Meet the Bessettes Part 1

?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?Hopefully from a few posts in and on our About Us page, your starting to feel like you know us! It always amazes me how certain bloggers I follow it’s like I can hear them speaking right to me. Their southern twang or their corky humor just leaps off the screen and suddenly you feel like they are a friend you have known for years! We really hope to establish that connection on Have A Little Faith in We! So for the next few posts we are going to introduce you to each of us with a little more detail.

To start us off let me introduce myself - hey, I am Jackie Bessette! Currently I am in my late (OK late late late - 29) 20s and have lived most of my life in the Northern Virginia area. The oldest of a five children, I have and will always be a little bit of a mom. When I am out to eat I always grab WAY TOO MANY napkins and if I don’t have a large bag full of anything we could possibly need something is wrong! My passions in life are my faith, family, friends and my puppy. To me a passion is something more than an interest it is in your blood - it guides your everyday existence and for me it is my faith and my people/pup! This in no way means all four don’t drive me crazy and it is a constant balance to be accountable to each….but when I think of my most perfect moments (where your smile is wide, your heart is on fire and you stop and say is this really my life?), 9 times out of 10 it is from one of these areas in my life.

That does not mean I don’t have a lot of things I love! A great meal, eating out, a good glass of wine or margarita or Corona is such a treat! A good book that you want to write notes in, read over and over again and tell everyone you meet about it - fabulous! The start of each new season….is there anything better than eyeing the new fashion for summer or pumpkin scents of fall? How about Christmas exploding EVERYWHERE - it is magical! Even putting on flip flops, but your toes are still blue because technically spring has not really sprung - the sun is just FINALLY brighter?? Those moments remind me that without a doubt there is an amazing God with infinite gifts to give us daily! Escaping into a movie - especially when it brings you to tears or makes you want to be a better person - priceless! Staples, The Container Store, Martha Stewart brand - all things 100% focused on supplies and getting organized- I DYE! I could sleep in Staples - it is a problem. Hiking with fresh air and my pup literally bouncing down the road with his excitement of basking in the sunshine - that is what weekends are made for! Yes, I love a LOT of different things I enjoy- and if you have seen me on instragram or worked with me or traveled with me or spent a day with me you would also say - hey Jackie, uuuuummmmm Diet Coke (constantly trying to quit) and Starbucks??? Yes those two are massive loves as well!

Then I feel like there are those things you really enjoy, but are not quite constants in your world. For me they are exercise and running. Running is something I always loved the **idea**of - to be a runner, so cool. Then in 2009 I tried it and after a bumpy few weeks and laughing at my pitiful efforts, but not giving up, I become addicted! Like it would have been up in the loves category. If I had not run in a day or two I was grumpy! My body felt incredible and with each new mile I felt literally like a warrior. Then I added in circuit training - I was a beast (please note my “beast” status means I could sit in a meeting and not feel like my pants were cutting off my circulation and getting dressed literally meant no outfit changes). I have never been so in touch with my body - I knew I was really using it - LIVING! These efforts have diminished (in a big way) but are currently making their comeback and I am a little frustrated but hopeful to get beast status or some form of it back….ASAP! To be continued….

Life would not be without some dislikes and struggles. Dislikes: cooking, a messy house, being sticky, dirt, germs, being disorganized or lost…..can you tell yet that I am an a-type, OCD nut? A lot of my quirks are sorta laughable - like my need to wash my hands CONSTANTLY, my irritability with clutter and my predictability when it comes to the few things I do cook. There are other “quirks” that are not quite so funny - I have struggled with intense OCD, suffered from anxiety and struggled with some depression as a result. A part of my desire to have this blog is to also share my struggle with these aspects of our life. To me bad experiences are necessary and important to learn lessons, especially if they can be used to help others. I will be delving deeper into these as we go - but for now, I am Jackie, I am human and I have faults.

So many of these details will be further explored as we go as well as introducing many other things I love (self help books, blogs, good PJs, laying out, the beach, road trips - etc. etc. etc.), my family enjoys and things we enjoy together (warning WE LOVE A WEDDING DANCE FLOOR!). Stay tuned!