Blisstory Question

Do you believe everything happens for a reason?

My good friend, Lisa Marie of MetroChickRadio.com, posed that question to her listening audience a few years ago. It received mixed comments. Even Lisa and I were on opposite sides of the fence that day. We probably still are. (Maybe we need to run that segment again, or better yet, do another show.)

Me, I do believe things happen for a reason. We may not always know what the meaning is behind the event, encounter or experience at the time; we will know when we take a breath and look back, saying the big, “Ahhh, that’s why that happened!”

I could give you a million examples of incidents that have transpired in my life from chance meetings to running back in the house to grab something only to find out I was seconds away from an accident. Encounters and experiences may seem insignificant, yet there is so much more to them when you really pay attention.

The most recent example I share is my meeting Joan Feldman. Joan is a psychotherapist who happened to see and purchase my book, The Blisstory Journal. Weeks later, she was at an event I participated in. When I woke the morning of the event, I couldn’t speak due to a sore throat. My intention was to go right back to bed; not attending the event. My husband convinced me to take “two Tylenol” and get on with it. It was my first event sharing lessons on self love, including my Blisstory Journal Handbook. When I started speaking with Joan, I knew we would connect on a deeper level. In fact, I intentionally asked her questions during my "time on stage" to get to know her more. I fully appreciated her input and expertise.

It turns out Joan is more than just your average psychotherapist. Joan incorporates a little of, what some may think as craziness, into her practice and healing adventure. In fact, it’s the premise for her book, “A Frog In My Basement, A Therapists Curious Journey into Energy Psychology and the Law of Attraction.” That afternoon, Joan changed my life, forever! Through her unique delivery of EFT and TAP techniques, she helped me release some “baggage” I’ve been hanging on to for a long time. You’ll have to read my own journal to hear more about that and you’ll have to trust me on the enormous amount of relief I feel after that experience.

Today, I had lunch with Joan and I look forward to much, much more! Do yourself a favor and grab her book, there’s a reason for it, I’m sure!!!

Blissfully yours, Teri

Blisstory Question

Do you like snowstorms? Have you ever been in a snowstorm?

If you have lived in Michigan for more than 6 months, the answer to that question is a big "yes." Liking snowstorms or not, we get them for a few months a year, including April. This April, we were hit with 6 inches in the beginning of the month. In fact, the snow made it's way down to Atlanta.

Thinking that we were going to be "free" of snow, my husband and I took a "working" road trip to Atlanta. We had 10 days of freedom from parenting and anticipated a warm, wondrous adventure along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The trip started off with sunshine and 70 degree weather. It ended with spending our last 5 days "back at the ranch" and blizzard like conditions along the Cumberland Gap in Kentucky.

In the first two days we visited Natural Bridge State Park, Broke Leg Falls, and Cloudland Canyon; hiking over 15 miles of steep, treacherous trails. Anyone taking a road trip to the south needs to stop at Cloudland Canyon in NW Georgia. It presents one of the most spectacular views you will see East of the Mississippi. The six mile hike down to the bottom of the gorge is well worth the sweat and exertion.


Reaching Atlanta, we spent three days "moving" my father in law, enjoying 70 to 80 degree weather. The "working" part of the trip was attending the Women For Hire convention on Saturday. Tory Johnson brings her "roadshow" on working from home to communities across the country. Hundreds of men and women waited in line for tips and strategies on working from home or starting your own business.

Saturday afternoon we went to the Tigers vs. Braves Spring training game. While at the game, I met with an old friend from elementary school. Ahh the wonders of Facebook and email. Ok, that's another blog. Waking up Tuesday to snow in Atlanta and the forecast of cold weather for the next few days sent us packing! We decided that snow was snow and we could be home, where 6 inches had just hit the Metro Detroit Area.


I'm grateful my husband was driving. When we reached Kentucky,
the snow started. By the time we hit the Cumberland Gap, it was a
blizzard. Jeff is usually a very relaxed driver. Not this time! He drove with white fists, clinching the steering wheel for over an hour as we drove through some of the heaviest, thickest snow we had ever been in. In Michigan, that's not so bad. In the Kentucky mountains, with nothing between you and a 1000' drop, but a side rail (on my side) it's pretty intense. Even the truckers were driving slow or pulling off. (Not Jeff, he was on a mission to get home.)

