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Sometimes when I go for a jog, I see a door and I have to stop and sometimes I even need to snap a photo.
This red door made me wonder. . .
Who lives behind that red door...
Is it a sign of something . . .
I don't know. . .
But I thought it was pretty enough to make me stop and snap a photo
I love running on Burnside. You can always find beautiful sights to see.
As I approached this entryway, I thought "that's too pretty not to take a picture."
So, I did. . . or maybe a few.
It looked like a little tunnel of trees and bushes...
Sort of like entering a doorway into another world...
My husband and I went for a run on Saturday. This is the view of downtown Portland from the middle of the Burnside Bridge.
Portland is also known as BridgeCity and you can see why...remember, I'm standing on the Burnside Bridge while I'm taking these pictures and you can see a few of the other bridges that line our skyline.
The Cherry Blossoms are so fragrant and beautiful as you enter the city core.
From every inch of the Burnside Bridge you can see beautiful views.
What a way to spend a day...
It's fun and easy to make festive treats especially if you have cereal sitting in the cupboard.
If you want to make an egg shaped treat all you need is a plastic egg form. Fill it with your rice krispie treats and let them settle.
Then you can decorate them with sprinkles and/or chocolate drizzled over the top.
Then they are cute and yummy.
Spring Equinox is finally here! One way to celebrate is with a new wreath and if you have a glue gun and a couple boxes of peeps in the cupboard it's easy. All you have to do is glue the peeps and some plastic eggs on the form and wrap it with some feather boas.
All I did was take my St. Paddy's Day Wreath and add a few touches with things I had hanging around the house.
I simply wrapped a pink boa right over the green and white ones and glued on the eggs and peeps and WAH-LAH!!! Spring is here.
WORD: Freecycle
This is such a Portland word. It represents recycling at its best, in the form of free goods. Many times when you pass through neighborhoods, you will see goods sitting on a curb with a sign that says "FREE". Anyone is welcome to take these goods home with them and to use them however they choose.
I love this new word and the meaning behind it. FREECYCLE!
We all like to talk with people who share our interests, whether it's the same book, the same music, or the same movie. But, if you're a writer, there are a few groups you might want to look into joining.
One is the SCBWI or the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
or the RWA or the Romance Writers of America
or Willamette Writers
and there are many more. If you write in a certain genre, just google it and you'll probably come up with some great groups you can join. And, if you do, you'll most likely meet more than other writers...you'll probably make a few friends. So, what do you have to lose?
It was an early morning. We all met at my house to get geared up and take off together.
Then my wonderful husband drove us down to the start. We had a little time so we walked around and checked out a few of the people who were dressed for a fun run.
There were a lot of runners dressed all in green from their heads (literally) to their toes.
Even some pups were geared in green and happy to be seen.
Then we had to wait for the start. And with an anticipated 35,000 runners, it took a time to make it to the start line. But then we were off and running.
Of course I had to grab out my phone and snap a few shots along the way.
There were plenty of tutus and even some people running in pink capes with shamrocks sewn on their backs.
But then I had to focus on the run because we saw a couple people trip and fall because they were so busy watching some of the outfits and I didn't want to be one of them. . . because, believe me, I've fallen on a run before and it is one way to make sure you don't have a fun run.
Finally, we finished! And we all had a great time.
Are you getting ready? Planning on celebrating? Maybe going to mix in a little green food coloring into the mashed potatoes, or drop a dribble of coloring into your seltzer? There are so many ways to celebrate but this weekend I'll be running in the Shamrock Run in Portland along with 35,000 other runners.
There are all levels of runs: a 5k, 8k and 15k. And it should be fun because the runners dress for the event.
So, I hope you too will be having a wonderful weekend filled with food, festivities and maybe even a fun...run.
Taking it to The Next Level is easy when you get help from experienced writers and another one of these great events is coming.
Yes, this is a wonderful writerly opportunity to learn some new things and network with some other people who are passionate about the same thing as you: writing.
So get ready. The Next Level is set for this Saturday at TaborSpace, located at: 5441 SE Belmont St, Portland, OR 97215, from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. If you are interested in coming, look here: https://oregon.scbwi.org/events/ Plus, while you're there, you might as well click around the events tab and see what other great events are coming up.
There's another date to mark on your calendar too, it's July 26, 2014. This will be another summer edition of The Great Critique.
So, keep your mouse at attention and make sure you check back often to see what wonderful writing opportunities are waiting for you.
The
Pacific Northwest is one of the prettiest places in the world - at least in my opinion. Check out this view and see if it's not the truth. This is the view you will get from
Crown Pointe. But it's hard to say if this is the most spectacular view . . . or not.
Just drive a little bit further and you'll find falls and lots of them:
Bridal Veil,
Horsetail,
Multnomah...just to name a few.
In the view above, you can see the
Benson Bridge, which is out of commission for now. There was a landslide that hit the bridge and left it unstable. It's a shame because we used to hike over this beautiful old bridge all the time in the summer.
But there are still a lot of trails to hike and pretty falls to seek out. So don't let the one bridge keep you back. And if you're planning a spring break trip, this would be a great destination:
the Columbia River Gorge and the entire route along the way.
I love to run through this park but as you can see today the park was flooded.
There were ducks floating in little makeshift ponds. But none of this water is usually here. There is a pond but it's on the other side of the park. Still it was a bright spot in a cold, damp day going for a run through this wet but beautiful park.
