Tag Archives: fun

Feb16

Lifewithlilred By The Numbers

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Lifewithlilred By The Numbers

Hi everyone and happy Tuesday! I was blown away by recently hitting my 2,000 followers mark here on lifewithlilred. Since I’ve had my page up and running for over a year now, I thought it would be fun to do a stats post and see just how much things have progressed on my little old blog. Let’s take a look:

   My Stats:

  • Posts: 562
  • Comments: 1,553
  • Followers: 2,105
  • Categories: 32
  • Tags: 2,335
  • Countries: 150
  • Views: 43,679

*** Note that I am prewriting this so these stats are slightly off!

If you would have told me when I first started blogging that after over a year I would have posted 562 times, I would have said that you’re crazy! But now, I feel strange if I don’t get to write at least a quick post every day! Once a week I take twenty or so minutes to plan out my posts for the week as well as ideas for days to come. I love coming up with new and exciting articles to write and it’s always so fun to me to see how you guys react to them.

I always find so much joy in looking at my stats and seeing how all of my hard work paid off. If you haven’t already, I can’t recommend making a post like this enough – or at least going through your accumulated stats to see how you’re doing. It felt awesome to look through these numbers and see how much they’ve grown since my very first blog post! For once, it was a trip down memory lane that was enjoyable to take!

So there you have it, Lifewithlilred By The Numbers! A short and sweet post that took ten minutes to write and that brought a smile to my face. So worth it. How long have you been blogging for? How many posts have you wrote? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Feb15

Monday Update: Valentine’s Day Edition

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Monday Update: Valentine’s Day Edition

Hellooo everyone and happy Monday! I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend and a lovely Valentine’s Day if you celebrated. Yesterday was my first time ever celebrating Valentine’s Day with my boyfriend, Kyle, and it was certainly a day for the memory books! Take a look at us being cute and then let’s discuss:

^^^ I love us!!

Yesterday our day started out kind of late because we both slept in but it was so nice and much needed. By the time we got ourselves ready, it was already noon and we still had no idea what we wanted to do with ourselves for the day. Kyle and I are literally the worst at picking out places to go to for food, drinks, or activities so we usually just end up binge watching Netflix all day…Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

We went back and forth for a solid half hour on where to go for lunch and thanks to a shocking suggestion from Kyle, settled on an Indian buffet. I absolutely LOVE Indian food and Kyle has never tried it, nor do I think he wanted to that much! Spicy foods and Kyle don’t always get along too well. I’ve been talking about wanting some good Indian food for a while so it was definitely a pleasant and sweet surprise when he came up with that idea.

We Google searched for Indian restaurants close by and were presented with two options and a Kentucky Fried Chicken. We decided to go for Bombay Sitar because of the amazing looking food pictures we saw that were snapped on Yelp. After all of the last minute preparations at home, we were finally ready to go and I was SO excited and so insanely HUNGRY.

The thing about me, is that I’m one of the biggest babies on the planet. When I’m A) really tired or B) really hungry I turn in to such a little diva. Thankfully, the restaurant wasn’t too far away and we didn’t have to wait long to take part in the buffet so Kyle didn’t have to deal with too much sass! As soon as we walked in the restaurant, I began to droll because of how good everything smelled so needless to say, I tore that buffet up!

At Bombay Sitar, they brilliantly arranged the buffet in a vegetarian and meat section and I took a helping of everything that the vegetarian side had to offer. By the time Kyle and I made our rounds around the buffet, my plate was piled with food and I was ready for action. I couldn’t wait to get the first few forkfuls down my gullet but I was also looking forward to Kyle’s reaction to the food. I had a feeling that he would like it but it was a definite possibility that Indian food might not be his cup of tea.

Luckily, after our first few bites, I had nothing to worry about! Kyle completely devoured his plate full of Indian cuisine and went back for seconds and dessert. He even contemplated going back for thirds!! Success! Our lunch was absolutely to die for but let me tell you, mama needed a nap afterwards. Like I said, I adore Indian food and if it were up to me, I would eat it all the time. However, the richness of the dishes are my downfall and I’m always left feeling like I need to sleep for thirty-six hours straight after an Indian meal.

