Afternoon Tea at the Empress

The Empress Hotel is famous for its Victorian afternoon tea. Being a Janeite and a bit of an anglophile I have wanted to do this for a long time. I was so excited to make it a part of a wonderful anniversary trip. My husband really went above and beyond with this one!The tea starts with fresh strawberries and cream.

I don’t drink tea, because being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) I uphold a standard called the Word of Wisdom, But hot chocolate is also served when requested, and it was very good. Of course a variety of teas are available, including herbal tea.A beautiful assortment of tea sandwiches were served. Our selections included egg salad croissants, smoked salmon wheels, and chicken curry sandwiches. There were also scones with jam and cream, and a variety of chocolates and other miniature sweets. There is a children’s tea available and I have to say that the little children, mostly girls with mothers and grandmas, looked so adorable with their own little fancy tiered plates in front of them. I know the afternoon tea is pricey for most of us, but it is not just a meal, it is a special experience.I would like to thank my husband Jon for 27 wonderful years of marriage, and the best anniversary weekend ever. I was completely spoiled and treated like royalty. Thank you, sweetie. I love you with all my heart!

-Lynnae

Anniversary at the Fairmont Empress

This is my second post on our awesome anniversary trip to the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria British Columbia.

The Empress hotel was completed in 1908 and named in Honor of Queen Victoria being the Empress of India.

This was the beautiful view of the harbor from our room.

We had a romantic package that included chocolate dipped strawberries and for us, sparkling cider.

For dinner we ate in the Bengal Room, where Jon took advantage of the curry buffet. The Bengal room was a favorite of frequent guest Rudyard Kipling.

And a delicious breakfast delivered to our room in the morning.

An interior shot of the Empress. I love the beautiful woodwork.

A path outside the Empress.

Next time my final post about our stay in Victoria- Afternoon Tea.

-Lynnae

Christmas Tag Swap

The Burton girls were at it again with a Christmas tag swap. We wanted to do the swap early enough in December that a) we would be able to put up our tags for Christmas decoration, and b) Our Sis who is currently lining in Australia would get hers in time for Christmas. I think we made it!

This year our Christmas theme was more of a color scheme. The theme was Winter Whites. Our tags were to focus on white, cream, silver, gold, and sepia.

I made a banner with the Christmas tags and strung it across my piano for the holidays. I love the look of these tags. They turned out beautiful, and look great displayed together.

A few of us have already had some great ideas for next year’s theme. I’m already excited. Thanks ladies!

-Lynnae

Halloween Tag Swap

One craft project the ladies in my family enjoy is having a tag swap. These usually involve some of my sisters, my mom and a sister in law. Having a tag swap gives us a chance to do a small manageable art project, and  it’s a fun way to stay connected to those that live far away. We don’t use the tags on gifts, just to decorate around the house.

We decide on a holiday or theme, give people a chance to join, and then set a target date for mailing the tag.

These are the tags for our Halloween 2013 tag swap. I made the one on the top left. Each of us made six tags. we keep one of our own and mail out the others to the other participants.

Aren’t they cute?

-Lynnae

Wedding Joy

Hello my blog friends!

I know I’ve been missing from the blogosphere lately, but last month my daughter got married, and it has been all consuming! I have been busy sewing and crafting, but it has all been for the wedding, and therefore under wraps until the big day.

Then the wedding date came and went, and I have been in RELAXATION and DECOMPRESSION mode for the past few weeks. But I have not forgotten you, so the next couple posts will be about this BIG DAY!

So stay tuned for more wedding goodness!

-Lynnae

Update May 2013

I’m a little late….. My husband’s deployment ended in February. I know I’m very behind in blogging, but I am so thankful that he is home. Since he’s been home we’ve taken a romantic trip to Las Vegas, a spring break trip to Utah to visit our daughter and son-in-law, and our other college daughter has been here to visit us.

My husband also had two months of vacation- a month from the Army, and a month from his job here, before he had to go back to Microsoft. I loved spending so much time with him every day. We ran around town together, eating at restaurants that he had missed while he was away, we even joined a gym and started going together. I love my sweetie!

I have a list of ‘deployment thank-you’s"’ for all the help I received during the time he was gone.

I am very thankful to friends, to my family, daughters, and siblings and all the good times we had together, and for my youngest daughter who was a great companion every day, laughed at my silliness, and was perfectly willing to have a frozen burrito any night I didn’t feel like cooking.

Thanks to those who helped with yard work, visited my sick doggie at the kennel while I was out of town, brought me soup on a sad day, looked at broken cars, sent a cake through the mail, climbed a ladder, tried to help me break into my own house after locking myself out, took me to dinner, or movies, or just were there for me.

  Mostly to my Father in Heaven. For keeping us safe, for giving me strength, for protecting our home and protecting my husband. Knowing that the Lord was mindful of me and my needs is humbling and overpowering. Thank you is not enough.

-Lynnae

My England Trip- London

I am in England. It is my second day and this is really a dream come true for me. I am staying with my sister Julianna and her kind husband, who have a sweet little cottage style home in Reading. There are so many little nooks and Crannies! My daughter and I are sleeping in a little upstairs room that is so sweet it’s like being in a treehouse. I have an angled window right above my bed. Julianna also had some gifts for us when we arrived.

This is a one hundred year old copy of Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, my favorite novel, that she gave me as a birthday present. Isn’t it beautiful!

Today we went out to London, But we started the day with Breakfast at a charming and very yummy restaurant in Reading called Bill’s.. My daughter was excited to see the tower of London, so that was our main destination.

London Bridge.

We also went out to see Big Ben. OK, OK, I’ll post this picture, even though I’m not too happy about what is going on with my hair by this point! Jordan looks fabulous as always!

My sister Julianna and I with the London Eye in the background.

As you can see I’m having a great time and feeling totally spoiled here in the UK. I wish I could write about everything. But right now I’m feeling about as tired as this little girl…..

More to come….

-Lynnae

A Pink Fiesta

Look what I just found!

Fiesta ‘Flamingo’!

This will be a great addition to my lovely rainbow of Fiesta dinnerware. I’m so excited!

The color is still in preorder but I ordered a few to add to my collection. I’m so excited. They look so lovely!

In other news…. Our England trip is less than a month away. I’m freaking out a little bit right now. And I’m so very grateful I have a sister who lives there to not only invite me, but be familiar with the area a bit. It’s strange to travel without my husband.

Speaking of his deployment, he ate camel meat. Can you believe it?

And on the home front, today is the last day of school. My daughter went to the park with friends and I brought them a bag full of treats to celebrate. And in an unusual twist for Washington, it actually LOOKED like summer. Hoorah!

-Lynnae

One Week Down…….

My sweetie has been gone just over a week now. Over 9 months to go for his deployment. Just writing that sort of takes the wind out of my sails a little bit.

I know I’ve been a crummy blogger lately. Between getting up at 4:30 every morning for an early morning job (which tires me out), and preparing for my husband to be gone (which saddens my heart) I just haven’t had the mental energy to sit and blog and say everything except what I’m thinking about non-stop.

I have done a few little projects around the house this week. One that I’ve had a lot of fun with is fixing up my porch with more flowers and trying to make it more inviting.

Here’s the view from the front Yard….

-Lynnae

Cured by a Hot Glue Gun

January has been a little crazy, and no, I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth.

I was sick early in January, then in mid January we had crazy snowstorms, school cancellations, and an ice storm, followed by a three day power outage.

Then my husband left for a short Army Reserve training in Pennsylvania and I had big plans. I was finally going to paint my family room, get ready for my Jane Austen party, and do a bunch of other cool stuff, and low and behold, I got sick again.

I was a miserable, laying around, achy eyed, coughing kind of sick, for about a week, and did almost nothing except the basic laundry and food for my daughter, and taking her to school.

Now the fog is lifting. Laryngitis has left my voice a little raspy, but I have felt bad for so long that now I almost feel hyper. Which is good because now I have less time to do all the things I wanted to do.

I’ve spent the last two days catching up on laundry and crafting with my daughter. She wanted to try this cool art project with melted crayons that we saw on Pinterest.  She had a lot of fun and it turned out really cool.

As for me, my BFF’s daughter is expecting her first child, and I am helping out with the baby shower. I’ve been experimenting with all kinds of tissue flowers and coffee filter pom-poms. Next time I’ll post a picture of what I come up with!

-Lynnae

PS. wanna have a peek at my Pinterest Boards? Click here!

The Hunger Games Costume

Have you read the series “The Hunger Games”?  My daughter wanted to be the heroine, Katniss Everdeen for Halloween. I loved the series and had a great time helping her put the outfit together.

This Halloween was pretty poignant in that my youngest was 14 and not going trick or treating. She did have a few places to wear her costume though. And, one benefit of having an older child, in lieu of the normal hectic Halloween evening rush, she let me take her out to the woods for a photo shoot in her costume.

I love reading books and have always thought it would be fun to do a photo shoot based on the scenes and imagery of a book, so this was a blast. Jordan made a great Katniss and we had a lot of fun. Then I brought the photos into editing software and tweaked them a little bit.

Thanks Jordan, for indulging mom!

-Lynnae

July in New Orleans

While we were in New Orleans for a second wedding reception for Nicholas and my daughter Hillary we went out and about to show my husband some of the town like I had seen in June, except there was one big difference….The Rain!

It wasn’t pouring on the night of their reception, which was the most important thing. But the rain on the other days did make it tough to see the town. Our host’s Nick’s family brought a big umbrella, though no one bothered to use it except me. I still ended up pretty soaked because water was everywhere, but it did enable me to take some pictures without ruining my camera.

After a very rainy so-far summer in Seattle we were looking forward to sweltering in a Louisiana steam bath for a while. But it rained, we toured, and made the most of it. And I still loved it! I want to go back.

We went to the wax museum, where my husband was determined to get a picture that looked like he was patting a bathing Napoleon Bonaparte  on the head as he negotiated the Louisiana Purchase (not pictured).

We had a fun time being shown around by Nicholas’ family while the newlyweds were having time to themselves.

My husband and I and our two younger daughters at Jackson Square in the rain.

Then we decided to dodge the rain and drop into house of blues for lunch. The restaurant was SO cold, and we were soaked, so we decided to eat out on the covered patio. I loved the funky decorating, and the patio was the cutest part. Bring on my Po-Boy!

 

 

 

After the day on the town it was time to head back to our host’s house for family, swimming, and, yes, more food!

Thanks for reading my post.

And, OK, OK, I know you really wanted to see this………

-Lynnae