Write on Wednesday: I Thought I Saw...

I thought I saw...

you the other day. Your dark curly hair that you always hated, straightened to perfection. Your magnificently sparkling green eyes, the ones that always made me jealous of your beauty.

You were wearing jeans with a slight flare, held up by your studded belt, with a bright pink long-sleeved tee... one of your favorite colors.

My heart nearly stopped mid-beat. It couldn't possibly be you, and yet, the resemblance was uncanny. Her appearance, her style, her posture, even her mannerisms all reminded me of you. She was with her friends, talking and laughing, just as you loved to do.

"Hey, are you okay?" His voice interrupted my daydreaming, noticing the watery redness in my unwavering stare. The question snapped me back to reality and I blinked, and you were gone.

Write On Wednesdays Exercise 20 - Write the words " I thought I saw" at the top of your page. Set a timer for 5 minutes. Write the first words that come into your head after the prompt. Don't take you pen off the page (or fingers off the keyboard). Stop only when the buzzer rings! Do this exercise over and over if you wish. Write beyond 5 minutes if you like, you can link it up as an extra post.

Hop on over to inkpaperpen to read others and post your own!

Also submitted for lovelinks #28!

Write on Wednesday: Sunshine in a Cup

Bring me sunshine in a cup.


Katie waited, sitting on the cotton, yellow blanket they had laid over the grass, both legs bent to her right side. The heat of the sun's rays emanated in full force on her blue, flowing skirt and plain, black blouse. She pulled her curly hair away from her face, holding it in her hands at the back of her head as she observed the nature surrounding her at the park.

I'm such a spaz! she thought to herself, patiently awaiting Robert's return. I've been an athlete all my life, and I pick now to trip and twist my ankle. Idiot. She pulled off her sandals and examined her foot, comparing one leg to the other. It's already swelling. Sigh.

Robert came into view then, his red shirt bobbing into focus as he jogged toward her from the parking lot. She watched as she took notice of his strong shoulders, how his T-shirt fit just perfectly snug on his arms and across his chest, how perfect his lean legs looked in dark blue jeans...

"This is the best I could find in my truck," he said as he began wrapping an orange handkerchief tightly around her swelling ankle, concern clearly displaying in his eyes. "Tell me if it's too tight."

"No, that feels just fine..." Katie sighed, wishing with all her might that she could just dig deep enough to find the courage to say...

"Okay, let's get you home to ice that ankle," Robert interrupted her thoughts. He helped her stand up, quickly rolled up the blanket and draped it over his left arm, and swiftly swooped Katie up, holding her against his chest. She rested her head on his muscular shoulder, shielding her eyes from the sun as he walked toward the truck.

The full prompt: Sunshine in a cup. Write the words of Emily Dickinson: "Bring me sunshine in a cup" at the top of your page. Set a timer for 5 minutes. Write the first words that come into your head after the prompt. Don't take you pen off the page (or fingers off the keyboard). Stop only when the buzzer rings!

 

Okay, I confess. I used just a little more time than five minutes. I just had to finish my thoughts ;-) Although I didn't get to where I wanted the ending to land just yet. Maybe I'll continue this story in other posts. Jump on over to inkpaperpen to read the rest of the posts and add your own!

Write on Wednesdays: Status Anxiety

Ha!


How ridiculous. She sipped her morning coffee as she recalled the events of the preceding night. You can't pull one over on me, you weasel, she thought. Good luck with your new life.

Pulling her pink cotton robe closer over her chest, she leaned forward to read the comics in the newspaper. Maybe fictional cartoons will make her feel better.

But she couldn't focus on the words and pictures in front of her. All that loomed in her mind was the darkness. The lack of light, the color of her shoes on the floor, his hair, and the sinking feeling in her heart as she pushed the door open, bottle of wine in hand for the two of them to share.

Today's prompt was to go back through the previous weeks of WoW  at inkpaperpen and choose one to try that we haven't done before, or one we wanted to try again. It was also my first week with the five minute time limit, as the ones I have done before had abandoned that rule, and I found it a little difficult for my first attempt. I chose one that occurred before I found WoW, from week 6: Log onto your Facebook/Twitter page and write down the first status update you see.  Set a timer for 5 minutes. Write the first words that come into your head after your prompt. Stop when the buzzer rings.




Also submitted for lovelinks #27

Write on Wednesdays: The Crazies - No, Not The Movie

This week's prompt is (a little late) about people-watching, and telling the story of a stranger, like another customer in the supermarket, or a neighbor. See the full prompt here at inkpaperpen.