It was a busy weekend. We had a family dinner and wanted to have a little something special after the meal. So my husband played a few songs for everyone after we all ate and before everyone showed up, he practiced a bit.
And it was so fun to have family here all the way from Denmark.
I always want to celebrate but my bank account doesn't always allow me to party the way I want. So, I have to come up with ways to create, bake and make my own gifts, gear and goodies.
Here's one easy way to make cards if you, like me, aren't always so crafty.
I take some construction paper and a cookie cutter (yes, a cookie cutter) and etch the outline in the paper.
WAH-LAH holiday card created for only a few pennies.
I love holidays and baking and making things to celebrate. This was an easy choice.
First off, I found these "vases" at Joann Fabrics and grabbed them in a hurry. Then I stuck some floral foam in each one.
Then the fun began.
I melted some white chocolate and colored it with food coloring. I made pink and green and yellow.
Then I poured the tinted chocolate into the candy molds.
Then I stuck food quality lollipop sticks (also bought at Joann's) into the chocolate.
I used rubber bands to give them support. Then I dipped some marshmallows into the chocolate and added sprinkles.
And then I started building my bouquet.
This was the first time I made these and now I have a few ideas for next time but I think they turned out sweet ;D
BEFORE AFTER
Maybe some of you remember the work that's gone into this.
Like how my hubby had to make his own flooring because there were no floor boards in a couple of places
and he put his hand-made tongue and groove into place
because what was there needed to be sanded or patched
And he has been refinishing this old floor
And it has taken a long time for him to sand this entire floor, after work.
But he finally finished.
And then it was time to varathane it.
And it took four coats of the liquid to seal it. So, even I helped.
And I think it turned out really pretty.
If you have any old pillowcase that is ripped or torn and is too pretty to be thrown away, simply make a new pocket pillow re-using that old portion that is too pretty to be thrown away. All you have to do is sew a simple half-pillow case and slip it over a pillow to make a pocket for books, goodies or other surprises to be placed inside for your guests.
Ingredients:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
23 cups of popped corn
2 teaspoons of green food coloring
1/2 cup of green m-n-m's
green candy
Heat the water and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the sugar turns clear and the mixture looks like water, add in the corn syrup and heat until clear. Pour in food coloring. With the popped corn in a heat resistance bowl (like stainless steel) pour the green sugar mixture over the popped corn and stir well. Let cool for ten minutes then add the green candy and serve.
Happy St. Paddy's Day
Pou
Okay, I'm not a model and I don't do this dress justice but it is so cool to wear something that was destined for the landfills. At
Camp Hollyhock they repurpose old clothing and make it "seam" like new again ;D
All it takes is a little embellishing and some tea...or so I'm told. Anyway, if you are in
Portland, you have to check out this shop over in
Sellwood. It is so "green" and if you want a way to celebrate St. Paddy's day - this is definitely the way to do it by buying green and getting some great clothing at the same time.
I love these clothes so much that I've blogged about
Camp Hollyhock before but I just might do it again.
And, okay, maybe I should have belted the dress - but this is it without any help from me.
But it is "sew" comfortable and I love the idea of wearing repurposed clothing.
How 'bout you?
It's so simple to celebrate. All you need is some colored salt or sugar and use a little lime juice and then dip your glass in the colored seasoning - sudden celebration!
With St. Paddy's day just around the corner, it's nice to have some green salt on hand. We use it to rim our margaritas. And suddenly a simple drink can seem like a celebration in a glass.
Happy Friday! Hope you have a wonderful weekend. CHEERS!
What do you do when you only have one skein of yarn? I make a collar. It's simple. You knit like you're going to make a scarf only not nearly as long, then you sew a little button on it and WAH-LAH a new collar to dress up any shirt or sweater.
They are fun and inexpensive and it's an easy way to use up some of that yarn that you have sitting around and haven't figured out what to do with it.
I wanted a new skirt but I didn't want to pay $59.00 to get one. So I pulled out one of my favorite skirts and laid it out on some brown fabric to use for a pattern.
This wrinkled gray skirt is one of my favs. So I cut the shape out in the brown fabric. And then I used some green yarn in the waistband so I could sew it inside out and then pull it through easily using the yarn.
Then I stitched the waistband to the main fabric and Wah-lah! I had a new skirt that I paired with some ankle boots and I was pleased for $12.00. Not a bad deal.
If you're interested in attending the annual conference but you're running short of money, check out this site. There are forms for you to apply for a scholarship. And do it quickly because the deadline is March 1, 2014.
Good luck! And hope to see you at the conference.
I love to celebrate and one way I celebrate is by decorating the house with wreaths. I usually make them myself and it couldn't be simpler to make a wreath than to take a couple of feather boas and wrap them around the form of a wreath and add a few shamrocks and pom-poms. I even added a bow and a garland then I hung the wreath and WAH-LAH home-made merry making for St. Paddy's day.
Do you decorate for St. Paddy's Day too?
This is a sad story about a woman who dies from cancer in October of 1951 but her cells live on throughout time and help others by giving scientists a way to test and research cancer and its growth through her durable cells (
HELA). It is really worth reading. But be prepared because it can be very depressing to hear about the way people were treated back in the 1950s. I almost couldn't finish it because of the horrific things I learned. But if you can put that aside and read the story, it is a very educational book.
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