Once we got home, we decided to spend the afternoon in. We lounged in the robes that were deemed “too tattered” from the restaurant and villas Kyle works at, binge watched Wentworth, and played Mario Kart. We both agreed that the downtime would do us good and then in the evening we would go out for a light dinner and drinks. But leave it to the most indecisive/cutest couple ever to turn that idea into a wild goose chase!

We came up with the plan of going to a pet store and then hitting up a nearby restaurant to continue the festivities. I have my heart dead set on getting a bunny so Kyle was going to take me to snuggle up with some little critters and see if there were any that caught my eye. Unfortunately, the pet store was closed by the time we got there so we had to push dinner to the top of the priority list.

We began to drive around the shopping area we were in to scope out a nice place to go. Of course, with it being Valentine’s Day and all, every bar and restaurant was jam packed. We ventured on and brainstormed different places and ideas, which all ended up getting vetoed for some reason or another. At this point, I was getting sleepy from the drive and really just wanted to go back into our little basement bungalow. That’s when we both agreed on the idea to go to Pizza Hut and order the biggest, cheesiest, stuffed crust pizza that we could get our hands on.

Kyle and I had to laugh at the fact that it took us being twenty minutes away to come up with the idea that we should get a pizza – something that easily could have been done from home! After rerouting the trip, we ended up at the Pizza Hut that’s literally two minutes away from his house to order our pizza. We waited in store for our Extreme Cheese Lovers pie to bake, took the cute pictures seen above, and doodled on the little chalkboard they had set up that was obviously meant for children.

Finally, our pizza was ready and we headed back home. We piled our plates high, got back into our PJ’s, and turned Wentworth back on to continue our marathon. It. Was. Perfect. Kyle is watching the season premiere of The Walking Dead as I write this and soon it will be time for more pizza, more Netflix, and bedtime after the best first Valentine’s Day a gal could ask for. I love you, Kyle Kyle! ❤

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: Valentine’s Day Edition! How did everyone celebrate V-Day? What was the best or worst Valentine’s Day you’ve ever had? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Feb8

Monday Update: Special Olympics Edition

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Monday Update: Special Olympics Edition

Hi everyone and happy Monday! This past week, my Special Olympic ice skaters competed in the winter games and it was totally awesome. The events took place on Wednesday and Thursday and they were single handedly some of the best days of my life. On Wednesday my sister, Kristen, joined me at the competition and the banquet that followed later in the evening. It was so nice to have her keeping me company and all of my skaters and their families just loved her! The days of the competitions were long but they were so worth it, so let’s discuss:

Wednesday’s competitions were the races for the speed skaters and then the figure skaters would compete in their skills and compulsorary events. On Thursday, the figure skaters would perform their music routines. Wednesday started out much too early for my liking because I had to get up, get ready, pick Kristen up, and then make the twenty minute drive to the rink so I could prepare my skaters for the events an hour or so beforehand. I felt like a zombie but god knows I looked fabulous! 😉

Once we arrived at the rink, my tiredness was a thing of the past because seeing all of the athletes and their families was so energizing! Everyone was so excited and I couldn’t wait to soak up all of the positivity and happiness that everyone was exuding. It was so much fun to make my rounds to all of the athletes upon our arrival and introduce my sister to all of my friends. I was so touched by the warm greetings I got from all of my skaters and their families. I think the athletes were more excited about Kristen being there than me though because they got a brand new person to show off to!

The events started promptly at ten with the speed skaters on the hockey rink and the figure skaters on the practice rink. I had athletes competing on both rinks so I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I had skaters to give pep talks to, athletes to cheer for, and competitors that I had to track down that were going to be competing next. I didn’t mind the fast pace though and thanks to my time management skills, I was able to watch almost all of the skaters that are in my group compete.

