Hellooooo everyone and welcome to another issue of Woman Crush Wednesday! This week the coveted honor of being Lil Red’s Woman Crush goes to…..GWEN STEFANI!!!
^^^ AYYY! #WCW
Dear Gwen Stefani,
Oh sweet Gwen, you beautiful little starlet! I so admire your talent and your amazing fashion endeavors. I had the pleasure of seeing you perform in No Doubt when I was fifteen and was blown away by your show-woman-ship and rockin bod. So for that, it is only fitting that you receive a hubba hubba! Everything that you do, I love – fronting No Doubt, your solo career, coaching on The Voice, and all of your amazing clothing lines. I have countless Harajuku Lovers purses and fragrances as well as your perfume for L.A.M.B.! You are so fabulous and creative and I always look to you for celebrity style inspiration. Thank you for giving me music that I can sing poorly to while driving the Little Red Love Machine. Thank you for creating clothing lines to bring some of your flawless style to a gal in Akron, Ohio. And thank you very much for creating fragrances that keep me smelling “Yummy” on the daily! I LOVE YOU!
^^^ She’s so gorgeous I just can’t even! And miss thang can rock a red lip like no other! Hoochie mama. :*)
So there you have it, my Woman Crush Wednesday: Gwen Stefani Edition! I hope that all of you are having a fabulous Hump Day! Who’s your Woman Crush Wednesday? What’s one of your favorite creative endeavors from Gwen Stefani? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Heyy everyone and happy Tuesday! This post is going out to all of my day dream believers on here because I know you’re out there and I need your help!! The past two nights in a row I’ve been having dreams that involve two people who I absolutely despise. Each night has been a different person and the weird thing about the dreams is that they are actually quite pleasant scenarios but the fact that someone who I hate is in them completely ruins the dreaming experience. I won’t go into great detail about who’s in the dreams because you never know who’s reading lifewithlilred and the internet is a big place! But I will tell you that I stopped talking to the people who are featured in Dream One and Dream Two months and months and months ago and barely ever think about them – so why the hell are they showing up now?? #GOAWAY!!!
The setting of Dream One which happened on Sunday was that this person and I were walking on a beach and talking. I don’t remember what we were talking about – but I do recall that we weren’t walking by the water, we were on the sand and the ocean seemed really far away. I remember the dream being really enjoyable while I was having it but when I woke up the following morning I was completely disgusted by the fact that I had a good dream that included one of my least favorite people ever.
Dream Two occurred last night and I vividly remember the set of it being in the Target clothing section. Similarly to Dream One it involved a movement, which was shopping and then talking. Once again, I don’t remember what the conversations were about I just remember the action in the dream. I feel like this dream didn’t last as long as Dream One, but all the same when I woke up I felt pretty annoyed that my dreams have been hijacked by assholes two nights in a row.
So what do these back to back dreams mean? I certainly hope it doesn’t mean that I should rekindle a relationship with people who I said good riddance to forever ago! Usually I’m never curious about what my dreams mean or whatever but when I get visited in dream land by someone who I don’t like two nights in a row it seems more than coincidental.
So to anyone who is into finding secret meanings in dreams that’s reading this…Help a Lil Red out!!! Was there some hidden meaning that I’m missing? Am I concerned over nothing? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Heyyy everyone and happy Monday! I hope all of you had a fabulous weekend and Father’s Day! Mine was alright, but as you can see by the title of this Monday Update, it could have been better because I was feeling like ass this weekend. I had (and still kind of have) a really sore throat and I was just straight up exhausted all weekend. I was sleeping a lot every night – over ten hours, but I would wake up every morning feeling even more tired and achey than before. I’m not sure what brought on this sudden sick spurt, maybe it has something to do with the fact that I was going out a lot last week which could have resulted in the body aches and tiredness. As far as the sore throat goes, it feels kind of strep-like, but I haven’t gone to a doctor or anything – I’m just blaming it on the fact that when I drink I smoke a lot so that’s probably what did it. I spent a lot of my time this weekend in bed cuddling with my Build A Bear minion named Kevin and binge watching Wentworth on Netflix. My handsome prince, Kyle, got me hooked on it and I’m already almost done with season one! HOLLA!
