Tea-A-Palooza and My Third Tea Tasting

I am about to unleash a tidal wave of teas from my Sipsby subscription and I know what you're thinking, IT'S ABOUT TIME!

Yes, I have been lax in my tea drinking and updating since I moved, but fear not for I have returned and I intend to be more powerful than when you last saw me. For one thing I am changing the dynamic. No More Videos.

Unleashing the power of Me

At least no more videos of me trying to act like I know what I am doing and talking about. The main reason for this is the fact that it was becoming difficult. Too difficult. A Vlogger I am not, nor do I want to pretend to be. Trust I will never get to the likes of my own favorite Youtubers because honestly I don't have the drive like they do. See Markiplier and Alex Meyers as examples of the content I regularly intake.

While I still think drinking teas and discussing books to go along with them in real time is a neat idea, I just think I am far better at expressing myself through the written word versus a video that makes me look like a deer in headlights.

Another reason is that I am having a blast writing book reviews for the books I am reading and I hope to do many more within this format. Currently I am working on getting more up and coming books so as to have my blog provide early information for you, the thirsty book seeker. 

Reading more books also helps the end result in pairing books with teas. The more options I have the better I can adequately play literary cupid. So I hope that you all will stick with me and see these changes through to the end. I want to bring people the best content possible so you too can enjoy my passion of reading and in sub-part, my writing. 

To kick things off I want to discuss the last tea tasting that I filmed, but for purposes of the change, will not be uploading said video. It was in the last phases of my leaving my old apartment and frankly it is in too poor quality to allow me to share it with you.

I will however give you a review of the experience and the book I ended up selecting. The tea was from my March subscription box (crazy!) and it was the Tea Xotics Naked Grass Skirt Matcha Tea. It is described on my information sheet as having medium caffeine and so in an attempt to try and make a deadline for the blog I went for it late at night when I should have probably been heading for bed. I didn't regret it as much as I thought I would the next day thank goodness. 

The first thing I noticed upon opening the packet is that it was a very thin powder. Any person familiar with Matcha Tea is probably nodding with a frown thinking, "duh!" Well I wasn't aware of that aspect of Matcha Tea. My only interaction with it up to that point had been through the means of using a pre-made tea bag from the grocery store. 

Hands up, it was my first serious newbie experience! 

I had no clue what to do and so using the tea bags that the Sipsby Subscription box provides I separated the bright green powder into two separate bags and sealed them. When the time came to actually make the tea I was at a loss because I did not have a proper Matcha Tea Whisk. It was a stomach sinking moment that is highlighted quite embarrassingly in the video I filmed. Another reason it will never see the light of day on this blog.

Thankfully I persevered and was able to get the tea mixed well enough to enjoy. I do enjoy Matcha Green Tea despite the fact that it probably tastes like sticking your tongue out and sampling something akin to damp nature. Regardless I find peace in drinking it and through the blunders I made, this time was no exception.

I happily drank from my mug as the green tea swirled in the heat and it was then that the perfect book for it came to me. It was a book I had read years ago in a book club that has long been disbanded, but the memories of the books read stay with me.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

It is a great read through the eyes of the dog named Enzo as he reflects on his life with his loving owner and race car driver Denny Swift. Not many books get the POV of animals right, but this one gets pretty close. 

The reason I felt strongly that this was a good match was I think the comfort that the Naked Grass Skirt Tea gave as well as the sensation of sticking your tongue out in the rain and taking in the aroma that nature gives. Noting says comfort like a dog, and nothing says nature like taking a drive in the rain.

I would rate this tea at around a 3 and I highly recommend reading this book while you enjoy it.

Next up: All my boxes that I have yet to open, that's April thru July! 

Upcoming Book Review: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Book Review: The Forbidden Words of Margaret A. by L. Timmel Duchamp

I find it eerie that the two books that have sent a chill down my back in the last year deal with two different people named Margaret A. There was first of course The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and now The Forbidden Words of Margaret A. I'm beginning to think that Margaret is the name of revolutionaries.

