Announcing the "Teapot of the Day" series

After all of the excitement of last night's dinner party (details below), I was drowsing over my morning tea when I was inspired to begin a new series called "Teapot of the Day". My mom and I both have extensive collections, and since I know that there are a lot of tea freaks out there, I thought y'all would enjoy it. TEA FREAKS! I KNOW THAT YOU'RE OUT THERE! THIS IS FOR YOU! :)

I'm starting with my mom's collection, and this particular pot is one that she bought the last time we were in England. It is one of my favourites: everything about it, the shape, the colours, the proportions of handle, spout, and body are just lovely. It's the one I use when visiting, and it always makes me start the day with a smile-- hey, I never said that I was complicated :)

Friday afternoon I drove up to visit my parents' for the weekend; it was my dad's birthday-- happy 69th again, Daddy! (Note: yes, I am 33 years old and I still call my paternal unit "Daddy". I am from the South. This is completely normal here, so don't adjust your monitor ;) ). As part of the festivities, we had dinner at my aunt and uncle's house Saturday night, chomping down on a gi-normous pan of my uncle's amazing veggie lasagna. It's one of my favourite dishes and Paul kindly loaded me up with a couple of huge containers to take home. Paul is officially one of my favourite people, not only because he is so respectful of my vegetarianism, but because he firmly believes that I deserve the lion's share of the leftovers :) And that isn't because he thinks I'm a bad cook... or is it??

In addition to all of the good food and catching up with family, one of the best things about family gatherings on my mom's side is the dogs. We all love dogs, we all have dogs. We like to take our dogs places, and dress them in snappy outfits with appropriate accessories. Whenever there's a family gathering, there will be dogs, who are, after all, family. On Saturday night, we had five canine people in attendence (due to the vagaries of Friday afternoon Atlanta traffic, I wasn't able to bring Lucy and Kira, or the count would have been seven!). These canine people were: Bailey, the half chihuahua/half daschund; Annabelle, the teacup chihuahua; Elford, the pug; Mandy, the boxer; and Daisy, the half boxer/ half who-knows-what. Each of them spent some time in my lap that night-- yes, even the boxers :)

I was happily reunited with my own hounds a couple of hours ago, and after bestowing tons of affection and apologies for leaving them, they kindly gave me permission to work on plans for the upcoming gatherings on Tallulah's social calendar. Those gatherings are: the inaugural Sunday Night Supper, an autumn tea party, and the annual Halloween party.

Sunday Night Suppers
I actually had this idea last year, but just never got around to making it happen. Here's the how and why of this idea: This is Atlanta. It is rare to meet anyone who is actually from Atlanta. Most of us have no family and no roots here. I believe that roots and family are important, so I had the idea to have a once-a-month potluck here at Tallulah House where we could share some good food and conversation, and maybe play some board games (don't tell Chris-- he hates board games). In the process, I thought, maybe we could all put down some roots and build an extended family. The first SNS is at the end of this month, and I'll be sure to post some pics and tell you how it went.

Autumn Tea Party
Remember my recent trip to the tea room? If you do, then you may recall the beautiful rock sugar that I brought home. I was inspired by its colour to begin planning an outdoor tea party, where I could use my Hull pottery and autumnal linens. Bear in mind, though, that in Georgia it could be November before it's cool enough to have tea outside, so who knows when this will happen ;)

Halloween Party
This is an annual tradition at Tallulah House, and this year's theme is Nightmares & Fairy Tales (I mentioned it to Chris as a possibility early on, and he got stuck on it so there ya go!). Detailed planning has begun in earnest, though I haven't yet decided on my costume. It's so weird that I love dressing up so much, and yet my Halloween costume is usually a last-minute thing. More details on this annual event to follow.

And so ends this rambling missive. Clearly, I shouldn't go so long between posts :)

Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by,
Kimberley