My Weekend, day by day (Friday)

So on Friday after the photo review of the images in my last post, my roommate Julie and I headed to Holyoke (about 40 minutes away) for this kickoff for a breast cancer walk that took place on Sunday. Western Massachusetts started this organization called Rays of Hope to raise awareness of breast cancer. Julie has been doing the walk for some 11 years, not thinking that she herself would be diagnosed with breast cancer last year. She is a SURVIVOR and an encouragement to me of someone who has determination and strength. Go Julie!

So we went to this dinner and then (a very soon-in-the-future-post) did the walk on Sunday. Here's the link to Rays of Hope if you wish to check this fantastic organization out. I'll be writing further details about the walk itself in the Sunday post.

Rays of Hope

Afterward, we went to the Holyoke Mall, one of the bigger malls in the area. I had a few places I wanted to go, and along the way we saw this store called Teavana. In February singer/songwriter Shawn McDonald talked to me about this place, but I never got to go.

Check out Teavana here.

So we walked in and of course I was hooked. I'm not a coffee drinker, but definitely love my tea, so to smell all the teas and see all the lovely teapots, I was like a kid in the candy store. The salesman was soooo good that I bought a teapot and cups and little things to set the cups on...and I am so proud of my little teaset.

Here's the teapot I got:



Isn't it just so cute? And these are the little accessories I got to go with it:

I got cups:




and little coaster and leaves to stick the cups on:



Of course my little set matches. The different cups sit on different colored coasters which all sit on green leaves.
The dragonfly (in Chinese) symbolizes new beginnings, and I am indeed experiencing a new beginning with photog. school, and it was just so stinkin' cute :)

We ended up in the store for over an hour, talking away with the people who worked there. They both knew of Hallmark and turns out the manager on duty's husband worked at Hallmark for a few years. Small world! He was actually in the mall, so we got to meet him and chat for a few minutes about what we were learning.

Saturday's post coming soon......