I chose neighbor, because they are completely insane. They must have something wrong with them to act the way that they do. I cannot create a conflict for them simply because I cannot begin to fathom what actually rattles around in those hollow skulls. Here is just a snippet of their cuckoo antics...

Oh, and side note: I wanted to get some pictures, but my camera battery is dead and it's currently raining.

We live in a court; an odd-shaped, half cul-de-sac, and our house is the last one on the block. The Crazies, "Aaron" and "Amy" live right next door. Our driveway is long and winding, and their driveway is one of the half-circle types, which just happens to connect to the bottom of ours.

(Imagine a driveway picture!)

Right adjacent to the driveways is a telephone pole, complete with the usual wires. (Imagine a telephone pole picture!) One day a few months ago, A and A decided they needed some work done on their "Private Property." Yes, they think that because they own the house that they live on "Private Property," complete with at least two signs claiming so -- one so passive-aggressively pointing directly at our house, where it is only visible by us as we leave the driveway. (Imagine a "Private Property" sign picture!) Unbeknownst to us, whatever they decided to do included messing with the wires, as our cable was almost entirely cut out, with only a few channels continuing to work properly.

Of course, this resulted in a phone call from us to the cable company, asking them to come out and inspect our lines, as at this point we were unaware of the cause. Some guys drove out, and apparently this is where all hell broke loose for the Crazies.

The workers were simply doing their jobs and performing their normal job duties, but A and A seemed to think the opposite. The guys were up on the pole, checking things out, when one A (or both As, I don't even remember at this point) barreled out of the house, yelling at the workers to get off their property.

"You can't do this! You can't be here! This is private property; you need to leave!"

I'm not kidding. They think the freakin' telephone pole on the street is their property. Not only that, but they are still claiming that they live on private property - which they do not. Even if they did, the poles on the street do not belong to them. Ummm.. HELLO??!

The workers - tons of sympathy for them for dealing with these maniacs - calmly attempted to explain to the Crazies that it was not private property, that they had every right to be there, and that the Crazies did not in fact, own the telephone pole or anything else on the street. The Crazies of course had no intention of buying these ridiculous words as fact, and continued on screaming like banshees. Poor guys. My heart goes out to them.

My stepfather, Lee, who is 6'1" and nearly 300 pounds of muscle, had no choice but to come outside to diffuse the madness. The Crazies were still yelling, but Lee eventually coaxed (or possibly forced, who knows) them back inside and apologized to the innocent workers.

This is just a small chapter in the novel of dealing with the Crazies. Many other stories exist. Hmm, I should write a book.

Write on Wednesdays: One Liner

This is my third week with Write on Wednesdays. Today is about a great one liner that describes a part of my day. Click the button above to read the full prompt. Here is my line:

And as we lay together, listening to the rhythmic drumming of his heart, fingers laced and legs intertwined, I knew I had found my treasure.

Hop on over to InkPaperPen at the button above to read others' posts for this week!

Write on Wednesdays: The Fight

Head over to InkPaperPen to see the full prompt for this week. Today is about a personal story, 100% truthful, but not 100% of the truth. The keywords: The Fight.

When I started this blog, I promised myself I would always be honest with everything I wrote. And that has stuck. Everything I have written thus far has been purely genuine in its content. That isn't difficult for me. The difficult part is choosing the content. A few different things popped into my head when reading this week's prompt: My house fire at age 15, struggling through bad relationships and even worse break-ups, ended friendships, the fight through graduate school to get out of retail. But I decided to focus on something meaningful to me at the present, rather than the past. This is my fight.

I had always been a confident person, for as long as I can remember. I never had a problem with worrying what others may think, or checking the mirror every so often to make sure every hair was in place and every wrinkle was smoothed out. That's never been me, and I had always taken pride in that fact. I'm not saying that I never thought my appearance was unattractive, but even when I did, I usually forgot about it and moved on with my day. Besides, it's much too aggravating and time-consuming to be constantly worrying about my looks, my appearance, fiddling with make-up and the perfect outfit for the day. I've always worn what I felt like wearing, which was usually jeans and tank, ran a brush through my hair, hardly ever wore make-up, and ran out the door. And that's how I liked it.

