Blogs from Edmonds, Washington, United States, North America

I recently fulfilled a childhood dream- making a Build-a-Bear. For those who don't know what this is, you participate in the whole process of making your soft toy bear. First you choose you bear's colour and shape, and then a red heart to place inside. This heart you fill with all the qualities you want your bear to have (happiness, kindness and caring in my case). You then choose a sound you may like your bear to make ("Girl's just want to have fun" being my obvious choice, though there is a wide selection of One Direction songs!). Following that you participate in stuffing you bear with softness, and placing its heart inside. After this exhilarating task, you can brush your bear's fur, and then dress it to your liking. In keeping with the Christmas spirit, ... read more

This is a post from December 20th, I forgot to publish it before. "We got our first dusting of snow overnight! It was really only a dusting- less than an inch, but oh how magical! I must admit, I was a little like a kid in a candy shop- I have never seen such fresh snow, nor had it actually snow on me! Sadly most of it has melted away as the temperatures have climbed to a balmy 37 degrees Fahrenheit (that's about 3 degrees C), but I had my fun with a few well aimed snowballs at Joel!"... read more

March 12, 2011 More free Rick Steves classes. I know – my blog entries are riddled with that guy’s name, and sometimes I feel like I am a free publicist. But the reality is that the Rick Steves company offers the best resources for travel in Europe and I am taking full advantage of the freebies whenever I can. I offer no apologies. The most recent freebie was another couple travel classes at the spring travel festival. I attended two classes: European Travel Skills with Rick Steves and Packing Light and Right with Joan Robinson. European Travel Skills was intended to follow the guidebook Europe Through the Back Door. While informative, the lecture did go off topic several times, and it could be argued that the audience came away with more information about legalizing marijuana than ... read more

Hi Everyone, This is a test blog. I'm checking this out to see if I might use it once I get to Greece. I can upload pictures, text and so on. Bad news is that you will be receiving all of this. You might occasionally check your "junk mail" because the title: "webmaster@travelblog.org" is sometimes considered JUNK!!! I leave for Greece 5/25. Carla (officially known in blog world as "the admiral")... read more

Last night, I saw 'Slumdog Millionaire' (surely you've heard about it!) with my mom. For me, it was difficult to see so many realities I observed in India play out in front of the audience, my mom, and me on the big screen. I hope that people who see the film won’t be too overwhelmed by horror or by relief (because they live in the 1st world), and rather will be compelled to make change in their thinking about poverty and India. I've discovered an American TV show, 'Secret Millionaire', with the interesting concept of taking America's wealthiest individuals and placing them undercover for a week in some of the most impoverished neighborhoods in America (sometimes in their own city). During the week, the millionaires live on minimum/welfare wage (usually around $50-$100) and try to find ... read more