Saying that I was proud of all of the athletes was a severe understatement and before I knew it, the events were over for the day. After all of the events were complete, we made our way to the hockey rink for the award ceremony. It was so special to be able to watch the athletes and my students receiving their medals on the podium. I loved seeing the big smiles, surprised faces, and arms raised in victory of all of the competitors. One of my students, Rick, ran to his family after he received his medals and went in for a big hug from his aunt. During the hug he kept saying “I’m so happy, I’m so happy” and I started bawling my eyes out! I was so proud of everyone and being able to see them celebrate and know that they did a fantastic job was the cherry on top of a perfect morning.

After the award ceremony, Kristen and I stuck around for a little bit while everyone had lunch and then we rolled out. Kristen treated me to lunch and then we went back to her apartment to rest and watch Netflix until the banquet in the evening. The banquet for the Special Olympics winter games was held at the Clarion Hotel. There was going to be speeches, dinner, and some good old fashioned tom foolery.

Kristen and I got to the hotel around six and made it right in the nick of time because shortly after we got there it was time to eat. Dinner was served buffet style followed by a huge piece of chocolate cake. Once everyone finished eating, there was a bit of a lull so we could all chat and digest while the dance floor got cleared off. Before we knew it, the dance floor was cleared, a DJ was playing, and disco lights were flashing. That’s when the real fun began!

As soon as the music started playing, Kristen and I ran to the dance floor with our friends so we could get our groove on. We were all dancing and singing along to songs from Grease and the Top 40 hits. My sister and I had such a blast dancing the night away. We were on the dance floor for over an hour and by the time we left, everyone was still dancing and jumping around! Clearly, all of the athletes have far more energy than I! Take a look at some of my pictures from the banquet:

^^^ I love us!!!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it a million more times, I am so unbelievably proud of all of my students and the athletes who competed at the Special Olympics winter games. I’m so thankful for all of my new friends and I’m so happy that my sister got to share in the fun with us. It has been such a privilege to be able to coach such a talented group of athletes and I wouldn’t trade the experiences I’ve had for anything! Coach Sarah loves you guys! ❤

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: Special Olympics Edition! The winter games were a great success and I’m so grateful that I could be a part of it. What is your favorite winter sport? What sports did you used to compete in or are competing in now? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Feb5

Bath & Body Works February Freebie

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Bath & Body Works February Freebie

Hi everyone and TGIF! This week I stopped in to Bath & Body Works to snag my February Freebie and ended up with a super sweet travel size lotion. As many of you know, I live for my monthly freebie from B&BW and as I counted and calculated all of my loot from my past few visits, I learned that I collected over sixty dollars worth of free product! Not bad! This month, I went with their Pink Chiffon fragrance. Take a look at the pretty in pink packaging and then let’s discuss:

pink.jpg

I had a difficult time picking what fragrance I wanted when I went to Bath & Body Works this week. When you cash in your freebie coupon, you’re limited to the scents in B&BW’s signature collection and at this point, I’ve sampled almost all of those fragrances. I wanted something that I haven’t had before, so I decided to finally give the Pink Chiffon lotion a try.

The Pink Chiffon fragrance is very sweet – it seriously smells like spun sugar. I’m not a really big fan of “girly” smelling fragrances, to be honest. I much prefer something fruity, which I think has a little more kick. But the great thing about the Pink Chiffon scent, is that it still smells nice to me despite my preferences. It’s one of those scents that I think everyone would like because it’s so soft and light.

My thought process behind choosing the Pink Chiffon lotion was that it would make a good add on to a birthday or holiday gift because it’s such a universal scent. Thanks to my B&BW freebie hoard, I’ve dodged many an awkward bullet when someone has got me a gift and I didn’t get them anything. My Pink Chiffon lotion will be a great addition to my stock pile and will save me some money when I’m putting together a gift basket or care package. Sweet!

If you’d like to score some free swag from Bath & Body Works, make sure you enter in your email address or phone number next time you go shopping there. This will get you signed up to receive their coupons. You can also do some shopping online at their website! Whenever you shop with B&BW, make sure you enter your information in again at the cash register so you can continue receiving emails and snail mail with their coupons and promotions!

