Author Archives: lifewithlilred

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About lifewithlilred

Just your average gal blogging an average blog!
Oct5

Adults Can Rock Braces Too   

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Adults Can Rock Braces Too   

If there is one thing that we’re noticing more and more of, it is adults getting braces. After all, is there anything more attractive and confidence boosting than a beautiful smile? If you are self-conscious because you have crooked teeth, it is never too late to put it right. A lot of people assume braces are only for children, but this could not be further from the truth. Read on to discover how orthodontists can help you to achieve the perfect smile with adult braces:

Why have adult braces become so popular?

With every generation that passes, our teeth are staying stronger. However, just like the rest of your body, the challenges of aging can take over. We tend to assume that our teeth only really move when we are kids and we are still growing, but that’s not the case. Our teeth can shift naturally or because of the medication that we have taken. Therefore, more and more adults are turning towards braces to help them with this. We are also noticing more adults wearing braces for purely cosmetic reasons. It seems that we are now more concerned with our smiles than we have been. We want to feel amazing and look amazing too.

There are, of course, adults who are getting braces today simply because they didn’t get them when they were a child. Such issues that can be corrected include the likes of a jaw joint disorder, incorrect jaw position, cross-bites, under-bites, overbites, crowded teeth, and crooked teeth. If these problems are not treated, they can cause issues with chewing and speaking, earaches, headaches, TMJ, gum disease, and tooth decay. Even if you are an adult, it is still better to get braces now rather than never getting them at all!

How long will you need to wear braces for?

Everyone is different so the best thing to do is book an appointment with an experienced orthodontist who offers a range of dental services and will be able to advise on this. Nevertheless, most people do tend to wear braces for around eighteen months. Generally, the time spent wearing braces is a lot shorter than it used to be. The installation process is quicker too, usually taking between an hour or two. It is advisable to visit your dentist on a regular basis so that the braces can be adjusted as needed, ensuring that your teeth are being gently pushed in the right direction.

So there you have it: an insight into adult braces and how they can be beneficial today for a straighter smile and healthier teeth.

Featured Image By: Unsplash

Oct5

Tree Of Life Serum Haul

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Tree Of Life Serum Haul

Hello! Amazon has stopped selling my beloved Eclat Vitamin C serum so I had to try something new. I knew I wasn’t going to find as good of a price as the Eclat at a mere seven dollars and didn’t want to spend an arm and a leg for a new serum. After looking through all of the different options on Amazon, I decided to go with the Tree Of Life Vitamin C serum as it was still fairly cheap at ten dollars and got good reviews.

I like the Tree Of Life serum well enough and needed to restock my supply. This is when I found an amazing deal on Amazon that I wanted to share with you. I got a set of three full sized serums for twenty dollars which made for a buy two get one free sale. It was such a great price that I had to get two sets! Check it out:

When I opened my boxes of serum, I was surprised to see a Retinol and Hyaluronic Acid serum as well as a Vitamin C one. I thought I was getting three Vitamin Cs in the set! This is okay, though, because I am always up for trying new products and a little Retinol and Hyaluronic Acid never hurt anyone. Besides, you just can’t beat the price.

As I mentioned in my September 2021 Finishes post, the Tree Of Life serum is good in its own way. It is thicker in texture but still absorbs quickly and my skin does look more radiant. My major qualm with the product isn’t the product itself but the dropper! It is so short that once you have used almost two thirds of the bottle, you have to start pouring it out into your hands. This is pretty inconvenient but what do you expect from a ten dollar serum?

I am looking forward to trying out my new serums by Tree Of Life and if I like both the Retinol and Hyaluronic Acid, I think I found my go to purchase on Amazon when I need more!

