Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CreateWithHp #CollectiveBias

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When I was in middle school, I used to dread printing stuff. I honestly hated the hassle of spending the time going into the library, finding an open computer, and printing. When you’re terribly awful at completing school work on time, and the last thing you always have to do is print your homework out, it’s a majorly stressful situation!!

I didn’t come from a wealthy background, so when it came to back to school, I had to be careful with what I asked my parents to buy for me. We never had a printer growing up, so looking back, this is a product that I would’ve loved when I was heading back to school. Plus, it’s affordable too, so you don’t have to worry about your family saying no when you ask them to buy it.

A few weeks ago, I was shopping at Walmart and came across a printer that I wanted to talk about today. It’s the HP AMP Bluetooth Printer. Don’t even try and compare this printer to any of the ones that are in your school, because this one totally rules out of all of them. Available only at Walmart, the HP AMP actually plays incredible music, and the printer is so good that you feel like you’ve got a true stereo inside of it. You simply hook up Bluetooth on your cell phone and connect it to the printer to start playing. Walmart is putting on a ton of in-store demos for you to see how to use the printer before you buy it, so check out the full list here. 

A few things you can do with your new printer…

• Make calls
• Print your social media images
• Keep your smartphone charged
• Listen to music!

My back to school tutorial is below:

1. When you first wake up in the morning, make yourself a nice cup of coffee. That always sets the mood for the day.

2. Power on your printer and make sure your bluetooth is connected. Open up Spotify, and play a song you like. Right now, I love listening to Dua Lipa’s music!

3. When your coffee is ready, snap a pic of it and send it to post.

4. Don’t forget you can move your printer around, too. I love using my printer in the living room for leisure work, and in the office space for a work day. It’s truly versatile, and really sets the mood for any room.

5. If you’re trying to make the printer handy for bigger projects like cards or invitations, it’s pretty simple to do that too. Just make sure you have the correct paper on hand at all times: you never know when you’re going to want to have a spontaneous girls night! 

The correct link to purchase the printer online is here.

Xo,

Alexa

I loveeee food. And I loveeee Nutella. That’s such a specific food to be in love with, but it’s unfortunately true.

There’s a bistro in D.C. that I’m also obsessed with, and it’s called CIRCA. If you haven’t seen my latest video, check it out below. The end of the video was filmed in CIRCA, and you get to see me eat which is always exciting.

I was supposed to meet my friend at CIRCA, but she couldn’t join so I went alone. I love eating out alone, and I’ve slowly learned how crucial alone time is. I’m not one of those people who can be surrounded by people allll of the time: I go crazy. If you’ve ever watched Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw is always out eating alone. People always think it’s “weird” to be out alone, but take it from Carrie: stop caring what people think, and just be yourself.

What did I eat at CIRCA?

Steak salad, and all of the desserts above. I didn’t eat all of them, but I had a good portion of each. They were too good not to eat! I love the steak salad because the steak is always perfectly done, and I swap out the bleu cheese for the goat cheese. Does anyone actually like bleu cheese? I seriously despise bleu cheese. As much as I adore steak, I’d rather be eating the Nutella trifle. The caramel dulce cake is to die for. I don’t love the cheesecake, but I ordered it to take the picture. I would have really liked the cheesecake but I don’t like cheesecake in general, so it was probably silly for me to order it.

At the end of the day, do whatever makes your heart happy and your tummy full. Don’t spend time thinking about what other people are doing: focus on yourself. Trust me, you’ll be much happier that way.

Xo,

Alexa

Happy happy Monday! It’s Labor Day, but I feel like I have so much stuff to get done that it’s not a holiday for me. That being said, I can’t say I actually know what this holiday stands for so I might as well occupy myself today… 🙂

I just posted a new video, above, on what happened a few weeks ago in D.C. My producer canceled my segment the minute I landed, and that’s actually never happened to me before. I work really closely with the producers, and the companies I talk about, so having a segment canceled is pretty much the worst thing in the world that could happen. I never imagined to say I’d be on my toes every living moment in this industry, but you just never know what’s going to happen and when. I’ve talked in the past about how important it is to embrace your life and realize that everything is put in front of you for a reason, and that’s what I had to keep telling myself even when I wanted to just cry. And that’s OK too: you’re allowed to cry, and be angry, and be happy, and be sad. If anyone puts you down for that, don’t waste your time surrounding yourself with negative people. You might even have days where you just wanna have a good cry for no certain reason: those are the days where you have to accept what is and evaluate your life. I have those days literally every week, and I’m proud of them. You should be TOO!

