I know that I have blogged about my trip to San Diego, but I want to look at it from a different angle.  This was an all girls trip and we had a blast, but friendships were made and will not be forgotten.  

We started off by getting together Thursday night at the Sundeck at the Hotel Del Coranado.  Some of the girls I was good friends with already and others I got to meet for the first time.  We had a blast, hanging out, chatting and getting to know each other better. Even though this was a "working" weekend, we knew we would be having fun!  Thunder Bob was celebrating his mother's life and he joined in our fun and bought us drinks and we enjoyed our time with him.  There was some singing (see my facebook video), a bit of a throwdown (plank challenge) and just lots of laughter.

Friday morning we had small group breakfast and beach time!  What fun that was.  While we were on the beach, we were sharing ideas for our businesses, talking about family, and more fun! We explored the island and shared a great lunch!  

Friday night was the first official meeting.  Monica's mother was kind enough to allow all 25 of us to be in her home (condo on the beach!!!) and the apartment was beautiful, almost as beautiful as Monica's mom, Lisa. She shared a beautiful toast.  I will post it at a later time, it deserves it's on post! We got the most amazing swag bags full of goodies.  We each shared our stories and let me tell you, these women have the most amazing stories, rags to riches, debilitating illnesses to great health and overall beautiful people!

It was a long night, but we enjoyed hearing every one's stories. Those of us not on pacific time were really feeling the time change.  Especially the east coasters.  I'm so glad that they hung in there to the end!

After a short night's sleep, we were up bright and early for yoga in the park with Missy Costello (Tony Horton's personal chef!)  She is such a breath of fresh air!  So sweet and led us in a great workout!

It was the most awesome evening and I have learned so much on this trip.  I have met so many great leaders and can only inspire to do the same for other people.  I can't wait for the next trip!

I gave my Friendship Stones to my roomies!  Sherri, Tina and Dani! In our busy weekend, I can not believe that we forgot to get a photo with our stones, but we did.  It truly was a busy weekend! We really had a great time and lot of fun when we were so tired and giggly in the room.  Some of the best conversations were had while we were in our beds in the dark trying to go to sleep.  I have so many memories from this trip that I know I will never forget and am so grateful to have been able to spend time with these truly wonderful ladies!

Every summer, usually for the best part of August I pack my bags and together with my daughter we travel to Ontario Canada for a visit with family and friends.

I have been living in Israel for 28 years, but come summer time I become a Canadian again!

This trip however I knew ahead of time that it was going to be different.  My mom who is getting older (and wiser) has not been well so we are basically staying with her and not traveling as much as as we usually do.   Mom lives in an assisted living complex, the average age being 80 – all of the sudden I feel really young!

I have been cooking – cleaning – doing laundry etc…oh yes this is a working vacation!

We also have played bingo – watched movies with the girls (again 80 and over) and gone on short but nice walks.  Spending time with mom is good.

Don't Look at my Cards

Mom is the serious Bingo Player

I want spend time with my close friends.  So I called my "girls" and explained to them the situation. Of course they said no problem we will come to you.  Mom goes to Dialysis 3 times a week for 5 hours so we are available to do stuff during those time slots. 

Last Saturday my Girl Jackie and hubby surprised me with a visit on the way to visiting her father in law in another city.

Sunday my oldest and closest friend Debbie came in from Toronto with her hubby and took us sailing for the morning on her father's boat – then picked up mom and went for lunch together,  Debbie and I  have been friends since the day we were born – we are second generation friends, our Mothers' were Best Friends too.

What an amazing gift friendship is. 

My oldest closest friend and My Princess 

Friday, my Girl Eve came in with her daughter and we spent the day at the African Lion Safari.

We were 4 little girls having fun! 

The girls played together and got along amazing.  I even had a ride on an Elephant!  I love the elephants – except I think that their eyes look sad all the time.

 MJ asked if I had a Friendship Stone in my bag, (of course I did) she asked if she could give it to her friend! I thought that was a wonderful idea – so the two of us gave Mom and Daughter a unique gift to remember this day of Friendship and fun.

Second Generation of Friends

That was fun! her name is Lilly

Now we all know that Facebook is great for connecting friends right?  

A couple of months ago I found a high school friend on Facebook(she was only in school with me for a short while but made an impact on my life) .  Claudia had come from Chile and had traveled to places that I had only dreamed about! 

