These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Today I had a “me” day. It’s something I do every now & then where I do several of my favorite things. Just me – no family, no friends, just lil ole me.

My first stop was The Tea Embassy in Austin. This little tea shop is run by a young couple in an old house (see picture below).

I want to live here. It’s quaint and charming and has all these separate little rooms just full of everything tea!

Here’s what I got there today:

The tea I bought is a blend they call Walnut Green Tea. It has Chinese green tea with brittle pieces, pineapple bits, coconut flakes and walnut bits. It’s a slice of heaven.

The tea cup I bought is called a Serenity cup. Nice, huh? We all need a little serenity in our lives.

I also scored a couple of Tea Magazines at 50% off. Who would have guessed there were entire magazines devoted to tea?

Now, my next stop was a little odd for a “pamper the princess” kind of day, but it was on the way to the place I was ultimately headed to, so I just made a wee pit stop.  Half-Price Books…yep. Not glamorous, but I wanted to find a basic book on photography. This is what I got:

Haha – we’ll see.

I also picked up this cute little journal that I can carry around in my purse.  My other daily journal is just too big and heavy to lug around with all the other c-r-a-p I carry around in there!

With that little bit of business out of the way, I headed to my final destination for the day – Salado, Texas. Salado is what I call an “artist colony”. There are little shops, antique stores, a couple of inns, a few galleries, and a little winery. It’s one of those places where girls love to go and look at every little nook and cranny in every store – and the men that are with them sit outside on the benches!

I was famished when I got there, so the first thing I did was head to Browning’s Courtyard Café. It’s a sweet little place with hardwood floors and green table cloths. Before you even walk in the door, you can smell the fresh-baked bread! I had a chicken salad sandwich with a cup of minestrone soup. Yummy…

After lunch, I went across the street to this cool little bridge to take some pictures.

This is the troll that guards the bridge – haha.

 At one end of the bridge, there is a “bicycle fence”. For some reason it reminds me of the scene in The Sound of Music where they are all riding their bicycles.

Here’s my pretty new bracelet that I found in the first shop I went into: 

And then I found this cute hand-painted tea bag holder in another store. I couldn’t resist…it has bluebonnets, and unless you missed the really big picture at the top of my blog, you should be able to tell that I LOVE bluebonnets!

I made a quick stop at the local stamp store (Stamp Salado), and picked up a few small things to make some Christmas cards – yep, you heard me…I said CHRISTMAS!!!! Now we’ll see if they actually get made.

My favorite stop of the day was a place called Horsefeathers. It’s another one of those businesses in an old house with lots of little rooms….I love that, can you tell? It smells so good from burning candles all throughout and it’s a home dec dream come true (a bit trendy, but not too much).

I got a pretty charger plate and these beady things called “candle jewelry”. They go around the base of the candle(s) and really look nice. As you can tell, I neglected to buy a candle. Oops…

Being sufficiently worn out and hungry again, I decided it was time to head home. I stopped at my local Sprouts market and picked up tonight’s dinner:

Garlic naan, feta-stuffed olives, grape tomatoes, blueberries and nectarines.

I also picked up these weird little vegetable chips. The jury is still out, but they are kind of addictive.

Now I’m looking forward to slipping into my jammies, making a nice cup of hot tea and leisurely perusing my new magazines. All in all, a wonderful day!

What are some of YOUR favorite things?