Oh it's so good to see you today, on this, my first post for Tea Time Tuesday! Sandi invites us all, each week, to join her at Rose Chintz Cottage & Inspirations, for tea, and any conversation, stories, or scripture verses we may like to share together!I do hope you have some time to sit down and visit with me, as there is even more to celebrate on this very special day! I can hardly believe it's been a year! I look back, and it seems like yesterday, while it seems like a lifetime ago too! Today is my first blogaversary! So, let's start off with some cake, to go with our tea!
Today is also Day #9 of the Fourteen Days of Love, at Brambleberry Cottage! Today's theme is "Sweets for the Sweet"!
So, perhaps you'd like a piece of chocolate instead?
Now this is a big post!.. a LONG one, I know! I'm hoping you'll follow me down Memory Lane a bit today; but first I must invite my great grandmother, in spirit at least, to my first tea party, here in Blogland! When I was very young, I remember visiting my grandparents house, but it was my great grandmother's house I couldn't wait to run to! She lived just a stone's throw away, so I merely had to run across the yard to get there! She would always invite me in with a warm, loving smile, and set me down at the table for some little snack and conversation together. I remember those times, just me and my Great Grandma, and our own little tea parties together, whenever I could make my way over there! She gave me this little set. It is not a complete set... Just these three pieces... A creamer, a sugar bowl, and one little tea cup. These 3 little dishes represent one of my most happiest childhood memories. I thank God that I was so lucky to know and spend time with her, for even the short time that I did!

As I look back at my first year of blogging, I find myself wondering where I'd be without it! My first post was little more than a paragraph, basically introducing myself, and then feeling AMAZED that I was even capable of creating my own blog and posting my first entry at ALL! I was very proud, and excited, and hopeful I guess... as I really was not sure WHAT this all was about or what it would lead to!
..and then some of my NOT so good times!

Tracking back through the year, it turns out, I found I DID have a couple of other small tea parties before today! Do you remember this one? I remember making this doll with Aunt Pitty Pat!
..Or maybe you remember this little tea party?

My little city mouse and country mouse were here to join me then. I made them with the pattern I got from Caroline, over at her blog, Kansas Hooker! These two mice, Camille and Carrie Leigh, have a little cousin Suri, who now lives with CC at Lace 'n' Ribbon Roses!
Before I started blogging, I didn't know ANYBODY, really, who crocheted, that I could talk and share with! But then, I crocheted tote bags with Pammy Sue at Scotty's Place! I crocheted granny squares with April at Dishcloth Diaries; and I crocheted more granny squares with Donna at SmoothFox Original Crochet Patterns! I'm just so happy to know there are others like me, who love their hooks and yarns as much as I do!!
Oh, the friends and wonderful people I have met in this past year!.. And the wonderful and inspiring NEW things I have learned from so many of them!! We've exchanged recipes, patterns, book reviews, movie reviews, advice, support, a few jokes, etc., etc.!
It's funny to me, that I had never HEARD of depression glass till I came to Blogland! So I was very excited to acquire my very first pieces, this little sugar bowl and creamer! I hope to pick up at least a pair of cups and saucers to go with them someday!
But the influence did not stop there!.. I remember first stumbling into Tablescape Thursdays, hosted by Susan, at Between Naps On the Porch! I have not yet found the courage to participate, but I am hoping to someday soon! Now you just recently saw my new set of rooster dishes; but here is a set of dessert dishes I was thrilled to buy on clearance for only TEN CENTS a PIECE! Do you remember these from one of my September posts?!
Yes, there WAS a time, before meeting Susan, when I was quite content with the two sets of dishes I had! Well, you have no IDEA how fast and steadily my own collection of dishes has GROWN, since finding myself absolutely dazzled, in complete awe of the magnificently beautiful table settings I have ever set eyes on in my life!
Here you see the set of soup mugs, I purchased while "under the influence"! (Yes, my name is Beansieleigh, and I am a dishaholic!)... I just had to have them! They had these cute little cows on them! How could I possibly resist?!!
Now I have always been artistic by nature, but I never imagined how MUCH I could express my creativity though presentation of my own family dinners and holiday buffets! My hutches and cabinets are filling to capasity, and it will not be long before I'll have to look for further sources of storage and display! Susan, I love you and all your posts, and I certainly don't mean to blame you, but WHAT have you DONE to me?!!
It's been fun sharing something as simple as a color together too! Oh the joy that I can find, posting anything about PINK with Beverly, BLUE with Sally, or most recently RED with Sue!
I can't forget to thank those who have helped me with the appearance of my blog. Yes, it is still apparent that by my own choice, and fears of the unknown I suppose, that I have not yet found the nerve to try the many beautiful bloggy backgrounds on for size here! I have this same solid pink background that I started with on my very first post, and clearly I feel very safe and secure with it!! Ha! Ha!.. There are so many beautiful colors, designs and styles out there, and I just have to find the time to stick my toe in the water to TRY it! However, if there is anyone I would go to FIRST, to help me improve any look, feature, or function on my blog, it would be Susie, at 1st Floor Flat! She is a wonderful friend, and an absolute blessing to a good many of us here in Blogland!Now for the cutest pictures and graphics I think you can find ANYWHERE, all you have to do is head to Olde Dame Penniwig's!... soon to be newly posting as "BannerHaus". I am so grateful for her generosity and talent, as my blog would never look or feel the way I like it, without her too! So, in closing, there are so many more friends I could not possibly fit into ONE post, but you have no idea how much I love and appreciate all of you! The friends I've met are truly blessings to me, and I look forward to my second year ahead!
"With a friend at hand you will see the light
If your friends are there then everything's all right."
If your friends are there then everything's all right."
I am planning a giveaway.. Just a little something, a gift basket of goodies to celebrate, but I am still putting it together!
I want my gift basket to consist of a small hodge-podge of items that reflect the posts and the memories of this past year, and then some of what I'm posting presently. Today, I'll give you just a little sneak peak of two small items that will be included in my gift basket, in observance of today's tea party.. A miniature porcelain tea set.. just a small item found from the toy's section at my local dollar store, but I love sets like these! I like to scatter them around my own house, to display with my collectible dolls, or other sets of miniature items. I have also used them in shadow box types of crafts as well! However, if you should not find a purpose for them, then perhaps you know a little girl who might! Anyways, along with this little tea set, I hope you will enjoy a Celestial Fruit Tea Sampler! Throughout the rest of this week, I will drop hints at other items that can be found in my little Blogaversary gift basket!.. Then I will officially post on Pink Saturday, how to enter for the drawing! Fair enough? Good? What do you think?!

Well, if you've made it this far, to the bottom of my post today, then thank you so much for stopping by! I hope that you enjoyed my first tea party, and the walk down Memory Lane today! I sincerely thank all the wonderful friends I've met! Never have I seen some of the love, compassion, friendship and generosity that I have seen here in Blogland! Again, it is a blessing to know you!
Well, if you've made it this far, to the bottom of my post today, then thank you so much for stopping by! I hope that you enjoyed my first tea party, and the walk down Memory Lane today! I sincerely thank all the wonderful friends I've met! Never have I seen some of the love, compassion, friendship and generosity that I have seen here in Blogland! Again, it is a blessing to know you!
((Hugs))













































































