National Crayon Day

We Interrupt Our Tea Review...

Let's Celebrate Crayons!
Can you tell to whom each collection of crayons belongs?
A couple might be tricky, but there are definitely clues.
Could be easy for regular readers.
We won't make you wait too long.

Crayola

Crayola is a Pennsylvania company based in Easton, PA not far from us.
So we rarely pick up any other brand.
One of these days we hope to visit The Crayola Experience. It looks cool!
Get your color on with these great, free coloring pages.

Our Favorite Crayons

Melody
The purples are mine. 

I love them all, but plum is my favorite.

Kaya
Greens provide a strong connection to nature. 

My favorite is forest green.

Kirsten
My favorites? 

Soothing blues, especially Pacific blue.

Lanie
Dark pinks, 

like fuscia are my favorite.

Grace
The red family is my favorite.

I think cerise is the best color in the box.

Lea
Orange please. 

Send the wild tangerine over to me.

Haley
Hey, don't forget me! I may be at Nonna's right now but I want in on this post!

Xyra
You can't tell from my signature or the font color I choose. 

Carnation pink is my favorite crayon.

What is your favorite crayon? How do you feel about dandelion being retired and being replaced with a blue!

Thank you for stopping by! Hope you have a nice day! Best wishes,

#CelebrateDandelion

Note: Tea Time with Melody Q is not affiliated with American Girl or Crayola. All crayons shown were purchased for our art supply collection. Links provided are for educational and informative purposes. No purchase is suggested or required to enjoy this post.

Tea Review or Reviews

Thirsty Thursday #18

Kaya, Lea, both

Tea Review Plus Teaser

Hi! The other week Xyra was invited over to Nonna's house for tea.
Or teas! (giggles)
Lea and I were thrilled to go.
Grace wanted to stay home with Bonbon.
And the others had homework projects due.
All the better for us! So off we went.

Three Teas

Nonna led us back to the kitchen where she had three teas for us all to try!

All slightly different. Newman's Own Organic Black Tea.

Tazo Joy blend.

And Harney and Sons Diamond Jubilee.
All three are black teas.

Just One Today

We don't want to overwhelm you so we decided to just post one today.

Newman's Own Organic Black Tea
The Newman's Own Organic Black Tea comes in a box with 100 tea bags. The packaging is very similar to Lipton or Benner.
The tea bags are individually wrapped in paper. I love how this one has the "Keep Calm, Brew Tea" saying on it.

We put the bag in our "tea pot," poured the boiling water, and Xyra set her phone timer for 4 minutes.

(giggles) We can't show you the time because the camera card was full and she had to switch to using her phone for the rest of our shoot.
You can see the blend is already steeping and giving the water a lovely color.
This is after 4 minutes. It's now a lovely, deep reddish amber.

Smells warm and inviting.

First Sip - Plain
Hmmm, the flavor is...well...nondescript. Not quite as bitter as other basic black tea blends.

Yes, I see what you mean, but it does need something.

Second Sip - White Sugar
The sugar adds another dimension.

True.

Third Sip - Sugar and Milk
More depth again with the milk.

Yes, I like it this way. The sugar sweetens the earthy-ness and the milk makes it smooth.

Overall

Newman's Own is a nice black tea blend. Not spectacular, but good.
So if you are looking for a nice organic tea for everyday, that's not super expensive...
And like the added benefit of the profits going to charity, then this is the one for you.
I can definitely see making this on a dreary day and curling up with a good book.
Yeah, me too!

Xyra's Notes

• I can easily compare this blend to the Benner brand found at Aldi. I like both better than the Lacas brand you may get at restaurants. It's not as bitter as Lipton.
• The blend does not have any outstanding flavor notes and lends itself to any way you prefer to fix your tea. It was good with sugar, sugar and milk, honey, and honey and milk, turbinado sugar, turbinado sugar and milk. We have not tried it with lemon to date.
• I bet it would make good iced tea in the summer.
• If you are interested in trying it, there is a store locator tool on the website. In SEPA, you can find it in Wegmans and Acme markets.

Please come back again to see us review the other two teas. We're looking forward to sharing them with you.

So glad you stopped! Tchau! Até mais tarde!

Note: Tea Time with Melody Q is not affiliated with American Girl, Newman's Own, Tazo, or Harney and Sons. The teas reviewed were purchased by our friend. The above review is unsolicited and comprised or our own words and opinions. Links are provided for educational and informative purposes. no purchase is required to enjoy the post.

Kirsten's Movie Review: Beauty and the Beast

Sunday Outing with VWX

Movie Tavern!

Disclaimer! We did not find a Beauty and the Beast poster so I'm showing you Lanie's photo. Check it out; I wore the same coat she did. I think it was warmer that day and it was January!

