Want to Work With Me?

The team I lead at McLean Bible Church will soon be hiring for a Graphic & Media Design position that will become available as of January 1, 2010.  The job description is below.

If you or someone you know would like more information or wants to apply for this position.  Please have them contact me directly by email at annielaurie.walters@mcleanbible.org

McLean Bible Church looks for dedicated people with a wide variety of gifts and talents with a  lifestyle consistent with our Vision, Values and Standards of Christian Conduct.

Please feel free to pass this on to other folks you know to be qualified for this kind of role.  This is an excellent opportunity for someone to come onto an innovative and evolving team serving the needs of our multi-campus church family.  I really hope we can find a leader who has experience and new ideas/perspective and is willing to dive into the challenges we are facing with gutsy imagination.  This could be a real sweet spot in ministry for the right person.  The position comes with room to ideate, develop, activate, and connect with other like-minded creatives. We are really praying  for the person who will fill this position and are expecting great things from God as we see who he leads to apply.

 

Graphic & Media Designer Job Description:

McLean Bible Church, a multi-site church in the Washington, DC area, is looking for an experienced graphic designer, who is comfortable designing in both Adobe CS4 and web-based CSS(Custom Style Sheets), with the ability to mashup your graphic art and web design skills to help us communicate more effectively.  What we really need is someone who can design like an artist, think like a marketer, and speaks fluent CSS.  The right candidate is a leader with the imagination and motivation we need to help us cross the print to digital media divide in order to impact even more lives in Washington, DC with the message of Jesus Christ.

You are:

o             Committed to making an impact on secular Washington, DC with the message of Jesus Christ.

o             Extremely team-oriented and fun to work with.

o             Able to manage time and meet multiple deadlines.

o             Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment.

o             Self-motivated, detailed, and adept at problem-solving.

o             Flexible when last minute projects arise(and they will).

o             Open to critique from fellow designers.

o             Able to present many digital samples of work.

You know:

o             Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and In-Design

o             XHTML/CSS

o             After Effects (preferably).

o             Basecamp (preferably).

o             Current (and future) design techniques and trends.

o             Better than to use Papyrus. Ever.

You will:

o             Join a team of designers who create communications materials for all MBC Campuses.

o             Handle a heavy workload subject to frequent change.

o             Keep multiple variations of digital files organized and accurate.

o             Lead, Ideate and Innovate alongside a team of like-minded creatives

A Splash of Brightness at My Living Canvas

I have finally come to grips with a reality I have long fought to admit:  I can only keep up with one blog!

If I didn’t have a full-time job I might be able to better manage my multi-tasking blogging capabilities but I confess that for now this blog will have to be it.  It finally dawned on me when I was thinking about my Daily Bright Side blog and my book review blogging and asking myself why I separate my bright sides from my main blog when I dont separate my book reviews.  My random internal processing finally landed on a decision I think we can all enjoy: The Daily Bright Side is moving to My Living Canvas.

What I have decided to do is, instead of starting entirely new and separate blogs when I want to blog about something specific, I am going to start a series here at My Living Canvas about the topic I would’ve started a new blog to cover.  The whole reason I named this blog My Living Canvas is so that I could paint on it with my words and stories, my commentary of all things I want to discuss, so why I keep starting new blogs I have no idea.  From hence forth I am bringing them all back here. (Including the long sense defunct Ten Pounds From Normal…. Coming soon!)

So for those of you who already enjoy my Daily Bright Side blog, you will see some re-runs for the next few days as I bring the blogs over to their new home. For those who never made it over to the other blog, I hope you enjoy this new series of brightness!

Thanks for reading!

Couch Potato to 5K: The Bright Side of Getting in Shape!

{Repost from my Daily Bright Side Blog!}

About two weeks ago I had a dream that I ran a marathon. For some reason this dream has inspired me to start running again. I used to run a lot in my mid twenties, but after I got married my schedule changed and it was difficult to find time to work out. Life got busier, I got lazy, and ultimately got out of shape.

