for whom the bella tolls - mother's day is may 9

Nothing quite says you’re the world’s best mama quite like a bouquet of fresh cut flowers. At Terra Bella Flowers in Phinney Ridge, the majority of stems are organic, and many sourced locally including tulips from Alm Hill Garden in Bellingham, peonies, berries, dahlias, and chocolate cosmos from Jello Mold Farm in Mount Vernon. Owner Melissa Feveyear also buys from local farmers’ markets and from The Children’s Garden in Carnation. Roses come from Portland, California, and Ecuador, although Melissa suggests buying local tulips and hyacinths for Mother's Day if you want to be as green as possible. Wrap ‘em in willow with a couple sprays of hot pink roses and cymbidium orchids from Portland's Peterkort Roses and you have a beautiful European garden mix of sustainably grown blooms to drool over. By buying flowers grown here in the Northwest instead of sourcing buds grown around the globe, we support out own economy and reduce the need for mass transportation. TerraBella Flowers also rents and reuses its props and containers and is more than happy to set up a carbon offset program for your wedding or other event.

Wanna Try?
TerraBella Flowers & Mercantile, 8417 Greenwood Ave. N., Seattle; (206-783-0205)

Small Changes Add Up
If 10,000 Seattleites bought roses sourced from Portland, OR instead of Ecuador, it would keep the weight of 385 Liberty Bells out of the landfill.

west seattle community garage sale

Next Saturday, May 8th from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., I'm partaking in the West Seattle Community Garage Sale. All proceeds of my sale will benefit The Global Citizen Project.

There will be garage sales taking place all over West Seattle that Saturday, but I'll be part of the Hotwire Coffeehouse and Ginomai group (in the Ginomai lot at 4410 California Avenue SW).

For more details, click here. If you're in spring cleaning mode and have stuff to get rid of, I'm taking donations and able to pick-up. Big thanks in advance to Alex Kralicek and Chelsea Lin for pitching in to help (wo)man the stand. These gals have gone above and beyond to help support The Global Citizen Project. Thank you, ladies.

national volunteer week

Whew. There’s a lot going on this week. It’s National Volunteer Week (April 18-24), which I honored today by volunteering a few (far too fast) hours at Marra Farm Giving Garden in the South Park neighborhood of Seattle via the United Way of King County. My county’s United Way chapter works closely with Solid Ground, an organization that provides shelter, food, home care, transportation and other basic services to more than 38,000 families and individuals in need throughout King County. Under the aegis of Solid Ground and several other organizations, the four acre Marra Farm engages people in sustainable agriculture and education (of all ages) while enhancing local food security. (The food grown at Marra Farm goes to local residents and the senior lunch program through the Providence Regina House Food Bank, Mien senior citizens, and Concord Elementary School students and their families.) To get an idea of how much this little four acre plot contributes to the local community, consider this: In 2009, more than 1,400 volunteers contributed over 6,200 hours to help us grow more than 16,000 pounds at Marra Farm. Wow.

Marra Farm also has one heckuva fascinating history. First of all, it is one of only two historical farms preserved with Seattle city limits (the other being Picardo Farm in Wedgwood, Seattle). It was operated from the early 1900s until the 1970s by the Marra family, until they sold it to King County Parks and Recreation under the premise that the parcel must remain open space. The land got very little love until the immigrant neighborhood residents joined efforts, along with a VISTA volunteer to kickstart restoration efforts in the late 1990s.

Big thanks to Marra Farm Coordinator, Sue McGann for being such an amazing ambassador of the land and of farming and for reminding us to honor the farmers who grow our food and to always support our farmers' markets. You made me leave Marra Farms yearning to return and get my hands back in the dirt to play some small part of the bigger picture. Also, thank you Erica and Yuri of United Way of King County for coordinating this volunteer opportunity and for throwing free Seattle Mariners tickets into the mix to sweeten the already satisfying deal. I look forward to working with all of you again. (Be still my volunteer lovin' heart.)

A quick side note also in the volunteering vein. I'd like to thank Sarah Van Auken of Volunteer Global for the nice mention of The Global Citizen Project's fundraising efforts in her "Fundraising for Your Volunteer Trip" blog post. Sarah's been an incredible supporter of my project and a fantastic proponent of volunteer travel and I'm so very glad this gal is on my team. She rocks.

So, what are you waiting for? Get out there this week and do something for the world already. Even if you only have an hour or two to spare, between National Volunteer Week and Earth Day (coincidentally, my birthday), there are oodles of volunteer opportunities this week. Go make a difference. (Because I know you can.)

honduras gumbo

Thank you Gladys Chavez for sharing this blog about life in Honduras, Honduras Gumbo, especially since my first stop for The Global Citizen Project will be volunteering with Building a Future in Tegucigalpa. I love Laurie's most recent post about New Orleans, having spent last weekend in the Big Easy for a wedding, and extra love that she mentions La Petite Grocery -- one of my favorite new(ish) restaurants. I didn't have the  opportunity to swing by on this recent trip, but loved a late-afternoon lunch there last January.

less than two months to go

Less than two months from today, The Global Citizen Project will kick off. Ten of the twelve projects have been confirmed and I hope to have the few remaining nailed down as soon as possible. Several of the flights and program fees have been paid for, with strategic frequent flyer mile planning kept in mind to help cover airline costs later in the project. Despite going into this with a clear plan and a projected budget, the act of pulling all of the logistics together has required a tremendous amount of well-thought out (read: overanalyzed to death) decision-making. In real life, I tend to be a jump-into-the-deep-end-of-the-pool-sans-water-wings kinda gal, who just has a knack for making things happen. Planning The Global Citizen Project has required a great deal of patience and thought as I try to make the smartest decisions possible. While I’m still pinching myself that I was able to raise over $20,000 in 90-days (thank you), there is not much wiggle room for budgeting errors and I want to make sure that every dollar will have the greatest effect possible. Fingers crossed, I should have a final itinerary of where I’ll be and when, and a little bit about each project available in the next week or so to share with you. Thanks for bearing with me on this one. Once I take off in June, I need my plan to be locked, loaded and logistically squared away and I want to be as certain as possible that I'm making the best possible decisions for the project.


As I pull details together for TGCP, I’ve been catching up on non-TGCP related editorial work. Most recently, I wrote a travel feature for The Costco Connection on the ambitious culinary programs at Pueblo Bonito Resorts in Cabo San Lucas, worked on some press material for one of my favorite publicists in the whole wide world, Andrea Burnett, penned a top ten honeymoon feature for HotelChatter.com and articles on Montpelier Plantation in Nevis, B.V.I. and The Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco for Jetsetter.com (a member of the Gilt Groupe). I also started a loose outline for a book proposal on The Global Citizen Project (you never know) and have been lining up some TGCP-related writing gigs for pre/post projects.

The last few weeks have also seen a non-stop string of fantastic visitors, house guests and new friends. I absolutely love to cook, entertain and show off Seattle – even more so now that I know I may not see some of my favorite faces for quite some time. Sure, TGCP is only a one year commitment, and yes, I will be back and forth to Seattle over the course of the year, but the reality is that there are a lot of people whom I will miss dearly. The last house guest arrives Monday, a dear friend from Chile, followed by friends visiting from Alaska on Tuesday, before I take a red-eye Thursday night to New Orleans for a long-time friend’s wedding. There, in one of my favorite parts of the country, if not the world, I’ll get to see several close friends, many of whom I haven’t see for years due to great geographic distances. As an added bonus, the timing of the wedding also coincides with the French Quarter Festival. I'm one giddy girl just thinking about all of the free musical entertainment to be had just two blocks from my super cheap hotel (found on Hotwire, natch).

In other project related news, this past week I went to the University of Washington Travel Clinic where I survived the first of three visits to complete all of the necessary vaccinations for the next year of travel. Full disclosure: Despite a childhood filled with Friday afternoon allergy shots (for nine years), I’m a total baby when it comes to shots and blood. So, when Nurse Lisa spelled out exactly what would be needed to travel safely and my per appointment injection threshold, I almost fainted. (I’m not even going to go into the stacks of country-by-country printed material of warnings she sent me home with.) And here I thought I was all fancy already having Hep A, Typhoid and Yellow Fever vaccinations under my belt. Oh, how far my yellow World Health Organization card has come and I still have two appointments to go. I suppose a few pesky needles (and bruised/sore arms – every vaccination in the first round was administered intramuscle) is no great shakes compared to the possible complications should I pick-up the diseases in question. Plus, Nurse Lisa wields a needle with such deftness that my wincing really was kept to a minimum. That alone will make returning for round two all the more easier.

One last housekeeping issue as I’m in full-tilt logistics mode: If you have not received your backer reward yet, please send me your mailing address to cpfeuffer (at) yahoo (dot) com. There are still a few Chipotle Burrito Bucks, Theo Chocolate Bars and one lonely bag of Lighthouse Roasters coffee still milling around. Jennifer B., your Theo Chocolate is wrapped and ready to go.

Here's wishing everyone a happy Easter (if you celebrate) and a happy spring.

reading: the lunatic express

This afternoon, I signed The Lunatic Express: Discovering the World...via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes by Carl Hoffman (Broadway, 2010) out of Ballard Library based on fellow travel writer, Jenna Schnuer's recommendation. After giving it a quick looksee, I'm pretty geeked out to read it, although the author touting 159 days of travel over two years did not make me blink an eye.

Here's what Simon Winchester of the Wall Street Journal had to say:

“Carl Hoffman, a courageous and interestingly untroubled man from Washington, D.C., has done a great service by reminding us, in The Lunatic Express, of this abiding truism: that the world’s ordinary traveler is compelled to endure all too much while undertaking the grim necessities of modern movement…Mr. Hoffman spent a fascinating year going around the world precisely as most of the world's plainest people do—not on JetBlue or United or American or Trailways, modes of transport that look positively heavenly by comparison, but in the threadbare conveyances of the planet's billions….He learns along the way a great deal about the habits of the world's peripatetic poor, and he writes about both the process and the people with verve and charity, making this book both extraordinary and extraordinarily valuable….It is a wise and clever book too, funny, warm and filled with astonishing characters. But it also represents an important exercise, casting an Argus-eye on a largely invisible but un-ignorable world. It is thus a book that deserves to be read widely. Perhaps in some airport in a blinding rainstorm in the Midwest, while waiting for yet another infernally delayed American plane.”

(Update 4/19: Hoffman traveled 159 days over the course of one year - not two. Read the book, absolutely loved it and cannot recommend it enough to my fellow adventurers and wanderlusters.)

resume builder: adult cpr and first aid at seattle area american red cross

This week, I did one of the best things I’ve done for myself (and my community) in quite some time. I got certified in Adult CPR and First Aid at my local Seattle Area American Red Cross. Sure, I travel like a girl scout with a well-stocked first aid kit, but I hadn’t taken CPR since high school (hello, 1991 graduate!) and what did I really know about first aid beyond bug bites, blisters and Bandaids? Thankfully, I’ve never had a major medical emergency while traveling. Home has been a different story, as I’ve faced everything from a head-on collision and E.coli, Edwardsiella Tarda and Plesiomonas Shigelloides to a bevy of broken bones – but nothing that modern medicine couldn’t (eventually) fix. The intestinal critters were pretty gnarly, but I’ll spare you the details.

Friday morning, I woke up at an hour rarely seen by this late-night gal and schlepped to the American Red Cross facility that serves both King and Kitsap Counties in South Seattle. Of the 11 students, I was the only one not taking the class as a work requirement. I was semi-surprised and kind of wished there had been more people taking the course on their volition. (I’m all about the unofficial, non-college credit earning world of continuing education.) My Adult CPR and First Aid class was taught by the deft duo of Ryan and Tracy, both of whom volunteered their time to teach the all-day class. You couldn’t ask for better teachers, and their enthusiasm and ability of convey information clearly was not lost on me. I’m gonna defy everything you probably think about such courses and dare say, that I actually had a lot of fun. We spent the day learning the almighty Emergency Action Steps (Check, Call, Care), how to perform chest compressions and CPR, how to respond to conscious and unconscious choking, telltale signs of stroke, heart attacks, as well as a ton of practical first aid information, including how to splint and sling an injury and treat heat and cold-related injuries.

Originally, I signed up for this class thinking it may come in handy while traveling in places far from modern medical facilities, but walked out feeling like my newfound knowledge could come in handy at anytime, in any place. I cannot recommend this course enough and feel confident that I picked up enough skills in this one-day course to help save someone’s life in a wide variety of emergency scenarios. As soon as I got home, I hopped online to see what other courses my local American Red Cross offered and admit, I’m seriously considering upping my training education. The whole point of The Global Citizen Project is to give back and help others, and the more health and safety skills I have in my personal toolbox, the better equipped I’ll be as a global citizen – both near and far. Thank you American Red Cross, for offering such courses to the community, for making them accessible at a reasonable price, and for offering flexible schedules.

media mention: matador network (again)

Thanks are in order for Julie Schwietert at Matador Network for her continued support of The Global Citizen Project and for mentioning it's fundriasing success in today's "How To Fund Your Start Up Org" post on Matador Change.

media mention: blogging: explore the publishing frontier

Thank you to Writers.com intructor, Amanda Castleman, for mentioning The Global Citizen project in her post today on "Micropatronage and blog sponsorship." Blogging Frontier is a online course for blogging beginners that focuses on the art and craft of new media.

win it: grantourismo travel blogging competition

The fine globetrotting folks behind Grantourismo, Lara Dunston and Terence Carter just announced the first of a yearlong series of  travel competitions with monthly prizes. The travel writing twoesome is inviting you to create an inspiring blog post, consisting of a 500-word piece of evocative travel writing and one compelling photograph that motivates people to:

•explore more authentic and enriching ways to travel
•get beneath sthe skin of a place when they travel
•learn to live like locals
•travel more slowly and more sustainably, and/or
•give something back to the places they visit.

FIRST PRIZE is a stay at a HomeAway Holiday-Rentals property of your choice anywhere in the world valued at UK£500 (US$750) and a Viator tour voucher worth £100/US$150.

Visit Grantourism's website for all fine print, details and how to enter. Good luck!

give thanks: bogs footwear

Who says a gal has to compromise fashion for function? Not the design-savvy folks at BOGS Footwear who sent me an incredibly cute pair of waterproof/weatherproof "Classic High Cosmos Berry" boots for The Global Citizen Project adventures. Thank you, Dustin.

These knee-boots are not only warm, snuggly and way stylish, they have these great little cut-outs which make pulling them on and off super easy (a gripe with previously owned practical boots). And hello, retro flowers! Adorable. I don't want to take these boots off. Ever. My boyfriend thinks I should wear 'em with tights (now that would be a fashion statement). I'm thinking I'll test run 'em during Seattle's next rainstorm and be the belle of the muddy dog park (the gals always talk footwear as we've all managed to trash many pairs of shoes in the name of ChuckIt and stick). Either way, my new BOGS are absolutely perfect for my upcoming travels where in many instances, mud, rainy season and jungle/rainforest-like conditions are certain. Despite their girlish exterior, these boots are tough and ready for whatever scenario my tootsies take me to. I'll be sure to post pix of my BOGS in all-weather action. In the meantime, I'd love a little rain so I can splish, splash and play. Thank you again, BOGS Footwear for helping to outfit me for The Global Citizen Project.

making planning progress

It’s been a busy weekend in the (206). It may seem like I’ve been kinda quiet the past few days, but I’ve been deep in the throes of planning logistics for The Global Citizen Project, plus heaploads of spring cleaning (four garbage bags of clothing, shoes and accessories have been unloaded so far). Thankfully, it’s all starting to come together and I have lots of fun stuff to report.

I planned TGCP on a shoestring budget and have been reaching out to sponsors for some of the basic essentials and supply needs. The response has been far better than expected and many companies have been generous with their support. I am posting a permanent link to all companies that sponsor TGCP, but since I’m a gal all about instant gratification, I gotta say thanks to Magellan's, Naturally More™, Pramex® Mosquito Nets, EcoSMART and BOGS Footwear for their support.

I’ve also been a busy bee mapping my grandmaster volunteering plan and scouting smart airfare options. So far, here are the projects that have been confirmed:

Building a Future in Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Karikuy in Lima, Peru
Playa Las Tortugas in Nayarit, Mexico
Eco Volunteer UP Foundation in Quito, Ecuador
Domitila Wildlife Reserve in Domitila, Nicaragua
GeoVisions, Conservation Partner Program in Los Chiles, Costa Rica
Youth Care in Seattle, USA

In other miscellaneous planning news, I applied for my International Driver’s Permit and signed up for a free Homeless Teen course in Seattle. I also purchased six months of Travel Insurance through World Nomads (via Access America). All backer rewards have been sent (pending recipients have sent me their mailing address; I've followed up twice and shy from kicking into mommy mode - it's just not my style), except for postcards or tsotchkes from the 12 project destinations.

I also got the cutest wedding invitation from my friends Kelly and Paul who are getting hitched in New Orleans next month. Thank goodness for Hotwire for cheap last minute hotel rooms and frequent flier miles to get me there. I’m not normally a wedding attendee kinda gal, but admit, I’m over the moon to celebrate with these two. Congrats! I heart New Orleans.

Stay tuned as the planning process comes together in the upcoming weeks. I'm spending more time than expected to make smart planning decisions and thank you for bearing with me. Stretching a $20,000 budget to cover 12 volunteer projects in 12 countries takes some creative effort and I want to be 100% certain that I'm devoting my time and efforts to be best suited projects for my talents. So far, so good. I am beyond jazzed about TGCP. Thank you.

seeking travel advice: ecuador

A dear childhood friend, Jen N. is planning a trip to Ecuador and is seeking some input and suggestions. She's planning on visiting three areas. Here's her basic itinerary:

Jen and a friend are flying into Quito and then thinking of heading towards beaches about mid-way down the coast (Puerto Lopez, Salango, Ayampe, Montanita areas), and then continuing south towards rainforests and working our way up through the forests and Andes Mountains. Some of the places she's started to pull out are the Mindo Cloud forest, Vilcabamba, Tene, Chiche Canyon, Tena, Termas de Papallacta. Then finishing with a day or two in Quito. She's arriving early on a Friday morning and leaving around noon the following Sunday.



If you have any suggestions, I'd love it if you'd comment here and I will pass them along. Muchos gracias!

prioritizing "to do" lists

This week, I'm in the throes of prioritzing a rather lengthy "to do" list for The Global Citizen Project and determing the next steps, as many decisions will have a domino effect on how others will play out. I'm also trying to catch up on a lot of work, assignments and pitches that got kicked to the curb due to the intensity of the past few months. Next week, I'll be guest tweeting for the fine state of Alaska about my recent travels to the Inside Passage in May and October 2009. Also, I reconnected with a former (fantastic) client, Costco Connection, and will taking a quick trip to Cabo San Lucas sometime this month for a feature on the resort town's changing culinary scene. The inbox is whittled down to less than 100 emails, a number I feel comfortable with. Lastly, just about all of the backer rewards have been mailed, with the exception of Lighthouse Roasters coffee, which will go out tomorrow. My apologies to the long line of people stuck behind me this morning at the U.S.P.S. in Ballard. I'm still waiting on some addresses for a few other items, so if you have some backer goodies coming your way, please get your mailing addy to me a.s.a.p.

Today, I spent some time researching travel insurance. In the past, I've purchased short-term plans with Travel Guard and MedjetAssist, and thankfully, have never had to use their benefits. Planning for a year of travel that will take me to 12 different countries is a bit different than thinking about a two or three week stint in a singular destination and I want to be sure I'm covered to the best of my ability for whatever medical emergencies may arise. Right now, World Nomads seems to offer the best benefits versus price ratio, but I'd love to hear what some other wanderlusters recommend (especially if you've had to make that call and actually use a travel insurance plan's services). I'm going to see what my travel doc has to say, as well, but she drinks the juice of the CDC and can be a bit overzealous with her medical recommendations at times.

I'm also working this week to confirm my 12 volunteer projects and exact dates of committment. Right now, more than half are set in stone. There's a method to my madness for wanting to serve certain projects in certain countries at certain times thoughout the year and making all the projects fit timing-wise into the grandmaster itinerary has been tricky. I'm almost there, though. It's kind like putting together the world's greatest puzzle. I plugged all of my potential flights into a nifty Seattle-based online airfare tracking site, Yapta, to keep an eye on airfares as they ebb and flow (and hopefully drop nice and low). I've used Airfarewatchdog in the past, but thought it best to support a local travel business. After some minor stumbling blocks (as with all new tech things in my world), I think I have the site figured out and yes, will admit to giddiness when Yapta sends me email notification of a price drop in airfare. (It's not quite the same level of excitement, though, as when my BlackBerry would buzz during TGCP Kickstarter funding period and alert me to a new backer.)

Tomorrow, I will take a long look at the steps necessary to apply for non-profit status. If anyone has any experience with this, I'd love to hear about it. Filing paperwork with the IRS, especially during peak tax season, doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun, but it's one the necessary, immediate next steps for TGCP.

That's what I have on tap for the week. It's feels really good to be able to roll my sleeves up and jump into the thick of planning TGCP. I promise to keep you in the loop every step of the way! Here's hoping everyone has a great week. I'd love to hear how you're ringing in this fine month of March...

recipe: black cod with miso

Tonight, inspired by Monica Bhide's post on iSPICE, I found the perfect storm of ingredients in my fridge to make Black Cod with Miso. I also had wasabi on hand, so I accompanied this buttery fish dish with wasabi mashed potatoes and garlicky snap peas. My apologies for not snapping a photo -- we devoured it before my social media insincts kicked in. I can assure you, it was an easy meal to make and absolutely delicious.

Here's how you can make Black Cod with Miso at home:

Ingredients

Saké
3/4 cup mirin
2 cups white miso paste
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
4 black cod fillets, about 1/2 pound each

Preparation

1. Bring the saké and the mirin to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Boil for 20 seconds to evaporate the alcohol.
2. Turn the heat down to low and add the miso paste, mixing with a wooden spoon. When the miso has dissolved completely, turn the heat up to high again and add the sugar, stirring constantly with the wooden spoon to ensure that the bottom of the pan doesn’t burn. Remove from heat once the sugar is fully dissolved. Cool to room temperature.
3. Pat cod fillets thoroughly dry with paper towels. Slather the fish with miso mixture and place in a non-reactive dish or bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Leave to steep in refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.
4. Preheat oven to 400°F. Preheat a grill or broiler. Lightly wipe off any excess miso clinging to the fillets but don't rinse it off. Place the fish on the grill, or in a broiler pan, and grill or broil until the surface of the fish turns brown. Then bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

back in action

Thank you for bearing with my social media hiatus as I caught up on sleep, allowed the whirlwind of the last 90 days sink in, had a few, much-needed celebratory moments and attended to a long list of post-project admin details the past few days. I'm still in awe that so many people rallied on behalf of The Global Citizen Project to make it a success with just 7 hours to go). Wow. The funding state of affairs was a little touch and go one week out, but so many people pledged, increased their pledges and put out APB's on behalf of the project. Thank you so much. Your love and enthusiasm is beyond inspiring. It's been a little strange not fundraising 24/7 or being such a round-the-clock slave to social media, but I'll be back in action this week as the real adventure begins. Stay tuned and hang on tight - the journey you helped make possible is just beginning.

Maybe you've been grateful for a social media time out (I know my tweets were getting awfully repetitive there at the end), but I know I've missed you. Here’s what I’ve been up to the past few days:

My inbox was slammed with more than 500 emails upon the successful funding of The Global Citizen Project last Monday afternoon, so I've been slowing working my way through these thoughtful messages and notes of congratulations.

I’ve been a busy bee packing up and mailing backer rewards – more than 100 in total. The BF has been been extremely helpful, wielding a box cutter, packing tape, and whipping up custom-sized shipping boxes for everything from body butter to water bottles. Everything, but coffee and postcards will go out today (a lot has already been shipped). I should have coffee ready to mail by tomorrow, and I want to wait a few days until I'm in a calm, happy place to pen the postcards from Seattle.

On Friday, I swung by Foodista, the cooking encyclopedia everyone can edit, to pick up a One Laptop per Child (OLPC) donation from CEO Barnaby Dorfman. Barnaby volunteered translating at a medical clinic in El Fuerte, Mexico a couple of years ago, where they treated 300-500 people per day. He just set down the OLPC XOs with no instruction and the kids figured 'em out -- I'm excited to do the same with whichever project this OLPC will land. Here are some pictures from Barnaby's trip. Thank you Barnaby for the OLPC XO donation and to everyone at Foodista for being such rockstar cheerleaders.

I enrolled to take a First Aid & CPR Class with the American Red Cross in Seattle. It's probably time. I haven't sucked face with a blow-up doll in the name of safety since high school.

I’m trying to finalize the exact 12 project itinerary ASAP and still need to connect with two one-month sponsors to determine those projects. Otherwise, I have a pretty solid plan and am waiting on final confirmations from the slated projects before moving forward. Excel is my friend.

Tomorrow, I will make an appointment with my travel doctor for in a few weeks (once I have my project itinerary nailed down). I'm slightly scared of what Dr. Dell's reaction will be when I run The Global Citizen Project by her -- she thinks my travels are pretty wacky already and I always leave with a sore arm, balloon animals (I'm an injection wimp) and piles of informational material and health warnings.

Also, now that life has far fewer distractions, I'll get back on Rosetta Stone this week for a Spanish refresher.

Last, but not least, the last round of backer thanks go out to:

• April and Con Williamson
• Bill Dillard
• Cindy Duffer
• Jerome Hodos
• Kathleen Sweeney
• Leah Reimer
• Lindsey Wildman
• Lisa Rogak
• Lola Akinmade (Lola’s pledge put TGCP over the $20,000/funded mark!)
• Marcia Rowland
• Mckenzie Brown
• Sydney Smith Gordon

Big huge thanks and high fives to all 223 people who helped fund The Global Citizen Project. This has been one big collaborative effort and if the success of TGCP doesn't renew your faith in people, I'm really not sure what will. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm so looking forward to getting down to TGCP business this week. XO

breathe

I'm still in shock over the dramatics of the last week of funding for The Global Citizen Project. Thank you again for being part of the three most inspiring months of my life. I have the makings of a post-play report running through my head, but still processing the past 90 days and how it will affect the next year plus (and inevitably, beyond) of my life. I slept in today (until 10 a.m.), filed my daily deadline, then started sorting out and packing backer rewards items. Of the 223 people who backed The Global Citizen Project, 139 people claimed rewards, so it will take a few days to gather mailing addresses, pack up items and get these on their merry way. Right now, it looks like the U.S.P.S. and Office Depot barfed in my dining room. I hope to have all reward items mailed out within the week. As soon as all of the administrative details are out of the way, I will move onto the meat of the project. In the meantime, please bear with me as I try to ease life back to a semi-civilized pace and take a step back from the full court social media press (at least for a few days). Tonight, I finally had the energy to raise a glass with my boyfriend, Morgan to the success of TGCP and to all of the people who collaborated, showed kindness and never stopped cheerleading for the cause. I thank you all with all of my heart. XO

what's next?

TGCP officially ended at 4:15 p.m. PST today (in exactly 8 minutes). If I'm still standing, I'd like to raise a margarita (it's National Margarita Day) to celebrate the last 90 days (and Lisa McElroy's birthday), the next year of the project and all the people hwo helped get me here -- and then I'll probably collapse.

Tomorrow I will start the process of packing up backer rewards for the 200+ people who pledged. The thank yous that need to go out are too copious to count right now. I also have the task of applying for non-profit status. I've already alerted the organizations I committed to that we're good-to-go and I have two projects that need to be determined by the generous folks who each sponsored one month of TGCP. I want to have dates/definite projects confirmed ASAP, so I can post a schedule of where I will be, what I will be doing exactly and when, and flesh out the actual budget. The funding should go through in two weeks(ish).

The tour de force will start in June, so I have ample time to brush up on my Spanish, research the communities I'll be serving and make smart planning/travel decisions. I want to gather as much info about the places I'm going and the people I'll help before I go and make that information available on my blog, etc. (I'm a visual gal.)

In the meantime, I have many patient editors who've allowed me to put pitching/writing on the back burner for the past three months and I owe them some work/ideas. Also, I think my boyfriend probably would like to have a real "date night." And I need a few hours outdoor/physical activity/sunshine. This is all very do-able : )

That's the plan right now. Of course, I will keep everyone updated as things move along. May pull back on the tech for a day or two to recover/regroup/recharge, but I will never be too far and will always update any new developments.

As always, if anyone has any input or suggestions to help make TGCP a success, please holler. I'm all ears.

With love and gratitude,
Charyn

wow. funded!

The Global Citizen Project is FUNDED! 223 people pledged $20,533 and I still have 7 hours to go. Major blog post coming...So many thanks to go out. This is truly unbelievable. Thank you to everyone who had a hand in TGCP's success -- too many people to ever count, I hope I've thanked you along the way. XO

giving thanks. 96% funded. 16 hours to go.

Whew. It’s been one heckuva whirlwind of a day. My apologies for keeping this brief, but I am in overdrive (and sleep deprived) trying to get the last bit of funding nailed down for The Global Citizen Project.


Here’s what you need to know: Thirty-four people pledged The Global Citizen Project today. TGCP is now 96% funded - $19,137 has been pledged toward the $20,000 goal. I have until 4:15 p.m. PST TODAY (Monday, February 22, 2010) to make this goal or I do not receive a cent.

Here are the 34 people who made my day with all kinds of last minute generosity. Eleven of these people are repeat pledgers and are indicated with a star. (I hope got all the stars right – please let me know if I accidentally skipped someone!)

Thank you to these wonderful people! So far, 213 people have pledged The Global Citizen Project. Thank you to each and every one of you. XO

Amanda Lipnack *
Annie Drury
Chelsea Lin
Christine Bottaro
Colleen Stephens *
Courtney Johnston
Cynthia J. Cecil
Daryl Darko Barnett
Dave Harrhy
David Volk
Denise Dube *
Dylan Lowe
Erica Yamauchi
Garren Katz *
Gena Oppenhein
Greg Johnson *
Janelle Nanos
Jen Amato *
Jennifer Everhart *
Jennifer Pham
Johnica Reed
Kirsten Graham *
Linares Plumbing *
Liz Lewis
Malin Lindelow
Michelle Kuhlman
Raquel Segura *
Rob Vogt *
Ryan Bello
Tim Leffel
Valentina Vitols
Vanessa
Viv Draward *
Wendy Hartley *