Fortnum & Mason Advent Tea Calendar

When I led the tour around England I was gifted this incredible Fortnum & Mason Tea Advent Calendar.  I was incredibly grateful and very stunned.

I took it home and I amazed myself that I waited until December to open it.

https://www.fortnumandmason.com/tea/all-teas


Day 1 was this silver plated tea diffuser, sells alone in the US for $86.00!!!
The individual tea tins sell for around $28.00 US a piece.
The entire advent calendar sold for close to $200.  I am so touched!!


Days 2-25 were full of amazing loose leaf teas.

I have been enjoying them ... and will continue to enjoy them for the rest of the year.



I even used the Earl Grey to make a cheesecake like dessert!  Yogurt, Earl Grey, and tea cookies!



Fortnum & Mason was my favorite of the 7 afternoon teas I did in my 7 days in England.  Everything was top notch!!



The food was delicious!! And it was endless, we could keep ordering if we wanted more of something.


The flying cups on the wall were really fun looking.



I enjoyed the glam of Fortnum's!


The gals who got me the advent calendar also bought me the tea ornament!!!

I bought my self a $5 box of truffles that came in the blue bag below...thinking this would be my ornament for the tree.  Now I have a few reminders of that special day.








Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 

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Hot Pots Crafts in Alliance, Teacup Mosaic

My sisters and I try to do something together at Christmas time instead of giving gifts.

Last year we went to lunch and then did Stan Hewitt and we also did an afternoon tea together.
The year before that we blew glass in Cleveland and made ornaments.
This year was lunch and mosaics.


We went to Hot Pots in Alliance and we loved it!!!!
We so wish this was closer!!!
They have so many kinds of crafts and things to do.  You can also have parties here and bring in your own food.

https://hotpotspottery.com/

We wanted something we could do in a day, since it was about an hour drive to get there.
We decided on mosaics.

It was a bit overwhelming looking at all the options...then I saw a giant teacup.


You select your wooden base and the price is on the back.  
The price includes everything- the glass, the glue, and the grout.

The glass to select from is a bit overwhelming too. 


Did I take on too much?
Did I spend too much?
Maybe!

It took over an hour to complete and I spent $60.  Gulp!!
I figured we usually go out and spend more, so I had budgeted $80 for the day....
Plus, I didn't really like any of the smaller things and I figured if I was going to do a mosaic, I wanted it to be something I really wanted.
And I have to say, I really do like it!!


We each selected our items and then had to laugh, we each matched our item.
I was a purple teacup, my older sister was a teal bird, and my younger sister was a green turtle.


I was laying it all out and then realized that took too long.  I ended up gluing as I went. 
They also give you snippers and you can cut the glass to different shapes or just make them smaller.  I appreciated this, as I did not want all my shapes to be the same.


You can see all the other crafts you can do.
Pottery painting, glass fusion, candle making, wood decor, glitter tumblers, a splash room, and then what we did the mosaics.




FINALLY!!
It is all glued.  Now I can take it home and grout it there.


See how we match our mosaics?


They sent us all home with white grout and black tint.  We could tint the grout as dark as we wanted.  I went for a grey tint.  My sister went with a brown grout...there are other options.


Grouting was the easy process, cleaning it took awhile. 
I wish they had had small teacup...for one reason I would not have spent $60, the other it would not have taken so long.

We were all thrilled the way they turned out.
I just need to figure where mine will go until I get my tea shop.









 

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AffoGato Cat Cafe in Cleveland OH

 Wednesday Wanderings took me to Cleveland to visit a friend.

We went to lunch and then wanted to grab tea/coffee.  When we googled what was around we discovered we were near a cat cafe!

This is just outside Tremont...or on the edge of Tremont. 

Tremont is an adorable little area with cute shops and delicious restaurants.


https://affogatocatcafe.com/



When you walk in there is a small area to order drinks or purchase plants.  The cats are not in this area, but you can see them through the glass windows and door.

I went with the Cinnamon Shortbread Chai.



$9 for 30 minutes with the cats...we could not pass that up!


These cats were so cute!!  I wanted to take most of them home.  There were a pair of lazy older cats that they said loved each other...those were the ones I wanted the most.


There were three very ornery kittens.


My understanding is that these cats are from the Cleveland Animal Protective League and if you want to adopt you go through them.  These are all rescued cats.

They can house up to 20 cats here at one time.

They have had over 1600 adoptions here since 2019!



The area that the cats have to play is very nice.  They have plenty of room to play or be left alone.



You could even buy plants if you wanted.


This was a fun little cafe.  They did a good job with my chai.  The staff was friendly and the cats were the best!!!!
I sure don't mind spending $9 to get in, this goes towards the cats and that's a great cause.




Here is where we went first for lunch....Cilantro Taqueria in Tremont. 
It was very tasty!  We went with build your own bowl.  
Everything was fresh and delicious.

https://www.cilantrotaqueria.com/


The cat cafe is around 10 minutes from here.


I have to say I love Cleveland.  I have always felt safe there.  And it is almost exactly one hour away.  It is so easy to run up see some sights and get home all before dark.


Just another Wednesday tooling around Cleveland!
After all of this I went to my favorite Asian grocery store and Trader Joes.





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