Announcement : TFTL, Closing

I know, I know...it's been a good few years running this site, working on graphic & webdesign it really has...but it's time to close up & move on to something bigger & brighter with much more meaning. TFTL just isn't the blog I'm meant to run with meaning & purpose. I'd say she was a great trial in a lot of things & deff helped show me I love to write, but I wanna write for a greater cause. I thank all of my wonderful readers & followers of TFTL for all of your love & support, I'm so sorry if this news saddens you...but I will still writing! ♥ Feel free to follow my new blog & be sure to look for my new shop! "Like" the gallery on Facebook & keep up with what's hoppin' on over there, give us feedback too, we love to talk & we love to hear from you! ♥

Thanks again guys, for everything! Wishing you the very best day possible ♥ OX

Honest.

I'm not one to rant or complain, and by no means do I mean to do that on this post. I'm just going to be honest & let the words flow from my heart. I took a look at this blog, a blog I created back in 2009, and asked myself : what is it standing for? The premise of the blog I believe to be wonderful, but the fact is I'm not following through with it. Why? I'd absolutely love to blog daily, post wonderful posts to help those who read blog to find inspiration & hope, but being honest with myself I cannot blog each day & now...I find it hard to post a real post once a week, I also do not want my blog turning into a 'self' blog, more often than not I am coming across blogs that are so, so focused on the blog author themselves and I hate to say but most of it is just flaunting, etc. This post is not to call them out and say HEY, your blog is all about yourself, noit's not, I love reading posts when people do pour out their heart to try to reach people but I cannot feel so boxed into a blog world that I feel is so growing in blogs that exsist just for the self glory of the blog author. I am stepping back from this blog for the time being. Life just has another calling for me. When I return to it, the time will be right to where I feel open to the blog world again. I am sorry if this post has been offensive in anyway, as I said I'm not calling anyone out, nor am I meaning to judge anyone, these are just honest words from the heart to update on Time For Tea, Love. I really do know when I return, the time will be absolutely right. Until then, please feel free to follow me on my personal blog: amandarundels.blogspot.com

Wishing you a wonderful day! Remember, each day is a new day - embrace this present moment! ♥

Would I believe you when you say,
Your hand will guide my every way...

♥

Will I receive the words you say,
Every moment of every day
♥

(thank you God)
♥

Lead me to the cross,

Where your love poured out

bring me to my knees,

Lord I lay me down...

♥

rid me of myself,

I belong to you ♥

"Soul Sister" Painting found on Pintrest

Pretty pillows! ♥

Collections ♥

Paper Mache' Bowl made using tissue paper & mod podge!

Great craft for the kiddos!

This studio/office so simple & so inspiring! ♥

Pumpkin Cookies, need I say more?! ♥

Prophetic artwork ♥

Boots, boots & more boots! I LOVE FALL ♥

Baby Hippo! Eeeep! ♥

THIS typography poster! ♥

...perfectly beautiful because they are alive

During the past few weeks I have been asking God what is that I need to do in my life, something that I can do wholeheartly , to lead me in showing me what my very calling is & to lead my way. I have asked, asked and asked and I have received my calling. Last night God really spoke to my heart:

"It is purely meaningless to paint a picture if there is no meaning behind it -- all of it meaningless"

If you're not something, don't try to be or more of don't try to fulfill something that is not the higher calling God has chosen for your life, from that you will find emptiness. God really does have a calling in his name for all of our lives, a meaningful life is one spent fulfilling it at all costs. Your calling is what's for you, and that very picture God is having you paint will be meaningful both in the process & when completed.

I believe my true calling is to help advocate and educate others on the real reality of both eating disorders and weight stigma, as well as to help those struggling and in recovery. Once you have gone down the path of what living with an eating disorder is like, you know how consumed a person has been, and recovery is not possible alone. We live in a world, where the real reality is: thin is beautiful to alot of people. Girls (primarily, although boys as well can suffer from ED's) starving themselves to meet society's expectations. I know, I was once consumed in that, all too much for 4 years of my life. Advocating to end eating disorders and educating the world of what it's like to have to lose your life to one & regain it after recovering is a revolution, and I hope you will choose to join me ♥ For individuals all over the world suffering & recovering, it's time to start loving & spreading that unconditional love for humanity.

Weight Stigma 101

Weight stigma, also known as weightism, weight bias, and weight-based discrimination, is discrimination or stereotyping based on one's weight, especially very large or thin people. The term is amisnomer as the stigma arises from the condition of being obese or schadenfreude arising from the suffering from the disease, and not the mass of the individual stigmatized in this manner. Weight stigma reflects internalized attitudes towards the obese that affects how these people—the targets of bias—are treated.

A person who is stigmatized possesses a weight that leads to a devalued social identity, and is often ascribed stereotypes or other labels denoting a perceived deviance which can lead to prejudice and discrimination. Common, “weight-based”, stereotypes are that obese persons are lazy, lack self-discipline, and have poor willpower, but also possess defects of intelligence and character. Common weight-based stereotypes of non-obese persons are that non-obese persons are unattractive, anorexic, unhealthy, diet and/or exercise excessively. There is no experimental or scientific evidence to indicate that these stereotypes are true, although pervasive social portrayals of obesity create and reinforce biased attitudes.

{Via: Wikipedia}

Learn - Educate - Advocate

all bodies are beautiful ♥

Almost 50% of people with eating disorders meet the criteria for depression.