So I shared this with my friend Susan who runs ULTRA MARATHONS (thats 50 miles people) and told her that I wanted to run a marathon and could she point me to some resources. She laughed and very kindly suggested I start with a 5K! Excellent idea!

She pointed me to the website coolrunning.com and a training program they provide called Coach Potato to 5K Running Plan.

Week	Workout 1	Workout 2	Workout 3
1	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.
2	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.
3	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following:   Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes) Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following:   Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes) Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following:   Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes) Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)
4	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:   Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes) Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:   Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes) Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:   Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes) Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
5	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:   Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:   Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes) Walk 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog two miles (or 20 minutes) with no walking.
6	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:   Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:   Jog 1 mile (or 10 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 1 mile (or 10 minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2-1/4 miles (or 25 minutes) with no walking.
7	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).
8	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.75 miles (or 28 minutes).	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.75 miles (or 28 minutes).	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.75 miles (or 28 minutes).
9	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 3 miles (or 30 minutes).	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 3 miles (or 30 minutes).	The final workout! Congratulations! Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 3 miles (or 30 minutes).

I am currently finishing up week 2 of the plan and doing great! In the past, I always tended to fall to the temptation to over do it especially when the plan starts off easy, but this time I have followed the plan as written and not over done anything and I can really tell a difference in my motivation and attitude toward running. And my body is actually starting to crave the run. I used to feel this before when I was more into running… I would wake up early and crave a run like I currently wake up and crave a grande coffee. Evidence of this came on Thursday when I woke up at 5:30 am and was on the treadmill at Golds by 6:00 am. Eventually I will work my way up to running outside again, but for now I am sticking to the treadmill.

Now I need a 5K to run in November. If anyone knows of any good 5Ks in the DC area let me know, preferably a FLAT PATH if possible! I am not up for hills yet:)

PS- Anyone have a good hip stretch? I have tendinitis in my left hip and knee and all the doc told me I could do for it is stretch. I need MORE stretches! Any ideas? I’ll take ‘em!

Spiritual Heroes

{Repost from my Daily Bright Side blog}

So the daily bright side blog has been a bit silent over the past week. Well, please do not think we are already out of business. There is still plenty of bright side to go around! The bright side of silence, at least here on this blog, is that I have filled my silent blogging time with tons of great experiences of brightness I cant wait to share with all of you here at the Daily Bright Side Blog!

Today’s bright side is spiritual in nature. If you are a reader who isn’t spiritual, please bare with me today as I share some brightness I have discovered from the spiritual realm.

One of my spiritual heroes is Charles Spurgeon. If you follow me on twitter you probably already know this because I often tweet excerpts of his morning devotions. Well, today’s morning devotion from Spurgeon was so encouraging, so hopeful, so BRIGHT to me on this Monday morning that I felt compelled to make these words the daily bright side for today.

“The breaker is come up before them.”
- Micah 2:13

Inasmuch as Jesus has gone before us, things remain not as they would have been had he never passed that way. He has conquered every foe that obstructed the way. Cheer up now thou faint-hearted warrior. Not only has Christ travelled the road, but he has slain thine enemies. Dost thou dread sin? He has nailed it to his cross. Dost thou fear death? He has been the death of Death. Art thou afraid of hell? He has barred it against the advent of any of his children; they shall never see the gulf of perdition.

Whatever foes may be before the Christian, they are all overcome. There are lions, but their teeth are broken; there are serpents, but their fangs are extracted; there are rivers, but they are bridged or fordable; there are flames, but we wear that matchless garment which renders us invulnerable to fire. The sword that has been forged against us is already blunted; the instruments of war which the enemy is preparing have already lost their point. God has taken away in the person of Christ all the power that anything can have to hurt us. Well then, the army may safely march on, and you may go joyously along your journey, for all your enemies are conquered beforehand. What shall you do but march on to take the prey?

They are beaten, they are vanquished; all you have to do is to divide the spoil. You shall, it is true, often engage in combat; but your fight shall be with a vanquished foe.

