Category Archives: Family

Apr27

Monday Update: A Night at the Theater Edition!

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Monday Update: A Night at the Theater Edition!

Helloooo everyone and happy Monday! I’ll tell ya what, my day has been a major pain in the ass so far. It’s cold, I’m tired, and Starbucks was majorly lacking in their WiFi game today. I went down the street to my homework destination to work on my assignments for the week and their WiFi was straight up unusable. It was slow as molasses, which never ever happens! I spent an hour trying to connect and reconnect to the internet, finishing minimal work and growing more frustrated by the minute. Eventually I just got so fed up that I went back to my annoying house to sit on my bedroom floor and read about psychological disorders for my Psychology class…#fun haha It’s such a dreary day in Akron, Ohio right now and all I want to do is crawl back into bed and sleep for forever. But that’s neither here nor there because I wanna tell you all about seeing Beauty & The Beast in Cleveland this weekend! Photography was naturally prohibited at the show, but my featured image was what the stage looked like before the musical started and during intermission. Master photography skills, I know. My parents, my brother, my best friend Kate, and I all packed into the family car to go to Playhouse Square for the show. The car ride there was annoyingly awful, but everything was much better once we got to the theater where I wasn’t forced to talk to my family! Ha. We had really good seats for Beauty & The Beast, we were about ten rows from the stage and were seated right in the middle, which was awesome! The musical was jolly good fun, it had a darling set that looked very storybook-esque, with lots of witty dialogue, and creative choreography. Frankly, the actors who played Belle and the Beast were somewhat disappointing…it was the supporting characters that really made the show! The guys who played Gaston and Lumiere absolutely KILLED IT! The young man playing Gaston was hilarious, had a great voice, and looked exactly like the animated cartoon. My favorite number from the musical was the song describing what an amazing guy Gaston was. The song took place in a pub, and the choreography was SO terrific. All of the actors on stage had two mugs, one for each hand and the choreography was almost like a line dance with all of the actors clinking each others mugs at the same time. It was so clever and effective and I loved every minute of it! The dance must have took so much practice to make sure everyone was clinking on time, and it paid off because no one missed a beat. Lumiere was also so fantastic as well. He was perfectly tall and lanky as a candlestick should be, and his French accent was spot on! He had great physicality and the chemistry he had with his feather duster girlfriend on stage was palpable. The show also had some really great use of puppetry for the wolves in the woods and the enchantress who turns the prince into a beast at the beginning of the show, so that was very cool to see. I haven’t been to a musical in ages, and what better show to go to for the first time in years than one of my favorite Disney movies?! I, like my mamma have loved Beauty & The Beast since I was a little one, so it was especially enjoyable to go to the show with my mom since it’s one of her favorites too! Despite some annoyingness that occurred with the family, it was still a great night! I had an absolute blast, and the Jack & Coke that Kate got me from the bar also helped immensely! 😉 It was also so cute to see all of the little girls in the audience dressed as Belle! #precious The company that put on the show is still touring, and if you have the opportunity to see it you definitely should take advantage of it! Beauty & The Beast was wonderful, lighthearted entertainment for the entire family!

I hope all of you are having a wonderful Monday! Where are all of my fans of The Following at?! How excited are you for tonight’s new episode?? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Apr12

Lil Red Pro Tips: Weekend Fun Edition

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Lil Red Pro Tips: Weekend Fun Edition

Hello there everyone! I hope all of you had a fabulous weekend…I know I did! My weekend was full of friends, family, fun, and food AKA #FFFF – it also included some really great movies and books as well! In this post I’ll be discussing with you some Lil Red Pro Tips on how to make the most out of your weekend!

DO: Watch a funny movie: My family absolutely loves the Horrible Bosses movies, and this Friday we watched Horrible Bosses 2. There’s seriously no better way to start off the weekend then with a silly movie that you don’t have to think about. The HB movies are hands down one of my favorite comedy franchises thanks to their all star cast of Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, Jennifer Aniston, and Kevin Spacey. Sure, they’re not the best movies in the world. And yes, they’re vulgar as all get out – but hey, they bring me to a happy place of gut busting laughter which is exactly what you want from a comedy!

