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Pumpkin Spice

A couple of weeks ago the Minister of Creative Ventures (is that not a fabulous title?) at The Republic of Tea reached out and asked if I would like to try some of their teas. They had seen a previous post on tea, my beverage of choice, and thought I might like to review some of their offerings. Free tea? I'm in!

And just to get the disclaimers out of the way I was sent the tea for free but am not being paid or even required to review it. And if it turned out I didn't care for it I wouldn't review it all, to be honest. The old 'if you don't have anything nice to say' adage runs deep in my veins….

I was invited to visit their website and pick anything I like – an old favorite or maybe something new. I did both. I am a black tea drinker (English Breakfast being my favorite) and could have stuck with that. But their line of cozy weather teas caught my eye and I choose the Pumpkin Spice tea. The pumpkin spice latte folks shouldn't have all the fun.

Of course I had to make a pumpkin pie as a prop. Even though the temperatures are in the 90's right now. Fall? What fall?

I start every morning with my low-carb muffin which I make with pumpkin pie spice. I thought the tea would be the perfect pairing for it. It is a black tea with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and allspice. To me it is a little more sophisticated than pumpkin pie spice you would use to make a pie. I find that some spiced teas can go overboard with the cinnamon but this is nicely balanced. I use a vanilla coconut cream and almond milk creamer in my tea and the addition of vanilla is really nice.

As for the company itself, The Republic of Tea is headquartered here in Northern California and is committed to creating a fair and sustainable tea industry for tea workers, farmers and the environment. They also routinely donate to a number of non-profit organizations and causes like the American Red Cross for the relief efforts of the Northern California wildfires that have devastated our state.

Great company with an admirable ethos and lovely tea. Thank you, Minister of Creative Ventures, for inviting me to try your tea.

Friday Favorites

One Light ◊ Untitled Look who`s hiding ◊ A path of blossoms

This blog is about to get all Halloweeny because, well, I love me some Halloween. I saw this image from Roger's Nursery in Corona del Mar (which YOU HAVE TO GO SEE IN PERSON) and had one of those "oh hey – I could do that" type of reactions. So I spent my first semi-unemployed week gathering materials. Stay tuned…
I mean just look at all this Halloween inspiration
This may be off topic for this blog but I thought it was interesting. Why Women Volunteer for Tasks That Don't Lead to Promotions. I found it completely true and something I do all the time. Ever the people pleaser….
Well this could be interesting. The Romanoffs. Lots of great actors if nothing else.

As of today I am officially unemployed. I grieved this week – mainly the people I work with and interact with on a daily basis. But I have a big lunch planned for Monday with all those same people along with a happy hour get together with the larger organization so that helps. I'm being pragmatic in that I know that some work friendships are superficial but I do hope that a few people I really connected with stay lifelong friends.

I do hope you have a splendid weekend planned. My mother in law is coming to stay for the weekend and I have plans with my cousin on Sunday so I'll stay busy. For now – I'm off to buy the winning lottery ticket.

Bullet journal layouts

One thing about being suddenly unemployed is how unmoored you feel. You go from have a very regular routine to having absolutely no structure to your day. Last week was easier because I was still going into the office and attending meetings. This week, however, nada.

Nada doesn't feel good. At least to me it doesn't. I feel anxious and like I'm forgetting to do really important things.

Typically on Monday morning I arrive at work and pull out my bullet journal and plan out my week. This Monday I surfed the internet, mosied around Michael's looking for Halloween inspiration and basically just wasted an entire day.

Tuesday I sat down at my desk and wrote a to do list – the top of which was to create a weekly layout for my bullet journal. Typically my weekly layout is very work focused with a small section on each day for personal errands or reminders. I thought I would try out a couple of new layouts. I generally prefer the week laid out horizontally like the second picture but I've been doing that for a couple of years now and thought maybe I should switch things up. So I came up with a simple vertical layout that I'm going to try out for the week.

Before I commit ink to paper I like to lightly sketch the layout in pencil. I can adjust box sizes and positions and get a feel if it will look pleasing and be functional. It's probably hard to see my pencil marks but I switched up the layout in the end by moving the monthly calendar down to the lower left hand corner. And actually now that I have it inked out I think I'll move it to the lower right corner and make the quote box smaller. That gives me more note taking space. I like my notes section to be on the left side because I am left handed.

Another thing I do is print off any large text in a simple font. I position it under the page where I want it and trace it with my pen. My handwriting is mediocre and gets progressively messier the larger I print.

I also created a simple job search tracker so I can keep on top of applications I've submitted and any follow up. I just did a search for examples and this one seemed straightforward enough so I used it. I'm guessing once I start using it I'll make some adjustments.

My last day is actually this Friday. This week is mostly cleaning up loose ends and networking like mad. My resume has been spiffed up and sent out to a number of people already. I just need to try to relax and know that I'm doing all that I can to move forward. Trust in the universe.

The last bit of Summer

Rick and I decided to take an impromptu trip to the beach on Saturday. I just felt like I needed to breathe a little ocean air. What is remarkable about this picture is how clear and blue the sky is. With all the fires in California this summer the air quality has been terrible. I didn't realize how hazy the sky has been for the past month or so until I saw this beautiful view.

We went to a little town just south of Santa Cruz called Capitola. To be perfectly honest it's not my favorite place because it is so touristy and crowded but it does have an esplanade with a number of restaurants with lovely outdoor, ocean view seating to choose from. We ended up at Paradise Beach Grille where I had the best salad of grilled prawns, avocado, tomato and mozzarella. Kind of a caprese salad with extras. It was delicious.

Soquel Creek empties into the ocean right where we were dining. The water you see in the picture with the colorful houses is actually the creek. There are some lovely properties right there on creek. What a gorgeous backyard they have.

After a leisurely lunch Rick indulged me and we went to Ivy's Porch in Scott's Valley on our way home. I have mentioned it before – it is a 100 year old house that has been turned into a collective type antique store with 16 different vendors. There is so much to look at. I found a hobnail milk glass vase and an unusual glass container with a silver-plate top to it.

It is oval and fluted. The top is a little worse for the wear but then aren't we all. I wonder what it was used for. Matches? I'm using it for toothpicks.

Our roses are going all out at the moment. I think it is the last final flush before the temperature really start to cool down. I do love hobnail milk glass. It is my favorite.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Friday

Imagining a life lived ◊ waiting ◊ From above ◊ flower making party!

No favorites this week.

I tend to write my posts a few days or week in advanced and then schedule them to post on certain days. My Wednesday post turned out to be rather prophetic as I was laid off from my job on Tuesday well after I had actually written it. I should have started my side hustle sooner!

To be honest I am okay with it. Not happy about it but okay. I started working for Hewlett Packard 30 years ago and weathered several splits, mergers, 8 CEOs and finally they sold off my division last year and we have had lay offs ever since. I work in a high cost location, we are losing big customers left and right and I could see the writing on the wall a year ago. My entire entire team, save two people, was let go including my boss and his boss.

I already started updating my resume a couple of months ago so it's been shined up and sent out already. With the job market as strong as it is right now I'm confident I'll find something quickly. My skillset, training development and knowledge management, is relevant across many industries so there is sure to be something out there for me.

A good friend of mine from my HP days gave the advice to not make a career out of looking for a job. In other words, yes spend some time looking just not ALL the time. Take some time to relax, recharge and just enjoy life.

Which I intend to do right now.

On another note – if any of you are in Florence's path please know you are in my thoughts and please stay safe. As I'm typing this it is about a 100 miles away from landfall and it's looking very dire.

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