A Blast-From-the-Past Photo of Elizabeth Weintraub

Awards luncheon, February 2007, Elizabeth Weintraub and Terry Wakabayashi

Patti Martinez, a Lyon agent who used to work in our Midtown Lyon office, sent me this blast-from-the-past photo (above) yesterday from her February 2007 archives. It’s a photo of this Sacramento Realtor next to Terry Wakabayashi, another Lyon agent at our Midtown Lyon office, shot at an awards luncheon. Apparently, we all had to dress in some sort of Hawaiian attire. That was 9 years ago, and I’d only been to Hawaii a couple of times by that point. Not like 2016 after we actually bought a home in Hawaii in January.

In all honesty, I have no recollection of ever attending this particular event but the photograph is proof I was there. I look at my chubby little self, with my fatty chin, cherub cheeks, innocent sparkle in those eyes, that polite smile, and it seems like I do not know that person.

Two things stand out for me in that blast-from-the-past photo. The first is the fabulous hair. You’ve gotta admit, it looks pretty good. It’s too bad my hairdresser was so caught up in himself and exhibited way too much drama for me to deal with that he made it necessary for me to find a different hairdresser. Part of the fun of going to the salon is to chat with your hairdresser, share intimate details like you might with the guy serving you a bourbon at the bar at Ella. OK, maybe your second bourbon. In any case, a customer doesn’t really enjoy a one-sided conversation, especially when your hairdresser makes you want to shake him: put a sock in it, dude.

I have a wonderful hairdresser now, a woman I’m very happy with who, in fact, used to also work at the Lyon Midtown office as a Lyon agent but has now moved her real estate license to Re/Max. She doesn’t want the pressure of day-to-day sales, she says, and she tremendously enjoys running her own hair salon in Midtown, has been doing it for 20 years. I am also in love with her adorable dog, whom she takes to the salon. He delivered a big ol’ wet lick on my nose last week.

The other thing I notice in that blast-from-the-past photo is I am wearing a watch. Like my late father-in-law, the Chicago Sun Times reporter, loved to say, I am a professional observer. Who wears a watch today? OK, maybe if you splurged on a watch from the Rolex store in Maui, you’d wear it, or maybe an Apple Watch just to chuckle when Mickey Mouse’s feet dance, but an ordinary watch? I automatically reach for bracelets now and not any of my watches. They sit looking forlorn and sad in my jewelry drawer graveyard.

Below is a photo shot a few months ago at the Mill at Broadway Grand Opening in Land Park, as I relax with a craft beer in casual attire next to the trash cans, just for comparison purposes. This is a photo that will one day become a blast-from-the-past photo. One thing I can say is I have holding power in real estate. I started in the business in 1974 as a title searcher and have come a long way. Nobody handed me anything on a silver platter. If you’re looking for a top Sacramento Realtor, please call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. And, thanks for the photo, Patti.

Elizabeth Weintraub at the Mill at Broadway Grand Opening in Land Park