DO: Cook something delicious: Lil Red was tearing it up in the kitchen this weekend! I would have taken pictures of the food, but honestly it looked kind of gross…but it tasted really good! Ha! On Friday I made a Mexican casserole that turned out really well. It had sauteed onions and garlic, kidney beans, diced tomatoes, diced chiles, sour cream, and shredded pepper jack cheese in it. It was perfect for dipping with chips or wrapping it up burrito style in a tortilla. I’ll admit that even after this home cooked Mexican dish I still wanted Taco Bell…but you can’t always get what you want. #neversatisfied I also made a lava cake like dessert this afternoon that I’m really looking forward to trying! It’s actually baking in the oven as we speak and it smells delicious, so fingers crossed!

DO: Read a good book: I finally finished the best seller The Girl On The Train this weekend and absolutely loved it! I’ve heard a lot of hype about this book and I’ve been reading it throughout the week, so I was so excited to finally finish it yesterday! The Girl On The Train intertwines the stories of the alcoholic and unstable Rachel, the mistress Anna, and Megan – the girl with a dark past. Rachel rides the train into London every morning like clockwork, gazing out the window and throwing back gin and tonics like it’s her job. Almost every morning as the train rolls by a suburban neighborhood, she watches a young couple whom she names “Jess and Jason” sitting on their patio and enjoying their morning. They seem to be the perfect couple, until one morning Rachel sees something that changes this perspective entirely. The Girl On The Train is a bone chilling thriller that will leave you guessing until the very end. This book was so so good and I can’t recommend it enough!

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DO: Watch a serious movie: So tonight my family and I are going to watch The Theory of Everything and I could not be more excited. I’ve been looking forward to seeing this movie since I saw previews for it in the theater ages ago. The previews alone brought tears to my eyes, and the Oscar buzz that it received only verified the confidence that I have that this movie will be amazing. You might be asking “why recommend it if you haven’t seen it?” But like I said, I am SO confident that I’ll enjoy it that I’m just laying all my cards on the table now. If anything, let this suggestion be me telling you that my favorite way to end the weekend is by watching an excellent film on Sunday night. Fridays are my comedy night, Saturdays are my going out night, and Sundays are my serious film nights. A perfect lineup, if I do say so myself. 😉

DO: Go bowling. (DON’T: Go bowling with fake nails on): Last night I had a lovely evening going bowling with my sweet neighbor, Vaughn. We went to the lunar bowling night at a close by bowling alley and had a blast. The only thing that would have made my night better is if I didn’t have my damn talon acrylic nails on! I had to use the ol’ “underhand roll” technique, because there’s no way in hell I would put my fingers with my sharp claw nails in the bowling ball holes. Honestly, even if I could bowl properly I don’t think that I would have done any better! We played four games and I got one measly strike the entire time – but I’m very proud of that strike, thank you very much! Despite this minor problem, it was still so much fun! 🙂

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This weekend was one of the best ones I’ve had in ages thanks to some beautiful family time, wonderful friend time, and super good food time! I hope all of you had just as great of a weekend as I did! What was your favorite Oscar nominated film? How did you feel about The Girl On The Train? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

 

Apr9

Kristen’s Birthday Celebration!

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Kristen’s Birthday Celebration!