Where do you get the best deals on skin care? What is your favorite Vitamin C serum? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Oct4

Mastering 5 Easy Steps To Boost Your House Curb Appeal

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Mastering 5 Easy Steps To Boost Your House Curb Appeal

Some homeowners shy away from home improvement projects because they think it will cost too much or that the gains of doing so are not worth their time. However, there are many things that you can do to increase your home’s value and make it more attractive, regardless of whether you plan to sell your house any time soon. Try out the following:

Install New Doors & Windows:

New doors are an improvement that you can make to your house that will dramatically increase its value. Connecting with a company offering door installation services can be a wise investment to improve the curb appeal of your home. Not only does a brand new door give your entryway a fresh welcoming look, but they also provide better security by increasing resistance to forced entries. Windows are a huge part of how your home looks to others, it is so easy to look shabby when they are dirty or smudged. A lot of issues can happen with windows over time so looking at Renewal by Andersen window replacement and replacing them to look brand new is a great option if it fits in your budget.

The cost is also relatively cheap compared with other projects because all you need are basic tools, wood glue, nails, and screws to install them yourself. If this seems too daunting for your skill level, call in a contractor for your Biogas Treatment since it’s hard work that requires accuracy when measuring dimensions.

Add More Lighting:

A dark porch or driveway sends a message that no one is home, inviting potential burglars to your house. Putting in new light fixtures provides an immediate improvement to your home’s appearance at night and increases your safety too.

Adding outdoor motion sensitive lights also increases the sense of security in the evenings as it automatically turns on as soon as anyone approaches your property and shuts off after they leave. Especially if you add them both in the front and back of the house, so suspicious people entering behind will be caught in their beams.

Paint Your House:

The color you choose speaks volumes about what kind of mood you’re in. So, naturally, you’ll feel better if it matches your disposition, making the outside of your house an extension of how you want visitors to perceive its occupants’ feelings immediately.

A fresh coat of paint is a cost-effective and easy way to shake things up a bit. It’s also an excellent way to update your home’s look. If you take on this task yourself, be sure to bring in a few friends and family members for support. If you aren’t interested in the DIY approach, then take the time to research different Building Painting Companies in your local area for a reliable team to tackle the project.

Plant Some Flowers:

Trees and other plants add value to your property because they increase your house’s curb appeal upon approach. Of course, depending on how big you want your garden area to be, the cost will vary, but even the smallest flower bed is better than nothing.

Ask friends and neighbors if you can have some of their perennials during the spring, so you don’t need to spend anything at all besides any soil amendments required by the soil in your geographic location. For something bigger, check out local nurseries that specialize in growing flowers or check out online forums for yard sales of old flower pots and seeds.

Plant Some Shrubs & Small Trees:

Hedges create privacy, which may satisfy your desire for seclusion but decreases visibility from the road, reducing your property’s curb appeal. Evergreen trees provide maximum privacy but must be planted far enough from the house because their roots can damage your foundation. Shrubs are the best investment because they don’t need as much space and their roots won’t impact your home’s stability.

Boost your curb appeal and property value too with these tips!

Featured Image By: Dmitrij Paskevic on Unsplash

Oct4

New Skirt Alert

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New Skirt Alert

Hello! Although it’s always a good time to go shopping, my favorite time to go is during the change of the seasons. I love checking out what’s in for the season and upgrading my wardrobe with a few staple pieces to get my closet feeling brand new again.

Seasonal shopping is fun but it’s even better with a friend! This past weekend, I hit the mall with one of my best girls, Danielle, as per our new tradition of going shopping together for season changes. We both didn’t walk away with much but I did get this super cute skirt from Dry Goods:

During my summer shopping trip with Danielle, she introduced me to a store called Dry Goods and I had lots of success there. We definitely had to go back during our mall visit last weekend and I knew that this skirt was a must have as soon as I saw it. This summer, I got really into wearing skirts thanks to a matching skirt and top set that I purchased at Altar’d State. I am particularly partial to mini bodycon skirts and love how flirty and fun they are, which is why this skirt screamed “Buy me!” immediately.

