The Strength of a Woman

A woman is a unique combination of soft and strong.

If you love feeling strong and alive through yoga, bicycling, dance, working out, or any other way of moving your body, consider capturing that feeling in a work of art.

Call Rodney at 221-8413 to book your consultation.

http://www.evestudios.ca/

Mirror, Mirror on the wall….

One of my favourite movies for my kids to watch while I’m working in the background or watching with them is Shrek. I think that there are many reasons that I like it so much but one of them may be that sometimes I feel as though I look like Shrek and act like Donkey, quite the combination I must admit.

In one of the scenes a magic mirror is found and brought to the king, he asks the question “Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the greatest king of all?? (Or something like that.)” The Mirror who is painfully honest and a bit of a smarty-pants tells the king that he really isn’t a king after all as he has no queen.

I think I often look into the mirror expecting it to be somewhat magical and tell me something that is not true when reality often is what I’m faced with. I spent the first twenty some years hating my body and wishing it was something else, Bigger, Stronger, better looking, more defined muscles and the list goes on; now as a much more matured person (and 50 pounds heavier) I am finally at a place where I really appreciate what I had.

I’m on a journey to better health and that includes running several times a week which ironically is morphing me back slowly to the body that I had many years ago which I am thankful for; although I still wish I could completely be satisfied with who I am and how I look. Life is a journey and I’m finding that it’s a lot more fun while I’m running.

Blessings,

Rodney

Summer

What are you doing this summer? Will you be away on holidays? Are you vacating at the cottage on the week-ends? Or are you looking for things to do in the city? We haven't planned out our summer yet, but I imagine it will be a bit of a mix.

I took a creative journalling class soon after my first baby was born. One writing exercise that was suggested to me was finishing the phrase "A great summer would mean..." Think a little outside the box--write everything that comes to mind without censoring. Once you've got your list of ideas, you can leave it as that, simply ideas, or you can go through the list and pick the things that are most important and focus on those. That way, you're less likely to get to the end of August and wonder where the time went.

"Do one thing every day that scares you" ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

How's that for a goal this summer? Okay, maybe it doesn't need to terrify you, but have you thought of summer as a time to try new things, be a little more adventurous, or just do something especially for you. Last summer, I flew to Ottawa with my sister. Being away from our kids for five days was actually quite a scary idea! But it was so invigorating and fun to get away, explore someplace new, and just be sisters.

What would you like to try? What summer festival have you never attended? What beautiful Manitoba destination have you never visited? Maybe you could make a point of visiting every ice cream or gelati spot in Winnipeg...or farmer's market...Or maybe you'd like to try outdoor yoga (see http://www.thelifestylepass.com/ for places to try it for free) or perhaps something like tai chi. I'm thinking of heading to Fort Whyte Alive tomorrow to celebrate the birthday of a friend by taking a photo-nature walk. Might even bring a sketch book.

By the way, if you're thinking that the scary thing you need to do this summer is to show yourself how beautiful you are, you're in luck! For the months of July and August, we are doing all sessions at 75% off (a savings of $150 for studio and $225 for location). It's a little crazy maybe, but you'd be crazier not to do it at that price!

And just so you know, if you or someone you know wants to do a family portrait or is expecting a new addition to the family, the discount applies for all types of sessions.

Have a great summer!

What to do??

I was watching TV yesterday and saw that this weeks lotto jackpot is 50 million with around 50 additional prizes of 1 million each up for grabs and I started thinking… What would I do with 1 million (Let’s dream small right.)

For quite a while now I’ve been dreaming of the day when I can go to sleep without wondering if I’m going to loose my studio and home next month or the month after that so I guess I would start by paying off all of my debt, then put a little bit away for old age. Now comes the good stuff; I’ve also spent a lot of time in the past few months dreaming of being able to build and fund an orphanage in India, a school in Nepal and funding a local guy who does work with inner city at risk youth. As I thought about these things I was amazed by how little money they all require although after doing all of them my million would actually be a much smaller number.

I have to admit I would spend some of the money on other things as well, My studio still needs some roofing work done and In the neighbourhood we live in a garage would be a real asset and of course I would claim back the insurance money from My classic truck that was torched last year (Again, a garage would have been helpful) which went to pay for the first book we published (Just As I Am) and buy a used convertible “Date car” for me and Sonya or the kids.

I’ve been reading a book on living the life of your dreams and one of the suggestions is to live like you are there already; so I’m planning on doing that. I have no money to support anything but I can take more of my time and support charities and causes within my community more than I am currently doing, that is step one, step two is if any of you have a million and are wondering what to do with it, feel free to steal a few of the items on my list starting with India, Nepal, or the youth worker, feel free to contact me for more info on these things.

We have all been blessed with so much, lets all start living like it and we can change the world, one million at a time.

Rodney

My Grandmother was Right

As I think of Father's Day approaching, a day when we honour some very important men in our lives, I am reminded of the advice my Grandma passed on to each of her five daughters:

"Never put down your husband in public".

If her daughters started complaining about her son-in-laws, she didn't want to hear about it. If they had a problem, they should discuss it with their husbands, not the rest of the world.

The more I know about men, and the more I've lived with one, the more I love my Grandma's advice. Men need respect and affirmation in the roles they play in life, as much as we need to know we're beautiful and wanted. Where our question is "Am I lovely? Am I captivating?", a man's question is "Am I capable? Am I enough for the job?" I don't think we realize how we are actually attacking his strength/his core, when we put him down, especially in front of others.

