Oh, goodness. I had a fun little post scheduled for tonight…but instead I feel the need to address something else. At least we had some light-hearted fun this afternoon with some good FRIENDS favorites sharing. Can I just say I love that that post is quickly becoming one of my most popular? So reflective of me and my blog.

Now, moving on to the issue at hand.

This morning I sent out the following message on Twitter:

It annoys me that a review program is discriminating against people who are open about their faith.

September 12, 2011 7:03 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@TinaFFF

Tina Reale

Before I go any further, I must clarify two things:

• This does NOT represent BlogHer. I adore working with them and the limitations on this review program were not from them, but the company itself.
• For confidentiality purposes, I will not disclose more of the company involved.

That tweet got a bit of a reaction. I sent it out hastily, but can now form a bit more of a thoughtful response.

When I created my blog, I battled with myself on how much of my faith I would include in it. I knew I couldn’t keep it completely out, because it is such a huge part of my life, but did consider what prevalence it would have. If you’re a regular reader, you know preaching isn’t my style. I knew it wouldn’t be something I would write about explicitly as the focus of many of my posts. I wanted to share my life and hope the expression of myself would reflect my faith.

I took the start of this blog seriously. I wanted it to accurately reflect me and the message I hoped to share – aka making the most out of life in whatever way that fulfills each individual differently. At first, I planned to call my blog simply by my tagline – More Than Diet And Workouts. But something felt missing. I tossed around other ideas – More Out Of Life, Fun and Fit Living, Fulfilled Fitness, and probably more I’m forgetting. They all felt wrong.

I had to have my faith openly visible as part of who I am and that I believe having faith in something more than ourselves can provide a higher quality of living. Enter Faith, Fitness, Fun. As soon as that name popped in my head, it was the only one I could imagine calling my blog. I transferred my old sporadic and horrible competition blog over and started Faith Fitness Fun in January of 2010 to truly begin blogging about “more than diet and workouts”.

Old FFF look!!!

I am more than thrilled with the paths and direction my blog has taken since then, but deep down I know that the faith aspect can sometimes impact my blog. I know there are people who don’t visit my space solely because they see faith in the name. Some of my favorite blog friends have openly told me they thought the same for awhile. The fact I don’t get as many readers because of having faith in my blog doesn’t bother me. I only wish those who don’t give FFF a chance knew I would never judge them for their beliefs or force my own on them.

This morning I read an email about applying to a review program…but the program requested not applying if political or religious views were a main part of a person’s blog. I understand the company wants to remain neutral in regards to these powerful and very personal viewpoints. And I am not judging them for that. I don’t frown on the company for doing so. They must have their reasons and I respect that.

source

I simply felt shocked at seeing something I feel so strongly about be viewed as a limiting factor in a possibility for my blog.

With all that being said: I am not angry and I wouldn’t change having faith in my blog for anything. I knew going into blogging that my faith could put some people or ventures off because it is such a personal thing. Every person or company has the right to feel that way.

I’m not sorry for sending the tweet, because I will not apologize for standing up for my beliefs. However, I need to acknowledge that if I wish others to be more understanding of where I’m coming from in including my faith…then I also must be understanding when others feel the need to omit faith/religion for whatever reason.

Final gist of this wordy post?

1. No hard feelings.
2. Agree to disagree.
3. I will stand up for my faith.
4. Sometimes it bothers me the faith aspect can turn people away…but that’s okay because I remain true to myself.

Well, I could have made this post a lot shorter than I did, huh?

• What is something you will stand up for no matter what?
• How did you come up with your blog’s name?

Now that I have gotten all the sad talk out of my system, let’s get back to the more normal tune of things around here. Thank you for your support and helping me feel like I’m not completely insane.

Getting caught up in depressing thoughts isn’t the only thing I do while Peter leaves me for a few days. I still manage to have some good times. Saturday afternoon, I did a little football watching with Makenzie.

 source

Wait. I take that back. That game was not fun to watch at the end. So close, but not close enough! Ah, my Georgia Bulldogs, I shall still love you. And I think I may need to stop watching games. I feel like a bad luck charm.

I couldn’t watch the middle portion of the game because I was making the kids’ dinner and putting them to bed. Well, that’s when Georgia made some great gains. Then, as soon as I start watching again – they have all sorts of trouble (that fumble!). I told ya. Bad luck charm.

I had a good little dinner to sooth the pain of watching yet another defeat, though.

Whenever Peter goes out of town I always find myself grabbing an Atlanta Bread Company sandwich and salad combo for dinner one night. It’s the perfect easy dinner combo!

A chicken salad sandwich with lettuce, tomato and onion on whole wheat bread.

And a salad with blue cheese, cranberries, walnuts, and apples.

After that, I decided to tuck myself in early with two of my solo girl’s night favorites.

FRIENDS on DVD (Season 5 – “The One Where Everybody Finds Out” = BEST episode!!)

and the leftovers of a small bag of candy corn I nibbled on through the weekend.

Yes, that is 800 calories of pure sugar I consumed in three days and I don’t give a tiny rat’s ass (FRIENDS-ism in case you didn’t know). I love candy corn and couldn’t refrain from it’s call at the store. Do they have to put bags for $1 right at the checkout lines?? They should know my patience would be waning grocery shopping with both children!

Oh well. I loved every sugary bite. <--- me hopped up on sugar

While I certainly miss Peter a ton and go a little crazy without him here, there are certainly some highlights to down time alone. Peter’s This Old House marathons just can’t compete with my FRIENDS marathons. I think you would agree.

• Is there something you always like to do when you have down time to yourself?
• If you’re a FRIENDS fan, what are some of your favorite “FRIENDS-isms”? Mine = “You’re so pretty” (aka “wow, you’re special”) and “That is brand new information!”  (aka “no…really?!?!”). Clearly, I love any form of sarcasm.