So there you have it, my Bath & Body Works February Freebie! I can’t wait to pick out another fragrance again next month! Are there any good freebie sites that you use? Which store do you think has the best coupons and promotions? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Feb4

Liebster Award #4

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Liebster Award #4

Hi everyone and happy Thursday! I was so excited to have been recently nominated for my fourth Liebster Award by my friend, Annette, over at nananettie1969! Her blog is fantastic so much sure you check it out and give her page some love. Lifewithlilred has been receiving a lot of award nominations lately and it is so very much appreciated. I love making these posts – they’re so much fun! As always, there are some rules that come with these awards so check them out and then let’s begin:

The Rules:

  • Thank the person who nominated you and include a link back to them.
  • Answer the questions given to you.
  • Nominate 15 bloggers and present them with questions of your own.

Q & A:

What is your favorite song?

“Beautiful Day” by U2. So much so that the day I turned eighteen I got lyrics from the song tattooed on my shoulder.

What is your favorite color?

Black and red.

What inspires you the most?

People who work really hard and people who use their time and talents to help others.

What genre do you write?

Oh, a little bit of everything. I’m not tied down to one specific genre. If anything, I just like to write about my day and what’s going on in my sub par life. 😉

What is your pet’s names if any?

Gem is my family’s Golden Retriever and Winston is my sister’s little Yorkie and Shih Tzu mix that we babysit sometimes!

Do you have kids?

No kids! I don’t want children nor do I like them that much.

Do you have a sign or symbol that represents you?

Uhm…not really. Well, actually…Does a cigarette and a lighter count?

What do you like to blog about?

Like I mentioned earlier, a little bit of everything. I like writing about beauty and fashion as well as movies, music, books, and school. You never know what you’re going to end up reading next on my site!

Where would you like to visit?

I would love to travel all over Europe!

What do you like to indulge in?

Cheap wine, new shoes, and really good skin care products.

What type of food is your favorite?

I like all types of food, I’m not picky! I’ve been a vegetarian for a very long so any style of food that gives me a lot of options is always preferred. I just recently had some fantastic Indian food with a few of my friends at a restaurant called the Saffron Patch and I can’t wait to go there again. Otherwise, I like Italian, Mexican, and Chinese food a lot. I also will never say no to Taco Bell EVER.

If you could give a million dollars to charity what one or ones would you choose?

Anything that involves helping animals – whether they be in shelters, on the verge of extinction, or just need extra love and care. I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t like animals and I despise people who hunt.

Why do you blog?

I’ve always loved to write and enjoyed journaling a lot when I was in high school. Lifewithlilred is kind of like my online journal. I also really enjoy interacting with all of my readers in over one hundred and fifty different countries!

How many followers do you have?

Almost 2,000!

My Nominees (I’m only doing three):

My Questions For You:

  1. Would you rather have a relaxing beach vacation or something more adventurous?
  2. Where is your favorite place to shop at?
  3. How old were you when you started wearing makeup?
  4. What colors of lipstick do you like to wear?
  5. Acrylic or natural nails?
  6. Manicures or pedicures?
  7. What celebrity would you like to spend a day with?
  8. What did you dream about last night?
  9. When you were a child, how would you answer the question, “what do you want to be when you grow up”?
  10. What is your favorite article of clothing in your wardrobe?
  11. If you could raid one celebrity’s closet, who would it be?
  12. What is your favorite kind of junk food to snack on?
  13. Favorite candy?
  14. Favorite non alcoholic drink?
  15. Favorite alcoholic drink?

Thank you so much again to Annette at nananettie1969 for nominating me for my fourth Liebster Award and congrats to my nominees! How would you answer some of the questions that I asked my nominees? What are some of your questions for me? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Feb3

One Lovely Blog Award #3

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One Lovely Blog Award #3

Hi everyone and happy Hump Day! I was recently nominated for my third One Lovely Blog Award by my dear friend, Nikki, over at: akinderway. I always enjoy my interactions with Miss Nikki and her blog is a real gem, so make sure you give her page some love! I have so much fun making award nomination posts and it makes for an easy day of blogging so thank you to all of my friends who have nominated lifewithlilred! As always, there are some rules that come with the awards so check them out and then let’s get started:

The Rules:

  • Thank the person that nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
  • List the rules.
  • Display the award on your post.
  • List seven facts about yourself.
  • Nominate (up to) 15 bloggers for this award and comment on one of their posts to let them know you have nominated them.