His head is broken; he may attempt to injure you, but his strength shall not be sufficient for his malicious design.
Your victory shall be easy, and your treasure shall be beyond all count.

“Proclaim aloud the Saviour’s fame,
Who bears the Breaker’s wond’rous name;
Sweet name; and it becomes him well,
Who breaks down earth, sin, death, and hell.”

Staycation: Cooking at Home

Picking up where I left off, on our staycation, we had some good eats over Labor Day staying home in the Washington, DC metro area.  Twice I cooked up something fierce.

French Toast… as seen on Giada’s Weekend Getaways at Cafe Nola in Seattle.  See recipe here.

I found the recipe to be delicious but husband wasn’t wild about the orange zest.

I used day old french loaf baked fresh from my local neighborhood Harris Teeter and real Vermont maple syrup – none of that crap that comes in a squeezable bottle.  I just don’t think that syrup tastes good unless its in a glass bottle or jar.  I digress.

Overall this was an excellent breakfast and I had a TON left over.

Next up, we had our dear friend Rick and Colleen over for dinner.  Colleen has food allergies, especially allergic to soy and gluten.  So I took on the challenge and found that cooking “soy and gluten free” was easier than I had initially anticipated.

I made tilapia in citrus sauce, with a side of Lundbergs gluten free wild rice and prosciutto wrapped asparagus.  The tilapia was very east to make.  I bought about 21/2 lbs from the Whole Foods fish counter.  The citrus sauce recipe was really easy… I used this recipe from AllRecipes.com which called for orange roughy but could be used on any white fish.  You really cant go wrong with lemon, lime, orange juice and butter. Yum-o!

The rice I just made according to the directions.  Lundbergs has a large variety of gluten free rices and while my husband and I do NOT have good allergies, we had already discovered and had been enjoying the Lundberg brand for quite some time.

Without a doubt, the star of this plate was the prosciutto wrapped asparagus.

Even if you don’t like asparagus, you WILL LIKE IT when its wrapped in crispy prosciutto.

The recipe is a cinch – buy a bundle of fresh asparagus and a 1/4 pound of sliced prosciutto from the deli counter at your local grocery store. Be sure to get fresh sliced prosciutto — the prepackaged slices do not work as well for wrapping. Pre-heat your oven to 425.

Wrap 4-5 asparagus spears in two slices of the prosciutto and secure with a wooden tooth pick.  Repeat until all is wrapped and ready.  Place the little asparagi bundles on a foil lined cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil and stick in the oven.  Cook at 425 for 10 minutes, then flip the bundles and cook another 10 minutes or until crispy.

I promise you will LOVE it.

And to finish off this rather healthy dessert I made a flour-less chocolate cake. Again, I found a recipe from allrecipes.com and the reviews were so positive I just had to try it.  In a word, it was decadent.  Served with homemade whipped cream and Breyers vanilla ice cream (p.s. anyone notice that Beryers has jazzed up their branding?  I like it!)

After eating such a healthy dinner, I didnt feel bad about having a slice (or two) of flourless chocolate cake… a decadent ending to a wonderful staycation.

Bright Side Repost: Review of Julie and Julia

I really enjoy cooking. It’s therapeutic to me in more ways than one. I enjoy being creative with food, I enjoy following and learning new recipes, and I especially love EATING!

Knowing this about me, it will come as no surprise that I saw Julie and Julia this weekend at the AMC theater down the street from my condo. It was SO GOOD. If you are a foodie, a writer, or love someone who is one (or both) of these, you will enjoy seeing this movie. I definitely enjoyed the Julia Child story line the best. It was so fun watching Meryl Streep portray this quirky yet confident, tall, American woman as she brought smiles to crabby Frenchmen selling produce at local markets. I loved the scene of Julia’s first day at Le Cordon Bleu cooking academy. After being judged (and schooled) in an onion chopping exercise by the all-man class of chefs, Julia goes home to practice chopping onions. Her husband comes home to find his wife behind the largest mound of onions I have ever seen. He couldn’t even enter the kitchen because his eyes were watering so badly.

