Afternoon Delights

My daughter and I love to do tea.  I have collected beautiful china for years.  You could say I have an obsession for beautiful china, vintage silver pieces and exquisite stemware.  Stephanie wanted to try this sorbet type milkshake her sister told her about so she went down and bought these wonderful pastries in chocolate cups and brought them home for us.  We tried to find fresh flowers that were reasonably priced but even here in Southern California, the pickins were slim this weekend (probably all scarfed up last week for Valentine's Day).  Well, you can't do tea without flowers so I rummaged through the silk pile and look what I found.  These are so pretty, I'm going to leave them out for awhile.  This vase is vintage and I call it my "Lalique" vase.  It's not, but it might as well be.  I LOVE this vase.  My sweet little birds were a recent find at the gift show and I think I'm keeping a couple of these too!

 I pulled out this large silver tray I keep out all the time.  It's a great size for serving tea.  We made the little sorbet smoothies and topped them with fresh berries.  I love how all the colors came together with my chintz china.

 Another thing I obsess over is vintage and antique lace.  This piece is beyond beautiful, and I suspect it is probably a hundred years old.  It's pretty fragile and is rampant with little holes here and there, but I just scrunch it up to hide the imperfections.  Look at the detail of this lace.  There are several crowns and bows and roses.  How romantic can you get?  I wish I knew the history of this piece.  It's truly one of my faves.

 Thanks for joining us for tea.  You are always welcome.