All About Me:

  1. I’m currently writing this post while sipping coffee and taking a homework break. I always drink my coffee out of a sweet little mug with a koala bear being floated away by a bundle of balloons and it says “Have an up kind of day”. I think it’s the cutest thing ever!
  2. This isn’t really a fun fact but right now the water in my shower isn’t draining very quickly. On Sunday I dyed my hair with my beloved Vidal Sassoon’s Runway Red and by the time I exited my shower the water was halfway up my calf and blood red. It was really disgusting but insanely cool.
  3. The last movie I watched was The Interview. My sister and I haven’t seen that movie in forever and laughed like crazy the entire time! I love love LOVE James Franco! Hubba hubba.
  4. My boyfriend and I recently entered the “Canton’s Cutest Couple” contest for a local radio station – not that I buy in to any of that stuff but a free dinner would be nice!
  5. My socks are matching for once today, which deserves an award in itself.
  6. I’ve become really fond of eating at Moe’s and have decided that I like them better than Chipotle. #WELCOMETOMOES
  7. I’ll find anything you say infinitely funnier if you end it with “#blessed”.

My Nominees (I’m only doing three):

Once again, thank you so much to Nikki at akinderway for my third One Lovely Blog Award and congrats to my nominees! What are some fun facts about yourself? Do you have any weekend plans that you’re looking forward to? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Feb1

Monday Update: Paint Nite Edition

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Monday Update: Paint Nite Edition

Hi everyone and happy Monday! For Christmas my brother and sister-in-law got me a Groupon for two admissions to a Paint Nite. For those of you not familiar with the event, it’s a lot of fun! You go online and pick a bar as well as the theme of the picture that you would like to paint. Then you make your way to whatever location you picked and paint a beautiful picture and enjoy some drinks while doing so. My boyfriend, Kyle, and I went to the Paint Nite that we chose last Tuesday and we had a blast. Kyle took pictures of our progress on the canvasses throughout the night, so take a look and then let’s chat:

^^^ The one on the left is mine and the one on the right is Kyle’s.

Kyle and I spent close to a half hour browsing through Paint Nite’s website to find a theme and a location that we both liked. We settled on the Love Birds theme which would take place at the Canton Brewing Company in Canton, Ohio. This location was good for Kyle because he’s a beer drinker but looking back on the event, I would have preferred to be at a wine bar! We booked our tickets thanks to my Groupons a few weeks in advance so for two or so weeks all we could talk about was how excited we were for our night out.

Finally, our date night on Tuesday the 26th rolled around and it was all I could think about for the entire day! We arrived at the Canton Brewing Company which was gigantic and then headed down into the basement where the event was taking place. After we walked down the huge stairway we saw all of the canvasses set up on easels and a bunch of people gathered around to enjoy their evening. We snagged a spot where we could sit together which I was afraid was not going to happen because almost everyone was there by the time we arrived. After we established our spots we went to the bottom floor bar to get ourselves some drinks before the extravaganza began.

The Canton Brewing Company had a great selection of beers (obviously) and that was great for Kyle but not so good for me! I’m not a big beer drinker at all – mama likes her sweet white wines! Unfortunately, they only had two wines to choose from which was a red and a chardonnay which ended up being way too dry. I threw back the chardonnay even though it was extremely unpleasant and was then able to get a drink that I actually like upstairs at the main bar. After I got a vodka sour in my system, I was feeling much better!