Hello one and all and happy Thursday! Yesterday was my sister, Kristen’s 23rd birthday and it was a very fun time celebrating! We went to Hibachi Japan for dinner with a group of her friends and then to the bar after. Dinner was really good, I’ve never been to Hibachi before so that was a treat. The chefs make your food right in front of you which was really cool to watch…a bit scary when the flames on the grill thingie got really high though! It startled me every time! I got the vegetable sushi rolls, which unfortunately weren’t filling in the slightest – honestly, I just really wanted some Taco Bell! Ha. I planned on going home after dinner because I’m not twenty-one yet so I was afraid I’d get carded at the bar and yada, yada, yada. I also had to be up in the morning for school today. But after a little coaxing from everyone at dinner that I should just stay for one drink, I reluctantly agreed to go – so it was off to the bar. We went to some place in Highland Square in Akron and homegirl didn’t get carded! HOLLA. If I knew that getting into bars underage was so easy, I would have been going years ago! ANYWHO, we started off with a shot of Fireball, which is a cinnamon flavored whiskey…totally nasty, but it gets the job done. So I took my shot which qualified as my “one drink” but of course the last thing I wanted to do was turn around and go home. What kind of a sister would I be if I didn’t stay to celebrate with Kristen? And I was really excited to have my first bar experience! Besides, right when I was thinking about leaving these two guys offered to buy us another round of shots for the birthday girl and you’re not going to not say no to that! As the night progressed, it was safe to say that I was white girl wasted. The culprit was Fireball shots and Vodka Cranberry. I always tell everyone that if I were an alcoholic beverage I would be a Vodka Cranberry because they’re sweet and girly so I was pretty pumped to be drinking it in an actual bar and not on the couch of some lame house party. Here’s another pic of the wasteypants festivities, which surprisingly turned out really cute:

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^^^I LOVE US!!! So yeah, where was I? Oh yes, white girl wasted. So by the end of the night I was white girl wasted, and had to be up in the morning to get ready for school. I fell asleep as soon as I got home, but it felt like I had just zonked out when my alarm started ringing. After about ten minutes of laying in bed and contemplating my life after my alarm went off, I hauled my sorry hungover ass out of bed. It was a hardcore struggle. So I stumbled down the hall to the bathroom and started brushing my teeth to cure my dragon breath, when I started feeling really queasy. I ended up throwing up in the trash can mid brush. Of course I couldn’t have hurled BEFORE I started brushing my teeth – nope, that would make the shit show that is my life too easy. BUT that didn’t stop me from brushing my teeth again and making it through a shower. After I got cleaned up it seriously wore me out, and I ended up sitting on the bathroom floor in my towel taking Dixie cup shots of water for a solid fifteen minutes. At this point I was already going to be late for class, so I decided to just say “fuck it” and got back into bed. I ended up throwing up two more times until I started feeling a smidgen better. Needless to say, I was a hot ass wreck. After managing to pull myself out of my hangover abyss to make some food (which I scarfed down in record timing), I started feeling like a normal human being. Thank gawd.

^^^I humbly apologize for party rocking. 😦 😦 😦

I was planning on getting my talon nails filled after class today (if I went), so after I ate I slipped on a pair of harem pants and a t-shirt and went to my beloved nail tech Vinny to be pampered. I’ve decided that the hangover cure is harem pants and a manicure. It’s scientifically proven, because it worked on me! 😉 Vinny did a beautiful job as usual, my nails are now black and Barbie pink and I’m pretty in love! Usually I’m not a fan of pinks, but having it as an accent nail among my rocker black makes it the perfect combination of edgy and girly. Take a look:

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^^^Love, love, love. #pronails #teamvinny

In conclusion: The hangover cure is harem pants and pampering. It works like a charm! I hope all of you are having a terrific week! Do you have any fun weekend plans? What’s your favorite nail polish color combination? I want to hear all from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Apr8

Happy Birthday Sissy!!

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Happy Birthday Sissy!!

Hey gang and happy Hump Day! More importantly, happy 23rd birthday to my best friend, my partner in crime, and my big sister Kristen!! Enjoy some fabulous PicStitches of me and my woman: 😉

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^^^ I LOVE US!

