Eggsactly what you need to celebrate Easter

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.

First Day of Spring

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 for Wednesday

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!

Writer's Groups

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?

Shamrock Run 2014

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.

St. Paddy's Day is Coming - Monday, March 17, 2014

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

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.