Spot of Tea

TGIF!!!

Yeah!!  Yipee!!  It is finally here.  It is FRIDAY!!  The nasty project at work is done and the last few engineering change packs are done for another project, which means ... my work week is OVER!!  Thank God it is Friday!  I am so relieved that I won't have to be working on all three shifts anymore (well, at least for a little while).

I'm finishing my scrappin' plans and will be heading to Memory Lane shortly.  I've got my page planners all packed, my circle journal info with photos in my paper box and I'm ready for some serious scrappin'.  I am hoping to get a few layouts done to add to my Book of Ten.  I am going to complete the last 2Ps Pubster circle journal and my Michigan Pubster circle journal so they will be ready to mail out on Monday.  Got lots to do but it will be so much fun.

I'm currently drinking Malibu Rum Flavored Tea Pina Colada.  Very tasty, just like a pina colada but hot. :)  I'm getting ready to put in a tea order with Upton Tea Imports and Harney & Sons Tea.  I've been cleaning out my tea stash and wanting to try some new teas.  A few nice flavored black teas, a good green tea, maybe a white tea, a great oolong, can't miss with pu-ehr-tau-cha and my absolute fav ... a lovely Keemun.  That is my purchasing plan at least.  Plus I'll probably throw in a few samples of teas that just sound to delicious to pass up.

Is it Friday Yet???

This week has been pretty rough at work so far.  It seems like I'm taking one step forward only to take 2-10 steps back.  I've been working on every shift each day this week and it is making me a tired and very frustrated girl.  It has been a good week for some work projects and a VERY flustering week for another project.  Hate being told something is done and ready for me to finish my portion only to find out that nothing has been done but it still has to be ready by Friday morning.  UGHHHHH!

On a much better, and non-work, related note ... I took the Alcohol Ink technique class at Memory Lane on Tuesday and loved it.  Can't wait to purchase some and play with it.  Have some ideas in mind that I'd like to try.  I'm also planning on cropping this Friday.  Hoping to get lots done.  Have circle journals to complete and a list of layouts I'd like to do.  I've made my planning list and started prepping for it already.  I love that Memory Lane lets you come early on crop days.  I only have to work 3 hours on Friday so I'll be cropping really early.

The weather has been a little chilly, love it.  I got out my favorite cozy sweaters and started wearing them this week.  Love the fall!  I've been drinking my tea too.  My pretty white with black trim teacup and matching teapot filled with hot, steamy, delicious tea.  And homemade scones.  Yum!  Will have to make a batch this afternoon once I get home from work.  Tea, scones, a cozy sweater, and cuddling on the couch.  Yep, it's fall.

It was a Dark & Stormy ...

day.  Really.  It has been dark, stormy, rainy, thundering & lightening since early this morning.  Seems normal for the first day of Autumn in Michigan.  I love fall.  The crisp air, golden sunlight, the glowing colors of the leaves, apples, pumpkins, raking, morning fog, cider, hot tea & toast in bed for breakfast, cozy sweaters with comfy jeans.  Yep, I'm ready for fall.

Another reason I love fall are the great photo opportunities.  Last year we took DD for her first Autumn walk and she had a ball running thru the crunky swirling leaves.  Can't wait to do it again this year.  I know the weather today is pretty miserable but I also know that it'll clear up soon.  Then we'll have that glorious golden sunlight that only shines in Autumn.  Perfect for photos of sweet little faces.

I really need to finish up some scrapping projects I've been working on.  A circle journal for a group of Michigan Pubsters at 2 Peas.  Also another set of circle journals for another set of Pubsters at 2 Peas.  And then I need to work on some layouts.  I haven't done any 'just layouts' in what seems like forever.  I have a new batch of great photos to work with too - DD eating her first ice cream cone, DD's first day of "pre" pre-school, DD playing dress up, two family weddings, and beach photos.  I'm just itching to work on them.  Especially since Memory Lane has some cool new paper that I'm drooling over too.  Just need the time to do all of this stuff.  And work.  And spend time with DD and DH.  Too bad "time turners" are nothing more than JKR's wonderful imagination.  I could use one right about now.

Determination

I've been thinking alot about determination lately.  How it takes determination to get things accomplished, how I sometimes lack determination, how I can find ways to keep up my determination, because some things require it long term.  I am determined to get my weight issues under control.  It is time and I am going to, as the commercials say, "just do it".  I even made the cutest little 'journal' for myself.  The idea is from Donna Downey's "Decorative Journals", an index card journal.  The cover is colorful and makes we want to look at it, use it.  Perfect for a journal.  On the first page I journaled about determination, why I need to do this and what my actual goals are.  I love having something little to tuck in my purse so it can go everywhere I do.  I also like having the goals and whys so close at hand, which has already helped me more than once resist temptation.

