Category Archives: Anything & Everything

Oct12

Extra, Extra! Read all about me!

Posted on October 12, 2014 by lifewithlilred

Well since it’s my one month blogiversary, I thought it would be fun to drop some Lil Red knowledge on you guys. So here we go. I haven’t lived the most charmed life. My teenage years basically sucked. I had a really hard time struggling with cutting and bulimia for years. I’m very proud to say that I’ve been completely self harm free for over a year now, so that’s really exciting. As awful as my experiences were, they really did help shape me. My near successful suicide attempt made me appreciate life. Quitting cutting and seeing old scars fade made me see my outer beauty. Quitting purging made me feel extremely clear mentally because my thoughts are no longer clouded with worries of gaining weight, and eating, and when’s the next time I can stick my finger down my throat. There’s so many things that helped make my over seven year depression streak possible that I couldn’t imagine listing them all. I don’t plan on listing any either to maintain the privacy of everyone in my life. So sorry you won’t get to know those dirty details 😉 . Once I finally stopped feeling sorry for myself and stopped feeling like I deserved to be punished was when I began healing. That was the day I quit all of my self mutilating cold turkey and never looked back. I live a pretty awesome life now. I have great friends, amazing family, college, and a cool job. Things are looking up.

BUT WAIT! There’s more 😉 Now that we cleared the air of my dark and depressing past, you guys can learn some actual fun facts about me. Such as:

I worked at PacSun from the time I was 16 until about two weeks ago. It was a great time….but I’m so glad I don’t work there anymore! Ha!
I have a lot of loves in my life – like my deep love for music, red lipstick, Vidal Sassoon’s Runway Red hair dye, and CLOTHES!
I have an amazing clothing collection from working retail for four years. I paid for everything I own on my own, which makes my wardrobe very rewarding to me. I have articles of clothing and accessories that dabble in every type of style. From punk, prep, boho, club girl, wannabe model wandering the streets of Akron, Ohio, you name it – I got it.
I’m the baby of the family – I have two older brothers, one older sister and my fabulous mom and dad. We also have two dogs, a golden retriever named Gem and an evil Yorkie Shih Tzu mix named Winston. Both are rescue dogs and I love them very much. (Note: Winston is evil because he only likes my sister, so you can’t go near her without him barking and biting. So annoying!)
I’ve kept a journal from the time I was twelve, and I love my online journal that is http://www.lifewithlilred.com !!

So there you have it! If you have any questions or concerns – leave me a comment and let’s chat! -Sarah

Oct12

Must Watch Video!!!!

Posted on October 12, 2014 by lifewithlilred

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So I got home from my man candy’s place last night and was scrolling through my newsfeed on Facebook when I saw this amazing video my mom posted. Now I’m not gonna lie, usually I don’t pay attention to anything my mom posts, but when I saw the headline “Sweet Mama Dog Interacting with a Beautiful Child with Down Syndrome” I just had to watch. And I am SO glad I did. Please take a moment to watch this video and if you’d like you can read my commentary after. It’s really just too beautiful not to share.

http://www.viralmissile.com/sweet-mama-dog-interacting-beautiful-child-syndrome-true-compassion/

Did you bawl your eyes out? Me too. This video is one of the reasons why I believe every household in the world should have a dog. Watching this sweet little angel boy make a friend with the pup really was incredible. The ability of the golden retriever to pick up on the cautiousness of our little boy was just amazing. As the video progresses we see the boy learn to trust that the dog wasn’t going to hurt him and was his friend. I firmly believe he learned this from how gentle the golden was with him. Every time the child would move away from the dog, she wouldn’t try to go near him again, but her remaining still and near the boy was enough to show him that she was his friend. You could just tell how much the mama dog wanted to nurture this precious boy and it was just the sweetest thing. When the video ended in the child embracing the dog I was hysterically sobbing. It was so surreal to watch the little one learn to make a friend with the help of the golden retriever. So so beautiful.

Please share this video, and if you’d like to help dogs in need of a good home check out http://caninelifeline.org/ . It’s a wonderful organization that my mom works with in the Akron, Ohio area that helps save adoptable dogs from being euthanized. A lot of these precious pups come from dog pounds throughout Ohio and Kentucky. Canine Lifeline diligently searches for forever homes for the pups each weekend. Through Canine Lifeline we got our sweet golden retriever, Gem who came all the way from Kentucky. It’s an organization that I hold very dear to my heart. You can donate to this great cause on the website! If you do donate, please leave me a comment so I can personally thank you!

