Reader, welcome to Afternoon Tea! As a self-confessed hopeless romantic and anglophile to the highest degree, it is one of my deepest sorrows that I am not one to regularly partake in the privilege that is afternoon tea. Although I often enjoy a cup of Earl Grey on slow afternoons, my chipped mugs and sliced bananas are poor substitutions for the Spode china and brilliantly colored petit fours that would abound in an authentic ceremony. As such, I invite you to a virtual celebration of the elegant pastime that begs us to appreciate beauty and focus on being present. Here, you will find a somewhat jumbled collection of my revelations, reflections, and that which I relish from the week. So please, brew a warm pot of tea, procure for yourself an array of scones and biscuits, and peruse with me what is lovely in life.
Thanking the Academy
What does it mean to thank the Academy? To do so is to extend a breathless word of overwhelming appreciation to a higher power, to a force second only to the Universe in terms of its ubiquitous and enigmatic presence. As such, here you will find my own earnest appeal to make my gratitude known – a profound and dreamlike thank-you to that manifestation which is omnipresent, alluring, and all-encompassing.
- Morning walks in the chilly weather.
- A ridiculous hijink by my friend I can’t bring myself to stop laughing at.
- Your support. Reader, thank you. You are too kind.
- Avocado toast on sourdough after a workout.
- Soreness after said workout. I have said it before and I will say it again, I do love being sore. Though I know aching muscles are no indication of successful exercising, it does feel that way.
- Going out with friends.
- Playing Taylor Swift with my co-worker and gushing over the new album with every girl who passed our desk.
- People who let you text them novels worth of words and still take the time to read it all. I really do believe soulmates come in the form of friends.
- Seeing a very odd play with a very dear friend.
- The slight discomfort of a thawing inner-ear once safely inside from the cold. Fifty-five degrees is no laughing matter for your friends down here in Texas, Reader.
- Sneaking tootsie-rolls and life-savers at work with my partner-in-crime.
- Visiting a pumpkin patch with an old, and several new, friends!
- Popping in to see my kittens and being greeted with snuggles.
- The world’s most wonderful family… and friends who feel like blood.
- A brilliant new project.
These Are a Few of My Favorite Things…
In an unending effort to live just as my icon, Ms. Julie Andrews, below you will find my own weekly compilation of that which brings me just as much joy as “raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens”.
- MIDNIGHTS. The countdown is over. Miss Taylor has done it again.
- These shoes, which I believe I was gifted several years ago, but which I wore to work every day this week.
- This dress. I have decided I absolutely need it for my 21st.
- Obe fitness. A former SWEAT app disciple, I am enjoying this newest (largely female-oriented) subscription service. I fear I am turning into a morning person after using this app as motivation to get up.
- I am dying over all the Christmas wrapping paper designs on Etsy. Just look at this Twelve Days of Christmas pattern, this pudding paper, this Nutcracker art, and these trees! Heaven.
- HEB Sweet Cream creamer. Forget your fancy brand of overpriced milk, this works just as well.
- These pajamas, which made me laugh out loud in their preppy-absurdity, and which appeased the retired-equestrian in me.
- This hair mask. I am trying very hard to level-up my hair and skin game, Reader, and this mask was ridiculously inexpensive for how soft my hair felt upon washing out.
Seven-Day Design
A word (or two) of wisdom to guide the upcoming week.
Immortal Echoes
- “Fear not, we are of the nature of the lion, and cannot descend to the destruction of mice and such small beasts.” – Queen Elizabeth I
Evanescent Intentions
- This week, I will choose.
Reader, I have long harboured a silent suspicion of those who claim to practice “intentionality.” Though I am sure the ethic is an admirable one, I am yet to meet a person who associates himself with the word who is not insufferable in his conviction that he alone is a god among men, a saved being sent to save…a sophomoric braggart, to be frank.
Such a statement is reductive, I know, and I am not one to favour generalizations. Thus, to those intentional individuals whose hearts are decent and charitable, it may be in your best interest to alert your fellows that their comportment is in need of immediate remedy.
However, while there is a poor connotation to the word “intention” in my lexicon, the larger idea is not a bad one. Thus, I will not live with intention this week, but I will make choices.
Of course, we all make choices every day. Even the smallest flick of the eyes requires the decision to move that miniscule amount. But I seek to live in a manner that emphasizes the type of choices that pertain to my heart. This week, I want to choose to let go of the thoughts that run around my brain without serving me. I want to choose to leave every interaction having been a positive presence in the other person’s life. I want to choose not to dwell in the past, but to take responsibility for my mistakes, learn, forgive, and move forward. I want to choose to be the person I want to be.
Reader, life is an absolute mess of a thing. How lucky we are to trudge through the muddle and know we will come out on the other end, greater and kinder and wiser.
Love,
Lettie Anne