Matching Your Dress to Your Teaware Part 29: Arsenic and Old Lace

"Well, how did the poison get in the wine?"

"Well, we put it in wine because it's less noticeable. When it's in tea, it has a distinct odor." --Arsenic and Old Lace

There's no arsenic in my wine or my tea but I thought conjuring up the image of the classic Halloween film Arsenic and Old Lace would be the perfect start to this edition of Matching Your Dress to Your Teaware.

There is something so romantically gothic about the Senorita pattern by Royal Albert. I love the contrast of the bold intricate black lace pattern against the stark white background. The silver edging and large printed rose adds a beautifully delicate and graceful touch that harmonizes well with the lace.

Footed Cup and Saucer in Senorita by Royal Albert, image source: Replacements.com, http://www.replacements.com/webquote/roasen.htm?rplSku=8822909

Teapot in Senorita by Royal Albert, image source: Replacements.com, http://www.replacements.com/webquote/roasen.htm?rplSku=8822909

I found this footed cup and saucer set and teapot on replacements.com and right away knew this would be the perfecting pairing with Stop Staring's Love dress. Stop Starting's Love dress is a classically structured 1950's style wiggle dress. It has an all over printed pattern of pink with delicate black lace. Like the smooth curvaceous lines of the Senorita footed cup and saucer and teapot, the ruching along the waist, bust, and shoulders of the Love dress makes for a flattering shapely look for any body type. Like the rose in the Senorita pattern, the Love dress features a back cut out and oversized back bow which adds a delicate and graceful touch to go along with this dress.

Stop Staring's Love dress- Front View

Stop Staring's Love dress- Back View

Stop Staring's Love dress- Close Up

Are those bats I see flying in the distance? I can hear a crackle of a small wood burning fire going in the background...

Such a Perfect Pairing for a candle lit tea on a dark stormy October night. 

Matching Your Dress To Your Teaware Part 16: More Polka Pairing!

Royal Albert is one of my favorite brands for teaware.

With their refined style, golden edging, classic shapes, and unmistakable quality, there's really no comparison to this brand in my eye.

One of my most favorite patterns of theirs comes from their New Country Roses collection, Polka Rose. My husband gave me this tea set for our first year anniversary. Though it's released under their New Country Roses collection, it is also a pattern that first dates back to the 1930's as is described in Royal Albert's 100 years of Royal Albert Collection.

This teapot features a mint green background with small white polka dots all over. The white lid is adorned with four peach roses circling around it's circumference. Also, as is Royal Albert's signature, gold trimming delicately edges the teapot.

The colors of this set are so quaint and soothing. I love the peach roses on this set which gives it just enough of a pop of color without being too jarring or too excessive. When I first picked out this tea set I loved the colors which I knew would match the walls in my house. But I don't know if I realized at the time that it also matched a Hell Bunny dress I have. It's possible that I didn't even notice it until I started writing this, Matching Your Dress To Your Teaware series, for which I'm now constantly on the lookout for more perfect pairings! In any case, it is a perfect paring indeed.

The Hell Bunny Melanie dress in mint is a mint green dress with small white polka dots. This dress has an attached bolero, a sweetheart neckline, a fitted bodice, and a full flared skirt. Like the Polka Rose teapot, the overall mint with white polka dot body of the dress is offset with white edging at the neckline and along the cuffs and collars of the mock shrug. While this dress is a retro reproduction dress modeled after dresses from the 1950's, I think the allusion to vintage times with this dress coincides well with the 1930's pattern on this tea pot.

Hell Bunny Melanie dress in Mint

This perfect pairing makes me want to pull on an apron and bake some homemade bread filling the house with scents as sweet as this pairing looks!

Matching Your Dress To Your Teaware Part 12: Cross (Stitch) My Heart!

As some of you know, Royal Albert is my favorite brand for teaware.

They make such elegant and delicate teapots! One of my favorite patterns of theirs is their Petit Point pattern. Petit Point is so cute and remarkable at the same time!

Depending on how you look at it Petit Point either resembles cross stitching (which is how it was intended) or it can also resemble modern digital pixelation (which I'm sure is completely unintentional ;) ) In any case, just taking it in it's intended form, the first time I saw this pattern at my local tea house and teaware shop, Tyme For Tea, I fell in love! This pattern is so quaint and unique! How creative to put an embellishment otherwise dedicated to fabric on ceramic!

The Royal Albert Petit Point collection is a marvelous stand alone collection as is. However, when I found this beautiful cross stitched dress online I knew these two beauties belonged together. This beautiful dress is actually a refashioned vintage piece skillfully refashioned by blogger Jennifer Brasher of My Two Butterflies.

