Kicking off a year of teas

I spend much of January thinking about resolutions and dreams and goals for the year. One of my "tea resolutions" is simple: have a tea or go to a tearoom every month of 2008! For inspiration, I found the perfect book, which I read over the past two evenings. "The Twelve Teas of Inspiration" is the latest tea book from one of my favorite tea authorities, Emilie Barnes, and it has great tea ideas as well as lovely artwork by Susan Rios.

I love the idea of having a Memorial Tea, an upbeat tea designed in memory of a loved one, and the Thankful Heart Tea, which is all about gratitude for the people who have been a blessing to us in life. In addition to ideas for new tea themes, there are also some terrific new recipes I'm eager to try. I am blessed to have lots of tea-loving girlfriends in my life, so I don't think I'll have a problem coming up with a year of teas. I figure if I start planning now, even the girlfriends who live out of town will be able to come for tea sometime in 2008.

Yesterday I put the first tea party invitations of the year in the mail, and since the three women I sent them to all live nearby, they should receive them today. Will they be able to attend the New Year's Tea I have in mind? Time will tell!