Anyways, we had a beautiful evening with the family tonight. We had a Chinese dinner at our favorite place The Mandarin House with our parents and then Kristen and I went to see Get Hard which was dumb as fuck, but we still had fun! Once we got back from the movies we enjoyed the adorable Hello Kitty ice cream cake that my mom got, as you can see in my featured image. It was so cute I almost didn’t want to eat it! To continue with the birthday festivities on her actual birthday (the 8th), we’ll be going to Hibachi Japan for dinner with a bunch of friends and then going out and getting white girl wasted after. Hurray for being 23! I hate to toot my own horn, but I also managed to get my sister a really fantastic gift: two tickets to see The Used at the House of Blues in Cleveland next month! I even learned how to fold the tickets into an origami envelope for her to open, which I was particularly proud of! When I gave her the tickets she told me that she planned on purchasing them the day I bought them because she heard there were only thirty or so tickets left. I’m so glad I beat her to it because she loves it! I’m very excited to take her on an emo night on the town for the show, and I’m really looking forward to seeing The Used play! So far it’s been a very successful birthday celebration and it isn’t even her birthday quite yet!

So, let me just say to the world and to my darling sister: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Words seriously can’t even begin to express the infinite love that I have for you. You mean more than the world to me, and I’m always going to be here for you whether you like it or not. I’ll be here to make you laugh, to annoy the fuck out of you, and to forever remind you of how important you are. My birthday wish for my sister is for her to see herself the way that I see her. Beautiful, hard working, determined, intelligent, hilarious, gorgeous, goofy, and every good adjective that I could possibly think of. You make me so proud to share your DNA. I love being able to tell people who don’t know that I’m your little sister. This sounds lame, but it makes me feel really cool! Like, how many girls get to say that “yeah, that hot little number who happens to be the birthday girl for the day is my big sister AND best friend”? Probably not many. I’m so thankful that we have the type of relationship that allows me to say that. You are the window to my walls, you are the sweat that drips down my balls. I love you Kristen and I hope your special day is just as amazing as you are! I can’t wait to celebrate with you and our friends! Let’s get drunk!!!

^^ One of my favorite memories in the world is thinking back to all the times that this song would play on the radio and how we would scream it at the top of our lungs each time. I’ve never told anyone this until now (so I might as well tell the world, right?), but this song is one of my all time favorites because of the treasured memories I associate it with. Yeah, a Demi Lovato song is one of my favorites. WHAT OF IT? So this one goes out to you, sis.

I hope all of you have a fabulous Hump Day, I know I will! Make sure you leave my sister some birthday love in the comments! What’s some of your favorite birthday traditions? Have you bought any awesome birthday gifts for someone recently? I’d love to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Goodnight. -Sarah

Apr3

A Lucky Birthday Gift

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A Lucky Birthday Gift

Hey gang and TGIF! Today is a fabulous day not only because it’s Friday but because I’m FINALLY feeling better from my god awful flu! Hurray! So April is a fun month because my dad and my sister’s birthdays are super close together. My dad’s birthday falls on the sixth while Kristen’s comes two days after on the eighth. Yesterday I went birthday shopping for my dad at Lowe’s and because of a few recent unlucky incidents that my poor papa had to go through, I knew exactly what to get him!

Two years. Three instances of getting rear ended while driving. Those sentences basically sum up my dad’s unlucky spell when it comes to cruising around good ol’ Akron, Ohio. Unfortunately his third accident happened a week or so ago by some moron running into him on a highway exit ramp. The thing about the entire situation is, that if it wasn’t so goddamn sad and annoying, it would almost be laughable. Like really? Three rear ends in two years? (Every party involved was unharmed every time though, which is all that really matters) That’s bad luck if I’ve ever heard it! So once my dad came home with his busted up car and bad news, I had a stroke of genius as to what to get him for his birthday. My dad loves tending to his many plants indoors and his beautiful outdoor garden in our spacious backyard. Flowers, potted plants, vegetables, herbs, shade gardens – my dad does it all. With that in mind, I looked up different plants that symbolize good luck and learned that bamboo is one of them. I was really happy to find that out because my dad doesn’t have any bamboo plants in his vast collection. After I got the plant part taken care of, I looked into animals that symbolize good luck so I could find a nice ceramic one to put in the garden outside or indoors with the potted plants. I had my heart set on finding a ceramic turtle or frog which I learned was lucky, but there were none at Lowe’s that really screamed out “DAD” at me. While strolling through the gardening aisles I stopped at the wind chime section and found a really beautiful brass one sporting a sunflower and a blue bird. In my good luck research I learned that birds were considered lucky, so I hit the jackpot! My dad loves wind chimes so this will be a great addition to hang on our porch! Here’s a few pics of my birthday purchases for my pops!

