What a SIGNIFICANT Day This Is...

Hi Guys!

 I was flown out to California last Monday to complete a ghost-writing project that I have been diligently working on since March. There were 6 more chapters to write and I am ELATED to announce that I just completed the book about 30 minutes ago. I also write a guest blog the first Monday of each month for Hopes Not A Crime; a ministry that I am an inspirational speaker AKA "Hope Ambassador" for. However, due to my busy week of LITERALLY staring at a computer screen in cozy yoga pants, no makeup and classical music playing in my headphones, I had not gotten the chance to write it. I decided that I would get it done as SOON as I finished the book; the goal I was attacking today with an intensity I cannot even explain. It is a book about finding faith in God's will and keeping hope through the adversity you encounter in life, and well.... I must say that it's an amazing read.

I kind of feel like that writer that recluses for weeks then comes out with her manuscript in hand, hair disheveled screaming “It’s  done!” (Actually that's kind of how it really happened except it was only 6 days)

Here I sit, ready to write my guest blog and it just struck midnight... making it August 5th... 2013. I looked up to God and smiled... as a tear came to my eye. I have felt his presence in this room all week, and now I wonder if it was Him I was feeling or perhaps someone else I know. ( Hi Teresa!) What a significant day August 5th is in my life... August 5th, 2011 is also when I finished my first book... a memoir which was dedicated to my sister who died on August 5th, 1981. The day that my life changed forever, the event that shattered my belief in God which led me down a long and lonely path of Atheism where I was lost for years. How miraculously things have changed since then, how beautiful I feel my story truly is but I have now helped someone else share theirs in another book... through a gift that I was given by HIM and I completed it just 30 minutes before the clock struck twelve the eve of August 5th...

I honestly sit here in awe, in tears, in a full blown emotional moment as God is speaking to me once again, showing me that He is really here. I don't mind if you are not with me on this... I am just sharing, you don't have to believe in it's authenticity... but it is VERY real for me. I then continued to sit here and think of what my plans are for today... I am having lunch with one of my fans/ turned friend who just happens to live just minutes from where I am staying which is literally across the country from my home in Florida. He is a man who lost his child and was able to get my book which talks about grief , loss and how there is purpose for it which I believe can only be revealed if we open our minds and our hearts to the Big Guy. If you read my blog, you KNOW that I am faithful and you KNOW that you should NEVER feel uncomfortable here... regardless of your beliefs; I don't judge because I know where I came from. I just want everyone to have what I have gained in life so I sometimes share through my writing how I got here.

Peace... that's what I have now. The weights of the world  have been lifted off of me as I have learned to trust God more and more. I made a promise to Him the day he revealed what He could do... the day that I was on my knees crying yelling at this "imaginary man" I did not even believe in to SHOW ME he was real because I had nothing left. I was lost, broken and feeling unworthy of anything good. I wanted to have a happier life, and thought that what I was doing was going to get it, man-o-man was I wrong! It was the ONLY time that I gave up in my entire life... I gave up control and screamed for someone else to take over and well... HE did! I made a promise to never lose faith again and I must say that I have only failed to trust completely once since then. I was picked up from my fall VERY quickly when that happened and immediately started that first book. I knew when it was done that THIS was my true calling and that it would be something I would do for the rest of my life. Now... I have made it happen for someone else, I have given them a gift through mine... it's a feeling that I cannot even wrap my brain around, yet I never want this feeling to go away.

In our weakest, darkest moments we lose faith, we shut everyone out so that we don't have to admit failure that we can do it on our own. Guess what? As I sit here 32 years to the day that my beautiful sister Teresa was taken from us, I may be crying... but these are different tears. I am thanking that Big Guy in the sky for giving me peace in taking the very day that made me hate him at one point in my life and turning it into a day that I can celebrate because it now also represents my significant walk back into His loving arms.

If you can only take just ONE THING away from this blog post  please take this...

We all walk aimlessly around at times thinking we can do it all alone. I am here to tell you that when this happens you need something more significant... I encourage you to find what that is for YOU.

