High Tea.

Irish breakfast & Scones with clotted cream

I consider myself lucky to work with some pretty sassy, articulate, caring, unique, and amazing girls.  One thing I DO look forward to in my day is spending our lunch breaks out of the office.  We shop, eat, talk, gossip, laugh, and enjoy our few minutes of fulfillment we get out of the day.  The other day, my co-worker Jillian suggested we go have lunch at a tea shop.  We went to the Lady Di British Store & Tea Room in Lake Oswego, OR and it was SOOOOOO fun.  We were instantly transported to a quiet dining room where we chatted over tea and ate a spectacular lunch.  It was such a diversion from the norm that I even watched my usual potty mouth and didn't let any curse words fly across my lips.  Kept my elbows off the table and sat up straight, like a proper lady! :)  We ate the ploughers lunch which consisted of baguette, tomatoes, several delicious cheeses, fruit, and a sausage roll with Branston pickle.   I want to eat that lunch everyday now.  It was so, so good!!  Flaky crust around delicious sausage, with tangy vinegary Branston pickle...this was a first for me, but certainly not the last.   

Need a break during your day...go for tea!  It was so fun, and so anti-lunch break.  I can't wait until we go again!!

Ladies day out.

 SACSAYHUAMÁN + ROJA SANGRIA

 Avocado with crab & Beets with pickled vegetables

 Cupcakes at Saint Cupcake

Toasted coconut & The Big Top (chocolate chip with buttercream) cupcakes

Sangha Room with foot baths

* stock image because I was too excited/relaxed to remember to take photos :)

Had a gorgeous Saturday with some wonderful lady friends.  We met for lunch, had dessert, and followed it up with several hours at the spa.  Here is the  long version of how it all went. :)

First we started with lunch at Andina, a popular peruvian restaurant.  I ordered sangria and the other girls got the ever popular and oh-so-delicious sacsayhuman (habanero pepper vodka shaken with pureed passion fruit and cane sugar,served up with a sugar rim and a cilantro leaf garnish).  Both drinks are SOOOOO good.  We ate a light lunch of tapas style plates and shared conversation with lots of laughs.  Mostly laughing at a guy who was visibly drunk trying to impress his date, over lunch, with his most recent Rosetta Stone lesson.  This guy was literally SCREAMING "GRACIAS, BONITA" and "DE NADA, NO POR FAVOR" - literally just screaming out spanish phrases completely out of context and to the total embarassment of his female companion.  Sometimes the public really does just bring out situations you have to just laugh at.  People are crazy!!

After lunch we headed over to Saint Cupcake for a pre-spa day treat.  They have the most delicious frosting and yummy cupcakes in large and small sizes.  I had the toasted coconut and the bigtop.  Both of which I could have eaten several of, debated about having more several times, forced ourselves to leave, and made sure to bring a few home for K who loves a good treat!

The center of the whole day was a spa day at the Dragontree spa.  All 3 of us got the spa package called the Element Infusion.  When we got there we were served the delicous herbal house tea, changed into robes and relaxed alongside a little waterfall on large fluffy couches.  We were then escorted into the Sangha Room, seated in elevated couches, and our necks were wrapped in hot packs.  Large copper bowls were wheeled under our feet, where we were scrubbed with salts on our feet and legs, and left to bathe our feet in a warm relaxing bath.  After this our heads were drizzled with warm oil and massaged.   Once we finished our Sangha room treatments, where we got to enjoy the spa treatments together, we all went away to private 90 minute massages.  After all of this pampering we were all very drowsy, kinda puffy, and ready for a nap.  

It was all in all a wonderful, calming, spirited day filled with lots of laughs and girl time.  It doesn't really get much better than this. 

Via 5

Super Saturday

 Breakfast at Down to Earth Cafe 

 French Toast covered in fresh fruit & cream

The bestie and I decided to grab some breakfast and coffee before heading to our early afternoon spa pedicures.  There is an area in Portland, OR called Multnomah Village that remained unexplored by us, so we picked a place off of yelp to have breakfast.  Down to earth cafe had great reviews on yelp and has a lot of options for the vegan/veggie/natural food crowd, which I love to dabble in.  We both had the french toast (pictured above), mine with veggie sausage and bestie's with bacon, and it was so delicious.  We lingered over coffee, seated in a window booth, and caught each other up on life.

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After breakfast we only had about 20 mins to look around and we popped into an antique shop.  I snapped some photos of the vintage packaging and tins, which were abundant and caught my eye with their coloring and illustrations.

This little creamer was my favorite pick from the shop. 

After antiquing we spent 2 hours getting spa pedicures, then off to lunch, followed by TJ Maxx home goods.  Does it get any more perfect than this day?  Great bestie bonding and lots of laughs, definitely what I needed.

Hope you all had a great weekend and filled it with smiles and snoozes! :)

Beijing Noodle No. 9

Beijing Noodle No. 9

Here are some images from a fun new restaurant we tried inside Caesar's Palace.  The chef's hand pull noodles for all kinds of soups or wok dishes and they also have a large dim sum menu, which was very fun to try.  

The decor inside is stark - white on white.  It reminded me so much of Japan and the design aesthetic there.   I just tried to capture the feel and ambiance to show how unique of a setting this was.  Pretty cool little place!