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So pretty!! Hopefully I can keep the bamboo alive for another three days until I can leave them in my dad’s very capable hands! 😉 This is super pathetic, but I think I already put too much water into their little containers. FML. Anywho, I’m really excited to give my dad these gifts because I know for a fact he’s going to love them! And he’ll get a reminder of how much I love him every time he cares for his new lucky bamboo. A nice bonus from these “good luck” gifts is if they actually brought some good luck to my old man…god knows he needs it!!!

I hope all of you guys have a fantastic Friday and an even better weekend! Until then, I NEED YOUR HELP! I accidentally got an eyeliner stain on a white 100% polyester shirt and I was wondering if any of you had any tips on how to get it out…THIS IS URGENT!!! If you have any methods that you swear by, PLEASE leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Mar21

Mama’s Birthday Bash!

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Mama’s Birthday Bash!

Last night was my mom’s annual Mexican dinner birthday bash and it was absolutely wonderful! Every year for my mom’s birthday we hit up a local Mexican restaurant, El Campesino for good food, frivolity, and hella margaritas! Here’s a few pics from the white girl wasted festivities:

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^^^ She’s so cute!!! (And I feel like we look super alike in these pictures, so now you know where I got my striking good looks from! ;)) El Campesino is one of our all time favorites, and we had a complete blast. The restaurant was hoppin on a Friday night, but we got seated right away which was awesome. My mom’s birthday is on Sunday, but all of the members of the family crew could go out on Friday night so we celebrated early. We ordered our food and a pitcher of margs quickly because we were so hungry, and our food arrived in less than FIVE MINUTES!! Talk about service! The most adorable thing about my mom is that she’s a total lightweight, so within one glass of margarita, she was white girl wasted. The only words that I can use to sum up my mom when she’s wasteypants are as follows: funny, sloppy, and unpredictable. We annihilated our food and threw back our margs and had a gay old time. My favorite part of the night was when my mom decided it would be funny to knock her head on my shoulder while saying “timber” in the tune of Kesha and Pitbull’s hit. My mom loves Pitbull, so this one is for her:

The celebration was so fun and will carry on to tomorrow for her actual birthday, so don’t expect to hear from me tomorrow! I love you so much mama and I hope you have a fantastic birthday! Thank you for being my best friend and the most amazing mom a gal could ask for! You’re the most beautiful lady in the whole wide world and I’m SO lucky to have you as my mommy! ❤

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I’m currently at Starbucks, where I’ve been working on math homework for the past two hours. -__- I desperately needed a break, so I figured now would be the perfect time to tell you guys all about my lovely family evening. But alas, I must get back to work, so I have to cut this post short. I hope all of you have a fabulous weekend, and I’ll check back in with you guys on Monday for the weekly update!

What are you guys up to this weekend? Any fun plans? What’s your family’s favorite way to celebrate a birthday? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! And make sure you leave my mama some birthday love in the comments! Much love. -Sarah

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU!!!! #BFF!!!!!!

Feb17

Surprise! I Can Cook!

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Surprise! I Can Cook!

