Tuesday Tea Time!

Hello Tuesday! AND it's Tea Time!

I don't know about you, Tuesdays seem to be one of the busiest days of my weeks. It's not quite the middle of the week, but in reality it is & of course because of that it is when people schedule meetings.

NERD ALERT! I really like meetings. Ok, so maybe it depends on the topic of the meeting, but I really like conversation & community & often that is what comes with meetings. Though, at the same time, meetings can be very stressful. Part of the stress for me is adapting to new things & while I am not new to children, youth, & family ministry, my current main position is still new & all of the work I do is very new to those I work with & for.

Mer, mer!

Check out this Spice & Tea Exchange at Downtown Disney! A couple of weeks ago when we were in the much warmer - though cold for the natives - climate of Florida, we had dinner at an Earl of Sandwich & like a piece of fate, it was attached to this wonderful store filled with tea! This is where I purchased my most recent loose leaf tea - Rose Mint Tea - & since then have been able to enjoy not only it's flavor, but it's beauty. It's that nice mix of earth & fantasy & reality.

Fantasy?

Ok, well it's just got nice color. I love pops of color! In fact, with my new eye glasses I thought they had more blue in them because I tried them on, ordered them, & went home - to go on this trip to FL that led me to this tea! - & of course didn't take any photos. While I really like my new specs & their nice tortoise shell look with a background of blue, I do kind of think they'd be more fun with some blue enhancing color into the brown tortoise shell design.

Here's to another random, busy, color burst sorta Tuesday Tea Time!

Tuesday Tea Time!

What a lovely photo! Credit given to Austea for sharing their products in clever ways.

Tuesday Tea Time & I'm wishing I had some of this loose leaf tea. Maybe not this loose leaf tea, but loose leaf tea in general.

I'm exploring where/who to buy loose leaf tea from & the benefits of loose leaf tea versus bagged tea.

I bought myself a small sample of loose leaf tea while on vacation the other week & while I find it just as refreshing as most bagged teas, it is quite messy.

I'm really good at making a mess & not very good with the mess.

I even dried my tea leaves out over night so that I could use them a second time. While I'm not sure I would make a constant habit of this, it was simply refreshing the next day. Often I will reuse my tea bags for a second go, but I never dry it out again. Does anybody know the importance of drying the tea leaves out in between uses?

May this #heartfind encourage the continued exploration & love of Tuesday Tea Time!

Tuesday Tea Time!

Photo courtesy of The Kristen Project

This morning is gray & wet & I'm enjoying a cup of hot loose leaf tea (using my wooden tea strainer from my bro). No, I do not look all dawled up like the ladies in the picture. After I write this I plan to to embrace my push for Life,Spirit, & Sparkle with a workout.

We have started the move to get rid of things by donation or consuming (food) because we know our annual move will be coming soon. It's exciting & anxiety causing. 

How do you clean out your pantry?

It seems to me there is no consistant way to clean out the food you don't want to move. Sure you can donate some of it, but generally you can't eat all of it (First World Problem!). To use it all, you need to inevitably buy more groceries to make the meals you want.

And this doesn't even touch the books that have accumulated after another 4 year degree! Then there's clothes & kitchen accessories. Have I mentioned that my kitchen is maybe 12 feet long & 2.5 feet wide? It bleeds into our living room or sitting area & to be creative we have a "kitchen" table between the 2.5 feet of tile that is the kitchen floor & the carpet that is the living room.

This is what my tea conjured up because I sit on my couch & look at my apartment & know that it will not be my apartment in a month. Gotta love transition!

Here's to a non-anxiety inducing Tuesday Tea Time!

Tuesday Tea Time

photo courtesy of Eco-Artware 3/11/13

This is a tea strainer in a tea cup with some loose leave tea in it. You might be thinking "duh Julia!" Prior to the holiday season of 2012 I had never seen one like this. Then much to my surprise I received one very similar to this as a gift from my brother EWP.

My little confession, I haven't used it yet. My loose leaf that would work very nice with this strainer is more of a spring or summer-time tea. I have some older loose leaf tea from Hong Kong that I mentioned a few weeks ago. However, when not mixed with other tea bags & heavily watered down it is very strongly caffeinated tea. If you read my Tuesday Tea Time last week, you'll know that caffeine is not my friend. In fact the tea that I believe would work nicely in this strainer is also caffeinated. 

Can I get a womp, womp?!

I write all this to say that I've been straining through fun activities like hot water strains through loose leaf tea. There's such an urgency to be with one another as a graduating class and I love get togethers. I'm a social butterfly. However, I have my limits & while I am 75% extroverted, there is that other 25% that needs a little peace, quiet, & me time.

What should I be straining out of my day-to-day life?

Maybe the straining is more like a refining fire... quick who can tell me that scripture reference!

A little Tuesday Tea Time for your thoughts

Tuesday Tea Time

It's Tuesday Tea Time!

I've noticed since starting this part of my blog, I have been drinking a LOT more tea. It's great b/c I have several teas that I've had for quite some time. In fact, I'm a little embarrassed to admit I have some loose leaf leftover from my time in Hong Kong in 2009.

My wondering today is why do we have edible or useful things and then hold on to them as a precious gem, knowing that they will eventually go bad?

Just the other day I made some tea on the stove to turn into iced tea. I did what I often do when boiling water for tea, I forgot about it. I was trying to update my blog for Sunday Snippits & then Mom P called & then I had to hang up from her suddenly to answer another phone call of a friend who wanted to walk to our staff meeting together.

Lesson: Multi-tasking DOESN'T work well.

I won't say that multi-tasking doesn't work, but we definitely aren't able to give our full selves into multiple things at the same time.

Maybe this is why we buy multiple things (I even ask for tea for gifts most holidays) that we know will eventually spoil, but hold onto them like precious gems. This is definitely a first-world problem.

To close, I haven't tasted the tea I made on Sunday, but it turned a funny color. Almost as if there is lemonade mixed in to make an Arnold Palmer. Anybody else ever over-boil  or over-steep their tea & have it turn a funny color?