Local Event Alert: Maple Valley Days! This Weekend

by in Author Thursdays, Free Valley Publishing, Local Authors, Local Events, Maple Valley, Rachel Barnard

You can find FVP and some great books by local authors at Maple Valley Days near the info booth! This is our sixth year at Maple Valley Days and we have some new books since last year.

And Happy National Donut Day!

http://www.maplevalleydays.com/

Check out our 2017 Maple Valley Days

Check out our 2016 Maple Valley Days

Check out our 2015 Maple Valley Days

Check out our 2014 Maple Valley Days

LAKE WILDERNESS PARK
23601 224th Ave SE
Maple Valley, WA 98038
 
FESTIVAL HOURS
Friday: 3pm – 8pm – Carnival  stays open until 10.
Saturday: 10am – 8pm
Sunday: 10am – 5pm
 
For more information, visit the official website HERE or visit the new Facebook page HERE

2019 May Goals – Accountability, Check in, and New Goals

by in Rachel Barnard and tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

I have been collecting all my junk mail for the past 4 weeks and spent time this month attempting to stop this junk mail. I have been doing this since the beginning of the year. Here is a pile of all the junk mail I’ve accumulated in just four weeks! Urgh!

I tried regrowing some romaine lettuce. Check out the progress!

I’ve also planted some seeds and transplanted them into a small garden plot outside in the backyard. I’m hoping even with all the tree coverage that the plot will get enough sun to grow the tomatoes, zucchini, squash, and carrots that I planted. We’ll see…

I bought Eco Nuts to use as laundry detergent and will give them a try this June to see how I like them/if they work well.

Do you have any other ideas I should consider to reduce my waste?

As far as fitness goals go: I signed up to participate in one of my favorite Youtuber’s fitness challenges for June: Blogilates! I did Cassie’s 100 abs challenge earlier this year and she’s back with her 28 Day Summer Sculpt Program.

I also have been biking more and nabbed myself a new helmet since I lost mine in my last move.

Turkish language progress:

I’ve updated my monthly goals again. I’ve added in an assignment for charting the verbs I have learned. I have 85 verbs that I’ve learned/will learn through June and I want to chart them all. The charts will look like this so far because I want to get more familiar with all the verb forms:

Gitmek – To go https://www.verbix.com/webverbix/go.php?&D1=31&T1=gitmek

Present Tense

Negative

Interrogative

Negative Interrogative

Ben gidiyorm

Sen gidiyorsun

O gidiyor

Biz gidiyoruz

Siz gidiorsunuz

Onlar gidiyorlar

Gitmiyorum

Gitmiyorsun

Gitmiyor

Gitmiyoruz

Gitmiyorsunuz

gitmiyorlar

Gidiyor muyum?

Gidiyor musun?

Gidiyor mu?

Gidiyor muyuz?

Gidiyor musunuz?

Gidiyarlar mı?

Gitmiyor muyum?

Gitmiyor musun?

Gitmiyor mu?

Gitmiyor muyuz?

Gitmiyor musunuz?

Gitmiyourlar mı?

Past Tense

Negative

Interrogative

Negative Interrogative

Ben gittim

Sen gittin

O gitti

Biz gittik

Siz gittiniz

Onlar gittiler

Gitmedim

Gitmedin

Gitmedi

Gitmedik

Gitmediniz

gitmediler

Gittim mi?

Gittin mi?

Gitti mi?

Gittik mi?

Gittiniz mi?

Gittiler mi?

Gitmedim mi?

Gitmedin mi?

Gitmedi mi?

Gitmedik mi?

Gitmediniz mi?

Gitmediler mi?

Eventually I will also add in the future tense.

Rosetta Stone Unit 6 is about past and future tenses! I’m probably going to finish up Unit 6 in early June. I’ve had a little trouble with the app not letting me go back to a lesson and fix mistakes I made before without restarting the entire lesson.

I would also like to start going through more grammar lessons. Perhaps weekly?

I now have 942 Anki cards. I’ve done 3,432 reviews. I have spent 3:55:20 reviewing with an average of 56 reviews per day. My grade is 64% D.