Our painting party started promptly at seven o’clock and was led by a lovely hostess whose name I can’t remember for the life of me, so we’ll call her “Anne”. Anne is a high school art teacher and had a lively personality which made listening to her talk a lot of fun. The basic idea of Paint Nite is that Anne will paint a section of the canvas and tell you how to do it and then you repeat the process. This back and forth went on for about an hour and then we dispersed for a fifteen minute break to get more drinks, go to the bathroom, and let the paint dry.

Once we returned from our break we got to work on the second half of our painting. Our hostess did a really good job of explaining the process in laymens terms which was so helpful because Kyle and I don’t have an artistic bone in our body. It was also nice to have another art teacher there who made her rounds around the tables to give some pointers and replenish our paint supplies. Before we knew it, another hour and a half had passed and our paintings were finally complete! Again, here are the finished products:

I was really pleased with how our paintings turned out – everything except Kyle’s dumb old cardinals that he decided to paint hair on to differentiate which bird was which. He gave his alter ego bird spiky hair and he ended up giving mine a mullet…Thanks, babe. -_-

I had so much fun at Paint Nite but there are a few things that I would do differently. It was nice to be among such a lively crowd while we got our paint on but at times, it was almost too much. There were around thirty or more people there so it would get incredibly loud which made it hard to hear Anne teach us what to do. I would definitely prefer smaller groups because then you would be able to get some type of attention from the hostess and her helper. You also wouldn’t have to deal with the insatiable urge to yell “SHUT UP” at everyone. 🙂

Other than the over abundance of people, I’d say that Paint Nite was a wonderful time. I was so thankful for my Groupon Christmas gift because the cost to go to an event is forty five dollars per person. I honestly think that that’s a bit pricey which is too bad because I would love to go to another one but I don’t particularly want to break the bank for it – especially when you still have to pay for drinks, snacks, and parking.

My best friend, Lea, wanted to try a Paint Nite after I told her about how much fun it was so we looked in to going to an event together. We were both not too keen to spend sixty or so dollars for the evening so we planned our own Paint Nite to have at home. We searched on YouTube for instructional videos on painting canvasses so we’re going to get our own supplies, grab a bottle of wine, and let an over enthusiastic YouTube painter walk us through creating a picture. Hello, girls night in!

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: Paint Nite Edition! If you’re looking for a unique and memorable date night, girls night, or gift idea then I can’t recommend a Paint Nite outing enough. How many of you have attended a Paint Nite before? What did you think of it? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jan28

Ice Skating Fun

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Hello everyone and happy Thursday! Last Sunday my darling boyfriend, Kyle, and I went ice skating at the Lock 3 skating rink in Akron, Ohio. I skated competitively for quite some time and now I’m a coach for the Special Olympics. Kyle and I have never been skating together before so I was so excited when he finally agreed to making a date out of it on Sunday afternoon. We bundled up, I gathered my skates (I’d rather die than wear rental skates), and then we hit the road for our date.

Once we got to Lock 3, we saw that the rink was pretty crowded. Lucky for us, though, it cleared up by the time we were done waiting in line to rent skates for Kyle, getting our skates on, and walking over to the rink. This was Kyle’s first time ever on ice skates and right from the get go he gave it a valiant effort, which I thought was so sweet. Walking to the rink which was about one hundred feet away proved to be a struggle, to say the least. To me, skating and walking around on skates is second nature so I never thought how difficult it must be to put these contraptions on your feet for the first time and then walk to the rink let alone skate on it!

Once we got on to the ice hand in hand we began our first trip around the rink. My poor Kyle got the worst rental skates on the planet and I felt so bad at how difficult it looked for him. The blades on each skate were so crooked but I didn’t have the heart to have us walk back to the rental shack, get new skates, and then have to walk all the way back to the rink. After a few times around the rink, the skates started to hurt Kyle which is pretty common with rentals. We then devised a plan that I would go skate for a while, he would watch and rest, and then we could skate some more together.