Next item of interest (at least to me) ...  My 2 1/2 year old DD just started her "pre" pre-school program, Exploring with 2's.  I'm so excited and sad at the same time.  How in the world did she get old enough to be going to any kind of schooling yet???  And I didn't get to be there since I'm working.  But DH says she loved it; the kids, the teacher, the toys, everything.  He also informed me that she was little miss social butterfly.  So very much like her daddy. :)

On another note ... I found some new teas at the local coffee and tea shop.  I'm not really a teabag person but the names of these were just so enticing I couldn't pass them up.  Numi Tea has really given their teas some cool names: Water Spirit Ginger Oolong Tea, Dry Desert Lime Herbal Teasan, Monkey King Jasmine Green Tea, Aged Earl Grey Italian Bergamont Black Tea, Temple of Heaven Gunpowder Green Tea.  I'm going to be trying them at snack time today.  Which one to choose????

And yet another item ...  I'm teaching my first class at Memory Lane this Saturday.  I'm looking forward to it and am a little nervous.  It is for an altered cigar box with a little album inside.  Way cool and it uses one of my favorite paper lines - Chatterbox.  Amy (the manager) was inspired by a sample at CHA for the design of the project and I can see why if the sample was anything like what she designed.

It's snack time so I need to pick my tea and get to brewing. :)

Bike Rides

The high cost of gas has brought on one very positive outcome for our family ... lovely long bike rides.  We've been riding to the little play park a few blocks away, the bigger play park about a mile away, and the really big play park a couple miles away.  Kate loves to play on the wood and plastic sets and be with other kids around her age.  These bike rides have been wonderful family outings and pretty good exercise too.  I've even been riding my bike to work most days.  This is a challenge because of the large drawbridge I have to go over, talk about an uphill battle.

Well, last night we rode all the way to my parents for dinner.  Round trip is about 14 miles.  Today my legs and shoulders ache.  So does my backside, even though I have one of those nice big cushy bike seats.  But the ride was gorgeous, maybe a little hot in temperature, but still a very nice way to travel.  We've traveled this route by car more times than I can count but it so different to experience it by bike.  The different smells, sights, sounds and distance when not in a car was eye opening.  We will definately be traveling more by bike.  Maybe this weekend we'll go all the way out to the State Park and not only enjoy the destination but also the journey.

Time for a Cuppa

Heard some good news today.  One of the ladies I met through an online tea group finally managed to let the group know that she is okay.  She and her family made it through Hurricane Katrina safely, house okay and even though no phone or electric they do have water.  Thank God!!

I am ready to have a cup of tea, in celebration and thanksgiving.  And since it is 'tea time' I am going to take a small break and enjoy my cup of Harney & Sons Tea, either Chocolate or Winter White Earl Grey.

Life Continues

This past week has been one surging mass of emotions for me, like the entire country.  My heart breaks and aches for those dealing with the devastation left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.  I know I am not alone in feeling helpless and wanting to do more than just donate money.  My prayers and thoughts are constantly with these people and their families.  Another part of me is so grateful and humbled by the amazing outpouring of generosity for the victims of Katrina.  I have seen a banding together of virtual strangers (people only known to one another via Internet communities) pull together to help the friends of a friend's friend.  I cry when I see the photos and footage of people waiting in dispair for recuse.  I cry when I am able to donate some items that a family who lost everything has desperate need of.  I cry when I thank God for the many blessing he has given me and that I am able to enjoy while so many others have lost so much. 

And yet, while there is great sorrow and heartache, there is still joy to be found.  My sweet newborn niece is one of those joys.  Mother and child are healthy, home and doing well.  I am thrilled to be an aunt again and can't wait to begin spoiling this little one.  Our family had the chance to visit SIL, DB & new DN in the hospital.  My DD was awed by her tiny new cousin and has talked about the visit ever since.  She can't wait to see her cousin again soon and asks "when her play me?"  And there is yet more joy for my heart - my sassy, silly, sweet, energetic, loving, cuddly, cranky, independant, clingy, wonderful 2 1/2 year old little girl.  I just can't think of anything sweeter, more joyful or awesome than having DD throw her arms around my neck and start singing "I Love You!"  Or my DH suddenly rushing over to us and wrapping his arms around both of us and singing along with her.

Life is too precious, too fragile, not to thank God for the simple things: family, friends, love and joy in the everyday.