Carrie Bell, a California-raised former latchkey kid, grew up wanting to be Madonna. When that plan didn’t pan out, she became a freelance writer covering travel, entertainment, food, spirits and lifestyle topics for a variety of publications including Yahoo, People, Fodor’s, Rolling Stone, Reader’s Digest, Architectural Digest, Bridal Guide, Cosmopolitan, TripSavvy, and Entertainment Weekly. She lives in L.A. with her husband and cats, Squid and Widget.