Birthday Part II And Other Things

So here are a few more pictures from my birthday as well as other things that happened around that same time. Why do I always seem to be so behind on sharing the pictures I want to share?

Balloons:

Mal was not a fan of having them tied to him (ignore all the shoes lying around please).

Birthday presents I bought myself:

I have been wanting a black tea cup for forever and this one was really inexpensive at Chantilly!

The tea book on the left was from my parents. The one on the right was from me.

Yummy things:

These honey pearls are also from work. They are delicious and pretty for tea.

A bird who wanted to come inside:

This might not be as funny to everyone else, but when I flip through all these pictures in a row in my viewer (I don't know how to make it do that on here) it is so silly! Mal is such a cutey.

Well that is just a bit more, but I am still behind. Hopefully I will get another post in before this weekend when I will be gone. I am going to a Jimmy Buffett concert in Vegas! Whoo!

Valentines And A Giveaway!

Helllooooo!! I feel as if I haven't posted in forever! I have been busy and sick, but now I am back.

I know Valentine's Day was quite a few days ago now, but I would still like to share! But first, a giveaway, hooray!

So I work at a tea room that has delicious food,

and adorable gifts, and of course, tea! I love working there and I would like to share some of that tea shop love with you in a giveaway. So here is the deal, just go to this link Chantilly Teas and then leave me a comment on this post with which teas you think sound yummy! Also, any comments about what sort of things you like (flowers, silver, gold, crystal, colors, etc.) and any accessories you might be needing (strainers, tea cups, doilies, stationary, etc.) will help too! You see, if you win I will be hand choosing some items from the shop for you, so the more detailed you are the more likely you will love the things I choose. If you are lazy and don't want to go to the link or state your specific likes, that is okay too (believe me, I am lazy a lot) just leave me any old comment and you will still be entered. Also, you do not have to be a follower, but if you are just let me know and you will get a second entry!

I will be leaving this open for a few weeks to hopefully get as many people as possible to enter. So tell your neighbors and tell your friends!

Now, on to all my Valentine's Day shenanigans. Mister B and I don't really do gifts or anything, we just have one Valentine's tradition that we love. We get all dressed up and go out to eat at pizza hut! We love pizza so we would much rather go there than some fancy restaurant, but getting dressed up and eating there still makes it fun.

Other than that I usually get myself presents, yay!

Like Valentine's tea (heart scone from Chantilly).

Candy and flowers to decorate my table.

Trader Joe's goodies. (I love the label on the wine, and those cookies are seriously the best tea cookie EVER.)

I also made some heart pastries! The recipe is from Tea Time magazine. Mine don't look quite as pretty as the picture, but they still tasted good.

Oh and the Mister and I got another pizza as well (on an earlier night) because it was shaped like a heart!

I hope you all had lovely V-days as well! Don't forget to enter the giveaway and I will see you again soon.

love, Alia

ps. You may have noticed the countdown at the top of the page. The 22nd is National Margarita Day, so don't forget to celebrate. I know I will be!

Birthday Balloons And Baking

Yesterday was special because it was Friday the 13th, and Mister B's birthday! We spent the day doing all the things he wanted to do.
Bacon for breakfast.

Playing with the furries.

 Pizza for lunch.

Driving all over Tucson to go to various places he likes.

Balloons! (Okay so the balloons were more my idea, but he went along with it)

And finally having drinks at home while watching a few favorite shows.

He said it was a great birthday and I had a fun time too.

On the way home there was an amazing, perfect for Friday the 13th, moon. It was a huge orange crescent just above the horizon. I would have paid money to be able to take a good picture of that moon, but sadly, no picture. You will just have to take my word for it that it was seriously awesome.

Today I was in the baking mood and decided to make a recipe from this book that I got at the library.

The recipe is for shortbread crescents and goes with the book Bee Season, which if you haven't read you definitely should because it is a great book!

Yum! They turned out pretty well, despite the fact that the flour I was using was super old. Can flour go bad? They don't taste bad because of it at least.

I wanted to play more with the balloons that we got yesterday, but they had already lost their helium and wouldn't float anymore.

Oh well, they are still cute! Hope you had a great Friday the 13th too!