September 23, 2009

My Final Term at Graduate School!

One more term to go! I've had a great time at Drexel!




September 17, 2009

Home Alone Baking Scones!

Today I made delicious peach scones! They are one of my favorite things to bake and eat!





Peach Scones
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into chunks
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup diced peaches (1 large peach)

Preheat oven to 400 F
Sift together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, sugar)
Using two forks or a pastry blender, cut the butter to coat the pieces with flour.
The mixture should look like coarse crumbs.
Make a well in the center and pour in the heavy cream. Fold everything together just to incorporate, do not overwork the dough.
Fold in the peaches, gently.

Press the dough out onto a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 12 by 3 by 1/4 in. Cut the the rectangle into triangle wedges.
Place the scones on an ungreased cookie sheet and brush the tops with a little heavy cream. (I like to put parchment paper on my cookie sheet)

Bake 15-20 minutes (I usually do 15 minutes) until beautiful and brown.

September 14, 2009

Wedding on the Beach

Luke and I went to a wedding in Atlantic City this weekend.




The future hubbie and me.


The family on the beach. (My favorite people!)




September 11, 2009

Backyard Photos

These photos are from my parent's backyard. As I mentioned a couple posts ago, I am an aspiring gardener. I label myself in this way because my fiance and I have not found a house yet. Once we do I can start my gardening!

After uploading these photos I realized that many are of my 1.5 year old cat, Beauie. Yes, that is a harness on him. He LOVES his leash and harness. When I take it out of the drawer he gets very excited, jumps up on a chair, and trys to put his head through the harness as quickly as possible.













September 10, 2009

A Wonderful Mother/Daughter Day



Jo Malone fragrances are an experience.


My Mother and I had a Mother/Daughter day today! Mother/Daughter days used to be a regular event but since my Mom became the primary caregiver of her aging Mother we have not indulged.

Today we had our day at the Cherry Hill Mall. The first venture was to the newly built Nordstrom. I had been there once prior to our visit and wanted to show my Mom the Jo Malone fragrance collection. As we stepped into the Jo Malone fragrance section the saleswoman was always a foot away.

She was extremely helpful, although, almost too helpful. I received a hand massage with their signature cream and 4 or 5 fragrance suggestions for my personal taste. Speaking of my personal taste, I informed the saleswoman that I liked fruity scents so she immediately showed me the ones I might be interested in. This was great, but I am the type of person who likes to browse the offerings and test things I might not have thought I would like. I very much felt like I was in the passenger's seat when, as the customer, I should have been in the driver's seat.

After much selling and excitement on my Mother's part I walked out of Nordstrom with a $100 purchase of lotion and perfume (my Mother's treat which I am grateful for). As I was leaving I was thinking, "What did I just buy and do I really like it?" The whole process went by so fast.



When I arrived home I opened the beautiful packaging and slipped the bottles out of their jet black tissue paper. I took a shower and moisturized with the lotion. While doing this I read the literature regarding the products and tested a few of the MANY samples the saleswoman gave me. I must say, as I was reading and testing I fell in love with the products. Much more so than when I was in the store.

The point of this whole story is that if a product is really good and if the customer enjoys it the product does not need heavy selling. The quality of the product speaks much louder than a sale and sometimes heavy selling cheapens the product.

I am now in love with Jo Malone fragrances!

September 8, 2009

The Little Teapot's Beginnings!

Welcome to the Little Teapot blog! I look forward to this blog being a place for me to share all the small pleasures in my life that I find inspiring.



A little bit about me: I'm 24; engaged to be married on May 22, 2010 to a wonderful man (slightly older-30) who is a talented artist and a devoted teacher; an only child; an animal lover; an arts lover; a knitter; a crocheter; a baker; an aspiring gardener; and a dormant ceramic/mixed media artist.






I received my Bachelors of Fine Arts from Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey and am 3 months away from completing the course work for my Master of Science in Arts Administration at Drexel University in Philadelphia,PA.

Nature is my haven. I especially find peace at the seashore, although I do not visit it enough.

While I am a very amateur photographer I hope that with all the photos I will take for this blog I will improve! I hope you enjoy reading about my inspirations, my life, and my pleasures!