Hellooo everyone and happy Tuesday! It’s a very special day in the world of lifewithlilred because I now have over 1,000 followers! HOLY SMOKES! Thank you so much to everyone who has paid my page a visit and thought that it was worthy of hitting the follow button! Thank you to everyone for all of the likes, shares, and comments as well – it doesn’t go unnoticed and I appreciate it SO MUCH!!!
Life is good on lifewithlilred right now…I got approved for WordAds at the beginning of the month, I’ve reached a major milestone in my amount of followers, and I have the pleasure of interacting with all of you every day! I couldn’t ask for anything better and I really am pleased as punch. I started my blog over a year ago and now I’m finally getting my page to where I want it to be and it feels great – so thank you, thank you, a million times thank you!
^^^ Lol, it seemed appropriate!
Once again, shout out to all of my 1,000+ followers new and old. Thank you to everyone who has ever checked my page out. Thank you to everyone who has ever liked, shared, or commented on any of my posts! I LOVE YOU ALL! What blog should I check out on here? Who has recently gotten approved for WordAds? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Hellooo everyone and happy Hump Day! So yesterday I had an interaction with my beloved father that made me very Happy. I was having a hell of an awful day and after a complaining vent session to my dear old dad he said one sentence that made me feel infinitely better. Let’s discuss:
On Tuesday I was a frazzled mess. I was stressed from an abundance of school work and a full day of acting as the taxi driver to both of my siblings who currently can’t drive. I was up at the butt crack of dawn to leave my boyfriend’s house and get home in time to take my brother to work and my day never slowed down once.
After I returned home from my brethren’s place of employment I had a few precious hours to cram in some homework before I had to pick him up. So back into the Little Red Love Machine I went to collect him. But did it end there? NO, of course not! As soon as I dropped my bro off, it was time to pick up my sister from work and then go on a wild goose chase of an errand with her. This excursion resulted in some highway driving during peak traffic time, bathroom breaks at a Dairy Queen, and turning my car around to pick up forgotten items. Lord have mercy on me.
By the time that I got home from my running around crazy driving day that should have been a sitting around crazy homework day I was exhausted and I needed to vent STAT. I went into the living room where my dad was sitting on his recliner chair that’s so old his butt is imprinted into it and plopped myself down on the ottoman beside it. Once I was comfortable I opened fire on my busy day of chauffeuring siblings every which way. By the end of my five or so minute rant I was out of breath and even more flustered and then my dad simply said, “you’re doing a good job, Sarah”.
My dad countered my monologue of irritation, frustration, and aggravation with a one sentence answer that made me feel SO much better. These past few weeks I’ve been feeling very unappreciated in the family and yesterday felt like the “tip of the iceberg” as far as that situation goes. My father told me exactly what I needed to hear at the perfect time and afterwards I felt like a whole new person. My day got brighter (even though it was already pitch black out) and my outlook on all of my stresses in life did a complete 180. It. Was. Awesome.
Everyone needs a reminder every now and then that they’re doing a-okay in this crazy world and thanks to my dad giving that to me, I feel reassured and so much more confident about my life and the choices that I’m making. It made me feel so insanely Happy. I hope all of you are having a wonderful day so far! How is everyone’s week going? Who’s watching American Horror Story tonight?! I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Helloooo everyone and happy Tuesday! Most of you guys know that before I started school I worked hella retail. My days were spent slaving away in PacSun, The Body Shop, Claire’s, Piercing Pagoda, and Next for what seemed like an eternity. This year, however, I’m so excited to not work a holiday season in the mall. After working five Black Fridays in a row – I am officially free from the evil clutches of the mall during the holidays! SCORE!
On Saturday, my sister and I took a trip to the mall so she could make a few returns and do some shopping. As soon as we entered the premises, we were greeted by Christmas music, decorations, and a mall that was jam packed for an early November evening. Seriously, just being in that environment gave me anxiety and as far as I was concerned, we couldn’t leave soon enough.
