Tag Archives: monday update

Oct5

Monday Update: Lazy Weekend Edition

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Monday Update: Lazy Weekend Edition

Helloooo everyone and Happy Monday!! Thanks to a fantastically lazy weekend, I’m feeling refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to go! My week days are always so crazy now so this weekend I finally got to do exactly what I wanted…nothing! There were lots of things that made my weekend great, like not having to drive, catching up on leisure reading, and lots and lots of sleep! Take a listen to the Bruno Mars theme song to my weekend and then let’s discuss:

During the week I’m constantly on the run in the Little Red Love Machine, driving siblings, driving to school, driving to boyfriend, meeting clients, and running errands. So needless to say, one of the best parts of this weekend was that I didn’t have to get behind the wheel of my car one time! It. Was. AWESOME!! My parents handled all of the driving this weekend and I handled the laying in my bed doing nothing this weekend. 😉

But seriously, you never really realize how nice it is to have someone else drive you until your tucked away in the backseat of one of your parent’s cars. For example, we went to see the new Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro movie, The Intern, and the movie theater was less than five minutes away but even the smallest amount of chauffeuring was great! The movie was so cute and funny, too – I just love Anne Hathaway and her and De Niro made a great pair. The Intern was kind of like a more lighthearted version of The Devil Wears Prada and I really enjoyed it.

My favorite part of the weekend, however, was finally catching up on my pleasure reading! During the past few weeks I’ve been so exhausted before bed that I could barely finish two or three chapters in my book, Night Film, before falling asleep. Usually I’m a ridiculously fast reader – I can finish a five hundred page book in three days flat easily, so the whole “reading barely one hundred pages in one week” thing killed me!

Lucky for me, this weekend I had no school work to worry about so I was a free woman! I got to spend my afternoons snuggled under my blankets for hours on end and was able to complete over one hundred pages each sitting, which is definitely more like it! Reading is one of my favorite past times so the fact that I got to have entire afternoons dedicated to relaxing and flipping through the pages of a book that I love so much made my lazy days perfect. (If you haven’t read Night Film, give it a try! It’s wonderful…so wonderful that one of my tattoos is a quote from the book!)

Last but not least, I got to sleep, sleep, sleep this weekend! If there’s one thing that I love, it’s not having to set an alarm in the morning. These past two days, I got to sleep in to my hearts desire without the incessant buzzing of my phone and iPod to wake me up. On Saturday I slept until 11:15 and it was absolutely amazing! I woke up around seven and nine that morning and it was so nice to be able to look at the time and realize that I could continue sleeping for as much as I wanted. By the time I woke up on Saturday, I decided that it was too late to bother with makeup so I’ve spent both of my weekend days au natural! I definitely could get used to this homebody thing!

nothing

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: Lazy Weekend Edition! Now that I’m well rested, I’m ready to take on another crazy week! How was everyone’s weekend? Was it lazy like mine or jam packed with cool stuff? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Sep28

Monday Update: Farewell Fake Nails Edition

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Monday Update: Farewell Fake Nails Edition

Hellooo everyone and happy Monday! I hope all of you had a wonderful and relaxing weekend! So something kind of crazy happened this weekend that is so out of character for me that I have a hard time believing it myself…I took my acrylic nails off. Those of you who are familiar with my blog will know that I am (was) simply obsessed with my longer than life talon-esque fake nails, but something happened this weekend that just made me snap. Check out the story behind my breaking point and then we can mourn in my loss together:

On Saturday everything was running smoothly. I had a great few days with my boyfriend that I returned home from in the morning and my mom and I had a lovely shopping outing in the evening. But then…then a tragedy happened. As I was sitting on my bedroom floor scrolling through Facebook on my iPod something inside of me made me get up from my laziness to go downstairs and work on homework. I reached my hand back onto my bed to hoist myself up and then CRACK, the acrylic on my left hand middle finger broke clean in two.

“Well shit,” I thought to myself, “what am I going to do now”? It was too late for my salon to be open and it’s closed all day on Sundays (the following day). Then all kinds of thoughts began swarming in my head. Should I hold out until Monday and get it fixed? Should I bite the bullet and go to a different salon tomorrow? And then I began to inspect my natural nail that was visible from my unfortunate uh-oh. My nail was brittle, cracking, and dry as a bone. Honestly, I wasn’t surprised…I haven’t worn my nails natural since November of 2014 but I had no idea that they were that bad.

