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.
- Watching Euphoria with my roommates, followed by a long talk late into the night.
- Rainy weather.
- A workout in an empty gym. Reader, if there is one thing I hate, it is working out in front of others. How unnecessarily embarrassing.
- Making new friends during tech week for a production of Romeo and Juliet.
- Seeing my darling friend absolutely dazzle audiences as Juliet in the above production.
- Soup!
- My sweet cat napping on my lap during an online class.
- Dinner with friends new and old, followed by a sleepover complete with spooky television shows.
- Laughing over nothing in particular.
- Sitting at my friend’s place of work and doing homework just so we might spend more time with one another.
- Lovely, lovely friends who live far away but show me every day how close we are in heart.
- The most epic of slumber parties, complete with mountains of junk food, a long list of movies to be consumed, and a mostly-comfortable couch on which to crash.
- Pensive drives alone.
- The final countdown before I dye my hair red! Reader, I am so excited I can hardly speak.
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”.
- The Great. Reader, I am obsessed. This program may rank equally as high as Game of Thrones and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel – which, for those who know me, know is quite a feat.
- The most beautiful pajamas – I adore this lovebirds set, and this sweet mermaid pair!
- Dear Reader, I have still yet to truly experience winter, and this jacket has me envisioning myself with the sleek chic style of a Parisian model – iced coffee and little dog in tow.
- This top, which is what I would love to wear all spring long.
- The Mike Flanagan anthologies, which are nothing short of stunning.
- Such precious wall art from a store scouted by my mother.
- My new favourite article in my closet and the sweatshirt I live in – this marvelously inexpensive steal from Target.
- Floral stationary for the simple worker.
- A song that is beyond beautiful.
Seven-Day Design
A word (or two) of wisdom to guide the upcoming week.
Immortal Echoes
- “I was always ashamed to take. So I gave. It was not a virtue. It was a disguise.” – Anais Nin
Evanescent Intentions
- This week, I will live with gratitude.
Reader, this week was both exceptionally fun and hideously stressful. As is true in all of life, I re-learned this week the lessons of highs and lows, expectations and communication, love and hurt. Reader, I am learning to embrace the peaks and valleys in each day, week, month, year, and to search for where love lies within even the hardest of times. If I have come to understand anything in the past two decades, it is that everything happens for a reason, all is meant to be, and good can be found even in the unpleasant.
This week I will live with gratitude, dear Reader. It is high time I revisited all with which I have been blessed, and looked at my situation with a sense of overwhelming thankfulness instead of observing all that I lack. I want to celebrate the people and things which make my life wonderful every day, and find peace in the strength that is security of self. This week, I aim to cultivate a sense of intentional gratitude in my mind, and in doing so, to discover a week full of wondrous joys, large and small. I will begin by thanking you, darling Reader, for your support, and I wish for you a heavenly journey until we meet again.
Love,
Lettie Anne