What's Your Cup of Tea?

  Tea; most of us can say we drink it, in some form or another. Whether it is hot or cold, a cup at your table, or a bottle of raspberry tea from the gas station, it's prevalent. Though as a nation we may not be the leading consumers of it, ( Kazakhstan is number one, and surprisingly Great Britain is lower down, ranking the fifth of the top ten), my family at least, drinks enough for the rest of America.:)

We drink it by the box as Fall progresses, and it doesn't stop in the Summer, only appearing more often  as cold tea. Of our favorites, Lipton black tea is unquestionably king, followed by Celestial Season herbal tea.
 I like the Blueberry, and Apple Cinnamon is fantastic for the Autumn season.:)

 

 But don't let me be the only one to talk about tea-what's your favorite, and how do you like to drink it?

I'd love to read your comments.. with a cup of tea to sip. :)

Family Trip Up North

  Annnd we'ere back! "great", you say, mildly surprised, "you were gone? Pray tell, where have you been?"
 All in good time my friend! Yes, we were gone, and are now back, from the upper regions of Northern Missouri-St. Charles to be more specific. It's been a very, verrry long time since my family has embarked on a trip of this kind, since, well, since before I was born. So my parents decided to load everyone up and take us to see a town my sister and I had heard glowing reports from, from our violin teacher. The streets are cobblestone, lots of tea shops... oh yes, it sounded lovely!
 So we took off Sunday morning; we could have made in in four to three and a half hours.. but that's not the way we roll in our family; we like to sight-see along the way, and stop at flea-markets. So we got into St. Charles later in the afternoon. It was different than what I was expecting too; I thought it was a small town, all old style-nope. A larger town than I'd imagined, with lots of free-way traveling to get from here to there. The old St. Charles was  more off to the side of the town, set closer to the Missouri River-incidentally, this was the town Louis and Clark set off from on their expedition, and also held the first state capitol!
 We didn't make any stores in either the new or old town, as things closed earlier there on Sundays, so we just went to the hotel.

The second day in found us shopping in the new side of town, after a quick drive-around the older buildings, as not all the shops in the old town are open on Mondays-some of the people there run their stores differently..

  So the next day, Tuesday, (and also my brother's birthday), found us out that way.
It is a lovely, picturesque little street, with cobblestone's and old buildings that remind one of Boston or Charleston.

Mom got directions for us.:)
 

Yep, we found us a British shop! Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures inside of all the neat items they had, but they do have an online website. 

theenglishshoponline.com

After much walking and ooh-ing and awww-ing, we had lunch in a parking lot next to the Missouri River.

After a pow-wow, we headed off to St. Louis, for the arch. Due to construction on that area, we had to take a free bus ride over to it; our bus driver was such a friendly, outgoing person-not what I'd been expecting in the big city.:) Dad and Justin went into the old courthouse to get tickets, and then our next stop was the arch. 

Annnd...

we went up in it! (that's looking over into Illinois btw) Albeit, the tram was a lot smaller than I had anticipated, and it tilted-which was scary. However, the view was great, and I'm so glad we were up in it!!

And when we got to the bottom we watched a video on how it was built.. and believe it or not, THAT'S when I got really light-headed!

The next day was our day to head home.. we did pop into Hermann though, which was a town settled by German's. Lots of tin roofs and cute old buildings.:)

And thus endeth the long and lengthy article! Hope I haven't tired you all out; and no, I don't spend my whole time traveling, no matter how it looks on my blog.:D Hope you enjoyed it, Cheerio!

Things a Bookworm Would Understand

  


   It's that time of year, the time that I crave sitting down with a cup of tea, and a copy of Pride and Prejudice; since books are on the brain, I decided to make a list of things that bookworms understand. Just for fun.:)


                                 THINGS A BOOKWORM WOULD UNDERSTAND

1.   You feel guilty when reading two books at once
2. One of the loveliest smells is between the pages of old books
3. When you find a new favorite, you just HAVE to rhapsodize about it to everyone that you can get to listen to you! 
4. You get emotionally attached to fictional characters
5. Cool rainy nights are best spent curled up with a book and a cat
6. You try to get your nieces and nephews started into reading ASAP!
7. Seeing a chopped up/ripped book is not pleasant, and you hope desperately that it wasn't one you love
8. Nothing makes you madder than when the library gets rid of a whole bunch of good books
9. You're book collection exceeds the clothing you own
10. You're constantly running out of shelf space for your darlings
11. When you're going traveling a long distance, you try to bring a book-just in case
12. When you were a kid and went traveling with your family, you didn't see a lot of where you were going, because you were reading in the car
13. Hardback is king
14. It's so distracting when someone keeps dragging you out of your book, talking!

15. You could go on for hours, just talking about your favorite books.:)



  So, what are some of your bookworm-habits, and pet peeves? Leave a comment and let me know! Until then, Cheerio!


