:: a happy nest ::

tea time.

handmade tea bags for Thea's play kitchen

In this house, we drink a lot of tea. During the colder months, I usually sip hot tea with a touch of honey all day long. Yum.

Thea has fallen in love with tea too - not drinking it - but the ritual of making it. Each morning, she helps John prepare tea for the two of us. She helps him open the tea and put the bag into the pot or tea cup. (Now that I am drinking mostly loose tea, I'll have to come up with another way for her to help).

She knows whose tea is whose by the color of the tag - red tea (English Breakfast) for dad and yellow or green tea for mama.

For her birthday, I had been looking for a tea set to add to her play kitchen. I finally decided on this one, made from recycled plastic milk jugs. The set is very sweet, but it just didn't seem complete without tea to go along with it.

So, I came up with some simple little tea bags that Thea can use to make her own tea.

I had originally planned to make them out of felt, but then had the idea to use some natural muslin instead, making the tea bags just a tad more realistic. I put a little bit of quinoa inside to give them a little weight, and added some cotton strings and felt tags in red, yellow, and green. Simple and sweet.

 

If it wasn't for my sewing machine jamming up, this project would have taken only about 20 minutes or so. Super easy.

I'm curious - if your child has a play kitchen, what types of food or accessories does he or she love the most?

grateful monday. (a day late)

My wee girl is sick and has needed lots of extra snuggles, so I didn't have a chance to post this yesterday.

Feeling grateful...

For a weekend spent with family celebrating my brother's 30.1 mile hike through the Appalachian Trail. My brother and his friend Matt raised tremendous awareness of cystic fibrosis along with $18,000 that was donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The entire group of hikers raised over $160,000. I am so proud.

For hours spent snuggling sweet Caroline.

For hearing my nephew sing Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline as he fell asleep.

For Curious George. And for portable DVD players that keep my wee girl from screaming for 7 hours in the car when she would not sleep.

For peonies aching to burst open.

For a clean studio.

For my new favorite green smoothie.

For my daughter waking up from her nap saying "Go Team Caroline!"

For a partner who shares long nights with a sick baby.

For all of the amazing dandelions in the North Carolina mountains. There were fields of them, and they were gorgeous. 

For love, sweet love.

What are you feeling grateful for today?

grateful monday.

Thea's first (vegan vanilla agave) cupcake

Feeling grateful...

For two of the brightest (and hardest) years of my life spent mothering my sweet girl.

For simple (and small) birthday celebrations.

For this.

For being thisclose to the end of the 65 roses project. I'm still busy packing and shipping. Thank you for your patience!

For the peace that comes with weeding our garden.

For a clean house.

That we found each other. 

What are you feeling grateful for today?

the 65 roses project : housekeeping

I am still feeling totally blissed out and amazed by the response to the 65 roses project. Thank you so, so much.

I am currently sorting through the orders and packing them up. I really didn't expect to do this all at once, so it is taking me a bit to get organized.

Several local folks are working with me for drop-offs and in-person delivery. For those lovely people, I'll be refunding your shipping costs through paypal.

Also, the paypal account I used is the one I have set up for my handcrafted jewelry business. I forgot that the setting for sales tax was set to automatically calculate for Virginia addresses, so I'll be refunding this as well. So sorry about that!

I hope to have all of the roses ready to go by Sunday.

I've received a number of questions about whether I plan to make more roses. The answer is yes - but probably not until next year. If you still want to support the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, I encourage you to visit my brother's hike home page to read their family's story in his words and, if you'd like, to make a donation.

I truly appreciate your support - and patience! Please let me know if you have any questions.

Enjoy your Thursday!

gratitude.

It has been such a wild week - I didn't even manage to get my grateful monday post up.

My heart is overflowing with emotion - mostly with gratitude for the tremendous support of the 65 roses project. In less than 48 hours, every single rose sold.

I am speechless. It feels impossible to find words to express the depth of my gratitude, or explain all of the emotions I am feeling. A thousand thank you's wouldn't be enough.

I'll be back with more reflections on this project, but for now, a few other bits of gratitude.

I'm feeling grateful...

For a blooming garden.

For transplanted veggies thriving and the generous friends who shared them with us.

For the tremendous sense of community I am feeling.

For an unexpected encounter with this marvelous and inspiring woman. 

For super-wonderful friends who help get me through tough days.

To have been mentioned here.

For my husband and his patience and unwavering support of my creative endeavors.

For a weekend celebrating with my brother and his family.

For hours spent snuggling sweet Caroline.

I feel like I could go on and on. There is so much to be grateful for. Life is good.

What are you feeling grateful for today?

the 65 roses project : the shop is open!

 

(Due to some technical difficulties, I had to post the link early. Sorry for the confusion!)

The shop is open!

the 65 roses project on etsy

Thanks in advance for all of your encouragement and support (and patience!).

the 65 roses project : update

I am thisclose to having all of the roses uploaded to etsy.

The link to the shop will be posted tomorrow morning (4/12/2010) at 10 am.

In the meantime, here is a link to a great article on cystic fibrosis. The article recently appeared in Richmond Magazine.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

grateful monday.

Feeling grateful...

For all of the love and support and hope during yesterday's big scare. {I am so, so grateful.} 

For my brother being home with his family - safe and sound.

For dozens of new blooms in the garden.

For hearing Thea wake up from her nap singing: "Here comes Peter Cottontail - Hopping down the bunny trail. Hippity-hoppity - Easter's on its way..."

For evening light lingering.

For a new book. 

For my family.

What are you feeling grateful for today?

easter day.

Our day started off quite dramatically, but thankfully, by mid-morning, things were back to (somewhat) normal. Thea and I snuggled up for a nap before heading off to her Omie's house to celebrate with a family lunch and an egg hunt.

It is so sweet to see Thea with her older cousins. She had so much fun with them.

high-fives with Trevor

 

stair-sitting with Olivia

laughing with Lauren

Anyone who spends much time with Thea knows that she always has her hands full of something - flowers, rocks, sticks, buckets, shovels - whatever has her attention at the moment. Today, it was Omie's vast collection of eggs.

There was a good bit of romping and running - usually someone chasing after our busy bee.

But there was plenty of snuggling too.

We even managed to get all of Omie's grandchildren in one spot for a photo.

 

I had to sneak in at least one photo of Thea and I together.

And it was warm enough for a favorite spring skirt.

We're all a bit exhausted, but in the best kind of way.

I hope you had a lovely weekend as well!

the 65 roses project : update (in need of prayers)

**Update - Thank you SO much for all of the good thoughts, hope, and prayers - and for the comments and emails. My brother is safe and sound, thank goodness. He became disoriented during the hike and camped out until morning. He should be back with my sister-in-law and the kids by now. I am so, so grateful. Thank you again!**

My brother went out for a 15 mile hike yesterday and did not return home as scheduled. There has been no word from him, and his jeep has not yet been found by park rangers.

Please keep my brother and our family in your heart and hope for his safe return.

Due to this turn of events, I probably will not have the roses posted tomorrow. 

Thanks in advance for your love and hope.