To my European readers and the general population – specifically those who reside in Paris:
I love you. My thoughts are with you. I am so sorry that you have to endure such a tragedy in your homeland. Viva France. Much love. -Sarah
Hellooo everyone and TGIF! Welcome to the opinions post on the latest episode of American Horror Story: Hotel, which is promised to you by yours truly every Friday. Wednesday night’s episode entitled “Room Service” was fantastic and once again, I really have no complaints – only praises! Let’s begin by discussing the MVP of the episode, Denis O’Hare:
Denis O’Hare’s all star performance: I’ve been saying this from the beginning of American Horror Story as a series and I will continue to say it again: Denis O’Hare is the most underrated actor on the show. Usually, Mr. O’Hare specializes in the oily scumbags of the season, but in Hotel he plays the sensitive yet sassy Liz Taylor and he does it to perfection. In “Room Service” we got to learn the backstory of Miss Cleo and it was just as touching and wonderful as I hoped it would be. Cleo’s back story was a beautiful sentiment to the LGBT community as well as everyone else on the planet.
One specific moment that really stood out to me as we learned about how Nick Pryer transformed into diva queen Cleo was when he cried into the Countess’s arms and told her that he “feels ugly”. I don’t know about you, but I can certainly relate to that. It’s so hard to feel whole when such a big part of your life is a lie. I was so moved by the honesty and rawness that was infused into Cleo’s back story and it was just gorgeous.
Denis O’Hare’s performance was done with such sensitivity that I was almost in tears and I was completely blown away. O’Hare doesn’t get an ounce of the attention he deserves as an actor on one of the most popular shows on television and I sincerely hope that “Room Service” will serve as his big break on AHS. O’Hare’s work as Cleo has been spot on this entire season and I’m just thrilled to see where his character goes from here. Bravo and well done.
^^^ LOVE
Lady Gaga is less annoying: I was actually very pleased with Lady Gaga’s performance as the Countess in “Room Service”. It’s nice to see Gaga giving us some real acting rather than sex scenes in each episode and I thought she did a great job. Her role in Cleo’s back story was so classic Gaga and all that she stands for and I was happy that she was able to be a part of that. I was so shocked that “Born This Way” didn’t start playing because there wasn’t a better time for some Lady Gaga tunes than during the evolution of Cleo!
There was one scene in “Room Service” that featured the Countess and it was just so deliciously awkward and I loved every second of it. It was when the Countess and Tristan approached Iris at her front desk, dressed to the nines in their Halloween attire. The Countess wanted Iris to deliver a message to Will Drake if he returned to the Cortez that evening but immediately sensed something off with the hotel manager. The vampire queen and her lover then proceeded to have the most intense stare down ever with Iris where they both bent down so their faces were even with hers and kept their eyes locked on her for what felt like an eternity. After they made Iris sufficiently uncomfortable, they swiftly turned away and that was that. Gaga looked spectacular and the scene was so weirdly whimsical and I thought it was flawless.
A grade school vampire epidemic: Alright, first of all – I can’t say that I didn’t see this one coming BUT the newly infected grade schoolers’ feeding frenzy was very well done. I thought the entire sequence from when Max killed his parents and hopped on the bus to when the frightened children exited the school and ran to their parents was delightfully eerie and insanely cringe worthy to boot! I’m not always fond of child actors or when young kids are made to act out such gruesome situations but it worked so freaking well and I just couldn’t turn away.
One of the best parts of that story line was when the kids went full on animal when they started drinking the blood of the male teacher. It was seriously like watching a wild animal devour its kill and it was SO creepy and disturbing but it sure looked awesome. All of the kids looked so sweet and innocent but did such a good job of becoming these vicious little creatures in a scene that felt like it was straight out of a Stephen King movie and I was such a fan.
“You see everything when the world doesn’t see you”. -Liz Taylor
All in all, I thought that “Room Service” was an excellent episode and I’m going to rate it with: Four and a half stars. The reason why the newest episode didn’t receive a five star score was because I thought its pace was a little off in comparison to last week’s “Devil’s Night – Part 1”. “Room Service” flowed well but it wasn’t as sharp and crisp as last week’s fast paced Halloween special. These past few episodes have been stellar and I can’t wait to see what happens next!
