Dear Blog~
I know I've been neglecting you these last few weeks, I've just been so busy you see. The living breathing world takes so much time and energy that sometimes at the end of the day the tank is empty and there's no power left in my little filanges to punch out a blog... even a pipsqueak blog. But, with great relief it's my pleasure to confirm that, at least for me, absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder. I've missed you blog. I'll do better. I promise. I love you blog.
Hi Bloggie Peeps!
I've missed YOU most! I've met through the blogesphere, "e" and "snail" mail some of the most lovely people since I've begun this blogging adventure. Tea lovers, crafters, artists and and down right, good ol fashion great folks. You've been ever so kind and encouraging, and I just want to thank you for all your comments. As I looked back through what I've written I was a little startled to realize that I've written 25 blogs already! Wow. I always knew I was a bit of a chatterbox, I confess I do have a tendency to ramble, but I didn't know I had that much to say, and to be honest I feel like I'm just getting started. Heehee, what fun! So in honor of my 26th blog (a scouche late, just like me) I have a little giveaway that I'd like to present to you all.
This here is a tin of one of my favorite Rooibos Teas from Let's Do Tea. It's called Blueberry Bang! It's tea-rrific and oh-so refreshing. Delicious both hot AND iced, and caffine free, so it's great little treat during your late night blogging sessions. Oh, is that just me?
I'm also including a cute little bookmark and a few other little goodies that are sure to make any tea lover smile! You'll love this tea, everyone does. All you need to do to enter is leave me a comment on this post (which is a doosie, I admit, and apologize in advance). If you post a link on your own blog, I'll throw your name in the hat twice! Easy peasy! I'll end the drawing at Midnight (Pacific Time) Friday, November 13th 2009. Post, post away!
Now for some catching up! Whew, can you all believe that it's already the end of the first week of November?? Holy moley! Where have the last 2 months gone, seriously, it's a blur. Since my last post of Oct. 18th a lot has happened. I served tea at another craft fair, my husband and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary, our neice turned 5 years old, we snuck away on a mini vacation where as always, we squished a lot into a small amount of time, my sweet, sweet baby brother turned 33 years old, and my beautiful sister-in-love has a birthday just this next week, shoe! I'm beat, but dang, these are great things to be so busy with! Get some tea and a comfy chair folks, this is gonna be a long post!
Where to begin? Hmmm, let's go by date, shall we? On October 20th my wonderful husband and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. I love him more every year, but gosh it doesn't seem like that long. It seems like just last weekend I was teaching my best friends how to fold napkins for the tables at our reception... very fond memories. I think this is the most singular reason for my love of autumn. The colors, the weather, the birds making their way south in the skies over the harvested wine vineyards that surround my town... it all reminds me of that day. We were married in a beautiful backyard out in the country that was surrounded on all sides by grapes. Wait, I'm getting mushy... hoooonk. S'cuse me, I hadda blow my nose. Thank you Lord for sending him to me :o)
This is Sean and I on our big day, and a picture of the prettiest wedding cake ever, in my lil ole opinion.
So, this might be a little weird... you tell me. I've kept the top layer of our wedding cake all these years. I know, I know... you're only supposed to keep it one year but back then I thought, well, two is better than one, so what the heck. I just wrapped it up and stuck it back in the freezer... and left it there... for 8 years. We've moved three times. I just keep packing to the next house. I think we took it out if the freezy on our 1st and 5th anniversaries and now our 8th. I think our baker did a great job, when we unwrapped the cake it had a tiny bit of frost, naturally, but once that was removed, the cake smelled great! It was soft and spongy and looked like it was made yesterday, swear! Even the frosting didn't look that bad. See...
Ok, well maybe it did look a little smooshed... but it smelled nice. I was being all firm and practical-like, and said this was the year it was going to go. Eight years is long enough, it's going in the trash! Then I chickened out and wrapped it up and put it back in the freezer... It's happy there. I'm happy it's there too, weird or not.
The next event was our nieces 5th birthday, she's a cupcake. Thinks she's a princess...seriously.
Here she is in her Belle Birthday Ballgown.
Ooh, a new tea set! I wonder who that's from??
A new princess outfit. Mulan this time. I think this completes her collection. She has every princess outfit Disney makes, no joke. But isn't she a doll?
Next up was a craft fair I did in Stockton on Oct. 24th... here's a few snapshot of my booth. This was a fun event, but I think I'm going to focus more on home parties. More fun, more time to chit chat, and as I've said before, I am not a sales person, and I almost felt like I was hawking something instead of just sharing tea...
Next up was a trip that my darling husband planned all on his own, whata guy! On Oct. 30th we left for the bay area, he had arranged a room in our favorite hotel, the De Anza in San Jose, and bought tickets to a San Jose Sharks game, go Sharks! This is what was awating us when we arrived in our room... Chocolate truffles and champagne!! Weeee!
Look, he even bought me a new jersey to wear, #20 Nabokov!!
What he didn't tell me until the night before we left was that he'd also booked a second night at the hotel and some time for me in a spa!! His anniversary gift to me. Awww! So on Halloween afternoon, we were driven to the Plum Spa where I was pampered with a hydrotherapy session, an hour massage and where Sean and I both got pedicures!! Heehee! He's never done that before, it was his first time. I think he liked it A LOT. Later that night back at the hotel we was remarking on how shiny his toenails were.
Here are a few shots from the Plum Spa website.
