PEN TO PAPER: Costume Craze
Halloween is my husbands favorite holiday. I don’t love it like he does, but I do love putting together costumes. We don’t usually decide what to wear until the day of Halloween, but we always pull something together from costume filled boxes that take up most our storage space. Some are nice costumes from when my parent’s used to go to Fasching (German Masquerade Ball). My mom always made some great ones and they have been passed down to us. The rest of the items we have collected from Goodwills over the years. It’s just a matter of using our imagination, pulling things together and hitting a vintage or resale store to add some new punch.
Our Elvis costume (that I whipped together in one day twenty-five years ago) has seen better days but it still gets used from time to time, we’ve got 60’s, 70’s & 80’s covered with random vests, wigs, bell bottom pants, blazers and miscellaneous sundries. We even have a pair of my parachute pants. We’ve got sports jerseys, cowboy hats, UPS uniforms, and more. Enough to pull something together on the fly. Covid has put a dent into our usual fun, but my husband already said that he invited the neighbors to dress up and meet us on the front patio for a drink. I said I was in, now…what to wear?
What have been some of your favorite costumes?
PROMPT #1: Write about something that scares you.
PROMPT #2: Write about your favorite costume or one you’d like to wear.
PROMPT #3: Caden wasn’t about to wear a costume unless…
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PEN TO PAPER: VOTE!
The election is coming up quick, so I am writing this blog to encourage people to vote. If you read my blog you know that I am concerned about women’s rights and equal rights, I am pro-choice, I believe in science and I am deeply concerned about the environment, so my vote goes to Joe Biden. Most of you have already decided who you will vote for in this election, but if you are on the fence, I’ve included a chart of news sources and links to check out, because getting your voice heard is important, and being informed from a broad base of news sources is equally important. It doesn’t matter whether you are democrat or republican, what matters is that we bring the nation together. Young, old, white, black, women, men, Buddhist, Catholic, gay, straight, and everything in between. We are all people.
When I was young I wasn’t the best about voting. I did believe that it was important to vote for who you believed in and what they represented, not a specific party, because that’s how my mom voted. My dad is an Austrian citizen so he can’t vote. (FYI: He does pay taxes). But it wasn’t until I was older, and started to care about my local community and schools, that I truly understood how important it was to vote.
This election my daughter sent her absentee ballot from Taiwan and my son registered so he could be heard, and I hope many more are doing the same because this is an important election. Women’s rights and equal rights are at stake. And I want future generations to be able to enjoy this beautiful planet, so I worry about what will be left of this earth if leaders don’t work together to make changes to slow climate […]
Life Inspired Fitness: Inspired by de Tour
Watching the Tour de France last month inspired me. I’m not out biking every day in a yellow jersey, or trying to be King of the Mountain, but I had fun following the stages and learning more about the race. And it got me excited about pulling out my bike the next sunny day. I of course know about the race, I know of Lance Armstrong (his cancer, his comeback and the controversy around him) and I’ve watched parts of the race over my lifetime. I know that the race has many stages (twenty-one to be exact), and that the winner of each stage gets to wear the yellow jersey. But that was about it.
This year I checked the leaders each day (2020 overall winner was Tadej Pogacar), and learned that with each race, a rider can win the green jersey as well as a polka dot jersey. The green jersey goes to the winner of the points classification, a secondary competition, which started in 1953. Points are given for high finishes in a stage and for winning intermediate sprints, and these are recorded in the points classification. It is considered a sprinters’ competition. And the polka dot jersey goes to King of the Mountain, a secondary competition that started in 1933. It is given to the rider that gains the most points for reaching mountain summits first. The leader of this classification is named the King of the Mountains, and since 1975 wears the polka dot jersey (white jersey with red polka dots).
