La-Tea-Da

Nice, wet, flaky, white stuff. A delight at 4 am!

Since Michele has been home, I have been crazily busy with the shop and she has been wonderfully supportive and helpful (she's even been put to work in the studio!). My beautiful wonderful friend, Karen (of Duncan Creative - just THE most wonderful place for hats and other crocheted items!) gifted me a Groupon for afternoon tea at La-Tea-Da Tea Salon, so I took the opportunity to treat Michele to an afternoon of undivided attention. To get that afternoon, I trucked myself off to work before the crack of dawn and found this lovely surprise on my car!

After stuffing eight hours of work in before Noon, I picked Michele up and we headed off to tea delight! It was really wonderful! It's such an eclectic place, just a feast for the eyes! And afternoon tea was amazingly DELICIOUS!! We drank way too much tea, of course, and ate way too many delicious nibblies, including their signature scones with Devonshire creme and jam! Oh wow! It was a really great afternoon and it was really great to take a break and spend some time talking about everything except work!


The have hoards of hats to wear to make you feel elegant
or just downright silly. These fit both categories.



One lump or two? It's fun to have the opportunity to say that.

 

Pretty little teapot table decor! Our actual tea was served in a

good sturdy workhorse of a teapot complete with cozy. I really

need to make myself some cozies for my workhorses at home!



Can you imagine how delicious? Look up the definition of
YUM in the dictionary and this picture will be right beside it!



A Beautiful Weekend, or How Many Ways Are There to Consume Tea?

This has truly been a gorgeous weekend. The sun shined constantly yesterday. This morning, our pastor said that when the sun is out so consistently in Rochester, we all become like sunflowers, raising our faces to the warmth and slowly turning our bodies as the sun moves in the sky. There is truth in that statement. Today after church I started my day of rest and relaxation with a yummy sandwich and a good book on the sun porch, which was bright and warm. Soon, I couldn't resist turning my face to the sun, shutting my eyes, and taking a nap with the sun beating full on me and melting away the winter chill...which lasted for about an hour, at which time I awoke freezing because the clouds had come and, in winter, when the sun is not streaming into the uninsulated sun porch, it is quite cold! Oh, but it was lovely while it lasted.

Being chilly is actually a good lead-in to the rest of my plans for the day: my rendition of High Tea! This afternoon/evening, I plan to take a long soak in a tea bath while enjoying a pint of Haagen-Dazs Green Tea ice cream. After which I will lay in bed with a little plate of Vanilla Green Tea sandwich cookies and a wonderful pot of mango white tea. And I am off to enjoy and hope that you have the chance to turn your face to the sun and enjoy the day, too!

Sunday-After-Church Ritual

I actually did enjoy the retreat and planning day yesterday, just as I enjoyed church this morning. Regardless of how much I enjoy church, by Sunday afternoon, after having spent all week and most of the weekend around people, I am really ready for some alone time. To that end, I developed a new Sunday-After-Church ritual for myself and really look forward to it. As soon as I get home, I change into one of my sweat suits (I have about 9 of the same style in different colors), make some lunch, brew myself a pot of tea - oh so lovely!, and take a good book into the parlor or onto the sun porch if it's sunny.

Depending on how much relaxing I need to do, I will use either my fat yellow twelve-cup pot or my tall, thin blue six-cup pot (which matches the set of "for good" dishes that my parents received as a wedding gift and my mother passed on to me.) The minute I take my first sip of my favorite African Red tea, all my stress melts away. I hope you have a relaxation ritual, too. If we all did, the world would be a much calmer place, don't you think?

[By the way, today was only a six-cup kinda day!]