Tag Archives: happy

The Happiness Tag

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The Happiness Tag

Hey everyone and happy Thursday! I was recently nominated by my friend, Ellen, over at eclecticellen for The Happiness Tag and I’m so excited because I’ve never been before. Everyone please give her blog some loving, it’s fabulous! Thanks, Ellen! I think that this tag is great because it will be an awesome reminder of things that make me smile when I’m feeling low. It’s always nice to take a minute and think about all of the good things in your life no matter how you’re feeling so it was such a treat to be able to make this post. Check out the rules and then let’s get started:

The Rules:

  • List 5 things that make you happy.
  • List 5 songs that make you happy.
  • Nominate 5 people to do this tag.
  • Smile while you write this post.

Five Things That Make Me Happy:

  1. Drinking coffee during lunch over the weekend with my parents.
  2. Getting straight A’s for days in school because I love having proof of how hard I work.
  3. That warm fuzzy feeling that I get when I think about my summer internship on my college campus. I’M SO EXCITED!!
  4. Reading before bed every night. I’m reading the final book of The Hunger Games series, Mockingjay, and I’m sad but happy to finish it!
  5. Spending time with my family, friends, boyfriend, and dogs! ❤

Five Songs That Make Me Happy:

  1. Beautiful Day by U2
  2. Fuckin Problems by A$AP Rocky, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and 2 Chainz 😉
  3. Lazaretto by Jack White
  4. I’ll Believe In Anything by Wolf Parade
  5. Clocks by Coldplay

My Nominees (I’m only doing three):

Thank you so much again to Ellen for nominating me for my first Happiness Tag! This was such a fun post to do! And again, please be sure to check out Ellen’s blog! What makes you happy? What’s your favorite feel good song? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

It’s In The Bag – Sonoma Edition

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It’s In The Bag – Sonoma Edition

Hello everyone and happy Tuesday! Last week, I had to run into Kohl’s for my mom to return a few things before I had to pick up my brother from work nearby. I was running a bit early so I had some time to browse the store before I left and found the most darling canvas purse on the planet. As soon as I laid eyes on it, I fell in love. I envisioned myself toting it around to my internship this summer and packing it full of necessities to use as an overnight bag on vacation.

Despite my daydreams, the purse didn’t come home with me because I didn’t have any Kohl’s coupons with me and I was certain that they would send some in the mail within the week. In the meantime, I told my mom about the bag in vivid detail and raved about how cute it was. Over the weekend, I decided that I still really wanted the purse so my mom and I ventured off to Kohl’s to make the purchase. By the time we returned, there was only one of the bags left so I quickly plucked it off of the hook and into my loving arms. Take a look at my newest little beauty:

purse

^^^ I LOVE IT!!

The best part about this sweet tote? It was marked down from thirty dollars to fourteen which was a total steal. AND, my mom was kind enough to purchase it for me as a congratulations gift for the internship I landed this summer. I’m so happy with my latest addition to my accessory collection especially considering that I couldn’t stop thinking about it after I saw it and there was only one left when I made my way back to the store. That’s how you know that you and a clothing item or accessory were meant to be!

So there you have it, the latest segment of It’s In The Bag – Sonoma Edition! I can’t wait to incorporate my new favorite purse into my spring and summer wardrobe and I am so totally obsessed! Has anyone scored any good deals while out shopping recently? What warm weather item are you looking forward to wearing? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Guest Bloggers: I Want YOU!

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Guest Bloggers: I Want YOU!

Hi everyone and happy Hump Day! After a successful guest blogging stint by Nida over at ShopaholicBlogs in the month of March, I am now looking for future guest bloggers to write for lifewithlilred. I’d love to have one to two guest posts on my blog per month so if you have something in mind that you think is worth sharing here on my page, please email me at sarah.mush6794@gmail.com!

And as always, follows on my personal Facebook page and likes on lifewithlilred’s page are much appreciated! While you’re browsing on my pages, please make sure that you click on my ads from Twistfire Media because it helps me get paid! Feel free to email me on the address above if you would like to sign up for Twistfire and get paid to use Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

ALSO: I GOT A SUMMER INTERNSHIP!! On Monday, Tri-C called me and offered me three summer internships with different departments. Unfortunately, I could only pick one so I went with a position as the intern in the Learning Commons! I’m so happy I could scream!

I know this post was kind of a hodge podge of a bunch of different stuff but all of the points raised above were short enough that I grouped it together! I hope everyone is having a fantastic week so far! Much love. -Sarah

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

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Happy Birthday, Mom!!

