Tea Setup

One of the best parts about this move and moving in with my roommate is discovering a new option for storing my tea and other hot drink stuff. She is a primarily coffee girl who loves tea, I am a primarily tea girl who now also loves coffee, so we balance. She had this amazing cart that I just knew would make an amazing drink station!

Behold! I feel so grown up.

Now, it has taken this over a year to get this awesome. The cart and the way it is organized was one of the first things we set up in the new place, before we even had a couch for our living room. We always envisioned having shelving to display teaware and coffee items, but only had one smaller bookshelf that didn't really "go" with the color of the cart. In a stroke of luck, earlier this spring, some people were moving out of their apartment and put these two heavy duty bookshelves by our dumpster! My roommate and I ran out in the beginning of a hail storm to get the first one and when we saw the movers with the second, we directed them straight to our place. Given the age of my building and how most of my furniture is hand me downs, the old school shelves fit right in!

We still use the little kitchen cart, mostly to store my steeper on so it doesn't mess up the wood of the other cart if it drips, and our honey stash. I LOVE lavender honey and rose honey!

We use the lower shelves as a hodgepodge. I store the teas I am reaching for most often to ice, as I am trying to mostly whittle my collection down to near nothing before I rebuild with less old teas. I also store coffee filters, empty tea canisters of teas I plan to replenish in the fall (hello chai!), and we store coffee, the occasional coffee travel mug, and random teapots that don't really "fit" on our more nicely curated shelves.

We have a Chinese themed shelf, with a lot of red tones, and a brown/black coffee shelf with our most loved coffee preparing devices. A red stovetop espresso maker was in use at the time of this picture, but it usually lives here.

The top of the cart includes my mug of the day, the tea I am brewing, cups, Keurig, kettle, sugar, and the teas I am working on at the moment to finish. The cups are adorable, but really are so small I never personally use them. I have used them when we have guests who all want tea at once.

The bottom of the rack holds 95% of the tea in these baskets. The upper right hand basket holds scales mostly, and a few teabag teas I save to use at school. The middle top shelf are my absolute favorite teas, most of which I am working on finishing because they are getting old, and the companies no longer exist. The teas on the upper and lower left have not been tasted yet. The teas on the bottom right are teas I have tried before and enjoy, the basket in the middle contains tea I have designated as iced.

Ultimately, I would like to reduce the tea to one row, so I can keep extra containers and such on the bottom, and just have higher tea turnover.

These are my favorite shelves. A blue/purple focus, and a green/yellow/aqua focus. These items are a combination of mine and my roommate's. Temporarily, there are also green and yellow tea tins that will ultimately go live in my bedroom once I drink all the tea inside!

These shelves are the remainder of the bunch. Leftover tea tins, tea brewing supplies, my roommate's stash of teabags, as most of the tea she drinks is in teabag form, and our handful of cookbooks.

Overall, I love our setup. I love the teaware being decor, I love having a dedicated brewing space, and storage that for the first time ever actually works for me! The kitchen cart was from IKEA back in the day. They have a similar cart, but it is not the exact same. The new version is a bit slimmer and shorter. That being said, if my roomie moved out tomorrow, the first thing I would do is go buy it! It looks great, fits baskets super well, and is a great size!

Progress

After a couple months of plateau, there has finally been some progress on the job front. I have been applying to any position I am qualified to apply to (and a few I am not) in PA, DC, DE, NH, VT, VA, and MD, as well as a few other outlying places as well, that show up on the job sites I have my information on. I have an interview with a school in Virginia for a second grade position, of which there are 2. There are two days of interviews, which makes me believe I am one of 15 at the most (as they are scheduling them in hour increments), so on first look, I do have a fighting chance. The school looks beautiful, the location looks beautiful, and second grade is a great grade for me. It is about an hour and a half from DC, so closer to where a lot of my friends live and about equidistant from my family as where I live now, which I think works well.

