Tag Archives: monday update

Oct3

Monday Update: The Travel Tag Edition

Posted on by
Standard
Monday Update: The Travel Tag Edition

Hi everyone and happy Sunday! I haven’t done any of the fun tags and awards that I have been nominated for for awhile but when my super cute friend K.M. tagged me for the Travel Tag, I had to give it a go! I am hopefully crossing the ocean in the spring of 2017 to the UK for a graduation gift to myself so travel has been on my mind constantly. Before you read my answers to K.M.’s travel themed questions, please be sure to check out her wonderful blog at Ankhor You! I love chatting with K.M. via comments and Facebook and I am sure all of you will adore her just as much as I do!

Q & A:

You are leaving tomorrow to start a life in a new country, where would you go?

FRANCE!! Mais, oui. I have been studying French since high school and I am nowhere near fully fluent but I am very dedicated to becoming so. I love everything about France – the people, culture, language, food, scenery – EVERYTHING. So, needless to say, if you don’t hear from me in a while, just know that I have packed up and gone away to France.

You can take someone for a weekend away to the place you had the best holidays ever, where would that be and who would you take to go with you?

Hmmm…Since a weekend isn’t a very long time, I would probably spend the weekend with my sister at Cedar Point. Cedar Point is about two hours away from yours truly and my sister and I both love amusement parks so I can totally picture us staying in one of their hotels and having a big adventure weekend at the theme park. I have never been there during the Halloween season, either, so I think that that would be so much fun!

You can get married wherever you want to, your budget is limitless, what is your choice?

I hate to be redundant here but can somebody say “Paris”?

During your travels you can bring back home one animal as a pet, which one would you pick?

A MONKEY, A MONKEY, A LITTLE BABY MONKEY!!! While exploring the jungles in some far away, exotic country, I will befriend a tiny little monkey and have it come home with me. Its name will be Frank. 🙂

You can go back in time and relive one family trip, which one?

Oh, that’s easy. Definitely Universal Studios! My entire family is a big lover of amusement parks and we had the literal best time at Universal. Being at Harry Potter World was a dream come true and I would give anything to go back.

What is the first thing you would pack for a one year travel around the world?

Red lipstick and a year supply of hair dye.

What would your fantasy 100th birthday destination be and why?

Uhhh… I don’t really plan on making it to my 100th birthday?

During your travel you can learn one sport to become a pro, what would that be?

I would continue my figure skating education! I skated throughout my childhood and early teens and miss it very much!

I Nominate:

My Questions For You:

  1. Where are your top three places that you would like to travel?
  2. What is your favorite type of ethnic cuisine to eat?
  3. You get offered a plane ticket to a country of your choosing but you can only bring three items with you.Where would you go and what would your items be?
  4. What location does not appeal to you to travel to?
  5. Your BFF is a total adrenaline junkie and she has you pick between building an igloo in Antarctica, scaling Mount Everest, or zip lining one thousand feet over the jungle. What do you choose?
  6. Are you an over packer or an under packer when it comes to prepping for a vaca?
  7. Have you ever forgotten something totally essential while on vacation?
  8. What is your perfect vaca outfit?

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: The Travel Tag Edition! Thank you to my fabulous friend, K.M., for the nomination! How would you answer some of the questions that K.M. asked me? How would you answer some of the questions that I asked my nominees? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Sep19

TJMaxx Fall Haul

Posted on by
Standard
TJMaxx Fall Haul

Hi everyone and happy Monday! As you read in my last article, Hats Off, I did some major fall shopping this past month. TJMaxx was oh so good to me and I ended up with a hat, shoes, sweater, jacket, and dress for under one hundred dollars!! I’m so obsessed with everything and I’m wearing my new dress as I type this, so let’s take a look at the latest additions to my fall wardrobe:

The Haul:

  • Patchwork Jean Jacket: Ci Sono, $20
  • Patchwork Sweater: Monteau, $16
  • Paisley Pattern Dress: Pink Rose, $13

In case you guys haven’t noticed, I. Love. Fall. Clothing. The styles, the colors, the potential to layer and mix and match – I love it all. So needless to say, when autumn comes around I shop like a mad woman! It’s no exaggeration when I say that at least seventy-five percent of my wardrobe is fall clothing and like a woman possessed, I have no problem adding to my vast collection.