The floral embelishments in this dress are all hand cross-stitched. And if the floral cross-stitched motif was not enough to pair these two together, the colors in the dress are a perfect match with Royal Albert's Petit Point pattern down to the gold adornment rimming the teapot which on the dress is recreated by the cross-stitched filligree bordering the neck. So beautiful! <3

Royal Albert Petit Point Tea Set

Royal Albert Petit Point Tea Set

Cross-stitched Dress, photo:http://mytwobutterflies.blogspot.com/2012/09/cross-stitch-dress-refashion.html

Cross-stitched Dress- Close Up, photo: http://mytwobutterflies.blogspot.com/2012/09/cross-stitch-dress-refashion.html

National Pink Day, Pink Tea!

June 21st officially marked the first day of summer... Not only that, but June 23rd marks National Pink Day! I figured that both make for a good reason to have a pink tea!

Actually, the fact that National Pink Day is today, on June 23rd, was a complete coincidence to choosing June 21st to have a pink tea. But it was fun knowing we were getting on in the celebrations and I do like to think on how great a coincidence it was to have Pink Tea around National Pink Day!

What is National Pink Day you may ask? Apparently, according to nationaldaycalendar.com National Pink Day occurs every year on June 23rd and is a day to celebrate the color pink whether by wearing it, eating it, drinking it, etc. Why you may ask? I suppose the answer to that is why not...?

In any case, my friends, Wendy and Betty, and I had a great time getting decked out in our most striking pink attire while enjoying a tablescape of pink profusion. For this tea outing I got out my Royal Albert New Country Roses Pink tea set, laid out a pink polka dot sheer overlay tablecloth, and made sure there was plenty of pink to be seen on the tea table!

Welcome To My Tea Table!

A Pink Garden Tea Spread

Pink Polka Dots, Pink Tea Table

3 Tiered Plate Of Tea Sandwiches, Savories, and Strawberry Shortcakes

Pink For All the Eye To Feast On

Pink Tea with Royal Albert New Country Roses Pink

Ladies In Pink Enjoying A Pink Tea

My Friends and I at Pink Tea

Betty and I

Wendy and I

The tea menu started with a cranberry scone with strawberry preserves, lemon curd, and homemade whipped cream. For tea sandwiches we had turkey and swiss with honey mustard on country white bread, deviled egg salad sandwiches on country white bread, and chicken, pecan and cranberry salad sandwiches on wheat bread. For savories we had mushroom turnovers, spanakopitas, and pastry bites with feta cheese and caramelized onions. For the dessert course we had strawberry shortcakes, petite fours, and dark chocolate cherry cordials. Wendy also brought cupcakes! Our cupcake options were birthday cake, peanut butter and toffee crunch, and snicker doodle. The tea of the day was orange spice black tea.

It was a fine tea with great company, a delicious tea spread, and good weather. What more could be asked of a Pink Tea to mark the first day of summer and celebrate National Pink Day!


Outfit of the Day: 

What was my outfit of choice for this fine pink tea you may ask?

For this outing I wore the Ginger dress by Pinup Girl Clothing with Gabriella Rocha peach flats

Pinup Girl Couture Ginger Dress- Front View

Pinup Girl Couture Ginger Dress- Front View

Pinup Girl Couture Ginger Dress- Side View

 

Spot of Tea?

A fine day for a tea

Saturday, January 25th, sun is out. It's an unusually hot day in January in Northern California... 71 degrees! Clear blue skies. It's a fine day for a tea and I'm glad my friends and I have reservations just for that! 

This month Lisa's Tea Treasures in Campbell is having a special Downton Abbey tea to celebrate the new season and return of the show. I figured it would be a great time to check out this tea location. I've been to the Lisa's in San Jose, and the one in Menlo Park before they moved but not to this one in Campbell. Lisa's in Campbell is in the posh biggest little shopping center, the Prueyard which in a way was a treat in itself to go to. 

Upon entering Lisa's we were immediately surrounded by beautiful colorful tea wares and tea accessories galore, giving a taste of the extravagance that awaited us. We had reservations for 11am, right when they open which is when I like it best. They sat us right away. We were the first ones to enter the room we were seated in. It was a lovely little room with 4 tables well spaced out with fun feminine floral wallpaper and lace curtains. The room was very bright and cheerful because of all the windows yet it felt a world away from the parking lot which was just outside. We were seated at the table just next to the window which was bright yet very private because of the lovely lace curtains. The table was already set up beautifully right when we came in with ginger cookies in the cookie jar, lemon curd at the table, and Royal Albert New Country Roses Rose Confetti china already awaiting us. When a tea place serves you with Royal Albert china you know you will be in for a treat! My friend and I both ordered the Downton Abbey tea while our other friend opted for something on their regular menu. The Downton Abbey tea was absolutely delicious and just as pretty as it was tasty. I was so impressed with both the taste and the appearance. I've been to a lot of teas but this one was definitely special in that it was one of the most beautifully presented, well thought out, and creatively paired creations.   

