Giveaway Winner And Lovely Things

Hello everyone! I admit that I am bit late in announcing the winner of the giveaway for my Mad Tea Party, but then what would a Mad Tea Party be without always running late? Anyway, through the use of a random number generator, a winner has been chosen. And that person is......comment #10, our lovely hostess herself, Miss Vanessa!

Hooray! I can think of no one better to win than the lady who made this mad party possible, can you? Miss V, you win the tea cup, saucer, and dessert plate, as well as your choice of tea from Chantilly tea room! Here is a link for a list of all of our teas: http://www.chantillytearoom.com/pages/teas.html I am not sure how recently that has been updated so we might have others if you have a favorite that you don't see on there. Thanks again for being such a great hostess!

Now on to photos of pretty things from the last few weeks.

My new desk/drafting table!

My pumpkins.

I found a lot more Lewises on my orange tree. This is just one little guy.

Amazing Arizona storms.

Tea time, of course.

Well that is all for now. See you soon!

Blueberry Muffins And A Winner

I am ever so happy because the monsoons are here at last! Yesterday the power even went out (unfortunately it wasn't dark enough out to need to use candles, oh well). I am even watching a big storm outside my window as I am typing this! It is sooo nice to get some rain, for me and for the plants. I hope you all had a nice 4th, lightning was my fireworks and that is just fine by me.

Here are some photos of the sunset after the storm.

The other day I had a random desire to bake. I discovered there were some blueberries in the freezer so I decided to make muffins!

It was just your basic blueberry muffin recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, but I had some cream cheese frosting so I decided to bake some of that on too.

Unfortunately it just sort of melted off the top and formed a hard candy shell on the pan.

They were still delicious though!

Mal wanted some....

...but I said no, so he pouted.

And now to announce the winner of my Mad Tea Party giveaway for the place markers (four of them), and the winner by random number selection is....

......Zoe from Blessed Bee! Please email me your address and what your favorite kind of tea is (for a little extra something)!

Thanks to everyone who commented, I wish I could give presents to all of you!

Storms And Super Excitement!

I am just bursting with excitement and I will tell you why! If you are a fan of Lauren over at Fair Rosamund then you will have seen the adorable cat painting she did for Cameron. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to have one of my two furries. I promptly asked Lauren if she does commissions and she said yes!

So today she sent me the pictures of the finished painting and I LOVE it. I am SUPER excited! She did such a wonderful job capturing the personalities of my kitties.

Eek! Isn't it wonderful? Thank you Lauren!

It was quite stormy here yesterday and the day before. A nice change, we even got a little rain.

You know when it is cloudy and stormy in the evening and there is that yellowish tinge to the air from the diffused light? I love that. Anyway I tried to take a picture, but of course you can't tell at all in the photo. I guess it is more of a human eye sort of thing.

The rain made the plants happy. Oh and remember my sprouting garlic cloves that I planted? They have taken off quickly!

Grow little garlic sproutlings, grow like the wind! (Sproutlings, I think that is a Fanciful Twist word that has worked its way into my vocabulary!)

Oh and I managed to take a photo of someone using the hummingbird feeder. It wasn't actually a hummingbird, but still a cutie.

Until next time!

Curiouser And Curiouser

I am back from my lovely holiday spending Christmas with my friends and family. Sorry about the lack of postage, but the internet situation was not conducive to blogging. My parents are in the middle of moving so everything was in a bit of an uproar, but I am here now and ready to share all the things I have saved up!

More from all of my break later, but for now here are a few curious things I am excited about, to ring in the new year....

The first is that today at work (I work at the most adorable English style tea room called Chantilly) a group came in for tea and one of the girls (who was not a little kid) was dressed up like the Mad Hatter! And we are not talking just a hat here people, she had a full out costume including hat, wig, coat, and accessories. Unfortunately I did not get a picture, but that girl is my hero!

Second, I bought a vintage tea cup today (also from where I work) that will blow your mind. I had never seen one like it before so I had to buy it.

The little bridge across the top of the cup is to protect one's moustache when they are drinking tea! Is that not the funniest, randomest, I have to have that tea-cupiest thing ever? I almost wish I had a moustache just so I could get the full benefit. I love it.

The third and fourth curious things are two vintage items I got at this adorable store in Redmond, OR (more on that later). Look at this table cloth...

Notice anything strange? Now I haven't been to Florida much, but I am pretty sure they do not have saguaro cactus. It is like someone from far away who had never actually been to Florida made a tablecloth using whatever idea they had in their head of what Florida might be like. Love it! And I love the colors. And it works well here in the AZ because of the cacti. (One other curious thing: why my candles will never stay standing upright.)

And let us not forget the awesomest pillow there has ever been in the history of the world. I also bought this item because I had never seen anything like it. I believe the words "what the...!" sprung instantly to mind.

Is it just me or is it almost slightly threatening? Loves, loves, loves it!

Last, but not least, after returning from Oregon where it was cold and snowing, I was looking forward to the warmer weather of Arizona. However, I was a bit disappointed and also surprised, to find that it is cold and snowing here too! I mean I know AZ gets snow and I wasn't too shocked to see it on the mountains behind our house, but I was surprised when it was actually snowing at our house here in Tucson! Crazy weather.

Have a happy New Year lovely bloggy friends!

ps. I almost forgot one last, very curious, thing. In my hometown Bend, OR there is a house that has the whole front yard decorated with bones.

A little creepy, but I am totally on board as I have had a thing for bones ever since I was a little kid.