We made it home in time to see mounds of snow still piled in parking lots all around town. Next time we travel, we will wait until May...although, in Michigan, snow has been known to fall in May!

Stay warm as "April showers bring may flowers", I hope.

Blisstory Journal Question - page 32

Are you an art lover? Who is your favorite artist or photographer?


Without a doubt, my favorite photographer is my husband. He is a natural and has taken some of the most amazing shots I’ve seen. He’s built quite the reputation among his two favorite high schools as the best photographer they have and his pics are all over Facebook. Better yet are his photo’s of nature, particularly the squirrels and spiders he so loves to capture in the yard. (I'll share more about his work in another blog.)

Art is ‘a whole nother story.’ When it comes to art, there are so many choices. Each person has their own individual style, taste and flair, all of which can change minute by minute, depending on the mood. This is exactly what I shared this weekend with my new friend, artist Julie “Jules” Palms of

Jules-Art.com.

Jules artistic talents came to life five years ago, after the death of her mother. She expressed her grief by painting. Her method of painting is with her hands and what gifted hands she has. Seeing each piece come to life, I can only imagine the passion, love and energy she feels while painting. Expressed so deeply is the feeling of connectedness she delivers in each piece.

Saturday I was fortunate enough to spend the afternoon with Jules, viewing her incredible collection. So many of her pieces spoke to me; it was very difficult to decide which pieces I had to take home. I viewed the pieces first, and inquired about the names afterward. Of the 100 + in the studio, I took the 8 that spoke to me on the deepest levels. Guess which one spoke the loudest? BLISS!

Bliss is a beautiful mix of colors, including greens, browns, oranges and deep reds. My friend Kim, who I so often write about, was dying to get her hands on my “Bliss” for her own studio office. Although I am committed to “sharing my bliss”, in this particular case, you will all have to find your own bliss, among Jules pieces.

A few of the others that spoke to me were: Partners, Soul Mates, Angel in My Corner, and On Fire. You can go to Jules-Art.com and check out her catalogue. Be sure to click on her “About Me” page to really get a feel for the love and beauty that Jules has to share. This week my favorite art is "hand-painted".

Thank you, Jules, for “making my heart smile!”

Blissfully yours, Teri

Blisstory Journal Question - Page 91 Part 2

Do you volunteer for a charity? Tell about it.

For some people, it’s very hard to think about charity and making a contribution when they don’t know if they’ll have a paycheck next week. It’s even harder if you have a family to feed and clothe. During my “life as a mom” I’ve experienced many weeks of living paycheck to paycheck and wondering how I was going to feed my kids. Miracles prevail everyday; there was never a moment that we went hungry or couldn’t pay our bills – there was always enough work, enough food and more than enough kindness from friends, family, even strangers!

To some, I am that stranger. My anonymous donations or ability to pitch in where and when needed has added so much to others lives, I know this. It hasn’t stopped now. I will continue to give and make some type of charitable contribution for the rest of my life. As Wayne Dyer says, "it creates wonderful synergy." I do believe that no matter what circumstance we experience in life, ‘giving back’ is universal divinity! My spirit is richer and fuller, my life more complete because of my capacity to give back to humanity.

Yes, I do support one organization more than others;
Common Ground.

Common Ground is an organization that has changed/saved more lives than I can possibly share here. I can share that it changed mine and saved my children’s! Several years ago, two of our five children were experiencing severe challenges – one on the verge of suicide, one on the threshold of becoming lost in the system to drugs. Unfortunately, they have a family history of both. We were able to reach out to Common Ground and participate, at no charge, in the programs they provide for mental health and youth assistance. We are here today as a living, breathing example of the profound difference their services can make in your life.

May 3, 2009 we will be participating in Common Ground's first annual walkathon, WalkOnCommonGround, held on the beautiful campus of Oakland University in Rochester, MI. The walk includes 4 ½ miles of fun and fundraising. If you’ve ever participated in a walk before, you know how fun they can be. Follow our link

http://www.active.com/donate/walkoncommonground/blissisit

and register to become a part of our team today by walking with or making a monetary donation. Don’t let today’s “tough economic times” prevent you from giving back. You'll hear firsthand how deeply Common Ground has changed the lives of this family. Reach out and take a stand, “that you will not be afraid to make a difference; that you will not accept the constant negativity in the headlines; that you will create change.” Join us, walk with us, blog with us and continue to believe in miracles.

Create bliss now!

