Afternoon Tea

There is something that is so relaxing about drinking tea. Aside from the fact that it tastes good, it also seems to have a calming effect. At least on me, anyway. :) And so I have recently decided to start collecting tea cups. You know, the old fashioned kind that come with a saucer? I want a bunch of them, but all different. My husband's Granny did that and when she passed away last year we inherited two of them - the start to my collection. At that time, however, I wasn't interested in starting a collection of my own.

But just recently I was having tea with a friend at a darling little tea shop nearby (I was SO excited when this place went in) and she and I were talking about how neat it was that all of their china tea cups were different, but each one unique and pretty. So we both decided that we'd love to start a collection of our own. And what's more, rather than just having them sit endlessly in a china cabinet, we actually plan to use them!

So I found this beautiful set by Spode. I bought this blue set for my friend and the black version for myself.
Isn't it pretty? The company is in England and have been in business for over 200 years - how amazing is that?! At any rate, I have been using my teacup almost every day for the past week. There's something about it that just feels so elegant and sophisticated. It goes great with my new pearls! ;)