Ladies Tea 2010

Teatime, for me, is so relaxing and refreshing. I love getting dressed up and driving somewhere to an actual tea parlor. I have always been a tea-drinker and so finding myself drinking tea with cream and eating tea sandwiches is no surprise. When I was first voted in as Ladies Director this year, I handed out a sheet asking for suggestions for fun activities and things my ladies would like to see or do this year. Several asked for a ladies tea. As it so happens, my aunt Kim collects teapots, teacups, and anything related to tea! She also knows most of the recipes for the sandwiches, savories, scones, and desserts. I knew there was no way I could plan a ladies tea by myself so I ran to her and she became the official caterer with my mom and I as her helpers with all the cooking, decorating, and waitressing. It was A LOT of work, but the end result was satisfactory. Of course, going to an actual tea parlor is still better, but we learned a lot and I think with time and more tea parties, we will be just as good! :)

Now normally, tea can be very formal, but as this was a first tea party for many of my ladies, they could dress as they pleased. Several had asked me about wearing hats, so I came up with the idea of creating a hat to wear. As you will see below, some of the hats were wild!

I was aware some of our ladies didn't like tea, but were still coming for the experience, so we served water and punch as additional drinks for them!

Aunt Kim and I feverishly putting the last touches together.

We sat down for tea, too, as soon as everybody was served.

For some reason, nobody chose the very first table up front (which I thought was one of the prettiest), so we sat there with my pastor's wife.

My pastor's wife, Heather...not only is she sweet, caring, and accomplished, she is beautiful, too!

The red table...disregard the date (pic taken by one of my ladies)

Sue and Shawnna

Yes, even though it was a Ladies Tea, the little girls were invited. It is my opinion you can never begin too early with giving your children fun experiences that also teach them about manners and plus, what little girl doesn't enjoy being with the ladies and being treated as a young lady?? Little Faith was adorable in her hat and so very sweet...here she is posing with her grandmother.

Kirsten (in the middle)...she is a joy to be around and you never lack for entertainment when you are with her....

KJ in her hat she created especially for our tea and her sidekicks, Sammi and Michelle

Yes, by no means a "traditional" tea, but I am finding it doesn't matter if everything is just so-so...all that matters is the unconditional friendships you have, the fellowship you enjoy with your sistas, fun memories, and the love you carry in your heart. All the rest is just the cream and sugar in the tea!

Have a great Monday!

Chocolate, kittens, and old tyme stories

Saturday, my hubby and I decided to run away to the local chocolate festival. I should have stayed home and cleaned my house, but chocolate versus messy house ~ oh yeah, i chose the chocolate. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with the festival. The words "chocolate festival" brings to mind chocolate everywhere, chocolate bon-bons, chocolate truffles, chocolate candy of every kind imaginable, and chocolate ice cream. Sadly, what I found instead was row after row of craft booths, old cars, a row of food that your mouth would love to chew, but your body would hate afterward, and oh yeah, ONE row of chocolate! I looked at my hubby and said, "This is it??!" So, I stood in this long line and ended up with a small tiny bag of chocolate carmels, rocky road for Mamo, three peanut butter cups, and "turtles." I could have gotten homemade fudge, but since I got sick from fudge as a child, I cannot stand the stuff. Needless to say, I won't be going back next year, but hey, there is always a first time for everything!

My hubby found his dream car ~

I found mine ~

I did end up eating a chocolate-dipped fruit kabob consisting of strawberries and bananas and yes, it was pretty good!

The rest of the day was better. We went out to my grandparents because, of course, I had to take her the rocky road. Their place is out of town, complete with horses, chickens, the family garden, and most recently, Miss Kitty's month old kittens. Miss Kitty was actually their neighbor's kitten and when they moved, the people just left her, so she is Mamo and Poppy's adopted outside cat. :) As you know, living in the country, it is a very good thing to have a cat to handle the gophers and field mice. Every day I have talked to Mamo, I have asked her if Miss Kitty brought her babies out of hiding. We have all been waiting anxiously to see them as these are her first babies! We were finally rewarded this weekend! Miss Kitty has done a great job at being mommy and she was completely fine with us holding her babies, which I was delighted to do! Mamo and I sat out underneath the trees and watched them play with each other and ended up being able to hold all of them.

This is Midnight, the runt of the litter and the most adventurous!

The orange tabby is the only female out of four kittens...

Awwww....

Such a little poser ~ just like a girl!

Midnight investigating the big, bad world

Mamo with her hands full...

Such a cute little face...

After dinner, we sat around and Mamo and Poppy ended up talking about days of olde and the different stunts of my great-great grandfather and uncles. Mamo talked about being raised on a farm in Oklahoma and walking behind her dad, who was plowing with a horse, planting corn. She told us of the two floods that wiped out their entire corn crops two years running and the decision to move to California. There was silence at the table as we thought about that and the heartbreak to lose crops and money. I didn't know my great-grandma did without an "icebox" and Mamo as a small child routinely ran down to the spring where they stored their milk, eggs, and butter that my great-grandma had churned herself. As Mamo talked about her mom molding butter in a dish with a rose on it so that the butter came out looking like a rose and then going into a town to sell it and getting top dollar for her butter because the merchants knew her butter was top quality, I felt like I was seeing a glimpse into a real-life Hallmark movie. :) I laughed until I had tears in my eyes about my great-great uncles digging a well so far down they decided to blast the rest with dynamite and one was still in the well while the other two threaded a line into a corn cob and threw it down there telling him to hurry and get out of there, it was going to blow, the poor guy yelling his lungs out until he realized it was just corn...then, they had to keep him down there until he promised not to kill them when he got out of the well! I was quite sure Mamo was "pulling my leg" when she told me my great-great grandma chewed tobacco ~ what a shock to realize she wasn't.