Have an amazing day!

xoxo

~Shells~

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Doing What's Right....

First of all I want to say that I am sorry for skipping out on  my weekend blog... I had SO much to do as I got ready for a ten day business trip and by the end of Friday my brain was fried... it was worse on Saturday and Sunday it was burnt toast. I am honestly exhausted now too. I have been in a plane all day minus one stop in Houston where I had an unexpected 2 hour delay (which I took FULL advantage of) However, now that I am in San Jose in my cozy room at my friend Shellie's house, I figured I would write this quick Monday blog to start your week off  regardless of the fact that I am on a 3-hour time difference and should TOTALLY be in bed right now. Something pretty great happened to me today and even though I shared the story on my Facebook page  <

As always, just another day in the life of Shells was not just an ordinary day...

Scene: I was at the Tampa airport this morning in a ridonkulous line at security... an over 60 lady traveling with her grandson looking disheveled is frantic on the verge of tears because she may miss her flight. She expresses her concern to a TSA associate and she gets a rude reply, "get in line." As she stands there with a blank look, physically upset, some people around her are rolling their eyes, some are staying quiet and some you can hear whispering that they feel bad for her. After about 20 minutes later, I get within ear reach of the TSA guy checking boarding passes and id's and ask if I can let her cut in line ahead of me and about 30 other people. He says "if you ask everyone and they say okay" So I yell out  "does anyone care if I let this lady cut in line so she doesn't miss her flight? Does anyone care?" Nobody speaks so I allow her through and people ahead of me follow my lead, she caught her flight. Several people applauded me and the TSA guy said that was the kindest thing he had ever seen. It honestly made my day. ‪

As I sat at my gate with plenty of time to kill, I reflected on what had just happened and wondered why nobody spoke up before me. I know I was not the only one who felt the way I was feeling. She looked at me with the saddest most confused eyes I think I had ever seen after I made eye contact with her and asked, "are you going to miss your flight?" Might I add that she was not close to me in line at all. I just had to do something and quite frankly, I don't know how nobody else didn't. Have we gotten so selfish, so caught up in our own pursuit of happiness and fulfillment that we have truly forgotten what it is like to do something nice, something selfless for someone else? Are we honestly so self righteous and judgemental that we have to turn our heads and cover our ears or simply be rude to people when they are in need? C'mon people, can't you see how messed up that is? What if YOU were the one in need?

As you continue your week I ask one favor of you... do something selfless for a complete stranger and watch how good it makes you feel. Get caught doing something good for someone else and you may just find that happiness inside that you keep trying to find by buying things and having a "someone" in your life. You find peace through others.... not with others. The pursuit of  true happiness ends with making who YOU are inside better.

#BE DIFFERENT #BE UNIQUE #SPEAKOUT #SPEAKUP  #BE HUMAN

xoxo

~Shells~ 

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Did I REALLY Do All of That in Two Days?

I know I am not "normal'... I say it ALL of the time; I FEEL it all of the time and quite frankly I like it MOST of the time. However, once in a while I sit back and say to myself... are you even human? Well, this weekend raised that question as I looked back at what I actually did in a matter of only two days.

Saturday morning I headed over to St. Petersburg to do makeup on a model for a shoot. Unfortunately, I had afternoon plans with a couple of girlfriends so I couldn't stay for the shoot as I normally do... "do it and go" jobs are rare for me, but you gotta do whatcha' gotta do. She looked great; that's all that mattered I suppose. Here is a quick "phone shot" I took before I left>>>>>

At about 12:30 I headed home to prep for my afternoon with two of my dearest friends; stopping at the grocery store to pick up a few things on the way. Since Corey was going to the movies and the kids were out playing with friends, the plan for us was to have some quality "girl time" while drinking refreshing cocktails and devouring yummy food which was tag-team cooked by my friend and I" food network" style. It was VERY yummy and very fun. Oh... but the day was not over; about 7:45 I said goodbye to my friends and headed into the bathroom to get ready for my friend Wendy's 50th birthday surprise party and I was out the door like Flash Gordon by 8:15. I stayed a few hours, met some new people and said goodbye knowing that I had a looooong Sunday ahead.  (ps>>that's me in the stripes)

Now onto Sunday....

