muerto de risa

sweets party

i've made it to LA in time for the sweets party, but my baked goods are still in the oven, so for now i'm going to pop my copy of Marie Antoinette into the dvd player so we can all enjoy her pastel treats.

happy birthday wendy! 

old-fashioned sweet

   

this is the little rug jordan and i made for my brother and di.  they seemed to really like it.  that was a relief as we decided to make a new one only a few weeks before the wedding.  we stitched every night for hours.  jordan has since sworn off needlepoint.  i still love the meditative quality of pulling the needle and yarn in and out of the tiny boxes.

thank you again for all of your birthday cheer.  this seems to be one of those years when my birthday gets stretched out.  last night we went out with some ecuadorian friends and celebrated again.  did you know that ecuadorians love whiskey?  a friend of a friend decided to capitalize on this by opening a bar in quito that serves only whiskey and whiskey drinks.  we ended up there last night and since i am not much of a drinker i was a little intimidated by the menu.  but thanks to jordan, i discovered a new favorite drink: the old-fashioned.  whiskey, 7-up, and lime juice.  apparently this version of the drink is known as an old-fashioned sweet.  sweet, but not too sweet.  slightly tart.  only a vague taste of whiskey.  yum.

have a great weekend!

ps-i would love either this coat or this jacket to replace my stolen one.  too bad they only ship to canada!

party on a canvas

thank you for all the birthday wishes.  and for those of you who weren't sure, it was my birthday yesterday.  we didn't do anything too exciting...just a nice dinner at our favorite local mexican joint (which happens to serve one of the best glasses of lemonade in quito) followed by a movie on dvd.  jordan gave me this party on a canvas painting by ecuadorian artist paula ordonez.  i love it.

and because i promised pedro, here is a photo of me (with j) from the wedding (or at least during pre-wedding photo-taking in battery park):

 

leaving new york was hard.  it is hard to beleve that in six more weeks we will be back in the states for good.

congratulations matty & di!

i love you guys!

a smashing success!

hello friends!  our tea party was a smashing success!  the party went ALL day friday.  thank you everyone who took the time to post or leave a comment!  i spent most of the day yesterday cleaning (thank you paula and jordan)and relaxing and trying to explain the idea of a virtual tea party to some friends who don't blog. :)

frips sent me this lovely print from her "alice series" and i thought it would be perfect way to celebrate the party's success!

there were about 60 people who posted about their time at the party and many, many more who stopped by to say hi.  if i include those who left comments people attended from 19 different countries: australia, belgium, bulgaria, canada, denmark, ecuador, england, finland, france, germany, holland, israel, japan, morocco, norway, portugal, scotland, spain, and from all over the united states.

if i missed you please let me know!

we did have a few stragglers: kajsa, kiwi, and tiffany

i don't know about you, but i'm going to have to take some more time this week to visit some of my new friends!  it was great to meet you all and mingle with some of my old buddies at the same time.  i' m thinking of throwing another party in a few months...something with a different theme.  oh, and there may be a little project to help us all remember this party...i'll let you know about that later this week.:)

tea party day!

yay!  bienvenidos a la fiesta!  i'm glad you could make it.  please come in, make yourself comfortable, and enjoy looking around.  there are some name tags on the corner table, feel free to write your name and/or blog name so we can recognize you faster.  next, check out the huge buffet table covered in goodies from around the world, the tea bar brimming with freshly steeped tea in a every flavor imaginable and an array of cups, saucers, and tea pots both old and new.  take your cup of tea and sip it while browsing through the tea-themed gallery or sit down and chat with some of the other guests.

i've already enjoyed my first cup of tea:

i decided to go for a simple, but colorful outfit for the day, including my favorite big red resin beaded necklace.  for the evening portion of the party, i plan to go fancy...in my most comfortable floor length black gown and bright pink candy earrings:

i decided to drink out of my brand new bright orange tea cup and blue-striped saucer but i also brought along my collection of vintage cups and saucers:

 

it looks like some of them have already been used.  i think between all of us we will be able to drink tea all day and never have to reuse a cup!

i also set up some place settings  and flower arrangements for those of you who prefer to sit while you mingle:

my food contributions are sweet, sweet, and more sweet. some yummy fruit tarts, mini-chocolate layer cakes, and for those coming to the tea party in the morning, some just baked chocolate croissants:

and my sister decided to bake us all a cake and bring some pretty moroccan tea glasses:

my mom brought some wonderful tea sandwiches and her famous banana chocolate chip muffins.  i better slow down, i'm already getting a stomach ache!

don't forget to to let me know once you've posted.  i don't want to miss anyone.  and also send my your address for favors.  if you're brave i'd still love to see some photos of you!

i'm off to mingle with all of the other ladies who made it (from australia, bulgaria, canada, denmark, ecuador, england, france, germany, holland, israel, japan, norway, portugal, scotland, and from all over the united states):

julie with her girls and some freshly-picked lemons

louise and her collection of international tea ware

paula sharing little stories and facts and who was smart enought to bring her camera

divine seating and lovely gracia

vanessa brimming with sparkles and lace

an incredibly cute drawing and miss denitsa

whimsical vintage cups and saucer (but no chai!) arrived with tiel

veronica and some argentinean mate

a beautiful watercolor, yorkshire teacakes and sweet lila

britt-arnhild shares stories and golden tea cups

corey and her antique adventures

cute kitties and a rainbow hammock arrived with djbebe

some vintage goodness, coffee, and phyllis

sarah and the cute little waitress, eliza

a tea party picnic with jill

janet in her wellies brings spiced apple tea and wine (i love that we now have wine and coffee to go with the tea!)

ashley in a bathrobe

paula2 with her tea, or is it coffee?, cup and saucer

beautiful roses and a great teapot came with lovely lisa

dear shari brings tom, abigail, fancy tea cups, and more

and abigail brought freesias, in the way only abigail can

lemon ricotta biscuits and peppermint lattes and marsha

alex and her sweet mismatched teapot

sabine and friends and cupcakes

owls and smiles with jillypickle

more cupcakes (one can never have too many!) and donuts arrive with wendy

loonytick brings lady grey tea and cornbread

denise and mmmm...bubble tea

lisa-gabrielle and a whole gaggle of little friends

an animated photo! and tatjana

super busy ellia relaxes with chai

more owly goodness with sarah2

vintage fiestaware came with kristin

vanilla chai and jane

shash brought laughs

genevieve and a lovely white-haired couple

egg salad tea sandwiches came with stephanie s

and black spice chai with gina

taryn drinks tea the persian way

emily likes her tea cups EXTRA large

babelfish wears polka dots

a polaroid catches jerusha's fun

yay! yah brought an extra special cupcake

amisha with stories and darjeeling tea from darjeeling

jordan, my love, shares a poem

pretty drawings from marieke

la vie arty and her orange and almond cake

a beatrix potter cup and bowl are being used by cute nancy

mariyarn and swan-shaped biscuits

anastasia brought polka dot tea (i love polka dots!)

chamomile (manzanilla) tea and stories of childhood with monica

geek+nerd in her pajamas

renee made it just in time

and don't forget christy

tricia just made it

as did tracy

and rebecca

thanks for coming!  be sure to check back as this list will continue to grow! (from now on new guests will be added to the bottom of the list to make it easier for those of you who are coming and going.)

tea party instructions...

the sky today amazes me, so i had to shoot some photos...

are you all ready for the tea party on friday?
this is how it will work.  friday morning, sometime between 8 and 9am EST i will post signaling the beginning of the party.  this is an all day affair, allowing for everyone to stop by at some point during the day.

if you want to come (and please do, the more the merrier!) all you have to do is post something tea-related on your blog (and if you don't have one but still want to come, you can send me something to post for you).  ideas include anything you might contribute to the party (food, tea, cups, teapots, etc.), you in your party outfit, or a story about your favorite tea drinking experience.  if you're not too shy, it would be great if you posted a photo of yourself as this is all about "virtually" spending time with all of our blogging friends.

once you've posted please leave me a comment or send me an email: muerto_de (at) yahoo (dot) com.  i will then add a link to your site in my post so other participants can easily visit with you.

also, if i haven't exchanged mail with you in the past couple of months, please send me your address as i have little party favors for everyone.

hope to see you there!

i will most likely post again tomorrow, but just wanted to make sure there was a couple of days for people to catch this post. :)