I Told You What I Thought, What I Really Really Thought about American Horror Story: Hotel’s newest episode, “Room Service”, and now it’s your turn! How did everyone feel about this week’s episode? Who are some of your American Horror Story all star actors? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Hellooo everyone and welcome to a very special article here on lifewithlilred about a wonderful company that one of my good friends works for, Trades Of Hope. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Sarah White to discuss her work with the company and some of her favorite accessories that are offered through her Trades Of Hope party to kick start the holiday shopping season. For those of you who don’t know, Trades Of Hope employs women artisans in third world countries so they can earn a fair living wage to help provide for themselves and their families. Take a look at part of our interview conducted by yours truly and then stick around to see some of Sarah’s gorgeous fall favorites:
Mosaic Clutch: I got to see this cute clutch in person and it’s even better in real life, if that’s even possible. Sarah is a self proclaimed “bag girl” and the Mosaic Clutch, made by Trades Of Hope artisans in Guatemala is one of her must have staples for fall.
Mustard Infinity Scarf: This beautiful scarf was made by TOH artisans in Cambodia who have survived acid attacks. Despite such horrific events, the amazing women making these scarves have found joy again in their craft and they truly do it so well. Sarah has also deemed this scarf as one of her must have autumn pieces because of how much she likes the color! My friend has great style and would pair this infinity scarf with a hat of the same color, a sharp dark green jacket, dark wash denim, and a tall pair of boots for a fall OOTD. I’m a fan!
Sarah will be hosting a party to ring in the holiday shopping season and it promises to be a lot of fun! Anyone who places an order through Sarah’s party has the opportunity to win free or half off items as the “hostess rewards”. The shopping extravaganza will be up and running for at least two weeks, so you’ll have lots of time to make your purchases and maybe get lucky by winning some rewards! Unfortunately, Trades Of Hope only ships in the US, but if you live abroad and are interested in any of the products seen on the site, you can email Sarah who will do the best she can to get you your accessories.
Sarah’s contact info and party links:
I had so much fun chatting about Trades Of Hope with my dear friend and before we parted ways, she gave some terrific ideas on stocking stuffers for the holiday season. Not only does Trades Of Hope offer chic accessories but you can also find items for kids, men, home decor, and beauty. Sarah recommends the soap and chapsticks from the site as a sweet and small gift but she’s partial to the jewelry! “All of the Trades Of Hope jewelry comes in a pretty bag and you can wear it and think of the person who got it for you” she says. I, for one, would love to find the Eternal Seed Necklace under my tree! Sarah can be seen below sporting some Trades Of Hope earrings and a mega watt smile! I see you!!
Writing about Trades Of Hope was such a blast and I encourage all of you to do some shopping at the links provided above! What is your favorite item on the website? Do you have any questions about the company for Sarah? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Hellooo everyone and happy Tuesday! As you guys know, I love receiving my monthly Bath & Body Works freebie coupons in the mail. This month I got a coupon for a free full sized signature item (lotion, cream, or shower gel) so I stopped in this morning to pick up my pay free product. Today I went with a body cream of my favorite fragrance B&BW has to offer: Beautiful Day. My cream was a thirteen dollar value and it was definitely an awesome treat to ring in the holiday shopping season with!
Unfortunately, this month’s freebie excursion wasn’t as pleasant as it usually is thanks to the rudest employee ever but it was still nice to be able to go in and pick out a full rather than travel sized item. If you have a Bath & Body Works around you, I can’t recommend Beautiful Day enough! I’m a fan of anything apple scented and Beautiful Day is perfectly apple-y with the slightest hints of pear and poppies. It’s a flawless combination of tart green apples and sweet flowers and I just love it.
My hoard of free B&BW products continues to grow, which is great because as I mentioned before, they’re going to make terrific little additions for Christmas gifts. Even though I didn’t have the best experience with one of the employees, I still walked away with a thirteen dollar lotion that I didn’t pay one penny for and that’s good enough for me!