Being in the mall among all of the really early holiday shoppers who seemed to be just as crazy as the last minute gift grabbers reminded me how thankful I am that I can finally have a holiday season to enjoy with my friends and family. When I worked retail I can’t remember one holiday season that I genuinely enjoyed because I was too wrapped up in working crazy hours and dealing with insane customers. This year, I don’t have to worry about going into the mall on Thanksgiving day to work a thirteen hour Black Friday shift. I also don’t have to be at the mall late on Christmas Eve to tend to everyone’s final holiday needs and clean the trashed store to perfection. *sigh of relief*
When you’re working every minute of the months of November through January, you simply forget that those times are meant to be for your loved ones. The thing that I’m most looking forward to is actually having a Thanksgiving. For the past five years my Thanksgivings were spent counting down the hours till my Black Friday shift and trying to cram in some power naps before the insanity unfolded. This year I’ll be able to help cook, prepare the table, and spend quality time with my family and boyfriend. It’s going to feel so good but SO strange because I’m completely not used to relaxing during a holiday – what does that even mean?!
I’m so thankful for everything that my years of hard work provided me with before I started college. I was able to buy my car (Little Red Love Machine!), buy clothes, purchase gifts for others, and put money towards my tuition. But this year, I am so ready to sit back, relax, and enjoy a glorious Retail Free Holiday Season! I hope everyone is having a fabulous week so far! Have any of you worked retail during the holidays? Do you have any funny/traumatic moments to share? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
PS: My traumatic story to share from a very retail holiday season doesn’t deal so much with me as it does an unfortunate Victoria’s Secret employee who got punched THREE YEARS IN A ROW during Black Friday. #threepeat
Hellooo everyone and happy Hump Day! Throughout my time at Tri-C, I’ve had a similar encounter with almost every single one of my professors, whether they be in class or online. A common theme of my interactions with them is that at some point during the semester they make it a point to tell me that it’s a pleasure to have me in the class. It may seem like a little thing but boy does it make me feel good!
After I received my all time favorite “you’re a pleasure to have in my class” compliment via email from my French teacher this week, I felt so proud of myself. I then proceeded to go down memory lane and think of all of the times that I’ve been told that (I hate to brag) during my college career and got even more warm and fuzzy. What is it about those simple words that gave me a huge burst of self confidence?
I guess it has to do with:
I’m receiving kind words from someone that I admire and respect.
I’m doing a sufficient job in my class.
My outgoing personality is something that my professors and classmates are responding positively to.
I’m a firm believer in the power of words and the fact that my professors have taken a brief moment out of their busy schedules to let me know that I’m alright in their book is something that really brightens my day. Interactions like these remind me of how important it is to offer a kind word, compliment, or a little something extra to help improve someone else’s day as well. So just as a friendly reminder to all of you: You’re all fantastic wonderful people and I hope that you’re having a great day! 🙂
Make sure you tune in with me tonight after the airing of the newest episode of American Horror Story: Hotel for my synopsis post and then check back in with me on Friday for What I Really Thought, as well! Until then, what is your favorite compliment that you’ve ever received? What is your favorite compliment to give people? (“Nice ass” doesn’t count!) I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Hellooo everyone and happy Monday! I hope all of you had a fantastic weekend, I sure did! As you guys might remember me mentioning before, I figure skated competitively for a hefty portion of my youth. Thanks to my background as a skater, I’ve been given the opportunity to coach figure skating for the Special Olympics. I had my first practice with my skaters this past Thursday and it was one of the best times of my life! Let’s discuss:
Every Thursday for the next several months I’ll be at the Kent State ice arena for an hour coaching my new friends for the Olympic games in February. I had the best time during my first evening getting to know all of the skaters and their parents. It also felt so good to get back on the ice because I haven’t skated since last winter! I spent my time on the rink going back and forth between different skaters to check on how they were doing and help them improve. It was so rewarding every time a skater accomplished something that I helped teach them!
I had so much fun coaching my skaters but I also really enjoyed just standing back and watching them skate. All of my friends seemed so at peace while they practiced their sport and it was nice to see big smiles and hear laughter throughout the rink. I was legitimately bummed out when the session came to an end but I made sure that before the ice got Zamboni-ed that I was able to have a race around the rink that I promised to one of my speed skaters. He was thirteen years old and was a freaking speed demon so I can imagine I’ll be constantly reminded of his victory every session by him and his uncle, which I’m so okay with!