Above is a pic of my dogs Gem and Winston. My sister found Winston wandering around her old apartment complex where someone abandoned him. My pups love taking naps together! They’re obviously besties! 🙂 Have a lovely day! -Sarah

Oct12

Happy one month blogiversary to me!

Posted on October 12, 2014 by lifewithlilred

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Today marks my one month blogiversary of http://www.lifewithlilred.com and I am SO happy! Special thanks to all of my readers and followers for going on my blog journey with me! Only one month in and I already feel like I accomplished a lot on my site. I feel like we covered a lot of ground with each other, and that’s very exciting to me! Best believe there’s more to come on lifewithlilred! In other fantastic news, today is my first day at my new job at Next and I am SOOOOO excited!!!!! I’m really hyped to get back to work and meet my new coworkers. These two weeks of unemployment have been fabulous though. In those two weeks I finished everything I needed to attend school at Tri-C on October 20th. I think that’s what I’m particularly proud of. I did everything all by myself with no former knowledge of how to do it. When I was in high school, a lot of teachers didn’t think I was going to graduate, so they never prepared me to go to college. Well ha ha on them because here I am now going to school and paying for it all on my own to boot! Lil Red is on fire! It took me over two years to get myself back to school, but I’m finally doing it – and you know what they say: it’s better late than never. Which ironically is the phrase I used when I would turn in my homework weeks late in high school 😉 . But I promise that won’t be the case in college! I know what I want to do and I’m ready to do it. Working retail for four years has really shown me that I don’t want to do that for the rest of my life. If I didn’t push myself to go to school, I firmly believe I’d still be stuck in the PacSun rut for years to come – and that’s not okay. I’m finally recognizing my own potential to succeed in the world, and it’s an amazing feeling. I feel like I’m blossoming into an actual adult. It’s hard to feel that way when you’re stuck working in the mall 24/7. I have exactly what I want now. A cool part time job and a college education. What could be better?!

In just one month of blogging, I feel like you guys have already experienced a whirl wind of a journey with me. If you read some of my very first posts, I was extremely depressed. Now I feel like the strong emotions I was feeling prior to these past few weeks are way easier to manage. I feel like the concrete block that was strapped onto my chest has finally been released and I can breathe easy. I have the whole world ahead of me now. These next few months are going to be a roller coaster of new experiences, and I’m happy to say that I’m finally ready to put my hands up and enjoy the ride.

Have a fantastic Sunday guys! Wish me luck on my first day of work!! I can’t wait to tell you all about it! -Sarah

Oct11

Wowee Wow Wow!

Posted on October 11, 2014 by lifewithlilred

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Over 50 followers?!!!! Thanks guys! This basically sums up how I feel:

Thanks Pharrell. I’m going on my one month bloggiversary on the 12th, and I feel like 53 followers is a very healthy place to be at for only having lifewithlilred up for a month! I’ll tell ya guys, this past month has been an absolute doozy. I was at a pretty hardcore rock bottom when I started my page (which I’ll go into more detail about when the time is right). But now I feel on top of the world with all of the exciting changes that are happening, like my new job and going off to college! I feel like I had a sky rocket moment after things were going so shitty and it was really awesome to feel like things were finally going my way and falling into place. I’ll be honest with you though, my pessimistic side has been poking its ugly head out lately and it’s making me a bit anxious. I have this awful mentality that all of the great stuff that’s been happening is too good to be true. I know that I shouldn’t be thinking that way, but it’s so hard not to. I feel like any day now things are just going to plummet back to rock bottom again. Does anyone have any pointers on how to block out this negativity? If so, pleease leave me a comment! God knows I need it! However, this rising anxiety doesn’t take away from the fact that I’m proud of myself. These new adventures like my job at Next and attending school weren’t just handed to me. I worked hard for both of them, and I did it all by myself. There’s a really great sense of accomplishment to know that I made a game plan and I followed through and made it happen. I wanted a fresh new change of pace and I got it. I should be focusing on that and I should only be feeling positivity right now – but that’s easier said than done, I suppose!

Btw, I’ve been OBSESSED with the song “Pools” by Glass Animals, so make sure you check it out and let me know what ya think!

