Happy Thanksgiving

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.  JFK 

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Pretty Tea Towel and Minions

Happened to see this pretty Laura Ashley tea towel at Kohl’s recently.  The $9.99 price was a little steep, but with Kohl’s cash and a 30% discount, the check out price was a more reasonable $2.98. 

Also, I found several items for my little granddaughter who happens to love Minions.  She wanted to dress up as a Minion for Halloween, but Mom couldn’t find a costume in her size, so they did the next best thing and dressed as Minions to take her out for trick or treat. 

Kaleigh was happy with her Minnie Mouse costume.

This is one Minion that I can relate to, especially in the morning. 

Christmas Books 2015

Because my burgeoning collection of Christmas books is taking up way too much space, I’m trying to cut down on new purchases.  Although, there is always at least one that I can’t resist.

This Teatime Holidays book (a Hoffman Media Publication)  is just packed with beautiful photos, recipes and decorating ideas.  There is even a handy tea steeping guide with basic guidelines for brewing the perfect infusion.

There are so many scone recipes that I’d love to try – onion poppy seed, apricot white chocolate, pistachio cream, candied fruit (my pick for Christmas morning), coconut orange, white chocolate peppermint (above) and more. 

These cinnamon date scones look seriously yummy.

There is even a recipe for pistachio French macarons.   There are lots of recipes for savories as well.  I thought the lobster cheesecakes and beef wellington canapés looked very appealing.

Oh yes, I know I’m going to enjoy this book.  It was available at Sam's Club with a 30%  magazine discount.

I also picked up this book at Kohl’s.  It is only $5 and 100% of the net profit is donated to support kid’s health and education initiatives in communities nationwide.  It was also a good pick with lots of recipes, crafts and gift ideas.

I’d love to hear about the Christmas publications that you all added to your collection this year. 

Travels in Mexico, Canada and Florida

It’s hard to believe that it is already November.  Some of you may have noticed that I have been MIA on my blog for several months.  I’ll not make any excuses or offer an explanation, but just hope that things will get much better from this point in time. 

Since April I’ve traveled to Mexico, Canada and Orlando.

The Grand Bahia Principe Coba was a lovely resort, with lots of dining choices, a nice beach and lovely accommodations.  It is an extremely large resort and I was thankful that we had Privilege Club transportation to shuttle us to and from some of the restaurants and the beach.  One of my favorite activities was snorkeling with the sea turtles in Akumal. 

  There was always lot of entertainment options and beautiful landscaping around the resort, which enhanced the long walk from our room to the main lobby.

My trip to visit family in Canada this summer was even more special, since I was able to meet the newest member of our family, Christopher, and spend over a week at my brother’s summer home with my sister (above), eldest brother and sister-in-law.

Our family trip to Orlando in October was great and we had all our children, their spouses and grandchildren with us.  We were only missing our daughter-in-law and our eldest grandson Christian (who is away at a private school in Vidalia).  My favorite day trip was Discovery Cove.  We snorkeled, swam with the dolphins, fed the birds in the aviary, traveled the lazy river, saw the marmosets, ate, drank and had a blast. 

I’d highly recommend renting from Contempo Homes in Davenport, FL.  We had a five bedroom, fully equipped home with a private backyard pool – plenty of room for everyone.  It was a good home base for trips to Sea World, Discovery Cove and Busch Gardens.

I haven’t forgotten about the TEA in Tea and Talk.  I’ve watched several interesting tea related videos lately.  Hope I can share them with you and visit all my favorite blogs soon.