan of Christmas.  I have been watching the past few years of Zoe Sugg and Tanya Burr's vlogmas videos every day for the past month (I know it's early!) and listening to Christmas music in the shower.  MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAAAAYS! (Anybody know who sings that?!)  My boyfriend is extremely annoyed with me, but whatever!  It's the most wonderful time of the year, and it's only 5 months away!

So with my mind full of ideas and high on the thought of Christmas being so soon (lol), I texted my friend Katherine, who is an AMAZING artist (YES, SHE DID THE REINDEER PICTURED ABOVE.  ISN'T HE GORGEOUS?!) and half-jokingly said "let's write a children's book".  Her response was entirely serious and 100% for the idea.  And that was it.  We got to work right away and are now so pumped to be writing a children's Christmas book!

The story follows a retired reindeer far past his glory days who is searching for a way to continue to bring happiness to children!  We've launched a Go Fund Me campaign in the attempt to raise some of the money that we need to publish this book in time for Thanksgiving!  If you're interested in learning more, PLEASE don't hesitate to check out the campaign and make a donation!  We've included some pretty awesome rewards for anyone who helps us out, so we think it's definitely worth it!

Also, if you can't afford to donate, don't worry!  You can always just share the link to the campaign and help us spread the word!

Thank you all in advance!

xx

Ahhh!  Back to blogging!  I told myself that I would be more consistent and it seems that I've failed :( BUT, I blame that on how busy I've been lately.  With two jobs, an internship, and self-publishing my children's book (WHAT?!?!?!?! More on that later...), I've barely had time to think, let alone write anything longer than a "how was work?" text to my boyfriend.  But, I'm back!  And with lots of exciting things to share!

Last Thursday, Wiz Khalifa, Fall Out Boy, and Hoodie Allen paid Pittsburgh (technically Burgettstown) a visit on their Boys of Zummer tour and I got to attend!  Not only did I get to see the show, but since I've been working with Maniac, I scored a press pass!  That means that I got to photography the artists up close and personal!  (Pete Wentz all up in my face!!!)  While I did only get to shoot the first three songs of each performer, I was given a "reviewer's ticket" as well, which basically just meant that I could stay and enjoy the whole show!  It was a whole ton of fun and I snapped over 1,000 pictures!  The only thing that I thought was weird was how uninterested most of the other members of the media seemed in the show.  Maybe it's because it was my first time and I'm a genuine fan of these artists, but I was psyched!  Most of them didn't even watch the rest of the performances; they just sat in the pavilion and waited until the next set.  Weird.  But, whatever!  I did write a full review of the tour, but I won't post that here.  So if you want to check it out, you can head over to Maniac's site!