Upon further inspection of my nails, I decided that they desperately needed some TLC. After I made this realization I took a deep breath and began to gather the supplies needed to take my claws off at home – because after I thought about it, I refused to pay ten to fifteen dollars for something I could do from the comfort of my own bathroom. I grabbed a glass bowl big enough to fit both of my hands in, acetone nail polish remover, and nail clippers then I headed into the loo to take care of business.

I sat my sweet ass on the floor of the throne room and got to work by clipping my acrylics down to the nub. This was painful physically and emotionally. My clippers are obvs not salon quality so I had to apply hella pressure to get my nails declawed. With every snap crackle pop of the acrylic being cut off my heart sank deeper into my butt….But finally, the deed was done. I filled my bowl with the nail polish remover, pulled myself together, and descended downstairs to watch Arrested Development as my nails soaked off.

After my TV time, my nails were loose enough that I could pry them off and just like that, my acrylics were gone. I stared down at my bare hands and looked at them as if I were seeing them for the first time. “Jesus Christ…What did I just do?” I continued to gaze down at my nails with a critical eye and all I could see were stubby fingers and the most unhealthy nails ever and I seriously could have cried. After a “you’re a strong independent woman who don’t need no nails” pep talk, I did what had to be done…Apply enough lotion to fill up a bathtub onto my hands, put some socks on over them, and walk around my house performing sock puppet theater. #Ihatemyself

The next few days without my nails were weird, to say the least. Texting on my phone and typing on the computer without hearing my claws clacking away felt foreign and strange. Running my hands through my hair without feeling my talons grazing my scalp felt uncomfortable. Even scratching an itch with my bare nails felt unfamiliar. I was so lost…and then I got used to it.

I took my acrylics off for a reason, which was to get my natural nails healthy and damnit, that’s what I’m gonna do. It will definitely take some time to grow accustomed to life without my long fake nails, but that’s okay. It’s going to save me money to not have to get my nails filled every month and most importantly it’s going to get my real nails back to normal, which is something I’m taking very seriously. #gosarahgo

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: Farewell Fake Nails Edition! Have any of you lovelies had an experience similar to mine after taking off their acrylics or another beauty staple you use? What are some tips that you have for healthy natural nails? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Sep21

Monday Update: Unintentional MIA Edition

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Monday Update: Unintentional MIA Edition

Howdy everyone and happy Monday! So as you may have noticed, I had an unannounced MIA hiatus this weekend that was purely unintentional. This Monday Update will shed some light on where Lil Red was hiding out at and inform you about all of the other exciting news that I have to share! Enjoy some tunes to hype you up this morning and then let’s discuss:

Last Friday rolled around and things were going just PEACHY. I was working on some homework, sippin on that Arizona green tea, and living my life like the baller I am. And then…something went wrong. I tried to print an assignment with the household wireless printer and unfortunately it didn’t work. I pressed the “print” button at least seventy-three more times only to find that my button clicking effort was made in vain. So I did what any normal twenty-one year old would do…I called my mom for help. #MOMMMMMMMM

Mother dearest entered the dining room on a “fix the printer” mission and that was when things took a turn for the worse. Good ol’ mom began to utilize the classic technique of pressing buttons and unplugging and replugging cords back into the sockets. With all of the powering off and on and pressing every button that looked helpful, the internet ended up shutting down entirely. Don’t ask me how, because I don’t know. And quite frankly, it probably wasn’t even my mom’s fault but everyone at home is enjoying telling her that she broke the internet so we’re just gonna go with it! 😉

Thanks to my mother breaking the internet, I was without the world wide web for the weekend. This prevented me from doing homework, answering to possible clients to write for on Facebook, and most importantly keeping in touch with all of you! But thanks to a handy helper from our chosen internet company, things are back in business at the Lil Red residence. So no, I didn’t make a spur of the moment road trip to Utah or have an unfortunate twenty-four hour flu that left me bedridden…I was just MIA because my internet was down. OH THE CALAMITY! #firstworldproblems

In other news:

