Amy Renee

So, you ever get home after one of those days…where your brain pretty much just hurts from having to work? Today, I was working on a project for FOOD for Lane County’s annual Empty Bowls Action/Dinner. A really fun project, and I love working with this super organization too - they serve a really good cause. But this particular project I really wanted to be great - so I strained my brain for several days on it. 

That to say - today I finished it, yay! Well, at least round 1 of finishing it - it hasn’t been seen by FFLC yet. I’m very happy with how it turned out so far. So, it will be a good meeting with them tomorrow I think :) 

Now, I am going to enjoy a bowl of cookies & cream ice cream to celebrate. Maybe watch a few episodes of “The Office” on DVD. I love ice cream…. I’m pretty sure there will be ice cream in heaven. yip.   

So, we did it. We actually bought a treadmill today… I know, I know - most treadmills end up being coatracks, but we are really going to stick to our guns this time! We are determined.

About a month ago I started PILATES and it’s really been making me feel better about my physical condition. So, naturally the next step is to be doing cardio workout (Pilates is more strength and flexibility). Jason has also been starting to work out again (YAY!). So, we are on the fitness road together. I’m excited.

Often people think I’m in shape just because I’m thin, but I am in pretty bad shape. I used to run track, long-distance. The 1500 was my race. I was pretty good at track. So I am looking forward to the humiliating part of getting in shape being in the privacy of my home - then next summer I will go run on trails or whatever and have fun running outside when I can actually run without feeling like I’m going to literally die after like 10 seconds.

Jason just pulled the treadmill out of the box…and then exclaimed he’s going to put it together TOMORROW haha. It’s a beast.

So today I met with representatives from the City of Eugene and a marketing consultant from NIKE about working on some graphics for the Olympic Trials for track and field taking place in Hayward Field - University of Oregon.

I have been hired to design signage, banners, etc for the NIKE sponsored Kids area. Basically, it’s an area for 10-12 year old kids that are interested in hanging out, playing and learning about track and field and of course, about NIKE - all this action will be set up across the street from Hayward Field during the Olympic Trials. So…busy week ahead of me!

I was thinking today how cool it is that projects like this kinda just fall in my lap. God has been so faithful to provide for us while Jason is learning his trade of photography. Which is actually going pretty well. He has 3 weddings booked in the next few months, as well as several commercial jobs. 

I am going to go with Jason to the weddings he has booked this summer and act as the secondary photographer. It should be fun to work with him and get paid to run around with a camera. He has to do all the hard work of lighting and working with the bride and her family and I just get to hang out and take photos - no pressure! I like that. haha. I’m used to having to be the boss all the time in my own business. I forgot how nice it is that someone else has to be the business person and I just get to relax and do what I’m good at. 

Welp, I’m going to sit here and eat my gelato (yumm!) and watch a funny movie… relax one more night before I dig into the NIKE project tomorrow. Whew! Wish me luck!

Today was my first Pilates training class. yippeee!

I enrolled at Carpe Diem, a local fitness center here in Eugene. They specialize in Pilates and personal training. They are different because they offer more one-on-one attention. Which is great for people like me who need reminding as well as a trainer to really show me what I’m doing. It makes me feel like I’m actually doing things right, and making progress.

Lately my back and shoulders have really been bothering me because of my work posture. This also changes my standing posture because I’m hunched over too much. My hip still has some issues from my car accident back in November. So, I’m hoping Pilates will help me out with all these issues, as well as just help me to strengthen and tone my body - just to be in better shape. I don’t want a “hard bod” - just a healthy one, so I don’t get crippled as I age and I can enjoy life to the fullest.

I have also decided to start running and/or walking again - whether that means getting outdoors (not a bad time of year to do so), or buying a treadmill for our spare room. I like the treadmill idea for the rainy days, but I don’t mind getting outside with my dogs when it’s nice. It is really pretty here when the weather is cooperating.

So, all that to say, today was my first training session. My trainer is Sandra, a petite woman in her young 30’s (I would guess). She is very sweet, attentive and calm. I like calm. And she seems to care about my progress, and what I want to do to improve my physical body.

Next month, I start the group classes - so I decided to start with a few private lessons so I can start to get the hang of things. I’m already glad that I did. I have no experience with Yoga or Pilates, so it’s all foreign to me… the whole breathing right thing is challenging. That and just learning how to flex properly while doing very suttle exercises is harder than I thought it would be. But I’ll get there

This morning as I left my house for work, I was wrapped in a warm sunny glow accompanied by a slight breeze. Aaaah. It is so beautiful today! Oregon, really, is one of the most beautiful places to live. If you can withstand the rainy season, the sunny times are so worth the wait. 

Everything here is green and growing. There is such diversity in the landscape - hills, mountains, lakes, rivers. We have it all here. I have to admit, I just don’t get out enough to enjoy it. Creation is such a reminder of the Creator. How everything is in perfect alignment, working together to create this beautiful masterpiece I call home. 

When I was a kid, one of my favorite things to do was to gather up daisy flowers that grow wild here, and make necklaces by attaching the stems together to form a chain. The wildflowers here are a subject of beauty all in themselves. I love the bright orange poppies lining my drive to work. Each year they just pop up out of nowhere alongside the highway that is usually only decorated by old train tracks and gravel. (I’ll add a photo soon).

My friend Hannah wants a group of us to go camping this summer. I haven’t gone camping in a few years. I would love to go CAMPING. You know, where you drive out to some crazy remote place, hike into a beautiful spot with an amazing view - avoiding the annoyance of ordinary campgrounds.

I will be sure to ask my husband, Jason, to bring his guitar along. We can sit around the campfire, eat too many smores, and rest under a sky of stars so bright and close that you could reach above your head and grab them. I would really like to have a time like that -  a few days to enjoy friends, forget about all that I need to get done… and just be. And Oregon is the perfect place to do that.

Thank you Lord for the beauty that surrounds us each day. You are such a giving and wonderful God that sees we are always taken care of. You are so faithful - I know you are always good, just as I expect the sun to rise and set. You are eternally my father and my friend. I’ll always lift my face towards you, as a flower lifts towards the sun. Help me to live in a place of surrender to you, always knowing you are as close as I want you to be. 

  
photos: poppy flower in bloom; fireweed flower in bloom

Well, I decided to start my own personal blog. I have blogged in the past on MySpace, which is entirely frustrating - so here I am with my “real” blog. What I’m going to write about is just life in general. I want to record my thoughts with both words and photography. I recently bought my own camera that I’ll be taking most places with me so I can document this life of mine :) 

I hope to make some new friends and inform some old friends. I also hope that this will be my “diary” of sorts that I can look back in times to come. A way to remember the little things in life that make up each day that we often take for granted or simply forget. Hopefully this will be a good read, and maybe you and I will even find some friendship along the way.

Thanks for looking!

peace.