She is beautiful!

Well last week I noticed that she was on Facebook…Said hello and told her I was in Canada visiting my mom.  She told me that she would be at her father's close to my mom's place – so we planned to meet. 

It has been almost 29 years since the last time I saw Claudia but when she opened the car door…. she looked as beautiful as she did when I last saw her!

Claudia was being silly and we loved it! 

We spent a great afternoon together (she brought her 6 year old princess)  - The two of us walked the paths down the Hamilton Waterfront , caught up with each others adventures in life as the girls scooted in front, and 

MJ and I gave them Friendship Stones to remember the day – Claudia received a Traveling Friendship Stone – she is a traveller – it will be fun to watch her stone travel the world. 

Ice Cream is an international language for kids! 

About Lori 

I am Lori Webb and I am the founder of Indspark! I started Indspark! to combine my various professional and personal background to help entrepreneurs with a special focus on women and early phase business endeavors. I have worked in branding, fashion, media, retail management, customer service, design, communication and education. I hold a Master of Science in Information Technology (Design, Communication & Media) and a B.A. in Theatre and English. As an infomaniac, I am a dedicated lifelong learner and have a range of addition certifications from baby signing to creative thinking to natural heritage interpretation. 

My diverse background provides you with a unique and thorough look at your brand (think: multi-sensory) as well as providing you with new perspectives (think: technology & trends) on how to create or improve its experiential reach.

I am also currently completing my first book, Entrepreneurial Profiles, which will also provide international  “indspark” for entrepreneurial spirits worldwide. The book is a diverse and global look at 21st century entrepreneurship. There are now over 110 entrepreneurs connected to the project from around the world. The first book of the series will be out Fall 2010. 

Join the Facebook fan page at: http://www.facebook.com/entrepreneurialprofiles

We have been talking about Friendships, reunions and reconnecting with friends this summer so as you know we decided to have a Summer Blog Fest.   We have invited some of our favorite bloggers and friends to participate by blogging for us.  

We have a great line up!  

We asked our guest bloggers to write about Friendship, Travels and Summer fun.  We have blogs planned about family reunions, traveling with children, meeting new people and making friends, girlfriend trips, running a business while on vacation, meeting with Virtual Friends for the first time, high school reunions and more.  Believe me I can not wait to read the blogs! 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our Guest Bloggers for taking the time (which in the summer is hard to find) and sharing with us their experiences, thoughts, advise and wisdom! 

Thank you!

Now I have started my summer with a mini reunion ! 

 

 

I want to talk about school reunions however here.

 

 

I just had lunch with a friend after he attended a reunion of his elementary school and we talked about what they did, and what they talked about. 

• What do you talk about? 
• What do you do? 
• What are the thoughts running through your head

This is what he told me

1. 1. He said no one brought spouses, as it was obvious to everyone that spouses just did not belong at that kind of a happening, it would not “speak to them.” It freed everyone up to focus on the people there and not spend the entire evening on “small talk”.
2. Many people brought photos from their time together, which was a lot of fun seeing “the way we were”.
3. They actually had a moderator come to help initiate interesting discussions.
4. They had different activities to help everyone really talk to each other.

What became of us?

• Did we fulfill our potential? 
• Could anyone have known in grade school or high school what our potential would be? 
• Did we go out into the world to prove them wrong or to prove them right?

What is success and how do you measure it? A lot of interesting questions. Are they happy in their life today?

• Did the “smart” kids succeed more than the “losers”?
• Did they build something in their life time? 
• Did they contribute to the community they live in?

“I, take you, to be my friend, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part. ”

This is a common wedding vow that so many of us have taken (or a variation of it) and we try our hardest to keep to it!

Our partners in life are supposed to be our best friends so this makes sense to make a vow to one and other!

We have other good friends in our lives; however we don’t usually exchange vows with them – even though the union of two close friends is really not any different than the union of marriage based upon the above vows!

Our good friends we want to have and to hold – for better and for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health…

So do we?

• Have we been friends during good times and then found it difficult to be friends during hard times?
• Have we been friends when everyone is healthy and then shied away when someone gets sick?
• How about financial difficulties?
• Have we helped when we can
• It is so easy to be a friend when we are all in a utopian state of mind and health but when times get tough?

