tea

December 16 Tea of the year.

I come from a long line of tea drinkers.  We aren’t too precious about brands but there’s nothing like a good cup of tea.

My husband makes wonderful tea, I don’t know how he does it, I can never do it as well as he does.  His Dad is the same, it must be in the genes.

I’ve never been one for too much herbal tea, I don’t mind a cup now and then but generally I have to have ‘real’ black tea to get the ahhh feeling. I am a fan of  Twinings Traditional Afternoon tea, I’d probably say it was my favourite tea.

But for the tea of the year I would have to say it was a blend that my father-in-law created.  He’d taken some English Breakfast and Earl Gray up to the farm for his morning and afternoon cuppas then discovered that he didn’t really like Earl Gray that much.  His solution, not liking waste, was to mix equal quantities of both into the pot.  Mmmm, delicious!  (I don’t like Earl Gray either).

fabulous packaging

December 15 Best packaging

Easily my birthday present from my sister.  We both love beautiful, decadent soaps, incense, candles made with essential oils, gorgeous earthy potpourri… you get the drift.  Inevitably we end up giving each other something like this for our birthdays.

This year she gave me – two tiny white candle holders in the shape of flowers with purple frangipanni scented candles in them; a bar of turkish delight soap (mmmm, divine); some chunky spicy potpourri.

It was packaged in a yellow box with gold butterflies over it – open the box to reveal rumpled yellow tissue paper with the gifts nestled inside and potpourri strewn over the top. (It’s a grand trick to package up the present at least a week before giving it – the scent goes through everything and the entire thing smells gorgeous!).  The box was tied with a stunning gold open weave ribbon.

The whole box was a riot of  smells, sweet and spicy all at once.  It was fantastic and special.

I love amazing packaging.

rush

December 14 Rush.

Hmmm, a rush… what has given me a rush this year… anything?

Oh I know!  I got a huge buzz when friends of mine asked me to marry them! That was an awesome feeling. The wedding is in January and I know I’m going to be high on it