During a shopping trip at TJ’s with my mom, I was simply swooning over the fun patchwork pieces that I got and the adorable patterned dress which will be perfect with tights and booties. I have seen patchwork all over the runways lately so when I had the opportunity to snag two sweet patchwork pieces for thirty-five dollars, I just had to indulge!

I look forward to pairing my cream colored sweater with everything this fall once the weather cools down. Jeans, maxi skirts, a-line skirts, over a dress – I CAN’T WAIT!! The weather has been perfect for my dress and jacket, though, and I’ve already had so much fun sporting both pieces on campus both together and separately. There is nothing better than finding clothes that make you feel confident, chic, and perfectly ready for fall. And at just the right price, how can you say no?

Make sure you keep it posted on lifewithlilred to see the conclusion of my fall haul with a brand new If The Shoe Fits article for my latest finds from TJMaxx and Target! There will also be a new Bath & Body Works Freebie article on the horizon to discuss my three September freebies. Stay tuned!

So there you have it, my TJMaxx Fall Haul! What is your favorite type of fall clothing to wear? What have you splurged on recently to welcome the fall weather into your wardrobe? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Aug29

Monday Update: Back To School Edition

Posted on by
Standard
Monday Update: Back To School Edition

Helloooo everyone and happy Monday! Today marks my first day back on campus at Tri-C for the fall semester and did I mention that it’s my LAST semester?! After this fall, I will be graduated with my Associate of Arts degree! Yay! I will be taking five classes and then I am done, done, DONE and I could not be happier. I will be mighty busy this fall with both of my jobs on top of a full time school schedule but it will be so nice to just power through it all and wind up with a degree at the end of it.

I will try to post as often as I can but just know that if I randomly go MIA for a short while, it is because I am drowning in homework. This fall I will be taking Adolescent Psychology, Bioethics, Astronomy, a course called Ecology, Environment, and Evolution, as well as a lab for that course. Yikes! All of the classes sound interesting enough, though, so there’s that. -_-

My fall guest bloggers series will be coming soon on lifewithlilred so keep your eyes peeled for that as I feature some wonderful bloggers and their favorite things about fall! Now, I will leave you with a little ditty from one of my fave school based flicks, Billy Madison:

^^^ Just beautiful.

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: Back To School Edition! Who else is starting up at college soon? How do you keep yourself organized during a busy semester? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. –Sarah

Jul4

Monday Update: June Finishes Edition

Posted on by
Standard
Monday Update: June Finishes Edition

Hello everyone and happy Monday! With July now upon us, it’s time to talk about the beauty product empties that I had for the month of June! I was able to complete some products that I liked a lot and others that kind of sucked which balanced out to a great month for beauty product finishes. Take a look at my June Finishes:

finish.jpg

Would I Use It Again?

Why/Why Not?

Suave Body Wash: I absolutely love the scent of this shower gel. It’s floral-y and bright without being too overpowering and it lathers so well. It is the perfect fragrance to wake up to in the morning and I think it’s an overall excellent value. It took me about a month and a half to finish it.

Tone Body Wash: I would use this body wash again solely for the fact that it was only two dollars at my local discount store. The scent was very citrus-y which I liked but it didn’t lather anywhere near as well as the Suave body wash, for example. It took me about a month and a half to finish it.

Olay Cleanser: I would absolutely one hundred and fifty percent use this amazing cleanser again! Olay’s Bead Me Up cleanser has been hands down one of the best beauty products that I’ve used in months. You can read about it further by clicking the link that takes you to my review about it but just know that I enjoyed every single day of using it. It took me over four months to finish it, too – talk about a great value!

TBS Skin Boost: This product is one of my tried and true old faithfuls so of course I would use it again! Now if only the price for it would dwindle down some! It took me about three months to finish.

