five friday favorites #13: week of march 6, 2015

So, it's been 1-1/2 months since the last Friday Favorites post. I think we can still safely blame speech, but not for much longer, as we're in the home stretch! Beginning with this week, I'll be highlighting four random favorites and a book ... because you know I'm all about the book recommendations!

Today I'm linking up with Erika, Karli, and April.

1. TOMORROW IS OUR LAST SATURDAY SPEECH MEET OF THE YEAR
Can you sense my excitement? 'Cause I am very excited. After tomorrow, my Saturdays become mine again! We've had a good year, and I have high hopes for several of our kids heading into districts in a couple weeks and then state (God willing!) at the end of the month.

The team. Small but mighty!

2. Tea Samples from a cousin
As you may know, I love tea. I'm not really a tea snob at all, choosing to go for the cheap over the more expensive, high quality teas most of the time. I mean, one of my absolute favorite teas is Bigelow's Orange & Spice herbal tea. $3.00-ish for 20 bags at Walmart. But I may soon be purchasing more expensive teas. My cousin (once removed? I can never quite remember how that works...) recently sent me a package of tea samples she's received with her Harney & Sons orders.

I. Am. In. Love.

The Hot Cinnamon Spice black tea is my favorite so far. I've been disappointed by cinnamon teas in the past, but this tea I could drink every day. The only thing that has kept me from ordering already is that I'd like to try the rest of the samples first to see what else I should order! (One that I won't be ordering? Tilleul, which is apparently linden leaves. Blech!)

3. These Two

Last weekend, my parents celebrated 39 years of marriage! They were just kids when they got married, obviously, as they're not old now! I'm so grateful to have grown up with parents who have modeled a godly marriage for me and my siblings. They're still so obviously in love!

4. Fifteen Pounds
That's the amount of weight I lost in the three months between endocrinologist visits. My endo was floored. She told me that they always tell their overweight patients to loose 10 pounds before the next visit, and they never do ... but I did it! I'm still doing Trim Healthy Mama, though I am modifying it a bit to fit me. And I'm thisclose to convincing my mom to try it with me. Here's to the next fifteen!

5. An Uncertain Choice
On Tuesday, Jody Hedlund's An Uncertain Choice released. This is Hedlund's first novel for the YA market (she's most known for her inspirational historical romances, like the fabulous A Noble Groom). I reviewed the prequel novella The Vow a few weeks ago, I'll have a review of this novel up on my book review blog soon, and I'm also participating in a fun blog tour promoting the book. My post for the tour will be up on March 17.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a fabulous weekend!

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tea time

I've always liked tea. Iced tea, that is. I thought people who drank hot tea when they weren't sick were a little bit crazy. Then I set foot inside a Teavana store. I tried their free samples and fell in love; however, that love was tempered by the price list. I discovered Teavana on the first day we were in D.C. for the school trip I helped sponsor last fall, and each day I was tempted to go back and buy some tea ... but the prices held me back. I kept thinking about Teavana, though, and after I (again) decided to get my caffeine consumption under control, I finally made my first purchase in January.

Yes, Teavana tea is expensive. Some tea blends are insanely so. And I very nearly didn't purchase the one tea I really wanted, the one I tried in the store, because it runs $12 for 2 oz. But it's actually pretty affordable when you really look at it. First of all, I found a coupon for $10 off a $30 purchase. With the Youthberry tea alone, I was almost halfway there. I decided to try one of their other recommended teas, Weight to Go. (The name is ridiculously stupid, I admit. But the tea is ridiculously good!) That put me at $20, and with a $4.50 for 2 oz. mint tea and a canister to hold some of the tea added to my cart, I ended up at just over $30. Cue the coupon!

The other reason Teavana is more affordable than it appears at first blush is that the leaves can steep three times before they lose their flavor. I admit, I was skeptical of this claim at first--after all, I've long mocked my dad for using the same tea bag three or four times. But it really is true; I always use the leaves three times before throwing them away. Each brew tastes different, and much of the sweetness in the fruit tea blends is gone after the first brew. The flavor is still enjoyable, though--and I sometimes add just a pinch of raw sugar to the latter brews.

I got quite impatient while waiting for my friendly UPS man to deliver my precious tea package, and when it arrived, I practically tore into it. My first sniff of the Youthberry tea just about sent me to the moon. My first brew, though, was less than stellar, and I quickly learned two important brewing lessons:

1. Don't use a tea ball. Loose leaf teas expand when wet, and a tea ball is too constricting. I "borrowed" a small sieve from my mom, and the results are infinitely better.
2. Unless you like a weak flavor, don't go with the recommended amount of tea. It's hard to measure the tea blends, as some have pieces of dried fruit. When the directions say to use 1 tsp of tea and one dried pineapple piece fills the teaspoon, it's hard to know how much to use! I've started eyeballing it--I just shake tea into the sieve until the bottom is covered. I figure I'm using about twice the recommended amount.

I've recently started making iced tea, as well. The mint isn't great iced, but I think Weight to Go is even more delicious cold, and Youthberry is excellent either way.

I've really fallen in love with tea, and I'm drinking much less coffee and pop than I did before. Tea is supposed to have a lot of health benefits, too, and I haven't yet heard anything redeeming about pop--so it seems that drinking tea is a better vice! If you're in the neighborhood, stop in and let me make you a delicious cup of tea ... I'm sure you'll love it!

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why i haven't been blogging

(except to post book reviews)

There's a one-word answer: speech.

Our competitive season starts the first week after Christmas break and ends the 4th week of March. We go to eight Saturday invitationals, seven of them in a row (thankfully, this is the eighth Saturday after Christmas break and is a day off!), plus we have Conference, District, and (hopefully) State! It's an insane three months, and I spend many evenings at school, working with team members. Thankfully, we're on the downward slope now, with only one invitational, District, and State to go!

I hate that this blog has basically turned into a book review blog (five of my eight posts in 2011 are book reviews), and I do plan to remedy that ... it's just that I'm so tired when I get home, and I'd rather read a book or watch something on Netflix than actually have to think and write!

And as much as I'd like to write now, I have mountains of papers to grade. I'm so far behind. Like, I gave a test two weeks ago that isn't graded yet (hangs her head in shame). So, I'm setting myself up with a cup of Teavana tea (that's another post waiting to happen!), some relaxing music, and a purple pen (which is so much friendlier than red!), and I'm settling in for an afternoon of grading.

Hope to see you again soon!

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