To Stay Or Not To Stay

Oh my goodness I love being home with these girls.
And my parents.
And with old friends.

And if there weren't this important boy all the way in Ohio I might just stay here forever. But there is, and I am awfully excited to see him tonight.

I promise I'll be back with stories and pictures and outfits and recipes and long thought processes tomorrow, but for the moment (and the next few hours' worth of moments) I'm soaking up my last bit of time in these green woods surrounded by people I love.

Love,
Elisabeth

When we sat around in a circle and read poetry.

Yesterday I shared some snapshots of our Father's Day Poetry Tea Party. I showed the beautiful decor, my sisters all in dresses, and the fancy table setting. But, about half an hour after those had been taken, the girls changed back into pants, we traded the fancy table for an old blanket, and we moved out into the yard. We ate a few remnants of Oat Cake ands sipped the last of our Bigelow Herbal Tea while taking turns sharing old favorites and new found poems. 

One of my very favorite poems found here. 

Father's Day Poetry Herbal Tea Party

For Father's Day, as part of a sponsored post for Collective Bias®, I put together a little poetry tea party featuring our family favorite, Bigelow Tea. Poetry in our family is entertainment, punishment, and tradition. My dad's been reciting to us since we were little, occasionally our punishment for disobedience was memorizing, and I will never forget the car ride home from Maine where Dad recited poetry for two hours straight. 

For this particular evening poetry tea we made my dad's favorite oat cake, some german chocolate brownies, and served assorted Bigelow Teas. I chilled some Red Raspberry herbal tea before hand for a cold option. We've had a constant stock of Bigelow herbal tea in the drawer under the toaster since we moved to NH ten years ago and I think one of our favorite things about Bigelow is the unique flavor combinations (we served my favorite flavor hot, Chamomile Mango).  In addition to baked goods and herbal tea, we had some fruit candies and banana cake my grandmother brought over. 

We kept the decor simple, layering a tuscan inspired runner over some burlap accented with old poetry books and flowers. We used coordinating Tuscan plates, a classic white tea set, and various glass serving bowls. It was all set on a serving table, allowing us to lounge on couches (and eventually outside on the grass) for our evening of poetry, herbal tea, and reminiscing. 

^^I know I keep saying this, but these are the new favorite brownie mix-ins - recipe soon!

^^we added mint leaves to the chilled herbal raspberry tea for flavor decoration

^we broke out the tea cups for this occasion, usually we drink Bigelow by the mug :P

^^the threat of rain forced the party inside - luckily we were able to move out a bit later

^my little sisters are oh so cute, and great sports when I take 200 pictures

More pictures and recipes from yesterday to come - in the mean time I'm back to enjoying my last few days in New Hampshire with my wonderful family and amazing dad.  I'm so grateful for the chance to spend father's day here with him and celebrate the man who has shaped so much of my life.  

I'm already excited to plan the next little tea party - for other fun summer ideas you can check out the summer eguide below: