Christmas Tea At The Crown & Cumpet

Ho, ho ho y'all!

Jill and I snuck off to San Francisco yesterday. Ah, the city at Christmas... I love San Francisco always, but at Christmas, I think I love it even more, if that's possible. Everything was merry & bright and we had a grand ol time first at the Ferry Building, then wandering at Ghiradelli Square, then taking tea at The Crown & Crumpet, and afterwards, meandering around SF enjoying the scenery. It was a great day, I thought I'd share some pictures with you.

The Crown & Crumpet is starting to feel like our little hiding place in SF, this was our third trip to the C&C, but our first at Christmas and to our delight the C&C was dressed for a party and full of holiday merriment. It is really such a special place, we love, love, love it.

A holiday tea! Those words alone make me all kinds of happy.

Look at all these sweets!

And these sweets, too.

This fabulous red Christmas tree grabs your attention as soon as you walk into the Crown & Crumpet.

A cheery fireplace mantle. Love those fabulous, pink feather trees!

The tea, service and food were as fabulous as always. That's one thing about the Crown & Crumpet that I especially love, the consistency of the product. Each time we've been there, we feel like "friends" of the shop, like they've been waiting for us to arrive. It's awesome, and not stuffy. Such a joy!

Of course no trip is complete without a memento, or three. I bought this happy, little soldier at the Crown & Crumpet's gift shop, so sweet.

He went straight onto the tree in our family room.

And my happiest purchase of the day, this lovely little broach! I've loved the work of the maker, Lorie Marie for some time and she has a terrific blog which I follow (it's over there on my side bar too, have a look!) as well. I knew that she sells some of her wares at the Crown & Crumpets gift shop, and I was excited to see them in person. When I did, I HAD to have one of these pins. It's everything I love, felt, happy colors, flowers, stitching, in a word; perfect. I really wanted one of these, but it's just not in the budget at the mo... maybe for my birthday.   

Oh, and then there's this! Couldn't leave Ghiradelli Square at Christmas without some, it's my favorite.

I know I've said it before, but you can be sure I'll say it again, if you're a tea fan, and ever you're in San Francisco, you must find the time to have tea at the Crown & Crumpet, you will love it. I promise.

I know this has already been a picture heavy post, but I'm really enjoying and learning to use my new camera, so I hope you'll forgive my photo indulgence a little more. Here are a few snaps that I think are pretty from the Ferry Building...

Just inside the Ferry Building.

Rose & geranium French macaroons, tasted as pretty as they looked. Miette.

Beautiful shrooms, Far West Fungi.

Gifts from the hive, Bee Kind.

All sorts of wondrous fromage (hot guy not included), Cowgirl Creamery.

Mine! Mine! Mine! This guy crept up on me, good thing Jill was watching.

So that about wraps it up, I hope you've enjoyed another trip to my favorite city by the bay!

More Christmas goodness coming soon, stay tuned!

oxo,

Lisa



Roseville Antiques Fair

Well hello there, you's! My, aren't you looking fabulous today!

I had a mostly fun weekend, and I actually remembered to take my camera and get some pictures of the best part, so I have a few to share with you guys. Most of Saturday, eech... don't ask, it wasn't good. But Sunday at the Roseville Antiques Fair with Jill was fun, fun! Take a lookie...

I love that shelf full of metal bins, I think it was in the ballpark of $600... That blue chest is cool too, I bet it would be especially loved by those of you who do paper craft. I love the bright color!

Heavy metal! I may, or may not have purchased one of these items for someone who shall remain nameless. If in fact, I purchased one at all...

I saw a lot of terrific drop leaf tables at this fair, I especially love this one. I'm a big fan of storage.

Pretty in pink... this booth was overflowing with it. Very, very pretty and very, very girly. Maybe even a little too much for me. But I did manage to stick my arm in for a few pictures. I noticed that most of the husbands wandered about outside this booth while their ladies perused inside. Teehee...

This was the banner hanging inside the ultra girly booth. I LOVE the font they used on their bunting. I never get tired of beautiful, ornate letters. I wish I could find embroidery patters in this font, maybe I'll use my handy-dandy light box to trace one so I can stitch one up. Hmmm...