Blisstory Journal Question - Page 91 Part 1

Do you volunteer for a charity? Tell about it.


Givers Gain
No, I’m not promoting BNI. What I’m talking about is “giving no matter what.”

I give every day of my life, sometimes in the form of a nice comment or compliment or something bigger, a monetary donation. Sunday brought an incredible reminder of how, even during these tough economic times, we can give by spending our money on the items or services we need through charitable events or organizations.

We tend to forget that the rise in homelessness affects more than just people; dogs, cats, ferrets, snakes-you name it, animals suffer from this crisis. Many people who can’t afford to keep their homes, can't keep their animals. The pets are left behind, let go or dumped on the street. I don’t know what the statistics are on the rise in homeless animals, but if the staggering increase in homeless people is any indication, the numbers must be horrific. For many animals, there’s hope.

At the Up Stares Salon on Washington and Fourth Steet in downtown Royal Oak a fantastic group of people got together and opened shop on Sunday. They cut hair for 5 hours and donated all the proceeds to AllAboutAnimalsrescue.org. It was an incredible day for all, including "Peaches" the terrier mix that greeted everyone that walked in. I thank the man/woman in the big “UPSTAIRS” that my husband and daughter decided to stay home Sunday afternoon or "Peaches" no doubt would have a new home – mine.


When I saw the bulletin, I immediately called my friend, Kim, and my Mom. Kim has a new stray herself and my Mom, well, with six kids, 14 grand children and 1 ½ great grand children, you know she’s been taking in strays her whole life. The Cut-a-thon presented the perfect example of ways we can continue to give, monetarily, at a time when we are watching our last dime. Everyone needs a haircut now and then – look for a place that will support a cause. We all had great stylists, Na-hee, Kim and Cheryl Lynn. Oh, and did I mention that it is an Aveda salon, what more can a girl ask for!

For your pet, supporting organizations like AllAboutAnimalsrescue.org means supporting an organization whose passion lies in making a difference for the part of society who’s only voice is a bark. AllAboutAnimalsrescue.org is founded and operated by an amazing group of animal lovers, whose heart and soul go into every second they spend at the clinic. The team provides spay and neuter clinics, wellness clinics and more at a fraction of the fees of your local Vet. Best of all, it is a “No Kill” organization; which means the animals rescued will find shelter among the many volunteers and foster families that help make it such a huge success. Besides needing money, they have a wish list of items, from old shirts for kitty beds to a building for spay/neuter clinics.

Remember, you can give simply by finding a place that uses your $$$ for charity! There are a lot of organizations that operate at the non-profit level, donate a portion of their proceeds to charity or support groups needing assistance. Send me a few of your favorites and we’ll pass them along!

Blisstory Journal Question - Page 20

Did you have video games as a child?

Thirty some years ago (I choke at that thought) I played my first home video game. We didn’t have one in our house. With six kids, the last thing my parents would spend their dollars on would be a video game. My friend had one though. (He had everything!) We spent hours at his house playing “PONG”.

For those of you that don’t remember, “PONG” is one of the first home video arcade games, in black and white no less, two dimensional and is a video version of Ping Pong, created by Atari. Check out the picture of the original box. No interaction, simply pushing the buttons or turning the knobs to block the “ball” or bounce it back to your opponent.

Fast forward to 2009. Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. My husband bought the family (himself, mainly) the Wii. WOW!!!!! WII is Nintendo’s three dimensional home video game system that detects movement with wireless, handheld controllers. Talk about an advancement. The box, compared to the Atari Pong, is so small I didn’t even see it next to our TV.

Everything is so realistic. I woke up this morning sore in places I haven’t felt in years. We spent the day bowling, golfing, and playing baseball. The best part was, the whole family played; so did our guests. Everyone that came in got to create their own character, a Mii, and start playing. My niece, at 25, was so excited with the bowling. Her comment was, “I suck at real bowling! This is a great tool for building one’s self esteem.” She had the highest bowling score she’s ever had. (Maybe self esteem building should be Nintendo’s new sales pitch.)

A cool feature that I love is the way Nintendo created the team players and the crowds. Bowling is created in the likeness of a real bowling alley. There are bowlers on either side and the crowd sits behind you and cheers or boos, with comments like, “Good spare” and “Turkey” when you throw three strikes in a row. Baseball includes the characters you’ve created on your own system and apparently the crowd does the wave. What I love about the golf game is that it highlights the wind speed and you can adjust your stance accordingly. I bet Tiger Woods could certainly improve his game (if that’s even possible).