Hi everyone and happy Hump Day! Yesterday was a very special day because it was my mom’s birthday!! I am so lucky to have the best mom in the whole wide world and I love her so much. She is the smartest, funniest, bravest, most beautiful person that I know and I’m privileged to be able to call her mom! I hope your new year is filled with nothing but happiness because if anyone deserves it, it’s you. Take a look at us being cute and then be sure to give my mom some happy birthday loving:

momm

^^^ When we took these pics, my madre said that she wasn’t “selfie material”. I say FALSE!!!!

❤ Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you!! ❤

Monday Update: Six Month Anniversary Edition

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Monday Update: Six Month Anniversary Edition

Hey everyone and welcome to a new week here on lifewithlilred! On Saturday it was me and Kyle’s six month anniversary so we had a lovely day together to celebrate! We had the best time during our date day and I can’t wait to relive it as I type this out. But before I get started on how we spent our six month, here’s a friendly reminder of how cute we are:

kyle10

^^^ What a stud! The red head isn’t too bad either…

Kyle picked me up around two o’clock on Saturday afternoon to get our festivities started. We live about a half hour away from each other so during our drive back to his place we made a game plan for how we would like to spend the day. We decided on afternoon drinks while video gaming or watching Netflix, dinner, and then a night out at the movies to wrap it up!

 To start the afternoon drinks portion of our agenda, Kyle and I stopped at the Giant Eagle on the way home for some booze. I got Kyle a drink shaker as one of his Valentine’s Day gifts so we thought it would be fun to put it to use today. We had a bit of a hard time deciding on a drink that we could make because the only hard liquor that I really “do” is vodka, which Kyle isn’t a huge fan of. However, a bottle of sour berry and lemon vodka spoke to me and Kyle thought it sounded alright so we went for it. We then got some fruit punch and lemonade to mix with it as well as a back up pack of hard apple cider in case our concoction was sub par.

With our alcohol haul bagged up and ready to go, we headed back to Kyle’s house to have some quality time with the TV. But before we started our session of “Netflix and chill” we had a drink to make! Kyle broke out his new shaker (which he loved) and mixed up our berry beverage. It wasn’t bad except for the fact that the vodka was blue, the lemonade was a pale yellow, and the fruit punch was a raspberry red so when it was all mixed together it made the most disgusting dish water grey color. The drink tasted like a liquefied version of SweetTarts but it definitely tasted better if you avoided looking at the color of it. -_-

Once our drinks were made, we began our marathon of Wentworth, our latest TV obsession. When Kyle and I binge watch shows, we are SO serious about it. If we can’t knock out at least two episodes of it at once, we don’t even bother putting it on to begin with. This high focused level of Netflix watching calls for comfortable clothes so it was a must to change into our pajamas until our evening out at the movies. Kyle and I knocked out two episodes of Wentworth, at least ten games of Super Smash Bros., and a rousing tournament of Mario Kart Double Dash before we decided we were hungry.

Lucky for us, I prepared dinner for the occasion the previous day so all we had to do was let it heat in the oven. I love cooking for Kyle so I wanted to make a special dinner for him so that we didn’t have to bother dining out. I made a super cheesy dish of baked ziti, a pan of ficaccia bread, and cupcakes for dessert. At my house we have never really had ziti so I was a bit wary of how it would turn out. I also have never made ficaccia without my mom’s help so I was relived that they both turned out great! Kyle loved it and so did my family who I test drove the meal for when I prepared it at home. The ziti was rich, the bread was baked to a perfect crisp, and the cupcakes were so decadent so needless to say, we were stuffed silly!

After dinner we had an hour or so to kill before it was time for our movie so we knocked out another episode of Wentworth before we left. I told Kyle a few days ago that I wanted to see the latest horror flick that came out, The Witch. We rarely go to the movies so I thought it would be a good way to wrap up our anniversary day. There’s a theater that Kyle lives by called TinselTown and it’s the biggest movie theater I’ve ever seen so I was really excited when he picked out a movie time for that location!

Our show started at 7:40 and we made it in time to examine all of the movie posters that are hanging up in the hallways to promote upcoming films. I had a minor freak out when I saw that a new movie for The Little Prince (my favorite book) is coming out in March! After I calmed down, we got settled in the theater to wait for the movie to start. I had heard excellent reviews for The Witch and I love horror films so I was eager for the movie to begin.

