Making Sun Tea

It is so hot outside. WOW.

I'm spending a lot of time trying to find ways to stay cool which means avoiding going outside as much as possible lately. Fall can't come soon enough for so many reasons right now.

I decided to try and make use of this CRAZY heat and make up a batch of sun tea. Gotta put that blistering hot ol' sun to work you know.

A couple weeks ago when my sister came to visit we all took a trip out to the Charleston Tea Plantation on Wadmalaw Island. This tea plantation is the only working tea plantation in the United States. It was really cool to check it out and sample some of their yummy tea.






I learned a few things on our tour about tea.

1. Ice tea was invented at the Worlds Fair in St. Louis. (The guide put me on the spot with this question and I didn't know the answer).

2. Tea is the second most popular beverage in the US, second to water.

3. Most tea (can't remember the percentage) consumed in the US is iced, that number (yup, sorry couldn't remember what number that was) jumps up to 95% when you get to the South where we make it sweet tea and you find it in every home around these parts. House wine of the South :)

It was a neat little tour and in a neat and isolated area that made for a nice trip.

Fast forward to present day now and my desire to fix up some sun tea. Sun tea is basically water in a glass container with tea bags that you place in the sun and the sun and heat does the work for you. Cause you know sticking a cup of water into a microwave is just so darn hard ;)

I used some of the tea plantation's Plantation Peach tea.



Tea doesn't get much more Southern then that.




And out in the sun it sits. I did have a small plate over the top to keep any crazy bugs from dive bombing into my tea. Plate was removed to make for a prettier picture and no bugs were harmed in the making of this sun tea. Just add some ice and enjoy!

Have you ever made sun tea before? Got any tips or secrets that you swear by?

Getting my Rhythm Down

(Charleston Harbor on the 4th of July)

One of the big changes (and there were so many recently) in our move was that I now work at home as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. Trying to create a schedule to stick to so I don't waste the day watching hours and hours of bad reality television has been hard. Not a feel bad for me kind of hard, just hard for me to get myself into a routine when no external force is actually making me stick to that routine except for my own will power. I've found that I work better when under pressure and I can get my head down and bulldoze through my work then when I foresee myself having lots and lots of time and then I tend to get more distracted by things that seem to need my attention that moment. Like cleaning up the kitchen. Trying to wrangle the dog hair tumbleweeds that are trying to take over our wood floors. Taking care of issues that come up that fall into my hands since the husband is at work and doesn't have that kind of flexibility now.

One of the biggest surprises about working freelance is how fast the day goes by. At my last job I would count the hours till I got home. Those hours have grown wings and turbo jets now because the day seems to fly by now and I seem to always be looking at a stack of "to do" lists that never got my attention that day.

Anyone have any tips or things that works for them when it comes to time management or from keeping the day from totally getting away from you?

Hey Ya'll!

Now coming to you from The Palmetto State!

The Big Move from the Midwest to the Deep South went really well and I couldn't be happier. I love being back in the South. I don't think I knew how much I really loved it and living by the coast until it was out of my life.



It really is a different way of life here and I'm so happy at how effortlessly it all just seems to fit.

I'm excited to get back to blogging and having a regular schedule again. Much more to come!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Hope you had a fantastic Memorial Day! Lots of love to all the military people (and families!) out there. I come from a family with a number of military members so I have nothing but the highest respect for all the branches of the military. Thank you for all your sacrifices.

When I got to work today and was getting through the morning blurries I was going through my Google Reader, just getting up to date on what was going on in the blog world. One blog that I make sure to always check is A Beautiful Mess. The mastermind behind A Beautiful Mess is crafting goddess Elsie. She is a super creative soul that I have a TON of respect for. Not only is she super artistic and creative but she's also a great creative business person. I took the Indie Biz class last year mainly because she was going to be one of the teachers. And who doesn't want to learn from the best?

Anyways, so back to me getting out of the morning fog. As I scrolled through my Google Reader I saw that they had picked names for a great giveaway that she was doing on her blog.

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And wouldn't you know it but I was one of the winners!

I was very excited about it since the giveaway was for access to one of her e-courses. E-courses are great because they are full of information on a topic but no deadline like many online class courses do. And being able to work at my own speed through the information is great especially right now when my life is all in boxes.

I can't wait to dive right in to the Dream Job e- course. The timing couldn't be much better since I'm hoping to get much more involved with building my Etsy Shop (Wonderland Papers) once we are done moving and I can devote myself to it whole heatedly. There will definitely be a review of the Dream Job e-course in the near future.

Thanks again Elsie!

Packing < Unpacking

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Math really isn't my strong suit but one thing is very clear right now.

Packing < Unpacking

Southern At Heart

So do you remember THIS POST from a while back?

Well there is a reason that I wanted to love that book. I knew when I was reading it that there was a good chance that we would be moving to the location that the book is based on.

And now I know that is the case.

We're moving to Charleston, SC this summer :)

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At Folly Beach this past weekend when we went house hunting.

To say that I'm excited is a GROSS understatement. I'm just totally beyond thrilled right now to be moving back to the South. I grew up in Florida and lived there all my life until we moved to St. Louis 2 years ago. This Southern girl has really missed her Southern drawls and hospitality :)

My husband got a great job offer and it really just feels perfect. I feel so amazingly blessed.

And don't EVEN get me started on the food in Charleston. Here fishy fishy :)

Have you ever been to Charleston, SC before? Any one have any info they can share with me?

Happy Momma's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, mother in laws and soon to be moms out there!

The number of moms in my life duplicated this year since two of my best friends are both going to be able to celebrate Mother's Day for the first time this year. So exciting!



A picture of me and my mom on my wedding day. I have a great mom. I think she is the best and we have an amazing relationship. I feel so lucky and fortunate that I'm able to have the relationship with her that I do. Growing up I had my typical teenage girl moments and we weren't as close. As I got older our relationship really got better and better. I really couldn't ask for more. My mom has raised that bar really high for me when I hopefully become a mom some day. I know she will always be their to support me though so I look forward to that next chapter in my life whenever it comes.

Happy Mother's Day!

Do you have a special relationship with your mom or a special person that has taken on a motherly role in your life?