Does anyone have any tips on how they control their anxiety? What are some positive mantras that you like to tell yourself? Leave me a comment and let’s chat! Goodnight! -Sarah

Oct7

The Lost Art of Letter Writing

Posted on October 7, 2014 by lifewithlilred

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One thing I love more than anything in the world is giving and receiving letters. My beloved grandmother (RIP <3) instilled in me at a very young age the power of hand written letters. Growing up, I remember getting so excited to see letters from my grandma in the mail. It wasn’t long before I began to write to her individually and eagerly anticipate a reply back. I loved reading my grandmas beautiful flowing cursive in rich black ink, because she always used brand new ball point pens. I’m actually getting insanely emotional as I type this, because now that my grandma has passed, the letters that I saved from her are even more dear to me. I began thinking about how no one really writes letters anymore while I was writing today to my sweet friend Neva, who you can read all about in my post Thankful. Neva was one of my grandma’s friends, and she’s sort of like my pen pal in between when I visit her. There’s something so beautiful to me about a handwritten note. A note just for you. A note that someone took the time out of their day to sit down and write, because they were thinking about you. That’s just so amazing to me. Whenever I would receive a letter from my grandma or Neva, thoughts like that would fill my head, and make the gift of the letter that much more special to me. The personal touch of a letter is far beyond anything a quick text message, email, or phone call can give you. Whenever I read old notes from my grandma from over a year ago, I can still hear her saying her written words in my head. It’s like an extra special hug from her to reread her telling me that she loves me. What could be better than that? Letters make me happy. It makes me feel good every time I send a letter to Neva, because I know she’s going to open it up and smile at my words. Brightening someones day like that is what I live for. The power of words never ceases to amaze me. Honestly, I’m not sure why people don’t write anymore, especially knowing that writing a quick ten minute note could make someones day. Who wouldn’t take the time to do that? Maybe I’m an old soul at heart, but I’d rather get something handwritten than all this virtual mumbo jumbo any day.

The picture above are just a few of the notes and cards I have saved from my grandma and Neva. I have them tucked safely away in my desk drawer, where I can look at them any time I want. I can’t encourage you guys enough to sit down and write a letter today to someone who means something to you. They’re going to appreciate it more than you know, I can promise you that. Have a lovely Tuesday evening! -Sarah

Oct5

Lazy Sunday

Posted on October 5, 2014 by lifewithlilred

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It’s a chilly 49 degrees in Akron, Ohio right now. Fall is definitely here. Today is the perfect dreary day to light some candles, get cozy in some sweats, and be a homebody. I’ve had my iTunes playing all morning while tidying up the house in sock feet and there was something so calming and peaceful about it – being home alone and hearing the music echo throughout the quiet rooms and having the aroma from my fall scented candles fill the house. A lazy day is the perfect way to cure the hangover blues (see my previous post Being “That Girl” for more on that incident!) I’m ready for catching up on my lame celebrity gossip magazines and watching some shitty reality TV. I’ve been on the go this past week, from job interviews to college preparations, so it’s so nice to have a day to myself. Speaking of job interviews and college prep – pleeease send me some good vibes! I have my final interview at Family Video and a pretty important college counseling appointment coming up this week so keep your fingers and toes crossed! For those of you who have been keeping up with my posts, you’ll know that Sunday is the day for my TV obsession, The Strain. IT’S THE SEASON FINALE TONIGHT!!!! I’m so excited I can barely even handle it, ten o’clock can’t come soon enough!!! Definitely expect a post either immediately after or tomorrow morning on my views on the finale! I know I always thank you guys for reading my posts, but here’s another friendly thank you! I’ve gotten over five hundred views on my blog that hasn’t even been up for a month yet – that’s awesome! The likes, comments, and follows are much appreciated so keep them coming! ❤ I applaud all of you out here on wordpress-land – there’s so much talent! I might have mentioned this before, but I always try to read as many posts as I can before bed each day, and you guys can write!

Hope you all have a fantastic Sunday. What are you guys up to for the day? Are you getting chilly fall weather where ever you’re at right now? Stay warm if you are! -Sarah

Oct1

Bedtime Musings

Posted on October 1, 2014 by lifewithlilred

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Hello! First of all, I hope you guys had a fantastic Tuesday. I actually had a great day, so expect a post about my first good day in a long time tomorrow. Second of all, thank you all again so much for the outpouring of likes, follows, and love. It’s much appreciated. I believe in this blog. I believe in myself. I believe that someone is going to read my posts and feel like they can relate to me. It’s so important to me to keep on writing, not only for me, but for someone who might need a smile or laugh for the day. It encourages me so very much to see that people are reading my blog and responding well to my posts. This isn’t an “I’m trying to become a world famous blogger post”. This is my online and real life journal, that I’m finally comfortable enough to share with anyone and everyone. If you would have asked me before to read my hand written journals, I would have laughed in your face and said “no way”. (But with a lot more profanity 😉 ) I’ve grown secure enough in myself and my own feelings that I’m 200% cool with anyone in the world reading lifewithlilred. It’s an awesome feeling. Thank you guys again so much for the love. Have sweet dreams and a happy hump day to you! -Sarah