^^^ These were taken when I thought that I was feeling better on Saturday, so I put my makeup and a super cute outfit on. Unfortunately, my “recovery” was just one hour of relief, so I spent the day in bed with my face painted to perfection and a body full of misery. #shameful
On Father’s Day yesterday I was still feeling pretty foul so it was another lazy day…At least I knew better than to put on makeup! For our Father’s Day celebration, my family had a lovely evening of seeing Jurassic World in 3D! I’ve never seen the original, which I should probably do – but we all still really enjoyed it! I have a deep love for Chris Pratt from being a dedicated Parks & Recreation fan, so I loved watching him on the big screen. Mr. Pratt got buff as hell too, so props and a hubba hubba to him! I just really hope that no dinosaurs were harmed in the making of Jurassic World! Other than feeling concerned about that, the movie was great and it definitely lived up to the hype that I was seeing about it! Jurassic World has the Lil Red Seal of Approval for sure and I recommend that all of you see it immediately!
This Monday Update is being made during a much needed study break from my summer classes, which are now more than halfway through! Our midterms were last week and I’m pleased to announce that I have an A in all of my classes, so hurray for me! This post is a lot shorter than most Monday Updates, but I don’t have much to report from the weekend considering that most of it was spent in bed! So that’s that, the Monday Update: Weekend Of Disease Edition. I’m going to get back to work, but I hope all of you have a great rest of your day! How did you spend Father’s Day? Did anything exciting happen over the weekend? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Heyy everyone and happy Sunday/Father’s Day to all of the dads in the world! So during a recent hang out with one of my friends he told me that him and his coworker had a conversation about me. Initially I was like “Oh Jesus” because that made it sound like the conversation was a bad thing, but thankfully I could breathe a sigh of relief because their little chat was actually very flattering! Apparently I’m Facebook friends with the guy who my comrade was talking to and when my name was mentioned he said “Oh, I think I know her – isn’t she a model or something?” I thought it was so sweet and then it reminded me of the countless messages that I get on Facebook weekly asking me if I’m a model or telling me that I should model. Usually I just laugh these compliments off, but secretly (not so secretly now since it’s on my blog!) I really would like to try my hand at some modeling. I suppose I would be pretty good at it and apparently a lot of other people think so too! But to set the record straight, as of now I am no model “or something” – merely just an average gal blogging an average blog! This is also just a round about way of saying how totally thankful and flattered I am for everyone’s lovely comments and compliments…it’s always much appreciated! That being said I think I really should get some photographs taken of yours truly – something that looks professional and not so obviously taken from my iPod by my beloved mother! Lol if anything it will be fun to post on here to show you guys. I’ve actually had quite a few people offer to photograph me, but their body of work is all very risque and that’s definitely not my thing. I’m all about the quirky, sassy, and clothed!! It’s definitely frustrating when my inbox is filled with people wanting to take my picture with my ass hanging out, but what can you do? …Politely decline – that’s what! And believe me, I’m sure that none of ya’ll want to see me in my skivvies! But for the time being I’ll just throw some oldie but goodie pics of me up on lifewithlilred and see what happens. You never know, Tyra Banks might call me for her millionth season of America’s Next Top Model or something! 😉 HOLLA!
^^^ Ayyyyy! I hope all of you have a beautiful time celebrating Father’s Day or doing whatever it is that you do! How are you going to spend the rest of your weekend? Any special Father’s Day plans? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
PS: Share or follow my blog and I’ll love you forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #desperate #dontcare
Whatsup everyone and happy Hump Day! Ohmygod guys, homegirl just worked up a sweat. I just finished a timed exam that was an hour and a half long in one hour and twenty-eight minutes. I seriously feel like I’m going to have a heart attack!! But luckily that’s all over and now as I kick back with Madonna’s “Like A Virgin” playing on the ol’ iPod I can get my blog on. Today is Woman Crush Wednesday and after completing season three of Orange Is The New Black two days ago I need to give a #WCW shout out to the beautiful Miss Ruby Rose!