The first course was a warm baked current scone baked to perfection. Wonderfully crunchy on the outside and soft and moist on the inside, it was so full of flavor it was almost a shame to put Devonshire cream, preserves and lemon curd on it... almost but not quite! hehe. This was also served with blackberry and brie salad on a bed of mixed greens artistically drizzled with blackberry jasmine vinaigrette. It was almost too beautiful to eat! For the second course, there was an artichoke chicken florentine soup which was delicious, as well as smoked salmon tea sandwiches, chicken and mint tea sandwiches, and the very unexpected pairing of pear and herbed cream cheese tea sandwiches. Once again the items were presented like works of art and their beauty was on par with their taste. For the last course, there was sticky toffee pudding which was absolutely heaven on a plate. It was served with whipped cream and pairing the warm sticky toffee pudding with the buttery sweet pecan toffee sauce with the whipped cream... it was a taste that was like sugary creamy goodness that melted in your mouth! Sooooo good.

I was very impressed with Lisa's in Campbell. From their friendly, patient wait staff clothed in period costume of black maids outfits with lace aprons, the beautifully presented food, tea, and tea wares, to the rich feminine environment which helped usher in the mood of dainty ladyiness, attention to detail was everywhere! Also, the tea was very relaxing, a great place to sit and unhurridly chat with friends and sip tea while nibbling on treats. While their website says reservations are for two hours we were never rushed even after we stayed past the two hour limit. So far this is my favorite Lisa's Tea Treasures. I will be returning again! 

One of three rooms at Lisa's Tea Treasures in Campbell

Attention to detail is everywhere

My Lady's Respite earl grey floral blend tea in Royal Albert New Country Roses Rose Confetti tea cup and saucer

So happy to be enjoying my tea

 

A lovely tea with lovely friends Betty and Wendy

 And yet, the day did not stop there! 

While Wendy and I parted ways with Betty for the day, on the way back to Hayward we stopped at the super ritzy and glam shopping center, Santana Row. I love it there! We went to Anthropologie <3 and my new favorite store in Santana Row, Jest Jewels where I picked up a new fascinator I couldn't help but leave the store wearing. Jest Jewels has the biggest selection of the most awesome and most beautiful hats, facinators, hair clips and hair flowers I've ever seen under one roof! The girls in that store are always so friendly and bubbly, an inquisitive, attentive, and lovely bunch of gals! If you're ever in Santana Row this is a not to be missed stop for sure! <3

lol... like two little old ladies out for a day on the town! <3

 

 And yet, still the day does not end there!

 Before the end of the day was through, we were presented with the opportunity to go to Jack London Square to see comedian Pauly Shore at Yoshi's a venue for live shows well know for jazz as well as a Japanese restaurant and bar. Tim and I had been looking forward to seeing him that night but by chance the friends we were planning on going with couldn't make it so we had an extra ticket. The show was awesome! Pauly Shore was awesome. The comedians opening for him were awesome. And the food was awesome. Also... wouldn't you know it, the tea day continued into the night! Burnt Orange, please! Amaretto, hot earl grey tea, orange slice and whipped cream... tasted a little like a hot toddy.

And before I end this post for the day, let me introduce you to my lovely dress. 

My outfit of the day is a favorite from one of my favorites, Trashy Diva, the Streetcar dress in brown plaid. I wore this dress with my favorite flats, a basic, plain, but oh so comfortable pair of black flats I bought from the Gap outlet, as well as a purple plum leather Franco Sarto handbag with contrasting pink stitching my sister bought from Nordstrom Rack which I later got from her. 

Though they call the material on this dress brown plaid, it definitely is more of a purple plum color. It's a sleeveless dress which features a fully lined full circle skirt, self-lined bodice, high neckline with a matching bow at the neck as well as a self belt. This dress has a hidden side zipper and even has pockets! This amazing dress can be worn three ways: as worn this day as a 1940's style dress with the bow at the neck, you can wear it without the bow at the neck which will accentuate a low plunge slit at the chest which I feel gives the dress a more 1950's style, or with the the bow tied as a head scarf and the neckline unbuttoned which gives the dress either a 1950s or 1970's style depending on how you look at it. Though to note, I have noticed that it seems the 1970's loved to copy the 1940's as much as the 1980's loved to copy the 1950's, so maybe the open collar look is a 1940's look? This is definitely one of my favorite dresses. I love the color as well as the easy wearing feeling of the dress. Also, I love it's versatility in being able to wear it different ways.

 

Trashy Diva Streetcar dress in brown plaid- whoops forgot the belt!

back view of Trashy Diva Streetcar dress

right view of Trashy Diva Streetcar dress

bow detail of Trashy Diva Streetcar dress

Trashy Diva Streetcar dress with bow as headscarf and open at collar

Headscarf detail Trashy Diva Streetcar dress

C.C. Cookie wants to pose too!