This Easter Day. . .

I love vintage cards, so hard to choose just one!
(And especially the daffodils!)

Happy Easter!

From our Peep nest to yours!

Friday Flowers

Thursday Tea Time

This week - Zhena's Gypsy Tea - Raspberry Earl


Cost:  $5.99 at HEB and Kroger
Number of teabags:  22
Caffeine:  Yes
Type of tea:   Black
Steeping time:  5 minutes
Add ins:  Natural Bliss Sweet Cream, and Vanilla flavors
Tea fragrance:   Ciao, Earl!  Piacere di conoscerti, Raspberry!
Ingredients:  Nilgiri Black tea, freeze-dried raspberries, essential oil of Italian Bergamot, natural raspberry flavor.
Opinion:  Restored my faith and favor with Zhena's once again.  This is a great combination!  Love it warm with a splash of either the Natural Bliss's, and tastes great iced with just a touch of sugar.
Rating:  4
Update:  Change this rating to a 5, I have been drinking this like crazy iced with a little bit of honey.  GREAT!! I need to go buy another one!

Pretty color!

Wednesday Work in Progress

Egads!  A little Spring Cleaning is needed here on Friday!
Sewing studios abhor a vacuum, but it's not the floor which needs help.  So much for clearing off the tables in the other rooms.
I've got some cute Easter projects I'd like to get done (start!).

“'There is no blue without yellow and without orange.”

~Vincent van Gogh

Upcoming Jo-Ann's Sales

Sew & Save - March 24/30

$1 Talon SureLock cone thread

Pre-Easter Sale - March 28/30

5 for $5 Simplicity

April 4/6

5 for $5 Butterick

April 11/13

5 for $5 McCalls

(Next circular probably the Vogues. . . )

It's all how you look at it. . .

Friday Flowers - Birthday Edition

A beautiful surprise from my beautiful daughter!

Thursday Tea Time - Different name, same game

This week - Tazo Apricot Vanilla Creme

Cost:  $4.99 on sale at Whole Foods
Number of teabags:  20
Caffeine:  Yes
Type of tea:   White
Steeping time:  3 minutes
Add ins:  Natural Bliss Vanilla
Tea fragrance:   Apricot
Ingredients:  White tea, natural flavors

(you can see my poinsettia from 2011
reblooming in the background to the right)

Opinion:   I had actually reviewed this a little over 3 years ago - March 18  At the time, I gave it 5 stars.  I don't know what happened this time, this revamp.  Change the word order, change the box design - it just doesn't do it for me anymore.  You still can't taste the vanilla, but you can still the apricot.  Hot or iced.  Hot plain or with the Natural Bliss Vanilla.  Iced plain or with a little bit of sugar.   Kudos to Tazo though for their caffeine guide, down to the mg range.  And to their copywriter - "New white tea buds in the splendor of youth swing from the branch of an apricot tree, giggling delicately in the sweet-fruited air.  Tahitian vanilla dances and twirls in creamy intoxication."  OK then. Wordsmithing and graphic design aside, not impressed otherwise with the flavor/taste.  It definitely needs to be revamped and oomped up, too.
Rating:  1

To spot with sunshine the early green. . .

And then my heart with pleasure fills,
and dances with the daffodils

William Wordsworth

_______

(Title quote from William Cullen Bryant, An Invitation to the Country)

Lady in Red

Pretty "Lady in Red"
Red Salvia

Kind of a nod to the new trend of shooting spiky
 flowers from the top - Cool, huh?  I saw it done with Bluebonnets and Indian Paintnbrush

Salvia Coccinea, also called Scarlet Sage.
I love to plant salvias and have had good luck with them.  And lucky me, Another Place in Time has a great selection, and is always introducing new and unique ones.
Not only do Salvias do well in Houston gumbo soil, but they tolerate the drought and heat -- and best of all, reseed without any interference from me!  
These popped up a week ago.   I'm pretty sure they are/were the "Lady in Red' I bought last year.
Hello Spring!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Perfect Timing!

My purple shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day!

Oxalis Triangularis

I am so loving my new iPhone!

Thursday Tea Time - Drinking 'O the Green (cup)!