  • Yesterday was my one month anniversary with my boyfriend, Kyle, so that’s nice! One month went by really quickly and things are going just swimmingly – so keep your fingers crossed for a bitch that they stay that way!
  • Everything at school is also going really well, too! My classes are swell, my grades are rockin, and I have no complaints!
  • I have a lot of really cool potential clients that might be featured on lifewithlilred, so keep your eyes peeled for more info on that!
  • Oh, and like my Facebook page, THANKS! https://www.facebook.com/lifewithlilred?fref=ts
  • And this one, too! THANKS AGAIN! https://www.facebook.com/britsphotographs?fref=ts

internet

^^^ Basically my face all weekend. #shameful

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: Unintentional MIA Edition! I hope all of you had a great weekend and an even better start to your week! What was the craziest thing that happened to you this weekend? Who has a case of the Mondays today? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Sep14

Monday Update: There Isn’t One

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Monday Update: There Isn’t One

Heyyy everyone and happy Monday! I’m speed writing this Monday Update before I have to leave for school in twenty minutes for the sheer purpose of letting you know that there isn’t a Monday Update today! Nothing new or exciting has happened these past few days that’s worth discussing other than my article coming up on Daffodil Blue Photography, which will be posted tomorrow! It feels strange not having a long list of stuff to fill you guys in on but everything has been perfectly average lately. School is great. Social life is great. Boyfriend is great. Family is great. GREAT!

I guess the only thing really worth mentioning is that on the twelfth I celebrated my one year anniversary of blogging on http://www.lifewithlilred.com, so that’s cool! Thank you all again for continuing to tune in with me and all of my stupid ramblings! I love you all! ❤

^^^ I am SO FREAKING OBSESSED with this song!!!! It’s so damn catchy and Mr. Mendes is a little cutie pie…I see a new Man Crush Monday in the future!

So there you have it, a short and sweet Monday Update because There Isn’t One! I hope all of you are having a great start to your week so far and I will talk to you all very soon! Until then, get hyped to read about Daffodil Blue Photography because my upcoming post is a lot of fun! How was everyone’s weekend? Did anything super exciting happen? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Sep7

Monday Update: A Moment Of Silence Edition

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Monday Update: A Moment Of Silence Edition

Hey everyone and happy Monday!! So this weekend was full of exciting, shameful, and not too noisy events so let’s get to it and discuss in this Monday Update: A Moment Of Silence Edition:

Let’s start with some good news: One of my best friends on the planet, Tyler, came home for the long Labor Day weekend! Tyler is currently enlisted in the Army and lives in California. He began his journey in October of last year and that was also the last time that I saw him until yesterday! Tyler was so insanely busy this weekend, as there was a wedding he had to attend on top of all of the friends and family that he had to see, so I am SO incredibly thankful that he was able to pencil me in!

Tyler stopped over at my place for an hour or so bearing Pumpkin Spice Latte frappachinos and infinite hugs to ease my ugly crying. I seriously can’t even describe to you guys what it felt like to see him and hug him for the first time in an entire year. When he got out of the car I ran into his arms at full speed and he held me and let me cry for as long as I needed to. I knew for a fact that I was going to be emotional during our reunion but I had no idea that it was going to be like that! The only way I can describe seeing him again was perfect. It was really really perfect.

After lots of hugs and crying outside, we went into my house for chit chatting and staring at each other in disbelief that we were finally together in real life. Hanging out with him felt exactly like it did when he lived in Ohio – our banter was endless and effortless and we were able to laugh at the dumbest little things. I’m so happy that Tyler and I communicate frequently via text and FaceTime because we were able to talk about our most recent endeavors and stories rather than cram a years worth of information into one hour.

I wish that our hour together could have gone on forever but like all good things, it had to end. Before we even exited my house I was already crying. It didn’t feel fair that one of my best friends was finally standing in front of me in the flesh rather than on a phone screen and he had to leave so soon. Seeing Tyler for the first time resulted in tears of joy but my goodbye tears were the epitome of ugly crying. Even though Tyler had places to go, he let me hug him and give him an abundance of cheek kisses for another five minutes before he drove off. He’s so sweet! :*)

