Another First Tea Party

This is Emma, she's 7 weeks old and this weekend Gwen and I got to attend her first tea party, as is tradition among our group of girlfriends. We brought our tea cups, sipped tea and noshed on delicious brunch alongside a sleeping, adorable Emma. 

Thanks to darling Emma we got a sneak peak of how Gwyneth might be with her sibling come July. All was fun and cute until I was holding her. Gwyneth got a slight tinge of jealousy shown by crawling into my lap, shoving the baby out of the way. Can't wait for July! But don't worry, Emma's too cute to let that bother her and carried on being all squishy and newborn. 

Kristie and Tiffany you were missed. Emma and Tessa, we miss you already.

How to Make a Cute Tea Shelf

It's not secret I'm a crazy fan of tea. I have all of mine stashed on a shelf in my cabinets, but this seems like such a practical and charming way to display your tea collection and cute cups.

diy wednesdays: tea shelf | Design*Sponge.

Mother's Day Tea Party

{Disclosure: I was provided with the madeleine cookies by Donsuemor Madeleine Cookies and the tea by Davidson's Organic Teas (who are totally local and off of Wells, btw) in exchange for blogging about this tea party.}

On Friday I threw a Mother's Day Tea Party/ play date for the moms club I belong to. It turned out to be a small crowd, which was perfect. The kids played while we got to chat with each other and enjoy some cookies, cake and cucumber sandwiches.

The party was in the afternoon (right after nap time, thank you very much) and it was beautiful outside so I decided to go for iced tea instead of the traditional hot. I've done this before at past parties and discovered that small tea cups are annoying when drinking iced tea because you drink more when it's iced. Not to mention that tea cups are tiny.

Enter the handy mason jars.

I keep using them at parties and have run into a problem; everyone eventually gets confused on which cup is theirs, since they all look identical. I'm sure there's probably some cute and clever solution out there that I'm unaware of, but I'm going to plan on sharpies next time.

The wraps around the cups? They're those popular water bottle label printables you see everywhere. Coordinating water bottle labels seems excessive to me and I always ignore them when using the printable party packs. Then I saw them wrapped around mason jars here and couldn't wait to try them out. They were my favorite part of the party.

I've been a fan of Davidson's Organic Teas for awhile. and they did not disappoint. My girlfriend's entire tea cabinet is stocked full of their teas which we get to enjoy at her tea parties. My favorite is the Cherry with Almond. It's best served hot with a smidge of cream and a sugar cube.

I used to work at Starbucks, where they sell Donsuemor's madeleine cookies and let me just say I ate a fair share of them. These things are delectable and I'm not even saying that just because I got them for free. My favorite are the chocolate dipped but, I mean, really, can you go wrong with any of them? Chocolate, lemon zest and traditional? Come to mama. I've seen them at Costco so next time you want to jazz up any get-together I'd recommend picking some up.

We apparently can not have these in our home as we discovered that Gwyneth is a wild maniac with them. Like crying and throwing fits after she tried one. She may have eaten five yesterday.

I kept my fingers crossed that the lilacs would stay in bloom for the party. And they did just that. Shhh, don't  tell my neighbor I stole them from his bush. 

The kids enjoyed their tea party as well. By the end of the party I  had "strawberry, rainbow and sprinkle"  tea.

I thought I was being all clever by putting out sippy cups of water for all the kids. Don't do this!!! Gwen immediately thought they were all hers and drank out of each one. Then the children at the party decided they were theirs and there was a lot of sippy cup sharing. Lord save us if any of those kids were sick. Lesson learned.

PB& J for the kids, cucumber for all.

I love Mother's Day, well for the obvious reasons, but mainly because it's the perfect excuse to throw a tea party. They are my absolute favorite type of party because it's simple and cheap. Just cut the crusts off a sandwich and cut it into triangles and you've got yourself party food. And who doesn't like tea?

[Free Mother's Day Printables from Amanda's Parties To Go]

Tea Pot from a Watermelon

 

Anyone else aware of the National Watermelon Promotion Board and the crazy stuff they've made out of watermelons? A tea pots's pretty awesome, I have to say.

National Watermelon Promotion Board | Tea Pot.

Enjoying the View {Week 3}

Leftovers from tea party in my 27th birthday's honor. {Thank you girls!}

Enjoying the View {Week 3}

Leftovers from tea party in my 27th birthday's honor. {Thank you girls!}

Insta-Friday

This week's insta-Friday at Life Rearranged came with a challenge: Take a photo of something that you really like. Naturally I made it the theme for the week.

 A Few of My Favorite Things. 

 Roses from my rose bush in a hurricane glass

Two Weeks Notice. It's on my list of crappy chick flicks that I can watch over and over again. 

My "tea" plate. It's a dish for oil for bread dipping. But it fits perfectly atop my cup of tea to keep it hot while it seeps. And then it acts as the perfect tea bag holder when it's done seeping. I use it daily and think of an old friend from Australia each time I use it.

Ok, these aren't a favorite thing, but they were were an integral part of my week. They were supposed to be chocolate chip cookies. I have no clue what I forgot. I'm thinking flour.

My Roomba. This baby terrifies the baby cleans up the floors when I don't want to have the time.