Bet her name is Margaret

This is a short story that follows a reporter who has finally received the opportunity she has worked her entire adult life to achieve, a photo-op with Margaret A., a woman incarcerated for her words and the power they exerted over the general populace.

It is told in such a brilliant way and you truly feel every bit the ramifications of the situation. The fact that the freedom of speech has been taken from a single individual whom the government has deemed too dangerous. The fact that while they want to silence her, they also don't want to make her a martyr. 

So in order to perpetuate this rouse they allow these monthly photo-ops to keep the public at bay in the hopes that Margaret A. will become nothing but a memory given enough time. The story describes the public's inability to let go of their obsession with Margaret A. as a forbidden fruit. The newer generations may not know her words, but in a way that spurns them on. Why are we being kept from something that others have had? We want it too and we won't stop until we have it.

Words have very effective powers and a person's right to speak and hear them is vitally important. I cringed hearing of Margaret A.'s living quarters. The fact that on the outside it doesn't seem all that bad, but a prison is a prison is a prison no matter how you look at it.

Though the MC has maybe ten minutes with the infamous Margaret A. it is all that is needed to change the trajectory of her life. She was always fascinated, but now she wants Margaret to be freed and you get the impression that this goal will consume her life.

Over the course of 14 pages you are told a beautifully tragic story and even though it may not have the satisfying ending you'd hope for I feel it is more wanting you to take a call to action. The world is fraught in turmoil and if we aren't careful the imagery presented in this story and others like it won't be far off.

Be worried, be vigilant, be the change.

You can read this story for free on the author's website by clicking HERE.

5 out of 5 stars

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Book Review: Yes, Please by Amy Poehler

This is the fifth book I have read this year that is essentially an anecdote of an entertainer's life whom I love and admire. Amy Poehler is the latest, I have also read Iliza Shlesinger's book Girl Logic, Anna Kendrick's book Scrappy Little Nobody, Lauren Graham's book Talking As Fast As I Can and Mara Wilson's book Where Am I Now? And I plan to read many more. I've got a queue.

They were all equally entertaining, but I would have to say at this point my favorite thus far is Anna Kendrick's book, sorry Amy. I'm thinking it has something to do with where I am in my life; I just related more to 30 year old wacky Anna than I did mid-40s, mother of two, finally figuring your life out Amy.

Yes you are Anna!

This in now way made her book any less enjoyable and I look forward to perhaps picking this book up again when I enter that phase of my life. Until then I will simply explain my most recent reading experience of her book.

First off, I did enjoy it. It was clever and funny and part of why I have become obsessed with books like this is because of the ability to listen to the audio book which inevitably is narrated by the entertainer themselves. So I got to listen to Amy's entire book read to me by Amy herself.

GOOD POINT: Amy found a way of narrating her book to make it feel like a stand-up comedy routine, which was an interesting twist compared to the other books I have read in this genre. It made it where I almost forgot I was reading an actual book and not just listening to her tell her unique life story. 

Just imagine this reading to you. Epic, yes?

This book tends to go back and forth more so than the others. Meaning that it's not very linear. Where other people talk from their early days up to the present, Amy kept jumping back and forth, but it wasn't tiresome.

I was able to keep up with the jumps. It never got to the point where I was having to go back a few pages to make sure I was in the right place. It was a different way to tell the story and one that I got behind rather quickly. Everything she mentioned was relevant and it didn't feel like she was going off on some weird tangent.

GOOD POINT: I thought having various other entertainers read parts of her book would annoy me. I didn't come here for them after all, I came here for Amy. But I found those pieces were light and again added a unique feel to her story. It's one thing to write from strictly your perspective, but to have someone else come in and retell a story from there perspective is something you need to be strong enough to handle. Though I doubt she would have invited these people if they weren't going to at least say one nice thing about her. I know I wouldn't.

Seth Meyers read a chapter

There wasn't much about Parks and Recreation, which is the show I know her the most from. I'm guessing because at the time of the books publication the show was still filming albeit its final season, but I can see how it would be different if she were looking at those days through rose tinted classes of nostalgia. It just hadn't hit her yet as it did say to Lauren Graham when talking about Gilmore Girls.

