Thoughtful Friends & Thoughtful Gifts

The better part of today was spent aimlessly wandering around the Huntington Library. 

My dear friend, Liz, loves loves loves the Huntington and is always raving about how fabulous it is to go there and have tea in the Tea Room. Back in November, she informed me of my birthday gift, which was a day at the library and tea. Of course, with the holidays, the soonest this could possibly happen was today.

So we met there around 11am, and I requested that Liz show me her favorites. Which really isn't fair, because everything about that place is her favorite. ;) We explored and she narrated and told me about all kinds of awesome childhood adventures with her siblings and pretending to be kings and queens of the giant estate.

The definitive highlight of the day was Tea. We had tea at 2:45 and just about closed the place down. There were only a couple of tables still occupied when we finally left. The tea room is in the old groundskeeper's house, which has been converted into a tiny little restaurant of sorts. The servers bring you a whole pot of a flavored tea of your choosing, a basket of WARM freshly baked scones, and then you are left to help yourself to a variety of cheese, crackers, little sandwiches with the crusts cut off, fruit, beautiful little deserts, caviar... it was amazing!

I am thankful not only for the gift of tea at the Huntington today, but for the friend I have in Liz. She is smart and compassionate, funny, clever, loving, and accepting. She's a doll. I met her in my very last class at Cal Poly, and I'm so glad that I did. It's a little sad that she's my only "English department" friend, considering that was my actual major, but hey, I'd rather have one great friend than 10 indifferent ones.

I have a really hard time developing solid friendships, but the friends I do have I love fiercely. So what I'm really truly grateful for on January 10th, 2009, is that Liz shared with me something that she loves. I got to know my friend a little bit better today.

Thanks for a beautiful day.