I don't quite remember when I fell in love with tea but I do remember the most special moments of me drinking tea. I was eighteen years old and I went to live with my biological mother for four months. I had just met her months earlier and it was awkward for both of us. She and her ex-husband lived a very quiet life in Boulder, Colorado. He was a professor at one of the universities and she was a housewife. After years of drug addiction and being in and out of jail, she deserved the break. I was homeless so she and her husband agreed to let me come live with them. Each evening my mother and I would find a spot in the living room with a cup of tea and a book.

Now, years later, I'm a self proclaimed tea expert. I start each day with a wonderful English Breakfast tea to get me going. As the day progresses, who knows what wonderful tea I will crown queen. But for sure, I have at least three cups of tea a day. And yes, when I can, I have tea everyday at about 3:00 P. M. I love to invite my friends over for tea and cupcakes and so far everyone thinks it’s a delightful experience. I am always in search of the best blend of tea. Yes, I’m a tea snob, I prefer loose tea but I do like some bags also. I have learned not to judge a book by it’s cover. Some bags can be quite nice. And yes again, any Diva knows, what you drink your tea out of is very important.

Tea for me is a way of life. It's wellness for the mind body and spirit. Here, I will explore every expect of tea possible, with a high concentration on wellness. I will review the best teas, the best places to have tea, the best ways to brew tea, the best tea accessories, what tea goes best with what foods, and the list goes on and on. I plan to share my passion for tea with you. And I've been told, nothing I do is ever boring so be prepared to go on this tea journey with me.





RLT Collection Tea Ball Frosted Clear Beads!

Mint Medley by The Persimmon Tree Tea Company

About This Tea:

Until recently I had never drank Peppermint Tea made with loose leaves. And Honestly, I will probably never go back. The freshness of loose Peppermint Tea cannot be denied. When I open the can of Mint Medley, From The Persimmon Tree Tea Company, I feel as if I stepped into a garden of peppermint leaves. It is a perfect blend of organic peppermint and spearmint leaves grown in the US.

Mint Medley has become a favorite and I find myself reaching for this tea tin almost everyday. It is great for on-going nausea. The health benefits and endless. It relieves muscle aches, headaches, migraines, stress. And now that it feels like someone is sitting on my chest and I have a mean cough, I'm sure it will help to relieve some of this congestion in my chest. Mint Medley has been in my tea cup more than any tea as of late. It has really helped with my winter cough, congestion related to this bout of pneumonia. You can read my full review on The Persimmon Tree Tea Company Mint Teas.


RLT Collection AIDS Awareness Tea Ball!




Welcome to my world of books! As an pre-teen books changed my world. I fell in love with the writers of the Harlem Renaissance period and the more I read the more I wanted to read. The fiction of this period was powerful and empowering all at the same time. It spoke to my own degradation and gave me hope for a better tomorrow. It gave me purpose for my own life and the courage to fight the good fight and never surrender.

I love to read! Inside a book I escape into someone else's life. There is something wonderful about turning to the next page of a wonderful story. Something intoxicating about the smell of the book and the story it brings to life. Reading brings me joy, and these days with my health in the balance, I find solace in my books.

I spent hours in my bedroom sequestered with the door closed reading the classics from the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes, Larsen, Hurston, Wright and Baldwin. Books became my escape and my salvation. The fiction of this period was powerful and empowering all at the same time. It gave me purpose for my own life and the courage to fight the good fight and never surrender.

Reading is the one thing that the pain of my life could never take away from me. It was the thing that helped to make it better. And even today, living with AIDS, books continue to be the safest place for me. It’s the one thing that belongs to me that AIDS cannot take away from me.The RLTReads book club will be books that I choose. It’s me sharing a part of me with you that has nothing to do with AIDS. It’s actually in spite of AIDS.

The RLTReads book club will be books that I choose. It’s me sharing a part of me with you that has nothing to do with AIDS. It’s actually in spite of AIDS. I have read hundreds of books from many different genres and I will pick the best of my reads over the years. I warn you, it will not be exclusively white or black, male or female, fiction or non fiction, it will be all of them.

I’m so excited and I’m grateful to everyone who wants to be a part of this venture. We already have 110 Book Club Members. You can email me @ RLTReads@raelewisthornton.com. The Twitter hashtag is #RLTReads. We can make this book club as wonderful as we want to make it. Who says that Oprah has to have the only ownership to a wonderful book club?

This Month We are Reading In My Fathers House by E Lynn Harris


Read along and join our discussion July 19th at 7 pm CST







For more Tea with Rae "Vlogs" Click here to visit her youtube channel

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Beauty Tuesday: Amazing Grace

It's been around for quite sometime now but the cute little names like Purity, Hope, Miracles and Amazing Grace did not impress me one bit. I'm usually experimental and I typically follow the trends but, in this case, I just didn't for no apparent reason that I can recall. Until recently I hadn't even considered trying Philosophy products, which is very atypical because bath and body products are by far some of my favorite things.

But yet again my girlfriend Alicia enlightened me. She and I are always sharing beauty tips. She knows that I love bath and body products so I shouldn't have been surprised when I received my first batch of Philosophy shower gel as my Valentine's Day gift. Well, I simply loved it.

Then for my birthday she sent me another installment, Amazing Grace. The clean feminine smell of Amazing Grace won me over for keeps. I'm not sure what I loved most about it; the blend is not too woodsy and not too floral. Typically, I choose floral in the spring/summer and something heavier in the fall/winter. However, I feel complete wearing this fragrance.

I love to layer my body products because it increases the staying power of the scent throughout the day. I start with the rich creamy shower gel. Then I'll reach for the lotion or a body cream.

I shy away from body butters because they are way to thick for my liking. But Alicia took a chance and I have to be honest, it's one of the best body butters I have ever used. The consistency has a whipped richness that goes on smooth.

I then top my body regime off with the same fragrance. A woman should always wear a fragrance! That's a Diva Rule! It should complement your personality and it speaks volumes to the woman that you are.

Alicia not only sent me a bottle of eau de parfum with the shower gel and body butter, she added the roll-on perfume oil that I can throw in my handbag.

I treasure my friendship with Alicia for so many reasons. We share so many things in common. The fact that she does it Diva Style is all the better. It was a wonderful birthday gift that came at the right time. During the last two weeks I have been on IV medication. At the end of my two hour IV drip each morning, I head to the bathroom and indulge myself in Amazing Grace. It is a small pleasure that I cherish that AIDS nor this IV medication can take away from me.

I think that Amazing Grace is a lovely fragrance. And the name, well let's be honest about that too. It reminds me of how wonderful God really is.


Post Script: By the way, the name of my first book is Amazing Grace. It's a wonderful book of letters that have been sent to me over the years. It chronicles my life and work through letters and at the same time the attitudes toward HIV/AIDS over those same years.
blog comments powered by Disqus
 
Clicky Web Analytics