Almost a year ago, Tyler and I had a very similar interaction when he left for California and I’ll tell you what – the goodbyes never get any easier. As we texted later that afternoon he described our get together as “bittersweet” and I couldn’t have said it better myself. The bittersweet-ness was so real considering my first tears were so happy and my goodbye ones were of the purest sadness. There’s things that you forget about people when you haven’t seen them in so long. I couldn’t believe that I forgot Tyler’s staggering height – especially in comparison to mine. I forgot the way that when we hug my head doesn’t even reach his shoulders. I forgot what it felt like to hear his voice with my own ears rather than on a speaker. Tyler is always going to be one of my best friends and the fact that we haven’t seen each other in forever but could pick up right where we left off completely solidified that for me. I love him so so much and I can’t wait for the holiday season so he can come home again soon! ❤

Now let’s get to the part of the Update where we tie the title into one of my stories. As I mentioned last week, mama was not feeling too hot at all and unfortunately, I still feel like hell! Hurrayyy! The remnants of my sickness when the weekend rolled around was a sore throat. Now the remnants of my sore throat is that my voice is completely gone! Allow me to explain:

Long story short, Saturday was a day of intense drinking for me. While I was sick during the week, I wasn’t smoking at all but of course, when I drink, I always smoke like a damn cowboy. During my drinking excursions, I managed to cough through a half a pack of ciggies and told myself that I’d be fine after. APPARENTLY NOT! I was on my Lindsay Lohan too hard and when I woke up Sunday morning it was almost comical to see myself open my mouth to speak and have nothing come out. Luckily, I had about two hours of salvageable speaking in the morning because I would have been so devastated if I couldn’t talk with Tyler!

ANYWHO, for the remainder of Sunday my day was spent mouthing words or writing out short phrases on a notepad to communicate. I figured that after a day of resting my tired voice that I would be fine…APPARENTLY NOT! I woke up this morning eager to test my pipes out and nothing came out. I kind of felt like the Little Mermaid though…so that was cool. My Moments Of Silence have turned into a day and a half of not speaking and honestly I’m going fucking crazy. It frustrated me to the point that I was almost crying yesterday when I wanted to tell my family something and literally couldn’t. So if everyone could take a Moment Of Silence and send some good vibes Lil Red’s way, I’d be forever grateful and will join you in your moment…because I have no other choice. #FML

^^^ This video was basically me this weekend. SHAMEFUL!

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: A Moment Of Silence Edition! How was everyone’s weekend? Does anyone have any fun Labor Day plans? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Aug31

Monday Update: Follow Up Edition

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Monday Update: Follow Up Edition

Helloooo everyone and welcome to the newest Monday Update: Follow Up Edition. I’m writing this update to bring you all of the news on events that I’ve mentioned in previous posts, so let’s get to it so I can keep all of you lovelies up to date on the life of Lil Red!

In last week’s Monday Update, I mentioned that I had an audition for a play called The Boys Next Door, and unfortunately I did not get a part – but I knew I wasn’t going to. Allow me to explain. The play features only one female character so the competition was going to be stiff to begin with, but frankly, I wasn’t even considered competition. I rolled into the audition only to be surrounded by men aged forty-five and up who were trying out for the show. With most of these guys doubling my age, it’s obvious why I didn’t get a part, especially when the female character is a love interest. I’m all for an odd couple, but a pairing of a twenty-something along with someone pushing fifty just wouldn’t look right.

Despite the realization that I wasn’t going to get the part as soon as I walked into the theater, I still gave it my best shot and did very well. I made the director and the auditioners laugh and I really do think that I made a lasting impression. I’m glad that I’ve never been one to throw in the towel during situations like that because my audition was very strong, so maybe I’ll come to the director’s mind when he’s working on a show with a more suitable character for me. If a staggering age gap was not an evident issue, I think I would have been a little disappointed over not getting the part. Lucky for me, I had nothing to be sad about because I knew from the get go that being cast for the show was impossible. Regardless, it was a great experience and an awesome little audition to get me back into the spirit of entering back into the theater circuit!

If you’re familiar with my site, then you’ll know that it was my best friend, Lea’s, birthday this past week! My darling girl turned the big 2-1, so we went barhopping in Kent, Ohio to celebrate. We had the best time doing shots and throwing back fruity drinks to our hearts content. Lea had a great twenty-first birthday outing, therefore, I had a great time too. All I wanted was for her twenty-first birthday celebration to be better than mine and we definitely exceeded that goal! Take a look at how cute we are:

leaaa

In other news, I have a really special post in the archives that will be published hopefully within the week featuring a ukulele strumming duo, Recipe of Life. The sweet girls of ROL, Shelby and Ariel, are a force to be reckoned with straight out of Stow, Ohio and I can’t wait for you guys to hear them! Their music is the epitome of beachy fun, so make sure you keep your eyes and ears pealed for it!