I am freaking out. It will be a 5 hour drive down, and a 5 hour drive home, and thanks to pet sitting and subbing I will need to do both drives in one day. I am hoping the drive down will help to subdue and calm me, and the drive home will hopefully feel triumphant. And if it doesn't, as this is my first interview for a classroom job, it will hopefully also help me feel calm. It has been 8 years since I have interviewed for a job that I had no paid experience doing, and the first interview I am sure I will be the most nervous for the first interview.

In less critical news, my tea stash that was once filling a cabinet, half of my dining room table, and a 4 by 2 foot space on the floor has been reduced to the cabinet and the table only. Sounds silly, but it is the first tangible evidence of me consuming more than I acquire that I've had in awhile, and all of my tea that has over an ounce now lives in a tin in its appropriate spot in the cabinet. Particularly if I end up moving home without a job, how much tea I have will matter a lot, as my organization options will be exceedingly limited. If I am in my own place at a new job, I will just have a new cabinet to organize. Maybe the solution is dedicating a larger cabinet/shelf...

Anyone else nap when they get nervous? I suddenly feel like I know absolutely nothing about teaching at all. Dating is so much easier for me, so much less riding on it. I just need to remind myself that this interview is not that different from a first date - if it doesn't work, I have a plan that is still in place that isn't terrible. It will be great practice, the principal sounded friendly on the phone, and even if I struggle with something unexpected, I will be even more prepared for the next time.

Steepster and Tea Organization

Today marks one year on the tea lover's haven, Steepster. I have to say it is one of the more awesome discoveries of the year while also being the most cruel. I have spent a lot on tea, and my stash is nuts thanks to exposure to more high quality brands that are often small and not very well known. In that time, I have completed 423 tasting notes in that year, though admittedly a solid chunk are compiled from other records I have from tea reviews past (mostly Adagio). I am excited to see where this next year takes me.

I am also checking in about my tea pare-down goals I introduced at the end of last summer. At that time, I had 80 samples and 68 tins. The goal was 20 sample sizes and 30 full tins. I currently still have 68 full sized tins, but only have 43 samples. I take this as decent news - it means that knowing I bought a TON of tea, I was drinking it and/or rehoming the things I didn't like at the same speed as I purchased it. And more, I am drinking samples far faster than I am acquiring them. With some mindfulness, I am confident this year will show progress in reducing even more.

In the spirit of the new year, I reorganized some things. I also got my first little teapot. It has a mesh strainer inside it, is a pretty jade green color, and holds two mugs worth of tea. This has revolutionized my tea drinking as I am now able to steep loose leaf tea easily while I am dog sitting (I have been house and dog sitting for the past 3 weeks straight), and able to make a big pot and sit and do other things. Overall it cuts down time brewing.

I redid my cabinets. Right now as they stand, they house nearly all of the tins I have. It is organized in a specific way, and about 2/3 of the way full. The organizational system doesn't work as effectively if it is any more full, so I think what is inside is my real goal for knowing I have just enough.

The bottom shelf are all teas I prefer to make iced - many tins are on their sides. On the right, there are older teas I need to use up first. The pink box in the middle hold all of the tea samples I have tasted and am keeping. The left side holds the iced teas that are newer. The top shelf holds my hot teas. The ones on the right are ones that are full sized that I haven't tasted yet. The ones on the left are ones I have. The ones in the middle are my favorite teas so I can find them easily. The whole top shelf is also organized by having the newer teas in the back in their sections, and the older ones in the front.

I keep a small stash on my countertop of things I am trying to finish. There are usually a couple samples here too. Right now, I have some lavender honey I am trying to finish. Yes, I also have a small excess of honey.

I have an excess that I am trying to cut down on. This small box holds all the teas that I am not going to bother rehoming in a tin - there isn't enough to warrant it, and many are Butiki and are going out of business. These will be consumed long before they go stale. Many of these are night in light-proof packaging, also requiring that they be consumed sooner rather than later.

