Lili on the Loose - Lili on the Loose: On Life and Getting Lost

14 01, 2016

Omikuji: Fortune Telling at Japanese Temples & Shrines

By Lili|January 14th, 2016|Categories: Activities, Travel|Tags: 2004, Asakusa, Asakusa Temple, Asia, Buddhist, curse, fate, fortune, fortune telling, good luck, Harajuku, Japan, lottery, Omikuji, sccared lot, Sensō-ji, Shinto, Shrine, Sister Cities Japan 2004, Temple, Tokyo, Travel Thursday|0 Comments

If you find yourself at a Japanese temple or shrine make sure to have your fortune told! Called Omikuji are essentially a sacred lot, where you randomly draw a stick that will tell you your fortune. But beware, these fortunes can foretell a bad fate! After you have paid, you will shake, spin, or rotate a container full of numbered sticks. It is important to make sure you wish for a good fortune at this point! Once you pull the stick out, find the corresponding fortune in the numbered drawers. Then return your stick. Now it is time to read your

11 01, 2016

More Ways to Find Lili on the Loose!

By Lili|January 11th, 2016|Categories: Blogging|Tags: domains, Lili on the Loose, Lilly on the Loose, Lily on the Loose, Social, travel missteps, URLS|0 Comments

I'm in the process of making some design changes here at Lili on the Loose! Looking at getting a new logo and webdesign, and a new homepage! I'll also be blogging about the process so any other fellow Travel Bloggers can learn from my experience! While working on this project I have added additional ways to find Lili on the Loose. In the beginning, the site was going to be called Travel Missteps based off my Monday Missteps bi-weekly blog series. But I knew I also wanted to expand out from just funny travel stories, and so did a lot

11 01, 2016

Museum Monday: Triceratops Horridus at the Smithsonian

By Lili|January 11th, 2016|Categories: Dinosaurs, Museums, Travel|Tags: 2013, DC, museum, Museum Madness, National Museum of Natural History, North America, Smithsonian, triceratops, USA, Washington DC|0 Comments

In the summer of 2013 I was able to visit many of the wonderful free museums of Washington, DC. One of my favorite was the Natural History museum, mainly because of their large Triceratops fossil. Triceratops are my favorite dinosaur, but before this trip I had never seen the fossils of the body! All the ones I had seen before were the head only. So it was a treat to see this exhibit. Sadly, in 2014 the Fossil Hall is undergoing renovations until 2019...which is a long time away from now. They do have a smaller exhibit elsewhere in the

9 01, 2016

Souvenir Saturday: Moon Art

By Lili|January 9th, 2016|Categories: Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: art, canvas, moon, North America, North Pacific Coast 2012, Oregon, painting, Portland, Portland Saturday Market, USA|0 Comments

In 2012 I headed to Seattle & Portland for a short trip. But I was lucky enough to be able to wander through Portland's Saturday Market before I left. One stall had this amazing artist that had a lot of surreal pantings of trees and moons. I could only afford (and carry on) a small piece but was glad of my purchase. Souvenir Saturday is an every-other week series on the items that represent travel memories.

8 01, 2016

Wowfactor at CES

By Lili|January 8th, 2016|Categories: Photography, Travel, Travel Memories|Tags: 2013, booth, CES, CES 2013, Las Vegas, Logitech, Nevada, North America, Photo Friday, Toshiba, trade show, USA, work, work trip|0 Comments

A few years ago I was at the CES show in Las Vegas. It was hard work, and on the last day I had 20 minutes to wander the show floor. I snapped this photo of I think the Toshiba or Logitech booth, not knowing what the cool massive sculpture was. It wasn't until I got home and looked at the photo that I realized the entire thing was made out of computers, tvs, and smart phones! Every Friday Lili shares her favorite photography & the stories behind the photos.

6 01, 2016

Recipe: Paradise Bars

By Lili|January 6th, 2016|Categories: Food, Food & Drink, Recipe|Tags: bars, chocolate, coconut, cookie bar, cookies, Printable, Printable Recipe Card, Recipe, Recipe Card|0 Comments

These are my go-to for any cookie exchange! But beware, Paradise Bars are very addicting! Ingredients: 3 cups finely ground cinnamon graham crackers 1/8 cup white sugar 1/8 cup brown sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 2/3 sticks unsalted butter, melted 1 1/2 cup pecan pieces 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips 1 can sweetened condensed milk 1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut Parchment Paper Rimmed Baking Sheet or Pan Step 1: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Splash a rimmed baking sheet with water evenly, and then line with parchment paper. Step 2: Using a food processor finely

4 01, 2016

Travel Missteps: Like a Turtle

By Lili|January 4th, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2004, airport, Asia, baggage, bags, Chino, exchange program, fall, Japan, manga, Nagano, Sister Cities, Sister Cities Japan 2004, souvenir, Tokyo, turtle|0 Comments

Saying goodbyes to the friends you’ve made while traveling is one of the hardest things to do. In 2004 I was part of the Sister Cities exchange program and stayed in Chino, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. I made great friends and had a great time. But getting up early to say our goodbyes before heading out on a 37 hour travel day was hard. There were lots of hugs, tears, and photos. And then...there were a lot of times I just keeled over. Farewell to Kana, note the 3 bags on my person and the 4 bags on the ground.

1 01, 2016

Shining Light on Egyptian Hieroglyphics

By Lili|January 1st, 2016|Categories: Attractions & Sights, Photography, Travel|Tags: 2015, Africa, Dream of Egypt, Edfu, Edfu Temple, Egypt, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, Hieroglyphics, Horus, Middle East, Photo Friday, Temple of Edfu, Temple of Horus|0 Comments

A new year, a new weekly series: Photo Friday! Each week I'll bring you some of my favorite photos, some of travel, some of my general life. I hope you enjoy! This Photo Friday, I share my favorite photo from Egypt. I was wandering the sanctuary area within the Temple of Horus in Edfu, Egypt. This area in ancient times would have been quite dark and only available to the priests of the temple. I turned around and saw the light shining through on the hieroglyphics, and I'm pleased with how it turned out. Every Friday Lili shares her favorite photography

31 12, 2015

My Top Instagrams From 2015

By Lili|December 31st, 2015|Categories: Year in Review|Tags: 2015, Africa, Cider, Colorado, Colorado State Capitol, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, DMNS, dog, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, Ingress, instagram, Local, Middle East, museum, North America, park, puppy, snow, The Old Mine, USA|0 Comments

These are my most popular Instagram posts this year! Travel, Museums, Local Experiences, and of course Puppies! Sounds about right! See more here and be sure to follow me!

31 12, 2015

2015: The Year of Exploration

By Lili|December 31st, 2015|Categories: Year in Review|Tags: 2015, 2016, Africa, blogging, Canada, Egypt, Florida, Ingress, Miami, Middle East, North America, Toronto, travel blog, Travel Thursday, travel writing, USA, year in review|0 Comments

This has been an amazing year more focused on travel! I had two very opposite business trips. The first, in the dead of winter, was to Toronto, Canada. I had just a little time to explore and so visited an aquarium & museum before a nasty snowstorm hit. The second work trip was to sunny Miami, FL in the heat of summer. This trip I had tons of bad luck and ended up just having a short time at the beach. And throughout this year I was busy preparing for my dream vacation to Egypt! Thankfully everything went smoothly and