Someone from Adagio reached out to me a few months ago, asking if I would like to review some of their teas. Well, how could I say no to that? Of course! I’m all about tea and writing–so much that I’ll soon be selling tea alongside my career as an author. It’s something I planned to do last year, but if you have kept up with my blog, you know I had a lot of family emergencies in the spring of last year, turning my world upside down and causing major delays with the release of Unexpected Beginning.

Since receiving Adagio’s teas, I attended the World Tea Expo, where I immersed myself in the world of tea for four days. It was bliss! Pure bliss! And I tell you this, so you’ll understand that when I first received Adagio’s teas, I had not tried some of the flavors. They were new to me, because I was either scared of those flavors after reading reviews or I had already had bad experiences with them. (I’ve tasted some bad teas!)

Now let’s get to the review. Look at all the goodies I received:

I was given a $30 credit to buy from a short list of teas they specifically wanted reviewed, and I honestly cringed at the teas on the list. As stated above, I was either scared of trying the flavors or already had bad experiences with them. However, after reading some of the reviews on their site, I chose a variety of sample-sized packages so that I could try many flavors. I even purchased some jade oolong and dragon well. Why? Because $30 is just not enough when it comes to my tea addiction! Also, my last order was from a Japanese supplier, and I was low on teas from other origins.

I’ll start with the genmai cha. It’s one I had always wanted to try but avoided when spending my own money. The reviews always scared me. I mean, who wants to taste burned popcorn? Does that even sound appealing? So I steeped it exactly as directed on the packaging, and sure enough, it smelled like burned popcorn. I took a sip expecting the worst but was greatly surprised by the unique flavor. Yes, there is a resemblance to burned popcorn, but it’s truly not a bad thing. In fact, I found myself craving more of the tea two hours later, and I steeped the leaves again. Now I know why it’s a regular, daily drink for many. Days later, I chose it over my other teas. Genmai cha’s flavor lingers on your tongue, and hours later, you’ll want it again. It’s now something I plan to keep stocked.

While at the expo, I sampled more genmai cha, and I found them comparable with Adagio’s. However, I brought a sample home from one supplier, and I found it much weaker than Adagio’s. As with all teas, not all genmai cha are the same. Make sure you get it fresh. Don’t buy weak genmai cha!

Because I only chose a sample of it, I ran out quickly and moved on to the yerba mate, which is an herbal drink. Seeing the many pictures of loose pieces floating around a gourd with a special straw always scared me away from buying it. I can’t stand coffee or anything thick and bitter, and that’s the flavor I associated with it.

Well, not anymore! It’s mild–no astringent bitterness–and it’s pleasant. After tasting others at the expo, I know that Adagio’s tastes fresh, and I can recommend it.

Now we move on to the rooibos samples. I enjoyed apple cinnamon rooibos years ago when I started drinking hot tea. It’s another herbal, and suppliers mix it in a variety of ways for summer or winter drinks. I often ended my winter evenings with a rooibos. My children even loved them. Then I made the mistake of buying three cute, little tins in a variety of rooibos flavors from a gift shop one day. (I think now would be a good time to warn you to never, I mean NEVER EVER, buy your teas from any place other than tea shops. I don’t care how cute the tins are! Unless that gift shop has a relationship with a reputable tea company, don’t buy the tea!)

After that experience, I stopped buying rooibos. It wasn’t just those three tins that turned me away from the herbal drink, it was other brand names as well. A lot of them tasted like pure chemical additives. They just weren’t natural at all! And that’s why I dreaded tasting Adagio’s rooibos. They have many blends to choose from, and after reading some reviews, I chose:  rooibos cinnamon apple, green rooibos blueberry, green rooibos bonita, green rooibos key west, and green rooibos. They even threw in a sample of rooibos vanilla chai. Can you spot the three rooibos blends with the genmai cha and jade oolong?

I had never tried green rooibos, so I selected quite a few of those. The samples arrived in a cute, little box (great for a gift), and I decided to try the cinnamon apple, since I had already tasted that flavor more than once.

Well, what a surprise! It tasted nothing like the last rooibos I tried. No chemical taste whatsoever. I’ve tasted each of the samples, and it’s the same with all of them. Smooth and natural, just the way I like them! My children even love the flavors, and because rooibos is caffeine free, they can drink them.

I have a box of rooibos blends I’m trying from another supplier at the moment, and they match up to Adagio’s, which leads me to believe they’re high quality and trying to keep it natural. However, many companies aren’t doing that. Beware of a rooibos blend that tastes like chemicals. It’s just wrong!

