Teatime in the Zen Room

Oh, we are having such a warm sunny and beautiful day!

I got up early and finished most of my work

so that I could enjoy this pretty day at teatime

outdoors, in my covered garden patio.

Most of you know I refer to this space as my "Zen Room."

It's decorated in a girlie white-wicker-pastel-quilts cottage fashion.

It's a space for only me, as my husband has allergies

 and never ever stays but a millisecond.

It's my favorite place to invite a friend or three and sip on

tea, or lemonade or even sometimes wine after the heat of the sun

wanes, after it ducks behind the evergreen tree-lined backyard.

And all my beautiful Easter flowers here are hostess gifts

when my family came to luncheon on Easter sunday.

(I mentioned I would share a little about them in my last tablescapes post.)

See these sweet cut tulips? 

Youngest daughter grew them in her garden.

In the background are my dark pink bulb tulips from eldest daughter.

They matched the pink in my china we used Sunday perfect.

(My last post shows it if you missed it.)

Along with those you will see my beautiful Easter lily

that my older brother gave me.

They smell heavenly.

I was surprised my dark pink tulips actually have a fragrance-

not just the fresh tulip smell but a true lovely scent. ♥

I'm using a beautiful new gifted teacup

 that is just so perfect in a garden setting!

More about that soon!

I have to share something really neat with y'all.

Last night after dinner I was visiting a few blogs

trying to catch up on all I've missed lately -

and stopped for a visit to Aiken House and Gardens.

Carolyn is one of my all-time favorite bloggers

and she had mentioned she is being featured in the latest

hot-off-the-press VICTORIA magazine!

(Her post about it has the most beautiful teacup!)

So, I guess I squealed my inner delight and joy of this happy news

rather quite loudly; enough to startle my husband!

Next thing, I hear our garage door open and close.....

YES my friends, he left the house quietly and returned with the

latest copy of the latest Victoria magazine for me!

Isn't that the sweetest thing ever?!?

He knows the copies sell out much too fast at our local store

and didn't want me to miss out. ♥♥♥

Needless to say I am renewing my subscription!!!!

(sure thing if they're smart enough to feature Carolyn Aiken!)

It's a really nice spread about her lovely gardens

and all around great issue!

I highly recommend getting a copy of it yourself!

For my teatime snack I enjoyed a piece

 of the carrot cake I made for Easter.

I absolutely ADORE cream cheese buttercream frosting.

The secret to THE VERY BEST cream cheese frosting is using

 12 ounces (box or box and a half) of cream cheese
 and two sticks of butter.

I use one with salt and one unsalted.

It really makes a lot, not sickening sweet
 and makes a very smoothe and easily spreadable frosting.
No one will complain you put too much on anything, trust me.

As always, thank you for your visit!

~Michele

Linking:

Tea in the Garden   *   Foodie Friday   *   Anything Goes