Also we did not take photos during the movie as that is illegal, so you're getting my armchair movie review. Just me channeling my inner Pauline Kael or one of these cool 15 women.

After church, Xyra and I sped over to Collegeville and the Movie Tavern. We were really early so drove around a bit until a great spot opened up across from Panera. Perfect because were meeting Nonna and Lady No-Tea after the movie.

It was a short walk to the theater. We both wore the wrong coats. It was COLD!

Once inside we took a seat in the waiting area. 

I didn't like that view so we moved to face another direction. We ordered an unsweetened iced tea and read while we waited.

Lady Vanyer arrived first; a couple minutes after they announced "...seating for Beauty and the Beast in Theater 5." Lady Webby arrived a few minutes later and after lots of hugs we headed to our real seats.

Hey, do you understand the heading? (giggles) Vanyer, Webby, and Xyra. 

Inside Theater 5

If you've been following the news then you know the theater was FULL! Lady Webby ordered the tickets in advance. The only multiple seats together were in row D, a row or two closer than we like, but not bad. The girl next to me was split from her grandmother. We talked for a bit. She and her grandmother were really nice.

We ordered a large popcorn with butter and the Hawaiian flatbread. Both are easy to share.

Shh, Shh, Beauty and the Beast is Starting

Our food came out as the movie started. Well, our food did, but Lady Vanyer kept waiting. It was terrible. Hers finally came out, but it was much later than everyone else.

Anyway, the lights dimmed, the title credits and overture began, and I was hooked! It was really, really cool. Exciting, suspenseful, magical. Great music and singing and dancing. Super characters - ones you love, like, or dislike intensely. Comedy, drama, joy, sorrow, a little fear, a few tears - happy and sad. Beautiful sets and costumes. (sighs) Loved, loved, loved Emma as Belle and swooned with Dan as the Beast. He was awesome! Kevin Kline was great as Maurice. The castle staff...wow! LaFou hysterical. Gaston was appropriately slimy and evil. What more can I say? A fabulous movie! One we'll add to our collection when it's released on DVD bluray.

Have you seen it yet? What did you think?

Thank you for stopping by. Have a nice day!

Grace Heads West VII

Finale

Grace Heads East

First Try, No Go

If you're a regular you'll know part of the is story already. Monday morning we said goodbye to Gramma Enne and Opa Hans as they dropped us off at the airport. We made it over to the gate and were visiting with another couple when Xyra's phone vibrated. The United app sent notification Denver to Philly had been cancelled. We grabbed our gear and head back to the check in area and were re-ticketed for the same flight sequence on Wednesday.

Then we went outside and called Gramma Enne. We hoped they were still in Reno, but they were almost home. 

The weather was gorgeous and the wait wasn't long.

I noticed this awesome reflection as we headed back to Carson city.

When we got back to their house we all had some chocolate cake. Super yummy!

Tracking Stella

The next day we watched the national weather for news of Philly. It was very disappointing. The news people talked about Washington DC, New York, and Boston. No Philly. Luckily Lady Vanyer started texting updates. We also watched TV, played cards, and took walks.

Second Try, Go

The next morning we headed back up to Reno again. This time we got the all clear from west to east. We were a bit early, so could take some time to check out the wild horses display. 

My favorites were the ones with the foals. Then the mountain goats.

The flight was full and the center seat didn't allow us to take photos. When we got to Denver our plane hadn't arrived yet.

So we headed to the ladies room and then got sandwiches for the next leg. 

The plane arrived and we got in line to board. The lady in front of us was really nice.

We were on our way and with a window seat! Yay!

I know the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, but we were heading east and over the time changes we flew into the sunset. Sort of. Beautiful!

Check out the pink on the wing!

United had some good movies and TV shows, but we read. Didn't want to run the battery out of Xyra's phone. Plus it was a really good story.

Soon it was really dark out and we could see the lights from cities below. One time I looked out I think we were flying over the Mississippi river.  There was a really wide dark lane flanked with lights on both sides. These lights are closer to Philly.

The moon was gorgeous as we landed.

Yay! Heading out of the airport to the car.

That was another adventure! No photos. Stella dumped snow and sleet on Philly so we had to break through some snice...snow and ice...to get out. I sat in the car with the heaters and defrosters going. Xyra cleared off the car and started working on the tires, but called in for reinforcements. The guys got us free and on our way. 
We pulled into our garage at 1:30 AM. Everyone was asleep, so we quietly cleaned up and headed to bed. I was happy to get home to Bonbon. She was happy to see me too.

Thank you for joining me on my trip! I had a lot of fun and hope you did too. 😊💖

A bientôt!