The Julie story line was also entertaining and inspiring. I think I am just a bit green that she had this awesome idea (to cook her way through Mastering The Art of French Cooking and write a blog about it) and I did not. I wish I could think of a great idea like that. I love blogging and love cooking. God I wish I had thought of it first!

My favorite part was simply watching the Paris scenes. We are hoping to visit Paris late next year so seeing all the Paris parts of the movie got me really excited to visit.

Maybe I will video blog me taking a cooking class in Paris when we visit. If I do I will be sure to post it here.

The Bright Side of Shin Splints: New Shoes!

I bought some new shoes to compliment my new running program. Some of my runner friends told me to go to Road Runners in Falls Church to be fitted for shoes. I have never been fitted for shoes before, but this was the coolest thing I’ve ever done associated with exercise. They call it, The Shoe Dog.

It took about an hour, and my salesperson/shoe expert was delightful and helpful. He started by having me run in my bare feet on a treadmill while he videoed my feet from behind. Then he had me step on this pad, once with my right foot and back with my left foot, to capture what I am calling a “radar” image of my foot. The radar image showed the shape of my arch and how I am distributing weight across my foot when I take a step. The video of my bare feet running on the treadmill showed if my feet were rotating in or out while running and some other technical foot stuff I can’t quite remember. All in all this was really cool and I had fun learning more about my foot, which turned out to be pretty normal, medium arch and no strong rotation.

After trying on Nikes, Brooks, and Asics, I settled on the Asics. I really loved the gel cushioning in the shoe. My salesperson/shoe expert recommended a shoe with slight arch support so I got that too.

The next morning I woke up very excited to try out the shoes, went for an early run, and found that the shoes made ALL THE DIFFERENCE. If it were not for my hip tendinitis, I probably could’ve run faster and longer than I did. I am really glad I went to Road Runners and let the Shoe Dog fetch me a fine pair of Asics. A good decision indeed.

My shoe, on my foot

Oh, I also got these cool moisture wicking socks…

Photo courtest of RoadRunnerSports.com

The Bright Side of Staying Home on Labor Day: Staycation!

{Repost from My Daily Bright Side blog from September 2009}

This weekend Brian and I decided to unplug and have a good ole fashioned staycation.

If you are unfamiliar with the staycation, this is when you stay at home during a time others typically go on vacation and treat the city in which you live as your vacation destination. You do things you don’t typically do, you eat places you don’t typically eat, and otherwise take a vacation to your own home town. The benefits of the staycation are vast the most appealing being the money you save by not traveling but for us the staycation came at just the right time to unwind and let go of some work stress that had been building.

On Friday, the first day of my staycation, I completed a book I had been reading called “Fearless” by Max Lucado. After finishing “Fearless” I hit my apartment pool with another book called “The Noticer” by Andy Andrews. “The Noticer” was a quick read and a rejuvenating story that I recommend everyone find time to read. I blogged about The Noticer at My Living Canvas so check that out for a quick book review.

Later that night we drove a missions team out to the airport for departure to East Asia. At this point, the staycation wasn’t looking as appealing because I was a little jealous of my friends, bags packed and ready for a big adventure on the other side of the world, but then I remembered how relaxing it was to spend the afternoon reading by the pool and decided that thestaycation was indeed a good idea.

The evening ended with a late take-out dinner from P.F. Changs and a Monk marathon on USA.

More on the staycation coming tomorrow.

Staycation: Eating Out in Northern Virginia on Labor Day Weekend

Part of the fun of the staycation is discovering new places to eat right in your own hometown. For husband and me, we hit the town on Saturday night of our Labor Day staycation and found our new favorite restaurant in Arlington: Eventide

Located on the Wilson Blvd strip in the heart of Clarendon, Eventide offers three levels of culinary goodness, starting with bar eats and cheap drinks on level one, fine dining on level two, and rooftop fare on level three. Husband and I opted for the ground level offering and settled into a booth in the center of the restaurant.