So! A little known fact about Lil Red is that on the rare occasion that I feel like it, I can cook! This doesn’t happen often, but when it does, I’ve been known to make a pretty bangin meal. Today is a special occasion because my oldest brother, Peter (who lives in Wisconsin) will be home for an entire week because he’s going to be laying down some chemical engineering knowledge at a local college. #boygenius Because I’ve been looking forward to this for weeks, I decided to make a family dinner….apparently excitement makes me want to cook. Go figure. Anyways, I whipped up some Chinese stir fry for the fam this evening and it turned out fabulous. Chinese is always a good option for my family because half of us (including myself) are vegetarian, so there’s a lot of tasty meat free choices to pick from. I normally never take pictures of my food, but I was so proud of this meal that I just had to, so here’s the final result:

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Preparing this meal honestly wasn’t hard at all, it just took some time management to finish all of the dishes at the same time. Here’s a list of all of the dishes made by yours truly tonight:

  • Top Right – Sesame Tofu Stir Fry: This mix included hokkien noodles, steamed snow peas, and tofu with a sesame sauce. I just kind of free styled this one.
  • Bottom Right – Sweet & Sour Stir Fry: A fantastic mix from Aldi’s was used for this dish. Snow peas, carrots, red pepper, pineapple, and sauce were in this mix. I added the hokkien noodles to this as well to make it a bit more filling.
  • Middle – Steamed Snow Peas
  • Top Left – Brown Rice
  • Bottom Left – Vegetable Spring Rolls

Dinner was a success and my whole family really enjoyed it! I guess I should start cooking more often! Today has been wonderful. School this morning was boring as usual, but I actually learned a lot which was fun, I got tons of homework done this afternoon, and my brother should be home any minute now! There’s only one song that can give the fantastic mood I’m in justice, and it goes a little something like this….

Hahahaha ^^^^ SO, this weekend my mom and I were driving around running errands and she happens to have Sirius radio in her car. There’s a great station on Sirius called “80’s on 8” which plays all of the beloved one hit wonders of the 80’s. Wang Chung’s “Everybody Have Fun Tonight”  played when we were in the car and we almost died laughing over the lyric “everybody Wang Chung tonight.” Ever since this past weekend my momma and I have been quoting it, and it’s obviously become our new favorite. EVERYBODY WANG CHUNG TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!! #loveit

Alright guys, I hope you have a fabulous night doing whatever it is that you’re doing! I know I will – Brother/sister time is on the horizon! What’s your favorite meal to cook? What are some of your favorite vegetarian recipes? I’d love to hear from you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jan4

the lilred mantra (written by my mom!!)

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the lilred mantra (written by my mom!!)

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Hey guys! So I get home tonight to find notifications on my page on a post that I don’t recall writing. It turns out my mom managed to write this sweet post after I put the link to lifewithlilred on my Facebook. I never log out of my WordPress so it’s no wonder she ended up becoming a blogger in her own right! I love you mom and thank you for your words of encouragement! -Sarah

Hi Sarah,,,thanks for listing the link to your blog on facebook. Though I red (haha…make that “read”) your blog before, I haven;t for awhile. I thought your insightful posting of 1/4/15 was AMAZING! So proud of your hard work, your journey, and, especially, your COURAGE to share! I think the latter is something that always intimidates me with writing, as, once it’s written and sent…it is OUT THERE,,,, I MEAN OUT THERE,,, and that always scares me to make a strong statement that I can’t later rephrase or hem or haw about. SO HURRAY for you Sarah…you bring wisdom to others twice ( or in your mom;s case, even more than twice!!) your age. So proud of your philosophy and writings….Love you….Mom

Dec24

Happy Holidays!!!!!!

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Happy Holidays!!!!!!

Hello one and all!!!!! Happy happy holidays and Merry Christmas Eve to those who celebrate. I had a really beautiful visit today with one of my dear friends that I’d like to share with you. My spirits have been pretty low lately, but this afternoon definitely put me back into the holiday swing of things. Hopefully this story will do the same to you!

