A Very Merry Birthday Tea Party: Part Two

As promised, here are the photos taken at my surprise tea party! (See original post here.) The girls all did such a fabulous job. It was surely a memorable birthday this year.

My mom utilizes this over-sized chalkboard for everything. In between events, she always has a quote written on it at the bottom of her stairs. Today she used it as a menu board- and my first clue as to what was going on!

Some necessary Tea Party accessories awaited me on the front porch. Mom hand made this dress, hat and invitation. The dress fit me perfectly (without ever having tried it on), amazing! The hat was beautifully embellished with layers of chiffon and French netting. The invitations were sewn onto fabric, a unique and crafty touch.

Here I am all dolled up!

Talk about wow factor! I was taken back when I walked into my mother's living room and saw that it had been converted to this charming setting for afternoon tea. Each table was dressed with layers of lace and floral prints creating a lush feminine feeling. I loved it! She brought out gorgeous vintage tea cups from my nana's collection which was a special sentiment to me. Parasols from my wedding hung upside down with fishing wire to add to the grandeur! It was truly stunning.

We had an extravagant three course feast, close to a traditional afternoon high tea. The first course included mom's famous scones, fresh fruit and mimosa's. The second course consisted of classic tea sandwiches-delicious! And for the third course (drum roll please)....

...a breathtaking Red Wine Poached Pear Trifle. I had clipped this recipe months ago and told her that I'd love for it to be my birthday cake next year and she remembered! I can't even begin to describe how absolutely delicious it was with layers of marscapone cheese, toasted hazelnuts, homemade vanilla cake and red wine poached pears. As a bonus, the dish was a gift for me! If you would also like to partake in this pure joy of a dessert, here is the link at Better Homes and Garden: Red Wine Poached Pear Trifle

There were sweet little touches throughout the party that really made the day special.

My mom's china along with whimsical touches.

My mom loves fairies.

A reference to Alice In Wonderland

A favorite doll from my childhood

Party favors from Tea Forte

The girls were enticed to dress according to the theme with a grand prize for best "costume." I think they all looked fabulous!

We all voted and my childhood friend, Mandy, won with her Mad Hatter inspired look. She crafted her top hat, belt and shoes on her own. I love the enthusiasm and she did an outstanding job! 

Well, I guess that's Ta Ta for now! 

Fashion Maverick

             I am proud to say this is my very first blog! So to describe myself, I would say I eat, breathe, and sleep fashion. I used to design and make clothes almost every day of my life. Now, that dream is a distant memory. I am very passionate about my job, which has everything to do with fashion...but I think it's time for me to open up the design gates I've kept closed for so long. I'm going to start slow, with a collection of summer dresses for myself :) I found this series of fabrics in all different colors and I fell in love!

I will continue to post my progress on the collection. I'm going to start with the teal fabric on the left...a maxi dress. Wish me luck! I hope I still got it! LOL

Rainbows

This morning I overslept and was rushing to get in the shower. I heard gentle raindrops outside my window and thought oh great rain, rush hour traffic and waking up late. I opened the blinds on the bathroom window and to my surprise and delight was the most perfect rainbow. You know the kind where all the colors are super vivid and it fills the sky. I could see from one end to the other!

I ran and got my camera trying to capture this elusive treat from Mother Nature. Of course in the 3 minutes it took to find my camera the colors were already fading and you can't really capture a rainbow.  If I hadn't woke up late I would have missed it all together because I would have been in the shower.

Sometimes in our quest to do it all and be all - we miss or forget the simple beauty of a rainbow!

Tea Infused Cocktails - Yum!

While planning my daughter's surprise tea/birthday party I was researching all about tea. I learned many things about afternoon tea, high tea, brewing, presentation etc. But the most interesting thing I ran across was teas from TeaForte.com; my sister and I had a coffee shop a few years back and we carried their products. So I went to their website for inspiration. I am so glad I did.

They carry a line of tea infusers to be steeped into alcohol and then mixed into some awesome cocktails. I bought the set with the little beakers and 3 flavors of tea: Lavender Citrus, Lemongrass Mint and Silkroad Chai. Their website gives you recipes for all 3 infusers. I bought the Mixology set of course - I am not my health conscious daughter.Here are my favorites so far:

Lavender Pear Martini

Wild Mint Mojito

Chai White Russian

I am sure there will be another party for me to try out some of the other recipes!