My Tea Collection - An Introduction

I love tea. No-one who knows me will ever dispute that. I have an entire shelf dedicated to tea (and I've run out of room). I have a tea set which I adore, an antique teapot that I inherited and many other tea accessories.

For the next few Mondays (barring Easter Monday) I will post about my tea collection.
The various sections will be:

• Black teas
• Rooibos teas
• Fruit teas
• Other teas
• Teapots and other tea related accessories.

I hope you enjoy this mini series as I'm looking forward to doing it - and drinking lots of tea :)

Book Review - 'I'm Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)' by Felicia Day

First off, let me just say that I love Felicia Day. I first discovered her through her Youtube channetl 'Geek and Sundry' and automatically liked what I saw. Her weird and awkward online demeanour fascinated me. And helped me to realise that you can just be yourself and still be successful.

So, when I found out she was writing a book I got hugely excited. And evidently so did AJ as he bought the book and read it before me (I let him - reluctantly). So after he finished reading it I managed to get my hands on it myself. And wow was I in for a treat...

My first impression of just looking at the book was WOW! The book is beautiful.

When I actually started reading it (and not just staring at the cool holographic dress Felicia is wearing on the cover), I was struck by how relaxed it was. It was as if she was actually talking to me in my head (that's not that weird - is it). All the way through I could imagine her actually saying everything as if we were having a conversation and she was doing all of the talking.

She starts the book by talking about her childhood and how her unique upbringing contributed to her weirdness. A real eye-opener into a different way of life.
She goes on to talk about how computers and the internet have had such an impact on her life and her highs and lows that have happened over the years.

'I'm Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)' is a fantastic book about how you can become a success from humble (and weird) beginnings. It's a book of overcoming obstacles and learning as you go. It's a book that talks about the good and bad of the internet as well as the realities of the real world - rejection etc.

I loved this book. It was so easy to read and I related to a lot of what she talked about. I too have struggled to get into the industry I wanted. After reading this book I feel inspired to tackle something different - something outside the norm.

So thank you Felicia. Thank you for being so open and honest about life. It really is inspiring. I actually read it a little while ago now. I need a boost so I think I may just read it again this evening.

If you want to buy this book (which I highly recommend) you can get it here.

52 Weeks of Memories - Week 9 - Water

This weeks theme was water. I had hopes of going to the beach or something but laziness kicked in. I could have taken a picture earlier in the week of the rain but I forgot. So I tried to be inventive.
Here's a picture of me pouring water into my mug making a cup of rooibos tea. Yes, my kitchen is messy. Yes it needs a good wipe. Yes, I need to organise some stuff. All in good time...

Travel Tuesday - London - Tower Bridge

It's Tuesday today which means it's time to talk about somewhere I've travelled. Each Tuesday I'm talking about somewhere (near or far) that I've travelled to that I liked.

This week I'm still in London, although this time I'm focussing on the Tower Bridge.

We started our Tower Bridge adventure by sitting under it eating our lunch.

Then we wandered up onto it and made our way to the entrance.

We used our London Pass for entry and caught an elevator up to the top where the views up and down the Thames were incredible.

London is such a beautiful city and the Tower Bridge is a fantastic place to get a view from. AJ reckoned it was better than the London Eye (which, for the record cost a small fortune so we didn't go on it). Up the top of the bridge there was a gallery as well which (at the time) had an exhibition on 60s photography. Quite interesting. You could also see the mechanics used when it lifts to let a ship through (it's a drawbridge). 

52 Weeks of Memories - Week 8 - Sky

Today is a beautiful, hot and blue skied day. Bloody hot though and the sun is too strong for my incredibly pale skin. The cicadas are singing (or whatever it is they do) and there's an occasional chirp of a bird.
I ventured outside for about 5 minutes earlier to catch a snap of the beautiful blue sky.

Travel Tuesday - London - Tower of London

Welcome to Travel Tuesday - the day of the week where I tell you about a place I've travelled to in the past.
For the past few weeks I've been talking about awesome places I've been to in London. This week will continue that trend - with a focus on the Tower of London.

I should also specify that we got a 'London Pass' that gave unlimited travel within certain zones (I forget which) and entry to many of the attractions that we were interested in. The Tower of London was included in this pass.

The day that we went to the Tower of London was a beautiful, blue skied summers day. We got up early and got there before it opened. So worth it as there was already a bit of a queue. Once we got in we headed straight to see the crown jewels as we knew it would be unbearably crowded there later on. You can't take photos in there but we did get a photo of the guard outside.

You might need to actually click on the image to see the guard - but this proves how quiet it was when we first got there.

From there we went to the armoury where there was a plethora of armour, swords, guns, polearms, and other weaponry. The following photos are some of my favourites.

We wandered around many parts of the Tower and saw lots of graffiti from former prisoners, traitors gate and the houses where the Yeomen warders live. The following pictures are a selection from our wanderings.

52 Weeks of Memories - Week 7 - Love

So I love a lot of people - my husband, parents, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends etc....
But to post a picture of them without permission is a bit rude in my opinion.
So I started to think a bit more abstractly - what else do I love?
I love polka dots and I remember seeing a shop window in Auckland last year that was pure awesome. So while it's not a photo from this week it does represent a huge love in my life - the love of polka dots.