Republic of Tea Reviews

If you are cold, tea will warm you; if you are too heated, it will cool you; if you are depressed, it will cheer you; if you are excited it will calm you. ~William Ewart Gladstone

     A good tea is such a treat.  I've been finding my taste in tea and giving loose leaf teas a try. I stumbled upon a good selection at Whole Foods.  They actually have them in bulk jars, which I liked, because I was allowed to smell them first. Loose leaf tea is so much more flavorful-sometimes this is good and sometimes this is bad. Here are the 6 varieties I tried:

Silver Rain (white tea)
    

     Grassy with a subtle smokey flavor and, to me, it has a dry finish.  It is low caffeine so perfect if you want to have some tea in the evening without it messing up your sleep.  Also pretty good iced, but because it is such a light flavor you have to brew a substantial amount to have it cold.  I liked it and will continue to drink it.

Lapsang Souchon (black tea)

     I was warned this tea has a very bold flavor. It is smoked over pinewood embers and it pretty much smells like smoke.  The tea is definitely bold.  At first it punches you in the face and then it mellows out into a nice after taste. I don't love it, but I don't hate it.  It kinda reminds me of the flavor profile of a complex beer.

Moroccan Mint (green tea)

     I love mint tea and wanted so desperately to like this one.  I found it bitter and the mint had a fruity, yet medicine-like flavor to it. It also had a long after taste. Multiple brewing seemed to bring out the bitter taste even more.  It was a little better iced, but this is not something I will continue to drink.

Cardamon Cinnamon Herbal Tea

     This is an inviting fragrance that reminds me of the holidays. Since I am not a huge pumpkin fan, this is perfect for me. I enjoyed the pleasant blend of spices and decided to use it as a base for some mulled apple cider.  But the second time I had it, I noticed it had a licorice flavor, which I don't like and couldn't get past.

Chai (black tea with spices)

     I am a huge fan of Chai.  I enjoy it hot and cold.  This Chai was peppery. I mean peppery!! I tried it hot and really had a hard time drinking it.  I added some almond milk, hoping to tame it down. No luck, it contrasted the pepper to make it even more peppery.  I found a chai that I don't like at all.

Yerba Matte (herbal tea)

     I saved the best for last. I LOVE this tea! The description says it all "a deep, sweet, chocolaty infusion." It has a rich, warm delicious body, It taste wonderful by itself or with a splash of almond milk.  The tea leaves can be brewed multiple times and it has some a beautiful mix of purple and yellow in the mix.

     So I was on the search for a good mint and chai tea. I found Zhena's Gypsy Tea in Egyptian Mint and Chocolate Chai.  They aren't loose leaf teas, but they are very good.  I will keep searching for loose leaf versions though.  I am really enjoy tea even more with all the loose leaf varieties.

Crossfit @ 2 Years

      Look at my face. I don't want to pick up that bar, but I am going to. Twice. Then I am going to do the other 3 competition workouts, still feeling the dread.  It is game day and I am not on my game. It doesn't matter, because I am not allowed to give up.  So I  "embrace the suck" and do the best that I can.

 

     I imagined my anniversary blog would be about how much I can lift, or how fast I can run or all the skills I can now do. I am definitely fitter, stronger and faster.  Still somehow, what I have learned this past year can't be measured. At first, I thought I was upping my mental game. But I have done several 5ks, where I had no mental game and still finished in 35 minutes.  There is something else at work here. Something that cuts through all the BS:  This sucks, I suck, I don't feel good, I'm tired, I don't want to do this, why am I doing this, etc.

 

     My most important progress this year has been intangible. The best word I can come up to describe it is- tenacity.  I don't quit, even when I want to quit. I show up, take a deep breath and start. I trust myself, even when fear and doubt creep in and try to sabotage my efforts.  I am confident that if I start, I will find the strength to fight to the finish.   

 

     CrossFit has made me generally better at life.  Doing hard things is empowering and what I experience at CrossFit has carried over into the rest of my life.  I could gush on and on about it, but instead I'll keep it simple: CrossFit makes me a better person.  That's why I am going to keep doing it.

