A+ All-Stars

Hike Up Your Skirts: How Tutus and Trails Make the Best Mother’s Day Tales   Written for Washington Trails magazine   Visit the published magazine article here and the companion blog here   Each year on Mother’s Day, something magical happens at Mount St. Helens. At almost 6 a.m. on the dot, sleepy mountaineers begin making their way up the normally imposing, often snow-covered volcano in herds. They chatter relentlessly between themselves, for once excited about sharing the trail with hundreds of other climbers. Strangers don’t exist—only potential friends. Laughter echoes from the stony parking lot to the snowy summit. As the sun comes up, it illuminates a scene unlike any other—a backcountry costume ball of sorts. Gone are the Gore-Tex jackets...

Inspiration in the Face of Tragedy   Written for Washington Trails magazine   Visit the published article here   Beyond the Bear could have been a story about a life ruined. After all, it is the firsthand account of one of the most horrific grizzly bear attacks in recent history. Instead, Dan Bigley, with the help of coauthor Debra McKinney, crafted an inspiring tale of a life reinvented in the wake of an experience that could only be called pure, unadulterated hell. As befits a nature enthusiast and experienced outdoorsman, Bigley’s narrative is captivating from the beginning. In the weeks, and even hours, leading up to the attack, Bigley was a man who had it all. Six months before the attack he landed his dream job with Alaska Children’s...

Makeup Basics for the Lips   Written for Walgreens.com   Your lips help you with some of the most important things you can do in a day: smile at a stranger, eat delicious food, and kiss someone you love. But they’re often neglected when it comes to your makeup routine. That’s why we compiled some easy tips to plump up that smile of yours and give you the perfect pout. Prep work:Before you even think about reaching for your tube of lipstick, pause just a moment for the most important step of all: prep work. Just like in painting, when it comes to your lips, you need to start out with a clean canvas. Your prep work begins with exfoliation. This will remove dead skin cells and flaky skin that can cause color to look blotchy and uneven. Try a bit of sugar...

Burt’s Bees Brand Page   Written for Walgreens.com   If hitchhiking hadn’t existed in 1984, Burt’s Bees wouldn’t exist today. The company got its unconventional start when Roxanne Quimby, an artist from Maine, was thumbing a ride and Burt Shavitz, a local bee-keeper, picked her up. The two hit it off instantly and soon began making candles from Burt’s beeswax. They were so successful at selling candles that they stared making other things from the beeswax, including personal care products. From the beginning, Burt’s Bees was different. It was a company made possible by nature, and it has continued to use nature as its inspiration in creating everything from shampoo, to lotion, to toothpaste. Its philosophy is two-fold: what you put on your body is...

Mountain Man: On the Trail of Dugout Dick   Written for a continuing education class   View the article (with pictures and side-bars) here: MountainManPDF   It was an unlikely heaven: jagged rocks, narrow terracing, caves hand-chiseled into a stony mountain. There were no modern amenities beyond gas lamps and handmade wood stoves. Everything here was on its second life, from the car windshields that became cave windows to the old tires that became insulation, handpicked from the local dump. It’s the closest you could possibly come to living like the Taliban, and yet each year many people: the displaced, the strange, the nomads, and the curious of American society, called this network of ice caves home. For only $5 a night, people could escape the pressures...

Edmonds Community Page   Written for Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty   Visit the published article here   Only 18 miles north of Seattle lies the hamlet of Edmonds, a small town of only 39,000 on the west-facing slope of Puget Sound. With tree-lined streets, a walkable downtown, and beautiful views of the ferry, the town has become a hideaway for those looking to escape the hustle and bustle of city life. It’s a place where flowers bloom in every yard come spring and people smile when they walk down Main Street. But don’t let the size of Edmonds and its charm fool you; this is no sleepy town. It offers a full calendar of year around events, enough gourmet restaurants to satisfy even the pickiest foodie, and so many transportation...