The good Lord and me.

 Happy Sunday everybody!  

     First of all...Welcome to this part of my blog.  I hope to continue with this topic every Sunday.  Now that we all have our bellies full of Thanksgiving food it was time for me to remember a few things.  This morning when I woke up, I needed to see an old familiar face.  

     I headed down to Ringgold, Georgia to a church called ORIGIN.  It sits right in the middle of town on Nashville St, just directly across the road from the First Baptist.  It's a small place and if you blink you might miss it.  The pastor of Origin is Rev Shane Craven.  Twenty one years ago, I sat in the floor of my home completely broken and needing the Good Lord more than I ever had in my life.  That day my life changed and to make a long story short, I picked up the phone book, closed my eyes and picked a church.  That church was Mount Rachel Baptist Church in Dalton, GA.  Shane was the pastor at that time and became my pastor.  Mt Rachel was the one place that fed my spirit in a way that will always be so near and dear to my heart.  It was my home when I had nothing.  I lived in government apartments and drove a car that had no brakes.  My daughter was a baby and I was escaping a bad relationship that was unsafe.  I worked at H&R block in Dalton for minimum wage but God was moving.  I look back now and think about how covered in Grace I was and I still today, it's amazing to me.  We've come so far right?

     Today, I have an amazing job making more money than most in the Chattanooga area according to middle class standards.  I live in a home that is only seven years old and beautiful.  I drive a comparably brand new car and I never have to worry about food to eat or if I will get to vacation this year or not.  All my family is healthy and moving forward everyday in such positive ways.   So all in all...I'm pretty blessed I would say.  Then why did I wake up this morning, needing to remember that place?  Perhaps because no matter how good life gets, it can all be taken in just a moments notice and then what?  Then what would I have?  Seems the more I provide myself and my family, the less I turn to God.  It's just so easy not to.  To just go through everyday doing what I need to do, pushing for more money, more toys and feeling ever so drained more and more in the process.  

     See, I don't understand why the world wants us to forget about Christ.  I don't get how being a Christian is the most judged thing in America today.   What the Good Lord has done for me is more than I could ever put into words and no matter how big and pretty the house or nice the car or how many places I get to go, man....  Jesus is my one place of complete peace.  He literally is the only one that has ever loved me without reason and covered me so completely.  

     Seeing Shane at Origin today and his lovely wife Kim was a blessing to me.  Hearing his voice in prayer and being taken back to my beginning, that was worth the drive down.  He holds an enthusiasm for the Lord that is contagious and makes me remember....  Sometimes, we all have to go back.  We all NEED to go back and remember.  Shane is a good pastor and you would love him if you go visit that church.  He's a mover and shaker and full on desire for every single person to know the Lord.  

Rev. Shane Craven of Origin Church

     Every Sunday for a time, I will be visiting local churches in my area hoping to find a home church that will open a new chapter for me and my life.  i will be blogging my relationship with Jesus because it's the least I can do.  If you only had one person on your side your whole life... how grateful would you be?  I am so very grateful today and everyday.

xoxo - Teresa Ann

     

Yes, I am thankful!

So Ok, the weekend was fun.  More fun than the Tennessee vs Missouri football game, was getting to spend time with my cousin and his wife Lena.  These two are really cool young people and they make me laugh.  My cousin David, well… he’s seen his fair share of long hard roads and Lena has walked everyone of them right beside him.  They have a gift.  it’s honest and it’s fun and they just make you feel good to be around them.  They have so many really cool things going on in their lives and so so much to look forward to.  I see a work in Davids life that just proves the validity of God.  I have a few people who’s lives just prove and prove and prove the existence of the good Lord.  His is one.  it’s not that he’s anymore special than you or me or anyone else.  He does nothing any different and wrestles with the same things we all do and falls sometimes.  What it is though, is that he’s still standing.  Still standing and still alive and still passionate about so many things.  There is this will that is present in his being that amazes me and tickles me at the same time.  Then there is  Lena.  Her spirit is playful and when she smiles her whole face lights up.  She hopes for so many good things and God willing, they will come.   I am thankful I got to spend a little time with them.

Sunday It rained but it was nice to get out with Dre.  When we get stir crazy we always go for a drive.  So even in the rain it was refreshing to see the trees and the country roads that always take me back to my roots.  I always remember growing up in Dalton when Dalton was country and there were actual dirt roads and my mama taking us blackberry picking.  All of us kids with no shoes most of the time on hot summer days.  My brother and me always looking for a swimming hole or anything we could make or do.  If anyone ever asks me what growing up with a brother with a 151 IQ was like… well it was busy and full of crazy stuff.   I always wished bug, Justin and JC could have had that kind of time together.  Life is good though because we learn and live exactly where we are.  Going through something rough is pretty scary at the time, but when it’s over and you look back, you realize it was nothing and not near as big as what you could face tomorrow.  So enjoy life.  Just remember… (Joy is strength).

So, for my cousin Michelle who wishes the family was always closer, I think about you all the time and always pray you easy days.  For Beth who struggles and is facing a major surgery that will hopefully change her life for the better, your on my mind.  My aunt Judy who wakes up everyday and is so calm no matter what life gives her, I remember your laugh.  You laughed a lot when I was little.  My aunt Diane, Aunt Peggy, all my uncles who have their own hard roads… I see you out there!  My sweet friend Angie from Chatsworth that will always pull my heart strings, Gods love to you sweet girl!   I’ve seen the Lord move in some pretty miraculous ways.  In the life of my friend Donald who would be the last person you ever would have thought would get his crap straight to Mikey who despite his roads, has a warriors heart.  Never ever gives up.  For sweet little Juliet who has reason and creativity bursting from her seams, I just can’t wait to see your life.  For bug who flitters around like a butterfly, gentle, quiet and just beautiful.  For Justin who is finding his own way, standing tall and proud and JC who has so much patience I would have exploded by now.  For Christopher Walker who my prayers follow and to Chris keener who just had the most beautiful baby on earth.  For Haley.  Lord just keep that girl safe! :)  For my Aunt Jean and that she may never know such aloneness without family until she goes on to be with the Lord.  We just don’t remember our elders enough.  There are so many more that pass in my thinking everyday. 

I hope I never forget the joy of a simple visit with a family member or friend.  I hope I never put my work or my own life ahead of someone else who needs a little time.  I would hate to wake up one day and realize I could have had way more than I chose.  I hope no matter life and how it happens at the end of the day, my kids, my family, my friends know and understand…my door is always open.  I hope even though the holidays seem crazy and hard to handle, I still find time to be excited about giving to another.  I am thankful.  I don’t have everything in life figured out yet but these things I do.  

peace,

xoxo, Teresa Ann

dis -moi chérie !

dis -moi chérie !

Currently reading the book, 'French Women Don't Sleep Alone'.   The reason for my new found french title for my weekly list that means "tell me darling" and my attitude by the way! *wink*

Why I no longer view Angelina Jolie as a man stealing, home wrecking whore...

When my weekly trip to Publix is unfruitful for winter time flower arrangements.  I do so love flowers all year long.

Thanksgiving Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln.  Something that everyone should read that is cooking a turkey and pretending to love your family this time of the year.

Because I can never remember exactly how to set my Thanksgiving table.

A truly unique 'what I'm grateful for list'.  I put this on here because everyone seems to be doing them on Facebook with pretty "boring", zombie like responses.  Thought they could use a little help.

Some interesting fun facts about Thanksgiving that you might not know.  I know I had no idea old Benny wanted our national bird to be the turkey.  If you've ever read the book, "I'm an eagle not a turkey", that is something else to be thankful for this year!

Christmas for the Guys

Tis the season to be thankful for all things and to prepare to celebrate with the men in our lives.  Here are a few things on my Christmas list for a chosen few. 

Christmas for the Guys by teresa-ann-lifestyleblog featuring a christmas outfit

Coming of Age

Greetings great big world!
It was a very special day in my house on Tuesday.  Juliet turned 13 years old.  You know they are officially a teenager when they say, "Just give me money!" or just giving money is absolutely the easiest thing in the world to do.

I am so happy that she's finally a teenager but at the same time, concerned about what the future holds for this little one.  Will she keep her grades up?  Will she throw all her hard work away over a little boy?  Will she figure out what college she wants to go to?  Will she choose the right over the wrong more than not?  You know, all those things that race through your mind as puberty sets in.  She assures me though that she and I will be together forever and she won't forget her future.  I'm gonna remind her of that probably at least once every 4-5 months. lol

 Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Relationships, relationships, relationships!

I read through my fb feed, browse my Instagram and skim over a tweet or two.  The vibe is the same.  Relationships, relationships, relationships.  Celebrity relationships, cheating relationships, new relationships,  broken this, sexy that and a whole lot of people believing another person defines them.  I try to make sense of it all being a little darkened and lifted by my own experiences, the good, bad and everything in between.  

I have a few things to say to the girls that completely surrender themselves to the power of another that you can no longer see who they are.  Where have you gone?  Were you not good enough to shine brighter?  What stories must you have been told and believed that you buried yourself under the guise of another and in laying down your own path, took up another unfamiliar to you.  You will regret not answering to your life's call and its not everybody's is to find a man/woman.  Sometimes your call could be just to be who you are in an extraordinary way.

To the mom who lives, eats, shits and breathes your kids, what...are...you...doing?  Oh I'm not saying your babies aren't the most beautiful creatures ever or I'm not mesmerized by the incredible cuteness.  I'm saying, "where are you?"  Do you exist or is your purpose just to take baby pics and lose your whole identity in your kids?  Cause one day will come when it's their right to detach and live their own lives and you will wonder where you've been for the past eighteen years.  I see a lot of mothers out there but I don't see many female examples, leaders or motivators for these precious little ones.  If you want your child to have a voice in this world, then where's yours?  

To the sacrificial lambs who I see must believe it's ok for your man to be a dick and you must remain the saint... You have been deceived.  It is not ok for your guy to go out and party with his friends while you stay home and change diapers and get called a frigid bitch.  (Read this on fb this morning). There is nothing wrong whatsoever with tossing him the diapers and you putting your dancing shoes on from time to time.  It was our mothers and theirs who shoved down our throats, anything with a swinging dick must be worshiped and they get to call the shots.  These days are no more and though I can relate to the motherly worry and concern we seem to exude in active demonstration to the world for our babies,  there is still an unfairness that never feels right.  You are more then you know or have ever been told.  You can have it all and never lose one drop of love for your child all along the way. 

To the girl who never seems to find Mr. right and moves from one relationship to another...if you just sit still, he will find you.  He will come looking and you will be out on a date with some loser that didn't care about you at all because how many Mr Rights can you date in a month and why does your Mr Right always seem to be holding a beer standing beside a big muddier truck? (You'll get that if your from the south).  

To the men who are happily ok with a weak minded woman taking off her identity like you take off your boots, and morphed herself into her mans idea of what she should be. You are missing out!  You will never know the amazing feminine that is within her.  You will never see her wings or taste her truest freedom.  She is intuitive in a way that will amaze you and maybe piss you off but it's hers.  To those that hide behind the church  somehow believing Jesus taught a woman to be less than a man.  Shame on you!  For within every woman's beating heart that knows the good Lord personally understands a silent, unspoken thing that tells her she is his and loved beyond reason, magical.  A woman is, the closet thing to the Lords heart.  She hears it even in this world that says men are so much more than she is.  

So to all the relationships, straight ones and gay ones, black ones, white ones and everything in between, you are here on planet earth to be an individual and grow your own soul.  Should you be lucky enough to find someone who enhances this instead of taking it away remain ever so faithful and congratulations for you are few and far between.  For my Facebook feed who showcased a divorce, a homosexual coming out of the closet, a woman claiming she is nothing without her love and a feeling of suicide, stand up.  You are more than you know!  Relationships are not everything and the sole reason for being alive.  They can be only the icing on the cake.  For if you have not done the work to know yourself, then your relationships are superficial at best and will net prove satisfactory.  So everybody get your crap together and be something.  Strong and unique and don't settle for your fears.  Chase amazing people that flavor you and bring out your amazing possibilities but never ever ever think you are not more!!! 

My life according to my iPhone playlist.

It has been a really crazy week and I've missed a few days. Well, today it's Friday and I woke up this morning to my iphone playlist. Music was exactly what I needed with a week of work, buying a car, rearranging my lifes schedule for other important events. I thought it would be cool to share this with you all.

This is the first line of every song on my playlist. I have decided that I either need happier songs or to get a life, lol. What's yours say about you I wonder?


with every small disaster, I’ll let the water stir

I have been searching, all of my days, all of my days.

every time he goes, she dies, every time she comes, she cries

When I was a little bitty baby, my mama would rock me in the cradle

Cover me, cover me, spread your precious love all over me

I can hear her heart beat from a thousand miles

I hear your heart beat to the beat of the drums, oh what a shame you came here with someone.

you took your coat off, stood in the rain, your always crazy like that.

she’s just a girl and she’s on fire.

she had a dead end job at the national bank.

Her comes the sun.

I am woman hear me roar

love of mine someday you will die.

pretty pretty on the fence in your pretty moment of nonsense.

took my love took it down climbed a mountain and I turned around.

that you only need the light when it’s burning low

when I find myself in times of trouble, mother mary come to me.

I haven’t ever really found a place that I call home.

city lights shine on the harbor, night has fallen down.

loveing a person just the way they are it’s no small thing.

we roll in every summer when there’s strength in our numbers and your breath sound gross but I kiss you like a lover

strangest chaos turning into light.

you are my sunshine

down by the water under the willow

you blow my whistle baby whistle baby let me know.

somedays it feels like theres a heaven up above I never want it to end cause I never get enough

now that your big eyes are finally open

I can see your eyes staring into mine but it’s a battlefield and your on the other side,

there comes a time, time in everyones life

lay down, lets explore this tenderness between us there aint no one around to see us.

guess its true I’m not good at a one night stand

you’ve been searching have you found many things.

I’m not the one who’s so far away when I feel the snake bite.

It’s so hard to make decisions in the world that we live in .

I look around me all I seem to see is people going nowhere expecting sympathy.

I’m in love and I am lost but I’d rather be broken than empty.

she kissed you under the autumn sky one night feels like the 4th of july.

I wish that I was in your shoes maybe I would understand the pressure.

she is my rock and my rollin thunder I’ve been the spell she was under.

one thing that I know, it will get better.

standing in the saddle of love waiting for someone

today I took a walk in the cloudes

you slip your fingers tearing my tshirt

every since you left me I’ve been riding around.

I can’t take a heart that’s been broken make it over again.

when I’m in over my head when I’m caught up in the fray and my strength is failing.

come out of hiding your safe here with me

when that blood warm if the moon red white, I miss the life that I left behind.

everybodys on the same page

still my heart and hold my tongue I feel my time, my time has come.

can we believe all that we read or that we tell you.

I was left to my own devices many days fell away nothing to show.

well all the dark clouds roll away, sun begins to shine, I see my freedom from across the way and it comes in right on time.

such a day, I wrote a song for you cause the day can get so long.

some nights I stay up cashing in my bad luck some nights I call it a draw.

come on skinny love just last the year

JCrew Opens in Chattanooga!

I am so happy that JCrew Factory finally opened at Hamilton Place here in Chattanooga.  Those of you who follow me know I've been waiting as patiently as possible.  So I've made my first purchase showcased here with a few added treasures that are on my wish list.  Check it out.

Jcrew Moments by teresa-ann-lifestyleblog featuring J.Crew

DIY- How to make your own lipgloss.

What a nice weekend.  I was able to cuddle by the fire, spend time with Charlie, Jupiter and Dre, cook and visit the mountains.  It was for sure one of the coldest weekends yet this fall but I really had a good time staying home and chilling out.  

On Sunday, I decided to try this DIY recipe for homemade lipgloss.  It only involves two ingredients; Coconut Oil and Color Crayons.  I know, sounds weird,  but not so much if you realize crayons are mostly wax and color pigments that are food grade and non-toxic.  So I had a blast making a few different colors.  I used a drop or two of peppermint oil and Vanilla so that they would smell awesome and tingle my lips.  the Coconut oil is great for your lips this fall with the weather getting cooler.  This project took hardly any time at all.  You can pick the containers up at any craft store for around a few bucks a pack.

Supplies

Break the Crayons.

Use small glass/ceramic dish placed in pan.  Fill with water to just barely cover the bottom of the dish.  Place Crayons and two teaspoons of coconut oil in the dish and melt.  This will go fairly quickly so be very careful.  When it’s melted, take off the stove and use a spatula and mittens to handle the dish.   

Coming to a melting point, you can stir to ensure even consistency. (This is Dres hand, not mine, lol)

Toward the end you can add a few drops of peppermint oil or any other essential oil of your choosing.

Again, remember when taking off the stove to be very careful.  I used a teaspoon meaning scoop to add the gloss to the containers.

Place containers on a small plate and let sit in freezer to harden for just a few minutes.  

Wa-La!  All done!

Lookout Mtn. Tennessee

It is absolutely freezing here in the Chattanooga area.  Winter feels like it has come with a vengeance.  The wind is howling outside my window and the biggest fluffiest yellow-brown leaves are everywhere on the ground in my backyard.  Last night was Halloween and the marker for cold weather finally being here in Tennessee.

I didn't want to miss the last few days of fall and all the pretty colors so I took a drive up Lookout Mtn just outside of Chattanooga earlier today.  It was hard to stay long out of the car in the cold but it was exactly what I needed today.  Everyplace has it's magic and Lookout Mountain definitely has it's own.  A world within a world.