Good Morning!! This new place has been a hubbub of activity for weeks now, this morning it is quiet...my first deliveries are arriving and I find myself in a corner booth thinking about this amazing year the Lord has given me..... I have said goodbye to many precious friends, a heartache that was so great I felt as if I could not breath. I have celebrated with "happy tears" over many of my precious friends and regulars that have received the words.."CANCER FREE". It is the coolest thing to pray, believe and receive. I was betrayed by someone I loved and amazing I did not crumble or become bitter, I became a better version of myself.....learning thru heartache. I became an "Idaloulian", I uprooted my precious family to a small town with a great school and left behind my oldest son to learn to live on his own.....and my family changed and I have felt my heavenly father in every step. I have embraced that I am becoming the poster child for change....I use to be drug kicking and screaming when change was happening but I am learning when change is happening that is when our heavenly father is at work. I truly learned this year what it was to have a servants heart and that I want to have one always. I have experienced more love and kindness from others it is overwhelming & humbling....I am undeserving but so thankful. Happy Beautiful Monday yall.... as I await for opening day I feel excited, scared and overwhelmed....my precious family and 12 other families are depending on me to lead the way into a great new journey.....and my FAITH rest in the hands of my Lord and Savior.My bank account is drained(never big to begin with) but 2013 awaits all of us with great possibilities and we can either go into it with a heart of Faith or a heart of fear, it is up to us. The one great lesson I will take from this year.....love. I have watched devastated, heart broken spouses' go from anguish to joy and find love again. FAITH HOPE & LOVE but the greatest of these is LOVE!! In the words of my sweet Alysha.... "LETS DO THIS"!!! Happy New Year yall may it be full of peace, faith hope and love ......and amazing great food:) WOOT WOOT I will praise him thru whatever comes.....he is my light and my salvation....nothing is better than that!!
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Good Morning!! When my alarm went off this morning....my mind and heart turned to prayer. Usually Shelby sleeps through the alarm and I get up to start this process of making myself look presentable...(sometimes really hard) this morning I say out loud, "This is it!!" Shelby was awake and replied back, "yes it is, it will be great and I am excited". When we are walking out the door I tell him I feel like I am going to throw up(nerves), amazing 5 years and 3 months ago, I was up by myself getting ready to open this grill, Gods Grill, and felt the exact same way. Today will be a day I remember this amazing journey the Lord has put me on. The grill that we jokingly say is in the "hood" has brought so much stress, joy, laughter and love. I have been taught so much about life through this little restaurant. Last week I had regulars tell me they remember where they sat the first time...who their waitress was and what they ate. One of my precious regulars told me..."You had me at the coconut cream pie!!".... and so my journey will start ,with the same coconut cream pie, in a new place. Merry Christmas eve yall and a Happy Beautiful Monday. This old building that is literally falling down around my ears has been an amazing home to the CIG with all of its imperfections and problems, it has housed a place where laughter is shared, hundreds of tears have fallen, thousands of prayers have been said and dreams have come true.... and the best chicken fry was born!! We have fed 1000's of people through the homeless mission that could not afford to eat...this little place has been apart of amazing downtown community that has opened their hearts to us and I thank them. At 3:00 today, this location will close and as tears roll down my check I am excited to see the next phase of this great place. I have a lot of families depending on me to get it right..... and I am asking for prayers through this next phase. I serve an awesome strong amazing God and I am learning truly what "FAITH"is... I am leaning on him.... goodbye from the 18th and K building and here is to new beginnings at 620 19th Street a place that will be full of laughter, love and great food!! I will praise HIM in the morning, I will praise HIM in the evening.....my heart is full and I am blessed, thank yall for being apart of this special place!! This is how it began my brother n law Shawn And this is how it ended!!!my day was full and filled with memories. Merry Christmas y'all!!
Good Morning!!This week has been a blur.....alarm goes off at 2:30, I either get right up or hit the snooze and then I jump up in panic mode.....yall know how it feels to be late because of that little button that our fingers find so conveniently. I do not think Shelby and I have had a normal conversation in a few weeks now, every word revolves around the new building or my B taking finals. Monday night was a very late night, we worked at the new building till 11:00 and then headed home, Tuesday came with very little sleep and issues lingering. In 5 years I have never forgot a catering...and yep I did, now in panic mode this amazing staff pulls it off without a hitch. Lunch was coming to an end and my mind already on the other joint when 3 older ladies come to the front door, I greet them, one was in a wheel chair with the most beautiful smile I have ever seen, her soul was shining through. I take them to the Faith room and as I am about to turn and walk away one of them grabs my hand and says..." My husband, ______, was a regular here, he loved this place, he passed away a few days ago and so we wanted to come and celebrate him in this place that he loved....it brought him JOY." I have talked about unexpected gifts from our heavenly father and this was one of them, this brought me back right where I needed to be and why I am exhausted...with tears brimming from my eyes and hers she tells a little of her husband, his sister was the beautiful lady in the wheel chair, they were so happy to be at the CIG. Happy Beautiful Thursday yall, every person we encounter has a story, my crew is trained to understand that but sometimes I forget it. Yesterday, this family came in again with grandchildren and kids and they enjoyed this place their family member loved so much, what an honor to be apart of there grief, love and joy. I needed this to remember, the new joint does not have to be perfect when opening....it needs to be a place that brings joy, love and great food. It needs to be a place where memories are made every minute, where laughter, love and joy are busting at the seams. Life is a beautiful journey and once again I was given a gentle reminder of what it really is all about......I pray yall's day is full and in this craziness of the season you remember what an amazing journey we are ALL on, many blessings to each of you on this beautiful Thursday!!
Good Morning!! And so the last Tuesday at the 18th and K building begins....I greet it with a heart that is full. The possibilities that can happen at the location that sits at the corner of 19th and I-27 are endless. Saturday morning was a tough one for me, I usually allow no one to see me break but break I did and my precious regualar Patrick was there to offer comfort, kind words and the words he said...." Teresa, different does not mean bad, it can mean great and this CIG will be that." Every thought and desicion that I have made at the new location has been made with my precious guest in mind, I have visualized every laughter, every bite taken, every prayer said.... and of course every hug given. My precious friends, (once regulars, now friends) have been there every step of the way. Its funny, all of these guys, that never knew each other have now spent a lot of time together and they have become friends. A few weeks ago I received a private message from a friend on facebook. He introduced himself and said he would love to help at the new location....he told me the things he could do and would love to donate his time.... one of my friends had said to me last week, "anyone that offers to help, allow them too because if you do not you are taking their blessing away."... on saturday I messaged this stranger that was offering his time to the CIG. When we meet on Sunday, we begin getting to know each other he is a dad to a precious 9 yr old....he remembers hanging out when this was Stubbs bbq, he has a lot of great memories in this building.I think the one thing that made my mouth fall wide open, he has never been into the CIG, he works through lunch but he reads my long winded post and they have touched him in some way. OH mylanta, it is crazy right? I praise my heavenly father for each blessing that I have recieved and for the new friends he places in my life everyday..his plan is so much bigger than I can imagine. Last night as all of us are working side by side,once strangers now friends, I get excited about the progress and yell "oh mylanta!!", this new friend of mine looks to the other guys and says..."wow she really talks that way, I just thought she wrote that way." yes I am corny and this cracked me up. Happy Beautiful Tuesday yall....the last Tuesday for the CIG at this location....I am praising him for my many blessings and the amazing friends he has brought into my life, I love these guys....Jason, Rudy, David, Allen, Patrick & Grinch.... my heart is forever grateful for your work, love and support thank you for the loving the CIG and for being my friends...as my world seems to be crashing down, like it was Saturday, my heavenly father gently reminds me of the most important blessings....those that surround us!!
Woot woot a fabulous way to end the day!! What amazing friends came to eat pie and pick a winner. The winner is the one pictured... Mark, one of the kitchen guys baked this yummy pie. It was a cheese cake with caramel sauce and delicious red and green apples on top. The crew did an amazing job .... I am so proud of all of them. Runner up coconut pineapple cream by Katelynn. The CIG will soon feature these pies at the new PIE bar located inside the new location. I'm giddy y'all:)     Good Morning!!Wow unbelievable week at the CIG....Every afternoon when we leave this current location we head straight to the new place and work. It has been exhausting and exhilarating and my heart has been full of every emotion...4 of my girls have gone to help in the afternoons... 2 of them with little ones have helped until it was time to start their main job, raising kids. My precious regulars have showed up to paint, clean, move stuff and have offered great friendship and support. This week some of my girls have received amazing blessing's from these great regulars. One of them comes to work in tears yesterday morning, her dog had opened the kennel door and tore her house up.....her brand new cowboy boots were among the things destroyed. These boots were an early christmas present so she could break them in for the new location....boots required uniform at the new place. Tears running down her face.... I tell her it is ok.... about an hour later a regular that comes in for breakfast called me out to the hallway and ask "Could you please give this to _____ I heard about the boots....maybe this will help" I look down at in her hand and there was a large bill folded up. Tears well up in my eyes as I tell her "Thank you" and hug her. I can not describe my precious co-workers reaction, she started crying and said I have never experienced this sort of kindness....This sort of thing has happened all week, funny we set out everyday to make a diference in 1 person's life, but these amazing people are making a difference in ours. I received a gift yesterday, the most BEAUTIFUl cross I have ever seen, the words on the back, Matthew 6:34. The most perfect verse for me right now, in fact I read it when I walked into my office this morning . Happy Beautiful Friday....the girls and I have been overwhelmed with kindness this week. We are ending it with a bang....PIE contest today and I have 7 regulars that are taking time out of their busy day to come and find the perfect winner. Thanks yall! Have a fabulous friday!