Ooh, la, la...

This picture was taken on the back porch of a great little shop called The Tattered House. Lots of pretty to behold!

Dig that succulent planter box! What a great use for an old glass side table. It's amazing what a little spray paint and some sandpaper can do for a piece that's no longer "in style". I think this is a terrific example of repurposing.

Eh, eh... do you see it tea lovers?? Those pillows are covered in the names of several varieties of tea!! And again with the gorgeous fonts! Be still, my heart.

Jill picked up a few goodies too, one of which I was in love with as well. It was purrty!

I even got to meet a fellow blogger and FOJ (Friend Of Jill's) Marsha, she's posted some pics too, pop on over to her blog and have a look. The day was sunny and fair, perfect T-shirt weather. Look at this tree bursting to life! I'm fond of spring, yessiree!

 

I picked up a great little side table at this antique fair, quite the bargain too! I'll tell you about that later though.

We worked up quite an appetite gawking at all this goodness, so after we left the fair, we lunched at one of my all time favorites, Chipotle! Are y'all familiar with Chipotle? I'm a slave for it. I get the same thing every single time.

Carnitas Burrito Bowl, with everything.

(...drool...)

It is sooo good.

After lunch we hit up another {massive!} vintage/antique place called Midway Antique Mall. Those of you who like mid-century modern would have an absolute field day here! Walking through that store is very like walking onto the set of your favorite old TV show. It was pretty amazing, I must say. Many of the "booths" are picture perfect vignettes of vintage rooms. There are pictures of some of these rooms on their website, check it out. There's definitely something for everyone there. I kept expecting Dean Martin or Mary Tyler Moore to pop out from around a corner. It was funny to walk through and constantly say "Hey, my mom had one of those!" like every 5 seconds. Made me feel kinda old, actually. Maybe I'm starting to get a little "vintage" myself, heh.

Ok, so that about wraps it up! We also made a quick trip to Ikea, but I'm saving that for another post too. Hope you guys enjoyed some of the pictures, I always love to see where you guys are going on your blogs, so I hope you like that kind of thing too.

Have a great day out there!

oxo,

Lisa

Home Goodies!

Home Goods is awesome! Do you have one where you live?

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I love that store but it's like torture sometimes. Right now for instance the place is filled with all kinds of tea things; dainty little tea cup & saucer sets, a variety tea pots, big hearty tea mugs that hold at least a couple of cups, kettles galore and many, many types of tea both loose and bagged, and all the little munchie stuff you could ever want to go along with your tea.

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Oh-mah-gosh, way too much great stuff that I wish I could buy and stash away for birthday & Chistmas gifts! It's only on days like this when I think to myself "Why? Why not me? Why can't I win the lottery?" Then I take a deep breath and walk away... Some days it goes better than others. This time around went pretty well, I did pick up a couple of things that I couldn't resist, but no more than I would have spent on a fast food dinner, which I don't do anymore.

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Now being an Independent Tea Consultant for Let's Do Tea, I normally drink our teas, all of which are fantastic, go on, book a party you'll see. You can try everything I have ;o)~ But one of my favorites is the Earl Grey and I'm completely out right now.

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Whilst perusing the tea and goodies aisle, I found a very pretty tin of tea.

The tin is what made me pick up the can in the first place. Isn't it pretty? It looks like she's dancing with a tea pot & cups! This tea is called Zhena's Gypsy Tea, and the flavor is Uplifting Earl Grey. I thought, what the heck, for $3 you really can't go wrong. I also found some tea cookies called BIS COT TEA, also flavored Earl Grey. Has anyone ever hear of either of these?

To my happy suprise, both are delightful! The cookies really do taste like Earl Grey, a little overpowering on their own, but with a cup of a "like minded" tea... perfect!

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So, this is my treat tonight as I'm about to go settle in and watch the season finally of The Biggest Loser (I love that show!!) but before I do, I thought I'd share with you all the good deals to be had right now. If you do have a Home Goods near you, so as soon as possible, the great things never last and once they're gone, they're gone for good.