Nourish Organic Cleanser: I would never ever EVER use this cleanser again. You can read more about it in my review which I provided the link to but this was easily the worst beauty product that I have ever used. You could not pay me to ever use it again. It took me about two and a half months to finish this cleanser and every day that I used it was absolutely miserable.

VS Lotion: I liked the Deep Berry scent of this Victoria’s Secret lotion a lot, however, there was nothing special about the product and I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it again. I finished this lotion in four uses.

Overall, June was a good month for finishes. I was left with only two products that I wouldn’t use again so I would definitely call that a success! I am also so happy that June was the month that I could finally finish the Nourish Organic cleanser. Yuck. -_-

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: June Finishes Edition! What beauty products did you have empties for this past month? What skin or body care products are you using now? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jun20

Monday Update: Vacation Purchases Edition

Posted on by
Standard
Monday Update: Vacation Purchases Edition

Hi everyone and welcome to another week here on lifewithlilred. Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of spare time to do hella blogging this summer but I will try my best to at least get a weekly post in via the Monday Update. As you guys know, my family went on vacation to Asheville, North Carolina a week ago and your girl did some amazing shopping there! Take a look at the latest goodies that I added to my wardrobe and beauty collections:

^^^ Hurray!

One thing that I absolutely love to do while I’m on vacation (and basically every day of my life) is SHOP. There is nothing better than exploring the different stores that places outside of your hometown have to offer. Usually during family vacas we dedicate a day to shopping local and hitting up an outlet mall if the area has one. During our shop day, I scored some amazing bath and body care products and my new favorite shirt from Forever 21, so let’s discuss!

While shopping local, we came across the most fantastic store called Appalachian Naturals which offers homemade bath and body care products. The shop was filled with bar soap, shampoos, bath bombs, and even some soap for your four legged BFFs. My mom and I must have spent close to an hour scouring the store, chatting with the employees, and filling a shopping bag with our purchases.

We ended up leaving with twelve bars of soap, a bar of soap for our pups, shampoo, chapsticks, a bath bomb, and a “meatball” made from excess shavings from the soap making process. The meatball was literally a pound ball of over thirty different soaps combined together and it’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen…so obviously we had to get it. Pictured above are three of the soaps that I wanted for myself – a face bar, and a Mountain Apple and Peppermint flavored bar soap. I’m very excited to work the complexion bar into my skin care routine after I finish the cleanser that I’m currently using and the same goes for the bar soap for when I finish the shower gel I have open.

At the outlet mall I was able to spend my birthday money on some new treats for myself which was so nice! I’m seriously obsessed with the gorgeous floral blouse that I got from Forever 21. I’m usually not a big fan of wearing white because I’m so pale that all it does is wash me out. However, this stark white top was so different because of the bright, Kimono style floral pattern. The colors complimented my hair and skin so well that the pure white base color made everything pop.

I’ve been trying to incorporate more business casual clothes into my wardrobe and I like that this shirt can be worn to work or my internship but I could still hang out with my friends in it. I purchased this shirt for $22.50 and I thought that it was a steal considering it looks so much like the clothes that I always ogle over at too expensive for me Express!

Speaking of steals, can we please talk about the Semi Annual Sale at Bath & Body Works?! Last year at B&BW’s sale, I discovered my favorite scent – Country Apple. This fragrance only makes an appearance during the Semi Annual Sale because it’s part of the oldie but goodie collection that they bring back special for the occasion. Knowing this, it was a must to stop in at the B&BW at the outlet mall to stock up on my gotta have it body spray.

All of the originally fourteen dollar body mists that were on sale were only $3.75 so, needless to say, I went HARD. I took four Country Apple sprays and four of the Mango Mandarin, too, because it smells amazing and it’s always nice to switch things up a little bit. As I walked up to the register, I remembered that back in good ol’ Ohio, there was a coupon for ten dollars off a forty dollar purchase sitting idly on my desk.

