chai tea

With Christopher's folks in town this weekend, we headed over to the Random Tea Room & Curiosity Shop, the tiniest and most lovely of tea rooms I've ever had the pleasure of visiting (twice now).  We ordered the Chai Masala, having heard raves about it from friends.

They serve it to you as a candle-lit teapot on your table with small (2-3 ounce) tea cups, allowing you to share or drink yourself.

And, ohhhhh, I wish I could share our teapot with you over this blog....

Perhaps you and I can start experimenting and come up with our own chai recipe...

Maybe start a new tradition.

Mom visits!

This past weekend, not only did my mom come for a visit from Pittsburgh, but so did Christopher's brother Jeremy!  Because our apartment is only a one-bedroom and not quite large enough to house all of us, Christopher booked a stay for my mom and I at a beautiful Bed & Breakfast just two blocks away!

Unfortunately, my camera battery died before I could take some photos of the B&B (my mom got some though!), but I did snap a few on one of our days out in Philadelphia.

We started our day's adventure with a stop at the Green Line Cafe for free WiFi and a bottled water to last through the day (not pictured...hehe...).

From there, we took off to the Philadelphia Museum of Art...

We gazed, we read, we stood in awe...

Strangers sitting in front of the famous Van Gogh...

It's a beautiful museum.

Taking obligatory pictures of Rocky in front of the famous museum stairs.

After the museum, we went over to the Random Tea Room & Curiosity Shop and had some Spiced Assam tea with scones and delicious pound cake slices!

Later on in the afternoon, we met Christopher and Jeremy at church and after the service we went out for dinner at Radicchio Cafe, a place we've never been but will likely return to in the future!

I love Philadelphia!!

Hopefully, Mom will come back to visit (and bring Dad along, hehe) some time soon!

sneakers!

Converse has probably been doing this for years, I don't know, but I just found out you could design your own sneakers on their website!

Follow these links to the two that I "designed" and then design your own!!

Chucks - Numero Uno

Chucks - Numero Dos

Wine 101

I just wanted to share this video with you....

Monty Python's John Cleese has an undying love for wine and his aim in this Food Network special was to make the experience of wine less intimidating for the novice wine-drinker.

Definitely an informative video for those with little knowledge of wine, but also interesting and entertaining for those of you who may know a little bit more. We loved it!!

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On a similar note, Christopher & I stopped at a Wine "Super Store" in Delaware last week on our way home from Annapolis, MD. (Delaware's great, no sales tax!) We bought a few bottles and opened the first one a few nights ago...

The first one we tried was this bottle of Zinfandel produced by Oak Grove Reserve Wines. It was one of the cheaper bottles we bought (less than $10) but came recommended by one of the wine store workers as a "great bottle for a cheap price." If you spot it at your local wine store, pick up a bottle or two! It was delicious and perfect with our meaty pasta dinner. Mmmm!

telling the story of...

Our neighbor Caroline asked me to cat-sit her kitten this weekend. Having admired her cute little French-inspired apartment for some time, I took the opportunity to grab my camera and have a photo shoot while she was away....

Most charming apartment ever?

a new spring?

Driving home from the bank yesterday morning, I was so excited to spot a lawn and garden shop with huge bags of peat moss sitting next to the store's entrance...

For one, it reminded me of my old elementary school art teacher. Her name was Mrs. Moss, and my brother and I used to joke around saying that her husband's name was probably Pete. (It seemed so hilarious back then. It really only deserves a smirk now, but oh, childhood!) Seeing those bags also reminded me that spring is coming! Though I have had such a pleasant first winter living in Philadelphia, I am so excited for spring, new growth, walking around outside again! The black, sludgy snow hasn't been very conducive for taking photos. And I've just been too wimpy to brave the outside cold.

I'd like to stop taking pictures of our cat for a little while. Being inside all the time, he's been the most interesting thing around...

He is cute though, isn't he?

Another thing that has me all excited about Spring is this dress from Anthropologie! It only has me excited in my dreams though... it's a bit pricey. But so perfect and springlike!

Doesn't it just make you want to have a garden party? So much to look forward to this coming season!