I smiled when I saw Google's Doodle this morning reminding everyone that today is the Lunar New Year. It's the year of the Rabbit.  If that's your Chinese Zodiac sign, you are talented and affectionate, yet shy.  You work well with people and and do well in business,  You're most compatible with the ram, pig and dog, and least compatible with the rat and the rooster.  [My Chinese Zodiac sign is the pig.] I celebrated the occasion a day early.  When I was driving home from work yesterday afternoon I was thinking about the Chinese New Year, so decided to place a take ..read more

Today I took a break from my Whitney presentation research and drove 35 miles to have lunch with four gals I graduated from high school with.  The restaurant's been there for many years and I had heard about it, but had never eaten there until today - Rhapsody Hungarian Restaurant.  I don't recall ever eating Hungarian cuisine before, but I enjoy trying ethnic cuisine.   There were Hungarian wall murals and vignettes inside the restaurant. The gals recommended their Chicken Paprikash, so that's what I ordered and it didn't disappoint.  Those little dumplings [I ..read more

I shared this on my church women's ministry Facebook page this morning and decided to share it on my blog as well. "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that." ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. [Internet Photo ..read more

Today has been designated as National Hot Tea Day.  Everyday is hot tea day at my house so it's not difficult to celebrate the day. I steeped a cup of Harney & Sons Organic Green w/Citrus & Ginkgo first thing this morning. [For the most part I only drink green tea.]  What's in your cup today? We removed a few more Christmas decorations today.  What goes up must come down... eventually!  Hubby took down the outside lights right after New Year's Day as well as the Nativity set in the living room.  But the Christmas tree and lighted tea houses in the family room ..read more

August Day trip to Frankenmuth September Autumn and Apples Tea at The Whitney First Orchard Ridge Ladies Tea in New Building October Tea in TN [The tea we planned in July] November Visit to Yates Cider Mill Jerry's 76th Birthday December Christmas Tea at Gordon Hall, Dexter, MI Christmas Tea at Edsel & Eleanor Ford House Church Cookie Swap Whitney Christmas Tea - Reading A Cup of Christmas Tea 2022 Christmas Card Christmas Eve Cardinal Tablescape Hope you enjoyed reviewing 2022 with me. Wishing you God's blessings in 2023 as we begin a ..read more

Most of my Christmas decorations are still up [and will be for a little while longer], but in the stores [except for clearance areas] Christmas has come and gone and it's all about Valentine's Day now.   Before the new year progresses much farther, I decided to put together my 2022 review and get it posted.  I only wrote 102 posts in 2022 [the smallest number of posts since I began blogging in 2012], and many of them were tablescapes and teas, so here we go... January An estate sale in Imlay City at the historic Palmer House resulted in the purchase of several pieces of Cri ..read more

January is designated as National Hot Tea Month.  I Googled images for this post, and my own image from 2019 was amongst the images displayed!   Did you have a nice New Year's Day?  Hubby and I stayed in and relaxed while watching movies. I'm not from the South, nor am I superstituous but I fixed blackeyed peas and cornbread for dinner.  First time I've ever made them from scratch [dry peas/beans] and they turned out so tasty, and very healthy.  I opted to leave the collard greens off the menu though. Do you eat blackeye peas on New Year's Day? [Internet Graphi ..read more

This is the first time I've written [or typed] 2023!  May the New Year bring you many blessings! A member of a department store Facebook group I follow posted a picture of her mother and grandmother's Christmas jewelry she inherited [photo below].  It was a fairly large and beautiful collection of jewelry from Christmases past - mostly Christmas trees.  It reminded me of Angela McRae [who loves all vintage Christmas things] at Tea With Friends blog.  Do stores even sell Christmas jewelry anymore? The post prompted me to photograph my small Christmas jewelry collection ..read more

I went to church this morning [worship service was today instead of tomorrow], and the children played their bells.  So adorable and a great way to ring out the old year and ring in the new!  Afterwards we went to Olive Garden for lunch - thank you Brandon, for the Christmas Gift Card. We're home now and relaxing.  No plans for going out to celebrate.  We'll watch the crystal ball drop in Times Square on TV. I went through all my 2022 posts in preparation for writing 'The Year in Review' post.  It was a good year with much to be thankful for. The rest of my day will ..read more

Since I was gifted with several cardinal items for Christmas this year, I decided to put together a tablescape using all the dishware I've accumulated so far.  If you've followed my blog very long, you know I have a fondness for dishes, but I try to be reasonable and only purchase [or put on my 'wish list'] what I know I'll use.  I especially like themed tablescapes. The dishes in this tablescape are gifts from two other Christmases in addition to this year - the Tartan Plaid dinner plates are from Williams-Sonoma Christmas 2017 as well as the cardinal teapot [from Simpson & Vail ..read more