Last week, I was itching to pull out my watercolors again. On Fridays, my 3-year-old son Jaxson and his dad go to music class. Instead of riding with them to a nearby coffee shop like I usually do, I opted to stay home for my “me time.” It probably helped that there weren’t any toys strewn across my living room floor and my home was mostly clean for a change.
Confession: I love tea. One can never have too much tea. On my last trip to Wal-mart, I picked up a new flavor: Bigelow Pomegranate Black Tea. This was my first time actually purchasing Bigelow Tea. I’ve drank their Constant Comment (a classic) and Earl Grey before because I received them in a tea swap I used to participate in. Did you know that Bigelow uses foil pouches for their bagged tea to preserve freshness? As soon as you open the pouch, the fragrance hits your nose. Instant mood lifter!
Bigelow offers a huge range of types and flavors of tea. Even organic teas. Just what this tea hoarder needs. More tea, yum. Clearly I have a tea problem. Jaxson went shopping with me and even he picked out a box of Bigelow Orange and Spice.
So instead of just plopping down to paint, I slowed down to enjoy my quiet time. First I brewed a small pot of tea. I don’t know about you, but just the process making tea is meditative: putting on the kettle to boil, grabbing my favorite tea cup/mug, opening the tea pouch, and, finally, pouring the boiling water over my tea and letting the aroma float up to my nose.
As I contemplated what to paint first, I sipped the pomegranate black tea. I take my tea without cream or sugar (cause, you know, I’m Asian not British). The new to me tea made my taste buds happy. The pomegranate flavor wasn’t too sweet nor did it taste artificial. A definite winner for me.
I also brewed some tea to use as paint. In a small bowl, I used two tea bags and about half a cup of hot water to make an extra strong tea. I wanted a dark brown color since I knew it would look lighter after it dried. Make sure you put your tea mug away from the tea “paint” so you don’t accidentally drink the wrong thing. Same thing with your water jar for your paints. (I learned that the hard way-ever washed your brush in a cup of tea?)
I used a small Asian style tea cup (no handles) to dip into my extra strength tea and stamped it onto my paper. I used both the top and the bottom of the cup to make different sized circles. Instead of stressing about extra drips and drops on my paper, I just let them stay where they landed. I liked the organic feel of it.
When the tea circles were drying, I turned to my watercolors. Inspired by this February’s issue of Oprah Magazine where someone wrote down five things that happened to them everyday, I wrote down five memorable things from my past week. The list wouldn’t be complete without some illustrations.
This is my favorite part about making lists. I make it pop with a little bit of watercolors. As you can see, my sketches aren’t about being perfect, but just enough to portray each item on my list. If you can read number 5, it says “time by myself to paint.”
The hour and a half to myself went by quickly. Sitting down with my watercolors and a cup of tea helped me recharge from a busy week of kids, school, errands and late nights work sessions. I was rather impressed by Bigelow Tea as well. When my 3 year old came home, he requested that I brew his Orange & Spice and he drank every last drop. Thank goodness it’s an herbal tea. I appreciated that Bigelow has a chart on the side of the box letting me know the caffeine content in different types of tea. Jaxson definitely does not need any caffeine in his system.
Have you ever tried Bigelow Tea? What do you do for your tea moments?
I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Bigelow Tea #CBias #SocialFabric #AmericasTea. All opinions are my own. You can also check out the photos from my tea shopping adventures in my Google+ album.