Annnnnd to conclude this Monday Update filled with exciting follow ups, I can tell you that things with my boyfriend, Kyle, are just dandy! 🙂

^^^ This basically sums up how I’m feeling, minus the cocaine. 😉

So there you have it, this week’s Monday Update: Follow Up Edition! How was everyone’s weekend? What are you most looking forward to this week? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Aug24

Monday Update: Exciting Occurrences Edition

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Monday Update: Exciting Occurrences Edition

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:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7-MvHCGLOE

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! 🙂

trueee

^^^ #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

Aug17

Monday Update: Beat The Heat Edition

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Monday Update: Beat The Heat Edition

Heyy everyone and happy Monday! So last Thursday a very exciting occurrence happened that I can’t wait to share with you guys! The night prior around nine o’clock, I got a Facebook message from an old theatre friend, Zach, who desperately needed a girl to fill in for someone who dropped out of a film he was shooting the following day. I hadn’t heard from this kid in years and I was pretty curious about what he was shooting, so I told him to give me a call. We chatted on the phone for a few minutes about his production called Beat The Heat and after our talk, I was sold. The next day, I showed up at his place for some filming fun with a bunch of very cool new friends. Let’s discuss!

Beat The Heat is a fairly simple plot which revolves around a group of party-goers who are in for an unpleasant surprise when they wake up. According to the morning news, a tiger escaped from the zoo and everyone is recommended to stay inside until the tiger is captured. This is all fine and dandy until everyone realizes that the air conditioning is broken. With the house getting gradually hotter throughout the day tensions rise, relationships are formed, and pancakes are shared. The cast of characters includes:

  • Tucker: The douchebag
  • Stacie: The slutty nerd (my character)
  • Nick: A guy who knows nothing about fixing the air conditioning
  • Glen: Canadian
  • And much more!!

Everyone in the cast was so insanely fun to work with and a lot of the scenes included improv so it was very easy to work off of one another. Because all of us clicked so well, rash and ultimately hilarious decisions were made on things that should be included in the film – like the most ridiculous psuedo-sex scene between Stacie and Tucker. Now rest assured, if this scene were being done for the purpose of passion and lust, I would have never agreed to it. BUT, both Zach and I agreed that a silly sex scene is exactly what the movie needs to spice things up a little bit! Honestly, I’m so glad that I did it because it’s going to be so insanely funny and it was actually pretty liberating!

As soon as the film is done being edited, the final cut will be released in December and best believe it will be posted on here! So if you want to see my clothes removed with the snap of a finger, a Canadian melt into a puddle, and the worst tiger sound effects ever – make sure you keep it posted on http://www.lifewithlilred.com for more on Beat The Heat!

I’m not gonna lie, I was initially going to say no to participating in Beat The Heat. I prefer stage acting to film acting any day and I’ve been on a hiatus from acting for over a year. Needless to say, I was very worried about delivering a stellar performance. Thankfully, the acting bug came back to me as easily as riding a bike and it felt so damn good to be doing a physical manifestation of my creativity. I’m so grateful that my friend, Zach, thought of me to fill in on set because I haven’t been this excited about a project in years and I can’t wait to see the finished result!!

So there you have it, this weeks Monday Update: Beat The Heat Edition! I hope all of you are having a fabulous day so far! What was everyone up to this weekend? Anything fun? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Aug10

Monday Update: Orlando Vacation Edition

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Monday Update: Orlando Vacation Edition

Helloooo everyone and welcome to a brand new edition of the Monday Update – Vacation style! This past week my family and I made an eighteen hour trek from Akron, Ohio to Orlando, Florida for some fun at Universal Studios! I arrived home at three fifteen on Sunday morning and I’m still recovering from the drive home, but that’s just a small price to pay for a week of paradise. Because my family did so much on our vacation, this week on lifewithlilred is going to be a bit different…Every day I’ll be posting a new segment about my vaca complete with pictures and witty commentary. But for now, let me throw a few pics on here and we can talk about some of the amazing things that Universal Studios has to offer!

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A year or so ago, a new edition was added onto The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter section of the amusement park – Diagon Alley. Previously, the Harry Potter park was limited to Hogsmeade and I must say, they really outdid themselves with both parks. The last time my family attended Universal, Diagon Alley was still in production so it was absolutely incredible to be able to experience the finished product, which can be seen in the first three pictures that I posted! You might notice in the pic of me in the telephone booth that I have a sign attached to the back of my shirt – this was an impromptu attempt at promoting lifewithlilred while exploring Universal Studios. Lol, anything for the sake of advertisement!

Anyways, back to Diagon Alley…It. Was. AWESOME. What was so cool about the newest addition to Universal Studios was how big it was! There were so many different twists and turns you could take throughout the park which lead to different shops, performances, and rides. Watch your step though, because you might end up in the dark and spooky Knockturn Alley, which was my favorite part of Diagon Alley. The execution of Knockturn Alley was exquisite…It captured the mood of the Dark Arts to perfection with pitch black corridors, singing shrunken heads, and wilted flowers adorning the windowsills. But the best part of Knockturn Alley was exploring Borgin & Burkes, a store for all of your Dark Arts needs.

Borgin & Burkes sold souvenirs, of course, but it also had tons of HP movie memorabilia, which included a Vanishing Cabinet made special for the park by the Potter prop masters. Stepping into Borgin & Burkes seriously felt like walking onto a Harry Potter movie set…that’s how authentic the creepy atmosphere was. The store was filled with “cursed” items that are easily recognizable from the books and movies, like the severed hand that closes itself onto you of you get too close! Borgin & Burkes was where I picked out a cool shirt for my sister donning the killing curse in ink and quill script…AVADA KEDAVRA!

If you’re looking to spend some moolah in Diagon Alley, then you can drop forty-eight bucks on a wand that let’s you interact with the park. In all of the windows of Diagon Alley, there are displays which will move with just a flick of your wrist. All you have to do is stand on the designated spot in front of the window, which is marked on the ground, and put your wand to use. I can imagine that there is some type of chip in the wand that activates the window displays which can be anything from making troll armor move to lighting up all of the candles in a window and blowing them out again. The interactive windows were a brilliant way of letting the park goers experience some magic and it was definitely cool to see what each display had to offer. I didn’t buy a wand because I got a lowtech one during my last trip, so I was a bit jealous of everyone who had one!

There’s a lot more to discuss about Diagon Alley, which will be saved for another article, so make sure you keep it posted on http://www.lifewithlilred.com to learn more about The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter! Until then, who has been to Universal Studios before? What was your favorite part of the park? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jul27

Monday Update: Weekend Wedding Edition

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Monday Update: Weekend Wedding Edition

Helloooo everyone and happy Monday! I hope all of you had a fabulous weekend – I know I did! I spent the weekend surrounded by my family and friends for the wedding of my brother, Peter, and his wife, Megan. Peter and Megan met each other during their undergrad years at Notre Dame, so my family and I packed up the car and drove to Indiana on Friday for the festivities. Saying that it was a beautiful weekend is the understatement of the century, so let’s discuss!

Friday was a pretty laid back day in comparison to Saturday, which was the day of the wedding. We arrived in South Bend, Indiana around three and then headed to a hotel for a bridal shower for Megan. It was a lot of fun getting to meet all of Megan’s family and her darling bridesmaids, Emily, Keaton, Andrea, and Jennifer. What I enjoyed the most about Megan’s bridal shower was watching her interact with all of her friends and family without Peter there. That was my first time seeing Megan without my brother in a social situation and it made me like her even more! After the bridal shower, we checked in to the hotel we were staying at to freshen up before the rehearsal wedding and dinner. Here’s a few selfies that my sister, Kristen, and I snapped before we left:

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^^^ Lol, I captioned our mirror pic “Just married” on Facebook!

The wedding rehearsal didn’t take long at all, which was great for me because I was SO hungry!! The rehearsal dinner was held at Papa Vino’s – the same restaurant where Peter and Megan had their first date. Papa Vino’s serves family style Italian food and it was so incredibly delicious. Plates and bowls of pasta, pizza, bread, dips, and desserts just kept coming and coming and I ate until I couldn’t take another bite. The evening was full of great food and conversation and by the time it came to an end, we were all beyond stuffed and tired. I was so ready for bed, so I was pretty happy when Megan’s family, my family, and the bridal party parted ways until the following morning for the wedding!

