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!