As for my purchases, the dragonwell and jade oolong both tasted as I expected. I kept it safe and ordered mild teas 🙂

So what do I think about Adagio? I think they’re keeping things natural, and I can recommend their blends, herbals, and pures. They put steeping instruction on all their packaging, which is greatly appreciated by many. Although they don’t specifically say organic and fairtrade (which is very important to me), they have something called Roots. They know where their teas come from, and they even give you cute little postcards to mail to the farmers thanking them for their tea. They’re doing good things 🙂

Although new to their teas, I purchased their infuser from Amazon a while back, and it’s held up great to daily use. I can honestly recommend Adagio for their teas, along with their teaware.

Welcome to my summer of chaos! My husband and I took the children to a quaint town on the coast over Memorial Weekend, as we wanted to see if it would be a good place to live. We planned to move out of the Atlanta suburbs next summer, and this town popped up on Google as one of the top ten coastal places for a family.

We spent a lot of time riding around looking at neighborhoods and schools, and we happened to spot a house for sale by owner. That’s when we spontaneously called the owners, and they welcomed us (even our three children) into their home within an hour of our call.

Well, the rest is history! Within days we were under contract on a new home, and we were dealing with realtors and fixer-upper guys on our Atlanta home. We tirelessly decluttered and packed boxes to store in the garage until after the move. I then left for a week in Vegas for the World Tea Expo. (I now sell loose leaf teas as well!) We welcomed guests into our home WHILE it was on the market. (The house still stayed spotless with four adults, six kids, and two dogs.) Then we left for a ten day vacation to the Northeast, and now we’re back in Atlanta packing and getting ready for the big move. We have a buyer on our current home, so things are going smoothly. We just have a time crunch with the children starting school on August 4, and I still have to work in a visit to see my mother. She’s not happy with me for moving even farther away, and since this is something my husband and I planned ourselves instead of relocating with a job, I’m in even more trouble with her.

Our new home doesn’t have a basement, so we’re losing quite a bit of space. However, it’s still bigger than living on a sailboat, which we considered doing. (Seriously, I was ready to dump everything to hop on a boat!) The stuff I’ve collected throughout my lifetime is starting to mean less to me, and I’m ready to let things go. Now that I use essential oils and don’t believe in candles, all of my sconces and candle holders aren’t needed. All those pretty fake floral arrangements–they’re just dust collectors! I’m ready to fill my home with real herbs and useful living plants. The same goes for large, beautiful rugs. They collect dust and dirt. I don’t have time for all that! Let’s just keep it simple.

The Salvation Army is a great place. You just throw everything into boxes and drop them off at their place. I’m ready to let go of everything we don’t use. No more boxes of junk. I’m actually going through the house loudly singing (the kids say annoyingly), “Let it go! Let it go! Throw it in a box and let it go.”  It’s amazing how freeing it is to just let things go.

What about my writing? I know my readers are asking that question. The whole reason behind this move is for a quieter lifestyle. Things have been going way too fast these past two years, and it’s been hard for me to get long hours at my desk. This move should give me a lot more time for my writing and tea passions. So definitely stay tuned, and please be patient with me. I’m fixing the problems–in a drastic move–and my writing should be back on track!

The Ghost of You and Me by Kelly Oram

How do you tell someone who hates you and blames you for the death of his best friend that you miss him?

From the bestselling teen and young adult author of Cinder & Ella comes a new heart-wrenching romance sure to bring all the feels.

The tragic death of Spencer Schott unravels the lives of the two people he loved most—his girlfriend, Bailey, and his best friend, Wes. Secrets and guilt from that fateful night keep both Bailey and Wes from overcoming Spencer’s loss and moving on with their lives.

Now, nearly a year later, both Bailey and Wes are still so broken over what happened that Spencer can’t find peace in the afterlife. In order to put his soul to rest, he’s given one chance to come back and set things right…even if that means setting up his girlfriend with his best friend.

With the emotional resonance of Jellicoe Road and the magical realism of The Lovely Bones, The Ghost of You and Me is a story about overcoming grief, finding redemption for past mistakes, and the healing power of friendship and love. Fans of John Green, Sarah Dessen, and Nicholas Sparks are sure to love this haunting new tale from Kelly Oram.

This is a clean young adult romance stand alone novel that reads like contemporary drama romance and has just a touch of magical realism.

Author Kelly Oram

Kelly Oram wrote her first novel at age fifteen–a fan fiction about her favorite music group, The Backstreet Boys, for which her family and friends still tease her. She’s obsessed with reading, talks way too much, and likes to eat frosting by the spoonful. She lives outside of Phoenix, Arizona with her husband, four children, and her cat, Mr. Darcy.