^^^ It seemed appropriate. Alright, here we go:
Dear Ruby Rose,
Welcome to the world of lifewithlilred, you gorgeous Australian goddess, you. Last time I did a #WCW post on here, it was for my sister…but that post was made out of love and not in the crush way which would be weird considering she’s my sister. However, you are my legitimate woman crush. I described my school girl swooning over you to my friends as “the way I could imagine a teenage boy would feel” and I am not mad about it for a second. You are simply stunning. You have a one million kilowatt smile, perfect skin, the coolest haircut ever, and a rockin bod. Can I get a hubba hubba and an amen? As soon as your character was introduced on #OITNB my heart basically fell into my butt and I couldn’t watch you play Stella without the worst case of puppy dog eyes ever. How you make prison khakis look fabulous is beyond me! You are flawless and I am so happy to present you with Lil Red’s #WCW shout out post! I LOVE YOU!!! ❤
^^^ In the words of Uncle Jesse, Full House style…Have mercy. #damn
So there you have it everyone, my #WCW for the week! If any of you are in a giving mood and feel like sharing this post, PLEASE DO IT! Maybe, by some mystical power Ruby will see this and then we can meet each other and get married and live happily ever after. It would be a dream come true! :’) I hope all of you are having a great day so far! Who is your Woman Crush Wednesday? How do you feel about season three of #OITNB? (My sister and I both loved it!) I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Whatupppppp everyone and happy Monday! It’s currently one thirty in the AM and I’m not very tired and I promised my sister that I would stop watching the new season of Orange Is The New Black without her, so I figured I would get the Monday Update out of the way now. I hope all of you had a great weekend! I know I did, thanks for asking! As you guys know, I spent my Friday night at the Horseshoe Casino (See article “Casino Adventures”) which was tons of fun – and the good times continued throughout Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was a day of sleeping in, shopping, and date night. Sunday was a day of wonderful company, hair dye, family, and #OITNB. Best. Weekend. Ever!
On Saturday afternoon my mom and I were shopping around in the Fairlawn area and we happened to stumble into Bath & Body Works in the midst of their semi-annual sale. I’ve never been a huge B&BW fan, but holy moley their sale prices were incredible! I got six FULL SIZE (8 oz.) perfumes for the price of one original priced bottle – talk about a deal! As I’ve mentioned before, the only perfume that I wear is Victoria’s Secret’s “Enchanted Apple”, but unfortunately they don’t carry the fragrance year round. The only times they break that scent out is during their semi-annual sales, which is when I stock up on my perfume for the year. About a month ago, I finished my last of five bottles that I purchased during the last VS sale, so I’ve been using the random odds and ends fragrances that my sister and I have…Believe me, I’m not thrilled about it! I feel incomplete without my signature scent. BUT fear not, because I found a very similar apple-y fragrance from B&BW that I’m super obsessed with. B&BW’s “Country Apple” has the exact same sweet/tart fragrance that I love so much in “Enchanted Apple”, so best believe I bought five bottles to keep me going as well as one of their aquatic fragrances “Cool Amazon Rain”. I also stocked up on some dirt cheap lotions which make perfect add ons to birthday and holiday gifts. #BALLIN After shopping with my mama, it was time for date night with my darling, handsome prince Kyle. We went hard on appetizers and yummy drinks at Applebee’s and spent beautiful quality time with each other which was much much needed! Love him! ❤
Yesterday was a pretty chill day which was so nice after being out and about most nights last week. I met up with one of my dear friends, Scott, for some terrific conversation and coffee – which was an absolute joy. He’s definitely on my list of “Lil Red’s Favorite People in The World”! Once I got home in the mid afternoon, my sister and I binge watched #OITNB for a bit and then I got to work on dying my hair. I dye my locks once a month to keep my red fresh and vibrant and let me tell you, it’s a trip washing the dye out of my hair and watching all of the color come out. It straight up looks like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre happened in my shower every time. The rest of my evening was spent plucking my eyebrows to perfection (ayy!), annihilating at Scrabble, watching #OITNB once again, and here I am now getting my blog on!