P.S. How awesome does my follower, Colleen, look in the dress she won last week!?

#FollowYourDreams

Xo,

Alexa

I’ve arrived in California! I can’t believe how fast the past few months FLEW by. It’s actually scary. I’m in LA with my best friend, Gabe, and I feel like we were just here apartment hunting in May. I move and travel so frequently that I’m rarely in “one place” which is why I never say I’m actually moving…I feel like most people move and then stay there, right? I’m like, let’s move here and go somewhere else every 2 days! That’s how I like it, though.

When I first came to California a few years ago, the excitement I had every time I came here was like fire inside of me. Now that I’ve been here several times over the past year, I feel like I’m not as excited as I initially was. I like a change of scenery more than anything else. Changing up your scene every once in a while keeps your mind fresh and excited for new opportunities.

I’m also looking forward to some of the school talks we have coming up in the fall for M.I.N.T.! Our first talk is with Fusion Academy in October. I hope that the weather isn’t as terrible then as it is now: it’s so scary to think about the situation there right now. I have tons of family and friends in Houston and I can’t believe they had a storm this terrible. My heart goes out to everyone suffering, and I hope this never happens again. Life is too unpredictable…

Xo,

Alexa

On August 20, I hosted an event in Garden City, NY with The Fashion Class! I am just getting a chance to write this post now because I finally wrapped up my last TV segment for the month a few days ago. I’ve never been to Garden City, so I wasn’t sure what to expect when I ventured out to that part of NY. I honestly thought it would be like Newark, NJ, but I was totally surprised. Garden City is the cutest little town! It’s like a mini Southampton, if you’ve ever been to the Hamptons before…you know what I mean. Bougie clothing, people, and food. I ended up convincing one of my friends from childhood to drive down to New York with me, which was quite fun because we blasted music and talked the entire way.

I don’t usually get to do too much with kids and their wardrobes, so it was a really fun experience for me to see parents and how they like to style their kids. Kerri, the owner of Fashion Class, was incredibly sweet, and has one of the coolest companies out there. She has studios that help teach kids how to make their own clothing, and many of the kids wore the clothing down the runway at the fashion show! My best advice for parents when it comes to teaching their children how to grow up is to teach them (from a young age) to be self sufficient. Whether that makes making your own clothing, or learning how to bake cookies- as long as you’re teaching a child how to become their own person, they will be so much more mature as they get older!

P.S. NEW VIDEO BELOW!

Xo,

Alexa

Paige denim, Boohoo sneakers, Forever 21 top

A few months ago, I cold pitched an executive from A&E Networks about a show I was looking to produce. Since A&E does a lot with similar show concepts, I wanted to give them my idea and get their vision behind it. When I was in LA earlier this year, I pitched my idea to someone at Warner Brother’s and they turned me down: hardcore. If you want to see the video I posted after that meeting, click here.

I went in to meet with A&E with a very optimistic mindset because I know how the industry works. I was pretty scarred from the LA meeting, so I was assuming they’d shoot my idea out the door and tell me to get the f*** out of their office. I talked about being more content with the way things are in my post yesterday, and I tried to keep that mindset in check before I went to meet with them. Just getting them to email me back might be enough for someone else, but I wanted to talk to them face to face and take things to the next level…

Once I talked to them, they told me the project probably wasn’t up their alley. In my attempt to believe patience is virtue, I wrote my regular follow-up email to thank them for meeting with me, and decided to hang tight in case a project popped up. In this particular scenario, A&E did have a project for me, and it came at the perfect timing with what’s happening with my nonprofit, M.I.N.T. Eventually, the team at A&E hired me to work with them on a secret show coming out and bring together a group of NYC influencers to give feedback and share their personal stories. We met in NYC at the A&E office on Monday evening from 6-9:30 PM, and I left the office feeling so incredibly inspired and proud of the influencers who I rounded up and how passionate they are about following their dreams and inspiring me to keep following mine, too.