So, as if this wasn't fun enough (and you're thinking, seriously, there's more? --Yes, there is.) Sean took me to tea!! Yipee! I've wanted to have tea at Lisa's Tea Treasures since the first time I visited and I could only browse because we were so pinched for time. It was all I could hope for and more. The food was fantastic and the service was excellent! There were even two young ladies having tea that afternoon dressed as Alice and The Queen of Hearts. It was Halloween after all, and let me tell you. San Jose-ians really get into the spirit! People were dressed up all over town, it was great!
Here I am experiencing tea bliss...
See those bikers behind me? Yes, bikers- real ones... in a fancy tea shop... with doilies.
Variety is the spice of life!
Mmmm... The scones were AMAZING! (yes, I was shouting just then)
Sean is such a good sport... he didn't take tea, but he was very patient and spent some time reading the latest letter from our niece, Alex who's at Army Basic Training in Missouri.
His patience was rewarded with a new Mazarati.
Not!
This car was on display in Santana Row, where the tea house is located. Neato!
So after tea and a couple of leisurely hours perusing the shops in Santana Row, we popped into Rosie McCannes for some live music, a quick beer and some deceptivley strong garlic fries (which were the only thing that haunted us on Halloween, oofa!) before our last stop for the evening...
A Halloween Flashlight Tour of the Winchester Mystery House!
So fun! Gosh that place is huge, and easy to get turned around in... you think you know approx where you are during certain points of the tour, then you step out onto a balcony and look out over the vast roof lines and realize that not only were you not where you thought you were, but you also have no idea where you are currently. It's weird. Not scary though - bummer. I wanted to be scared, but I wasn't. Oh well... it was a really neat experience being there at night. They had the garden open for self guided tours as well, so we roamed around and checked out the grounds at our own pace. They had people giving out Trick or Treats randomly through out the garden, it was great. They only do night tours a few nights a year, Halloween and every Friday the 13th. If you ever have the oppurtunity to do it, I recommend it.
We had ambitions of hitting the town for some Halloween fun after our tour of the mystery house, but we were throughly pooped. They say on the house tour alone, you walk over a mile inside the house. I believe it too. So instead, we ajourned to our room and retired for the evening. This was the first time in my adult life that I wasn't at home on Halloween handing out candy. This was decidedly better. Plus, I didn't wake up on November 1st to find my pumpkin smashed all over the street infront of my house like I have the last two years, bonus!
So, this my friends is why I've been away from my blog so long... I've been a busy girl. There's been crafting going on in every spare moment too, but I can't share that stuff yet... it's super secret Christmas (gasp! it's almost here!) stuff.
I will share my A-Tea-C swap cards soon though... As soon as my partner, Miss Donna gets her package! Those were a kick! Tomorrow I'm off again to the mountains to visit my bother and his family for some belated (his) and early (his wife's) birthday celebrations! The fun never ends around here!
Ok, folks... sorry this was so very long. I had good intentions of keeping this post as short as I could... but you know what they say about good intentions.
Love to all,
oxo
~Lisa
**Don't forget, post a comment to win some fantastic tea from me!**
Hmm, let's see... Star Wars toys in the car, a Star Wars Mug at Christmas, and Star Wars sheets on his bunk at camp... See the obsession growing here? Sean had everything, and I do mean everything Star Wars related when he was a boy, he's not much different as an adult :o)Hahaha... it's ok, I have too many obsessions of my own to count, and he tolerates, and sometimes encourages each and every one of them.
These guys are creepy and I like it!! Sean tells me that they are 
I'm not much of an aficionado of Star Wars myself, I've seen all the movies (numerous times) but they don't seem to stick... I can't remember the details. Science fiction involving space fighting isn't really my thing, but there's one that I do like... I dig me some 
Whoa, there's a tea mountain beginning to form.
Making a mess of my dining room.
Isn't it beautiful? This is the view that I woke up to on Sunday morning. It had snowed/slushed the night before while we were outside celebrating Mom's birthday with a bon fire, this is what the next morning left behind. This is the view from the kitchen, looking... east? My brother lives on a mountain crest with a valley on three sides, it gets confusing... I think this is east. Yes, east. The sun rises in their kitchen and sets in the living room (that's how I remember things, bizarre, I know). They have a deck that wraps around the east, south & west sides of the house, it's gorgeous I tell you. Gorgeous.
See like this? Going left to right, there are:
I only used 1/2 a yard of fabric for each, I was militant about the measuring & pinning. Each runner is exactly 16" wide and 40" long. I used an iron-on fuseable interfacing too, so that the runners are a little more stiff. I sewed a button at the triangular point of each runner, then hung a small tassel over each button. This way I can throw these runners in the washer & dryer without damaging the pretty tassel.
As soon as I saw the dress I envisioned exactly what I wanted her mask to look like. I could see it finished in my minds eye, but could I pull it off? Ana trusted me completely and gave me total creative freedom, which I have to say is pretty amazing for a 16 (at the time) year old girl. Off to JoAnn's to gather my supplies! 
I hot glued the "wand" into place, then finished the inside of the mask with soft, black, peel-n-stick felt so that it would look finished, and more importantly, so as not to scratch up a pretty face!
Viola! This is the finished mask, bellissimo! But you don't get the full effect until you see it in the hands of a beautiful girl. So without further adieu... meet Ana. 
Anyway my bloggie buddy,