Valentine's Tea and Cards: Finding New Traditions

This is the first year that I did not host my annual Ladies Valentine's Day Tea (insert sad face).  And we will continue to have a lot of firsts as we transition to a new home and community.  But this Valentine's Tea is one dear to my heart.

Valentine's Day often has a lot of pressures and expectations wrapped around the holiday so I always enjoyed celebrating with my girlfriends as a gift to myself and them.  It was something to look forward to each year, just us girls, and the time and detail put into the event was always well appreciated.  Nothing like your girlfriends to appreciate what flavor the cupcakes are and where I found my collection of tea cups.

So this year I wanted to find a way to carry on the tradition without being able to host my faithful group of friends.  Sure I could try to recreate it here in our new town but I would rather make new traditions instead of trying to keep up with California Ashley (because, honestly, she is hard to keep up with - friends I have had for years, grandmas to help with the baby, TJ-Maxx and Party City just around the corner!).

So this year I picked up a few blank Valentine's and a box of tea and sent out Valentine's cards with a packet of tea to a handful of friends who have been faithful tea party attendees over the years.  It is not much but it carries the sentiment I had over the tea.  I wanted them to know that they are thought of and appreciated.  That I am blessed to pour a small dose of creative energy onto them and that their generosity in friendship was my gift received. 

Plus this was a chance for me to get somewhat into the Valentine's Day spirit by staging these photos.  We still have our Christmas wreaths up on the second story of our house and I am simply just trying to keep on top of laundry and clean counters.  Decorating this year wasn't on my radar.  Styling photos for this simple post was just what I needed to fuel some creative juices without huge commitment.

It's all about new and simple this year while still being thoughtful and fun.  While some days life out in the middle of nowhere with a six month old can get lonely and exhausting, I am learning to continue to live a more simplified life in a way that still gives me purpose.