Website * Twitter * Facebook

$25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Giveaway

Ends 7/26/17

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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It all began with a goodbye kiss to my husband before he walked out the door to catch a flight. (Okay, I’ll be honest. It was an extremely early flight, and he told me he loved me before leaving our bedroom to meet his Uber driver in the dark. I mumbled something in return and frowned, because I only had two hours left before my alarm went off. In my defense, he wasn’t going on a routine business trip or to see his family. He was going to sail around the Caribbean for ten days with a bunch of guys to strengthen his boating skills.)

Like a skilled corporate wife, I shrugged at the thought of my husband leaving for ten days. I’ve been doing this for years. What could go wrong? And with him in the Caribbean, I figured I could milk that for a while.

Oh, but life can be funny. I mean, it wasn’t funny at the time, but now I can roll my eyes and smile at the thought of those ten days. Every. Single. Day. Something chaotic happened during every single one of those days or nights. Ever woke in the middle of the night from the SMELL of a sick dog that decided to eat an outside plant? Then my son got a messy stomach virus. Oh, and let’s not forget the teenagers. One kept missing the bus, while the one I drove to school each morning thought she didn’t have to be on time with it being the end of the year. Without going into the details, I’ll add three 911 calls made throughout the week as well. By the time my husband made it home from the Caribbean, I felt like death, and I honestly think he feared the look in my eyes.

After that, things got crazy with the end of school activities and packing for our Memorial Day vacation. We chose a quaint little town on the Gulf Coast to see if we would like to move there next summer. We’ve been considering a change for a while now, and this town has great schools and a place for a future sailboat my husband wants to buy.

Well, we visited the town, fell in love with it, and put a bid on a house. Just like that! Talk about spontaneous. The next week consisted of unpacking, decluttering our home, packing, and dealing with realtors to put our house on the market. A few days after the house went on the market, we had company visiting, and then I flew out to Las Vegas with my bestie for a week at the World Tea Expo. Along with writing, I’m passionate about tea, and I plan to start sharing my favorites with others.

And now we’re at today. I have an early morning flight out with the family tomorrow, and I haven’t even started packing. I still have to pick up my dog/house sitter from out of town, and the house needs to be spotless before we walk out the door. (Oh, the joys of having a house on the market.)

As you can tell, I just haven’t had much time for social media or anything else lately. However, this move should give me much more time, and I’m looking forward to getting my life back for writing and tea tastings. Unexpected Beginning is top priority! After the move, I plan to get it off my desk to start Unexpected Legends, the sixth and last book in the series.

The Cause Within You, written by Matthew Barnett, is one of the few nonfiction books I was able to finish within a month. I’m bad to read multiple nonfiction books at a time, just grabbing whichever is closest for a bath or before bed. However, this one kept me interested, and I looked forward to reading it when I had a moment to spare.

It doesn’t read like a self help book, as it basically describes Matthew’s journey in turning an empty church in a drug infested neighborhood into a massive outreach church. Fresh out of high school, his father sent him to transform a dying church in California into a thriving church, and against all odds, he did it!

I often struggle with lack of faith in people. I’ve witnessed multiple generations in the same families ruined by alcohol and drug abuse, and when I see someone in that situation, I often think they won’t change or don’t want to change. I know it’s a flaw on my part–especially after reading this book. I would have given up within a few months, yet Matthew persisted. One night he looked around at the pimps, prostitutes, homeless people, and druggies on the streets outside the church, and he knew he was called to minister to them. He became a servant in the community, and it’s amazing how things began to change.

I highly recommend this book. It’s definitely one of my favorites, and I’ve even started watching some of Matthew’s videos on YouTube. His ministry is extremely uplifting and powerful, and I’m glad this book introduced me to it. He clearly has a love for people and a servant’s heart.

I just handed it over to my husband, and this is one of the few books we would both enjoy. With opposite tastes in reading, we don’t share many books. However, this one is for everyone–even teenagers. Highly, highly recommend!

Warm weather is here, and the gardens are bursting with flavor! Although I don’t have a green thumb and kill most of the plants I try to grow, herbs seem easy for me. Right now my rosemary bush is thriving and could use a good trimming, and I can see some peppermint leaves in their large barrel. Lemon balm, chamomile, parsley, basil–there’s too many to name!