Because of all of the beautiful colors in this Originality number, it will be very versatile when it comes to styling. Rust orange, dark teal, mustard yellow, and burgundy are ideal autumn colors and who knew that they could look so good all together? Not me!

I couldn’t find a top that I liked to go with my purchase at the mall and am still on the lookout for one. So, for the time being, I plan on wearing my skirt with cable knit tights, a black crop top, mustard yellow cardigan, and heeled ankle booties. The beauty of this skirt is that it will work with any sweater, cardigan or top that matches the colors on the bottom making for endless outfit possibilities.

Thanks to my Fall Haul at TJMaxx with Johnny and my mall outing with Danielle, I think that I am pretty well set for fall clothing. Now, the only shopping I plan on doing is Christmas related… Unless I hit the stores with my favorites before then, of course! ❤

What is your favorite fall color? How would you style this skirt? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Oct3

The End Of An Era

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The End Of An Era

Hi! For those of you who don’t know, I have been using the same slide up keyboard phone for the past several years and have never owned a smartphone. For taking pictures and using the internet when WiFi is available, I relied on my iPod Touch and never really had a problem with this set up until recently.

When I first moved into my apartment, I could make phone calls and send text messages from anywhere inside. Fast forward to the spring of this year, and slowly but surely I began having lots of trouble doing any basic functions on my phone. It went from not being able to talk on the phone upstairs and mild difficulty sending texts to not being able to make or receive phone calls at all when I was at home.

As you can imagine, this was wildly inconvenient and I had to resort to using my husband’s phone if I had to make a call for work. However, I still held on to my old school phone because, at the end of the day, I freaking loved it. Until last week, that is.

I don’t know what clicked in my head but I finally said “enough is enough” and purchased an iPhone 12. Talk about an upgrade! I have to say that it is so nice to text and talk on the phone freely when I am at home but that wasn’t the main reason for my switcheroo. I’ll be the first to admit that the pictures on my blog weren’t the best and I was sold on getting a new phone for the better camera.

This is my first experience with an iPhone and I am definitely still getting used to it. I miss my little keyboard more than words can say as I don’t like typing on a touch screen. But, the pictures that this phone takes are great and I do love being able to send Bitmojis to Johnny constantly!

^^^ How cute is that?!

My iPhone skyrocketed me into the twenty-first century and it isn’t all that bad. I am excited to be able to take lots of OOTD pictures and selfies on it rather than having to use Johnny’s phone constantly. And, maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll be more comfortable using it by next year lol! 😀

What is your favorite thing about the iPhone? What is an old school piece of technology that you have? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Oct2

Kicking Off A Keto Lifestyle   

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Kicking Off A Keto Lifestyle   

If you’re looking to start a keto diet, then you had better be prepared to commit to it. It can take some time for the effects to start showing but, once they do, you will be surprised at how much you might lose. However, before you jump into it head first, it’s best to plan your approach and make sure that you’re not inadvertently setting yourself up for a harder journey than you should. Here are some tips on how to start:

What is a keto diet?

Keto diets are all about keeping your food intake low in carbs, high in fat, and with good protein content to better control your blood sugar levels. This is to encourage the body to switch from burning glucose to burning fat as fuel. When your body starts to rely on burning fat for fuel primarily, you can reach weight loss goals more easily.

Get tracking:

One of the better things about keto diets is that you don’t need to necessarily track calories. You can if you want, but what you want, instead, is to focus on your macros. These are the nutrients themselves that are in the food you eat, with carbs, protein, sugar, and fat being those that are tracked primarily. There are keto macro trackers that can help you track those macros and see what foods might push you over the balance you’re aiming to maintain.

Find keto recipes:

As mentioned, a keto diet will involve you eating fewer carbs, eating more fats, and maintaining a moderate amount of proteins. It’s not like a carnivore diet, in that vegetables and certain grain based foods are still allowed. However, you want to find low carb varieties of foods, like this recipe for keto pancakes available here. There are plenty of keto recipe sites on the net. You should do some scouring, find enough to get you through a week’s worth of meals, and experiment to see what you like.

Learn to love keto snacks:

When it comes to snacks, we tend to reach for the high sugar or high carb things first and foremost. Clearly, this isn’t possible on a keto diet. But that doesn’t mean you have to cut out snacking entirely. While it’s always smart to keep it to a managed level, being unable to indulge cravings at all makes it a lot easier to quit out on a diet early, so you can look at these low-carb snacks featured here for some ideas of what you can have instead.

Keep up with water:

When you’re in a state of ketosis, burning through fat for fuel, you will find that you excrete fluids a lot more. You will sweat more during exercise and are also more likely to go to the bathroom more often. As such, you can easily find yourself dehydrated and feeling awful if you aren’t also increasing your water intake.

With the tips above, starting a keto diet can be a lot easier. It’s not “easy”, but it can definitely be more manageable.

Featured Image By: Pixabay

Oct2

*Super* Early Christmas Present

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*Super* Early Christmas Present

Hi! When it comes to gift giving occasions, I simply cannot wait for the day of and ask my giftees if I can give them their presents as soon as they arrive in the mail. My sweet Johnny knows this firsthand because I don’t think we have ever waited until the day of a birthday, anniversary, or holiday to open gifts! This year, Christmas came especially early for us as we already gave each other presents last weekend lol. Take a look at the best give ever from my husband:

I like to do all of my present shopping way ahead of time so, of course, I had Johnny’s Christmas gift ready to go since the beginning of September. I guess I inspired him to shop early because he let me know that he had my gift too!

Knowing that each of us had our prezzies already was going to make it impossible to wait until Christmas. We decided to give each other a hint and if we guessed right, then we would tell each other. Johnny’s hint to me was “it is something that you have wanted for forever but never want to pay for”.

Right off the bat, I was stumped because there’s a million things that I would love to have but don’t want to pay for – mainly clothes related. Then, it clicked. My favorite comic book series, Sandman, by Neil Gaiman will have its own Netflix show which will be releasing soon. Johnny isn’t familiar with it, so I have been talking about it constantly and every time it gets brought up, I mention how much I would like to have the Sandman Omnibuses so I can have the complete collection.

As you can see, I guessed correctly because that is, indeed, what Johnny got for me for Christmas. It is, hands down, one of the best gifts I have ever received and I cannot wait to reread my favorite series in its entirety for the millionth time – no trip to the library required! 😀

One of my many favorite things about Johnny is how incredibly thoughtful he is. This gift is the ultimate testament of how he listens to me when I’m talking, even if I’m rambling about something for the hundredth time. That is the best gift of all – no matter how freaking cool the Omnibuses are! ❤

Who else is excited for the Sandman series on Netflix? Who has started their holiday shopping already? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

 

Oct1

Bath & Body Works September Freebie

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Bath & Body Works September Freebie

Hello! This past weekend, I had a much needed girl’s day at the mall with my friend Danielle to scope out new clothes for fall. I got there early because I needed to pick up a few quick odds and ends including a freebie from Bath & Body Works. This month, they really upped their freebie game with an $8.50 limit so it included hand creams and body sprays!

Thanks to shopping B&BW’s semi annual sales as well as doing huge hand soap hauls, my beauty stock pile has been overflowing. But that doesn’t mean I can’t use more and cashed in my coupon for a body spray in one of my favorite scents, Gingham:

Johnny’s mom gifted me with a Gingham body wash during our first Christmas together two years ago and I have been a huge fan ever since. In fact, I am currently using a Gingham body wash right now compliments of another free coupon! While I usually prefer fruity scents when it comes to bath and body care, I can’t get enough of how fresh and clean Gingham smells and it reminds me of having a picnic on a slightly brisk spring day.

In all of the years that I have been receiving coupons in the mail from Bath & Body Works, they have never offered a free mini body spray before so this was a treat! Although it is about a third of the size of a full sized body spray, it is sure to last a good while because it takes me over six months to finish the full size.

Once I finish my Country Apple spray, I can’t wait to use Gingham and know that I’ll be purchasing more of it during their next big sale! 😀

What is your favorite Bath & Body Works scent? Which store offers the best deals? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Sep30

LEGO Hogwarts Whomping Willow Set

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LEGO Hogwarts Whomping Willow Set

Hello! Johnny and I recently had a huge LEGO haul with three new sets to build. He also gifted me with an additional Harry Potter set for our two year anniversary when our haul arrived in the mail. You would think that we wouldn’t need more LEGO for a while but, on the contrary, we always need more LEGO!

This past week, I went on a Target run with my brother and mom and had to peak in the LEGO aisle to see what they had. I really didn’t plan on buying anything but when I saw the Whomping Willow set on sale, I just had to get it:

I have wanted this Harry Potter set for a while now because it serves as a connector to the Clock Tower and Great Hall which we already have. It is one that I have held off on buying since Johnny and I usually like to splurge on bigger sets but it has stayed in the back of my mind – just like the million other LEGO sets that we want!

I got my flu shot at Target and since the price was right on the Whomping Willow set, I decided that I deserved a treat. This purchase was the adult equivalent of a child receiving a sticker after a doctor’s appointment and I have no shame in admitting that lol. Too much LEGO ain’t enough LEGO as they say! And by they, I mean me.

Building LEGO with Johnny is one of my favorite things to do and I can’t wait to complete the three Harry Potter sets we have on deck together. This past weekend, we started working on our Attack on the Burrow set so be on the look out for pics of the end result once we finish it!

What do you like to build with LEGO? Which sets are on your wish list? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

 

Sep29

Getting Back To Work With An Injured Finger   

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Getting Back To Work With An Injured Finger   

No matter what kind of injury, you need to make sure that you don’t exacerbate it when you return to work. For a lot of people, a finger injury might not seem like a big deal. However, if you spend a lot of your time working, it can really get in the way. As such, here are a few tips to help you get back to tapping away without worrying about exacerbating the injury any further:

Take on a little less work:

It might not sound like the solution that you want, but you may simply have to get used to the fact that you’re not going to be able to type as much as you could. Most finger jams and sprains don’t take more than a few days to heal but, in the meantime, you shouldn’t think that you can keep up with your pace just by relying on your other fingers. This is going to strain other parts of the hand much more than they’re used to, which can then lead to repetitive strain injury in the hand or wrist, which can see you taking even longer to get better.

Make sure that it’s resting:

If you’re typing at the keyboard, you need to make sure that you’re not using the injured finger to do so. You need to keep that finger in a state of rest as much as possible. One of the best ways to do this is to make sure that it’s dressed to avoid using the fingers any further down your hand (so, don’t use your pinky if you have injured your ring finger, for instance.) Learn how to wrap a jammed finger so that you can keep it compressed and prevent it from wiggling too much while you’re typing, as well. It might take a while to get used to typing without all your digits on your side, but it is worth it.

Managing the pain:

Even if you’re able to avoid using the affected finger while you’re working, you’re still going to be moving the digits around it, which can affect the tendons controlling that finger. Micro-movements can still cause the pain to get a little worse. For that reason, you might want to look at some of the natural ways of easing pain that you can rely on during the day to make sure that you’re alleviating some of the stress that you might be causing. If the feeling starts to tick a little higher on the pain chart, it’s important to stop and rest for a while. Don’t work through the pain, that can only make it take longer to recover fully.

You might be going a little slower than usual for a while, but it’s important to make sure that you give your finger the time it needs to heal. If you have to talk with your employers or clients about maintaining expectations until you’re back at full strength, then you simply have to do it.

Featured Image By: Pixabay