Food For Thought: Lovejoy's Tea Room

I often feel that despite my true age I often act as if I'm already an old woman. I enjoy knitting, I would not think twice about choosing to spend an evening reading rather than out and about, and I like verbalizing expressions that the elderly commonly use like "the cat's pajamas" and "the bees knees" in my every day speech. Today in celebration of my dear friend, Mariah, I got to embrace that older lady inside of me with a tea party. Proving my hunch that tea parties don't have to just be a jam of the elderly.

Located on Church Street, Lovejoys Tea Room truthfully fufills the intention of its name. With an eclectic style of mismatched tea cups in a room full of cozy furniture pieces, one has a hard time not entering without feeling a little like Alice exploring her Wonderland and a member of England's royal family all at the same time. For a very reasonable price, we spent the late afternoon (because let's face it, that's when the old folks are eating) dining on tasty sandwiches, salads, biscuits, scones and an unlimited amount of delicious tea that kept us all lovingly and joyfully jittery. (My personal favorite was a tie between this Vanilla Chamomile mix and a creation we attempted using their Gingerbread Tea and a new Chocolate Chip Tea they had introduced.) Mariah also treated the group to a tea leaf reader which proved to be an amusing and thoughtful experience for most of us. I was interestingly informed that I possessed a "male brain". Ah, how it all makes sense now...

The true love and joy of the day, however, came from the company I shared it all with and the time we spent after our tea just sitting around Mariah's kitchen table back at her apartment. Led only by the way Miss Castle can, she helped gracefully encourage all of us to talk about some of the things we've learned throughout the year and additional goals and hopes we each have for the next few months. We laughed, we shared stories, and we all continued to use her bathroom... because, wow, we drank a lot of tea. Reflecting on it all now, I think it's a great idea to unleash that little old lady living inside of all of us from time to time by spending an afternoon with fancy teas and mature discussions... and then delight in the thought that you're not actually there yet. You still have the chance to embrace so many more adventures, laughs, and bathroom breaks before it's time, and if you're lucky enough to share it with good friends, well, then thank your lucky tea leaves even more for blessing you with such a beautiful design.