Only 1 in 10 men and women with eating disorders receive treatment.

Only 35% of people that receive treatment for eating disorders get treatment at a specialized facility for eating disorders.

Up to 24 million people of all ages and genders suffer from an eating disorder (anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder) in the U.S.

And lastly...*Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness

"I am no longer stocky. I am no longer thin. I am Kathleen who is beautiful because she is healthy and alive. And that is what I see in others: all forms are perfectly beautiful because they are alive."

-Kathleen

Real stories/testimonies of weight stigma

in the lives of young girls.

Personal.

I put myself in denial for so long, that I had a problem with my eating. Oh I didn't have a problem, I'm just eating "healthier", until the day when you realize...it's overcome you, it's taken over you, it is there in your mind all the time, when you weigh yourself each morning, when your two opitions are: escape it, or live with it forever. I didn't know how to help myself, my family didn't know how to help me, when confronted over and over again, I denied it. I isolated myself from my friends & from everyone I loved for a very long time, I starved my body, I drink way too much water, I would exercise far more than I should have each everyday, that smile I had my freshman year of high school faded, so did my ability to laugh at anything, my ability to love life, by the time sophomore year ended I had lost over 40 pounds from anorexia nervousa.

THIS IS MY LIVING TESTIMONY.

I was 15 years old when my eating disorder started. As I take a deep breathe, as tears weld in my eyes & in my soul, as the pain that I have come to overcome frees me, as I am ready to share what I have held inside for far too longer long. Here I go, here is my personal story that I hope will help you understand a lot about me, maybe clear up linger questions you may have had. This is a personal story, and experience that has only been kept between my family until now. For those of you who went to high school with me, this may or (more than likely may not) be a shock to you but it something I have held within me for far too long, an experience that can help you, as well as others. This is an issue that has only been kept between my family. This is not a story of sorrow, but one of strength & discovery. The spring of my sophmore year of high school I developed an eating disorder. (I apologize ahead of time for all the 'I rememeber's, there's just no other way to write this) That year of high school, from spring & on, well I don't really recall too much. I remember the starvation, the drinking lots of water, I remember being in the art room a lot, I remember being cold, I remember feeling so tired all the time, I remember thinking I had it under control, that oh I could just stop when ever I wanted to, I remember almost blacking out in a few classes, I remember going to bed and waking up in the morning so physically hungry. I remember that summer. I remember more starvation. I remember hours of exercise. I remember my mom crying. I remember denying help. I remember my youth leader asking me if I felt okay. I remember a size 10 being too big. I remember how much hair fell out in the show. I remember how much hair I lost each time I brushed my hair. I remember not eating my 16th birthday cake. I remember the start of my junior year. I remember my friend Heather asking me if a god worried voice how I lost so much weight, I remember...I wasn't alive on the inside. I remember the day when I started binging. I remember throwing up, I remember more water. I remember realizing, I couldn't stop. I suffered from an eating disorder. My sophomore year of high school, my mother who also battled an eating disorder in high school (and whom I have come to forgive) made a comment to me that set me down a long path of a personal hell I faced for so long and one that I have come to far to overcome. To this day, it is still a day to day battle. But if I, and my personal story, although so choppy can help someone who may be battling this same exact battle right now, be it an innocent high school girl, a woman who just wanted to drop 5 lbs, a body who feels to 'fat' amongst his peers, anyone who may be battling this unnessary battle. Take up arms, don't be afraid to ask, if someone you suspect is suffering from an eating disorder, take charge. Spread love ♥

I have been forgiven of my past fears & failures, and God...

He has given me a new life ♥

Time to raise those white flags,

weight stigma and eating disorders are coming to an end ♥

I am, I am.

I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart,

I am. I am. I am.

Sylvia Plath

Water Serepents II, Gustav Klimt

♥♥♥ (original post)

You know, I'll always remeber the first time I saw Water Serepents II, I just will. It's a time that I will simply never be able to remove from my memory, and sometimes when I see the piece I ask myself, why...why did this piece have such an immense initial connection with me & a continuing immense connection to my soul? This cropped image of Klimt's piece has always taken such a serene effect upon me. I've asked a few people, how does this piece make you feel? The woman's face expression, what is expressing? To me, this piece shows both inner & outer beauty, if you look up the piece via Google> image > search, you will see the full piece of two naked women, standing there, the colors and expression of such serenity...I'm going to be honest: this is a work of art that makes me tear up both from understanding the pain of how we as women, with beautiful female bodies have endured struggles of understanding just what beauty what really means in the world we live in. We see pictures of gorgeous woman in the media, this is a WORK of ART, (say that outloud & embrace it!) Gustav painted this work of art because he loved the expression of the female body & he wanted to capture it, each stroke of this painting had such deep meaning ♥ - so different from what we see today. For any girl that has undergone the personal battle of fighting & living with an eating disorder, a disrupted self body image, for the girl with the low self esteem, I say, stop looking at the media, at the magazines, look at Klimt's work let it tell you: you are beautiful as a woman. Having gone through personal struggles of my own self body image, and the discoverance of who I am as a young woman & the beauty that lies within me (and every woman) this piece touches base with a lot of inner feelings of both struggle & embrace to me. It also the piece I have choose to start my half sleeve with. The heart below will link you to my personal simple blog, Time For Tea, Love is off to bigger & better things that I will launching soon! So I ask, take time to look at Water Serpents II, feel the piece, let it invite itself into your soul, into a deep part of it ♥

love yourself.