I did enjoy her nods to each cast mate on the show. I thought they were very sweet and funny and very Amy. I adore that entire cast and if any of them write a book I will probably devour it as well.

Another great thing about these books is being able to learn things about the person you didn't before. While I enjoy Amy as an entertainer I never bothered to look into her personal life, mainly because duh, it's personal. I had no idea that she had been married to Will Arnett and had two kids with him. It's just a fun tidbit that I now know, not sure what I'll gain from it, but it's nice all the same.

GOOD POINT: She was very protective of her marriage, divorce, and now ex-husband. She doesn't mention him much, not even many good memories. In a way you can find this sad, but I think it shows that some things you just want to keep to yourself. As she says Divorces are hard and though no good marriage ends in divorce, you want to try and preserve those good times especially if children are involved. I applaud her for taking that route. Besides she had many other tales to tell, no need to tell that one.

BAD POINT: This is all me. I just wish my overall reaction to it hadn't been, "It was alright." I know my tune will change once I have two kids and my writing career takes off. Your words will help me then Amy, I'm sure of it.

4.5 stars out of 5

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My Hiatus and Other Tedious Excuses

OMGosh you guys!

So let me just throw it out there, moving is the absolute WORST thing! I'm being serious, it is in no way fun and the level of stress it causes makes you wonder why you are doing it in the first place. Oh yeah, a bigger place and moving in with your SO. 

As you can see due to this craziness I have not posted any tasting videos or book reviews recently and I am desperate to fix that. I actually did film a taste video prior to the move and will hopefully have that up for viewing very soon. I also plan on getting a better schedule down once the moving buzz settles.

I've been fairly good trying to keep the main posts an every other thing versus having two tasting videos back to back or two book reviews, but in the chaos I may have to forego this pattern and simply give you another book review before my next tea tasting. This all depends on my technology a.k.a my laptop and camera. 

Despite the hectic nature that is my life right now, I will say that my new place is coming out spectacularly! I have a writing nook courtesy of my magnificent boyfriend who set it up for me and I just can't wait to start filming in my new little office. 

I mean, just look at this. It's gorgeous! And I haven't even added my decorations.

So again, I apologize for the long pause in my posts. I'm hoping with all the new things I'm setting up that it will be worth the wait. 

I also just received word that my May box from Sipsby is on the way. I am so behind! I have all my April teas to show you! I'll get to them, don't worry.

Here's hoping that time is on my side!

Next Book Review: Yes, Please by Amy Poehler 

Yogi tea Quote of the Day: Love is to live for somebody, love is not to live with somebody.

Book Review: The World According to Garp by John Irving

In fear of being thought a cliche, I must admit that I don't believe I have ever read a book quite like this one. To describe it would be akin to telling someone to climb up a rather steep hill and once you reached the top to run as fast as you can down the opposite side. If you stumble and end up tumbling end over end the rest of the way, all the better.

We meet Jenny Fields as she has just been accosted by a man in a movie theater. She handles this by whipping out her dented scalpel, she is a nurse after all, and cuts him to the bone. He lives and this is how the story of T.S. Garp begins.

Jenny wants a kid, but not a man who sticks around to give her one, so she ostensibly rapes a soldier on the verge of death in a hospital where she works. She succeeds in her task, and quickly goes through pregnancy. She raises her son, who she has named T.S. Garp after his father, (the T.S. stands for Technical Sargent as she never knew the man's first name) at the Steering School for Boys where she is a nurse once again.

GOOD POINT: Jenny is a wonderful mother despite the whispers surrounding Garp's conception. I admire this character so much. Hands down she was my favorite. Though she hovers over Garp and worries, I never felt it was overbearing. I think it helped that the character was never annoying. Now, I'm not going to excuse how she got pregnant, bottom line what she did was wrong, but I feel the whole point was to give the MC this great Creation Story. Also, Jenny is asexual and I adore how that is portrayed in her character.

Garp has some misadventures as a child that leads to him having a foe in a dog that bites off his ear and with the Percy family who is in charge of the Steering school, which he eventually attends.

