A Birthday and a long awaited vacation

We celebrated my Sister's birthday with cake from Cake. I ordered it on Wednesday for today's family party. This cake was listed as The Minuteman on Cake's.menu. This was perfect since my Sister belongs to the Lincoln Minutemen, a fife and drum corps.



The woman on the phone said custom cake orders needed to be placed two weeks in advance but she could do a simple birthday cake with some flowers and a message. Does this look simple to you? I was quite impressed.




Everyone enjoyed the cake and we also had my Sister's favorite tea, Harrod's No. 42. As you can see, Sheila was pleased.

Tomorrow I have to get ready for our mini vacation to Martha's Vineyard. I have some packing to do and I already coordinated schedules with the cat sitter. Just a few things left to do before we leave.

I am so looking forward to this vacation. Work has been super stressful and I often don't even know what day of the week it is. I am hoping for some R&R before I have to go back to work in a week.

Hope you all have a great week.

Cake.

I am such a foodie! I love to find new places to try for desserts.

Last weekend I was going to a cookout and I decided to bring cupcakes. My friend Pauline served cupcakes from Cake. in Lexington, Massachusetts at one of her teas and they were delish. So I thought I would give Cake a try.



Cake. is located in a house, perhaps it was once a multi family home. The building was charming right down to the plants and the bistro set on the porch.



And look at the delivery van. Too cute!



I love the red colored walls. The interior was really nicely done.




I am guessing Ethan is really going to enjoy his first birthday cake. And the women picking up the cake were nice to let me photograph it.

Well the lemon loco cupcakes I had purchased were wonderful. And I placed an order with Cake. for my Sister's birthday cake. Sunday is her birthday.

Cake. is located at 1628 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington, Massachusetts. Click here to visit their website.

Lovely Gifts

Yay! I won a blog giveaway for the first time ever. The always wonderful Kay Ellen of Kay Ellen Design chose my name as the recipient of a copy of Somerset Life, a bird's nest and egg and a treasure from Kay Ellen's recent weekend trip. I thought I would look at this fabulous magazine with a cup of tea.



Oh yes, aren't you observant? That is a new tea strainer for me. My first gold one but that's for another post.

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Kay Ellen's nesting tablescape was featured in the magazine. I thought I would try to recreate it using the nest from Kay Ellen and my own things. Her photo in the magazine is on the left and my results are on the right. Kay Ellen has such a talent for creating beautiful and innovative tablescapes. She is an inspiration to me.



Here's a close up of my tablescape.



The third item in the box was a surprise treasure from Kay Ellen's weekend trip to Manhattan Beach. It was a beautiful seashell bracelet. I decided to use it as a napkin holder here. I changed up the tablescape to portray more colors of the ocean and the beach to go with my new bracelet.

I do plan to pack the bracelet for my trip to Martha's Vineyard later in the month.



It is the weekend so I broke out the Weekend Waterford!




I just love these cups. I used them for my illumination night tea years ago and I only have this stack left.



Oops, I almost forgot! The seashell bracelet came in an ice blue organza bag. That's it wrapped around the Pellegrino bottle.

If you look at Kay Ellen's blog, you will see gorgeous photos of her husband and children, her pets, her trips, her design work and her fabulous tablescapes. I must confess I've stolen an idea or two from her. Her blog is a must read, so go check it out!

And enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Quote of the Day

The Summer night is like a perfection of thought- Wallace Stevens

Mosaic Monday- Rockport, Massachusetts

I made these mosaics last year after a daytrip to Rockport. It's one of my favorite places to visit, especially in Summer. First, a stop for coffee at the Bean and Leaf Cafe before venturing out to see the sights.



Some photo opportunities presented themselves even in the cloudy weather.



A few hours later, the flowers perk up in the sunlight.

A wonderful place to visit, Rockport.

Please visit other Mosaic Monday participants by clicking here

Saturday Breakfast

Saturday breakfast at Aroma Cafe in Reading. Sometimes my sister joins me and sometimes friends but sometimes I even go there by myself. I love the place.
It's fun to chat with Lynda, my favorite server. She's quirky and fun and she adds a lot of personality to the place.

Yesterday, I had eggs benedict with spinach. Yum! It comes with lacy potatoes too.

This looks like a face or two eyes and a mustache. A very full mustache.

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The hollandaise sauce was perfection. I really hate the kind that's too yellow or
too thick. This sauce wasn't too thin or watered down, it was just the right consistency.


I just had to smoosh one of the eggs and it made for a better photo too! It had the precise amount of runnyness. (Is that a word?)



Doesn't that look delicious? Nice and fluffy.


And on to my favorite potatoes.

Aroma Cafe, 607 Main Street, Reading, Massachusetts. Check it out if you're in the area.

Just give me coffee in an IV

Doctors orders, avoid caffeine. He said what? Avoid caffeine? My life will end as I know it. Doesn't he know my world revolves around caffeine? Wait, does that include chocolate too? Just shoot me now!

I guess I will just have to live vicariously through the Gilmore Girls... and switch to decaf! But I'm not giving up chocolate!

(To get the full Gilmore Girl effect, shut off the music at the bottom of the page).