Blogger meetup and other weekend activities

I had a busy Saturday this weekend. First, I had a blogger meetup with Sharon from A New England Life and Susan of From Beyond My Kitchen Window.  I made the arrangements and we were meeting for lunch at Michael's Harborside in Newburyport. 

As I got ready for my meetup, I found myself primping and laboring over what to wear. I had to laugh at myself. You'd think I was going on a first date and wanting to make a good first impression. I ended up choosing jeans and a sweater and wearing no makeup. I thought I should just be myself and it would be fine. This was my very first meeting with bloggers.

I arrived in Newburyport a little early so I decided to explore the historic district. This church's graveyard interested me.

The old homes in the neighborhood were fabulous. I loved their colors, the doors, interesting gates. I wish I'd had more time to look around before lunch.

At noon, the weather was fabulous.  We could have opted for outside dining but I had reserved a table indoors by the window. The scene was beautiful from beyond our harborside table (that's for you Susan)!

The conversation flowed naturally between Susan, Sharon and I.  We talked about our families, kids, pets and of course our blogs! I was so pleased we all got along so well and we discussed doing a day trip to Rockport sometime.

By the way, the food was wonderful at Michael's Harborside. My lobster roll was perfect, not too much mayo, the right amount of meat, and the roll was grilled nicely.

Susan gave us a rosemary plant. The fragrant smell of the herb was wonderful as I drove home from lunch.

Susan had some other things to do Saturday afternoon so she went home and Sharon and I wanted
to do some exploring.  Sharon knew the area better than I did. As we were walking to her car we heard the rumble of thunder. We knew the rain was not far behind.

Sharon took me out by Plum Island and showed me some of the high points of the area. We also went to
Tendercrop Farm.  When we got out of the car, we saw an ominous sky and swirling clouds.

This cloud looked like the beginnings of a funnel cloud. The sky was very dramatic and Sharon and
I grabbed our cameras and started snapping the action above us.

Other people at the farm were also looking skyward to see if the weather was going to take
a turn for the worst.  Luckily, it did not.

It sure made for some interesting shots. A quick change in the weather from the sunny skies of
just two hours before!

I love to be near the ocean when there is a storm but I prefer to be inside!

Cute sign in the shop at Tendercrop Farm. I love the sentiment!  Nice soft color scheme in the display, very beachy!

Lots of flora and fauna on display at the farm and produce, home baked goodies, gifts.

A lovely display at the shop.  I have been looking for a chippy bureau like this for my bedroom.

The thunderstorms followed me home as evidenced by my smart phone.  I still had another party to go to.  I hoped the weather didn't get too bad.

My friend Debbi was having a Kentucky Derby party.  One of her friends brought her hat to the
party along with a rum cake.  Nice job, Linda!

So we all made our picks for the derby. For each dollar put in the pot, you could pick a horse. I, of course, had to go with Derby Kitten who did not win, place, or show.  Debbi is actually going to donate all of the monies (since nobody won) to a horse sanctuary.

Today is Mother's Day and my sister and I had lunch at the Nursing Home with my mom. We gave her an outfit from J Jill. My mom used to always dress up even to go shopping.  So we try to buy her some cute clothes for special occasions. She liked the outfit. She'll be comfortable and stylish in her raspberry sherbet colored tunic and gray pants.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms in blogland! Hope you had a fabulous weekend!





Royal Wedding Tea in Plymouth

On Sunday, I hosted a Royal Wedding Tea. The location was All Things Tea tearoom in Plymouth, Massachusetts. A few weeks ago, I searched for a Royal Wedding Tea event for my afternoon tea group. All Things Tea was offering a lovely tea with live entertainment so I chose them. Our group had actually been to this tearoom before when we had tea with Susan Branch so I knew everything would be perfect.



Some of those in attendance really had fun with their attire. Ann would have fit in quite well at the actual wedding.



And Lori Lee's hat was spectacular.



Now on to the food. In a word, it was superb. We loved all the sandwiches. We enjoyed egg salad, cheddar cheese and chutney, cucumber with cream cheese and watercress, and a sausage roll.



Strawberry preserves and devon cream accompanied the scones.



Here's the group.




That's a delicious English cream scone under all that devon cream and strawberry preserves. Yum!




Of course I had to try each and every kind of sandwich! They're small, right?



Good conversation and excellent food, what a pleasant way to spend an afternoon. The weather cooperated too. It was sunny and fairly warm except for the cool ocean breeze.




There was live entertainment on the keyboard adding a nice ambiance to the event.



I prepared a Royal Wedding trivia quiz for everyone to take. The ladies were vying for some nice prizes. Just a few questions including this one: Where did Kate and William meet?



My sister made her very own fascinator.



The wedding cupcake was beautiful and delicious! Next to it was a chocolate biscuit, a Prince William favorite.



We drank cup after cup of tea.



About the tea, it was from Tregothnan Estate and it is the only tea grown and blended in England.



I love it when we are told about the tea and food that is being served. When I serve tea, I like to explain what is in the tea and the ingredients in the sandwiches.



This was the grand prize for the trivia contest. Kim took first prize, a commemorative tea tin from Twinings. I saw this on Twitter and promptly went to their website to order a few but they were sold out. I found 3 on EBay and they were shipped from England just in time for my tea event.

