Doll Diaries Sweepstakes

Hi!
Just a very quick post today, so sorry about that.

Hanna told me about a great giveaway/contest over at dolldiaries.com! They are giving away My Doll's Life Bathtub and Accessories. Check out the details here: http://dolldiaries.com/my-dolls-life-bathtub-accessories-giveaway/comment-page-5/#comment-178226

Xyra posted my response...go and post yours! You have until midnight April 30 (today).

We found the Hawaiian Print Maxi Dress at http://www.doll-clothes.com/ and thought it was out of this world! Here is a picture!

Best wishes!
Talk to you soon!
Melody Q.

Sweet & Savory

Sweet:  Blueberry Green Tea

Today started off with a lovely cup of blueberry green tea. Nothing added to this at all.  The blueberry gives it a hint of sweetness that is just right. Our favorite blueberry green tea was Trader Joe’s, but it was discontinued. L Luckily, we still have a couple bags stashed away.

So we tried Nature’s Promise version. Xyra and I found it at our local Giant grocery store.

Both Trader Joe’s and Nature’s Promise Blueberry Green Tea tea bags are individually wrapped in clear plastic. I think it’s kind of odd, but does keep it relatively airtight. Not quite as nice as the foil pouches. Definitely better than those just in paper.

This tea is great either hot or cold, but be careful…if you steep it too long or use too hot water it can get bitter.

Savory:  Kirsten's Pioneer School Lunch

Hungry? Let’s snack on Kirsten’s Pioneer School Lunch!

A long time ago there was a catalog that featured the lunches of the historic character dolls. Xyra and I liked them all, but were most fascinated by Kirsten’s Pioneer School Lunch (the reason is a post for another day). So we placed our order.

Ours is the later version; the one released in 2000. The oval, wood box is carved with Swedish designs and has a removable lid. Open it to find the tasty lunch of bread, sausage, apple, and cheese. There is also a red, white, and blue homespun napkin.

My napkin is wrinkled because I like to wrap it around the food.

The original version, release in 1986, looked like this (Thank you, American Girl Wikia).

I like mine better, but obviously I’m biased. Which do you like better?

Creatures Big and Small

From one of my favorite books…

(Fred to Percy) “Oh, get out of the way, Percy. Harry’s in a hurry.”

(George adds) “Yeah, he’s off to the Chamber of Secrets for a cup of tea with his fanged servant.”

~ JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Starting the day with a cup of tea really gets one moving. Then throughout the day it serves other purposes.

• On a cold day, tea warms.
• On a warm day, tea cools (iced – we’ll talk more about this in the summer).
• When agitated, tea calms.
• When ill, tea soothes.

Today was a three cup day that began with Coconut Chai Green Tea and then two cups of black and orange pekoe blend.

Collecting

In a previous post I mentioned collecting items from other American Girls. At the time we talked about clothes and pets. But I also collect other items, if they peak my interest.

The one item I have from Felicity’s collection is her Noah’s Ark toy. 

The set comes with an ark. It sounds like it should be wood, but could be made from a special type of plastic. The “cabin” section removes to show a hold where I can store the pieces and gangplank. The roof of the “cabin” also flips up too.

Additional pieces include Noah and his wife, 2 elephants, 2 camels, 2 horses, 2 sheep, & 2 pigs. It’s a lot of fun.

Felicity’s Noah’s Ark was introduced to her collection in 1991 as part of her holiday collection and in coordination with the book Felicity’s Surprise. It set was modified in 1996 and retired in 2007. I’m really glad I got this when I did.

I hope you are having a nice day.

Best wishes.

Melody Q

Spring and Fresh Starts

Hello, Readers!

Spring is springing forth around our house. The trees, though they may still look bare, have small buds promising leafy canopies that will provide shade in the coming months.

A New Book!

This arrived the other day and we tore through it. Read it twice...from end paper to end paper.

If you like tea and have invited a dinosaur to your party, don't be surprised if it ends like this. :) How very fortunate it was for Cordelia and her brother to be invited to tea by Rex after the slight set backs experienced at their own party.

This was really fun to read. Not a lot of content, more pictures than words. Here is Xyra's goodreads review: Tea Rex by Molly Idle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was super cute! More pictures than story; I finished in 5 minutes.

If your little one likes to have tea parties, this is a great book to have. The tea etiquette explored is both practical and amusing. The guest is highly unusual, but I prefer this dinosaur to those portrayed in Jurassic Park. :)

A lot of fun!

Heading Outdoors

It was overcast and chilly, but we went outside to help clear winter coverage off the budding plants in the flower gardens. Kirsten checked out the hyacinths. 

She's wearing a modern outfit. Do you recognize the khaki pants and blue hooded sweatshirt of the Cargo Outfit from an earlier post? The red American Girl tee shirt is a gift from Gram and Pap. They were in New York visited American Girl Place for me. :)

Kaya and Tatlo scouted the yard from the rock. 

Kaya's gardening outfit is from a craft show. This outfit included my first pair of jeans. The red sweatshirt is very comfy. The outfit has a matching red headband, but Kaya never unbraids her hair.

Lanie found a tulip ready to bloom. 

Lanie is wearing the grey, striped, hooded, long-sleeve tee shirt of my Urban Outfit, the pants and boots from her own Nature Outfit, and a beautiful blue sweater. The sweater was hand knitted by Xyra's friend, Lady Vanyer.

I checked out the hosta. 

I'm wearing the khaki capri pants from Coconut's Best Friend Outfit and a periwinkle American Girl hoodie.

Nearby I spotted ferns. Aren't these shoots interesting the way they come out of the ground spirals?

Then headed over to join Kirsten.

We had a lovely day outside.

Best wishes to all.

Later. Love,

Melody Q

I Haven't Quit!

Hello, dear readers!

I'm certain you have felt I've quit after such an absence. You can have peace of mind knowing I have not. My typist, Xyra, has been bogged down with other projects and I didn't feel quite right asking for her time.

In the meantime, I have been researching different things to add to our posts here. Quotes, customs, tea. In fact, I came across a great e-mail series by The Republic of Tea called Tea 101: An Educational Email Series. It's really cool and I plan to share some of the insights with you.

Thanks to Wegmans grocery stores we've been introduced to two new flavors to enjoy. The one is a black tea blend called Raspberry Earl from Zhena Gypsy.

The description from their website: "The floral aroma of juicy raspberries is perhaps the perfect complement to the sweet citrus and full-bodied flavor of Earl Grey. This more exceptional version of the classic tea is artisan, hand-crafted in small batches and infused with only top-grade essential oils of real fruit to brew a sweet, succulent cup."

It's wonderful!

The other is really a tisane (herbal infusion) from Stash. Strawberry  Pomegranate. It's really good very hot and cold. Not so good lukewarm. :)

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! We did. I know this is kind of an icky picture, but these are lovely Easter flowers we received from a dear friend. Purple tulips and lavender carnations. I even found the flowers on my beret to show off. ;-)