Someone DM’ed me on Instagram the other day saying he had heard me talk about my experience being turned down by WB on the Purpose in the Youth podcast, and what my advice was for pitching the big guys. My advice? Don’t give up. 10000000 people will tell you no, and then 2000000 more people, and you just have to accept what is until you meet the person who says yes. Most of the time, people give up after the first 10000000 people say no. It’s the ones who never give up that end up where they always wanted to.

Xo,

Alexa

I haven’t posted in over 5 days! This is terrible! The past few weeks have been INSANE. Between planning four TV segments for back to school, hosting my event with A&E last night, and working on a project that is getting released soon…I haven’t had as much time to just simply sit down and write. I just submitted my idea for a TedxTeen talk, and it was around the lines of taking time for yourself and speaking. When things get crazy, I always make time for a few things…good, wholesome food (paleo blondies & salad are my go-to, talking to my friends and my boyfriend), going to the gym, and being alone. I’m one of those people that could be alone all of the time, so when I’m spending most of my time crazed on set, I don’t have as much time for myself. Going to the gym is my one hour to be alone (or with my best friend, Gabe) and I make sure I make time for that each day.

That being said, sometimes you have to say no to different opportunities and not feel bad about it. I’ve always struggled with feeling bad about silly things, and one of my goals for this year was to simply stop feeling bad, and start feeling happy for the opportunities I do have! It’s hard to say no, but it’s important. If you miss out on one opportunity, I can promise you that a new one ALWAYS ALWAYS comes around.

Last week, I traveled to Milton, NY to have a staycation at Buttermilk Falls Inn. I’m not sure how I came across the Inn, but I think I spotted it on Instagram and when I saw the site, I knew I had to pitch a staycation to them. I’ve never been to upstate NY, so I wasn’t sure whether to expect a rural, woods resort, or whether I’d be expecting a mini Manhattan in the middle of the woods. I was wrong on both of my expectations: because Buttermilk Falls Inn literally exceeded any expectation I had. Immediately upon checking in early evening Monday night, we went right to dinner at Henry’s, which is their on-site restaurant. Breakfast is included with your stay, so when it comes to dinner/lunch, you only have one restaurant to choose from. Usually I’d freak out when I would think I only had one restaurant to choose from…until I saw the menu at Henry’s. The lunch and dinner menus are totally different, and since everything is farm to table and local, you can expect to get the freshest meal each time you dine. For the dinner, we started with truffle fries that were the most unreal fries I’ve EVER eaten, as well as mussels. For my main, I went with grouper and my boyfriend got steak (I think, I ate so many fries I’m kind of forgetting what we ate)…and each bite got better and better. I was so full and tired after my main dish that we oddly skipped dessert, but I made sure to make up for that on Tuesday night.

After a perfect and calm night of rest, we woke up on Tuesday and had breakfast downstairs. Buttermilk Falls is like a B&B but not, so the breakfast was different than a regular B&B. You got to choose from three different entries, and then they suppled tons of pastries, coffee, juices, and fresh jams to pair with your main. Their dining room is perfectly sized and quaint, so you can easily chat with other people or you can talk to whoever you’re with. After you eat breakfast, you can play tennis (like I did, for the first time ever) or go for a swim. If you’re in the mood to be a little more adventurous, treat yourself to a massage or a facial and spend the rest of the day eating gluten-free food by their indoor pool.

My boyfriend and I ended up extending our stay one night, so we stayed until Wednesday before we drove back to Connecticut for me to fly to D.C. I got a lovely massage on Tuesday and spent the day outside and by the pool before eating every dessert for dinner. Likeee…every dessert. I tried both ice creams, apple crisp, and the flourless chocolate cake. Of course, I ate the entire flourless chocolate cake and the “maple” ice cream, that’s actually from mushrooms and not maple, and then stole half of my boyfriends ice cream too. Man, I love dessert.

