April, 2015 - Lili on the Loose

27 04, 2015

Travel Missteps: Sigh “American Right?”

By Lili|April 27th, 2015|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2005, All in the family Italy 2005/2006, chocolate, Europe, Italy, language, translation|0 Comments

Many people travel to countries where they don’t know the language. Prior to my trip to Italy I had traveled to England, France, Mexico, and Japan. In middle school and high school I had taken some Spanish, French, and Japanese classes, so I didn’t feel that lost language-wise when traveling to those countries. So Italy was a first for me, not knowing any of the language. After a long day of traveling, our group stopped into a roadside shop. It was like a mini-grocery market combined with a restaurant and a chocolate shop. I was tired and decided to buy

20 04, 2015

Museum Monday: Cartier Stomacher Brooch

By Lili|April 20th, 2015|Categories: Museums, Travel|Tags: Brilliant: Cartier in the 20th Century, cartier, Colorado, DAM, Denver, Denver Art Museum, diamonds, museum, North America, platinum, sapphires, USA|0 Comments

The Denver Art Museum had an exhibit called Brilliant: Cartier in the 20th Century which I was lucky enough to see in its last few days. I found that I loved the early styles of the 1900's. One unique piece was a Stomacher Broach made in 1907. Stomachers were worn below the breast on the stomach. It is in the Garland style and is made with platinum, diamonds, and 51 carats of sapphires. Cartier Paris 1907 Museum Monday is an every other week series about museum news, objects, and reviews.

18 04, 2015

Souvenir Saturday: Chocolate Frogs

By Lili|April 18th, 2015|Categories: Geek, Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: 2012, 2016, Book, Cards, chocolate, Chocolate Frog, Disney, Florida, Harry Potter, Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, Honeydukes, Islands of Adventure, Keychain, Movie, North America, Orlando, Orlando Adventure 2012, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Universal Studios, USA, Walt Disney World, Witches, Wizarding World, Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Wizards|0 Comments

Which Card Will You Get? Chocolate Frogs are an iconic snack from the Harry Potter books. They also are a great souvenir from the Wizard World of Harry Potter in Orlando, FL. I was a little worried as I had two issues when purchasing these. Firstly, it was August, and hot, and I worried that the chocolate would melt. The other issue is that you don't know what card you are going to get. At the time there were just 4 cards, one for each founder. The first few boxes I got were for Salazar Slytherin. I

13 04, 2015

Travel Missteps: The Legend of the Hubcap Nachos

By Lili|April 13th, 2015|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 1997, 2012, Florida, Hawaii, Margaritaville, Nachos, North America, Oahu, Orlando, Orlando Adventure 2012, Sunburn, Sunburnt 1997, USA|0 Comments

When I was in middle school we took a family vacation to Hawaii. I...didn’t enjoy it that much. The first day I got the worst sunburn I’ve ever had in my life and was miserable the entire trip. Our cheap hotel was going under major renovations...and smelled like cat pee. (I also think it was a sweatshop, as the 2nd floor was a warehouse room where many women were making cheap jewelry from beads and shells.) I didn’t know you were suppose to barter at the nearby marketplace and spent all of my spending money on a Japanese money cat

6 04, 2015

Museum Monday: Journey to the Silk Road

By Lili|April 6th, 2015|Categories: Museums, Travel|Tags: Colorado, Denver, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, DMNS, exhibit, museum, North America, silk road, USA|0 Comments

The Denver Museum of Nature and Science's Silk Road exhibit is around for just one more month! Be sure to check it out! Note that you need an additional ticket to see this one but it is well worth it. You aren't allowed to take photos, but this link has a lot of good ones. I really enjoyed the live Silk Worms and can now understand why silk is so expensive! I also loved how as you travel through the various cities on the silk road, that they have detailed sections of what they brought with them to trade, and

4 04, 2015

Souvenir Saturday: Bagpipe Practice Chanter

By Lili|April 4th, 2015|Categories: Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: 2002, Backpacking it in England and Scotland, Bagpipe, Bagpipe Practice Chanter, castle, Chanter, clarinet, drums, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Europe, guitar, instrument, music, piano, Practice Chanter, Scotland, UK|0 Comments

I grew up learning to play many instruments from piano, drums, guitar, and the clarinet. Which is probably why this Practice Chanter to help learn how to play Bagpipes caught my eye in Scotland. Scottish Bagpipe Practice Chanter I bought it right after seeing Edinburgh Military Tattoo right outside Edinburgh Castle. It is a double reed instrument that feels like a cross between a clarinet and a recorder. But the sound is much closer to a Bagpipe/recorder hybrid. This particular Chanter...is very cheap. It is hard to play the notes, and the reed isn't the best quality. But