As some of you know, I have a makeup and hair studio (now all of you know) that I have been operating out of an executive office building for about a year and half after moving out of my "retail" space in the county I previously lived in. It has been a quaint, private, cozy little space that my clients and I have enjoyed. Unfortunately, a couple of months ago I found out that the building was in pre-forclosure and had to begin to make decisions. Do I stay and see what is going to happen or do I make a new plan? Prior to finding out about this, the landlord had been hounding me about moving into a larger suite downstairs and although I was initially against it, I finally gave in when he made me an offer I could not refuse... only to be told a month later that he found someone else to rent it for more than I was paying and signed a lease with them... (after after I spent two weeks painting it my self, moving my stuff down stairs and setting up "shop".) Ahhhh, okay you USED me to get it looking good, I get it! Was that illegal? yes, I even talked to a lawyer who said I had a solid case, but these days, I choose to go with the philosophy that everything happens for a reason. I moved BACK upstairs into my old suite and carried on.

After being back in my old suite for a month, I have been continuously  harassed by the landlord, and the "hot seat" is simply not my seat of choice. He refused to give me a new lease stating that I was just "month to month" now, which left me unprotected and a bit uneasy. Although the building had now been sold to a "new guy" and is supposedly out of trouble, the "new guy" is standing behind the "old guy", and day to day business has left a lot to be desired for me. I have been in this business WAY too long and dealt with too many shady landlords to continue being "snowed" by two men who think that just because I am an attractive woman that I am brainless. They can take their sexual innuendo's and unethical comments and put them where the sun doesn't shine!

Due to cash flow, I have paid my rent between the 15th and 20th of EVERY month for over a year and got the "okay" from the original landlord before executing the lease to do so. However, Friday, I show up to find a 3-day to pay rent or vacate notice taped to my door like I was some sort of loser who doesn't pay rent. It wasn't folded, it wasn't in an envelope... nope, it was taped WIDE open on my door for everyone to see. NICE job proving you are a manly-man. This left me with two choices. Pay the rent (which I was going to do on the 20th anyway) and continue the drama or leave and use the money to set up a new space. Hmmm..... million dollar question.

So....I called their bluff and my Sunday was spent moving out of my cozy little place and bringing everything home. We even pulled up the beautiful floor I put in when I took the space. I left it as it was the day I moved in and left a nice little note with the keys on the new landlord's office desk...

I wonder how THAT will make his Monday?

They figured their little "tactic" would scare little ole' me? Little did they know that I have been bullied before... and since they gave me no lease... they were not protected either; funny how things backfire. As I locked the door to the building I thought of the good year I had, the purpose this place served and the growth that happened while I was there. I had a peaceful feeling which told me that I was doing the right thing. It was time for a new chapter, new beginnings and positive changes once again. Change is growth and that is priceless. I refuse to have drama in my life anymore, I rid myself of it as soon as it begins to appear. I lived in it for so long that I thought it was necessary... yep no thanks, lesson learned on that topic.

Today, I will meet with the contractor who will hopefully be building my cozy new space inside my garage and I am feeling pretty great about it. Fingers crossed I will be up and running soon. No more landlords, just a cozy space for making my clients look and feel amazing because THAT is all I need; and since I only work in my studio about 15 hours a week, this will be perfect! (not to mention the fact the extra $$ in my pocket) I truly proved to myself this weekend that when negative things happen YOU have control on how you allow them to affect you and it has everything to do with how stressful your life will be... hopefully you can take that lesson away from me today and allow it to carry into your week as negative stuff occurs.

The best part of the weekend was having the time EVEN after all the things I did to float in my pool and soak up some vitamin D with my family. It's amazing what you can get done, what you can fit in to a couple of days if you just MAKE the time. I hope you all had a terrific weekend and that you kick off this Monday with a positive attitude and a little ray of hope... and never ever forget that change is GOOD!

xoxo

~Shells~