If you’re looking for an uptown getaway from the city, or simple a perfect night out with your boyfriend/girlfriend or parents, I would suggest Buttermilk Falls Inn. There is NO place better to getaway than to here. 

Xo,

Alexa

On August 12, 10 girls came over to my apartment. I had never met any of them, and I had the idea to host this dinner after I read ex-EIC of Seventeen, Ann Shoket’s, book called The Big Life. Her book was all about following your dreams, balancing your side hustle and more. I had all of the girls fill out a questionnaire before the event, which is what helped me choose the girls I wanted to come. I would’ve had all of them come, but I don’t have enough room in my apartment for 20 girls! Some of the questions revolved around their biggest dreams, and what made them want to come and share their story with other girls they had never met.

I couldn’t have chosen better chicks- I have never felt so incredibly inspired and blessed to have the opportunity to talk to such motivated and passionate women. We talked about everything from relationships, to balancing a side hustle & a full-time job, and what we hate about social media. I was impressed with how much the girls knew about themselves and their dreams, because most of the time, people don’t know what they want to do until they are much older.

Target supplied all of the notebooks, wrapping and my outfit, and I put some Secret Deodorant, Kusmi Tea, Wetherspoon honey, and a few more goodies in. GrubHub let us order a bunch of pizza and salad, which I was very impressed to see all of the girls eating and truly enjoying.

At the end of the day, you can always make your side hustle your full-time gig. If you believe in yourself enough, and the people surrounding you believe in you, you’ve pretty much got what it takes. The next step? Figuring out your biggest dream, of course.

Xo,

Alexa

 Disclosure: This post has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and AcneFree. All opinions are mine alone. #AcneFreeSummer #AcneFreeLife #CollectiveBias

If you’re looking to buy the product I speak about, hover & click this image below to instantly shop!

Summer is rough on your skin. For me, I find that my skin gets so dry and less soft in the summer. I’m constantly applying moisturizer and eye cream to make sure that my skin is getting what it needs to prevent breakouts, but somehow, my skin still continues to breakout. In the summer, you sweat more often than usual, which opens up your pores and enables your skin to truly be affected by your atmosphere. I have tried every trick in the book to prevent my skin from breaking out when I’m at the gym, and nothing has worked until I found AcneFree products at Walgreens. These products are AWESOME to help and care for acne-prone skin. If you’re heading back to school or starting your life as a working professional, all four of these products will help you feel like a more confident and impressive version of yourself, especially if you end up going back to school with tons less acne than the previous year!

I headed to Walgreens yesterday to pick up two AcneFree products: the 24 hour Acne Clearing System and the Body Clearing Acne Spray. If you’re on a budget, they’re a fantastic option for you! I love the fact that the clearing system has everything you  need in one kit, so if you travel often during summer months, you don’t have to worry about losing any product.

To give you a bit of background on the AcneFree 24 Hour Clearing System:

• Oil-Free Purifying Cleanser deep-cleans with exfoliating ingredients to remove dirt, excess oil and eliminate bacteria.
• The Renewing Toner has ingredients like witch hazel and vitamins to sooth and calm your skin. You can also use this on your chest and back, if you occasionally get bacne (I do, especially in the summer). It can be hard to get your back the treatment you want to give it because it’s hard to reach, so this simple toner and spray help you reach those harder spots easily.
• The Repair Lotion offers full-day continuous clearing. I prefer to use this one twice a day.

Body Clearing Acne Spray:

I adore the body clearing acne spray because it really helps you reach the parts on your body that are harder to reach, and has ingredients that seriously combat your acne from spreading.

Participate in the #AcneFreeLife Sweepstakes – See Visible Results in As Few As 3 Days!

AcneFree is launching a 4-week sweepstakes on August 14th, 2017. 3 Grand Prize Winners will win $1,000 spending money and AcneFree Supplies for a year. Additionally, AcneFree will give away 10 AcneFree® 24 Hour Acne Clearing Systems every week for 4 weeks.

For more information and full rules, click her. No purchase necessary. Enter your name and email address and use the form to follow on Instagram and Facebook to win extra entries.
I invite you to come and enjoy the benefits of AcneFree skin with me by clicking this link!

Xo,

Alexa