Good Morning!! I drive a 2000 Land Rover.... almost 160,000 miles on it. I received it 5 1/2 years ago when Shelby was in the car business.....it was a great deal when he bought it but the parts are ridiculously expensive. Over the last couple of years we have put thousands dollars in it to keep it going, at this point in my life, I would rather try to fix it, than have a car payment I can not afford. In September I had a lot of work done on the engine, to the point I told Shelby, next year we really need to try and get something more reliable. We have been cruising with no problems for the last few months and of course when I am at my busiest is when issues are going to start. I was crazy trying to get ready for caterings when big problems starting happening and I was to the point, park it or become stranded..... Shelby drives a little car, not good for caterings so our family started playing musical cars....I think B was the only one giddy because he is driving Taylor's car, which he loves. At 3:30 Monday morning we park my car at the mechanics shop in Idalou, leave the keys in it and head to Lubbock, my thoughts, I may have to sale my first born to pay for it.(j/k I know I would not get that much) Monday afternoon as Shelby, the boys, both girlfriends and myself are at the new building Taylor ask if we have heard from the mechanic. "Yes, but we will talk about it later..." was Shelby's response, I turn around thinking, Oh mylanta this is bad.....my heart is sinking..."Can they fix it?", yes it is going to be pretty expensive but I told them get it done, for an instant I was really irritated all of my extra money is going for the new building, I have not even thought about buying Christmas and now this.....and then I realize, ya know it is just not the end of the world....HE will provide....Happy Beautiful Wednesday yall, last night we are driving down our street and Shelby says.."Teresa is that a car in our driveway?", it was very dark.....I could not tell and the closer we get we realize it is my car, we both are shocked.The hours we keep are completely different than the mechanics in Idalou....knowing it would be hard to get back to Idalou and pick it up before they closed, they brought my car to the house without payment, we still owe him all the money. This man completely blew Shelby and I away with his act of kindness....his customer service made our life easier and his kindness and thoughtfulnes brought a smile to my heart. Yes, I still have to write him a large check today.....but his actions made my life easier. I want to make someone feel the way he made me feel.....make life a little sweeter. We all can learn from this guy.....a small act of bringing my car to me was huge, doing something small for others can make a huge difference....get started yall someone needs you to make a difference!
Good Morning!! Do you ever feel as if you have bitten off more than you can chew? Over the last 4 days, I have been in constant prayer....asking for strength, wisdom, kindness & direction. The work at the new building can be overwhelming, new problems everyday. Yesterday myself and some of the girls head over to work at the new joint, we all get to work and then an incident happens that was scary and by the grace of God we were all ok, after the fact we all laughed at each other over our reaction, we absolutely can find humor in anything. When this incident occured, I realized, Oh mylanta just another problem to fix, issues creeping up everywhere. The girls start leaving to tend to their young families and it is Shelby, myself and a regular working. My mind is on overload, I talk to my heavenly father for a little bit and then turn on the music to drown out the noise in my head. I get into a groove of accomplishing something and Shelby says "ok wrap it up....you have to get some sleep."(this is why I love him) I leave the building with doubt hanging in my heart and in my mind. The drive to Idalou can be exhausting after a long day of work, Shelby and I are driving in silence, if I could cry I probably would but I am too exhausted....My phone starts barking....Taylor(20) says "Hey mom, could you please sing me my song, we can't rememeber it."... a smile immediatly spreads across my face and my heart changed instantly. When Taylor was a baby, it was just him and I for 15 hours a day, Shelby worked constantly to support us, I would talk to Taylor as if he were an adult(hello I am a talker) and I sang to him, I made up a song about his eyes and his smile and this is Taylors song. He put me on speaker phone, for all of them to hear, it was Taylor, my B, Mindy and B's girlfriend Ashley. I finished singing the song and they all laughed... my exhaustion and frustration disappered and this was an absolute gift. Happy Beautiful Tuesday yall..... Our lives are full of amazing blessings, I love the saying..."If you are blessed to live in Texas, you are blessed enough" As my life gets more and more stressful, my heavenly father slips little reminders in my path to keep it all in perspective. If you are blessed to be a parent, you are blessed enough....if you are blessed with a job....you are blessed enough!! When I become overwhlemed, I am realizing that is when I have taken my hand from his, trying to do it on my own and that is when I feel I have bitten off more than I can chew. Keep it in perspective yall ....count your blessing instead of your problems.....May yalls day be full of amazing blessing look around you they are there!!