Here's another quote I just recalled, from a book I perused once (it won't be exact, and I can't remember the author):

"Too often we end up serving our children and training our husbands, when it should be the other way around"

So, let's all take a few minutes and figure out some ways to show the men in our lives how we see them accomplishing good in their workplace, their family relationships, and their world.

The Real way to Prevent Bone Loss

Just read an excellent article on how to prevent osteoporosis with more effectiveness than calcium supplementation (from my favorite women's health author, Christiane Northrup). Read it here...

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Some of you may know that on May 1^st I went out and bought a pair of running shoes with the intention of doing something good for my body.

Just over 10 years ago I went for my last run; I needed to because I was applying for a job that had a physical requirement so I trained for two weeks and did my testing….and never ran again. It wasn’t always this way, in high school I was one of the best in the city in my age group in distance running; I was lean and loved to run. Now in my mid to late thirties and 60 or so pounds heavier than in high school I felt the need to start running again.

I actually starting running for two reasons, one was that in the last year I was feeling my weight run away from me; I had put on about 20 pounds in just over twelve months and it wasn’t looking or feeling good. The second reason was that my wife was starting to get concerned with my overall health, and I was finding myself hiding health concerns from her (Always a bad sign).

My goal as of May 1^st was to loose 10 pounds in the month of may but I changed that goal after talking to a doctor friend who suggested that a healthy level of weight loss was 1.5 pounds per week or 6-7 pounds a month. As of June 1^st I now weigh 207 lbs and my waist looks and feels better as well as the side benefits of my skin looking great and heart liking me a lot more.

My first run was a killer, I think I let my left lung on the sidewalk at the 1 km mark but continued on for another 1.5 kms. Now a month later I can run 4.5 km in about 22.5 mins and I have a goal to get that time down to 20 mins.

I have learned many great lessons in the running process; put one foot in front of the other, put the other foot back in front of the first, now repeat the last two movements again, and again, and again. If Oprah and I can do it, you can too.

Have a great day.

Rodney

Time to be Outside!

With the beautiful weather and lack of mosquitoes, it's a great time to be photographing outdoors. Whether you want to celebrate your beauty in a natural setting, grab the love of your life and capture your connection, or gather the family (your own children or your parents and siblings) in time for Father's Day, we are offering outdoor sessions for 50% off (a savings of $150) until mid-June.

Call the studio at 221-8413 to set up a time. Rodney will guide you with clothing choices, finding the right location, and all that good stuff. Limited evenings and Saturdays available, so book now.

The Question of Men

I realize that Eve Studios is all about women. At the core of all females, is this question, "Am I beautiful?" (if that sounds really lame to you, think of the tremendous role that beauty plays in our world). We've all twirled in our dresses as little girls and hoped that someone would notice. And how that question is answered and whether we've been seen and valued as we grew up, especially by the father figure in our life, does a great deal to shape the women we become.

Lately, I've been reading and thinking about men. They've been on my heart for quite awhile, in particular since reading "Wild at Heart" by John Eldredge. A man's question is very different. It's "Am I capable?" As boys, they looked for someone to say, "You can do it...you have what it takes" and to have a man come alongside and teach them skills and pass on what it means to be truly strong. Unfortunately, our society's focus on economic strength rather than relational strength leaves the foundations weak, and our media's message of "men are fools" (just look at advertising and comedy) only serves to topple whatever strength remains.

That's why I was so delighted to see Will Smith (and his family) interviewed on Oprah, and be completely inspired by his leadership, his insight, his strength of conviction, and the legacy he's leaving to his kids (in conjunction with Jada of course...). And a few days before that, Rod was telling me how Tom Cruise has an amazing vision for his kids and what he is doing to accomplish that. (We now have them on DVD...it's just made that much of an impact).

I'm so glad that Father's Day is coming up, because it just gives me the perfect excuse to talk about men and the importance of their role. I'm not sure where this will take me, but discussing our relationship to men and how we can help them be truly great is something that's on my heart. We can see all around us what happens when men's strength goes bad or goes passive. But how powerful it is when we encounter a man fully functioning in his strength, and controlled by his conscience.

Rodney The Dreamer

John Lennon once wrote a rather well known song the chorus of which went something like this:

“You may say I’m a dreamer

But I’m not the only one

I hope some day you will join us…”

I feel very much like John; except for the problem of have a kajillion dollars to deal with and of course the dead thing. I too am a dreamer, I dream of a day when we all can look in the mirror and like what we see. I dream of the day when we can look at each other and instead of judging them, lusting after them or being suspicious of them we can simply look and wonder what their story is. I dream of being a lover and forgiver. I dream of a world where homelessness and addictions are a thing of the past. I dream of a world where we can all love and honour each other even when we disagree with each other… I dream of a world where I can eat Chocolate, drink Pepsi and still have a perfectly chiselled body.

If you are a little like me and have such dreams please join me in doing a few little things to change the world that we live in; you might want to start by buying our book ‘Just As I Am’, help someone who needs help, simply smile at someone, tell someone they are beautiful, tell someone something you love about them, Buy the book ‘Just As I Am’ as a gift for someone (That always makes me smile), look in the mirror and tell yourself you are special, and/or live life to the fullest.

You may say I’m a dreamer

But I’m not the only one

I hope someday you will join us

And the world will be as one.

Rodney