But unfortunately…The Witch really missed the mark for basically everyone in the theater. I personally didn’t mind it too much because it was more of a period piece and very artistic but Kyle didn’t care for it at all. It was one of those movies that we were probably better off waiting for to come out on DVD but it was still fun to go! I felt bad that Kyle didn’t like it but I still enjoyed the flick well enough because I’m a big wierdo. 🙂

By the time we got home it was around ten o’clock and we were both exhausted so we popped in a movie and went to bed. Kyle and I had such a wonderful time celebrating our day together, despite the fact that he didn’t care too much for the movie! I’m so lucky to have had the best boyfriend on the planet for six whole months and I can’t wait for many more! I love you, Kyle Kyle! ❤

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: Six Month Anniversary Edition! I hope all of you had just as great of a weekend as I did! What was your favorite part of your weekend? What did you think of The Witch if you saw it? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Hi! My Name Is…

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Hi! My Name Is…

Hiii everyone and TGIF! Okay, so if you read one of my previous posts, It’s A Boy!, you’ll know that my family recently just adopted a new sweet addition to our home. We finally have decided on a name for our little pup…and “Ollie” stuck! From the very beginning, my mom and I were very pro Ollie but my dad unfortunately was not on board. BUT after almost an entire week of my mom and I calling him Ollie, my dad finally came around! Is he happy about it? I don’t know. But I knew my mom and I had this small victory in the bag when I heard my dad calling him Ollie last night! Score!

My dad snapped some pictures of our little peanut bear and his Golden Retriever big sister, Gem, yesterday so take a look at our dog children:

^^^ Lol, that second picture kills me! #selfie

We are so happy to have our Ollie Bear and Gem and we are extremely thankful to the rescue group, Canine Lifeline, for helping to make them part of the Mushenheim family! Be sure to check out their website and give their Facebook page a like as well! 🙂

Oh, by the way, Ollie says “thank you” to everyone for all of the sweet compliments on my previous post about him! He was so flattered! Happy Friday! Much love. -Sarah

It’s A Boy!

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It’s A Boy!

Hi everyone and happy Hump Day! I hope the week is going fabulously so far for all of you. On Valentine’s Day my family said “yes” to opening our home to a sweet baby boy. His name is…Well, he doesn’t have a name yet but he’s the cutest little stinker on the planet. He has four legs, soft fur, a tail, and ears that stand up like a bunny. He’s not a cat, he’s not a tiger, nor an armadillo. Baby No Name is a dog! Take a look at the newest edition to the Mushenheim family:

olly2

^^^ It’s A Boy…Dog!! ❤

My family works closely with the amazing rescue group, Canine Lifeline, so of course we adopted baby bear through them! Our Golden Retriever and peanut’s big sister, Gem, was also adopted through CLL two years ago. Both pups came from a rural shelter in Kentucky and ended up being taken in by CLL a few states away in Ohio. My family has been thinking of adopting a new dog for quite some time and this feeling was intensified when my sister moved to her own apartment, taking her rescue pup, Winston, with her.

After looking through the dogs available for adoption on CLL’s website daily, we finally came across our peanut. On February thirteenth, we took him home for the day and over night to see how he would interact with Gem. We bathed him, cuddled him, and played our time away and by Valentine’s Day, we were smitten. Not only did we adore him but Gem got along with him just fine and is very excited about her new little brother!

Peanut is the most precious little pup and he’s definitely a change of pace from all of the other sweet dogs that we’ve had throughout the ages. We’ve never had a dog as small as him before so it’s been fun being able to pick him up and hold him like the baby he is! The only problem we’ve had thus far is that we can’t come up with a name for the life of us!

From the moment my mom and I picked peanut up on the thirteenth, we’ve been spit balling names like nobody’s business. We are both dead set on his name being “Oliver” but calling him “Ollie” for short. Unfortunately, my dad isn’t quite sold on that idea yet. So now, I need everyone’s help! Asides from doing me a solid and visiting CLL’s website and giving their Facebook page a like, I want your suggestions on what to name peanut! In case you forgot what he looks like, here’s another darling pic of our baby:

olly

^^^ I LOVE THIS DOG!!!!

My family is so proud to have our household be little peanut’s “forever home” and we can’t wait to begin making memories with him! What do you think we should name our baby boy? Do you have a pet adoption story to share? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

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

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

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

Hiii everyone and happy Valentine’s Day! I’m going to keep this post short and sweet because this is my first Valentine’s Day in my twenty-one years of living that I have a boyfriend to celebrate with. It’s crazy to think that last year I got stood up for a V-Day date and now I get to have a special day with my darling beau of six months! I hope all of you have a wonderful day whether that be with your significant other, your family, a best friend, a box of chocolates, or three bottles of wine. 🙂

A Valentine’s Day post wouldn’t be complete without some romance so enjoy a reading of my favorite poem of all time by Leon Phelps:

❤ HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY! ❤