This week, Twinings Green Tea - K-Cup


Cost:  $6.99 at Kroger
Number of teabags:  Cups:  12
Caffeine:  No
Type of tea:   Green
Steeping time:  20 seconds
Add ins:  CBTL Fat-Free Vanilla Powder, honey, Natural Bliss Sweet Cream
Tea fragrance:   Floral, green
Ingredients:  Green tea
Opinion:   With all the green teas I have, why would I buy a K-cup version?  Because I have a Keurig, too!  I love to put that machine through its paces, and I also wanted to do a comparison.  Actually, I wanted to make a green tea latte which didn't cool off too much before I had the chance to drink it..  This little cuppa did the trick and saved a little time, minutes actually, but my latte was actually at a good, hot drinking temperature.  And the right mixing temperature to easily dissolve the vanilla powder.  Soon enough I will look forward to making it iced, also.   I now stash a few of these cups in my Keurig drawer to save even more time looking for the box.  I only dinged my rating by a bit because it is a little pricier than the teabag, but I like the convenience and time saved and a chance to play with my kitchen appliances.   Celestial Seasonings has a Green Tea K-cup, too,  but it costs $1 more and is green tea and white tea.  Not straight green tea like Twinings.  I should also check Bed, Bath and Beyond to see if they also carry it...With their coupons, you might be able to save a little more money.
Rating:  4.5

Happy Pi Day!

Love is just around the corner. . .

At the corner of 16th Street and Avenue L in Galveston, Texas

New Vera Bradley Prints for Summer -- and Screensavers!

The new prints will debut March 21, 2013!

Click for screensaver download link - "Lilli Bell"

Click for screensaver download link - "Marina Paisley"

 Click for screensaver download link - "Sun Valley"

Click for screensaver download link - "Tutti Fruitti"

Peep Toes

Here, there, everywhere. . .

If there ever comes a day when we can't be together, 

keep me in your heart, I'll stay there forever...

Garden Update - Good morning, Sunshine!

Leafing out, reaching out -- all the leaves were facing in the same direction (away from me, towards the morning sun)

I literally stepped into the tree and turned to take this picture!

Carolina Jessamine - Sunshine on a stem!

Upcoming Jo-Ann's Pattern Sales

March 10/23
40% off Gutermann thread (does not include multipacks)
40% off Olfa supplies
40% off Root candles (Root?  They carry Root candles now?!  Woot!) -- But wait until March 14/17. . .

March 14/17 - Take Time to Create Sale
30% off Duck Brand Duct Tape (did you see last night's Project Runway creations?  Loved the winner!)
60% off all candles, including Root!

March 10/16 Sew and Save Sale
50% off all buttons

I do not see any patterns on sale!!

Thursday Tea Time

This week -- Harney & Sons Chocolate Mint and Green Tea with Thai Flavors teas



















Cost:  $5.99 at Target
Number of teabags:  20
Caffeine:  Yes, No
Type of tea:   Black, Green
Steeping time:  5, 3 minutes
Add ins:  Natural Bliss Sweet Cream...and new Natural Bliss Low-Fat Chocolate (1g fat, 20 calories, 3g carb!) which I also found at Target the other day.
Tea fragrance:   Chocolate Mint - Nice balance of chocolate and peppermint.  Green Tea with Thai Flavors - Coconut and lemongrass
Ingredients:  Chocolate Mint - Black tea, peppermint leaves, natural and artificial chocolate and vanilla flavors.  Green Tea with Thai Flavors - Green tea, lemongrass, shredded coconut, natural coconut, vanilla and ginger flavors.
Opinion:
Love the tins!
Loved the Green Tea with Thai Flavors, which a betting person would not have thought so.  It was a tea-colada!  But why not shorten the name to Thai Green Tea?  You can really taste the coconut, too.

Not so much love - the Chocolate Mint.  Despite bonus points for being a black tea instead of so-overdone Rooibos,  alas, it smelled better (really great in fact) than it tasted, even with the extra ooomp of the new Low Fat Natural Bliss in Chocolate.
(Now I'm not a real coffee drinker, I will admit to only drinking it if sounds weird and has a bunch of stuff thrown in.  But this was a fun and tasty combo I put  together.  The Donut House Chocolate Glazed Donut and the Chocolate Natural Bliss.  It really did taste like a Krispy Kreme Chocolate Glaze, minus all the carbs.  I bet though you could have fun using Promised Land Midnight Chocolate 2% Milk (swigging and adding to tea and coffee).  Jus' sayin'. )
Rating:  Chocolate Mint - 2.75 if you doctor it up, Green Tea with Thai Flavors - 4.5

Proverbs 4:18

Good morning!

"The path of the just and righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines more and more until the perfect day"

March Angels

LOVE these angels!

I used to have the March angel with the "aquamarine" birthstone.  Somehow along the way and the years, she either broke or got lost.  I keep looking for another, for I have my own March angel (and I'm one, too!)

(Thank you, MK, for the picture! xo)

Follow your heart

Morning Dew (Berry)

Rubus trivialis

Dewberry flowers.
Hope springs eternal for hubby's dreams of dewberry pie and cobbler.  Or jelly/jam.
We are lucky to get one.  As in one berry, if that.  The birds outnumber us.

Serenade to Spring

I also love the song, "Serenade to Spring" by Secret Garden.

Just buzzing along. . .!

Pretty please, with cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top?!

Dirty Chai Tea Latte from Mod Coffeehouse in Galveston, Texas