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Packing Checklist Before the Voyage

Thanks to my ever-present chemo brain, I have to make loads of lists to ensure that I remember to pack and do things before a trip, especially a big one!  So, I came up with a checklist to (hopefully!) ensure that I get everything done and pack essentials (Silver Lining). Hope this is helpful for you! {oh, and if you’re ever stumped on how to make the most of a carry-on, read my post about how to pack a carry-on for a five day trip!}  

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Where in the World?

Where in the World?

May 10, 2012

Next week, the HOTY and I are going on an outrageously amazing Silver Lined adventure…I am beyond excited about it!  Below is a little teaser…three cities…can you take three guesses? Details to follow… * All images are via Tumblr. If you know to whom I can give credit, please let me know!

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Herb Ritts Exhibit at the J. Paul Getty Museum

Recently I had the great Silver Lined opportunity to be in the home of a Herb Ritts collector. Original photographs hung all over the house. I was rendered speechless (which, as you know, doesn’t happen often!). I can’t begin to tell you what an incredible experience that was. Drooling over Herb Ritts’ phenomenal talent will continue to be in my future because next week, the Herb Ritts: L.A. Style Exhibit opens at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.  The museum perfectly describe’s Ritt’s influence in the art world: From the late 1970s until Ritts’s untimely death from AIDS-related complications in 2002, his ability to create images that successfully bridged the gap between art and commerce was not only a testament to the power of his imagination and technical skill but also marked the synergistic union between art, popular culture, and business that followed in the wake of the Pop Art movement of the …

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Cuixmala

Cuixmala

February 12, 2012

Cuixmala is the sister property of Hacienda de San Antonio. Thanks yet again to Indagare, we had the unbelievably Silver Lined opportunity to visit Cuixmala on our way to the airport. Geez Louise. I couldn’t imagine anything prettier than the Hacienda de San Antonio…until I landed at Cuixmala. One of the big Silver Linings at Cuixmala is their foundation. The ecology is an integral part of the Cuixmala experience. The Cuixmala Ecological Foundation sponsors programs to protect the habitat and the many species of birds, plants and animals that live within it. The turtle protection program has returned hundreds of thousands of baby turtles to the sea. The foundation was instrumental in establishing the vast Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve, the first reserve of its kind in Mexico to protect this type of ecosystem. How cool is that?!? The little plane that flew us from Hacienda de San Antonio to Cuixmala View of Cuixmala …

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Hacienda de San Antonio

Hacienda de San Antonio

February 11, 2012

Last week I had yet another  Silver Lined adventure orchestrated by the ever-amazing Indagare. Holy Moly. What an amazing company Indagare is! Their tag line is: “The next generation of travel wisdom.” Oh how that describes the company perfectly! The week was a health and wellness jump-start at the Hacienda de San Antonio. I told you a little bit about the trip in my Proust Hiker post, but now I’d love to show you the property, quite possibly one of the prettiest properties I have EVER seen! Located in Calima, an itty-bitty town in Mexico, the Hacienda de San Antonio was built in 1890 and lavishly restored by the one of the most successful and influential businessmen of the 20th century, Sir James Goldsmith. The property encompasses more than 5,000 acres set at the foot of an active volcano (yes, active!).  The climate is absolute perfection for lounging about in the lush …

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So, You’re Coming to Santa Barbara

So, you’re coming to Santa Barbara?  Well, my oh my, let me be the first person to say WELCOME and get ready to have some FUN! We natives (I’m not really a native, but like to say that I am!) are always asked, “What are the Must-Do’s in Santa Barbara?”  I have my favorite list and friend’s have their favorite lists, but I’m happy to now be able to direct people to the Santa Barbara Magazine Best of 2012 Issue…hot off the presses! The magazine is divided so beautifully into well organized and easily accessible sections, including Home, Garden, Entertaining, Food & Wine, Sports, Kids, The Arts, Getaways, Out & About and finally, The Reason We Live Here (which, if you’ve ever been here, you definitely knowwwww!). This issue will make you go ahead and commit to making a reservation to visit. And fair warning, when you’re here, you’ll try …

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The Proust Hiker

The Proust Hiker

January 26, 2012

Hiking is one of my all-time favorite, Silver Lined activities. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to live in Santa Barbara, where the hiking is a gorgeous, year-round activity. Hiking is one of the few activities that stimulates and inspires me mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Without a doubt it enhances my overall well being. Hiking gives me the mental space and time to figure things out. Whenever I get cranky (yes, it does happen!), the HOTY tells me to “go for a hike!” Literally…and probably figuratively. I find that when I am quiet for long enough to hear nature, really hear it,  something wonderful starts to happen. For Christmas, the HOTY gave me a hiking trip to Mexico. Yes, he’s clearly still the HOTY! So, I write to you from an exceptional place called Hacienda de San Antonio in an itty bitty town called Colima, Mexico. Truthfully, I had no clue where …

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Disney World Silver Linings

Disney World Silver Linings

January 11, 2012

The HOTY, Finally Five and I have just returned from a trip Disney World. It was my first time there (yes, I’m 41). I made plenty of assumptions before going (about lines, etc., etc., etc.), but, those conjectures were cast aside the moment that I arrived. If ever there were a place for Silver Linings, it’s Disney World!  I mean, they were everywhere. As it turns out, Disney World is indeed the happiest place on earth!  We had a truly magical time. Disney World Silver Linings: Watching the look on Finally Five’s face when she saw fireworks for the first time. Being able to be with the HOTY’s parents who, in their 80s, still managed to get around and delight in their granddaughter. The “Cast Members” (i.e., staff) were incredibly friendly. I mean REALLY friendly! Lines were short (since we were able to go after the rush of the holidays). Perfect weather. …

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Adventure + Giving = Meadowood + Share our Strength

Over the holidays, the HOTY and I had the most exquisite dining/fundraising experience at The Restaurant at Meadowood in St. Helena in the Napa Valley (resulting in a couple of those pesky pounds that I have picked up, I’m sure!). Meadowood, by the way, is one of our all-time fave spots for rest, relaxation and romance. Every year, Meadowood has an annual Twelve Days of Christmas festival, with 12 famed chefs partnering with 12 preeminent Napa Valley vintners to present 12 feasts on 12 nights. Pretty amazing! The Silver Lining is that proceeds go to Share Our Strength®, a Washington-based charity that fights childhood hunger. Share Our Strength® began in the basement of a row house on Capitol Hill in 1984, in response to the ‘84-‘85 famine in Ethiopia. Brother and sister Bill and Debbie Shore started the organization with the belief that everyone has a strength to share in the global fight …

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Packing Plans: Carrying On for Five Days

Today, the HOTY, Finally Five and I are leaving for New York. I’m super excited!  It will be a combination of work and fun, which is my favorite way to travel! For as long as I can remember, I have done everything in my power to avoid checking a bag. There is something about the wasted time at baggage claim that makes me batty (and a little cranky!). As a result of not checking a bag, my luggage is never lost and it always magically arrives at my destination at the same time I do (Silver Lining). I actually think that I would have been more suited to the era of Trunk Travel. I mean, really. Trunks are so elegant and well constructed.  I bought these gorgeous Louis Vuitton suitcases years ago at an estate sale (for a steal, by the way…Boy Oh Boy was I excited!). Now, the thing …

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