But lately... I haven't been myself. I've gained some weight in the past year or so, and it's done a number on my self-confidence. I've never been stick-thin, but I've never been tremendously overweight, either. I've always just had pretty average weight; right in the middle. A little extra here and there, but I was happy with it, and myself. Now... that's somehow changed. Some of my clothes don't fit the same, and it makes me upset. If I put on a pair of jeans and they are too tight, I immediately call myself "fat" and rip them off, searching for something looser to wear. If a tank top or a T-shirt no longer feels right, I am immediately disgusted with myself and try to find something else that will cover up the spare tire around my waist or the muffin top peeking out over my pants. And I hate it. I hate that I feel this way about myself. Then, I become angry with myself that I do feel this way, because I never used to, and this was never me. My current fight is with myself.

That's why I started the Insanity program by Beachbody. I wanted to get back into shape, lose a little weight and a few inches, and feel confident about myself again. I wanted my self-esteem back. I wanted my cardio to improve, I wanted to feel stronger, and I wanted my clothes to fit better. I wanted to feel like myself again.

I've also been drinking Shakeology, The Healthiest Meal of the Day, and the tastiest! Replacing one meal a day, Shakeology is the healthiest and best-tasting shake you can find. After only a week, I felt improvements in my body. It feels healthier, and has even helped with my digestion. After a month of drinking it every day, my body feels amazing. I wish I could drink it for every meal! That's how excellent it is. You can't find quality like this anywhere else.

Now that my first round with Insanity is coming to a close, I feel better. My cardio has improved, and my numbers on the "Fit Test" have skyrocketed. This is my last week, and I can't wait to see the real end results. Next on my list is P90X!

Now that I feel better, I want to help others feel better and gain their confidence back as well. And that's why I became a Beachbody Coach; so I can help others achieve their health and fitness goals, too. I believe in this company and their products because I've used them, and they work. I want to end the craze of people across the country feeling the way I felt, no matter what the number on the scale reads back. I want to end the fad of people insulting themselves, putting themselves down, and calling themselves derogatory names because they think they are too fat just because their clothes don't fit the same, or they don't look like the models blazoned on every advertisement and flashed on mass broadcast across every TV screen. I want to End The Trend of obesity in this country. That's my new fight. And I love every minute of it.

Write on Wednesdays: Let's Take a Stroll

I have stumbled upon something in the blogosphere at Ink Paper Pen, through Writing Out Loud, called Write on Wednesdays. See Ink Paper Pen above to see the full prompt and find out what this is all about. This week is about going for a walk and writing down your thoughts and what you see. This is my first attempt at Write on Wednesdays.

I change into comfortable black sweat pants, branding my alumni status from my graduate school down the left leg in blue capital letters; "COLUMBIA." Something I can actually be proud of. I slip into my exercise sneakers, Nike, black and teal, and stylish if I do say so myself. I call to my Husky/Greyhound mixed dog, Nikki, who is enjoying her safe haven under my bed. "Nikki, wanna go out?" usually perks her right up enough to crawl out and run downstairs. This time, she doesn't want to move. I change my tactics. "Nikki, walk?" She immediately peeks her head out. I repeat the question. She sprints out of my room and down the thirteen steps to the landing.

I fasten red leashes onto both dogs, and we're off... out the garage door, down the driveway and out of our little half cul-de-sac/court/dead-end street. I worry how long of a walk Floppy can handle, as he is fifteen and has arthritis in his hips. At the end of the court, I ask the mutts which way we should go. They both start walking left, so I follow.


The air is warm, but not too warm. The sun peeks through clouds and various trees along the streets. The area is quiet, with only the sound of my sneakers pounding and the dogs' paws clicking on the pavement. Occasionally, a car or truck drives by.

My neighborhood isn't much to look at, so my mind wanders. Watching the simple life of my dogs, I start to wonder what the minds of dogs look like, and what their thoughts might be.

Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff. What's that bush smell like? What's that tree smell like? What's that grass smell like? Sniff, sniff. Another dog's urine! Jackpot! I must steal this territory as my own!

No, that's poison ivy. You're not going anywhere near that. Sorry, pup.

Why are you pulling me away?! This is mine! 
...

What's that? Another dog barking? I must bark louder! 

He's behind a fence. You can't even see him.

Stop pulling me away! I must bark with that dog! Collar... choking... don't care... must... continue... must... bark.... with... dog...
...

How are you doing, Floppy? 

Thirsty. Water! What's that? Sniff sniff... SQUIRREL! Chase, chase! Stupid leash! Great, it went up a tree! I could have caught it if you let me go!
...

Oh, that's a cute house. I like the bench outside and the stone walkway.

Sniff, sniff. Who else has been here? What other dogs have been stealing my territory? Sniff, sniff.
...

Time to go home, guys.

Sniff, sniff, sniff.
...

Home, sweet home!

Thirsty. Water! Drink drink drink...