I know I mentioned in my Monday Update yesterday that my Trades Of Hope article would be publishing today but my client pushed it back until tomorrow so make sure you tune in on Hump Day for that! Until then, what is your favorite fragrance from Bath & Body Works? What was the worst customer service experience you’ve ever had? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
PS: Click the following link to shop the scents at B&BW: http://www.bathandbodyworks.com/home/index.jsp
Howdy everyone and happy Monday! I hope all of you had a fantastic Halloween weekend, I sure did! You know why I had a great weekend? Because for the most part I did absolutely nothing for the first time in weeks and it was AWESOME! Now that I’m all relaxed and ready to go, I’m here to bring you the Monday Update for the week so you guys can be on the Look Out for some exciting posts coming up in the near future!
Trades Of Hope: I had the pleasure of sitting down with one of my dear friends, Sarah White, to chat about the company that she works for, Trades Of Hope. TOH employs female artisans in third world countries and pays them a fair living wage for the creation of their beautiful accessories, home decor, and beauty items. On Tuesday, you can tune into http://www.lifewithlilred.com for the full article and the link to Sarah’s site where she’ll be hosting a TOH party for the next few weeks. When you make purchases through the party you have the opportunity to win free or discounted items and I strongly urge you to take advantage of it because everything is gorgeous! I was gifted with the Kala Necklace from Sarah and I’m obsessed! Take a look:
My necklace was made by artisans in India and I love it so much! Once again, I’ll be posting the article this Tuesday and the links for the party will be provided in the post!
John Patrick Halling: This past Thursday I was so excited to sit down and chat with an extremely talented musician fresh out of Kent, Ohio, John Patrick Halling. John Patrick is a blues/folk/country hybrid artist and he is simply fantastic. During our meeting we chatted about everything from his most recent tour (the Boy in the Water US tour), his style on stage, and what influences him as an artist and musician. Everything during our get together was just swell, until…..
Until I made the biggest fool of myself of all time!! When I meet with new clients, our talks usually happen interview style and I record everything on a Word document on my laptop. Basically, they talk and I type. John Patrick and I chatted for a solid thirty-five to forty minutes and once I had everything I needed, I told him he was good to go. We packed up our belongings and I said something along the lines of “let me save and exit” the document. Unfortunately, a classic case of “I shouldn’t have clicked that” happened because instead of saving and exiting, I accidentally just clicked exit. It was one of those things where you do what you were saying because you were saying it and since I had “exit” on my mind and tongue, it just kind of happened…It. Was. AWFUL.
Thankfully, John Patrick was SO nice about it and I was able to recall almost everything we talked about from memory. I stayed at the Starbucks we met at after he left and retyped everything and ended up with more than I started with. As soon as I got home, I got a draft of the article ready to go and the only things that needed corrected were the brand name of a hat, the location of a venue that he played a show at, and the name of a city. Since those were the only things that didn’t ring true, I’d say I did pretty well!
I’m so happy that the article is looking good so far but you guys have no idea how embarrassing it was! My best friend, Lea, and I have discussed how difficult it is to think of a moment that was truly cringe worthy but I think I found it with that unfortunate incident. But fear not! The article is almost done and is set to publish mid-November when John Patrick releases his music video for “If I Would’ve Known”. Until then, you can check out his music at: http://johnpatrickhalling.com/#/ and make sure you give his Facebook page a like at: https://www.facebook.com/JPHallingMusic/?fref=ts ! Seriously guys, make sure you give his music a listen because it really is wonderful and stay tuned for the article on Mister Halling which will be coming out soon!
^^^ My life.
So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: Look Out Edition! I’m so excited to share these upcoming posts with you and I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did working on them! How was everyone’s Halloween weekend? What did you do to celebrate? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Hi everyone and TGIF! So as you guys know from my synopsis post on the newest episode of American Horror Story: Hotel “Devil’s Night – Part 1”, I absolutely loved it. I thought that the first part of their two episode Halloween special was brilliant in so many ways and I can’t wait to watch it again this weekend. All I have to say are good things about “Devil’s Night – Part 1” so let’s get to it:
The chicken coop murders nod: I don’t like to say that I got excited about the story line reference to these ghastly murders of the 1920’s in the newest episode…but I got pretty damn excited. As soon as Miss Evers had her flashback to her 1920’s Halloween with her son, Albert, I had a sinking suspicion that the chicken coop murders was the direction that they were heading towards. My hunch was confirmed as soon as a line came up about the murderer taking Albert to his ranch. For those of you who don’t know, Changeling, starring the impeccable Angelina Jolie is one of my all time favorite movies so this scene felt like it was taken straight from a film that I love so much. It was so well done and I’m so pleased that American Horror Story dug deeper into serial killer history by including these crimes in the episode.