I was already at the thirty dollar mark with my bundle of perfumes and when I explained the situation to the worker behind the register, she was kind enough to provide the coupon for me. I was so incredibly thankful and went back to the front of the store to grab one more Country Apple and Mango Mandarin spray. I was at five perfumes each and I needed one more thing to reach a forty dollar purchase. I debated on which scent to get one more of – the apple or the mango but then realized that getting six of one and five of the other would drive me crazy. So I decided to go for a Sun Ripened Raspberry spray to get me to the price I needed to use the coupon.

Thanks to the kindness of the worker, my total bill for eleven body sprays was $33.44. The coupon knocked each perfume down to $2.86 for an originally FOURTEEN DOLLAR fragrance. Hell yeah! Because I was so grateful to the B&BW employee for helping a sister out, I emailed their customer service center to write her a rave review. I was so pleased to get an email response back from them saying that she would be receiving a certificate from the regional manager for excellence in customer service. She so deserved it! 🙂

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: Vacation Purchases Edition! I’m so happy with all of the goodies that I got to return to Ohio with and I can’t wait to start using all of them! Has anyone shopped any good sales lately? What store has the best deals right now? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jun13

Monday Update: Vacation Pictures Edition

Posted on by
Standard
Monday Update: Vacation Pictures Edition

Hi everyone and happy Monday! I have returned home from my beautiful Asheville, North Carolina family vacation and am ready to bring you the latest and greatest in my world. I have to admit, I’m not thrilled to be home since Asheville was so gorgeous! It was such a nice change to be surrounded by all of the art and nature that NC had to offer as opposed to the flat and boring Ohio. But before we begin this post, a round of applause is in order for all of my fantastic vacation guest bloggers! Thank you so much for all of your help in maintaining lifewithlilred while I was away. Great job! Now, let’s take a look at some vacation pics, shall we?

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

^^^ Can I go back now, or?

My family had the best time exploring Asheville and we left with so many great memories. One of my favorites was going horseback riding for the morning through a ranch that provides trail rides on their vast 550 acre property. My horse was named Sassy and we were obviously a perfect match! Despite getting super sun burned thanks to our three hour trek, it was definitely a lot of fun!

You might notice some random pictures in the slide show like the snap of a flashlight in its packaging. That happens to be a birthday gift given to me from the Blue Mountain Pizza Company. Lol, I got a glass of wine and when they asked for my ID my dad mentioned that it was my birthday on that very day. The meal was delicious and at the end, our waiter came back with a super special birthday flashlight for yours truly because the restaurant gives presents to those who are celebrating. I can’t say that I’ll make very good use out of the flashlight so I regifted it to my dad who can at least do something with it!

One of our days was spent exploring all of the downtown shops in Asheville so make sure you check back for a post on my vaca purchases. As you can see, my mom and I proudly posed in front of a sign for Appalachian Naturals – the most amazing little homemade soap store that Asheville has to offer. We must have spent close to an hour browsing the store, selecting soaps, and chatting with the knowledgeable and helpful employees.

We left with an enormous selection of handcrafted soap, chapstick, shampoo, dog soap, bath bombs, and…a meatball? Haha, yes. One of the products that the store had to offer was a one pound ball of soap that was made from the excess shavings from the soap making process. It’s admittedly the most ridiculous thing ever but we couldn’t not get it. One of the employees told us a story about how a husband had startled his wife while she was in the shower and she ended up throwing the soap ball at him which resulted in two black eyes and a broken nose. Yikes!

The final picture of the slideshow is a family photo at El Poncho, a Mexican restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia when we went to visit my brother and his wife to start our vacation. The food was SO good and we had such a great time. I got serenaded by the mariachi band for my birthday and throughout the meal they continued to come back and play for us. At one point my parents got up to practice their Rumba and ChaCha while the band performed. They were a hit!

At the end of the meal we decided to take a family photo and everything looked awesome except for one thing. The man on the farthest right has no relation to our family. Lol, we got photobombed so hard by this guy sitting at the bar and none of us can get over how good of a job he did. He seriously looks like he belongs in the picture. When we caught the culprit after we took a look at the picture we invited him into our family as an adopted son and brother. He has yet to accept or decline this offer.