Good Morning!! Shelby and I were on a mission last night... paint the false ceiling that is suspended over the main dining room at the new location. We check out the scissor lift, learn how to drive it and jump on. "You drive " were Shelby words to me, "Nope, I will stand behind you and hang on" I said anxiously. We jump on and slowly make our way across the big open space. It takes us a while to get in place and then he starts raising us up, the higher we go the shakier it gets...oh mylanta me and heights are not really friends.... I start whining, totally occupied in my own misery and then I start feeling something wet land on me. My thoughts turn to Shelby's painting and I proceed to critique him.."Dude you are flicking paint all over me!".... I do believe he had enough of me..he turns around to me and proceeds to roll paint on my arm, as my mouth falls open, ready to start a war he calmly says, "Now you do not have to worry about me and worry about getting paint on you". Happy Beautiful Wednesday yall, throughout this crazy process, I have prayed daily for me to remain kind to those around me, for the stress not to get the best of me. In my life, I am so busy trying to be kind to others, I sometimes forget to extend that to those that love me with all their heart. I realized in an instance I had a choice to make...either laugh it off and get over it and enjoy this time with Shelby or I could be a bear and make everyone there miserable. Thankfully, I chose the first choice and we continued creating amazing memories. My actions are all about choices, everyday new information is flying at me, some good and some make me want to climb under a rock and wave the white flag...the situation may not change....but my actions can reflect how my heavenly father made me to be. Everyday there is an action and a reaction.....I want to be the girl that people say, "Wow she must be a child of God, by her actions." It is all about choices yall...let his light shine and your action reflect him.... and yes eventually I found Shelby's action to me pretty darn funny. May yall's day be full:)
Good Morning!! An array of beautiful emotions and radiant colors, this describes my weekend. Over the last 5 years, the CIG has had the great opportunity to experience the best of people, yes we do get the cranky ones but hopefully by the times they leave they are not so cranky. Saturday morning the kitchen crew, Shelby, myself and my kids were going to start the process of tearing out the stage and drawing the schematic of the kitchen for the hood system. The plan was 7:00am but of course I was running late.... My crew was waiting on me and we immediately get to work.... we hear the front door and low and behold one of my regulars walks in...." I was waiting at the new location for yall, I am here to help. I honestly could not pick up my jaw.... on his Saturday off he wanted to help us! We make our way to the new location and start to work and within an hour another regular shows up to help, I can not describe how my heart felt. All day long the new location was a revolving door of friends and guest..."Just wanting to check it out!!" My amazing regulars have offered and donated equipment we can use to make our task easier. When I have felt overwhelmed or my fear that I am not doing the right thing creeps in another friend stops in to say ..."How exciting, its going to be amazing." Happy Beautiful Monday.... my heavenly Father is guiding me and I feel him with every fiber of my soul but when I am exhausted and become overwhelmed he brings someone to me to ease my thoughts, or to bring me that deep belly laughter that I love so much. Last night ended my beautiful weekend when I was able to give my sister the grand tour, besides my kids no othere family has seen it. As we were walking through and I am telling her my ideas she is as giddy as a school girl.... her words to me brought tears rolling down my face..."Mom would be so proud, she would be here in a second to share in all of this....I am so happy for you." Two sisters standing in a mess of a bathroom sharing a moment that will always be in my heart. I serve an awesome God, as my exhaustion creeps in, he fills me with his strength and courage and surrounds me with the most amazing people... I am truly blessed and very thankful. May your day be full and you are surrounded by amazing people, there is no better feeling!!
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AuthorI opened the Cast Iron Grill in October 2007. Lots of changes have happened in the last 5 1/2 years. The CIG started with 55 seats in an office building located at 18th and K. After five years, we were bursting at the seams with now 167 seats, and 24 wonderful co-workers working on top of eachother to make it happen. 2012 the Lord chose a different journey for the CIG. We relocated the CIG and opened our doors on January 2nd, 2013, just four blocks away from the old location! It has changed my world completely! All of these stories are the happenings of the people and the joy and celebration that make the CIG what it is. Archives
May 2014
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