What I liked most about the atmosphere was the cool local art hanging on the walls. I didn’t get a great picture of it but you can kinda get the idea here.

Once we were seated we were delighted to learn that we had arrived just in time for happy hour on a Saturday no less at a place with really good beers. Husband enjoyed his favorite Whit Allagash and I tried some local Whits and Heffs from Flyin Dog (not bad).

For an appetizer we had home made soft pretzels with Housemade peach mustard and deviled Virginia ham… this was TO DIE FOR. So much so it was gone before I could take a photo. We will go back for these pretzels alone. They were better than Auntie Anns I swear.

I also tried the fried oysters for an appetizer, they were ok but honestly it wasnt even fair to mention them against the pretzels. Ahhhh the pretzels…..

For dinner we both tried the Cuban Style Pan-Fried Skirt Steak with Chimichurri mashed potatoes, caramelized peppers & onions.

The portion size was ENORMOUS for only $16. Neither of us finished our steaks. We should’ve split one (word to the wise).

The chimichurri sauce was perfect. Upon first taste we were instantly transported back to memories of our time in Argentina in 2006. It was the perfect blend of herbs and spices. Delish.

After dinner we took the elevator up to the third floor to see what we missed. The dining patio looked awesome but the bar area was tiny and not worth it, especially when you could see the palatial rooftop bar at Clarendon Ballroom just two rooftops over. Our advice: if you want the rooftop experience at Eventide, be sure to opt to dine on the roof not just visit the bar.

We plan to go back to Eventide soon to dine in the main dining room and when we do I will be sure to post a brightside blog about the experience.

The Bright Side of Monday: Frontline Arlington

I go to church on Mondays. This is really good for me because I work at a church. Going to church on Mondays lets me have a day off on Sunday. It also lets me worship in a different building than the one where I go to work each day. But the best part about church on Mondays is the chill vibe and incredible community at my church – Frontline Arlington.

We are a generational church composed primarily of 20-30 somethings in the Washington, DC metro area. Frontline has multiple church locations, or campuses, in Tysons Corner and Arlington, Virginia and in Silver Spring, Maryland. At the Arlington Campus, our friend Edward Hunt is the campus pastor and leads a creative and innovative team who make church happen each week. Tony Alany is the worship leader, and when he finally puts songs on Itunes, I will have many bright side blogs about his music. Michelle Buckner is the Director of Ministry Teams and has a unique gift for hospitality that makes all of us feel welcome like we are hanging out in someone’s home. Our community is small – about 500 or so people each week – which makes our worship experiences personal and intimate.

Each week we experience a powerful and relevant worship experience with other people in our generation. The past three weeks, our teaching pastor Todd Phillips has been leading us through a series called “The After Party.” Its all about life after death. The first week we talked about death. The second we talked about Hell. Tonight we talked about Heaven. To end the sermon on heaven, we held baptisms.

This was unique because the location where we worship on Mondays is in the basement of a high rise building in one of Northern Virginia’s busiest business districts (Directly across the street from the WJLA building in Rosslyn). We all went outside and watched 5 people profess their belief in Jesus Christ as the Savior for their sins under a moon filled sky on a balmy August night less than a mile from the White House. It was an incredible experience, being outside for this baptism, because of the singing. I kept wondering if people could hear us singing at the Rosslyn metro stop!

Here is a brief look at what tonight was like for us.

(I shot this video on the new Iphone G3S and edited it, party in the Iphone and party with Imovie. Please excuse the “cameo” by my finger! Music by Tony Alany, EmCee by Michelle Marinoble, Campus Pastor performing Baptisms Edward Hunt)

My positioning the crowd didnt let me get great shots of the actual baptism, but I saw my friend and professional photographer Garrett Hubbard snapping some shots from a better angle so maybe he will link to his photos in the comments!