I seriously can’t wait until next Thursday so I can see my students and their families again. It was so touching how gracious the parents or guardians were after I got off of the rink but I should be the one thanking them because I think I got much more out of my time than the skaters did! I’m so excited to go on a coaching journey with my new friends and their support systems and I’m so ready for another wonderful session this week!
In other news, my boyfriend Kyle and I had our two month anniversary on the 20th which is really exciting stuff! I also got to sit down with one of my good friends to discuss her Trades Of Hope campaign this past Thursday so you can expect an article about that in a few weeks! AND after skating this upcoming Thursday, I’ll be staying in Kent for a little while longer to meet with a really talented musician, John Patrick Halling, to chat about his cross country tour this past summer! It should be a lot of fun so keep your eyes peeled for lots of cool new posts. 🙂
I hope all of you are having a great start to your week and make sure you tune in at http://www.lifewithlilred.com for all of the latest and greatest! What was everyone up to this weekend? How do you plan on celebrating Halloween? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Heyyy everyone and happy Monday! So this weekend was kind of a big deal because of October 17th which is both my boyfriend’s and my brother’s birthday! I had the best time celebrating with my man this weekend and enjoyed some mother daughter time when she helped me prep Kyle’s birthday dinner. Sorry that I was away without warning, BTW, because I like to give you guys notice when I’m not going to have a Saturday post of some kind! But I’m back from being birthday MIA so let’s discuss:
My oldest brother, Peter, celebrated his 28th birthday but unfortunately he lives in Atlanta, Georgia so I didn’t get to ring in his new year with him. So this weekend it was all about the boyfriend who turned the big 2-7. Besides from some awesome gifts (if I do say so myself), I wanted to cook him a special dinner too so before I headed to Canton for the weekend my mom helped me with something that I deemed a “must”: a fresh loaf of French bread to go with a Fettuccine Alfredo dish.
My mom is an incredible bread baker and has been doing it for forever. I can remember watching her bake and knead her loaves of bread when I was younger but could never do it quite like her. That was about to change this weekend though because my mama dearest walked me through how to bake my own French bread and it turned out amazing! My mom was an awesome teacher and I liked how she explained the process to me rather than doing it for me so I felt like I was still the one making the bread. She taught me how to knead the dough and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy I found it because I remember it being so hard when I was younger! According to mi madre, I’m a natural and here’s how my French bread turned out:
While my bread baked I whipped up a quick chocolate lava cake as well and left shortly after everything was baked to perfection. I loaded up my car with gifts, an overnight bag, dinner ingredients, my cake, and my bread on a cooling rack and headed to Canton. The thing about bread is that it can’t go into a bag until it’s completely cool and my mom refused to let my first time bread creation go soggy so she insisted that I drive with the naked loaf on a cooling rack. I was SO terrified to drive quickly or break heavily for the fear of the baguette flying off the rack. Lucky for me, my bread baby sat just fine and we made it to Kyle’s in one piece!
I had the pleasure of meeting Kyle’s brother, sister-in-law, and their two children on Friday night and then we went home for gift opening and Dexter watching. Unfortunately on Saturday Kyle had to work for half of his birthday but during that time I was able to finish some homework, get an article edited, and spend some quality time with Kyle’s mom. Once the evening rolled around I started cooking a surprisingly easy Fettuccine Alfredo recipe that I found online. It turned out nice and creamy and my bread was delicious, if I do say so myself!
After dinner, we were going to see Crimson Peak but we were both so full and sleepy after our Italian meal that we ended up just lounging around for the night. But seeing the movie is on our agenda for when I see Kyle next! I had such a lovely weekend with my beau and it was such a joy to meet his brother and his family!