Summer thunder clouds. Note, I didn't say storm. Every afternoon this week the clouds roll into town, make some thunder noises and roll on out with a tip of their hat. Sure would be nice to have some moisture around these parts.  

 Bunnies & Babies

Can you find the baby?

Have a great weekend! We have a family get together this Saturday (and a birthday) you have anything exciting going on?

Insta-Friday

This week's insta-Friday at Life Rearranged came with a challenge: Take a photo of something that you really like. Naturally I made it the theme for the week.

 A Few of My Favorite Things. 

 Roses from my rose bush in a hurricane glass

Two Weeks Notice. It's on my list of crappy chick flicks that I can watch over and over again. 

My "tea" plate. It's a dish for oil for bread dipping. But it fits perfectly atop my cup of tea to keep it hot while it seeps. And then it acts as the perfect tea bag holder when it's done seeping. I use it daily and think of an old friend from Australia each time I use it.

Ok, these aren't a favorite thing, but they were were an integral part of my week. They were supposed to be chocolate chip cookies. I have no clue what I forgot. I'm thinking flour.

My Roomba. This baby terrifies the baby cleans up the floors when I don't want to have the time.

Summer thunder clouds. Note, I didn't say storm. Every afternoon this week the clouds roll into town, make some thunder noises and roll on out with a tip of their hat. Sure would be nice to have some moisture around these parts.  

 Bunnies & Babies

Can you find the baby?

Have a great weekend! We have a family get together this Saturday (and a birthday) you have anything exciting going on?

Waking Up's So Hard to Do

An old picture dredged up from the bowels of my dying computer

This morning I rolled over in bed and decided I was getting up. You see, I typically roll over in bed and fight whatever made me roll over in the first place. The baby, an alarm, my giant painful boobs. But not this morning. And what would you know? I've found a little "me" time hidden in the early hours of the morning while Sir Sunderland and the baby sleep in. And what does that "me" time look like?
dishes
sweeping of the floors
laundry
eating my breakfast with both hands
finally, a cup of tea and a visit to the ol' blog

Nowadays we are constantly switching between who has the baby and who doesn't, and when you aren't on baby duty you're either at the store grocery shopping or running around the house trying to do laundry and dishes so that you'll have something to wear and eat off of the next day. I guess you can consider the endless hours I sit in front of the tv, sleeping baby in my arms, watching Mad Men to be some "me" time too, but it's hard to feel rejuvenated after being held hostage on your own couch by an adorable sleeping, sick baby who you don't want to wake. Even though I will admit the show did inspire me to get dressed up and have dinner on the table for Sir Sunderland when he got home from work....
So, as I sip my tea and do some internet surfing I am going to remember that waking up early sometimes isn't the worst thing in the world...

Waking Up's So Hard to Do

An old picture dredged up from the bowels of my dying computer

This morning I rolled over in bed and decided I was getting up. You see, I typically roll over in bed and fight whatever made me roll over in the first place. The baby, an alarm, my giant painful boobs. But not this morning. And what would you know? I've found a little "me" time hidden in the early hours of the morning while Sir Sunderland and the baby sleep in. And what does that "me" time look like?
dishes
sweeping of the floors
laundry
eating my breakfast with both hands
finally, a cup of tea and a visit to the ol' blog

Nowadays we are constantly switching between who has the baby and who doesn't, and when you aren't on baby duty you're either at the store grocery shopping or running around the house trying to do laundry and dishes so that you'll have something to wear and eat off of the next day. I guess you can consider the endless hours I sit in front of the tv, sleeping baby in my arms, watching Mad Men to be some "me" time too, but it's hard to feel rejuvenated after being held hostage on your own couch by an adorable sleeping, sick baby who you don't want to wake. Even though I will admit the show did inspire me to get dressed up and have dinner on the table for Sir Sunderland when he got home from work....
So, as I sip my tea and do some internet surfing I am going to remember that waking up early sometimes isn't the worst thing in the world...

Decaf My Own Tea?

If you're anything like me, you enjoy a nice cup of warm tea on a chilly winter's night. Awww, shucks, there's caffeine in tea and all the "herbal infusions" that are caffeine-free taste, well, nasty. What's a girl to do? Decaffeinate it!
First things first: get the best tea known to man kind (optional)
Steep your tea for 30-45 seconds. When 30-45 seconds is up, throw it out. Refill your cup with the same tea bag and enjoy your decaf tea!The caffeine content of tea is released within the first 30-45 seconds, so no need to worry about being amped up from that deliciously relaxing cup of tea you just had after dinner.

Decaf My Own Tea?

If you're anything like me, you enjoy a nice cup of warm tea on a chilly winter's night. Awww, shucks, there's caffeine in tea and all the "herbal infusions" that are caffeine-free taste, well, nasty. What's a girl to do? Decaffeinate it!
First things first: get the best tea known to man kind (optional)
Steep your tea for 30-45 seconds. When 30-45 seconds is up, throw it out. Refill your cup with the same tea bag and enjoy your decaf tea!The caffeine content of tea is released within the first 30-45 seconds, so no need to worry about being amped up from that deliciously relaxing cup of tea you just had after dinner.