And the winner is....

Drum roll please...

The winner of my very first giveaway is...Paulette!! You've won some Blueberry Bang Tea, yay!

Thank you all for your kind comments and well wishes on our anniversary. It was a great weekend that we had to ourselves down in San Jose... I wish I could be that spoiled every weekend!

Today was a lovely and crisp fall day here in Nor Cal, the sun was shining and all the animals joined me in the garden to pick a winner for the tea giveaway, I don't think I've ever introduced these guys to you. They are my babies... my little critters. Yes, I'm one of those people.

This is Lola, my girl dog. The youngest member of the family, she's 5 years old. She was watching a hummingbird with such intensity when I took this photo, I don't even think she noticed me. Usually she looks right at the camera and smiles! I'm not one to brag (ahem) but Lola is the most beautiful dog to ever walk the planet earth. Swear. I could blog all day - every day, about Lola, I luv her. Whatever Looola wants, Looola gets...

This is Butch, or Butchie-boy, or Sausage... he's a tubby little guy. He loves food, and he works those puppy eys like no other. He's very spoiled (they all are), and such a sweet, sensitive little soul. He loves his daddy, Sean is his very most bestest friend ever. He is about 8 years old now. I want to clone my dogs. They say you can now for about $50K... that sounds reasonable to me.

This is Chyna-cat Sunflower. She's faaaaat. So soft & so skeeshy. Like a furry bag of jello. She's the youngest kitteh. My mom gave her to Sean for his 30th birthday, she was a tiny white fluff ball back then. Inside of a gold gift bag with pink tissue paper, cutest thing you've ever seen in your life. As she's gotten older (she's 8 now) her colors continue to deepen, she reminds me of a bowl of melted Tin Roof Sundae ice cream. That probably doesn't make sense to anyone but me... I'm weird that way. She's a cuddle~bug, but only on her terms! She'll sit next to you, nay lean into you, and you may pet her and scratch her head, but don't, I repeat don't try and hold her. She gets very indignant about that. Sometimes I do it just to watch her have a hissyfit because it's so funny. Oh... was that out loud?

This here is Egypt. He's the old man of the bunch -14 years young, and more spry than all except Lola! I've had him since before I met Sean, that's a looong time. He's definitely the boss, and all the other animals know it. He still loves to play, and he loves to be carried around and kissed on. He's like one of those hard old guys that's really a teddy bear on the inside. Lately, his favorite thing to do is find a sunny spot and snooze... I wish I were a cat, that sounds good to me too.

There you have it, my fanimals. I love them too much for words... Really, it's a miracle I haven't brought them up to y'all before, they are my life. In fact that's why Sean and I work full time, to provide these four a cushy existance... it's true.

Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend! Eaaaaarly Tuesday morning, Sean and I, along with my mother-in-love, Kathleen, and our niece Ana are getting on a plane and flying from sunny California to St. Louis, Mo then driving down to Ft. Leonard Wood to see our other nieice, Alex (Ana's sister) graduate from boot camp of the United States Army, we're so proud of her. I miss her dearly, haven't seen her in 9 weeks! I'll make sure to take lots of pictures and share when I get back. This is my first trip any farther east than Texas, I'm excited to see St. Louis. We're going to visit Gateway Arch. Oooh, it's high... hope I don't chicken out!

This is Sean and I and Alex the day she left for the Army, I held it together until after she left, then I cried like a baby! I can't wait to see her!!

Have a great week everyone!

oxo~

Lisa

Fall Boutique

Wow, it's Sunday at nearly 10pm, and I'm finally just sitting down to write this post. Whew... hold on, I need to go fetch myself a cuppa.... Ok, now I'm ready! In case anyone is interested, tonight I'm drinking Eggnog Rooibos Tea. Deelish!

Last weekend I was asked to present and serve tea in Elk Grove, CA not too far from where I live in Lodi. This event was to showcase direct sellers such as myself (I do Let's Do Tea, check it out, it's wonderful!!), Pampered Chef, Salt City Candles, Cookie Lee etc. I served lots and lots of tea and met some wonderful people.

Something I find interesting as I do more tea parties, I've observed that people who love tea, really LOVE tea, and those who don't - can't be bothered. There don't seem to bee too many folks on the fence. People who love tea, dive right in, taste, sniff, ask lots of questions and really seem to enjoy themselves. Others simply say "I don't drink tea." and keep on walking. I can't imagine not liking tea. What's not to like? Maybe people who don't enjoy tea have never had a properly made cup? I admit that bad tea can be pretty bad, perhaps it was too bitter, or over steeped fannings (tea dust), or it had no taste because the water was never hot enough to steep the tea properly in the first place... But would that be enough to turn someone away from tea forever? I'm not sure... I'd love to hear your thoughts, has anyone else experienced this?

Anyway the party was great! We were all asked to bring something to put on the snack table for hungry shoppers, this was my contribution, Lemon Souffle Rooibos Tea Cake. Sooo good! I made the little sign to go along side the cake the morning of the party, I'm glad I did! I had several people ask me about the recipe who might not have otherwise popped by for a chat.

Here is a picture of my tables (I accidentally cropped it and didn't save the original sized image, d'oh!) The runners that I made last weekend worked well for me, I was able to quickly sort and search my teas for folks who were looking for something specific. I think I need a larger table though, my tins of tea always seemed in danger of falling overboard.

This was the small tasting station I'd set up on the hostess's gorgeous granite counter top so that people could sample the various teas I made through out the day. I should have waited until the tea finished steeping before I snapped the photo, that way there wouldn't be t-sacs hanging out the tops of the pots... but you get the idea :o)~

This was a fun event, I'm so glad that I did it and am really excited about the craft fair participating in this next Saturday, October 24th! It's at the Stockton Ballroom from 10am~5pm. If anyone happens to be in the area I'd love to see you there!

Time to turn in, tomorrow it's back to work!

Nighty-nite!

Lisa

Not-so-simple Samples...

I feel like I've been in purgatory... making tea samples. Oofa. This is tedious work girls.

But hey!! I'm happyyyyyy! I think I drank a bit too much tea while putting over a hundred of these little babies together! Zing! I'm wired for sound. It's after 11pm, I should be in bed... not gonna happen. Not for a while at least, I need to wear off the tea buzz first. Then again, if I try to go to bed now, I can probably stay up long enough to finally get caught up on Dancing With The Stars and The Biggest Loser. I'm at least 2 weeks behind on each of those. Yes... mind numbing TV, that sounds good right now. I'm typing really fast. Does it sound like I'm typing really fast? Cuz, I am. I'm a fast talker... can't help it.
Whoa, there's a tea mountain beginning to form.

Making a mess of my dining room.

Tea... lots and lots of wonderful, comforting, tasty, yummy tea!

Tea the likes of which you've never tasted (but you should, and I can help you with that)...

Whew! I'm done! Man, I will never take making samples for granted again. That was like a marathon.

I'm trying to get all of my preparations completed early for the Fall Boutique I'm doing on Saturday afternoon. I only have two more days! On the agenda for tomorrow, gift basket making! Then Thursday I need to pull everything together in one spot in the garage so that Saturday morning, I can take off bright & early. The boutique doesn't start until 11am, but I need a couple of hours to get everything set up "just so". I'm a bit of a perfectionist that way.

What's that you say, I skipped Friday? Oh no, Friday is definitely on the agenda, but it's a secret! I'm doing something special for my sweetie, it's a surprise! Eeeee, I hope he likes it! I'll let you all in on it this weekend.

Ok, I think I'll go run around the block or something.

Nighty~night!

Lisa