This is the true overstock. The large box on the left are samples. Since this picture was taken, I received my golden tips subscription so there are more now. The small Adagio box holds samples that I know I enjoy, but that aren't open yet. I really try to make sure teas not living in tins, or open samples exposed to air get priority. The box on the right contains all of the sealed, airtight teas that are waiting for tin space in the cabinet. It is a medium sized box. The giant bag in the middle is a huge amount of Blood Orange tisane from Adagio, one of my favorite iced teas, waiting for tin space.

I am feeling great about the start to this year, tea included.

Goals and Resolutions

Welcome to 2015, and may it be an amazing year for everyone. It will be one of big changes for me, that is for sure.

I am not a huge resolution-y kind of person, because I find they end up setting me up for failure if I am not succeeding a few months in. So I stick more to goals, and keep them generalized. I do tend to have target numbers, but that is really only to keep me focused on always moving forward.

Goal: Continue to lose weight. Ideally, around 40-50lbs.
Goal: Cook more, order out less. Financially, this one is necessary. Health wise it is helpful too. I want to learn 50 new recipes this year. Even if I only try them once, even if it is simple and three ingredients or involves super low prep. My biggest challenge with cooking is just my lack of experience so trying anything new is a huge help in the long run. 50 sounds like a lot, but really the goal is about one per week.
Goal: Continue to amp up the exercise. I did a great job walking more in 2014, particularly over the summer, and I want to continue that trend of walking more, but also incorporating the couch to 5k program I started.
Goal: Finish more of what I have, organize better, keep cleaner. I have trouble with clutter, and having lots of things around. Particularly makeup, beauty products, and tea. I am already well on my way to paring down the makeup stash even more (a serious win of 2014), haven't bought new lotion in months (thank god), and have made great progress in lowering my overall tea stash. And I have done a great job in organizing my three main hoards so that I use more, more efficiently. This year I began the rule of "if you haven't touched it in a year, contemplate if you REALLY need it" when it comes to organizing. I need to continue that effort throughout my apartment, in prep for moving in the summer.

I believe all of these things are good, attainable goals even among unknown moving situations and job stress and whatever may come.

I am so proud of my progress with my tea. I posted in August about having 45 samples and 59 containers of full size tea. Thanks to amazing deals and a general lack of control, even as I gave away a ton of tea throughout the fall and drank a ton...I currently have 66 full sizes and 47 samples as of December 31. Womp. Why am I proud? Because I reorganized them, have begun purchasing more wisely in general, and am still plowing through my stash at a rapid enough rate that I feel confident I can continue to get my stash to a more manageable level in 2015. My goal is to have all of my tea fit into my cabinets I store them in (post about organization later). Now that I bought some new tins for cheap from New Years sales, my cabinets are about 2/3 of the way full with as many tins as I feel I need.

Overall, I am feeling pretty positive about the new year. Updates on how these goals are going will be regular, I am thinking of making them a monthly thing so I can keep myself on track.

Tea Drink-Down

Anyone who knows me even reasonably well knows how much I have come to love tea. It is funny actually, five years ago I had only had it a couple of times. It was a slow transition, and I realized at some point, through a single Teavana tin of loose leaf tea, that the plain Lipton bags were what I didn't like, and there was a whole other world out there I had no clue about.

Fast forward a couple years, and you have a girl who now drinks almost exclusively tea or tisanes. I am not a fan of water most of the time, I prefer my liquid to have flavor. I have also stopped buying juices or soda (diet or regular) to keep in the house, and only order them occasionally when I am out at dinner as a treat. I can honestly say I feel a lot better for it. That said, I try to keep my caffeine intake stable, and less than what would amount to a couple cups of coffee per day. This isn't so hard to do - I stick to black tea in the morning, oolong and green tea midday, and white or herbal tisanes in the evening. I make my own iced tea and it is largely unsweetened.