June 2019: Rosetta Stone Unit 7, Anki cards Unit 7, word of the day, all top 625 in Anki cards, 85 verb declension charts
July 2019: Rosetta Stone Unit 8, Anki cards Unit 8, word of the day, top 800 words in Turkish in Anki cards, Vocab cards for first half of the grammar book, purchase a monolingual dictionary
August 2019: Rosetta Stone Unit 9, Anki cards Unit 9, word of the day, top 1000 words in Turkish in Anki cards
September 2019: Rosetta Stone Unit 10, Anki cards Unit 10, word of the day, 25 specialized vocab in Turkish in Anki cardss, read 1/2 a book and follow audio book in Turkish
October 2019: Rosetta Stone Unit 11, Anki cards Unit 10, word of the day, 25 specialized vocab in Turkish in Anki cards, finish 1/2 a book and follow audio book in Turkish
November 2019: Rosetta Stone Unit 12, Anki cards Unit 10, word of the day, 25 specialized vocab in Turkish in Anki cards, take a placement test? Take a vocabulary test?

My main goal for the year was to save as much money as possible! I’m doing this by earning more money, spending less money, and investing the money that I do have. Here is my monthly budget spreadsheet:

 

Categories $$ to spend 19-Jan 19-Feb 19-Mar 19-Apr 19-May
Take home pay *** *** *** *** ***
Earnings *** *** *** *** ***
Total Earnings   *** *** *** *** ***
Rent 700 same  same same same same
Phone 45 same same same same same
Car 300 Over Over Under under under
Travel 100 Under  0 0 90.05 99.42
Housing Supplies 25 0  Over Under 105.52 (sharpened knives and got zero-waste supplies) 25.84
Health & Wellness 60 0 Over Under 113 110.45
Writing 25 Over Over 0 14.42 (e-books) 0
Charity/art 25 Over  15 Under 32 10
Entertainment 70 Over  20.95 Over 66.33 61.46
Fitness Classes 75 Over  0 30 0 133
Food – eating out 100 179.98  96.00 185.03 251.16 (Travel to FL) 536.77 (family is in town)
Food – groceries 400 575.47 324.88 444 608.48 (travel to FL) 226.03
Misc. 50 47.92  92.03 660 (put my tax prep and a present in this category) 1.60 348.50
Total Spent  <50% 55% 42% 48% 47% 55%
Total Savings 2080 Over Over Over Over Over

 

I started a new goal for this year: writing!

I want to re-write my children’s picture book, find publishers to send it out to, send out my queries, and source an illustrator if none of the publisher’s want the book.

I want to send out my middle grade fantasy book to agents and if I don’t get any interest I want to have a plan to self-publish this book in 2020. I think I want to work with a genealogist to put more geneology aspects into it as well.

I want to plan out and start working on (writing again) my contemporary new adult romance series. I want to work with other authors to push myself to work on this series and publish the books. I’ll let you all know in a month how this new goal is progressing.

What are your goals and how are you meeting them this month?

Here is my January goal check in blog post!

Here is my February goal check in blog post!

Here is my March goal check in blog post!

Here is my April goal check in blog post!

We have family visiting from out of state and we are taking her to all our favorite places this month!

Cinco de Mayo Redmond Park

Starbucks Reserve Roastery Downtown

Portland Weekend Trip – Kachka

Portland Weekend Trip Pip’s Original Doughnuts & Chai

Book Review: Dangerous Territory: a Keltin Moore Adventure (The Adventures of Keltin Moore Book 3) by Lindsay Schopfer

by in Book Review and tagged , , , , ,

Dangerous Territory: a Keltin Moore Adventure (The Adventures of Keltin Moore Book 3) by Lindsay Schopfer

A Steampunk Science Fantasy Novel published through Amazon Digital Services (06/01/19)

Summary:

Keltin Moore is a beast hunter starting his own beast hunting company with two of his faithful companions: Bor’ve’tai the Loopi and Jaylocke the Weycliff Wayfarer. Their first job takes Bor’ve’tai and Jaylocke away together to hunt a smoke beast while Keltin holds down the office by himself. Not even a day later Keltin is tasked with an emergency beast hunting job and a secret assignment. Without being able to wait for his companions, he is off north to Krendaria once again.

Keywords:

Fighting, Hunting, Prey, Beasts, Determination, Heroics, Strategy, Politics, Discrimination, Hate, Farming, Working Together, Survival, Thoughtfulness, Injury, Escape, Stealth

My Review:

Keltin Moore’s world is much like stepping into the fictional wardrobe of Narnia with all sorts of creatures, most of them unfriendly. The Beast Hunter’s monsters are varied in form, function, and appearance. I really enjoyed the imaginative world building of the monsters themselves and the weaponry made to defeat them. The author gives the reader the perfect amount of description for both amidst the action of the hunt scenes.

Much like with the other Keltin Moore book I read, the start of the novel builds the world slowly, re-introducing the reader to Keltin and the new problem he must solve. Keltin himself has grown into an entrepreneur yet he remains humble. I really enjoyed his embarrassment and the way he would normalize himself anytime he was being described overly heroically. If I had an Uncle in a fantasy novel, I would like him to be Keltin.

This book reminded of the narrative ease of the Tarzan novels and once the main plot was revealed, I was hooked into the story and didn’t put the book down.

This novel was published through Amazon Digital Services 06/01/2019 and is available on Amazon here.

TLDR Star Rating: 3.75

Links for more information:

Author Website:  www.lindsayschopfer.com

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Lindsay-Schopfer/e/B007EF3MQS

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LindsaySchopfer

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lindsayschopfer

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7078379.Lindsay_Schopfer

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lindsayschopfer?ty=h

Book Review: Love Songs, Detours, Et Cetera (Senior Year Sweethearts Book 1) by Starla Huchton

by in Book Review and tagged , , , , , ,

Love Songs, Detours, Et Cetera (Senior Year Sweethearts Book 1) by Starla Huchton

An Contemporary YA Novel published by Amazon Digital Services, Inc. (04/14/19)

Summary:

On the first day of her senior year of high school in the small town of Highland, Iowa, Trina gets to school before any of the other students so she can volunteer and help the teachers. Trina bumps into the most popular and best looking boy on that first day. Is it her imagination or is he trying to follow her around school? Trina has one best friend in the entire school and everyone else either ignores her or makes fun of her and her mom. Why would Ethan give her the time of day?

Keywords:

Romance, Love, Friendship, High School, Sewing, Costumes, Musical, Alternative Lifestyle, Family, Best Friends, Senior Year, Volunteer

My Review:

Starla has a way with building amazing characters. I felt like I was Trina. She blends into the background and does her own thing but isn’t afraid to voice her opinion and stand up for herself. Trina drives an old car and has dreams of going places, specifically leaving her small town. Though I’ve never really been in a small town, I felt like I understood entirely the feeling of being unique and standing out in Highland, Iowa. I loved Trina’s interactions with her mom, with her best friend, and with Ethan. Trina’s voice was distinct and she knew what she liked, who she liked, and what she wanted.

The dialogue was clever and realistic and mesmerizing. I couldn’t get enough of it.

The romance was perfectly developed and I loved being inside Trina’s head with her nerves and her anxieties throughout it all. I especially loved Ethan’s reactions to Trina’s anxiety.

Ethan was also well developed as a character. He had a robust life outside of his interest in Trina. He had his own wants and dreams as well as his own faults and problems. I really enjoyed the complication of Emmaline, Ethan’s younger sister in the story as well.

The details of costume building and theater were super fun and I really liked how at this particular high school the theater nerd was the most popular kid in school.

This novel was published by Amazon Digital Services, Inc. on 04/14/2019 and is available on Amazon here.

TL;DR Star Rating: 5.0

Links for more information:

Starla Huchton’s Website

Goodreads

Book Review: SPIN by K.J. Farnham

by in Book Review and tagged , ,

SPIN by K.J. Farnham

A Young Adult Novel published by K J Farnham Publishing LLC (04/11/19)

Summary:

Jenna Kemp likes to run and hang out with her three best friends at the local park. She is your average teenager, but she is also hiding a huge secret. She has succeeded in pushing down her secrets so deep that she can live her daily life in peace, but those secrets will slowly bubble to the surface. Jenna will try anything to numb the pain, from nighttime pain meds to weed and alcohol. Her friends don’t understand why she is spinning out of control until the day Jenna doesn’t come home one night and her years of secrets begin to unravel.

Keywords:

Sexual Abuse, Child Abuse, Teenagers, Drugs, Alcohol, Parties, Friendship, Love, Missing Teenager, Diary, Teen Angst, Anger, Emotions, Family, Runner, High School, Blame, Guilt, Shame

My Review:

Spin was incredibly riveting. I was entirely engrossed in the book from the first chapter. What happened to Jenna? What will happen to Jenna? I had to find out and I was not disappointed in the ending. The plot was incredibly well paced and Farnham breaks up the narrative into two time periods: before Jenna’s disappearance and after Jenna’s disappearance. Slowly the days count up and down until they finally meet in the end with the exciting conclusion that answers all the questions.

Jenna Kemp was incredibly well written. Her diary entries seemed a little too polished for a teenager going through emotional torture and turmoil, but her actions and thoughts were very realistic. Her friends’ reactions and thoughts were also incredibly realistic. Their guilt after Jenna’s disappearance is so heartfelt. The emotions that Farnham describes are so authentic that I felt like Keely, Dustin, Delaney, and Leighton could be real people.

The interactions with the police felt real. The interactions between Jenna’s parents and her were also incredibly well written. I loved getting all the different perspectives. Each character had a unique personality and connection to Jenna.

Jenna herself was complex. From the outside she appears like a troubled and rebellious teenager. When you get inside her head and see what she writes in her diary entries, you see her for the adult that she truly is and the baggage that is slowing her down, overwhelming her at times, and growing heavier and heavier through her repeated exposures to her childhood sexual trauma.

The writing style is incredibly polished and this book is the best one of Farnham’s to date. I’m very excited for what she writes next.

This novel was published by K J Farnham Publishing LLC on 04/11/2019 and is available on Amazon here.

TL;DR Star Rating: 5.0

Links for more information:

Goodreads

K.J. Farnham’s Website

Book Review: The Triskaidek (Camp Fae Book 1) by Basil Sprig

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The Triskaidek (Camp Fae Book 1) by Basil Sprig

A Coming of Age YA Fantasy Novel published by CreateSpace (06/13/10)

Summary:

“Fairy magic makes things work in predictable ways, but you can’t always find the line between what is magic and what is just nature.”

On the thirteenth day of the thirteenth month of her thirteenth year, Alley is swept up in the magic of her Thirteenth. Then a magical creature shows up on her doorstep. Then her mom finds her a camp to go to for the summer: Camp Fae. Coincidence or are they related to her Thirteenth?

Keywords:

Magic, Sunbird, Elements, Learning, Fairy, Fae, Summer Camp, Leader, Escape, Evil, Power, Time Travel, Mission, Friends, Friendship, Betrayal, Helping, Together, Crafts

My Review:

Triskaidek is a cute yet full-bodied story with complex characters, a rich magical world, and an overarching plot.

I loved how well-developed all the magic details were in this story. I liked the specificity for learning different types of magic, even though Alley didn’t always follow the recipes. I loved how there are two approaches to magic – through hard work and dedication to the recipes and history and knowledge and then the intuitive type. Some fairies are naturally talented (intuitive) for certain magic, like invisibility, and others have to work and work for years and years on a type of magic in order to learn it (flying). The magic is also quite organic and the fairies are left to learn on their own time in their own way to earn ‘badges.’ To earn a badge is to show proficiency in a specific type of magic (like Flying 1).

I enjoyed all the characters, especially Alley. She is clever but magically ‘clumsy’ since she is new to doing magic. She doesn’t always realize or know the consequences of using her magic prior to intuitively using her magic! This results in problems for Alley and the entire camp. Not only that, but Alley must earn badges even though following a recipe for doing magic doesn’t come naturally to her and she must figure out how to do the mission the Sunbird gave her before going to Camp Fae. I would have liked to see more of Alley’s flaws, but I really liked her point of view.

Anyone who read and loved the Harry Potter series, will definitely enjoy The Triskaidek.

This novel was published by CreateSpace  on 06/13/2010 and is available on Amazon here.

TL;DR Star Rating: 4.75

Links for more information:

Goodreads

2019 April Goals – Accountability, Check in, and Falling Behind…

by in Rachel Barnard and tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

I knew April would be busy, since I scheduled a family vacation and two book selling events (one happening over the course of an entire weekend). Being so busy has made me realize even more how much I value having free time to get all the little tasks of the day done. I like having a clean and organized house. I like being able to work in the backyard clearing out the weeds. I like starting and finishing little household projects (like my future project of re-growing lettuce). I like relaxing in bed for 30 minutes during the day, reading a book or working on my Rosetta Stone.

April has pushed me behind on a few of my projects and I hope to catch up in May!

I have also realized that traveling makes zero-waste endeavors very difficult and points out how inconvenient they can be. I was able to visit the Recology Store and gather a few wanted zero-waste supplies last month and I put them to good use in April. I found a handy Kishu charcoal water bottle filter that I took with my empty 32oz Camelbak water bottle to my trip to Florida. I filled it up at the airport and while I was walking around all day in Florida. I will be taking both on my upcoming trip to Colorado. I really liked having the 32oz water bottle (at home I use a 24oz).

The recology store also had a child’s kit of to-go bamboo silverware that I couldn’t say no to as it is the perfect size for me and I have it in my purse bag. I love this set!

My ongoing and future projects:

  1. Make my own laundry detergent or source a better alternative
  2. Line dry my clothes instead of using the dryer (when we have sun again)
  3. Stop my junk mail
  4. Get/Make/Source reusable cloth napkins and store in a usable location for both upstairs and downstairs
  5. Source facial lotion
  6. Source a toothpaste tablets/powder I like? I might table this one as I really like my toothpaste and am unsure this swap would be worth it

Do you have any other ideas I should consider to reduce my waste?

As far as fitness goals go: Nothing to report…

Turkish language progress:

I am on top of the Anki cards – both creating them and studying 50 cards per day (I missed two days so far). I’ve created the first 250 vocabulary words as well as my word-a-day words and words from the Rosetta Stone Units. As far as Rosetta Stone, I’m only on lesson 24/39 for Unit 5 and will work to catch up and move to Unit 6 this first week in May.

April 2019: Rosetta Stone Unit 5, Anki cards Unit 5, word of the day, first 250 of the top 625 in Anki cards, create 25 vocabulary cards
May 2019: Rosetta Stone Unit 6, Anki cards Unit 6, word of the day, first 500 of the top 625 in Anki cards, create 25 vocabulary cards
June 2019: Rosetta Stone Unit 7, Anki cards Unit 7, word of the day, all top 625 in Anki cards, create 25 vocabulary cards
July 2019: Rosetta Stone Unit 8, Anki cards Unit 8, word of the day, top 800 words in Turkish in Anki cards, Vocab cards for first half of the grammar book, purchase a monolingual dictionary
August 2019: Rosetta Stone Unit 9, Anki cards Unit 9, word of the day, top 1000 words in Turkish in Anki cards, 25 vocab cards,
September 2019: Rosetta Stone Unit 10, Anki cards Unit 10, word of the day, 25 specialized vocab in Turkish in Anki cards, 25 vocab cards, read 1/2 a book and follow audio book in Turkish
October 2019: Rosetta Stone Unit 11, Anki cards Unit 10, word of the day, 25 specialized vocab in Turkish in Anki cards, 25 vocab cards, finish 1/2 a book and follow audio book in Turkish
November 2019: Rosetta Stone Unit 12, Anki cards Unit 10, word of the day, 25 specialized vocab in Turkish in Anki cards, 25 vocab cards, take a placement test? Take a vocabulary test?

My main goal for the year was to save as much money as possible! I’m doing this by earning more money, spending less money, and investing the money that I do have. Here is my monthly budget spreadsheet and a brief breakdown for how March went.

Categories $$ to spend 19-Jan 19-Feb 19-Mar 19-Apr
Take home pay *** *** *** ***
Earnings *** *** *** ***
Total Earnings   *** *** *** ***
Rent 700 same  same same same
Phone 45 same same same same
Car 300 Over Over Under under
Travel 100 Under  0 0 90.05
Housing Supplies 25 0  Over Under 105.52 (sharpened knives and got zero-waste supplies)
Health & Wellness 60 0 Over Under 113
Writing 25 Over Over 0 14.42 (e-books)
Charity/art 25 Over  15 Under 32
Entertainment 70 Over  20.95 Over 66.33
Fitness Classes 75 Over  0 30 0
Food – eating out 100 179.98  96.00 185.03 251.16 (Travel to FL)
Food – groceries 400 575.47 324.88 444 608.48 (travel to FL)
Misc. 50 47.92  92.03 660 (put my tax prep and a present in this category) 1.60
Total Spent  <50% 55% 42% 48% 47%
Total Savings 2080 Over Over Over Over

I was traveling with family this month and spent a lot more on food than normal and was also not able to make as much side income, but I still did really well as no unexpected emergencies came up.

What are your goals and how are you meeting them this month?

Here is my January goal check in blog post!

Here is my February goal check in blog post!

Here is my March goal check in blog post!

Book Review: The Pirate’s Booty (Inventor-in-Training #1) by D.M. Darroch

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The Pirate’s Booty (Inventor-in-Training #1) by D.M. Darroch

A Middle Grade Action-Adventure-Time Travel Novel published by Sleepy Cat Press (04/19/15)

Summary:

“Angus Clark was an inventor in training. He had a business card to prove it.”

Angus Clark thinks of himself as an inventor-in-training. His newest creation is the Insect Incinerator. His first tests have zapped some cones out of existence. Excited for the implications of his invention, Angus races back to the garage (his lab), but drops his invention and accidentally zaps himself out of his own dimension. Now Angus has to figure out a way to fix the Incinerator and get back to his own house, but he’s out on the water aboard the pirate vessel The Fearsome Flea and everyone seems to think his name is BP. What happened and how did he get there? Also, why is Ivy (a goody goody from school) in this dimension with him? Angus will have to use his inventiveness, along with the help of new friends to solve the multi-dimension problem.

Keywords:

Time Travel, Alternate Dimension, Science, Technology, Invention, Messy, Pirate, Parrot, Problem Solving, Teamwork, Humor, Misadventure, Building, Boat, Motor, Ship

My Review:

This was one of the most exciting middle grade novels I have read in a while. Angus has created quite a problem for himself and must figure out a way to fix it, but along the way meets some interesting characters with their own problems. I really enjoyed how all their problems tied together so that the solution will help to solve all the problems.

I admired Angus and his ability to solve problems. He wasn’t able to fix everything the first time and he wasn’t able to fix everything by himself. This book dealt with problem solving and coming up with creative solutions, sometimes together. I adored the way Angus and the Captain played with toys to figure out the mechanics of a motor. They went about it very logically, tallying the results across several dimensions and using that research to make something else that was the best it could be. Angus isn’t an inventor-in-training, he is without a doubt, a real inventor. The whole time he is positive despite the potential direness of the situation.

I very much enjoyed the parallel story of BP, who Angus bumped out of the pirate ship and transported into his place among the suburbs. BP, a pirate, has to learn a few lessons of his own before Angus has figured out how to put everyone back in their rightful places. Except, in the end, not everyone is in their rightful place and the story must go on! I look forward to reading more adventures with Angus and Ivy.

This novel was published by Sleepy Cat Press on 04/19/2015 and is available on Amazon here.

TL;DR Star Rating: 5.0

Links for more information:

D.M. Darroch’s Website

Goodreads

Local Event Alert! Indie Bookstore Day – Author Signing

by in Local Authors, Local Events, Rachel Barnard and tagged ,
It’s happening again! Seattle Independent Bookstore Day is this Saturday, April 27 at participating local bookstores!!!
I’ll be participating at the Neverending Bookshop in Edmonds this year from 12-2. Here is the schedule at the Neverending Bookshop:
9 – 11: Valerie Stein
10 – 12: James Macon
12 – 2: Rachel Barnard
2 – 4: Karen Eisenbrey and Mikko

What Is Seattle Independent Bookstore Day?

When Independent Bookstore Day went national in 2015 (after its founding in 2014 by booksellers in Northern California was a rousing success), Seattle’s indie bookstores collaborated to showcase what we do best: build human connections through physical books, in a daylong celebration of the work we do and the readers and customers who make it possible. We offered many of the same events and exclusive items as our colleagues across the country, but we also introduced the Passport Challenge, encouraging readers to get their passports stamped at as many participating stores as possible on Bookstore Day. Those who get their passports stamped at every participating store that day are crowned Grand Champions, with a crown, a party, and best of all, a 25% discount at all participating stores for the following year. We admit we have been stunned by the response: in our first year, we weren’t sure if anyone would complete the full Passport Challenge, but we crowned 42 Grand Champions. In 2017, our third year, the number of Grand Champions, all of whom visited 19 stores from Poulsbo to Kirkland to Queen Anne to Georgetown in a single day, exploded to 320, and in 2018 our total number of Champions increased yet again, to nearly 500. We’re hoping for even more in 2019!