 

“The hardest thing about Crossfit is starting – the second hardest thing is stopping once you’ve started” -http://if-fit.com/crossfit-quotes/

 

      If you are interested, I also did a post on my first 6 months at CrossFit.  Here is a quick exert about where I started from:

"I have no athletic background and have not being doing any kind of regular exercise program for over a year. I am so far out of my comfort zone and am nearly hyperventilating when my class starts. I make it through the next four hours completely bewildered by all the new terminology and ways I am supposed to maneuver my body around a barbell. I manage to not cry, throw-up or pass out- that is something!  I go home and hit up the ibuprofen and promise myself I will stick with this for 3 months, 3 times a week."

DIY Halloween Costume V: Happy Halloween!

   

     Happy Halloween!  This is the final installment of my quest to make my own Halloween costume and I think I actually pulled it off!  Last year, I stressed about my Halloween attire.  This year, I enjoyed making and wearing my costume. 

    I was very hesitant to do a DIY costume. I didn't think I had much crafting skill.  My costume wasn't perfect or professional looking, but I was okay with that. It was fun, flirty and comfortable. So what where my DIY takeaways:

Cons:

• Cost. DIY does not mean cheaper.  The costume http://www.costumecraze.com/SA970.html I was considering buying was about $200. I ended up almost spending that much on my DIY peacock (dress $85, tulle and ribbon $40, feather and tiara $25)
• Time.  I spend a good amount of time planning and crafting. Clicking a button online and typing in a credit card number would have been a lot faster.
• Quality.  I am a perfectionist and my costume definitely looked DIY. Also there were no guarantees that any of my ideas or plans would work.

Pros:

• Crafting confidence.  It got the creative juices flowing.  I really enjoyed planning it out and being crafty.
• Multiple uses.  I have a semi-dressy blue dress that I can wear again. (I already planned to pair it with a lace jacket and wear it to my birthday dinner).  Also the leftover tulle was used to make other outfits (see the Facebook page for the mini Roxy peacock and Octoberfest running tutu).
• New Skills.  I learned some new skills in makeup and tutu making that will last me beyond Halloween. I may also get a color analysis done and really get my style on.

     Would I DIY a Halloween costume again?  Absolutely! Thank you for following along on my crafting adventure.  I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Halloween.  May it be all treats and no tricks!

Reading Reviews- October 2013

     It was a busy month for doing and a slow month for reading. I started several books and just could not get into them ( I didn't even bother mentioning them below). The three I did read were okay.

The Brief History of Dead by Kevin Brockmeier

     This was a interesting concept of "purgatory" and definitely an original take on the apocalyptic tales so many books are about these days.  Some of the character breakout stories seemed dragged out and not important to the overall story development. The end of the story is kind of a fizzle.

Verdict:  I think it would have worked better as a short story, but I would still recommend this because of its originality.

Eighty Days by Matthew Goodman

     This is a story of an around the world trip competition between two woman in the Victorian era. They both made it around the world "unchaperoned." Sounds interesting, but I found the telling of the story not at all interesting. It was like reading a book report by a high schooler (no offensive high school- you don't get paid to write).  I could barely get through the first two chapters.

Verdict: I could not get through it and ended up cheating and just checking wikipedia for who won.  Spoiler alert http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly

Wired by Douglas E. Richards

     Usually I am not into the mystery/thriller genre, but it said NY Times Bestseller so I thought I would give it a try. It is part conspiracy theory, part romance novel and part save the world.  This book can best be described as superficially deep.  I didn't completely hate it, I just wanted to like it more.

Verdict: I won't be reading the sequel "Amped"

Just not a good month for reading I guess?  What did I do with all that extra time- YouTube.

DIY Halloween Costume IV: Hair, Makeup & Glitter

This is the fourth installment of  my quest to make my own Halloween costume.  I struggle with all thing related to fashion and crafting, so this is going to be a challenge. My goal is a DIY peacock. Something that is not overly sexy, but still cute. So far, I've got a blue dress, a tail of tulle and a feather head piece.  This week's task is makeup and hair.

     I was just kidding about the glitter- it just made the title sound catchier. After working with feathers, I was not about to add glitter to the mix.  Makeup was going to be a challenge enough. I seemed to be missing all the girly-girl genes.  So of course, I turned to You Tube and watched a ton of tutorials on creating a peacock eye.

