England Retrospective: Part One

My family visited England and France during my sophomore year of high school. It was my first trip outside the United States. We stayed in London and Paris. Both cities were beautiful, but I wound up preferring London, mostly because I knew more about English history. I explored the Tower of London, saw A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare’s Globe, and even managed to go to Wimbledon. (My dad and I are longtime tennis fans.)

That was over a decade ago. In the meantime, I completed a degree in English Literature and wrote two novels set in a fantasy version of London. So when my grandmother approached me about going on a tour of the English countryside, I was quick to accept. There was still so much of England I hadn’t seen in person. (There still is, sadly!)

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Kensington Gardens

We began our tour in London, in July of 2014. We stayed in a hotel near Kensington Gardens, next to Hyde Park, and I had my first indelible moment there—one of those instants where time freezes because your mind is racing to commit it to memory. As I wandered beneath the towering trees, surrounded by every possible shade of green, I was flooded with a familiar sense of awe. I was in London again, a place with so much history (and so much foliage, compared to my desert home). I was following in the steps of Londoners from centuries ago, to say nothing of monarchs like Queen Victoria.

That’s when I came upon Kensington Palace, which houses an exhibit about Victoria. Somehow I had forgotten the palace was her childhood home (much to my writerly shame!). A statue of her even graces the walk toward the exhibit. It was carved from a model made by her daughter, Princess Louise.

Princess Louise's statue of her mother, Victoria. Also, a cute family of ducks!

Princess Louise’s statue of her mother. Also, a family of ducks!

In case it isn’t obvious, Victoria is my favorite monarch, from my favorite period in history. She’s complicated and fascinating (and so much more than the stereotypical image of a stuffy old widow in a black dress). The exhibit at Kensington Palace pays tribute to every stage of her life. I saw sketches she drew as a little girl, and wandered through the rooms where she grew up. I saw her wedding dress, along with many gifts from her beloved husband Prince Albert—including my favorite piece, a bracelet with heart-shaped charms representing each of their nine children.

Queen Victoria's Wedding Dress

Victoria’s Wedding Dress

Victoria's Charm Bracelet

Victoria’s Charm Bracelet

Queen Victoria is special. She’s part of the history I love most: the oh-so-contradictory Victorians, a mixed-up crowd of moralists and reformers and inventors and imperialists. They’re gray in the extreme, yet so many of them viewed their lives in black and white—including Victoria herself. It was a thrill for me to experience even a sliver of that part of history in person, and a wonderful surprise for my first day in England.

Next came our journey into the English countryside… But that’s for another post!

Teatime Tuesday #11

(ETA: Unfortunately, the server for my website was down for most of Tuesday evening, so this post is going up one hour after midnight. Apologies for the wait!) Once again, it’s teatime! I received an adorable tea set from DAVIDsTEA this Christmas, so I decided to use it today.

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Isn’t it cute? The stars in the design are white and shiny silver. Plus the teapot comes with its own stainless steel basket to hold loose-leaf tea, which is a nice convenience. It holds about four or five cups worth of tea—and the cups are actually a little bigger than I expected.

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Today’s tea selection is a new favorite of mine: Vanilla Comoro (also called Vanilla Decaf) from Harney & Sons. I’ve tried a few decaf teas in search of a low caffeine option, and this is probably the best one I’ve tried so far. It steeps to a surprisingly dark color, and the aroma is delicious. It’s a sugary, cakelike vanilla smell. It actually reminds me a little bit of a toasted marshmallow.

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So for my teatime treat, I thought I’d make s’mores. They compliment the vanilla in the tea really well. Plus, toasting a marshmallow and sandwiching it between some chocolate and two graham crackers is about as cozy and nostalgic as it gets. The taste reminds me of some of my school retreats in the mountains, of huddling together with my friends around a bonfire and watching tiny sparks float into the sky like fireflies.

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And since the theme for this post is apparently marshmallows, here’s a bonus picture of something else I bought recently…

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These impossibly adorable foot-warmers are made by Smoko Inc. They hook into your computer via USB cable and keep your feet nice and toasty. I’ve been using them a lot so far this winter. (Plus they’re s’mores with little smiles on their faces… How can I possibly resist that?)

Thanks for joining me for tea!

Welcome to 2015!

Happy New Year, everyone! My regular blog posts will resume in a few days. For now, I thought I would share some of my goals for the coming year, in the spirit of holiday resolutions.

  • Write more. I hope to draft one, maybe even two novel-length manuscripts this year. (This process also includes research and outlining, and hopefully a round or two of revision, if all goes well.)
  • Query more. This is a hard one for me, but I’m in a good spot as far as preparation goes.
  • Read a book a week.
  • Continue posting on this blog, semi-regularly if not regularly.
  • Get back on Twitter.

That’s it! Not especially ambitious, perhaps, but it should be more than enough to keep me busy. Here’s hoping that 2015 is a happy and productive year. I wish you all the best of luck with any resolutions you’ve made.

See you in a few days!