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update which displays some of the many Vacation Photos that were taken during our week in Asheville! Who is going on vaca soon? Where is your favorite spot to travel to? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

May23

Monday Update: Worst Book Ever Edition

Posted on by
Standard
Monday Update: Worst Book Ever Edition

Hi everyone and happy Monday! Welcome to another week here on lifewithlilred. If you’re a faithful reader of my blog, you might have gathered a few things about me throughout the years. Two of them being that I love to read and that I refuse to not finish something that I start. This second Lil Red Fun Fact rings especially true considering that I’m reading the literal Worst Book Ever. Let’s discuss:

My mom brought me home Maestra by L.S. Hilton from the library. I read through the synopsis on the jacket and inspected all of the rave reviews from authors and the like on the back of the book. Many were comparing it to Gone Girl and saying how the lead female character, Judith, was similar to Lisbeth Salander from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Lisbeth is one of my all time favorite fictional characters and TGWTDT will always remain one of my favorite book series, as well.

I knew that this Judith lady would never live up to the love that I have for Lisbeth but I was willing to give the book a shot. Unfortunately, after the first two pages of Maestra, I knew that I was in for the worst reading experience of my life. Even more unfortunately, those two pages read damned me into having to finish the entire three hundred page book. Fuck me, right?

The premise of the book – an art gallery employee gone rogue was nothing that impressed me. It seemed desperately unoriginal and you could tell that Hilton was trying really hard to channel her inner Gillian Flynn and Stieg Larsson to no avail. I could get past this bland story line if the writing was actually good but the novel didn’t even have that going for it. And there was also one major issue…

This book is legitimately like reading pornography. Judith is very in touch with her sexual side and spends her free time going to parties designed for people to have a romp with complete strangers. The writing goes into specific/explicit detail about sex, sex, sex and then falls into the dull lull of a high schooler’s attempt at writing something edgy.

So we learn that Judith is a straight up sex junkie. This is all very well – if she were smart. This is where I start getting angry. Lisbeth Salander was able to overcome every obstacle in her way because she was intelligent as hell. Judith just uses the fact that she’s willing to have sex with anyone to get out of the troubles that she thrusts herself into.

See the difference? One is smart. One is a slut, for a lack of a better word (I know that I’m going to get some backlash for that!). So for people to compare this Judith character to Stieg Larsson’s genius Lisbeth just seems like a slap in the face to an amazing book series/character. Maestra has easily been the worst book that I’ve been essentially forcing myself to read in my life. You know that Hilton is a poor writer when her erotica is better than the actual story. -_-

If you’re in to reading a really shitty book with some porn thrown in for good measure – read this book. But if you’re in to reading about intelligent, cool, innovative, and truly edgy female heroins then do yourselves a favor and stay far away from Maestra. Crack open a copy of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, instead. You’ll thank me later.

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: Worst Book Ever Edition! What is the worst book that you have ever read? What’s your favorite book? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

May16

Monday Update: Vacation Guest Bloggers Edition

Posted on by
Standard
Monday Update: Vacation Guest Bloggers Edition

Hey everyone and welcome to another week here on lifewithlilred! I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing weekend. As you guys know, I was on the hunt for some fabulous guest bloggers to take my place while I’m away on vacation in June. I would much prefer to have some engaging guest blogs than nothing at all! Thanks to an overflow of emails to yours truly, I selected these wonderful writers to pen a guest post while I’m having some fun in the sun. Check it out:

Guest Blogging Schedule:

I’m so excited to welcome some new and old friends into the world of lifewithlilred and after emailing back and forth with everyone, it promises to be a great lineup while I’m away. Thank you so much to those who reached out to me and let’s give a big hand to my vacation guest bloggers!