Lily Rabe’s all star performance: Uhm, hello Emmy nod – fan favorite, Lily Rabe, was EXQUISITE. Miss Rabe gave a staggeringly accurate portrayal of one of America’s most well known serial killers, Aileen Wuornos, and I was so incredibly in to it. As soon as Rabe entered the screen as Aileen, I knew exactly who she was and exactly where the story was heading from there and I loved every blood curdling second of it. Her voice, mannerisms, and appearance were so spot on that I wasn’t even mad about Charlize Theron not playing the role again. It was spectacular and I sincerely hope that this isn’t the last we see of Rabe this season.
The Devil’s Night Soiree: I mean, what can I say? The Devil’s Night partay was sheer perfection. Here’s the thing guys, I like learning about serial killers, okay? It’s so interesting to me. With the prior knowledge I had of the killers at the party – John Gacy, Richard Ramirez, Jeffrey Dahmer, Aileen Wuornos, and Zodiac I was really able to fully enjoy the banter between the characters. I was able to appreciate the work that went into creating a screen-worthy replica of America’s most hated criminals. I was able to understand the references from John Gacy handcuffing Lowe as a “party trick” to Zodiac appearing in the only outfit he was ever truly spotted in…it really was superb.
I’m well aware that this probably makes me sound like the biggest weirdo ever and that’s okay. If I wasn’t weird enough to find these people fascinating then I wouldn’t have been able to have been dragged into the world they created in Room 64 without a fight and with every hair on the back of my neck standing up. I thought it was immensely clever how they made James March the patriarch of these killers. I also think that Evan Peters is doing an outstanding job at embracing such an evil character. Bravo to Ryan Murphy and here here to the cast and crew because the Devil’s Night party scene single-handedly made Wednesday night’s episode one of my all time favorites of the series. Well done.
“Suck my left tit, Clark Gable”. -Aileen Wuornos
Today’s post is relatively short and sweet because absolutely nothing in “Devil’s Night – Part 1” bothered me. I rate this episode with: five stars. The newest Halloween AHS episode won the perfect score for excellence in acting, plot, and makeup and wardrobe. It was a cohesive episode with amazing performances from the entire cast and crew of Hotel. Once again, Bravo.
I Told You What I Thought, What I Really Really Thought about American Horror Story: Hotel’s newest episode “Devil’s Night – Part 1” and now I wanna hear from you. How did everyone feel about the episode? Which serial killer at the party do you think was portrayed the most accurately? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
Howdy everyone and happy Tuesday! It’s my 450th post here on http://www.lifewithlilred.com so I just wanted to take the time to thank all of my fantastic readers for their continuous love and support! As you can see by my featured image photo, my reader map is growing nicely as is my amount of followers! Over 750?! What even?! You guys are awesome, seriously.
There are a lot of really fun posts coming up which I’m so excited to share with you all soon! In fact, I’ll be starting a new one tonight for one of my clients that I think all of my jewelry lovers on here will appreciate. Which brings me to the next thing that I want to bring up…As you guys know by now, I freelance write through my blog for local artists, businesses, and musicians in the Akron, Ohio neck of the woods. So if any of you ever need any type of advertising for your product, art, music, or anything else that you can think of, please let me know!
You can get in touch with me in an abundance of ways, like:
If you plan on friend requesting me on Facebook, I do insist that you shoot me a message to let me know that you’re one of my readers. Usually I end up deleting the request when I get one from people who I have no mutual friends with or who don’t live in my general area. Once you contact me we can discuss the post, payment, and whatever else you might need! 🙂
I hope all of you guys are having a great week so far, I know I am! Who’s excited for the new episode of American Horror Story: Hotel tomorrow? Whose blog should I immediately start following? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
PS: Make sure you give my Facebook page a like! Pretty please?!
