Look Who Came to Dinner!

Late Sunday afternoon my youngest son, Jeremy, called and wanted to know if I'd be working yesterday, because he had a meeting at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel [in downtown Detroit] and could come by The Whitney when his meeting was finished.

Yes, I was working yesterday and I'd be delighted to have him visit.  When Afternoon Tea was finished I clocked out and waited for his arrival.  It was his first time to visit The Whitney and see the mansion.  I waited for him on the front porch of my home away from home!

After the three-story tour of the mansion, I treated him to dinner.  Appetizer was Calamari, then Crab Bisque, and Jeremy's entree was Beef Wellington.  Mine was Seafood Sauté: Shrimp, Diver Scallops, and Maine Lobster on toasted Orzo.

It was so nice having one-on-one time with Jeremy.  Now I need to get my daughter, Lori, to The Whitney, then all three children will have seen where their mama works. 

I like the night view of Woodward Avenue as seen through the Drawing Room window in the picture below.

A Belated Christmas Present

Today's post is about a belated Christmas present I bought myself!  Do you ever buy yourself a present?

During Christmas 2017 I was wondering what I could possibly buy a friend who has everything! As I was looking through a Simpson & Vail tea catalog I saw a teapot with a beautiful red cardinal on it and decided to order that for her.  Upon arrival it was so pretty I wished I would have bought one for myself.  When my daughter asked for a gift suggestion that I'd like for Christmas the teapot immediately came to mind, and I ended up with a cardinal teapot too.  There were no teacups, plates or other serving pieces available.

Fast-forward to January 2nd, 2019: While blog reading, Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage posted a picture of a beautiful teacup with a cardinal on it that she received for a Christmas present from her son.  She said it was made by Lefton China and her son found it in an antique store in Michigan.  Ebay immediately flashed through my mind, and a Lefton China cardinal search began.  Beautiful pieces came up in the search, and I succumbed to some teacups and dessert plates.  The sugar and creamer are forthcoming [Ebay searches can be costly!].  The vintage dishes are from 1984.

Cardinals were extremely popular at Christmas this year, and the placemats pictured above came from Kohl's.  Obtaining cardinal napkin rings and coordinating napkins will have to wait until next Christmas when they become available again.

I rarely purchase from Ebay anymore because most of the time shipping is as much [if not more] than the price of the item.  Since dishware is heavy, shipping is always costly. When the lady in Texas calculated the 12 lb. shipping fee I initially declined, but after giving it more thought I decided to purchase them.

The Ebay seller even enclosed a sweet handmade notecard with my order saying she hoped I enjoyed many cups of good tea with the set.  I'm sure I will.

Book Giveaway Winner

The winner of the book giveaway is Victorian Girl.  Congratulations!  I will get them mailed off to you.  Thanks to all who participated.

Queen Elizabeth II Bobblehead

Now that I'm working I miss a lot of things on Facebook, but I happened to see a post in a group I belong to [Afternoon Tea Across America] on Monday, January 7th, from one of the members stating it was National Bobblehead Day.  She posted a photo of her favorite bobblehead - Queen Elizabeth II. 

Prior to January 7th, I've never owned a bobblehead.  I've seen a lot of cute ones but have never been tempted to buy one.  This one of Queen Elizabeth II with her Corgi, however, was the exception.  It's so cute and realistic that I Googled to see if I could find one.  I found it at Amazon and Ebay, but the most reasonably priced one was at Fun.com.

Since I've done a few presentations about the Queen's life, I had to buy it.  It was reasonably priced at $17.99 [plus shipping].  The postman delivered it this morning before I went to work.

There she stands on my bookshelf amidst some of the books in my collection written about her.  I smile everytime I see it.

The box even had a little bit of history about the Queen printed on it. [Click on picture to enlarge for reading.]

Do you own any bobbleheads?  Did you know a National Bobblehead Day existed?  Live and Learn!  Lifting my teacup in tribute to the Queen!  Long may she live!  Hopefully she'll be blessed with continued good health and exceed her mother's age.  The Queen Mum died five months short of her 102nd birthday.  Queen Elizabeth II will be 93 on her April 21st birthday.

A Book Giveaway

I am drawn to tea books like a magnet.  I love them!  Recently I organized one of my bookcases that holds most of my tea books and found I had duplicates, so I'm sharing my excess with you.

If you would like to win these two books, please leave a comment and I'll draw a winner and announce it on Saturday.

On another subject... the postman delivered the cutest card from my girlfriend.  It's a vintage picture of ladies having tea together on the veranda.  I had to share it.

Last Saturday, January 5th, my hubby and I were still celebrating the holidays with his brother and sister-in-law.  We've established a tradition of going to Red Lobster for dinner together every year near the Christmas holidays.  

Brian got a new phone that proposes to take excellent pictures that will make you look good.  I told him to return it for false advertising - at least regarding me!  ;-)

[Brian & Linda, Jerry & Me]

Are you still celebrating?  Are your decorations still up?  My hubby took the outside lights down yesterday, and the nativity set is packed away for another year, but the Christmas tree and mantel houses are still up waiting for me.  It won't happen today because I'm off to work in a few minutes, but soon.

2019 Pantone Color of the Year

I'm always fascinated by the color Pantone selects as their color of the year.  This year's color is 'Living Coral' [#16-1546].

For fun I did an online search for coral teacups and found several pretty ones.  Unfortunately I don't have any teacups that color in my collection.

[Wedgwood teacup available at Bed, Bath and Beyond]

[The coral teacup above is at Etsy along with several other lovely ones.]  

The Jan./Feb. 2019 cover of Tea Time magazine gives a nod to the color coral for tea time.

Do you have any coral teawares?

January National Hot Tea Month

Above is the commercial graphic promoting January as Hot Tea Month, but I took my own photos.

Back in 2013 I posted: "If your New Year's resolution pertains to health, then you'll be happy to know that tea combined with proper diet and exercise can be an effective way to improve your health".  That's still true in 2019!  

I've been drinking green tea exclusively for a few months now and Green Pomegranate is my 'go to' tea.  What's in your cup this January?

Saturday, January 12th is National Hot Tea Day and April 21st is National Tea Day [fixed anyway you like - hot or cold].  National Tea Day is celebrated in the United States and England, but I'm glad tea's not restricted to any specific day.  It's great 365 days of the year!