I happily took the opportunity to get some skating in for myself. When I’m coaching, I rarely get the chance to do any spins or jumps before or after the session so it felt so good to do some of these things on my own. Whenever I go skating at a public rink, I’m always so flattered by the people who stop to watch me do my thang. I was greeted to some applause after I pulled out of a spin and many a “good jobs”, “beautiful” and “well done” throughout the hour or so on the ice. My favorite compliment came from a teenage boy who was with a group of friends who asked me if I would stay on the ice and do a show after every one exited the rink for it to get zambonied. It was definitely an unexpected and very sweet compliment, considering the boy was surrounded by his gaggle of male friends!

After a few minutes of skating on my own, I always would return back to Kyle so we could take a journey around the rink together. After a while, we both decided that it was getting cold and that we should head back home. We got off the rink and I walked while Kyle waddled back to the rental shack to take off our skates. Taking our skates off and putting our shoes on felt so good that we used the term “pillow feet” to describe the walking on air feeling!

The real question that arises from this is “did going skating with your boyfriend really happen if you don’t have pictures”? The answer is NO, so to prove the validity of this post, take a look at some cute pictures of me and Kyle. My featured image photo is my favorite picture of us!

^^^ I love us!!

So there you have it, some weekend Ice Skating Fun with my beau! We had a blast and I hope we can hit the rink again sometime soon. What is your favorite winter sport? Who has never gone ice skating before? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jan27

Sunshine Blog Award

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Sunshine Blog Award

Hi everyone and happy Hump Day! I hope all of you are having a fantastic day so far. Last week I was nominated for my first Sunshine Blog Award by the super sweet Valentina over at: valentinablingbling! Her blog is fabulous so make sure you check it out. I have so much fun whenever I get to make an award post and I’m so excited to answer all of the questions that Valentina has asked her nominees. Check out the rules to the Sunshine Blog Award and then let’s get to it!

The Rules:

  • You must thank the blogger who nominated you.
  • You must answer the questions asked by that blogger.
  • You must nominate another set of bloggers.
  • You must ask a few questions of your own to those bloggers.
  • You can’t nominate the blogger who nominated you!
  • Notify the bloggers you nominated about the nomination.

Q & A:

What is your favorite color?

Red (obviously) and black.

Does the color of your clothes reflect your mood for the day?

Right now I’m wearing black, grey, and burnt orange and it doesn’t really reflect my mood. I’m usually always pretty happy and to me these colors don’t exactly exude happiness. People probably think I’m super depressed because more often than not, I’m wearing all black!

What do you do when your mood is off the mark?

Take a bubble bath, eat comfort food, and binge watch shitty reality TV.

Why do you blog?

It’s fun! I love to write and have always been into journaling so lifewithlilred is essentially my online journal. I also like being able to communicate with all of my readers! Blogging is a great way to meet new people from all over the world and I love being able to say that I have friends in over one hundred and fifty countries!

What sort of blogs do you like to read?

Fashion, beauty, photography, and travel just to name a few.

How do you select the blogs that you follow?

Usually if you follow me, I’ll follow you back. But if that isn’t the case, I tend to follow the bloggers who I would like to interact with and are writing things of interest to me.

What does romance mean to you?

Enjoying the company of your significant other over things that aren’t necessarily “romantic”. On a post that will be coming up on my blog this week, I’ll be talking about when my boyfriend took me ice skating this past weekend. Kyle has never been ice skating before and I was a competitive figure skater for ten years. Needless to say, I was skating circles around him but just the fact that he put in the effort to take me and give it a try was super romantic to me!

Do you make New Year’s resolutions?

Nope! Never have, never will.

Do you enjoy changes in your life or do you shy away from them?

Yes and no. When things are going my way and life is good, I never want things to change. But when my life is super sucking, I say “bring it on” when it comes to switching things up. I tend to not mind changes as much when they’re minor but I do have a bit of a hard time with ginormous and unexpected changes.

Who and what would you take on a desert island with you?

A captain and a boat! 😉

Describe yourself in one word:

Red!!

