The Truth About Tea

What's the tea on these Instagram teas?

I'm on Instagram way more than I'd like to admit, but if you're a sane human being who manages to only get sucked into it once or twice a day, there's a chance that you've scrolled past a cute girl with a cute mug showing off her cute new tea.

I certainly have. I was even invited to be one of the "cute girls with a cute mug," and received a box to review last summer. Now, before I go on, this is not a review. This is not even me bashing any one brand of tea. This is me telling you that tea is nothing new.

No tea on its own is a miracle drink, and if one more person tries to convince it is, I'm going to throw a teapot to the wall.

I love tea. I was raised on it. A lifelong rule of my mom's is that you have to have a hot cup first thing in the morning because it settles your stomach. This may be some South American old wive's tale, but my mom is also a nurse, so I trust her.  Here's the thing, though: no tea on its own is a miracle drink, and if one more person tries to convince me it is, I'm going to throw a teapot to the wall.

Regarding Tiny Tea, the taste was very earthy, and I enjoyed it more with lemon and honey. Post sip, I felt better than when I drank a soda or a latte. Oh, and full disclosure, I had to pee all of the time. Also, I did not become tiny. If teas are something you really want to experiment with, go to your local farmer's market, or better yet, to your nearest cultural market. Do your research and tea taste, but whatever you do, don't go looking for magic in a box.

10 Spring Dresses You Need Right Now

Feel fine & fancy free in frills, florals and shoulder baring dresses

Spring is nice because snow melts, flowers bloom and we get to come out of hibernation, but the real reason spring is a winner is because we can start wearing dresses again. Dresses! Without tights! The freedom of wearing a dress and not having to layer is unmatched.

You could say I'm pretty excited about it. Naturally, I've already started bringing my favorite dresses to the front of my closet, including this one I fell in love with last year. And since it's no fun being excited alone, here's a roundup of some beauties to get you excited, too.

Snap, Prynt & Share

This gadget is all you need to make your phone more than a selfie cam

What were phones before camera phones? Just boring bricks to call people on. That's a plain fact. More often than talking or even texting, I'm snapping pictures on my iPhone to send, save or upload to some social media or other. But now I can print them straight from my phone, too.

Just being able to print pictures instantly reminded me of the fun of a polaroid (no shaking necessary).

I gave this Prynt case a go, and I expected great things. Just being able to print pictures instantly reminded me of the fun of a polaroid (no shaking necessary). There's an option to print existing pictures, so I wasn't limited to pictures I took within the app.

To my surprise, printing is not all this case does. Prynt's "augmented reality" allows you to attach video to a picture, so when scanned by another Prynt case, a video plays, a la Harry Potter's moving pictures. It's cool addition that makes it a great gift for a techie. Or for someone who just likes physical pictures a.k.a. me.

Prynt provided their case for review, but as always, opinions are all my own and not influenced by the brand.

Over Black

Apparently there's such a thing as New York Black, and I'm over it

For someone whose chosen form of expression is clothes, I'm pretty fed up with them right now. Not clothes as a whole, though. Just mine. It's not even the old "lots of clothes and nothing to wear" dilemma that I'm having. It's more an issue of "Why the hell is everything I own black?" 

I have never been an ultra-cool, darks only dresser, but I think somewhere in my subconscious black became a go-to the minute I landed in the city. 

I have never been an ultra-cool, darks only dresser, but I think somewhere in my subconscious black became a go-to the minute I landed in the city. There's such a thing as New York Black, and it's all I've been wearing. I can't stand my closet. I can't stand myself. 

Now that spring has officially made her entrance, I'm making an effort to bring the brights, florals and generally cheerful items front and center. For starters, I've dug this poppy-colored Kate Spade out and my mood is already on the up-and-up. 

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Just Sit Down, Already

Fomo is very real & very dangerous

Thanks to my mom's handiwork, my immune system is top notch. I proudly dodge flu season like any daughter of a nurse would. That is, until this past month. While I'd like to blame it all on New York's super germ-riddled Subways, I know the real reason was my own damn self.

I spent my first month-and-a-half in New York working full-time, often coming home after 10 p.m., and commuting more than two hours a day. Looking for a city guide and grateful for company, I even entered the dating world. If I was invited to an art opening or rooftop after party, I was there. I missed nothing. It was thrilling. It was tiring.

I never once thought that I would move to New York to become a mum homebody, but I never planned on being out six of seven nights a week, either.

Then, the ultimate betrayal came. My throat started itching. Next: the sneezing and the aching. My voice turned raspy, and not the sexy Scarlett Johansson kind. I sounded bad and felt worse. As I was going through boxes of tissue and replaying my mom's warnings, I was thinking, "this could have all been avoided if I just sat the hell down."

I never once thought that I would move to New York to become a mum homebody, but I never planned on being out six of seven nights a week, either. There were days when I was only home to shower, sleep and walk my dog. FOMO is real, and it literally made me sick.

Knowing that new experiences were just a few subway stops away from me made it hard to accept that I could not simply spend nine hours at work, commute an hour home, do a rushed change and head back out for the night. But since being sick reduced me to a sniveling sob, I've come to terms with it.

For the sake of my health and well-being, I'll be saying no to more things. I won't try to squeeze a date in after work and before doing laundry, no matter how great that little restaurant in Park Slope is. I'll have to pass on that open bar, even though free alcohol is just what I need after work. And I won't, for the love of god, get that sick ever again.

One such night: Still sick, I'd worked all day, went to a concert and had dinner, getting home at 2 a.m., only to be up for 8 a.m. 

Ready & Set

The slow and steady march 'til spring

While I was here complaining about how the last month really did a number on me, something in the cosmos was cooking up to make March open up like a flower in bloom. Except since winter here knows no end, no actual flowers are blooming. Yet.

...But if things can just make like this outfit—a slow but certain transition—I'd be set.

As it goes, I'm using my wardrobe to usher in spring. This paisley dress you see peeking through was my stand against the somber colors of fall/winter.  I've worn it here and here before, and there is no retirement date in sight for it. Don't you live for dresses that live on from season to season?

I'm not getting my hopes up for too much too soon in regards to a speedy spring, and if I think about it life in general, but if things can just make like this outfit—a slow but certain transition—I'd be set.

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