What do I do with all these herbs? I dry some for teas and aromatherapy uses–which make great gifts–and I freeze some. However, I try to use a lot of them while they’re fresh. That means I throw them in summer salads, smoothies, hot teas, iced teas, cakes, breads, and infused waters. Like the essential oils they produce, fresh herbs have powerful benefits when eaten, and you can easily add them to smoothies, salads, and infused waters without noticing them.

The other night I made this year’s first batch of infused water, and the children are drinking it up. How else could I get them to eat rosemary, cucumber, ginger, and lemon without complaining? I also upgraded my smoothie maker and got a NutriBullet RX a few days ago, and I’m loving it. Yesterday I threw in some fresh greens, almonds, frozen fruits, and some goat milk I found on sale into one of the large pictures for lunch, and I put the leftovers in the fridge for later. All three of my children poured some for their after school snack, and I just smiled, knowing I can sneak all kinds of healthy food into those smoothies.

I’ll have to do a post on the NutriBullet RX later. With a powerful motor, it can do smoothies and drinks, and the large pictures make it easy to keep extra in the fridge. It can even make hot soups. That’s a big change from my old Ninja.

If you don’t think you can garden or even like gardening, I recommend you give certain herbs a try. Many of them are easy to grow, and they come back every year. You can even enjoy some of them year round. You just plant them and let nature do the rest. Just like the essential oils most everyone is raving about, the plants offer health benefits. Just make sure you do a little research on the herbs you plan to grow so that you know how much attention they need. Some will take over your yard if you don’t plant them in containers. That’s where large barrel planters come in handy. If you don’t have much room, you can always use smaller pots. I’m just greedy and love my barrels when it comes to certain herbs.

If you’re new to infused water, I suggest you get some ideas from Pinterest, but don’t be afraid to change the recipes. The drink I made last night originally called for mint, but since my mint isn’t ready, I used rosemary. I also love adding grated ginger to most of my waters. It has a lot of health benefits, and it’s the best way I like to ingest it. I keep the roots in my freezer and cut off a piece as needed.

Certain ingredients need to be organic. They spray a lot of chemicals on lemons, and they’re on the dirty list. Everything I’ve read says to go organic with lemons, and I use a lot of them. I start each day with a glass of lemon water.

I prepare all my infused drinks at night so the vitamins and minerals have enough time to get into the water. Once I drink all the water on the following day, I usually add more grated ginger and fill it back up for another night in the fridge. That way I get two days using the ingredients.

If you have any questions or would even like to share a recipe, be sure to leave a comment below. The drink in the picture above contains one lemon, half of a large cucumber, grated ginger, and rosemary sprigs.

                

Spring is here, and the weather has been beautiful in the Atlanta area. Last month I wrote a blog post about my first visit of the year to some of the local farmers’ markets with my husband and young son. The following week my two teenage daughters surprised us with their presence to another local market, and we made it a family morning. (I still can’t believe they woke up, got dressed, and walked out the door on a Saturday morning to visit a farmers’ market. I didn’t even force them!)

With perfect weather, my daughters actually let me hold their hands in public, and we walked around tasting samples and filling our bag with fresh goodies. One of my daughters loves cheese, and it’s been causing her some problems. When I spotted a table with goat cheese samples, I urged her and my son to try them with me. I don’t even like cream cheese or cranberries, yet when I took a bite of that cranberry goat cheese on a cracker, I was hooked!

I don’t mean that in a small way either. It’s become an addiction. I HAVE to have my serving of cranberry goat cheese and crackers as a snack every morning. I crave the goat cheese. It calls me into the kitchen–even when I’m not hungry!

Out of curiosity, I purchased some cranberry cinnamon goat cheese I found at the grocery store, but it tasted nothing like the one I bought at the farmers’ market. When I ran out of the two containers I bought from the local farmer, I knew I had to go back for more.

You may be wondering how this is a bad thing. I mean, it’s great that I found something healthier than regular cheese, and I’m also supporting a local farmer. Right? What about the fact that I’ve never tasted anything this yummy, and I now depend on this one supplier for my fix? What if I move one day? What if the farmer stops showing up at the market? I mean, this isn’t a branded item. I can’t get this anywhere else!

So, take this as a warning. Casually strolling around a farmers’ market and munching on artisan samples can be hazardous. One day you’re carefree and got your eating under control. Then you’re suddenly addicted to a food item you never imagined you would even like, and you’re at the mercy of a local farmer to get your daily fix. I’m not going to be able to visit the market this weekend, and I’m already worried about not having this goat cheese next week. This is a problem!

How about you? Leave me a comment below or on the social media post. I’d love to hear about it!