This will be the second Christmas that my beloved grandma (rest her soul) will not be with us. But it still feels like just yesterday when she passed. She used to live in an assisted living center ran by devout nuns. During the years that she was there I became quite familiar with the Sisters, the residents, and one lady in particular: Neva. If you recall, I’ve wrote about her and our visits before. To give you guys a little refresher, Neva is a Southern Belle with the most fantastic Kentucky accent I’ve ever heard. She’s known me for over ten years now, and we truly have a mother/daughter relationship. Although my grandma is no longer with us, I still very much like to go and visit Neva and everyone else in the home. So today, I filled a bag full of Miss Neva’s favorite candy (Hershey’s chocolate kisses!) and drove off for a Christmas visit. It always makes me so happy when Neva answers the door to the room and sees that it was me who was knocking. Her eyes light up and she always greets me with a warm “Hi, Honey!” After our hugs hello I presented her with her bag of goodies, and she handed me a bracelet that matches the one she has in green, as seen below:

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I was so touched by this gesture and was smiling from ear to ear. It was just so thoughtful and now I feel close to her even when we’re apart. After we exchanged our gifts I asked her to show me around the residence hall, because it’s always decorated so beautifully for the holidays. We gazed upon tree after tree and admired all of the ornaments and lights displayed on them. We then walked into the Chapel where all of the Poinsettias that still needed to be put out around the building were kept. In the Chapel we ran into one of the Sisters who was a main care taker for my grandma when her health started declining. “You’re all grown up!” She said as she greeted me with a warm embrace. At this point I was getting incredibly emotional, and she held me tighter as tears fell from my eyes. “You miss grandma, don’t you?” She asked, and all I could do was nod into her shoulder. After we let go she told me that last weeks Masses were held in memory of my sweet grandma, which made me cry even harder…but they were happy tears, because I know that her memory is eternal in the halls of her home and the hearts of everyone. Sister and Neva both told me how proud they were that I’m now in school and it made me feel so good. After a long hug good bye from Sister she told me that myself and my family is welcome in the halls of the residence anytime. I will definitely be taking her up on that. After our visit with Sister, Neva and I headed back into her room for some girl talk. We gossiped about boys and her family and danced around her room to Christmas carols. While sitting on her bed with my head on my shoulder, she stroked my hair and told me that I’m just like a daughter to her. How can you not feel amazing after hearing that? It was an absolutely glorious afternoon that I needed more than I realized. Here’s a picture of me and my dear friend, Neva:

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I am wishing everyone the happiest of holidays. Whatever you celebrate, spend it with loved ones (pets included!) and good cheer. Special thoughts are sent to anyone who will be celebrating the holiday season without a loved one – my heart goes out to you more than you know. Love and good tidings to all of you! -Sarah

PS: Happy holidays from my doggies Gem and Winston!!!!

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Dec7

Lil Red Recommends – Holiday Gift Edition!!

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Lil Red Recommends – Holiday Gift Edition!!

I absolutely LOVE shopping for Christmas gifts…and just shopping in general, so I’ve had a blast putting together my holiday gifts this year! Instead of venturing into the craziness at the mall to do my shopping, I’ve been purchasing all of my presents online at http://www.amazon.com – and let me tell you: it’s the best decision I’ve ever made! There is absolutely NOTHING better than shopping stress free from the comfort of your own home. After I stopped working at the mall in September, I haven’t really frequented it, aside from a handful of times. When I went to visit my sister at work on Wednesday afternoon last week, the mall was jam packed and it gave me anxiety!!! There were way too many people and the stores were so trashed that it made even window shopping obnoxious. One of the best things about Amazon is that it’s literally a one stop shop. They have everything you could possibly need to put together an awesome gift. There’s a few gifts that I’ve grown particularly fond of giving over the past few years that I’d like to share with you guys. Hopefully this will spark some ideas to help finish all of your holiday shopping!