My Nominees (I’m only doing three):

My Questions For You:

  1. What celebrity, dead or alive, would you pick to spend one day with?
  2. What was the name of your childhood pet if you had one?
  3. What was your favorite toy to play with when you were little?
  4. What is your number one pet peeve?
  5. What was the last TV show or movie that you watched?
  6. Describe your personality in three words.
  7. Are you an early bird or a night owl?
  8. Would you rather wear the same outfit or not wear makeup for a month?
  9. What qualities do you look for in a friend?
  10. Describe your favorite article of clothing in your wardrobe.

Thank you so much to my friend Valentina at: valentinablingbling for my Sunshine Blog Award nomination! I had such a blast answering all of your questions! How would you answer some of the questions that I asked my nominees? What are some of your questions for me? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jan26

My Detroit Trip

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My Detroit Trip

Hi everyone and a very happy Tuesday to you! Last Friday I took a little road trip to Detroit, Michigan with my Uncle Ray as a favor to him. My uncle is a total car guy and he needed a wing girl so he could drop his car off at Monkey Wrench Racing to get some work done on his whip. I told him I was up for the journey and even though my day was filled with a lot of driving, it was still a lot of fun!

My uncle and I departed for our adventure around ten on Friday morning to begin the three and a half hour drive from Mentor, Ohio to Detroit, Michigan. The plan was to follow my uncle in the Little Red Love Machine for the trip there and then we would travel back to Ohio together. The drive to Michigan was relatively easy and we luckily had really good weather for the trip. The only snowfall we experienced was this random little flurry once we got into Michigan and that was it. I was really happy about that because the last thing I wanted to do was drive in unfamiliar territory in the snow.

I don’t really mind driving if I have things to keep me occupied so the trek wasn’t too bad thanks to my iPod, phone calls from my boyfriend, and occasionally waving to my uncle as I followed him. I was telling my boyfriend while we were chatting that the Detroit drive was an emotional rollar coaster because I had my iPod on shuffle. During the drive I was hearing everything from pop to screamo to rap and R&B so needless to say, I was an emotional wreck during some of the trip…Thanks a lot, Hawthorne Heights. -_-

Before I knew it, we finally arrived at Monkey Wrench Racing to drop Uncle Ray’s car off. We stuck around and chatted for a half hour or so and let me tell you, hearing all of the gents in the shop engaging in car talk with my uncle was like hearing an entirely different language. I didn’t understand one word of what they were saying but I’m glad my uncle had a good time with it! We also both got a free Monkey Wrench Racing t-shirt compliments of the crew so that was really nice. It’s in my color palette of black and white so I’m sure I’ll make use of it some day!

What killed me about my Detroit adventure was that once my uncle was done at the shop, we started making our journey back home. Haha, the break at Monkey Wrench Racing was much needed because I was essentially driving seven hours straight. -_- At least this time around, I was in good company because my Uncle Ray is one of my favorites! We’re very similar to each other so it was easy to fill our journey home with good conversation and laughter.

My Uncle Ray and I made a stop in Lakewood, Ohio to meet some of his friends for dinner. We went to a little Greek place called Our Friends and enjoyed a nice meal with my uncle’s comrades. It was so great to meet them and we all ended up having a really good time. My uncle ended up staying in Lakewood for a little while so I drove back to Mentor solo to have some quality time with my Aunt Mary Ellen before I made my way back to Akron.

I was so happy to spend some time with my Aunt Mary Ellen because I don’t get to see her as often as I would like. It was really nice to sit down, relax, and have a chat with her before I began my journey back home. My aunt and uncle are seriously the most perfect couple ever so any time with either of them is time well spent!

I would make the journey back to Detroit again for my uncle in a heartbeat because I’m one of the best people that I know of…But lucky for me, my uncle and his friends will be traveling back to Michigan to pick up his car once it’s done being worked on. I’m not complaining! All in all, it was definitely an adventure of a day and I’m so happy that I was in such fantastic company for it! ❤

My Detroit Trip was one of the best most random ways to spend a Friday that I can think of but I wouldn’t have it any other way! How was everyone’s weekend? Who has been on a road trip recently? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Interested in making a road trip to Cleveland? Let these videos inspire you to take the plunge and DO IT! #werenotdetroit 😉