The year prior (affectionately known as 2010) brought with it a marathon of articles and blog posts like never before. I was fortunate enough to be writing for The English Tea Store and for Examiner.com, in addition to this blog, and getting paid to do so. By the end of 2010, however, the "mad tea party" became a "virtual" tea party, attended only by me and my computer. The only tea time I was having, was the time I took to write about tea online. All too often, I was only "enjoying" the cup or product that I was writing about, as I wrote about it. "Sharing" online is not the same as actually sharing in person.
I began to fall out of love. I was no longer mad about tea, but I had become frantic about creating tea-based content. So much writing to keep up with, so little time. I was losing the purity of this simple pleasure. So to salvage my relationship with my love of tea, I had to let the writing go...
For me, tea is something to be shared with others. I can think of no better custom that that of an afternoon tea party - stopping your day to enjoy tea and food and conversation, I mean, what could be better??? Let there be Friendship and Laughter and Cake!
So while I haven't written about it, 2011 has become the Year of the Mad Tea Party. At least once a week, a small party of friends and acquaintances shows up to my house to drink tea. Sometimes that includes lunch, sometimes we assemble tea projects and orders, sometimes there's baked goods and there's always music. It's amazing what can happen with the littlest invitation - like asking others to drink some tea with you.
So to those of you who have come over to my house, have brought over friends, and have raised a mug of tea with me -- thank you. Thank you for being part of the madness and for bringing back the Love.
I received an awesome tea swap this year from the 