I should state first that I am TOTALLY comfortable having a large tea stash. It is a fairly healthy vice, and compared to most other drinks is also cheaper. But between a few monthly subscription boxes and a few boxes of samples from people on Steepster looking to pare down their collections, I have more than I can handle. So a few months ago, I instituted a goal. I count all of my teas on Sundays, and currently have 59 tins of tea (ranging from 1oz-10oz), and 45 samples (anything under an ounce). It doesn't fit in my tea cabinet in full, which to me is my main issue. So, my goal is to have less than 20 samples, and 30 tins full. That way, hopefully about half will be hot tea, and half will be iced. But really, I would be happy if it all fit in the cabinet, which would work at 40 tins too.

Making iced tea often means I drink those very fast, but hot teas take less leaf, so I usually keep drinking them in the mornings and evenings through the summer. Not too hard a feat, given how mild this summer has been.

Adagio, Rwanda Rukeri: Adagio is the first brand I ever bought from, and still one of my favorites. They have the best rewards system I have ever seen - I find between reviewing and sharing my daily cup on Facebook that about 25% of all the tea I purchase from them is free, often more. I started out being very into black tea, but now I often find it to be a bit too strong. This tea is good, very bold, but I have to be careful not to overleaf or overbrew.

Harney and Sons, Florence: This is very much a chocolate tea. It is a sample I got from a box of samples I purchased from a person on Steepster (damn my need to try a little of everything combined with a good deal!). It is chocolatey, with a hint of roastiness that I believe is hazelnut flavor. It was ok on its own, but I plan to add a bit of almond milk and turn it into more of a creamy dessert. Chocolate teas usually just make me want real chocolate, so brewing it stronger and with milk, like a chai, should quell the craving.

Adagio, Hojicha: If you like strong black teas, but want to branch out a little, this roasted green is the way to go. Roasty all the way, and I like to drink it in the evenings.

Chameleon Teas, Peppermint Cinnamon tea: This one is also green, and also spicy and relaxing and perfect for evening. As you can see, I am well on my way to finishing this one.

After I drink a tea, I rate it and review it on Steepster so I can remember which ones I liked best, and see what others think. Sometimes I find I am brewing a tea incorrectly. Other times, it just isn't for me and I rehome it with someone who might like it better.

Life is too short to waste forcing yourself to drink samples you don't care for when there are 59 you love overflowing a cabinet.

Like Tag Team

I'm taking it back to the old school cuz I'm an old fool who's so cool!

90s hip hop is amazing, and I miss it every time I turn on the radio on to a Top 40 station nowadays. I find all the best people agree with me on that.

Who remembers LiveJournal? Or Xanga? I know I am dating myself even by knowing what those blogging platforms are. I used to have a xanga I was pretty dedicated to for awhile, and because this blog isn't really "themed" or any of that trendy nonsense people are doing these days, it will probably be pretty reminiscent of that kind of style. I am going to post when I like, which will probably be when I have time. I have time for the next three weeks. Then I begin student teaching and if my adviser is to be believed, my life will functionally end for 15 weeks. We shall see.

Right now, I have been spending the summer reviving myself after my breakup, learning to cook, and purging. Purging a lot of negativity to make space for new possibilities as well as purging old crap I no longer need in my physical space so there is room for maximum revamp. So far, I have been semi successful in both. My tidbit for this morning is this: if you haven't touched it in a year, time to reevaluate if you need it in your life. This goes for clothes, kitchenware, pretty much any object you own. I personally have found this to be very effective in reducing the overall clutter in my apartment, and I use the things I own so much more.

Bonus, works for fake friends on Facebook too. Life tip: if you are in fake friend overload and need a culling, try unfriending anyone you wouldn't wish "Happy Birthday" to every day for a year. Takes about five seconds of your time, gives you a much more personal Facebook experience, and I have multiple friends (real ones) who swear by this.

Maybe it is just me, but I see no benefit in having uselessness around me. Choosing to only be around people and things I appreciate and enjoy, when I can help it, was one big revamp step I didn't even realize I had taken a few years ago. Now it is even more important as I go into dating. And maintain my stance that hashtagging is a useless and bizarre trend I will not be partaking in.