So now that you guys know what my weekend was looking like, let me tell you all about how freaking excited I am for tonight! I’m going to see Glass Animals at the House Of Blues in Cleveland with one of my comrades and I’m seriously so pumped I could cry!!! I really lucked out when I found out that Glass Animals was playing in Cleveland last Thursday because if it wasn’t for Facebook I would have had no idea. While scrolling through my news feed on FB I happened to see a status from HOB advertising for the chance to win tickets to the show on Monday night. It was weird that it showed up on my news feed because I have yet to “like” HOB or Glass Animals on there, so there was no reason for it to show up – but I’m so beyond glad that it did! As soon as I saw that they were playing I bought tickets ASAP because there’s no way in hell that I would pass up seeing these guys live. I’ve been in love with Glass Animals since last September and I’ve told literally everyone who I’ve introduced their music to how much I would love to see them live. I can’t believe that in less than twenty-four hours I’ll be hanging out at the House Of Blues watching one of my favorite bands perform! AHHHH! June will definitely be a good month for concerts, because I’ll be back at HOB on the 30th to see one of my other favorites, AWOLNATION, compliments of my brother for my birthday. What a guy! I’m also pretty hyped because Family Of The Year is opening for them and I happen to really like them too! Exciting stuff!!
^^^ SO GOOD! Also, if you’re interested in shopping the semi-annual sale at Bath & Body Works, their offers are available online as well at: http://www.bathandbodyworks.com/home/index.jsp! Happy shopping!
So there you have it, my Monday Update: Alright, Alright, Alright Edition! #MCCONAUGHEY!!!! Make sure you check back in with me at some point during the week to hear all about my Glass Animals concert experience! Is anyone going to any concerts coming up? What about any of the festivals like Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, or the Hangout Fest? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Have a lovely day! -Sarah
Heyyy everyone and happy Tuesday! It’s been a solid morning of homeworking and coffee drinking, so I figured now would be a perfect time to take a study break and touch base with all of you before I continue on with my day. I’m really REALLY fucking tired today. Did I tell you guys that I’m completely out of both my sleeping pills and my antidepressant? If not…I’m completely out of my sleeping pills and antidepressant. -__- So I haven’t been sleeping much these past few days and now that I’m not on any of the pills that I’ve been taking daily for the past few years I’ve been feeling some awful withdrawal symptoms. Now on top of being exhausted from not having a decent night of sleep since last week, I feel like I have the flu but really it’s just medication withdrawal. I feel dehydrated, weak, and really disoriented…It’s not a good feeling. I’ve been up and running since nine o’clock this morning, but I already feel like I’m ready for bed and it’s barely after noon. #FML On the bright side, I treated myself to some Starbucks this morning after getting my brother to work compliments of the gift card that my nail tech got me for my birthday. If you haven’t tried the cold brewed coffee from Sbux then you need to get on it pronto. It’s a little bit more expensive than the classic iced coffee BUT it’s a million times better so it’s so worth it! When you get iced coffee from Starbucks it can be a very hit or miss experience. Sometimes your drink is awesome and other times it tastes like you’re drinking coffee that’s been sitting in a toilet for a week straight. Lucky for me, I haven’t had a disappointing drink experience ever since Starbucks introduced the cold brewed coffee and it was a nice pick me up to start off my day with coffee that I didn’t have to make. #TREATYOSELF
My Social Psychology course started yesterday and I can’t complain too much about it. Like a lot of my other classes it’s just a lot of text book reading which can get kind of boring, but that’s okay! It gets the job done and I’m still learning a lot! After this little check in I have quite a bit more to do and then I’m going to meet up with my darling Lea for a quick mid afternoon hang out. Seeing her will probably result in us getting coffee because I feel like a straight up zombie. It’s so frustrating because sleep is something that comes so easily to most people but unfortunately it’s a struggle and a half for me. Last night for example, I was totally exhausted but I couldn’t catch a solid few hours of sleep to save my life. It seemed like as soon as I dozed off I would wake up and then it would take an eternity to get myself back to sleep again. This vicious cycle has been occurring every night since last Wednesday and it’s complete hell. Whatever. -___-
Alrightie, I need to get back to work but I will talk to you all soon! Does anyone have any tried and true methods that help you fall asleep? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -A very sleepy Sarah
