(Cover of my latest project @ JC, where I got to handle all the art direction, custom illustrations throughout -- including a caricature of Val herself ... there's more about it below -- as well as some of the writing, I'd venture to say it's one of my most fantastic projects to date) ;)Oh, it's been fast times at our home these days =) The last couple weeks has been a constant whir of activity.
This last weekend here was a long weekend, like I guess it was in Canada too, except ours was celebrating Columbus Day, and was pretty much almost like any other Monday. This weekend though was a trying one for me in particular, for a number of reasons, a couple which I'll get into and a few which I won't ...
We played our first Sunday at the church plant, and I guess, un-officially lead things ... though between you and I (and Jay) it was in short the WORST worship experience I have ever had in a church. The plant is held in a school building, that mostly resembles a gymnasium, without the athletic parts. There's a stage on one end and they literally set up seats and the PA system and have church there. The people who make up the church itself are wonderful, I can see their hearts for God, and I am holding this place in prayer. The part that made it so horrible was the following:
We had been asked by the Pastor to prepare a communion song, so Jay and I just picked one we would do together, minus the rest of the band. The rest of the band consists of a male singer (who is still leading) and an acoustic guitar player who is very much still learning, and a jimmbay player so we figured it would be easiest for all if we just did a number without bothering the rest of the band. Things were pretty alright up until communion, where as the sweet fellow was explaining what a great gift it is to share in the Lords' last supper and the symbolism behind it, a couple with a wheel chair gently rode over the "snake" (large PA cable that connects the sound board to the band) and a huge, loooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnggggggggggg LOUD buzz rang out for a good 10 seconds, until our sound man came over and kicked the cable, thus ending the feedback, but there-bye disabling ALL our mics ... needless to say, we started our song and could be heard by none, till someone gave me a cordless mic. and eventually the power kicked back in.
I know, now that I write it all out, it doesn't sound so bad I suppose, but truth be told, I actually started to cry, right up there in front of everyone ... and I'll admit I was embarrassed a bit. But in all honesty, I was more upset that the most tender part of the whole service was completely interrupted but crazy noise than anything else. I felt sad that any connection whatsoever that anyone could have tried to make in that moment prob. was shattered by ear-splitting noise. It broke my heart.
The incident however, set into motion the process of getting a new snake and tweaking the PA which can only be a good thing for the church. All in all, I'm feeling quite overwhelmed by this whole thing at present, but still, know even more so that I'm called to be there (can that be possible?) There is SO much I don't know, so much I feel under-qualified for. And I find myself torn with trying to do too much too fast, and stepping completely back in frustration. So, I just ask that you would be praying for us and with us as we journey this thing ...
On some lighter notes =) Work @ JC for me has been busy, but I worked on a project the last week and a half that came into fruition just today. We had a big PR event in New York with Valerie Bertinelli, regarding the release of her new workout DVD and book, and I got to do all the promo work for it =) Which included a cute little book titled : Surviving the Holiday's with Valerie Bertinelli, inside the booklet were some tips from Val and recipes from Jenny Craig and they were giving these puppies away at the event today. The highlights for this project for me, was not only handling the art direction and design from beginning to end but also, I got to draw a caricature of Valerie herself (which she approved herself, and LOVED apparently) as well as doing some of the creative writing for the book (intros into sections etc.) it was kind of a landmark project for me, and a great portfolio piece I am proud of and blessed to be able to work on.
Tomorrow I get to go assist on a Lifestyle photoshoot with JC ... I have NO idea what exactly I'll have to do, I could just be getting coffee for people for all I know, but it should be cool. The photographer is from New York and has done our celebrity photos in the past ... I'm hoping to gleen off his wisdom a bit ;)
Also, some cool band news to share. We were asked by Shawn (our pastor at South O church) if our band (Sweeteverafter) would play this coming Saturday at an outreach that the church is doing in conjunction with the chaplain at the Marine Base here in Camp Pendleton. Even though our music is pretty hard, I guess the Marines love that kind of stuff. So we'll be playing outside at 4pm, one of the marines will share his testimony and then people will be there to pray with them if they like. I never expected our band to be involved in something like this, but i am quite excited about it. We'll get to play to guys who will prob. really dig the music, as well as connect ourselves to the message of our music, in a way we haven't been able to do yet. It would be cool if you could think of us and pray for us for that day too.
Well, I think that's it! whew, that was quite alot of catch up I guess ... that's what happens when I wait too long, haha ... anyways, thanks for reading ~ till next blog!
Love, amy
here are a couple more excerpts from my booklet, the header page for the dessert section as well as the intro page w/ my pic of Val ... and yes, there IS a spelling mistake, (!!) I guess it wouldn't be a perfect "Amy Huzil" creation if there wasn't one ... it wasn't totally my fault tho -- our lawyer asked me to change the word and no one questioned her ... I won't tell you what word it is, you have to guess!
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