I have been working with My Stone Company almost three years and let me tell you I have learnt so much!  Cathy Raff – the founder and president is my boss! Everyone should have a boss like her.  It is a pleasure to wake up in the morning to tweet and facebook my status as “Hi Ho Hi Ho it’s off to work I go – With a smile on my face!”

Yes, I have a great job – but I love my job because of the amazing people who I work with.  They have become my friends.  Cathy – the ultimate Friendship Advocate or Queen of Friendship has shown me over and over again how important friends are in our lives – during good times and even more so during difficult times!

All of us (4 women – two continents, in 4 cities) have all gone through difficult times and I see how our friendships have helped to keep us going.  Cathy has discussed in her blogs how during her illness (UC) her friends stuck by her and helped her through the difficult times.

Almost two years ago my father passed away, it was a terrible time for me, I had to leave my daughter and husband in one country and fly to his funeral and mourning period in another.  But through the help of friends (and family) I got through it!  My closest of childhood friends came and sat with me, held my hand, and hugged me when I needed it.   The emails and calls from the “girls at work” were full of warm and beautiful positive words; I felt their hugs from so far away.  Even the shortest of text messages

“I love you, I am here for you”

made me feel so much better.

I don’t think that I would have been able to go through that time without my friends!

I know that it is extra work to be a friend during difficult and hard times – but it pays off – the reward of an even stronger friendship is the best!

My Best Ex!

A few years ago she invited me to her favorite restaurant for my birthday, since I had never been there before.  Of course daughter #1 was invited too. We had a great time.  The next year when her birthday rolled around I returned the gesture, and again we had a great time.  Now I am happy to say it has turned into a tradition.  This year we extended it however to a longer day than just lunch.

Celebrating Birthdays together

We decided to hit a few birds with one stone.  Because we live in the same neighborhood, and we both had a few errands to run,  we did it together,  first mine,  then hers, then a nice cup of coffee, then mine again.   It was a lot more fun doing it together than alone.

Best Friends Celebrating Life Together

This year I chose a restaurant, Carmela B’Nachala that is right next to the open arts and crafts market.  The market is up on Tuesday and Fridays on Nachalat Binyamin in Tel Aviv and I thought it would be great to combine lunch together with a stroll to see the local arts and crafts.  The sun was shinning and we had a great day.  Daughter #1 joined us for lunch and a wonderful tradition continues.

#1 Daughter #1 Best Ex and Me!

First,  Singapore is beautiful and we are having an amazing time.  I am so blessed that I can travel and take my children with me.  We have decided that we will take each child on their own trip– so this was Gymnasts trip.  My other two children also had their “on their own trips”  It is a whole other world spending quality time with one child when you are used to spending it with three.  As I put my daughter to sleep last night and she told me “that there is nothing more that she could ever ask for in a Mother” I knew this trip will remain in our memories for a lifetime!

For all of you who are arriving to my new blog and site for the first time, I thought that I should introduce to you the Friendship Stone Team, you can read their full bios on the site but this is more of a personal note.

Jill – She is my best friend – and my sister – what is better than that!  She is an amazingly talented woman, a professional culinary stylist, a fabulous mom and great to work with.  She deals with the company’s entire PR, content, and lots more! She truly is the Gift Specialist.

Laure – We met in Art School in CA, many years ago and have remained soul sisters and best of friends.  Laure is an amazing photographer, and expert quilter (oy you should see her stuff) an amazing mom and of course fun to work with. Laure takes care of all of our logistics, shipping and inventory!

Shari – she came into our circle of friends through the smallest of Job Ads in the world – I was looking for a personal assistant! (Didn’t realize the scope of the business when we first started).  Shari is a multi-tasker extraordinaire, a great mom and a wonderful friend.  Shari is our web producer – she makes sure that you can read this blog and runs all three of our company sites!

A few months ago Jill, Laure and I met up in Florida for the Big Brothers Big Sisters National Conference.  Our partnership with BBBS was announced there.  What an honor to be involved with such an important mentoring organization. As we live in different cities – different continents – being together at this event was very fulfilling.

I turned 50 this year – and one of the best birthday gifts was to spend time with Laure and Jill in Thailand together!  Just having fun in the sun – Three best girlfriends!

So I will be back in a few days – and  I will let you in on the tales from Singapore – the people I met, the places that we visited and the friends that we made!

Have an amazing day

Cathy