        

Expedition to Colorado Pt. 3

  I hope you all aren't getting bored. I'll try to get the rest wrapped up, but it's going to be hard!:)
So day two in CO arrived, and we had friends from church here too now, the Sensinig family-and I have most likely spelled that wrong, my apologies. Aunt Janice bundled  some of the Schamel's in the white van, the Sensinig family drove theirs, and we set out in the mighty Bumble bee, to Pike's Peak!!
It was funny that we should get to go there, because when Justin and I were kids we had a steep hill in the woods we dubbed that. The view got more and more spectacular the higher we got, and the air cooler. I had only brought a sweater, not realizing that I should have brought gloves too, because when we got to the 37 F. top, it was freezing it you stayed out long!

 Me and me sister Lesley

Look Ma, no guardrails!:)
 After that we ate in the Garden of the gods park, and went home to get ready for Wednesday night service.
 The next day Uncle Dale took us to the mines of Victor CO. We saw the working mine's mountain, walked around an old mine, and actually went 1,000 ft. down into the

It was exciting to be in a mine that had actually been used. One of the guides to the tour managed to somehow fit all ten of our group (and the three people in our group we didn't know rode in another), in one cage. Literally sardines.:) Melody tried to take a picture of us while we were in it, but we were too crammed for it!:)  Afterwards we made a pit stop at Wal-mart, (which is very much different looking than the ones we have here), and the guys went ahead to the house to start a campfire, for roasting hot dogs.:)  This was the last night there, and we stayed up as late as we possibly could, which was until we found out we were being too loud.:s It was a wonderful, lovely visit-we got to be with friends we hadn't seen in almost a year, though that kind of made the goodbye's even harder. Someday we won't have to say goodbye though.

The trip home was fairly quiet, as far as events went-but we were a little sleep-deprived, sugar-high slap happy, which made for some hilarious moments. So that was the highlights of the trip-I could post more, but I think I really should give you guys a break.) So cheers for now!

Expedition to Colorado Pt. 2

  Okay, so I left off at Audrey and I not going to bed like we should have, and getting up at 6:30 for Bible study; which was a lovely start to the day. After it and breakfast, us three went by ourselves to sight see, because some of our friends couldn't come as they had to catch up on work first, and we also couldn't fit any of the others in the car with us-bumble bee has a very tiny seating compartment, alas. So we start off, and it is as we pull off onto their dirt road that I see my first of the Colorado mountains-words can't describe them, they are so breath-ta-kingly beautiful! I was driving to my sorrow, but was still able to snag some of it, much to everyone's discomfort. The lack of trust is saddening, sigh.
  On to Colorado Springs, where our first stop was at Focus on the Family!! If you hang around my family long, you soon learn that we are die-hard fans of Adventures in Odyssey.:) We perused the bookstore first of all, which had a great selection.
 

No I was not on my phone,(don't have one), it was my sisters, and I was letting her know what was here to buy for her son.:)   That was the Adventures in Odyssey room, with all the radio adventures, and other related products. After this we made our way into the other building side, and went to find Odyssey-via a three-story slide!  I didn't scream on the way down if you were wondering, but I got dizzy slightly, from going round and round. It was really enjoyable.:)

Then we explored all the things there in "Odyssey". I think the three best were Whit's End, which was an actual soda shop like in the adventure's, the Kid's Radio room, and the Narnia room!:)

We recorded a adventure in the Kid's Radio room after lunch, then we had to pry ourselves away and go see more. Which was the Garden of the gods! And it had some of the loveliest hiking trails, with gorgeous, huge rocks. "wait, rocks were gorgeous?" yes they were, my friend!

And after that we viewed the Indian Cliff Dwellings, which was vastly interesting to Justin, as he saw his Louis L' Amour books come to life. He knew so much that was there, he almost didn't need the information boards.:)

After that it was time to head back, being some more of our good friends, the Martell family, were coming to dinner that night! We had a lovely time talking and talking, and it really ended too soon, as all good things seem to. And now I'd better stop here as well, to put in the next part. 

Expedition to Colorado Pt. 1

  A few months ago my sister Lesley, and her friend, decided to plan a trip out to Colorado, and my brother and I were able to get enough together to go with. We stayed with our friends, the Schamels, on their lovely home out  near Colorado Springs, and ended up even getting to  follow them out-I was really glad about this, because that should cut out the risk of getting lost! Heh heh. Let me continue..

  First you should hear about the car we took. It was Audrey's, and got much better gas mileage; the downside was it was only a four seater, and there wasn't a whole lot of trunk space, nor leg room for Justin, who is around six foot. We did a "dry-run" however, and felt that we could do it, even though poor Justin had a few doubts.
  So we rode in the little Bumble bee, as Audrey tagged it. We met up with our friends at a Wal-Mart, and immediately lost them. This is where it gets good.:) We were able to catch up with them at a gas station, and kept them in sight until we were out of Kansas City-we could see them ahead, but had some cars in between.. then they started driving funny! They went to the left lane. Then the right lane. Then they exited off, and we, while wondering why they'd chosen this unlikely looking exit, followed in hot pursuit-only to discover we were following the wrong white van!!:D We sighted more white vans during this trip that I could remember. And they followed the wrong yellow car too, which was pretty funny as well!
  So we are by ourselves, and Lee is following Amber's directions via text, and using the gps. Well, here comes an exit that looks like the one we want, but we aren't sure until right at the last minute, they think it is-so Audrey crosses two or three lanes of traffic and gets on-to the wrong one! We saw a lot of scenery this way, but I could have done without seeing so much of Kansas.:D

  So, on the other side of Kansas, (Justin was riding with the Schamel's by this point), we drive and drive on very boring scenery, filled with tall windmills. We finally cross the Colorado border without having gotten lost again, but promptly do so when the gps tells us to get off on the wrong exit, and leads us to the town's high school, instead of the restaurant we were trying to find. Fun, fun! After that we had Amber with us, and didn't end up getting lost again, though we did run out of gas; but God let our vehicle run until we got to the station!

  We made it to their beautiful home, and were more than ready to hit the hay by this time, but, not knowing we were to get up at 6:30, Audrey and I didn't fall asleep right away, but talked-whoops! We did get up and around pretty well, when Lee woke us, and made it to Bible study on time.:) This was the tip section of my story, so I'd better cut it off before it gets even longer, and just write another. Cheerio!

The Charm of Anne Shirley

     You have only to mention her name, and if that person has ever read or watched any Anne Shirley book/movie, the reaction will be a starry gaze, a breathy "oh Anne Shirley!" and a complete review of each and every book/movie they've come in contact with. (Barring the horrible third Anne movie). 

What is so appealing, so attracting with Anne Shirley? Allow me to expound.:)

  "There's such a lot of different Annes in me. I sometimes think that is why I'm such a troublesome person. If I was just the one Anne it would be ever so much more comfortable, but then it wouldn't be half so interesting."-Anne of Green Gables.

 That's part of the charm! Anne is so full of different sides, that you a always kept on your toes, and interested. If she was a "regular" heroine, and remained in just one mold, (to use some of Anne's descriptions,  beautiful, raven black hair, or blonde, or brown, alabaster brow, violet eyes, ect), she would have been just the
"main girl", and not much more, But instead, she's red-headed, has freckles, a very nice nose, grey eyes, a temper, a day-dreamer, a scholar, a "kindred spirit"... She's not your average heroine to be sure.

  And she's normal. In fact, she's an an average girl; she bakes cakes, wishes for a bosom friend, loves pretty dresses, and has her dreams. She's a living, pulsing, vibrating girl, and not a plain black-and white character. We can relate to her, feel for her in her moments of anguish and embarrassment, soar with her over her triumphs-in fact, that's probably the first and foremost reason we love her so much!

    "She makes me love her and I like people who make me love them. It saves me so much trouble making myself love them."-Anne of Green Gables

 And she makes us love her without even half trying.:) To me, these are the top few reasons for why I adore reading Anne's books; there are probably more if I thought on them longer, but I won't tire you out. And I wasn't even meaning to write this, it's just the fact I was listening to the soundtrack music, and you know how that goes. If you've never read any of the Anne books, I hope this inspires you to, and if you're a long-time friend of the Avonlea folks, leave me comments and let me know what it is that makes you love Anne Shirley so much!


                       

Adventuring in the Bookstores

         I am a hopeless bookworm. And proud of it. Thankfully, pretty much my whole family is like that, so we get along pretty well with our book collections. (Except for the fact that I'm running out of book-space in the bedroom I share with one of my sisters).Today my oldest sister, Jennifer, (we two happen to be the biggest of the bookworms of the siblings), went on a shopping expedition solely for bookstores or flea markets... a absolute dream come true!!

   So we went on the quest for more books. It's a necessary collection, for those who think books are a waste of space. With our libraries throwing away perfectly wholesome books, how else are we going to get our favorite reads, unless we inter library loan it from a college library-which takes a while.

  

Despite the wet weather, we made it to the shops all right; I really think I was born to be a librarian or book store clerk..  We made 3 bookshops, and one pet store, which Clarence (Jen's toddler), much preferred over the other. We managed to make it out of there without getting an animal.:)

  Jen found 3 or 4 books, and I didn't get a single one, big surprise to you all, I'm sure. Since I don't have a "regular" job right now, I tend to hem and haw over purchases bigger than a dollar, 'tis the sad truth.:) 

  But it was an absolutely awesome trip, because even though I didn't get anything, I spent time with my married sister and her son, and got to dive into the shelves of books. It's not always the big, fancy trips to some amusement park that make a day special; it's the quiet times with your family, a simple trip, (like our trip today, and our girls shopping trip Mom took us on Thursday), and just talking about anything and everything with them, that you might otherwise  miss in the crowds.Even a bookworm knows it's not just about the books. But don't neglect your collection either.;)

 Cheerio!

  

The Beginning of a Journey

After much contemplation and encouragement from a friend and family, I have, at long last, taken the first step to my own blog-I have begun.
  I have much to learn, a fact most prominent as I gazed with dread upon the settings... but I'm looking forward to the challenge and adventure.

   " The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step"-Lao Tzu

Join me on the journey! :)