hellobeautifulcreatures

And if you were a nine-year-old girl at any point during the last 30 years, you are almost certainly familiar with American Girl. It very well may have been an essential part of your nine-year-old girldom. From the beginning, from the time it was a mere kernel of an idea scrawled on a postcard, American Girl was engineered for nine-year-old girls. It all began when Pleasant Rowland, who was working for an educational publishing company at the time, took a trip to Colonial Williamsburg. Rowland had had a varied career; she'd been an elementary school teacher , a TV news reporter , a textbook writer. History and education were her passions, and while she was in Virginia, inspiration struck. She sent a postcard detailing her plan to her friend Valerie Tripp , a children's author. As she recalled at American Girl's 25th anniversary celebration , it went something like this: "I've been down in Williamsburg this week and had an idea. What do you think of it? A series of...

Setting out on a FunShip Voyage to Cuba! The Carnival Paradise passes the historic El Morro Castle in Havana, Cuba, on its first voyage to the city on Friday, June 30, 2017. Photo courtesy of Sven Creutzmann/Carnival Cruise Line. August 14, 2017 Today, I embarked Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Paradise in her homeport of Tampa, Florida to set sail on one of Carnival’s newest and most unique itineraries: a five-night voyage to Havana, Cuba . Carnival Paradise arrived in Havana for the first time on June 30 of this year, becoming the first Carnival ship in the company’s 45-year history to ever visit Cuba. All of this was made possible by the easing of travel restrictions against the island nation by the U.S. Government – though how long this will all last is anyone’s guess. Cuban and American flags…Photo © 2017 Aaron Saunders …adorn Carnival Paradise ’s soaring atrium. Photo © 2017 Aaron Saunders This isn’t my first visit to Cuba. As a Canadian, I’ve traveled here in the past as ...