Insane deadlines and crafty incentives

So...I meant to post earlier than this...but I was completely worded out! Thursday morning I set a goal for myself, to reach 30,000 words by the end of this weekend. But if I could make the goal by Friday night, I'd treat myself to a trip down to Skokie to Adagio, and a new tea maker.

It was more a joke than anything, because, haha, that was something like 17,208 words. Yea, I just whipped out a calculator. But I posted the goal to Facebook that morning nonetheless, and by lunchtime had a response from one of my very best friends in the world that said 'You. Me. 5 o'clock. NO DISTRACTIONS!'

Turned out it was more like six by the time I got home, let Buddha outside, and got situated, but still.

Isn't she colorful?

So we spent the next 4 (5? I think we stopped somewhere between 10 and 11, but I'm not motivated enough right now to go check my Facebook status history) hours with Skype on, egging one another on in word sprints, with my final word count at the end of the night coming out to 30,187 words!?!

 

Needless to say, I rolled into bed that night with a bit of eyestrain and a temporary hate for the written word! 

But that also meant I spent a fair few hours down at the Old Orchard Mall in Skokie yesterday! Swinging by ABT scored me a Breville One Touch Tea Maker for $224, $25 less than what Teavana asks for it! Then cue 2 hours in Adagio's store, chatting with the girls there while one of them tried her very best to recreate a tea that was taken off of the website, that is my absolute favorite ;_; she came close, but some of the ingredients (read: ONE of the ingredients) was out of season, so we decided I'd save some of it aside when I ran low, and I'll go back in October when everything's in season and we'll try again. I did come home with quite a bit of tea, anyway, thanks to their back to school sale and their buy 4 get 1 free deal.

Of course, then I had to spend time today coming up with some cute way to display the tea that wasn't in a bunch of bags. Since light is a big no-no for loose leaf tea, I coated 8oz mason jars with chalkboard paint, and printed labels to tape to the lids.

The first coat was weak and nearly see through, but a second coat fixed that right up!

 

I'm thinking I may add ribbon or something around the edges of the lids, just to make them a little more festive, and I can write on them once I get my hands on something other than sidewalk chalk. But in the meantime, they do the trick quite nicely! The tin with the picture of Bofur on it on the right is the tea that they couldn't recreate, but as you can see, I'm not exactly lacking for tea right now!

 Left to Right : 

Teavana Watermellon Mint Chiller
Adagio Toasted Marshmallow (Custom blend from the store in Skokie)
Adagio Chamomile
Adagio Fili (Fandom blend from website)

Adagio Rooibus Cinnamon Apple
Adagio Caramel (not a lot in the jar, was a free sample shipped with the fandom blends)
Adagio Strawberry
Adagio Sweet Potato (not a lot, free sample from the Skokie store)

 Adagio Cinnamon (not a lot, free sample from Skokie)
Adagio Kili (fandom blend from website)
Adagio Lady tea (custom blend from the store in Skokie, freaking magical tea right there people! MAGIC)

 This little corner of my kitchen is my happy place, and was well worth the writing marathon accomplished the other night! Tomorrow will be another day of radio silence, my brother will be up to see me and mom, just for the afternoon! But I will be writing, I swear! Talk to you all Monday!