Didn’t get selected? Don’t worry! I am always looking for Sunday guest bloggers on my page so don’t be afraid to shoot me an email at: sarah.mush6794@gmail.com! 🙂

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: Vacation Guest Bloggers Edition! Who’s all going on vaca this summer? What was the best or worst vacation you’ve ever been on? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

May2

Monday Update: Let Me Take A Selfie Edition

Posted on by
Standard
Monday Update: Let Me Take A Selfie Edition

Hi everyone and welcome to another week here on lifewithlilred! I hope all of you had a fabulous weekend. Mine was busy but good, thanks for asking! As you guys know, I recently worked a new pair of specs into my wardrobe so it only seems appropriate to post some actually satisfactory selfies in which I’m donning my new frames. Take a look and don’t mind the dog fur on my jacket too much:

glasses11glasses1

I absolutely took these pictures while in my mom’s car and I regret nothing. However, I was getting pretty antsy because we were nearing the end of our drive back home from glasses shopping for her and I STILL couldn’t take a “good” picture. 1) I looked a hot mess in most of them and 2) my mom drives like a maniac so the bumpy ride was definitely not ideal for selfie taking! Luckily, we ended up stopped at a pretty lengthy red light so best believe your girl found her lighting Top Model style and posed and snapped away until the light turned green!

These pics definitely beat the duck face featured in one of my previous Monday Updates and I haven’t posted any new shots in a while so I figured this week’s Monday Update would be the perfect time to do so! I post 99% more pictures of me on my personal Facebook page so please don’t be afraid to follow me or shoot me a friend request so you can keep up to date on all of my statuses and picture posts! I’m not the best at updating my page for lifewithlilred but a like on there is always nice, too! ALSO, pretty please click my Twistfire ads so I get paid! 🙂

If you happen to visit my Facebook or blog this week, you’ll be seeing a lot of Influenster related posts because I was lucky enough to be selected to try out their #bloombox for testing purposes! I’m so excited to try out all of the new goodies that I received and I can’t wait to share my reviews on them. Definitely be on the lookout for Influenster posts and do check their website out because it’s a lot of fun – beauty blogger or not!

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: Let Me Take A Selfie Edition! Does anyone else use Influenster? What is one of the coolest products that they sent you to test? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Apr26

Monday Update: This Or That Edition Update

Posted on by
Standard
Monday Update: This Or That Edition Update

Hi everyone and happy Tuesday! During a previous Monday Update, I asked for everyone’s opinion on what pair of glasses I should pick out between two equally gorgeous pairs. The choice was between a circular pair of Dolce & Gabbanas or a rectangular pair of Kliik Denmarks. I made my decision and received my new pair of glasses last week and I must say, I’m very happy with them! So what pair did I pick? Take a look and find out:

glasses2

THE DOLCE & GABBANAS!!!

Shocking, I know, because the majority of you guys picked the Kliik Denmarks as the pair that I should pick. So why did I go with the polar opposite? I guess I just liked how quirky the circular pair was. I liked that it made me feel professional but still fun and I loved how I could picture myself wearing them to school, my job, and my internship. And yes, I was totally enamored by the fact that they were Dolce & Gabbana. I’m really not a girl that goes gaga over labels but I do have a soft spot in my heart for designer eye-wear. It’s a weakness and a sickness, I tell ya!

All of the above reasons kind of sealed the deal for the D&Cs but one major “aha!” moment made me feel that much more confident in my decision. When I returned to the optometrist’s office after a weekend with both pairs of glasses to help make up my mind, I was wearing my old pair of specs. I’ve had my only pair of glasses since I was fifteen (I’m almost twenty-two, now) and it took trying the Kliik Denmark pair on one more time after I took my old glasses off to know that they were no longer the pair for me.

My pair of old faithfuls just so happens to be the exact same shape as the Kliik Denmarks except that the frames are thicker. I had no intentions of parting with my old pair of glasses so that I could have them as a backup pair and to wear them around the house on a lazy day. Once I saw that I would essentially be having two pairs of the same glasses but in different colors and widths, I knew that I made the right choice by picking the Dolce & Gabbanas.

The D&Cs were the first pair of glasses that I tried on after my eye appointment so it seems fitting that they ended up being the pair that I left with. I’m so happy with my new glasses and all of the compliments that I’ve received about them make me feel even more confident with my quirky cool choice!

So there you have it, an Update on a previous Monday Update: This Or That Edition! Has anyone purchased any new eye or sunglasses recently? How about a new pair of shoes or a purse? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah