Wednesday, July 31, 2013

THE BIBLE: A SOUVENIR?



THE BIBLE: A SOUVENIR?
How many of us through the years have purchased souvenirs only to leave them sitting on our shelves and hanging in our closets never to be seen and appreciated?  The purpose of buying those items was to have the ability to continually revisit a time and place that brought us joy.  I recently read a magazine article advising that we should use the coffee mugs to drink out of and use the seashells as paperweights so we could see them regularly.  I was reminded to wear the many tee shirts purchased through the years so I could remember the places  I've visited.  My daughter recently traveled throughout Europe for several weeks and wondered if she was sharing too many pictures on Facebook. By nature humans are voyagers, we like looking at other people's pictures.  For some, my daughter's pictures would be the only way they would journey to a world beyond their imagination.  For others, those pictures would be reminders of places they've been or where their families immigrated from.  There are those who don’t realize there are other places to go and our pictures and souvenirs give them the hope that they too can travel to unknown places. 

How many of us have bibles resting on our shelves, never opened, only dusted on the weekends when we do our weekly chores?  How many of us know that the bible contains God’s promises of a time and a place where we’ll know only joy?  How many of us know that Heaven is the place we want to reside?  We only know if our bible is torn, tattered and marked up.  If not, our bible looks like it did the first day it was given to us or the day we first bought it; a souvenir.  Now don’t do your bible like we used to do our tennis shoes back in grade school.  When we wanted them to look worn we purposely scuffed and dirtied them up to make them look like they had gotten a lot of wear. Nowadays, kids don’t want to be seen in anything that looks old!  And we should no longer be satisfied with a bible that looks new! True story...I had a friend who visited thrift shops and estate sales to find old bibles so she'd have a bible that looked like she read it often!

Imagine having your first cup of coffee or tea of the day in a mug you brought home from a place like Hawaii. or in my daughter's case, Greece (and other places I would love to visit). Not only does the tea seem to taste better but the memory of a place so beautiful is enough to help sustain us through the day. Wearing a piece of jewelry that was bought by you or for you from a faraway place is enough to bring back the memories of that
special time.  I've visited people whose homes are filled with knickknacks or as some people call them; dust catchers.  Sometimes you may hear those same collectors complaining about all of the dusting they have to do. Why then would they buy those kinds of items?  And perhaps they should tell their friends to stop buying those kinds of souvenirs.  But since you have them, dust them and keep it moving!  Your bible SHOULD BE be dusted if it sits on the shelf all day, every day.  

Think of how refreshing your day would be if you started it off reading a scripture each morning! In 365 days your bible would not only look like you've been using it but your knowledge of what God has for you will increase exponentially. Have a great green day!

2 Timothy 2:15 KJV 15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.




                





                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

MY NEW ADDICTION








While perusing pinterest.com last night I ran across this quote. How apropos! I have to admit I'm a pinning fanatic..does that make me a pinhead? lol! I'm trying to be facetious but this is so true.


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This is my daily thought! What are you pinning?

Thursday, April 18, 2013

WELCOME TO MY FRONT DOOR (PART 2)

Those who follow my blog know that I've been in quite a quandary about remodeling my home. I think it's pretty much settled that the kitchen will be my starting point. The rest of the house will be done to coordinate with the kitchen. I'm staying true to my love of green but in varying shades. The kitchen below kind of sets the mood I'm trying to achieve.


Now to get to this look would require painting my cabinets or having them refaced. It's funny how pinterest.com makes me think I'm capable of painting cabinets! 
What do you think about this look?

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

RAISING WHITLEY

Raising Whitley premieres April 20, 2013 on the OWN network. 
10/9c
#RaisingWhitley


(my daughter Samantha Cha is in the back row wearing the hat!)

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

SPRING GREENS

Spring is officially here and although it's still too cold to start shedding our clothing I thought I'd share some early spring looks. All of the pictures are from essence.com
Zoe Saldana with her sister Cisely

Jada Pinkett Smith

Solange Knowles

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

RAISING WHITLEY


I've been repulsed by the reality shows featured on television. But this is one I highly recommend!
Kym Whitley is hilarious as a comedian but wait til you see her in her unexpected role of motherhood.
Premieres on the OWN network April 20, 2013.
I'll be watching...will you?

(oh yeah, I forgot to add my daughter Samantha is in it!)

Have an great green kind of day!


Here is the promo picture for the show

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

GLUTEN FREE


There's something about almost turning 60 that makes a person reevaluate their life. I'm doing a lot of soul searching in time for my 60th birthday that's coming up soon. I've often heard about "hindsight being 20-20" and although I've said it to others I never took heed to it until it almost became too late. I have always quoted "nothing beats a failure but a try"  I don't know where the quote came from but I've been saying it for thirty years or more. The bible tells us "faith without works is dead" (James 2:14-26). Nothing beats a failure but a try simply means if you do nothing you gain nothing. Isn't it funny how I could use those words to encourage others to follow their dreams and their passions but didn't always follow those words of wisdom myself? I have stepped out on faith...no, I jumped out on faith for a lot of things I've able to accomplish but didn't take it to heart where it mattered the most: my health. As life happened my motto became "life goes on" and that seemed to excuse me from the mistreatment of my body and my health.

I thought I had more time to make myself Sexy by Sixty but things like life got in the way. And instead of getting better I started getting worse. Things I used to take for granted: my skin, my weight, and my health have now come back to haunt me. Yesterday while I was shopping for a few groceries I found myself in the skin care section of the store and actually bought wrinkle remover. Wow! I wasn't prepared for that but when I looked in the mirror and actually saw sagging skin around my mouth area I was devastated. Then I saw a few dark spots on my face and yes, I bought some cream for that too. Now the wrinkles and the dark spots have been there a long time but I always thought I had time to get rid of them. I really thought I would get rid of them by the age sixty along with this 50 or more pounds I need to lose.

Now I never intended to blog about diet and weight loss. But I want to share my journey to a better me with you. I am making up my list now for things I need to start a gluten free diet. If you're like me you don't know much about gluten and what it does to your body and I'm sure I'll be learning more and more as I go along. But what I do know is that a lot of the aches and pains I have are probably related to gluten in some way or another. I'm reading up on it and the diet seems simple enough for even me to stick with it. So while Emerald Obsessive is not a weight loss or diet blog, I will periodically share my successes with you. 

Who wants to take this journey with me?

Sunday, March 24, 2013

WINTER GREENS

Spring is officially here although Punxsutawny Phil should be arrested for lying. But before we start pulling out our warm weather clothes I wanted to share some final pictures of women in green for the cooler weather. Sometimes it takes just a pop of color to make a statement.

Chioma Nnadi of London, England

Corinna Williams of New York City

Danielle Prescod of  Pelham, NY

Jennifer Battmore of Brooklyn, NY

Karen Blanchard of London, England

Michelle Swittenberg of New Jersey
Millen Umoh of New York City

Chioma Nnadi of London, England

(all pics provided by essence.com)

Sunday, March 10, 2013

SHAMELESS PLUG

http://www.oprah.com/own/First-Look-Raising-Whitley-Video

I've been repulsed by the reality shows featured on television. But this is one I highly recommend!
Watch the trailer (link shown above) and you'll see what I mean.
Kym Whitley is hilarious as a comedian but wait til you see her in her unexpected role of motherhood.
Premieres on the OWN network April 20, 2013.
I'll be watching...will you?

(oh yeah, I forgot to add my daughter Samantha is in it!)

Have an great green kind of day!

Old picture of Samantha and Kym

Saturday, February 23, 2013

MY BUCKET LIST

pic provided by yahoo.com/images
This list is still evolving so periodically I will add or subtract accordingly. When I started making this list I thought I would list things like jumping out of a plane, riding in a hot air balloon, etc but the things I want to do have changed over the last year. Maybe age does that to a person.

Currently my list includes:

1.   Find my birth mother (at least her real name and see a picture of her)
2.   Learn to make good Gumbo
3.  Drive an RV cross country to California
4.   Visit Balboa Island once I get to California (where the woman I think was my birth mother once lived)
5.  Visit Colonel Allensworth State Historical Park (used to be Allensville, California: an all black city)
6.   Visit Martha's Vineyard
7.   Learn to shoot a gun
8.   Eat at Dookie Chase's in New Orleans, Louisiana (Leah Chase)
9.   Eat at Sweetie Pie's in St. Louis
10. Eat at The Upper Crust in St. Louis (also owned by Sweetie Pie)
11. Sing in a studio

What's on your list of "must do's" before you leave this earth?

Friday, February 1, 2013

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

google.com/images
Celebrate Black History Month 24/7

HEART HEALTH

google.com/images


This is going to be short and sweet...take care of your heart!
It's just that simple. 
Start early. Eat right, exercise and have regular check-ups.
Please don't wait until it's too late.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

WELCOME TO MY FRONT DOOR (Part 1)

pinterest.com
Pantone finally jumped on my bandwagon and decided emerald green was the color of the season. Where have they been? Green is always the color. Who amongst us doesn't wish for green grass all year long and green leaves on the trees in the winter? How many of us have all of the green money we want?  How many small animals use the color green as camouflage to hide from the elements?  I could go on and on about the color green but that's not what this is about.

The green door above is my fantasy starting point. So welcome as I start the process of finally getting around to decorating my home. I have three green sofas in my house: one in my office with an ottoman and two in my living room with an ottoman. It was only when I got the two for my living room home I realized they were exactly like the one in my office, the only exception being the one in my office is chenille fabric and the ones in the living are leather! Talk about green obsession!

Now picture this, you can see part of my living room from the kitchen which leaves me in a quandary.
I would like to add more green to my kitchen to create more cohesiveness between the two rooms: backsplash, counter stools, bar stools, canisters, etc. Okay, I know that's a bit much so I have to look at other ways to incorporate some additional green. Let's take a look at some options: I would use this in my breakfast area if the L-shaped bar wasn't there and the builder put the light fixture closer to the window instead of hanging in the middle of the room.

pinterest.com
Next my style is somewhere in the middle of modern and traditional but I'd love to add a little bit of country cottage. I think this planter would add that feeling without going overboard.

pinterest.com

Another dilemma I'm having is the recessed lighting in my kitchen. There is no real rhyme or reason to the placement of the lighting. They didn't center any of the fixtures over the island which would've been great. They put them on the outer edges of the ceiling (in front of the cabinets and in front of the bar (not over it). One redeeming factor is that they placed one fixture over the kitchen sink which is where I could hang another idea; a green chandelier. Perhaps one day my husband will let me spring for rewiring!

pinterest.com

These are just a few of the ideas I'm looking at. This may take a while, so bear with me while I go through the process. At the end of this journey I'm going to have a great kitchen! Then we'll start on the living room

Have a great green day!

Friday, January 4, 2013

TLC



No, I'm talking about "tender loving care." I'm talking about The Learning Channel on television. Years ago I remember when the channel's focus was educational types of programming. I also remember when they forged into reality shows like Trading Spaces, where neighbors designed a room in each other's homes with the help of a designer, A Wedding Story and A Baby Story. I loved A Wedding Story. But I digress! For years, I searched and searched for TLC's programming guide to find A Wedding Story to no avail. So I now get my fill of wedding stories by watching David Tutera on My Fair Wedding and Say Yes To The Dress and similar shows.

Then they started with shows like  Jon & Kate Plus 8, 17 Kids and Counting which turned into 18 Kids and Counting and then 19 Kids and Counting (who cares about how many kids this family wants to have?) That's when I knew they had started going downhill (at least for me). Searching the TV Guide (does anyone still buy those?) I looked to see what TLC's current offerings were. Imagine my surprise when I found shows like Honey Boo Boo and most recently The Sisterhood (the biggest mockery of God I've ever seen) and the new show I heard about this morning; Best Funeral Ever. WTH!

I remember when TLC's slogan used to be Life Unscripted then it changed to Live and Learn. Their slogan is now Life's Surprises. Well you know what TLC...I pray you're surprised when people stop watching the shenanigans you air now. I for one will not watch TLC again.