Just getting started

A few months ago I was out shopping (retail therapy), when I came across a variety box of tea. A variety box of chai tea. Naturally, I bought it. Today I am having a cinnamon chai, with cinnamon pieces.

Pumpkin Spice Chai

That day I went out shopping with my daughter, I was pleased to find a Pumpkin Spice Chai. I'm not one to jump on that pumpkin spice bandwagon that so many do, but I do like it in a tea. And a chai, even better!

For a second when I pulled out this mug, I had to make sure it wasn't a duplicate from yesterday. It's not. Whew!

Cooler weather

We are getting a cold front this week, so temps are expected to drop some. I am going to take advantage of this by getting back out to the park to walk. I can't wait!

I'm starting my day off with a yummy vanilla ginger green tea chai.

New mug

I spent the night recently with my daughter so I could accompany her to a doctor appointment. Like the fantastic daughter she is, she made me a cup of hot tea the next morning. After her appointment, we went shopping. Naturally, I bought a tea mug.

Today I sip a lovely vanilla white tea chai.

It's chai-ing time again

Probably only older readers will read the title and hear the song in their heads. Or get the sad joke...

Anyway, fall is here! And that means I am so in the mood for chai! And dang if I haven't realized I have several varieties. You'll get to meet them all over the next few days.

Today's cup of wonderful is a green tea chai.

Btw, I once did a puzzle someone gave me that featured this fella laying on a bed of M&Ms. Took me several days to complete, only to find one piece was missing. Yeah...

Relaxing

It's Friday. What better to do than relax. A nice herbal lemon tea, put my feet up, and read. Yeah, I'm a party animal.

Fall is here!

Happy dances! My favorite season of the year! I am celebrating my drinking a rooibos tea with vanilla and spices. But I'm not howling at the moon. That was earlier this week...;)

C'mon fall!

I know fall officially starts tomorrow, but where I live, it'll be another month before we even start to feel it even a little. I complain about the heat, but I don't mind it really all that much. I have a good ac and I love iced tea, so I'm usually pretty good. I just mind not being able to go for walks in the park because it's so danged hot!

Which, of course, makes perfect sense I still drink hot tea, right?

This mug is one of my oldest and one of my favorites. It has a history. I bought my first one at our local renfest one year. Later, during an out of state move, it tumbled out of the moving truck we were driving and onto a concrete curb and shattered. Heartbroken, we bought another one at the next renfest just like it. My toddler bumped against the rack that held all of my mugs and only one came smashing to the floor. Guess which one. So, third time's a charm. I kind of guard it like someone obsessed, which I guess I am.

I am drinking another herbal fruit tea.

Broken toes and tea

One summer, a few years ago, I had the misfortune to repeatedly manage to break my toes. I very nearly bought steel toed boots to clomp and stomp around in, I got so tired of my clumsiness. I vowed I would be more careful in the future, and I have! Until the other night.

Late night. Dark stairs. Lounging cat. You put the pieces together. No, I didn't step on the cat. But his sudden movement startled me and I lost my balance in my attempt to avoid stepping on him, and...well, I managed not to fall down the stairs. But did manage to do something funky, and now I'm limping around like an old woman. It might be just a sprain this time, since there is no bruising. I'm hoping.

So today I am giving myself some love in a mug and drinking an herbal tea from my daughter. The writing is in French, so I can't read it all, but have figured out it has hibiscus, apples, rosehips, elderflower, raspberry flavoring, orange peel and orange flavoring. Oh, and see the little heart shaped spoon?

Talk Like a Pirate Day

Since today is Talk Like a Pirate Day, and Hallowe'en is coming!,  this mug seems perfect.

The tea is an herbal caramel peach - kind of another perfect choice: summery, yet fally.

Gardening, revisited

Years ago, my daughter chose as her Gold Award for Girl Scouts a gardening project. She taught container gardening to a group of 4H students. As a thank you, she received the cutest mug; it looked like a clay pot. I wanted one! Fast forward to 2016, and I just happened to find one. My daughter's is labeled, appropriately, since it was a thank you. But mine is plain, just like I wanted.

