My Joy of Tea

I really am thankful to a the person who introduced me to tea at the Grand Floridian Tea Room. I wish I could get a time for my mom and I for the holidays, but when we are there, they are booked. I am not surprised though. The Red Hatter's are there a lot  for the holidays and with the draw of the gingerbread house. I will get my mom there again at some point. I am starting to plan some for her 80th birthday. I have a couple years for it, but want it to be good. She enjoys having tea there also so I am sure that will be part of it.

There was a subtle change that was noted when I went recently. The tea sandwiches use to have a shrimp salad, an almond chicken salad and then watercrest. The shrimp and almond chicken were changed because of allergies. The replacements are an open faced salmon and a curry chicken salad. The watercrest is now chopped up and in a spread. They kept the egg salad and the garganzola pear.

You can bring home the some of the moment you have at tea by getting their signature teas to go, the gift shop and England's tea shop you can get the cup and saucer set... or my mom's favorite, bring home some scones and devonshire cream. I did that this last trip for her and she really enjoyed them. Maybe a good gift for the holidays? Make a tea basket. (side note: I have gotten the cup and saucer for gifts, but not at Disney. Local department stores have the pattern and much less in cost.)

Whatever your favorite, take time to explore new ones. Take time to relax during the day, and have your cup of tea. The holidays are fast approaching and we all need to take care of ourselves. Make sure you take some time each day for you.

*edit 11/8/2010: I learned this weekend that a friend is opening a tea business. Going to be doing some craft work for her I think. Hope this works well for her. Not going to be a shop... more along lines of mail order or home shows I think.

*edit 11/19/2010: Learned that a Tea and Spice shop opened up at Downtown Disney. Very nice! Hope to see it soon. (Disappointing)

*edit 4/12/2011: The tea sandwiches changed again. Almost back to the original ones.

The Grand 1 Yacht

I have always wanted to take a cruise on the Grand 1 yacht. The yacht has changed a couple of times over the years and the current one allows you to have 18 people on board. It is incredible and expensive.

I still want to do this for a date, and I will one day... but I have been on it for another wonderful reason. I rented it to celebrate a friend's birthday and her wedding. She and her husband have been married for 9 months at the time, and because she gave up her Disney wedding (for the right reason), I wanted her to have something special. She and I worked together in getting the cake picked, and discussing some of the details.

We had assistance through the Grand Floridian in getting everything together. Pat was wonderful. We decided not to have a butler, which it is optional. The Captain was great. He made sure that we had great view of the fireworks (Hallowishes) and we cruised around the 7 Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake.

The Grand 1 has been used for parties, romantic dinners, engagements, celebrations like anniversaries, a private taxi to go to and from different places around the Seas. Now, I do not recommend the private taxi myself, but if you have the money to blow on that, that is your choice.