Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to my Mama! I was home with my family this weekend and we enjoyed a nice, relaxing few days.  

My gift to her was a craft from Pinterest :) I hot-glued river stones to a piece of black felt (both from a nearby craft store) to make a hot pad for her tea kettle.

To celebrate her day today, we went to a restaurant called the Chart House for a delicious meal.

We had oysters on the half shell for an appetizer,

and my entree was salmon wrapped in prosciutto with a balsamic reduction and a miso sauce. Spectacular! There was also a chocolate lava cake and a creme brulee for dessert but we devoured those before I remembered to take a picture, oops! Plus, we had a nice drive through the mountains to and from the restaurant. We ended the evening with a nice long walk along the creek nearby. 

Hope you had a great Mother's Day, love you so much Mama! 

Tea time!

 Went to tea with my mother today, at the beautiful Briarwood Inn. It was perfectly decorated for Christmas and made this tea a great start to Winter Break.

My mother and I have been going to mother-daughter teas annually since I was starting elementary school and it is one of my favorite traditions. We used to go at the beginning of each school year but have since switched to during the holidays and it makes tea so much more festive!

Our meal began with our tea, we both chose the cinnamon spice that smelled like Christmas and warmth and everything happy! Then we proceeded to blueberry and cranberry scones, followed by a tomato bisque.

Finally, the best part of any tea. The tiny quiches and sandwiches and desserts on a three-tiered tray! We enjoyed tiny bites of asparagus and tomato quiche, and cucumber and salmon finger sandwiches. The desserts were red velvet cupcakes, apple crumb bites, shortbread cookies, raspberry tartlets, and peppermint fudge. It was all so delicious and festive!

We stayed for hours sipping our tea and left happy and full. 

Until next year!

Decorating the Christmas tree

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we can all give in to the Christmas frenzy! I've been dying for it to be acceptable to embrace the Christmas spirit since before Halloween (shh!). We started with decorating the Christmas tree before my brother and I went back to school. 

Every year my mother gives us each an ornament. This year mine was a cupcake! Clearly she knows about my Pinterest obsession.

With some Christmas carols and some eggnog, we proceeded to decorate the Christmas tree. It started like this...

...and turned into this!

Happy holiday season!