December 2013 – The Lisa Chronicles

How is it that tomorrow is the last day of 2013? It really feels like it wasn’t that long ago that I was writing my last year’s end of the year post, yet I find myself here again. This post started off to be a summary of the year, but I think that there will be several parts to my year 2013 in review

A year that seems to have moved pretty quickly in the grand scheme of things, yet slowly enough to remember some key points in the year.

Last year at this time we got word that my cousin Josh had just gotten engaged and his wedding would be in 2013 and it would be in Chicago. It was early in January that our whole family booked tickets for the family wedding in the windy city.

Thankfully the winter was broken up by an amazing visit with B in Los Angeles. Could not have asked for a better weekend. Los Angeles is such an amazing city, really one of the great ones, and there is so much to see and do, it is great to have someone who lives there to be able to have different experiences every time you visit.

This visit consisted of going to the J Paul Getty Museum, which is a really amazing place. To sum it up, here is a quote from their website:
“The J. Paul Getty Museum seeks to inspire curiosity about, and enjoyment and understanding of, the visual arts by collecting, conserving, exhibiting, and interpreting works of art of outstanding quality and historical importance.”

You take a tram up the hill to this amazing sprawling displays of beautiful

architecture (you can take tours), gardens, walkways and more. There are galleries with beautiful art exhibits, there are amazing gardens and I would love to go back some day when the garden is in full bloom.

The next day it was off to the California Science Center to see the Space Shuttle Endeavor. One word – WOW! Really, it is an incredible sight to see. You walk through an exhibit of what is in the space shuttle, photos of all the different space missions, etc. Then you watch a time lapse movie on how they brought the shuttle from the airport through the city and to the Science Center. After the movie, you walk to the pavilion where shuttle calls home. You can walk all around it, underneath it, looking at the tiles that you hear about that burn up on re-entry to the earth’s atmosphere.

On the last day of my weekend in LA we went to high tea at the Langham hotel in Pasadena. The hotel itself is a luxury oasis not that far outside of Los Angeles. Beautiful views surround the property. The rooms and public areas are classy and elegant.

They offer high tea in their tea room. They offer a special tea called The Tiffin Chocolate Tea. There are chocolate inspired teas like Mayan Truffle tea and Chocolate mint truffle, and all of the sandwiches, pastries, etc have some sort of chocolate component to them. There was a pink chocolate fountain, with handmade marshmallows and more for dipping.

They had a harpist and a pianist playing and when they overheard us at the table talking about my birthday, out came this beautiful plate of chocolate dipped strawberries and truffles. It was really a wonderful birthday celebration with B and his friends.

I was going to make this post about the year in review, but I only made it to February. Stay tuned for the rest of the year in review. I wish good health and happiness for all of you for the coming year.

Thanks for reading, and always stayed tuned for more, I always have a story to tell.

A few days ago I was looking at a friend’s facebook profile page and on the left hand side of the profile I was surprised to see my name. It was in the ‘notes’ section of this person’s profile and found this note I wrote almost five years ago.

As I read through these 25 interesting things about Lisa Silver, I found some of them to be still true today and others not so much. I think the list needs updating. For now, I will update you below on the 25 interesting things about Lisa Silver from almost five years ago, from February 2009.

See the original and update below:

25 Interesting things about Lisa Silver

2 February 2009 at 23:47

PublicFriendsFriends except acquaintancesOnly meCustomClose FriendsBel Air TravelSee all lists…FamilyBel Air TravelNewtonbrook Secondary SchoolLimited ProfileRed Tag VacationsBel Air TravelBBYO Lake Ontario RegionThornhill, Ontario AreaAcquaintancesGo Back

Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits or goals about you. At the end choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “Write Notes” under your Profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people ( in the right hand corner of app) then click publish.)

1. I love the colour Purple, any shade and combination of the colour.
– This will never change. Favourite colour will always be purple!
2. I love New York city, movies and shows filmed in New York city, books that take place in Manhattan, anything to do with New York City.
– This two will never change. In 2011 I finally made a dream come true by getting to see the Rockefeller Christmas Tree. Magical experience.
3. My parents are my best friends. We travel together, spend a lot of time together and laugh a lot. Even through the times that make me crazy, I wouldn’t want them to be anyone else.
– They just spent 4 days with me in my condo after the ice storm since their house had no heat or electricity.
4. I am addicted to facebook. I try to have a facebook free day, but it never seems to work.
– Yeah, hard to find facebook free days. I did however have a facebook free week when I was cruising in Alaska this summer. Two reasons….wifi on the ship too expensive and no wifi in Alaska. Small towns, and couldn’t even find a starbucks (LOL)
5. I find it truly amazing that I met one of my best friends at a black jack table in Las Vegas.
– Still holds true today. I love sharing that story with people who haven’t heard it before. We have been friends for 10 years now.
6. I love my two nieces more than I thought possible. I can’t wait to see them grow up, I don’t want to miss a minute of it.
– I have a nephew now as well. He is three and a half and he is awesome. I am three times blessed in being Auntie Lisa and it is the best job in the world.
7. I love the fact that when I ask my niece for a kiss in spanish, she kisses both sides of my cheek like a European and then giggles.
– One niece doesn’t even like to give out kisses anymore, she is almost 9. My 7 year old niece loves to hug and be hugged.
8. I wish I would have taken music more seriously and become a professional clarinetist and played in live theatre on Broadway.
9. I often wonder if my uncle hadn’t gotten me a job at a travel agency when I was 19, what I would be doing now?
– I think about this often. I think too long to really discuss in this post. But let’s just say there are plenty of things I would tell 20 year old me.
10. I love James Taylor, and rain or shine (and there was rain last summer), I will always try to get to a concert of his with my JT buddy.
11. I have very high expections of others. At times, it causes disappointment, but sometimes people surprise you.
– I think that I am learning to try to not have such high expectations. In my life today, I think that I assume that everything is “maybe” until you tell me yes. “maybe” usually means no, so if it works out – BONUS!
12. I am a good friend, I give more of myself then I get back from others.
13. I like to entertain. I would much rather have people at my house than go to a noisy over priced restaurant.
– I am proud of my condo. I am very happy to have people at my house. Anytime.
14. I do not like the beach. I don’t like sand in my feet and I don’t like the ocean. Give me a pool anyday.
15. I am grateful to have an aunt that is also a friend, who you can talk to like a friend, and trust like family.
16. I went to Paris and the best meal we ate (well I ate) was at the Moulin Rouge…oh yeah, and the lemon tart from the patisiere.
17. I went up the Eifell tower with a friend who is afraid of heights. But he still came with me, on my birthday. Thanks Brad.
18. I remember when my best friend lived in Mexico, I wrote her letters almost every day and sent care packages to her when my clients went to the resort.
19. I love that I have a two little boys in my life that I love like they were my own nephews. I love being their friend.
– These two ‘little’ boys are becoming young men. They go to a school where they have to wear uniforms and to see them in their blazers and dress pants with their white collared shirts, makes me realize they are not little boys anymore.
20. I don’t like cats. Dogs….well, I am getting better. But don’t expect me to get one.
21. I love my condo. It was the right thing at the right time in my life.
22. If I could do anything else other than travel right now, and money didn’t matter, I would be chef or a photographer, two of the things I love to do in life.
– a travel writer who is a photographer. That would be my dream job.
23. I am a self proclaimed tv junkie. Now that I have PVR, it is worse, but before, I would consider not going out if one of my shows was on. At least now I can pvr it and still have a life.
– I now have the Rogers Nextbox 3.0 – which means I can record up to 8 shows at one time and I have 3x the amount of recording space. Just means, I record more shows (that I end up not watching).
24. I like that I have a travelling companion and I am crossing things off my places to go before I die list….next on the list New Orleans.
– new orleans was amazing. Food, music and culture. If you haven’t been, you should add it to your personal travel list. And we have also been to Hawaii and Alaska since this post was first written.
25. wow…25 random thoughts is hard….I wish I knew another language…spanish or french or where I live, Hebrew or Russian. Just to spice up life…
– JUST posted the other day that something I would have told my ‘younger self’ is to stick with French class and have a second language. It really would come in handy in potential job opprotunities!