TV Series Box Sets: These are literally the bread and butter of my Christmas gifts. It all started years ago when my mom would get my dad the Seinfeld seasons for his birthday or holidays. Then we started watching Curb Your Enthusiasm once we were confident that we’ve seen every Seinfeld episode known to man kind. My mom would get the seasons from the library but that gets annoying really quick when the DVDs skip from being scratched so much. So I took it upon myself to carry on my moms tradition and buy my dad a season or two for every gift giving occasion until we had the complete series. He loved it! Box sets of TV shows are so convenient, especially when the show you like to watch has to be accessed on the computer. Last year my sister was obsessed with Breaking Bad, but she could only watch it on Netflix, so Sarah the Gift Giving Extraordinaire got her the DVDs to solve the problem of her always hijacking the computer. This year I got my parents the box set of Six Feet Under, their new obsession that they can only access on http://www.hbogo.com. I also got my sister the last seasons of Breaking Bad to complete her collection and season one of The Strain. Unfortunately, Kristen already knows that she’s getting The Strain because she told me a few days ago that she planned on buying it so I had to tell her that I already had it pre ordered for her! She was still really happy all the same though!!

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Board Games: This might be kind of a lame idea but I promise you that it’s effective!!! Nothing makes parents more happy than family game night….okay well maybe there’s a few things that make them happier – but still. This year I bought a strategy game Cards VS Dice for my brainiac brother and his fiance. My sister has been talking about wanting to get Cards Against Humanity for a while and I’ve heard that it’s a lot of fun, so I bought the starter packs of the game as a gift to everyone in the family. Some other fun games that I’d recommend if you’re thinking about giving a board game gift to your family are: Catch Phrase, Apples to Apples, Crush, and Quiddler. Another thing that falls under the game category would be puzzles. I got one of my brothers a jigsaw puzzle of one of his favorite football stadiums so that we could assemble it together. After the puzzle is complete I thought it would be cool to glue it together and frame it for a cool addition to his room.

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Bath & Body Products: I know, I know – this is an obvious one. But let me fill you in on why I’m writing about it. Have you ever felt like a gift that you purchased just wasn’t enough? BOOM. Bath and body care is the perfect add on to a gift to make it feel more full and complete. The nice thing about getting somebody gifts to pamper themselves with is that they might not buy stuff like that on their own. Apparently not every grown woman buys bubble bath products anymore. Go figure. But anyways, I always buy some goodies from The Body Shop for my girlfriends to add on to their presents, and they love it every time. Just an FYI that in store and online The Body Shop has some extremely cute and very reasonably priced gift sets – you can check them out at http://www.thebodyshop.com!

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Vacation Planning Books: Is there anyone in your family or friends that loves planning vacations? My dad would be that person in my family! He loves traveling and planning amazing family vacations. Next summer we plan on going to Universal Studios in Florida, so as part of his gift I bought him the 2015 guide to the amusement parks. I’m well aware that lots of local libraries carry these travel books, but it’s nice to own them so you can take notes and highlight things that look like fun in them. Do you know for sure that you’re going to be going on a vacation with family, friends, or a significant other? If so, another fun gift for the vacation planners would be purchasing a gift card to a restaurant in the area or making I Owe You cards for dinner or souvenirs from your travel location.

Gifts That Serve a Purpose: How many gifts have you received over the years that sit in your closet to this day? My number one rule for gift purchasing is buying things that I know for a fact the recipient is going to use. My best friend Lea loves writing down her daily schedule for school and work in a planner, so I got her a really cute 2015 planner and a travel coffee cup to match it. My parents like having a 365 day calender to look at over breakfast in the morning, so naturally that was an obvious gift to get them. My mom needs a new laptop case for work, so of course I’m going to get it for her. Gift giving becomes super easy when you think about what each person would definitely use. There’s also a 99% chance that the people who you’re purchasing for are going to love the handy gift you got them, which will save you from the awkward “did you happen to save the receipt” conversations!

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So there you have it, the Lil Red Recommends – Holiday Gift Edition! Hopefully these suggestions will help with your holiday shopping this year! What was your favorite gift you’ve ever received? What gift are you most excited about giving this year? Leave me a comment and let’s chat! -Sarah