     Researching makeup, led me down a million rabbit trails. I ended up subscribing to a bunch of beauty channels and looking into getting a color analysis done.  This led to a cleaning out of my wardrobe and organizing of my jewelry collection.  Somehow, I also wound up online shopping for deals and signing up for ebates.

     To tell you the truth, I still have no solid plan for my makeup. What I do have is more confidence in my ability to just work with it that night. My sister lent me her Stilla palette which has a bunch of eye shadows, blushes and lipsticks and I have just been playing around with colors. The peacock will be a mix of purple, blue and green eye shadows- that's all I know for now.

     As for hair, I put on my feather tiara and took a picture of it with my hair straight and curled.  Comparing the pictures, curled was a better match for the look. Peacocks are bold animals and big volumized curls seem more attuned to the overall look.  That was easy!

     I think, I finally learned to embrace my creativity and trust myself when it comes to style and fashion. I certainly learned a lot, but there is so much more to learn and I am excited to do so.  Maybe you'll see more blogs on this topic. For now I will leave you with 3 of my favorite makeup products:

• Urban Decay Primer Potion If you eye make-up doesn't last, this is a must have. One vlogger described it as "stopping the creasing and greasing". Amen!

• Zoya Nail Polish  I rarely paint my nails because the polish doesn't seem to last.  I tried the base coat, polish and top coat from Zoya and found a polish that lasted through 6 days of life (including CrossFit barbell work).  I got compliments on my polish job- maybe I do have some girly-girl genes?

•  L'occitane Shea Butter.  I love this for chapped lips or dry skin, especially this time of year when the weather turns cold.  You can even apply to eyelashes for a fake mascara look.

Tomato Basil Soup

     I wanted a way to enjoy the last tastes of summer, so I found a recipe for tomato soup.  The recipe said it can be served hot or cold and this time of year it is nice to have options, because the weather can be fickle.

Ingredients:

12 plum tomatoes

2 onions

2 garlic cloves

Fresh basil leaves

1 tsp thyme

4 cups vegetable stock

28 ounce can plum tomatoes in their juice

Olive oil

Salt & pepper to taste

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Cut tomatoes in half, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Place on baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes

In stockpot, saute onions and garlic with olive oil, salt and pepper

Add canned tomatoes, basil, thyme and chicken stock.

Add oven-roasted tomatoes including liquid.

Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes.

Puree in blender or food processor.

Salt and pepper to taste.

     I thought it tasted okay. It was a good way to get some veggies into the diet.  I think if you aren't opposed to dairy you could add some cream and blend.

Recipe from the Barefoot Contessa:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roasted-tomato-basil-soup-recipe/index.html

DIY Halloween Costumes III: Tiaras & Feathers

This is the third installment of  my quest to make my own Halloween costume.  I struggle with all thing related to fashion and crafting, so this is going to be a challenge. My goal is a DIY peacock. Something that is not overly sexy, but still cute. So far, I've got a blue dress and a tail of tulle. This week's task is to make a feather head piece.

     For the headpiece, I  again turned to Pintrest for ideas. The majority of images were of feather clips. I thought the dress and tail of tulle were kind of subtle, so the headpiece really needed to say Peacock.  The headpiece, needed to be the center piece of the costume, so I turned to feathers and a tiara. 

     I went to Charming Charlie's and got the most basic tiara. I needed something without a lot of detail because I was going to cover it in feathers.  I got an assortment of peacocky feathers from JoAnn's and Michael's. Again I had an idea of what I was going to do, but wanted to remain open to other creative possibilities.

     First, I took YouTube's advice and covered the tiara in dark blue felt. This created a smooth surface for me to work. Most importantly, I focused on feather arrangement rather than covering the tiara in feathers. This was really key to the success of this crafting project.  Next, I laided out the feathers and glued them on layer by layer.  Feathers, feathers everywhere! This was almost as messy as working with glitter.

     The result was exactly what I wanted- a feathery headpiece that said Peacock. I had some leftover feathers, so I made an accessory for the tail ribbon where it ties up front. That means, I am all tulle in the back and all feathers up front. Yeah!  I never wear feathers in real life, but maybe I should because they are fun!  Here is how the pieces turned out:

Links:

Pintrest

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=peacock+headpiece&qpvt=peacock+headpiece&FORM=IGRE

YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvl_D1CIdCY