^^^ This one’s for you, Kyle!!! Happy birthday to both of my favorite boys!!!! ❤
I have a lot of exciting posts coming up in the near future including an article for a dear friend’s Trades Of Hope store and a piece for a wonderful musician fresh out of Kent, Ohio – John Patrick Halling. Keep your eyes peeled for those as well as all of the usuals throughout the week like #WCW and my American Horror Story reviews! Until then, how was everyone’s weekend? Did anyone else have some events worth celebrating? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Howdy everyone and happy Tuesday! I’m currently shoveling pasta salad down my gullet at a rapid speed as I type this and with a belly full of carbs and lots of awesome things happening, I must say, I have No Complaints! Shocking, I know, but things in my so called life are finally starting to look up for Lil Red and it’s about damn time! Let’s discuss the three major events that are making me a very happy bitch (four, if you count the pasta salad that I’m eating.):
I love school!!! There are very few things that I can pin point and say “that was one of the best decisions of my life” and starting college at Tri-C is definitely one of them. My motivation to succeed in my classes is something that I’ve shocked myself with time and time again. I can’t remember one time in my educational career prior to starting at Tri-C where I was a “star student”. I never studied. Never did homework. Skipped school as often as I could. Blatantly didn’t give a fuck. But in college it’s so different. I study my ass off. I make homework my number one priority. I get genuinely pissed on the occasion where I have to miss school from being sick. I care more than I ever thought was possible. My fall semester has started out fantastically and I can’t wait to keep on plugging away at my Associate Of Arts degree!
lifewithlilred has been hoppin! I have been so blown away with how much love that my little blog baby has received these past few months! My reader map has expanded tenfold and my amount of followers and likes have increased exponentially. On top of all of the beautiful readers who I have that I don’t have the pleasure of knowing, people in my own social circle have taken interest as well. I have been so touched by the amount of friends who have reached out to me to let me know how much they like my blog. I am also so humbled to have artists that I personally look up to asking me to write for them on my page. There are SO many fun posts and ideas that will be happening on lifewithlilred, so as always, stay tuned for the latest and greatest!
I have an awesome boyfriend! I mean, that statement basically speaks for itself, but yeah – Kyle is great and I’m a very lucky girl! HOLLA! Now cue the ironic choice in music:
^^^ It seemed appropriate!
So yes, things are going just swell and I really have No Complaints! I’m happy and I don’t say that very often so my only hope now is that I don’t end up jinxing myself! How is everyone’s week going so far? Who has some complaints that they need to vent about? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Helloooo everyone and happy Monday!! So a lot of really cool stuff has been happening these past few days and will be coming up in the near future, so I want to share all of it with you in this Monday Update: Exciting Occurrences Edition! Grab a cup of coffee, kick your feet up, and enjoy an early morning post by yours truly:
Exciting Occurrence #1) School starts today!! This semester at Tri-C, I’ll be taking Ethics, French, Comparative World Religions, and History of Civilization. I took French in high school and I was very good at it, however, because I had no one to speak it with, I lost a lot of my skills. I’m really looking forward to relearning everything that I lost as well as all of the new subtleties and nuances my class will teach me. As many of you might remember, I’m an Athiest – so why am I taking Comparative World Religions? Because it sounds interesting, sue me for it! Just because I’m a nonbeliever doesn’t mean that I’m not fascinated by the ways other people worship, so I think that this course will be a lot of fun. Similar to my religions class, I think that Ethics and History of Civilization will be a great learning experience as well. I’ve always loved history and I’m excited to explore the worlds of philosophical thinking even further with Ethics! I think that this fall semester is going to be my best one yet and I can’t wait to see what Tri-C has in store for me!
Exciting Occurrence #2) I have an audition for a play called The Boys Next Door tonight! After performing in the film, Beat The Heat, the acting bug bit me hard and now all I want to do is get back into theatre again. I browsed through the internet looking into possible auditions and unfortunately I was too late for almost all of them. BUT, I found the audition for the play that I’ll be trying out for tonight right in the nick of time, so I can’t wait to give it a shot. The audition is a cold reading, which is great, because getting into a character quickly is a major strength of mine. I also prepared an oldie but goodie monologue of mine as well, just in case! The play sounds very intriguing, as it focuses on mental health issues – which is right up my alley! There is only one female role available, so I’m really hoping that I have what this company is looking for! The only problem is, is that the theater that the play will be held at is quite far away from me, but if I get the part the drives will be totally worth it! Wish a bitch luck!