There are way too many features to get into in this blog. It’s amazing how advanced the games have become. Close your eyes and imagine where they will be in another 30+ years! Whew!!!!

Your Business On-Line: What's on your Website?

by Shanna K Moore on January 26, 2009 at 3:31am in Tech Talk for Websites & Bloggers, Marketing On-Line at the Mommy Millionaire Community

It does not take a technical genius to figure out the basics of a website. When you hit the home page of most sites, you will find a common structure of pages/buttonology, a few content pages which depend on what type of business/site you have, a contact page, links, blog, about us, etc..

No matter what your site consists of, the key is to allow visitors to become comfortable with who “you” are (you being the business). There are still a number of customers out there who need convincing that their on-line purchase is legitimate and that you are not going to sell their private information to the highest bidder. That among other reasons, such as the growing number of on-line competitors, I can safely tell you that the more your viewers get to know you, the more likely they are to make a purchase.

Just about everyone can afford to add one page to your website that gives your viewers something new to learn and see! I continually speak of newsletters, newsletters are an effective means of communicating with your target audience and most recently I wrote a piece on the importance of e-mail (see the latest mm magazine edition coming soon). Your website is one great opportunity for marketing, and a great place for “Newsletters”. It should be added as a regular feature from your home page. Make sure that the content on this page is 75% helpful information and 25% sales pitch. Content should be kept relative to your product or service. For instance, if you are selling lipstick, you don’t want to tell your customers how to type a thesis, or how bored you were at Aunt Mae’s last night. You should be talking about beauty tips, offering helpful information about how to relax and de-stress.

Why not offer an inspirational quote or a helpful tip? Make sure it’s a useful AND interesting tip, women who wear bright red lipstick will not be interested in your words of wisdom if you are posting “diapers are useful for small children under age 2”. Women who wear red lipstick want to read “Your lips will look 3 times their normal size if you mix cinnamon and lip balm and apply minutes before you put on a layer of luscious red lipstick”. With information like that, they will be sure to return for more!

Feature a helpful links (be sure to “swap” links with the sites you are listing—great marketing opportunity), these links should be helpful to your target audience and relative your business, WITHOUT being too competitive. If I were selling lipstick, I might add links to, Lancome, Tiffany’s, Lexus and ask them to return the favor (hey, anything is possible).

Give-Aways: Items should be relative to your product or service. I swear to you, that I was on line with a great site a few months ago. I loved this site, told my friends about it, told people I saw in the line at the grocery store. One day I entered a contest, and won! I honestly expected a free bath set or a yoga mat, as the nature of the site was relaxation, etc.. Imagine my surprise, when in the mail, I received a key chain flashlight. Talk about a let down. If I have a store selling lipstick, then I am going to give away a free makeup mirror, or a great makeup bag. These are things that cry for a red tube of lipstick to accompany it (this smacks of marketing effort, right?)

Another great opportunity is special offers. Victoria Secret has one special offer I never pass up, and that is the annual sale on their bras! Wouldn’t it be a famously fun idea to have a one day a year sale on the most fabulous red lipstick known to womankind? I would hold the sale the day before Valentines. During that sale, I would offer vouchers on my website, offering 5 tubes for $40! Right below the coupon announcement, I would feature some great items to accompany these tubes, such as hard to resist evening bags, lovely lighted mirrors, an amazing fragrance.

If you have gone to a site repeatedly, regardless of how appealing the site looks, if the site is never updated with new information, what are the chances that you will keep returning? Finding the time to update a site can be a challenge. I am guilty of this and most recently I have added updates to my calendar, scheduling routine updates is as important as any other appointment I have.

If you are a product oriented business, then featuring a new product on a regular basis is important. The home page of your site is a great place for a feature product, or on your “What’s New” page. You might consider posting a creative photo in a frame that draws attention. Add a descriptive paragraph.

So, as I continue growing my lipstick business, I realize the importance of creating opportunities to market my product on line, not only by way of links from other sites, or blogs, but by cross-selling opportunity, maintaining site traffic, and generating interest in my product, simply by fostering a relationship with my customer.

These are simple common practices, you most likely already knew about, but I felt compelled to highlight points maybe you have forgotten about, or hadn’t recently considered. I hope you have been inspired'