I’m no cycle enthusiast; in fact I’m not much of cyclist at all, I won’t even clip in. But there are times when I grab my bike and do hill sprints or put in some easy miles around the neighborhood. Occasionally my husband and I go to trails to mountain bike and we love to ride to our […]
PEN TO PAPER: Reboot
I used to post a pen to paper, that included a writing prompt, every Monday. It was always a good way for me to kickstart my writing for the week, so I’ve decided to go back to that routine. If you’re a writer please join me. If you’re not a writer, you can join me too. It can be fun to ponder writing prompts even if you don’t have time to write (though it only take 5-10 mins).
I like to give a couple of prompts, but if the prompts I give don’t spark your interest, feel free to use your own. Or if you can’t decide, my friend Jenny and I often grab the nearest book, open it up and set our finger on the page and go with the closest word or phrase. The key is to simpy write.
Write on!
WRITING PROMPT #1: What does reboot mean to you?
WRITING PROMPT #2: Write about a time that you truly felt the most alive.
WRITING PROMPT #3: Sandra set down her computer, picked up her pen and…
Meet Sonya
Meet Sonya
Sonya Elliott’s memoir, Back on the Court: A Young Woman’s Triumphant Return to Life, Love & Basketball, is her story of finding hope in the wake of tragedy after she and her fiancé were hit by a train. She blogs about writing, basketball, and life and is currently working on a Young Adult Novel and a Non-Fiction Coaching book. Stories of her career as a fashion model are woven through her memoir, as both the Soloflex and Easy Spirit Shoes commercials were filmed during that time period, and this unique and intriguing business continues to be a part of her life.
Sonya played basketball at Eastern Washington University and was a starter for the Big Sky Champion team that went to the 1987 NCAA tournament. She coached for almost 25 years and was voted Seattle Times Coach of the Year, Seattle Officials Women’s Basketball Association Coach of the Year, and twice voted Metro League Coach of the Year. She loves the game of basketball and is thankful, not only for her husband and kids but for her ability to continue to get back on the court.
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PEN TO PAPER: Fingers To Keys
It’s been a while since I’ve written by hand. I wrote the first draft of my memoir, Back On The Court, by hand. At least a majority of it. I wrote it in journals, the cheap black and white ones that college students get for class notes. It worked great, because as I transferred the writing from the notebooks to my computer, I edited the work. I even felt that I was more creative when I was writing by hand.
Now I write almost exclusively on my computer. Maybe I’m just lazy, or maybe it’s because it’s so hard to keep up with my thoughts when I write by hand. Or it could be that because my writing is so sloppy these days, I can’t read half of what I’ve written. I’m not sure, but even though I do enjoy writing by hand from time to time, other […]
PEN TO PAPER: The Trash Can Is Your Friend
Do you ever think, my writing sucks!
Well, you’re not the only one. I think we all feel that way from time to time, I know I do. And sometimes my writing does suck, and that’s okay. You can’t expect your writing to always be perfect, or even good. It is all part of the process of getting better.
I love the quote, “The Trash Can Is Your Friend,” by Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale, because it gives you the go ahead to give up. I don’t mean on your writing, I’m the queen of never giving up when it comes to writing and life, but there are times when what we’ve written, is just there to get us better. It’s our practice.
And just like any other practice, (let me use basketball as an example since it’s my other love), it’s not always perfect. There were practice days, […]
PEN TO PAPER: Animal Inspiration
Today’s writing prompt is an easy one. It’s about animals. Do you have a favorite animal? A favorite pet? Maybe you love going to the zoo and watching the giant hippos glide through the water and then plod across the shore, maybe you are inspired by the graceful neck of the giraffe. Maybe you don’t know what you’d do without your pet tabby cat that you rescued when Covid hit or maybe you are attracted to a dog that sheds non-stop, farts more than your husband and slobbers on your pants every time he walks away from his water bowl and sets his jowls on your thigh. Or maybe you are not a fan of animals at all. Whatever the case, animals can be great writing inspiration.
Pick one or more prompts and let your pen and mind get to work. Write on!
WRITING PROMPT 1: Write about your favorite, or least […]
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