According to Alyssa

          One thing that I am incredibly thankful for is the fact that all of my friends are so creative and talented.  I'm constantly surrounded by filmmakers, photographers, musicians, and actors.  (What a blow to my ego! Haha!)
          Last semester, my friend, Lindsey, invited myself and our mutual friend, Michelle, to model in a photo shoot she was doing for her editorial photography class!  The day was a complete dream come true.  We had been given permission to use the empty penthouse apartment in one of the classiest apartment buildings in downtown Pittsburgh and we spent the day laughing and having some real girl time!  It was a blast and I felt like I was in Serena van der Woodsen's Upper East Side apartment!  Our wardrobes consisted of vintage nighties and men's suits.
          Let me know what you think of the photos I've chosen to show!

          Halloween this year seemed to roll around very quickly!  While I'm normally very prepared when it comes to costumes, (I made my Poison Ivy costume last year leaf by leaf!), this year, I just wasn't ready!

          If you're like me, the thought of horror movies makes you want to collapse into a trembling mess under a killer-proof pile of warm blankets.  (Three years ago, my mom bought The Exorcism of Emily Rose and I hid it in the house so that I wouldn't have to walk in on anybody watching it and accidentally see something terrifying.  I no longer live at home and I still haven't revealed its hiding place...)  But that doesn't mean that you can't participate in all of the fun that Halloween movies have to offer!  Just go for a non-scary flick that both horror and non-horror fans can enjoy.  And you'll get the added bonus of sleeping through the night!

1. Psycho - Despite popular belief, this movie is NOT scary.  I spent years of my life not knowing how wonderful it truly was because I was told it was a horror film.  It may have been scary when it was first released, but it certainly isn't now.  Plus, if you're a film fan in general, you get to enjoy Alfred Hitchcock's incredible direction!
2. Hocus Pocus - THE Halloween movie.  If you don't own this movie, get it.  If you can't find it, don't worry!  ABC Family is showing it at least twice this year! "Boooooooooook!"
3. The Haunted Mansion - Singing statue heads. That's it.
4. Corpse Bride - Everyone loves watching The Nightmare Before Christmas around Halloween time, and don't get me wrong...I do too!  (My boyfriend and I have watched it twice this fall already.)  But I think that Corpse Bride is often forgotten and truly shouldn't be!
5. Scream - One of my all-time favorite movies for any time of the year!  If you're of drinking age, you can even have a "Screamathon" that mimics the "Stabathon" of Scream 4 and watch all four films with your friends.  Or you can do this without alcohol!  My "Screamathon 2k14" will be happening very soon! Watch for my post on that!

          Just a quick note to announce that I will be starting to blog for Maniac Magazine in the next week and I couldn't be more excited about this!

          We'll be watching my brother play in his football game on Friday night (I can't believe he's a senior already! Wah!), and then on Saturday we'll get to delight in all that the Bloomsburg Fair has to offer us (aka THE BEST FOOD I'VE EVER HAD).  So exciting!

          My sister, Taylor, is coming home this weekend as well so we'll all be together for the first time since June!  Can't wait!

          Today, I decided that I was going to try something new and different.  So, I went to the gym.  Now, you should know that I have zero attraction to the idea of working out.  In fact, I intentionally didn't pack sneakers when I went on vacation just so that my sister couldn't try to make me do anything physical.  Being overheated and sweaty (ew!) just doesn't suit me and I've never understood the whole "endorphins" thing.  But nonetheless, I decided to give it a go, because toned legs might actually feel pretty nice.

          So, after calling and getting directions to the gym, I laced up my Nikes, slipped into some mesh shorts and worked out.  (I think?)  I'm not really sure what qualifies as a workout, but I pedaled through a half an hour on the bike machine (which told me that I did 12.5 miles) and then attempted to do some leg, butt, and abdominal exercises.  Those made my muscles feel as if some workout God (or Goddess) was squeezing them with all their might, so I think that's good!  Is exercise productivity measure in pain units?  If it is, then I've definitely succeeded.

          Beforehand, I was a bit worried that the gym would be full of people judging me, but instead there was only a small, beer-bellied, middle-aged man wearing cargo shorts and high-top Jordans.  I may not know much about workout couture, but I'm pretty sure that's not the correct attire sir.

          Though I'm still not a fan of salt water escaping from my pores, I do enjoy a bit of loud music, and of course the gym is the perfect atmosphere for an iPod, headphones, and my favorite Pandora stations; so perhaps working out wasn't all that bad.  Maybe I'll even do it again sometime!  For now though, I'm going to enjoy this bag of peanut M&Ms. (Yum!) I tried.


(P.S. Major props to people who do this and much harder every day. Damn.)