My one regret is that I didn't have a video camera to record them talking about family I will never know and recounting their experiences for us as children. It is good for the soul to sit and listen to stories that make you grateful for modern progress. My hubby and I would look at each other and shake our heads at times at the tales told. Lying in bed Saturday night, thinking about my family tree, I thanked God once again for keeping my Mamo here and that I could once again sit at her table with my hubby and be grateful for this precious time.

Hug your family, tell them you love them, and have a great week!

Introducing me...

For the last two months, I have been dreaming off and on that I am writing a book about this girl whose name I won't mention...at first, I thought it was just one of those fluke dreams, but after the third dream, I decided maybe my subconscious was telling me something...to write a book? Well, that has always been a dream of mine and one, according to my high school and college English teachers is definitely attainable with my imagination, but at this point in my life, I think not. However, this writing idea still persisted and that set me thinking about writing a blog. Now, for a long time, I thought an actual blog was not for me. I am an unwilling career woman who juggles marriage, family, and church activities...and some of the cutest blogs I have read involves women who show off their adorable offspring and since my adorable offspring is still "playing with the angels," what I would write about? I could just see myself sitting at my laptop typing, "Today was a waste of perfectly good makeup" or "Put on my Shape-ups and conquered the elliptical beast once again" or better yet, "The redheaded witch of the west was riding her broom today." See what I mean? Not too exciting and depending on your view, maybe a little distressing. :) Yet, here I am!

This year, I was appointed Ladies Director at my church, a role which I never saw myself in and one at times is a tad bit scary like at my first meeting when I realized the way I arranged the tables meant that all eyes could see me at all times and wow, that center of attention idea is WAY overrated! That moment was a sink or swim and so I thought, "Well, you are in it already, might as well see how good you can swim."

Reading "Tom and Fred's Surprise"

Two months later, I am still swimming and have decided to blog my adventures in Ladies Ministries, but first a little bit about me.

I will never see my 20s again and sometimes, I have an odd suspicion that I was really supposed to be born in the 1940s at a time when America was still the place for the American Dream, prayer in school was routine, and we were still a proud nation under God unashamedly flying our flag, praying for our boys overseas, and rooting for our home team. I undoubtedly would have been a Red Cross nurse had I been born in that generation. :)

I think my parents are some of the best out there,

adore my grandparents especially Mamo who I am proud to share my middle name with, and I am one-half of a dynamite marriage. I love watching "I Love Lucy" re-runs, sweet tea is my drink of choice, and I prefer reading books over watching TV. One of my childhood nicknames was Pippi Longstocking. My favorite flowers of choice are calla lily and stargazer lily - I can never choose one over the other as my absolute favorite. Paris, France and Italy are my dream vacation locations. I am slightly annoyed over having a hint of Southern accent; I think an English accent is much more interesting. I could sit for hours putting together a puzzle. I am a deep thinker who at times tends to maybe "overthink" too much. I prefer Lenox over Waterford china. I have a cat named Roadie, even though I am a dog person. Disneyland is still my happy place. I absolutely love watermelon Now-N-Laters! I never buy them because they would disappear in a day. I love the rush of big cities, but as I get older, small towns where you can buy a house with that white picket fence is becoming more and more favorable in my eyes. My dream camera is the digital Rebel! I want to learn to play the harp. My favorite milkshake is chocolate peanut butter with a banana. I love thunderstorms.

I count adoptive parents among my heros. I think red hair should absolutely be America's #1 hair color of choice. I am a little bit too realistic to be a dreamer at heart. I am thankful for my job in this economy, but my dream is to be a volunteer, support people who are without, hurting, and are in need. Loyalty is one of my best attributes. Worrying is one of my worst. I am a believer of God and I read the Bible. I support my church and my pastors. I think my pastor is one of the best preachers I have ever heard in my life...I have a 10 minute attention span with preachers and sermons and my pastor has NEVER failed to capture my attention and hold it. He is my personal favorite. I have my faults and failures, but I am good at picking myself up and trying again. Employers have said I never make the same mistake twice. One of my greatest annoyances in life is people think I am mad when I am serious - my word, I am just thinking! My one disappointment is I am really 5 feet 1.5 inches short...really...the high heels are just to disguise that fact. I am still trying to figure out why God didn't let me be born with the ability to tan...I haven't the accepted the fact that I will be scary white my whole life and have to fake a tan if I want. :) (Are you laughing yet?)


There is much more...but that is all for now...I will be posting about our Ladies Spring Tea when I get some more pics from my ladies. :)

Have a happy Friday! :)