Sep30

Quitting Smoking

Posted on September 30, 2014 by lifewithlilred

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So I made the decision to try quitting smoking on Thursday of last week. Since then, I’ve only had two cigarettes. Let me tell you, I’ve been fiending for a cigarette every day, and last night I finally caved and had one because I was so stressed out. All of this stuff with trying to get registered for college, and looking for a new job has just been a whirl wind of anxiety for me. I just want one thing to go my way for once, so I’m really REALLY hoping I get the job at Next, which I interviewed for yesterday. My fingers and toes have been crossed all day, and it would make me so happy if I was offered a job. It would relieve so much stress to get one out of my two major issues (college and job) tackled. I had a minor freak out last night about it and my need for a cig was too strong to fight! Lucky for me, my sister smokes the same kind of cigarettes I do, so it was easy access for me to grab one. I thought that not smoking for a few days straight would help ease the desire for a cigarette, but it did just the opposite. My cravings are insane and my anxiety is through the roof. I feel like I gained a few pounds too from not smoking so frequently, so that really wigs me out as well, because I’m such a freak about my body and my weight. I really hope all of this gets easier these next few days, because I feel my anxiety building up in me like a big rubber ball and it’s seconds away from shooting off. I feel so irritable all the time. I know the easy way out would just be to go buy a pack of my beloved Marlboro Smooths, but I’ve made it close to five days with only two bummed cigarettes – I have to keep going. I could really use some love and encouragement, guys. These past few days have been so rough. Please, please keep your fingers and toes crossed for this job I interviewed for, it would mean a lot to me! Have a great Tuesday everyone! -Sarah

Sep27

Lovin the Love

Posted on September 27, 2014 by lifewithlilred

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Whatsup guys! This is just a friendly reminder to keep on sending my blog the love on here so I can send it right back to you! Every like, share, and follow I get is so very much appreciated, so keep em’ coming! Also, don’t be a stranger. I’d love to hear from each and every one of you in comments, and will always comment back to have a conversation with you! I want to hear what you guys are thinking, and always am looking for suggestions in music, movies, fashion, television, and everything in between! I’m such a fan of everything you guys are writing on here. Scrolling through everyone’s articles on here is one of my favorite things to do before I go to bed at night. You are all so creative and talented. This is also a special thank you to anyone who has ever read a post of mine. I enjoy writing all of my little articles so much, and really hope all of my viewers enjoy reading them! This blog has been such a fun, creative outlet. No matter what I’m writing about, whether it be something serious or something silly – I always feel better afterwards. I like to think of lifewithlilred as my online journal, my scrapbook, my notepad, and my Facebook all rolled into one mega page! Have a fantastic Friday night. If you’re at the bar – take a shot for me. If you’re at home – eat an entire pint of Ben & Jerry’s for me! Whatever you guys are up to, I hope you’re having a great time! Best- Sarah

Sep22

Big Bloggin is my Hobby

Posted on September 22, 2014 by lifewithlilred

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So….drum roll pleeeease…..I’m trying to quit smoking! I’m going on day three of not having a cigarette and let me tell you…I feel like shit. BUT I already felt like shit from the cold I caught this weekend, so I figured now would be a good time to quit, especially since I haven’t been smoking because of said cold. I’m really hoping the withdrawal symptoms will just blend into how achey, tired, and congested I’m already feeling, so I don’t get a double whammy of withdrawal once I recover from my cold. I started smoking when I was about thirteen, and then started smoking super regularly at about fifteen or sixteen. I’m twenty years old now, and I’m ready to quit. I’m ready to start feeling more healthy and to start saving some moolah. Six dollars per pack really adds up quick! Especially since I’m going to be a broke college kid soon, I need to put my money towards something better than ciggies. Literally every time I try to quit, I cave after about four or five days, so PLEASE wish me luck, god knows I’m gonna need it. I also really think not working at the mall anymore is going to help immensely, because smoking on break is such a normal, social thing to do during your day at work. I’m not gonna lie, I kind of wish my cold will just carry on all week, so I feel incapable of smoking. When I tried a cig the other day I damn near coughed up a lung. So here goes nothing, here goes a healthier lifestyle and a nice fat wallet! Does anyone have any tips that helped them when they quit smoking? If so, pleeeease leave me a comment, because I’ll need all the help I can get! Have a happy, healthy evening everyone! -Sarah

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