Peter and Megan’s wedding ceremony was held at the Basilica Of The Sacred Heart on Notre Dame’s campus and it is absolutely stunning. I could spend hours looking at all of the artwork and architecture that the church offers. The mass began promptly at eleven, but I was already crying well before then…I was so emotional! Watching Megan walk down the aisle with her father and watching Peter’s eyes get teary was my favorite part of the wedding. Megan looked drop dead gorgeous and Peter didn’t look too bad either! I was pretty shocked that my dad was crying during the wedding, which made my mom cry, which then made me cry. It was a big ol’ sob fest – but they were happy tears! The ceremony was elegant, sophisticated, and completely perfect. Peter and Megan looked so happy and in love and I really just can’t even.

After the mass it was time for pictures with the families and the bridal party. We took some photos in the church and then headed to the Notre Dame football field for some more photography fun. It was so cool being able to hang out on the football field as well as the football teams’ locker room for a Notre Dame style photo shoot. The pictures ranged from the bridal party in huddle formation around Peter and Megan in the locker room to an impromptu football game on the field. It was so fun watching all of these silly scenarios happen and it was such an awesome experience being able to explore the field and locker room. I got a picture in the locker room showers and when Kristen and I were opening some of the lockers we found a pair of boxers and a jock guard…SCANDALOUS!!! My cover photo is the bridal party in its entirety compliments of the photo shoot, starting from left to right: Emily, Jennifer, Andrea, Keaton, Megan, Peter, Michael, Andrew (my brother!), Brian, and Thomas. What an attractive group of people!

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^^^ Take note of how Peter wrote his and Megan’s names and wedding date on the locker room whiteboard! So cute!!!

While the bridal party continued their photo shoot throughout the campus, my parents, Kristen, and I returned to our hotel to prepare for the wedding reception. Makeup was touched up, hair was straightened, deodorant was applied and then we were off to the country club where the reception was held. The open bar cocktail hour began at five and best believe that Kristen and I got turnt right from the get go. By the time dinner was served around six thirty, I was already five glasses of moscato in and feeling wonderful. The vegetarian entree for dinner was excellent, it was a pasta primavera and my only regret is that I didn’t eat more! After dinner, Megan’s dad and my mom gave a toast and then it was time for the father/daughter and mother/son dance. My mom and Peter danced to the best of their ability and it was actually really good! Take a look at some pics of the mother/son dance and the blushing bride and groom:

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^^^ I LOVE THEM!!!

After all of the traditional toasts and dances were complete, the dance floor was opened to everyone. Kristen and I continued to throw back wine and danced our asses off with all of our family and friends. Halfway through the reception I was white girl wasted and I don’t remember much about the rest of the night other than how much fun I had! I do remember falling right on my knee on the dance floor because people kept spilling their drinks and it was really slippery. I now have a nasty purple and black bruise taking up the majority of my left knee. Hurray! I don’t remember breaking a nail. I do remember laying on the floor with Jennifer and Andrea to complain about said broken nail. I don’t remember how many glasses of wine I ended up drinking. I do remember having an amazing time…I also remember mentioning that already! I danced with everyone from my parents, my brothers, my sister, my cousins, Megan, the bridesmaids, the groomsmen, and a bunch of other people whose names I can’t recall. GREAT SUCCESS! (Except for the being sweaty part…that was gross.)

By the time the reception was over, Kristen and I were completely out of it and ready for bed. My family and I drove back to Ohio the following day around noon and returned safe and sound in the early evening. The entire weekend was incredible and I am so thankful to have been a part of it. I adore my new sister-in-law like no other and I’m so excited for what the future holds for the newlyweds! Peter and Megan will be leaving for their three week honeymoon in Italy today and I wish them nothing but blissful fun and safe travels. I LOVE YOU PETER AND MEGAN!!!

So there you have it, the Monday Update: Weekend Wedding Edition! I hope all of you enjoyed reading this post just as much as I did writing it! What was everyone up to this weekend? Anything exciting? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah