Since Hong Kong is considered international travel leaving Beijing means leaving Ivy. Tonight, to celebrate a fabulous trip we had a farewell dinner with our Tour Manager, Ivy or her Chinese name, Sha Sha. What a special person she is, and what a special tour has been. Russell and I have always talked about coming…
Category: Lifestyle
We had a beautiful blue sky day in Beijing on our first day! It is likely we benefited from the recent Communist Party meeting that was held here this week, which only happens every five years. Today are cute guide, Ivy told us about the AIPAC Conference Beijing hosted a few years ago and Beijing’s…
A Tale of Two Chinas
We are only a week into our magnificent trip to China, but we have already seen several things about the Chinese we love. The people are very friendly and very social. There have been several studies lately linking loneliness and premature death. The Chinese seem to have conquered this issue. You don’t see a lot…
Pros and Cons of Group Travel
Yesterday we travelled with our tour group to Suzhou, a city outside Shanghai. With traffic, of which there is a lot, it took about 2 hours via our bus to get there and a little longer to get home. I thought recounting this experience would be a good way to share the pros and cons…
Shanghai Street Food Tour
Last night Russell and our friends and travel companions, Stephanie and Bruce (pictured above) had dinner with a group of expats – teachers for the English speaking International School in Shanghai. This fun group of 6 included a couple from Ireland, two single women one from from Great Britain and one from Ireland and a…
AND THE YEARS FLY BY…
BIRTHDAY PARTY Last night we celebrated Russell’s 60th birthday with our children. It’s crazy to imagine Russell is turning sixty. I still remember that young, eager, somewhat rough around the edges 25 year old law student with whom I fell in love. I was very young too – just a rising sophomore in college,…
Lessons from Harvey
Last week on the way to work someone cut me off. When I tapped my horn because I was afraid the driver had not seen me, he flipped me off. Then later I posted a comment on someone’s Facebook with some information about restoration efforts. It was truly informational, but it was taken as a…
#HoUStonStrong
I’m still thinking about how great Brene Brown’s talk was this week. Thank you to my friend, Cindy Clifford for inviting me to go. For those who do not know of Brene’s work, she has spent her entire career studying shame and vulnerability, and how it affects our lives and those with whom we come…
A Place Called Hope
Americans are a hopeful nation. Bill Clinton tapped into a hopeful America with his now famous line, “I still believe in a place called Hope”, referring to his hometown in Arkansas. He created a brand around this small town, a place that he used as an analogy to describe all of America. It worked and…
Advent – You Know that Thing Before Christmas
I love this season. As a kid and even a young mother October 1 marked the beginning of t he build up to Halloween followed by the build up to Thanksgiving and then we could finally start talking about Christmas. I wrote about my love for Fall in a recent blog. What I have noticed,…
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