He meets Helen, the daughter of his wrestling coach, who says that she could never marry just a wrestler, he would have to be a writer too. Thus begins Garp's journey of becoming a great writer.

Throughout the novel Garp writes three stories that we see and a fourth unfinished one that we only get the title of. Each story is shown to us and by this I mean the story of Garp is stalled while we read the stories written by this character. It's a book within a book!

The first story is the The Pension Grillparzer which is published shortly after his mother's novel A Sexual Suspect. The entirety of this short story is put within the pages of this book and I'll admit here and now that I did not get the significance of doing this with each of his books. In fact I skipped most of the second one. I guess this was fine as no one really liked that one according to Garp's publisher.

Garp's first story doesn't earn him fame and fortune, but it does earn him Helen's hand in marriage. On the flip side, his mother does get infamous for her story, getting labeled a leader of the feminist movement.

GOOD POINT: The contrasting stories of the various women within the feminist movement in this book. The fact that while Jenny doesn't consider herself a feminist, she knows her words are important to the movement so she goes along with it. Sadly this ultimately leads to her death. Additionally, the characters we meet within these women, most notably Roberta Muldoon, are quite spectacular. 

GOOD POINT: Roberta Muldoon. She was the other shining light of this story next to Jenny. She is an M to F Trans and her story is beautiful. She and Garp become best friends and their relationship is one that could make anyone smile. I simply adored this character and though I am not a member of that community I felt that her story is pretty close to how it should always be portrayed.

The last bit of the first half is where we struggle to finally reach the precipice of our hill. It slowed down at this point and for a while I felt like putting the book down, but thankfully I had gained a solid momentum, not to mention a deadline to finish this for my book club, that I pressed onward.

Garp and Helen have a dysfunctional marriage. I'm not going to sugar coat this. It is toxic and dysfunctional and ultimately leads to the death and injury of their children. They both take part in infidelity and both seem to think it is justified. Though they realize that they truly love the other after the fact, the very act of cheating on your spouse should not be a step taken to determine your love for them. It's counter productive and the only reason I feel this marriage didn't end in divorce is that it just wasn't something you did back then.

I find that a book that on the outside seems progressive would have these two characters stay together instead of going through a very real thing like divorce is a bit underwhelming. If my husband was a serial cheater who constantly slept with my kids babysitters, I would drop him so quick. Not to mention the fact that Helen and Jenny financially support his ass.

And on the flip side, if my husband found out I was sleeping with one of my students while I taught at a local university I would full on expect him to divorce me no questions asked. The fact that Helen thinks she is alright and tries to end her side relationship on her terms is just laughable. You don't get to dictate a bad situation that you caused. At that point you own up to it and do anything you can to make it right regardless of the outcome.

GOOD POINT: The car accident. I think the fact that people have complained about how gruesome this scene is shows a lack of understanding about the real world and just how cruel it can be. Was this scene disturbing? Of course, it wouldn't have had the same effect if it hadn't been. Walt, Garp and Helen's youngest son dies horribly after Garp accidentally crashes their car into Helen's lover's car while she is servicing him as a final goodbye. Duncan, their oldest, loses an eye. The lover loses his male parts while the remaining adults only suffer minor injuries in comparison. It is important that this is described just like it is. This is the consequence of the character's choices and sometimes those consequences aren't pretty.

At this point we are well on our way down the hill. Garp and Helen get back together and decide that the only way they can move on is by having another baby. I truly don't get this, but I also understand that different people grieve in different ways. From this a daughter Jenny, named after Garp's mother, is born.

Garp's third and more popular book is written and that lands him the fame and fortune the Irving had us waiting for. In a way it attracts the same type of infamous response as his mother's book did. This is taken all in stride.

GOOD POINT: The fact that Garp never lets the crazies from the Feminist movement get him down. He fights for what he believes and does help many women with the support of Roberta Muldoon. He takes over what his mother left behind and I found it fascinating. Here we have what many would see as the typical man's man standing up for women and leading the charge with an organization all his own. I feel that this is the type of character that could potentially help men see what needs to be seen.