Heyyy everyone and happy Monday! So it was my 21st birthday yesterday and unfortunately I spent most of the day in bed crying. Despite having the worst birthday ever, there were still some really fun parts of my birthday week that deserve some recognition. On Thursday my beloved nail tech Vinny treated me to a beautiful new set of talons and a beyond generous Starbucks gift card. He also plans on taking me out for dinner and drinks sometime this week which is so sweet of him. My trip to the Toledo Zoo on Friday with my precious Lea was also a really wonderful way to celebrate – I just love her! We’re going out this evening for a night on the town too, so that should definitely help shake away the birthday blues of the major disappointment that was Saturday night and Sunday. The entire situation was just stupid as fuck and I’m not about to go into major details about it, but my night out left me feeling like I got a million birthday slaps in the face so it’s no wonder I spent most of my actual birthday bawling my eyes out. Whatever. Lots of my friends have texted and called me so they can take me out to dinner or drinks this week, so I guess that’s nice. Nothing is going to make my birthday night out any better but at least I’ll have a bunch of other plans to somewhat make up for it. And even though the night out and actual birthday was complete shit, I did get some totally gorgeous birthday gifts from my family and friends which was so sweet! Take a look at some of my fabulous new goodies:
^^^ So sweet!!! There’s actually a really adorable story behind my Lil Red birdhouse decorated by my darling Lea: So one night during a crafting extravaganza, we thought that it would be super fun to paint some birdhouses as a switch up from our usual canvas art. We were both SO excited about this idea but as the night of painting continued we both became more and more disappointed with how our birdhouses were turning out. Lea’s looked really cute – mine looked like complete ASS, so I didn’t even bother taking it home. I told her the only way that my birdhouse would be acceptable was if it was black, red, and covered in glitter…and lo and behold, that was exactly how Lea decorated it as part of my gift. Not only did she craft me a birdhouse that’s perfect for Lil Red, but she also gave me a plethora of other thoughtful presents as well – a new Starbucks mug, a 21 drinking goblet, a minion shot glass, wine, and much more! Our entire day at the zoo was seriously a gift in itself, but my sweet girl went above and beyond in the gift giving department and It really did warm my heart! Do I have an amazing best friend or what?! My sister also got me a real winner of a gift as well – Carlos Santana lace up, knee high, wedged gladiator sandals. I’ve legitimately wanted a pair for over a year now and the pair Kristen picked out for me are simply perfect. I can’t wait to wear these bad boys all summer long with everything from dresses and maxi skirts to sassy little short shorts! So fierce. My one older brother Andrew gave me some cash money, which is great because I need to go renew my license which I know for a fact isn’t free! And then my other brother, Peter got me two tickets to see AWOLNATION on June 30th when they play at the House Of Blues in Cleveland! I CAN’T WAIT!!! It was exactly what I wanted, so mad props to him! I got a cornucopia of goodies from my parents – my Betsey Johnson telephone purse, a new dress from Urban Outfitters, moolah, and they restocked all of my makeup and skin care products that I use from The Body Shop. Everyone was so generous and I’m beyond thankful for all of the wonderful and thoughtful gifts – all of them are perfect!
When I think about all of the lovely individual hang outs I’ve had with my friends and family and all of the gorgeous 21st birthday gifts that I received it kind of makes up for the completely awful weekend I had – but only kind of. All of the gifts in the world doesn’t make my hurt feelings feel better and it definitely doesn’t take away any of the disappointment that I’m still feeling, but what can you do? I’m looking forward to all of the dinners and drinks this week with some of my favorite people, so hopefully after all of that merriment I’ll start getting over the literal worst birthday outing I’ve ever had in my life. #overdramatic #dontcare
I hope all of you are having a fabulous Monday so far! I regrettably must be off to go get some school work done and possibly take a nap! I’m so tired! But until then, how was everyone’s weekend? What are your plans for the week? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Hiiii everyone and happy 21st birthday to me! Unfortunately my night out yesterday and day today have been anything but happy so I’m really not in the best of moods right now. I don’t feel like getting into all the details about it at the moment, but make sure you tune in for the Monday Update tomorrow so you can hear my sob story and feel sorry for me! 😉 Long story short: I went to bed crying last night and woke up only to cry some more this morning – so cue the cheesy Lesley Gore classic and let’s get mopey!