Today I sip a lemon ginger herbal tea.

Belief

I'm not big on belief, to be honest. Hope and change, maybe, but not belief. At least not in any spiritual sense. Today, though, I am choosing to believe, as I sip my herbal tea with wild berries.

Routines

I've never been one big on routines. Oh, I try them on for size every now and then, but they never really stick with me. Too much of a rebel, I guess. But lately I've been doing something with a semblance of routine, and I'm very much enjoying it.

Every morning when I get up, I make myself a cup of herbal tea, and I cross stitch. It's quiet, it's peaceful, and it's enjoyable. Today my herbal tea has lavender flowers, boysenberries, and much more. It's a good way to start my day.

Family

I've been helping my dad a lot lately. He's quite a character. Total old school, and by old school, I mean thinks men should do things like home repair, car repair, etc. and women should not. So, it is still a surprise to me that he loves a cuppa hot tea. It makes him one of my favorite tea drinking buddies. He is partial to fruit teas, especially peach.

Today is was a white tea with mango and peach.

Book hunts

My favorite used book store had a sale this weekend. Hubby, knowing his wife, offered to take me to a couple. A couple is actually less than what I have managed in a day's or week's time. I'm not even kidding. I've planned vacations around their locations.

So, hubs and I jauntily set off. I did find a couple of books in a series I am reading, but the second store was a bust. You have no idea how unusual it is for me to walk out of a bookstore empty handed. But I will content myself with the two I did find, since they have previously eluded me.

I came home and sewed. Okay, more like repaired. A quilt and a throw both needed some stitching, so I sat and did them while I watched tv. And drank tea. A white with blueberry and pomegranate, to be precise.

Gardening

Fall is coming, and gardening is far from most people's minds. But not mine. I haven't had much opportunity to get my hands in dirt in a long while, and lately it has been much on my mind. I may have to spend some time making plans for the spring, and maybe do more than just cutting things back.

I'll sip my white tea with pomegranate and give it some more thought.

Winnie the Pooh

I grew up with Winnie the Pooh cartoons, and I miss them. Such a sweet, simple life. I have a small collection of things Pooh, beginning from a little Pooh bank I got for Christmas the year I was five. I happen upon the occasional Pooh picture frame when I'm out treasure hunting. And this mug is one of my favorites, too.

It's not an English tea, but it's still lovely. A black tea with Irish cream flavoring.

Salted caramel

I have an addiction. Besides tea. And tea mugs. And tea...you understand. Anyway, it's salted caramel. It's pretty serious. My hubby bought me some salted caramel fudge. I have to ration it, otherwise, I could easily eat the entire piece in one sitting. I'd regret it instantly, what with all that sugar. But I wouldn't really. It would be worth it. But then it wouldn't, because it would be gone. You see my dilemma.

So, I'll sip a nice white tea with jasmine and think about tea. And not about that beautiful piece of fudge in my refrigerator.

Still going!

I'm, frankly, a little shocked by how many tea mugs I possess. Delighted, but shocked. I finally organized them in such a way to allow me to post only those I haven't already highlighted. Then place a DO NOT TOUCH sign so my family members won't use them and mess up my new, but temporary, system. Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts!

I'll have a white tea with lavender, please.

Patchouli

While on vacation last weekend, I finally got the chance to visit the Yankee Candle outlet store. I've been wanting to forever, since I learned of its existence. Hubby, who normally sits outside the store while I shop in the mall, actually came in with me and even browsed! He bought some air fresheners, but I got several votives of patchouli. It's my favorite scent! And, well, it also reminds me of Hallowe'en.

I'm sipping here smelling my divinely scented candles and sipping a green tea with passionfruit. My mug is one of my older mugs, but still very much a favorite. It's Degas' Woman in her Bath, Sponging her Leg. Taking long hot baths is another of my favorite things.