Exciting Occurrence #3) Similarly to the last Exciting Occurrence, I also have another theatre related update! I got word of a one act play festival happening this fall that is looking for original pieces to stage. Lucky for me, I wrote a play in high school, so now I have to go through and pick out two or three short scenes from the play that I think are the best and find a way to piece them together so that they fall in the ten minute range. Dwindling down the play to something so small is going to be a challenge but I definitely plan on giving it a try!
Exciting Occurrence #4) I have a boyfriend!! HURRAY! 🙂
^^^ #TRUE
So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: Exciting Occurrences Edition! What is everyone up to this week? Who is starting back at school soon? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Hellooooo everyone and happy Tuesday! Welcome to my 300th post on lifewithlilred! It’s pretty exciting stuff…I mean I for one am excited BUT you guys should be too! This means that some of my most faithful readers have been with me for THREE HUNDRED articles and that’s kind of a lot when you think about it! So shout out to all of my tried and true readers who have been here since the beginning because lifewithlilred probably wouldn’t still be going on today without you! But this is also a shout out to my new readers as well! Welcome aboard the Lil Red Express – I promise that you’re in for quite a ride filled with sarcasm, trips to Taco Bell, and booze filled adventures of an almost twenty-one year old! CHOO CHOO! All of these shout outs are just a big roundabout way of saying THANK YOU! Thank you to all of my readers – old, new, halfway across the world, or one state away – I appreciate each and every one of you! Thank you for the views, shares, likes, follows, comments, and a whole lot of love! Everyone in the lifewithlilred world has been SO supportive and encouraging and I really can’t even begin to express my gratitude to you guys. All I can really say is thanks again and all of you have the Lil Red Guarantee that I’ll continue to deliver tons of fun on the daily for your viewing pleasure! ❤
Speaking of all of the support – I have one super special reader named Donovan who I happen to be Facebook friends with and as I was scrolling through my news feed today I saw this post by him which warmed my little heart:
^^^ So sweet! Here’s to you Donovan – thanks for all of the love!! You da best, you da best, you da best! This post wouldn’t be considered an “extravaganza” without some music, so enjoy this celebratory track to commemorate my 300th post on my blog child!
^^^ AYYYYYYYY!!!! Mwahaha, I had to!
I hope all of you are having a fabulous day so far! What’s your favorite celebratory song to listen to? Is anyone celebrating a special occasion soon? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Heyyyy everyone! I hope all of you had a fabulous and relaxing weekend! As you can see by my featured image, I got a new purse for my over a month early birthday gift! I’m SO in love with my new Betsey Johnson bag it’s ridiculous. As soon as I saw this little baby in Macy’s I knew it had to be mine, so I immediately notified my mom so she would know exactly what to get me for my 21st birthday in June. One major character flaw on my part is that I’m one of the most impatient people in the world, so of course I couldn’t wait another month until I turn the big 2-1 to receive my gift! Thankfully my mom understands the needs of her impatient, drama queen child because she got it for me this weekend! 🙂 The super fun thing about this purse is that the removable, old school phone handle has a cord and a jack attached to it so you can hook it up to your cell phone and talk on it. SO CUTE! I love everything and anything Betsey Johnson and I can’t wait to break out my pretty new baby this week! I took some adorable Chatty Kathy pictures today with the newest addition to my collection, so make sure you take a look:
^^^Please excuse my super messy bedroom! Annnd in case you were wondering the brand and where I purchased my dress and heels, here’s the usual break down for ya:
Cutout dress: TJMaxx, I actually don’t know the brand for this one because the tag was itchy so I cut it off. Whoops!
Glitter back wedges: Plato’s Closet, Arizona Jean Co.
Telephone purse: Macy’s, Betsey Johnson
HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!! Have a great rest of your Sunday and make sure you continue to tune in at http://www.lifewithlilred.com for the latest and greatest! What was your favorite birthday gift ever? Are you as impatient as I am when it comes to your birthday? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
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