^^^ Yayyyyy. Now it’s time for the shameless “it’s my birthday so share my blog” plug…..In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1….
Hey there! In case you weren’t aware, today is Lil Red’s 21st birthday! If you want to be extra nice to me, then pretty please give my blog a share! If you want to be semi nice to me, then give my blog a follow! And if you want to be nice to me, then send some good vibes my way because god knows I need them right about now! I’ve been legitimately laying in bed feeling like a great big sad sack since I woke up this morning. #fml
So that’s that, I suppose. I hope all of you fabulous readers are having a much better day than mine! What was the worst birthday experience you’ve ever had? Does anyone have a time machine so I can have a birthday do over? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
SARAH’S BIRTHDAY COUNTDOWN: It’s here and it’s not that great. 😦
Hey there everyone and happy Thursday. So I’ve recently been on the biggest Neil Gaiman kick ever and have been completely devouring his graphic novel series Sandman. I just finished volume five entitled A Game Of You, in which one of the main characters is a young man named Alvin transitioning into the gorgeous and sassy Wanda. Wanna know the best part about this story….it was published in 1993. While reading this twenty-two year old graphic novel this afternoon I couldn’t help but be amazed that I was reading such a relevant tale especially now in the light of the metamorphosis of Caitlyn Jenner. It made me so incredibly happy to be reading Wanda’s story and I couldn’t help but smile over the similarities between a fictional red headed transitioning male and the newly transitioned Jenner. It touched my soul to know that there are people in this world – such as Neil Gaiman and the Sandman creators who are accepting and loving of everything and everyone. But it also completely broke my heart that there are still people in the world who are degrading and insulting to such a beautiful and vulnerable group that is the LBGT community. It saddened me that some of the people in Wanda’s made up world still called her Alvin and referred to her as a “him”. It made my heart hurt for Caitlyn Jenner and any person being ridiculed and shunned just for being who they are. As I hungrily read through Wanda’s story this afternoon she became more and more real to me. She felt like me. She felt like a friend. And she could very well feel a lot like you. Unfortunately in A Game Of You, Miss Wanda had an untimely death but there were some really powerful scenes that took place at her funeral. There was one particular image that really stuck out to me in the graphic novel that I felt a strong desire to share with you guys. Take a look:
^^^ Isn’t that amazing? This picture literally sent chills down my spine and filled my eyes with tears. So the point of this post? Wanda is real. Caitlyn Jenner is real. The struggle that people have with gender identity, their sexuality, an addiction, ect is real. The point of this post? I guess it’s me telling you guys to open your eyes and open your hearts just a little bit more to these struggles if you have your hesitations. Neil Gaiman created Wanda in 1993 and it’s now 2015. In A Game Of You there were those who loved and accepted Wanda and those who were adamant in voicing their disgust about her. Sadly, twenty-two years later there are still those who are close minded enough to call our Wanda’s, our Caitlyn’s, and our dear friends in the LBGT community names that I can’t even bring myself to type. There are those who still spit their poison and hope that their venom will begin to wither away the gorgeous spirits of such an amazing group of individuals. But luckily, there are those (like myself) who will offer their support and a kind word every step of the way to those who need it. This is a Lil Red PSA letting anyone who is struggling with anything at all know that I love you, I’m here for you, and your triumphs and success means the world to me. The end.
I hope all of you guys are having a wonderful day so far! Mine is alright, thanks for asking! 😉 I’m actually pretty excited because tonight I get the princess treatment at the nail salon for my birthday! BTW – I’ll be out of office tomorrow because I’ll be going to the Toledo Zoo with my best friend Lea for my birthday day trip! I’m so excited! But as always, you know how to reach me via the comment section or my email! And please know, that I will not tolerate any negativity on this post and your comments will be deleted point blank period. Questions? Concerns? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
SARAH’S BIRTHDAY COUNTDOWN: 3 DAYS LEFT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!