Hellooo everyone and welcome to the newest edition of Man Crush Monday – Larry David style! This one may be a head scratcher for some of you but there is nothing more attractive than a man with an award winning sense of humor! Enjoy this clip from one of my favorite shows, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and then let’s discuss:
Dear Larry David,
Oh Larry, you beautiful bald headed Jewish man, you. Thank you for creating the brilliance that is Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Television as we know it would be nothing today without you, NOTHING. You were the brains behind the literal best sitcom of all time and your sense of humor is completely unmatched by the comedians of 2015. Thank you for creating TV shows that I can sit down with my parents and enjoy. Thank you for creating TV shows that I can quote to my wits end with people who are in on the Seinfeld and Curb jokes. Because let’s be honest, people who haven’t seen the shows just wouldn’t get it. Your infamous tongue in cheek openness about subjects ranging from people parking outside of the lines to absolutely nothing at all have earned you the tip of my cap. Hubba hubba, sir. Do I find you hella attractive? Not at all…Openness, right? But do I find your amazing creativity enviable and incredible – Yes, I do. Larry David, you are a genius and I LOVE YOU!!!
^^^ Lol, classic LD!! Prettayyy, pretayyy, prettayyy good! ❤
So there you have it, this week’s Man Crush Monday: Larry David Edition! Who is your #MCM this week? What is your all time favorite episode of Seinfeld or Curb Your Enthusiasm? 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 TGIF! The newest episode of American Horror Story: Hotel entitled “Mommy” premiered on Wednesday and now it’s time for my personal opinions on it. There were some things that I loved, some things that I wanted more of, and some things that I didn’t particularly care for, so let’s discuss:
Introduction of Ramona Royal – LOVED: I adore the fabulous Miss Angela Bassett. I think that she’s completely and totally fantastic so I was so pleased that they gave her character an introduction fit for the queen that she is. From the scenes of her campy B-list movies to her kidnapping of Donovan, I thought that it was flawless. I hope that she gives the Countess a run for her money (or lack thereof) because I still can’t get in to Lady Gaga. My fingers are crossed that Bassett gets significant screen time this season to fill the humongous void that was left by my beloved Jessica Lange.
^^^ Yes, I used this meme during last week’s opinion post but it just seemed to fit so well after my J-Lange swan song!
Ten Commandments Killer – Want more of: Detective John Lowe is hunting after a serial killer who murders people who break one or many of the Ten Commandments and I am such a fan of this idea. I think that it’s edgy, I think that it’s cool, and I think that I desperately want this story line to develop more. It seems like in every episode we only get a brief look into a crime scene that the TCK left behind and then that plot twist completely disappears. I think that Ryan Murphy and his sublime team were extremely creative with coming up with ways that people could get killed based off of the Ten Commandments. In episode three, for example, Detective Lowe enters an office building for a gossip magazine and all of the employees have their tongues nailed to whatever surface they are nearest to for “thou shalt not bear false witness”. That’s brilliant, now give me more of it!
The Countess’s sexcapades – Hate: I’M SO OVER IT! And I swear it’s not just me who’s dogging on Lady Gaga because of my personal distaste for her being on the show…Literally 99% of the people who I interact with on social media agree that they’re getting sick of every scene that the Countess is involved in being a sex scene. It’s tacky, it’s cheap, and it’s so overdone that I just can’t deal. I have seen literally no real acting from Gaga since her debut on the show which is why I don’t care for her as the leading lady. Anyone could do what she’s doing right now and I genuinely believe that. As soon as I see some range in the scenes that she’s involved in I’ll definitely have more love for her, but until then, I’m over the hump fest.
“No pity party in my bar!” -Cleopatra (And can I just say that Denis O’Hare does not get enough credit on AHS. He’s SO underrated despite his brilliance as an actor. I think he’s doing a terrific job and I wish Cleo was getting more screen time because I’m kind of obsessed.)
Over all, I thought that “Mommy” was good. Once again, it wasn’t “OMG” worthy, but it was good. Every episode since the premiere has been improving slowly but surely so I’m going to give episode three: three stars.
^^^ DA DA DA DA DA DA DA, MEET ME AT THE CORTEZ!!!!
You can catch me at the same time same place next week for a synopsis and opinions post on the new episode of American Horror Story: Hotel. Until then, what did everyone think of “Mommy”? What did you love? What could be improved on? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
