Lili - Lili on the Loose

2 02, 2016

Egypt Travelogue: Day 1 – Leaving Home

By Lili|February 2nd, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Memories, Travelogue|Tags: 2015, Chophouse, Colorado, DEN, Denver, DIA, Dream of Egypt, Egypt Travelogue, Ingress, Jurassic Park, Jurassic World, Movie, North America, security, SSSS, Super Shuttle, TSA, Uber|0 Comments

This is my travel diary of my trip to Egypt. It contains in detail my memories of what I did and saw. Thursday October 22, 2015 Egypt: Day 1 - Leaving Home (Denver, CO) For a moment I enjoyed being alone and listen to the heavy rain on the window. It had been hard to sleep the night before with Tessa gone. (I had dropped my dog off the night before to my parents house and had also left them copies of my itinerary so they wouldn't be worried.) It had been already packed for almost a week, but my flight

1 02, 2016

Travel Missteps: The Early Morning Dilemma

By Lili|February 1st, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2015, Canada, North America, Ontario, Tim Hortons, time difference, Toronto, work, Yea! Sports|0 Comments

Time Changes can be killer. Especially if you do not have any time to get use to it. I was in Toronto for a weekend to assist a client activation. On the day of the event, the call time to the studio was 5:50 AM. To ensure I had enough time to get up, get ready, wake up, have breakfast and walk the 30 minutes to the studio I set my alarm for 4:30 AM. But this seemed so cruel. Because I was now 2 time zones ahead, 4:30AM seemed like 2:30 AM to me. So it was going to

30 01, 2016

Happy Draw a Dinosaur Day!

By Lili|January 30th, 2016|Categories: Dinosaurs|Tags: art, Dinosaur, draw, draw a dinosaur day, how to draw a dinosaur, how to draw a triceratops, national draw a dinosaur day, triceratops|0 Comments

Happy National Draw a Dinosaur Day! Here is a tutorial to draw my favorite dinosaur, a Triceratops!

29 01, 2016

Fluffball Friend of 7 Years

By Lili|January 29th, 2016|Categories: Photography|Tags: dog, Photo Friday, puppy|0 Comments

7 years ago on a cold wintery night, I was up late scouring craigslist for a red cocker spaniel puppy. My roommate wanted to get another dog so her's wouldn't be lonely. However, this roommate was making me take care of her dog, who was so big he could drag me. I said I didn't want another big dog in the house, and instead thought about getting me my own dog. So when it was 1AM and I saw a posting from a "Mother Dog" stating that she and her doggie hubby got "frisky" before he had his surgery and had

28 01, 2016

Breathtaking Crystal Maiden at Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) Cave

By Lili|January 28th, 2016|Categories: Attractions & Sights, Travel|Tags: 2013, Actun Tunichil Muknal, ATM Cave, Belize, Cave, Cave of the Crystal Sepulcher, Caves, Central America, climb, Crystal Maiden, dark, hike, Mayan, Mayan Encounter 2013, Mayan Sacrifice, Mayans, pottery, San Ignacio, Stone Sepulcher, Travel Thursday, Xibalba|0 Comments

One of the most breathtaking experiences I have ever had while traveling was when I visited Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM). The name means “Cave of the Crystal Sepulcher” but it could be more accurately described as the physical embodiment of Xibalba, the Mayan underworld. This is a cave system in Belize, where you can see actual Mayan sacrifices and offerings to the gods. It is believed the Mayans first found the cave around 300-600 AD, but didn’t move into the further reaches until 700-900 AD. Beyond seeing ceramic or stone pots and plates you will also see skeletons. They are

27 01, 2016

New Blog Series – Travelogue

By Lili|January 27th, 2016|Categories: Blogging, Travelogue|Tags: Blog, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, meta, new series|0 Comments

Hi all! Starting next week I'll be posting 6 days a week for the foreseeable future. Beyond the Travel Misstep Mondays, Museum Mondays, Travel Tip Thursdays, Photo Fridays, and Souvenir Saturdays (and the occasional Local Tuesday and Food & Drink Wednesday) I'll be filling in Monday-Saturday posts that don't have a scheduled blog post with a new temporary blog series. I'll be sharing in detail my daily trip notes from my most recent trip to Egypt in a Diary/Travelogue style. This has turned out to be a much larger undertaking and so I'm not sure yet if I'll ever go

25 01, 2016

Museum Monday: Art Deco Cartier Sakura Bracelet

By Lili|January 25th, 2016|Categories: Museums, Travel|Tags: Brilliant: Cartier in the 20th Century, cartier, Colorado, DAM, Denver, Denver Art Museum, diamonds, emerald, museum, North America, onyx, ruby, sakura, USA|0 Comments

The Denver Art Museum had an exhibit in 2015 called Brilliant: Cartier in the 20th Century which I was lucky enough to see in its last few days. The exhibit was laid out in early work, then geometric patterns, and then art deco. After that were 3 themed sections on India, Egypt and the far east. After that was beautiful work on mystery clocks, tutti frutti designs, and jaguar designs. Next you had a chance to learn more about the workshop and process in creating the designs as well as the artwork to create these gorgeous works of art. Then you had more

23 01, 2016

Souvenir Saturday: Pressed Flower Art

By Lili|January 23rd, 2016|Categories: Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: 2004, Asia, Chino, dried flowers, flowers, Grandmother, host family, Japan, Nagano, Pressed flowers, Sister Cities, Sister Cities Japan 2004, Suwa|0 Comments

When I visited Japan I stayed with a host family. One afternoon we drove up into the mountains near Suwa and visited my host Grandparents. After being introduced to dinner (a live chicken) and being very tired to the point I couldn't keep my eyes open I took a nap. When I woke up, the Grandmother had been told I liked art, and so beckoned me to sit next to her. As a hobby she made beautiful art with pressed flowers and presented to me a little framed piece of paper on my own. She helped me pick flowers out of

22 01, 2016

Glassy Blue Ice Spikes from Chihuly

By Lili|January 22nd, 2016|Categories: Art, Attractions & Sights, Local, Photography, Travel|Tags: 2014, Blue, Botanical Garden, chihuly, Colorado, Denver, Denver Botanical Gardens, glass, North America, Photo Friday, USA|0 Comments

In 2014, the Denver Botanical Gardens hosted an exhibit of Chihuly glass artwork. This was one of the first pieces, a massive glass sculpture of hundreds of blue spikes. Every Friday Lili shares her favorite photography & the stories behind the photos.

18 01, 2016

Travel Missteps: Don’t Look Under the Ledge

By Lili|January 18th, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2010, 2013, beach, Belize, boat, California, Caribbean, Caye Caulker, Central America, fear, fish, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, grouper, island, Little Maho Bay, Maho, Mayan Encounter 2013, Mermaid, Michigan, ocean, paradise, snorkel, snorkeling, St. John, St. John 2010, The Little Mermaid, underwater photography, UNESCO, UNESCO World Heritage Site, USVI, water|0 Comments

As a young child, my favorite movie was The Little Mermaid. I loved swimming and spent my childhood on the beaches of California and the Great Lakes of Michigan pretending to be a mermaid. On my first trip to St. John USVI, it was my first time snorkeling in years and I was excited to try out my new equipment and underwater camera. I swam out to a rocky outcropping near Little Maho Bay Beach and got a little snap happy as I hadn't expected the water to be so clear or to see so many fish so close to the

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