Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

Spring: A Time for Re-Birth

I spend a tremendous amount of my time on the interstate.  Like, probably half my waking hours if not more.   This being the circumstances, I have a lot of time to myself where I can let my thoughts float around and simmer or I can crank up an old Dateline podcast and get lost in […]

 

Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

Let’s Just Get It Over With…

I feel like I have been spreading myself far too thin lately and my mental well-being is getting a bit threadbare.   Between work never slowing down, constantly being on the road and trying to launch a little blog as a side hobby with zero experience, my stress is completely maxed out.  And when you add […]

 

Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

Easy Easter Eatin’

Happy Easter everyone! If you celebrate the holiday then I’m certain your upcoming weekend is going to be full of family fun like mine.  While I don’t necessarily share the same religious views as most that honor this event, I still love the celebration and fellowship with family and friends.  The focus on outdoor activities […]

 

Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

Get Outside

This week kicks off with the vernal equinox, better known as the first day of spring, and I’m already enjoying an 80 degree day here in Middle Tennessee.  All this warm weather and equinox excitement has thawed my icy cold hearted love for winter and actually has me very much looking forward to my upcoming […]

 

Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

Feelin’ Lucky

Top o’ the mornin’ to ye! It’s the week of St. Patrick’s Day AND Daylight Savings, so I hope the luck of the Irish is putting a little spring in your step as well as mine.  I’ve always enjoyed St. Patty’s, both for the hefty payday while working behind the bar, as well as for […]

 

Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

The Company You Keep

There is a well-known ideology that states “You are the sum of who you surround yourself with.”  Or if you grew up in Gap Creek like me, you may have heard it this way:  “Lay with the dogs and you’ll catch the fleas.” It’s a proven fact that success and failure are indeed a bit […]

 

Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

A Filtered Existence

It’s 2021 and reality no longer exists.  You heard it here first. No matter how you dice it, we live in a technology driven, information biased world, where “facts” change depending on who is reporting them, “reality” tv is scripted and no one looks as good in person as they do online, both physically or […]

 

Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

Home Cooked Wine Pairings

Growing up in the south, particularly from our “neck of the woods,” you learn early on the importance of good eatin’.  I’m sure I’m not alone in reminiscing about all those meals at grandmas, where the whole family squeezed in elbow-to-elbow to indulge in her home cooking.  In fact, with most of my childhood memories […]

 

Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

Valentine’s Day 2021

Happy Valentine’s boys and girls. It’s the week that Hallmark and Walmart do their best to pry open your mouth and cram in as much Pepto pink, heart-shaped emotion that will fit. If you’re of the terminally single persuasion like myself, you’re either too busy to notice, or too dead inside to care. But since […]

 

Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

Groundhog Day

Happy Groundhog Day everyone!  It’s Tuesday, February 2nd, and it’s officially the day the entire US leaves the fate of our weather system up to one fat, furry rodent in Pennsylvania.  (After the year we’ve had, that tradition is somehow the least wacky thing I’ve heard.)  Thanks to the magic of Bill Murray, this holiday […]

 

Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

The importance of a 5 year plan 

This past Wednesday I was sitting through our weekly team Zoom meeting, halfway zoned out trying to wrap up the accounts I’d seen for the day while also digesting key information from my bosses. They began to review the results of our continuing education and blind tasting when I was suddenly snapped to attention with […]

 

Tea Time with Appalachian Barbie

Diary of a Chionophile

Monday morning I woke up to the most wonderful sight: it was actually snowing-and laying- in middle Tennessee.  Considering I had been blessed enough to enjoy the Christmas Eve snowstorm in Tri-Cities, I figured I was cashed out on my favorite weather system.  But to my surprise as I was shuffling around the kitchen preparing […]