Labor Day Weekend

Wishing everyone a relaxing Labor Day weekend.  No picnics or family outings are planned for my family this year.  My hubby and I are spending a quiet, leisure long weekend at home.

I received an e-mail from a friend [who's a realtor] and it began by saying "Fall is coming - Are you ready for fall leaves, hoodies, pumpkins and s'mores?"  My mental response was an emphatic "NO"!  I love the l-o-n-g days of summer when it doesn't get dark until after 9:00 o'clock, I love the sunshine with no thoughts of snow and freezing temperatures, I love the flowers in bloom and grilling outdoors.  In short, I love summer and am hanging onto it as long as I can.

Labor Day weekend is the 'unofficial' end of summer even though it doesn't 'officially' end until September 22nd, but the stores have all had their fall and Halloween decor out for weeks.  Like it or not, fall is on its way.  Some of the leaves are already starting to turn colors, and the days are beginning to get shorter.

I popped into Dollar Tree yesterday and found these lovely fall dinner plates for $1 each. They had bowls and mugs to match, but I only got the dinner plate.  How could I go wrong!  Not only are they perfect for a fall tablescape, but great for gift giving filled with fall baked goods.  Have you seen them?   I'm mulling around some rust/bronze colored chargers at Christmas Tree Shop that would go perfect with them.

Two new pieces of tea-themed jewelry were recently added to my collection.  The brooch was a gift and the bracelet I purchased from an Etsy vendor.  The bracelet is silvertone, and since I love blue and white china, it's perfect for me.

I've been occupying myself the past few days making more Shutterfly albums.  I completed our recent trip for my son's upcoming birthday.  It's 67 pages and will be nice to have all the pictures together in book form.

I also completed my Junior High school album.  It's the smallest album I've done so far with only 31 pages, but my Senior High school album is going to be a biggie and will more than make up for the small Jr. High album.  I hope to finish it over the weekend while Shutterfly's promotion of unlimited free pages is still in effect.   The two album covers are screen shots from what I submitted to Shutterfly which is why they don't have crisp clarity.

When my son, Steve, came for lunch earlier this week he looked through my Birth - Five Years of Age album as well as the Grade School album.  He loved them and requested I have copies made for him so he won't have to be concerned about who gets them when I'm gone. ;-)

Hoffman Media is coming out with a new tea cookbook, and I pre-ordered my copy this morning.  It will ship on or before September 17th.  Teatime Birthdays is $24.95 plus $5.00 shipping.

I'm long past the days of 'Back to School' clothes shopping, but not 'Back to Work' clothes shopping.  My outfit is ready to go for Tuesday's orientation at The Whitney.  I bought the jacket while on vacation [in a Cracker Barrel restaurant], and ordered the Anne Klein top from Macy's.  Not sure yet if I'll wear it with black slacks or black skirt, but I'm raring to go. It'll seem good to get back to some form of normalcy, and making tea again.

I ordered a package of three dressy, washable 100% cotton black face masks with liners and am awaiting their arrival.  They have a 1-year, money back guarantee, so I hope I'm pleased. They look like they'll be easy to breathe through and won't fog up my glasses.

Signing off for today...  Thanks for visiting!