It's at this point that we are coming to the end and we get the feeling that it won't end well. We are not left disappointed. Garp is shot, and the people he leaves behind are forever altered. The book does this weird recap of each character, letting you know what happened to them. It almost felt how the show Six Feet Under ended because there is a lot of death.

I don't feel much toward the ending except I couldn't imagine it ending any other way. 

GOOD POINT: Despite the fact that this is a book well over 500 pages it reads very quickly and easily. Like I mentioned the only part I somewhat skipped over was the second novel of Garp's just because I didn't see it having any bearing on the overall story. I'm pretty sure I was correct in that.

BAD POINT: The Ellen Jamesians. They are a group of fanatics that are mentioned throughout the entirety of the story. They are also the absolute fucking worst kind of feminist, nay, human beings. They are all that is wrong with any kind of movement. These days you would call them SJW's or social justice warriors. They are a poor excuse for anything decent and ultimately end up ruining any cause they get behind. While I am glad that the book depicts them as they should be depicted it didn't stop me from cringing every time they appeared. I was fully on Garp's side when it came to them, no doubt.

I enjoyed this book and I think I would like to read more from John Irving. Based on what I have seen an excellent second choice would be A Prayer for Owen Meany which supposedly is what the movie Simon Birch is loosely based on. Color me intrigued. 

5 out of 5 stars

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Beware the undertoad...

Dreams Through the Rain

I've been up high in my office building glancing out each window I pass waiting for the clouds to open up and shed the tears they are trying so desperately to hold back. It doesn't rain a whole lot in my city so when it does it's like receiving a gift from a long lost friend.

I wish it rained more.

Rain makes me dream of a time in the hopefully near future where I won't have to wait for the rain to fall from a tall office building; glancing out windows in offices that aren't even mine. Instead I'll be in my writer's office facing a window all my own looking up at those swollen clouds waiting for the moment that my world will be once again be wiped clean.

Another thing that days like today bring to my life is the overwhelming urge to write. It's instinct, it's nature, it's...just who I am.

And here is where I have to apologize for not getting the schedule for this blog 100% down just yet. The logistics surrounding my day-t0-day life are much more complicated than I initially gave it credit for. For someone who has this need to write, you'd think I would be able to manage a blog on a fairly regular schedule.

I'll admit this has always been my problem in getting a decent blog off the ground as it were. Not to mention that depending on my mood, my feelings, or perhaps what someone has said or done during the day, I can simply gravitate toward one of my other projects, which also takes my time away.

And here is where, to make up for not producing a taste test video or a book review as of today, I have decided to let you in on the other projects that are currently vying for my time.

First and foremost is my novel. This painstaking passion project that I am almost two years into. It is my ultimate. Since I was a child I have written stories and I feel in a way that it has all culminated to this, my first completed novel.

HINT

I have a title, but you don't get to know it yet (unless of course you follow my twitter, though it could have changed since then). The first draft is almost complete and I am trying to give this project the time it deserves as this will be my gateway into the realm of authorship and writing full-time. This is the dream.

Aside from this, I just recently started a writing project with my very best friend. It was an idea hatched like many of my ideas are born, through silly whimsy and witty banter between to kindred souls.

Hint Hint

I'm not sure what the final project will ultimately be, frankly it could end up being any number of things. The good news is for this one I am not alone and when it is called for I can pass the buck as it were. I truly can't wait to see where this will take me and I am so honored and excited to have my best friend by my side for the entire trip.

After all of that we come back to this, my blog. A little thing that means a great deal to me. It has become the outlet that I didn't realize I needed and I am most anxious that it continue without much delay or interruption.

That being said I have decided to give myself a deadline. I hope to film my first taste by the end of this week and have it up by this weekend. As of now, my goal will be to simply film whenever I have a spare moment. I have four teas to taste and partner with a book and I am bound and determined to see it through.

Next Book Review: The World According to Garp by John Irving

Yogi Green Tea Blueberry Quote of the Day:
"Live righteously and love everyone; you will build up around you an aura of light and love."