Operation Freefall

Tomorrow, mewschangeling, schmidtybooger, and I are jumping out of perfectly good airplanes for charity!

This is Operation Freefall- a 2 mile high leap of faith, of strength, of amazing people around the country raising money to help support the survivors of sexual assault...and then jumping out of many planes.

The three of us - the Flying Squirrel Division - have raised over $2K for SOAR! I was pushing to raise $1K and I'm a weeeee bit short of that goal - I'm holding at $967. Donations may be accepted up through the end of May. If you'd still like to donate, or if you're new to this and would like to know more about what exactly we're doing and why, here is my fundraising page and my story.

And here is one of the very brutal truths about sexual assault:

"The FBI categorizes rape as the second most violent crime a person can experience, second only to murder. To put it another way, it’s the most violent and traumatic crime any victim lives to remember.. Every two minutes, another American is sexually assaulted. It is the most underreported of all crimes in the United States. The effects of sexual violence affect all of us."

Tomorrow, many incredible people around the US are making a very dramatic effort to raise awareness and raise money. Take a moment to look up and think of us!

Well, My goodness, y'all.

You are some pretty amazing people.
And I am a pretty amazed squirrel.

I wasn't anticipating hitting $1K - I am now OVER it. $1072. Because you are all amazing. And this money will go on to do some pretty amazing things because of you.

Thank you.

tea talk

One of the spiffy things about being in Asheville was the plethora of organic foods. For that alone, I am tempted to relocate! (If they just had lox in their supermarkets...*sigh*)

I discovered a tea I wanted to share with y'all, and that thought led to 'oh there's other teas that are worth babbling about, too!'

First off:
The Original Ceylon Tea Company sells a blend called 1001 Nights.

This masterful blending of our premium green & black teas is caressed with the cut blossoms of roses, orange blossoms, & sun flowers, then bathed in the sweet liquor of red, ripe strawberries.

The sunflowers are what caught my eye; I wasn't sure about the strawberry. But this really is a delicious black tea with a yummy sweetness to it, and I heartily recommend it...though I'm not sure how easy it is to find. (Yay internet stores!)

After discovering Karkade tea in February at Your Inner Vagabond, I have become quite the fan of hibiscus tea! Truth be told, I prefer the loose 'leaf' tea that YIV sells, as it's straight-to-the-point hibiscus (mmm, edible flowers!), has a strong tart taste, and is the most affordable blend I've found...however, the following are quite wonderful as well.

Hampstead Tea, British seller of organic teas and herbal infusions, offers Rosehips Hibiscus, for an extra kick of vitamin c. Hibiscus and rose hips are the only ingredients - it has a pleasant mild fruity taste. This tea is pricey, but I'm pleased to say that I've actually found it on the shelves of Giant Eagle grocery stores.

I was surprised (though in hindsight, I really shouldn't have been) to find that old favourate Tazo also has a hibiscus blend...Passion. Not as pure a tea as the others, its ingredients are listed as "hibiscus flowers, orange peel, licorice, cinnamon, rose hips, lemongrass and red poppy". Tasty, sorta...sorta cidery, but not...definitely the lightest-tasting of the three, and easy to find, but not my first choice.