Winter Tea Party in a Green House

First of all, it should be pretty obvious that I took NONE of the photos that are in this post. I shamelessly stole them from Anna's blog (she has three posts about this thing- here, here, and here). I've said before what a great photographer she is, but I can say it again because I'm pretty sure that I am her number one fan outside her family. She took all of these pictures while hosting, which is amazing. 

Anna is a lovely party hostess. We both really like throwing parties and I loved when she called to tell me that she was finally going to do her "just because" tea party! She had been talking about it for years and was ready to cross it off of her bucket list. She put A LOT of time and work into pulling it off and it was so... ANNA. 

You guys, she threw the party in a greenhouse. A GREENHOUSE! It had plants from top to bottom and was 79 degrees. An employee asked if she wanted a window open and she sweetly said no. They don't know that Anna would live in a sauna if she could. There were water falls and it felt like summer.
The best part? This venue (which hosts weddings and receptions) was so tickled by her idea to have a grown-up tea party, they let her have it there for FREE. 

Of course, the table was amazing. You can find more details about it on her blog. 

She did a lot of research about the food. There were scones and tea sandwiches and strawberries in lavender lemon syrup. I was pretty impressed with the petite fours her sister-in-law decorated and the candied orange/grapefruit rinds Anna MADE from scratch! See those little lemon cookies? 

Yeah. I helped out a lot. 

Of course, there was tea. Loose leaf tea of all kinds and honey and lemons and sugar squares. Water and homemade lemonade were provided as well since I guess tea isn't supposed to be the main beverage, but more as part of the meal. Anna taught us that. 

What made the party the most fun, though, were the people there. Everyone was so giddy and thrilled to have been invited and absolutely in awe of the whole thing. People took off work, found sitters, and traveled a ways to get there because, well... we knew it was going to be worth it. 

It was. 

Part of me felt a little silly having a sitter watch Georgia all day so I could go to a tea party. There was never a question of not going, though. And really, I have no regrets about it at all.
In fact, I think I should take MORE tea party days.

May we all just say, Anna: 

Thank you.
You gave us a fun memory that is truly, uniquely YOU. 

And we can all use a little more Anna Harrison in our lives.