I wrapped the tin in tuille and added a wire ribbon and vintage rhinestone pin. Kim graciously shared the contents of the tin with the group. The tea was bagged and not loose.



Here are both of the prizes. I also gave everyone a small favor of Harney and Sons Wedding Tea, 5 sachets in a small silver tin.



Pauline won second prize which was a tin of Royal Wedding Tea from Harney and Sons Historic Royal Palaces collection. It's a white tea with pink rosebuds.



Other guests were also dressed in keeping with the occasion.



That is one fabulous hat!




I always take a group shot as we are leaving a tearoom. It's fun to look back and see who attended each tea. My blog is becoming a wonderful pictorial history of my tea group events.

All Things Tea is located at 20 Court Street in the Historic District of Plymouth,
Massachusetts. Click here to go to their website.

I watched, did you?

Of course, I am talking about the Royal Wedding. I did not get up at 4AM to watch it. I did DVR it at 4AM. First I recorded it off the NBC Today Show. That's the channel I watched when Charles and Diana were married. Then when I got up around 6:15I switched to the BBC World News. I felt their coverage and vantage points were superior to the NBC station so I stopped taping NBC and switched the DVR to BBC.



Oh my gosh, the dress was gorgeous and elegant and perfection. I felt Kate really got it right. And all of those interior shots of Westminster Abbey were breathtaking.



What was the Queen thinking about? She was very solemn at this moment.



I hope the couple is always this joyful.



Oh, to be their wedding photographer! What an honor that would be!



I got caught up in the pageantry and did not want to get ready for work.



I was so wishing I was there to witness this magnificent event in person.



Every beautiful moment was recorded.



Wasn't the coach magnificent?




I see one of the flower girls was not enthralled with the goings on.



The BBC had a correspondent in one of the flyover planes. Wasn't that cool?



I love this candid shot.



There's the kiss. Did you know NBC had a countdown to the kiss clock? That actually worked out well for me since I was getting ready for work. I saw 21 minutes to the kiss on the clock so I ran and showered and still had time to view the kiss live.



An acknowledgement to the crowd.



And off to start their new life. Sorry, no more photos. This is the last I saw of the wedding. I had to go to work after that.

I took all but the very first photo off my television with my own camera. The first photo is by Mark Thompson and Getty Images.

I am hostessing my Royal Wedding Tea on Sunday. I will post about it on
Sunday or Monday.

Royal Wedding Correspondence

Do you remember when I did the post on watching my mailbox for the Royal Wedding invitation? Well I had convinced myself that I would be going to the wedding. The reason why I was so hopeful was because my Sister had made some inquiries to the Queen and other royals offering her services as a live event painter for the wedding. She knew that the Royals would probably use someone from Britain but she researched it and could not find anyone who provided this service in Britain.

For those of you who are newer to my blog, my sister is an artist and she has a business doing live event painting for weddings and special events.




Anyway, she received these letters in response to her inquiries. She also received an email from the Queen's cousin who is an event planner. The woman said she
was intrigued by my Sister's business (she had not heard of live event painting) and she said she would keep my Sister in mind for the Queen's events in the coming year. The Queen has a Diamond Jubilee next year.

So fingers crossed everyone. My Sister could be hired for a Royal event after all!
I am her trusty assistant who can take the photos of the event which will be used as reference for the finished painting. One can dream, right?

Easter Festivities

Today I had my Father and Sister over for brunch. First, there was church and then we went to my condo for Easter Brunch. We started with a salad of baby spinach, goat cheese, dried cranberries, mandarin oranges, and slivered almonds with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing.



Orange juice was served from my hydrangea pitcher.



A daytime view of the table setting.



I made the same french toast recipe I used for last year's Wimbledon Breakfast. It's an overnight baked french toast with maple syrup and cream cheese. So yummy and so easy. I got the recipe from the Angel of the Sea Bed and Breakfast cookbook.

My Sister made a Swedish Apple Pie and we had it for dessert.



In the evening, I invited my Sister and 4 friends over for dessert. Everyone brought something. We had fruit salad with blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries and a sweet cream dip. Also, brownies, lemon cookies, more Swedish apple pie and a chocolate mousse layer cake. That's it pictured above.



It really was quite spectacular looking. We couldn't wait to cut into it.



It was just as spectacular on the inside. And delicious too!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter.

Easter Table Preview

 

If I'm having guests over for a meal, I always like to set my table in advance to make sure the presentation is as nice as the food I serve.

Tomorrow I will have my Dad and Sister over for Easter brunch in the afternoon and then at night friends are coming over for dessert. I have a special Easter egg cake just waiting to be cut! I'm making baked french toast as the entree.

I played with the tablescape tonight. The prep work was already done, white tablecloth washed and pressed, napkins ironed, groceries and flowers purchased.

I thought the white tablecloth would look very elegant under the lavender
table runner I planned to use. This runner is so cool, it has little led lights running down the middle of it. I've been saving it for Easter.

The tablescape still needs tweaking. I'm sure it will look a lot better with food on the plates.

I wish you all a very Happy Easter. I'll share photos of my Easter table in the next few days.