My Bring-Backs from Europe: Ambient Light & Tea
You know what I noticed most while strolling through Amsterdam after work? The lights.
Lights strung over streets, in windows, creating a warm light glow as you walk through town. They’re not Christmas lights, a Dutch coworker corrected me, they’re winter lights. Up November through March to brighten the city in the cold, dark winter.
Wow, that’s smart.
And not to be a total American-swooning-over-London, but I still haven’t recovered from how much I loved afternoon tea. Walking around London in November it made sense. It’s chilly and gray there, too. The total body warmth of tea, and ability to down more of it than coffee, I get it.
As a Coffee Girl I was not prepared to come home scouring the grocery store aisle tea selection… or Facebook Marketplace for tea sets.
I found one. For $8.
Anyway.
Winter just dumped itself on us, as it typically does in West Michigan. It’s freezing and gray, and it’ll stay this way forever.
I went wild on automatic ambient light this year. Some of it is holiday lighting and will come down post New Years, but most of it will stay for awhile. I’m taking after the Dutch and embracing more warm, dim lighting with the goal of creating a glow, not illuminating a whole room.
My secret is automatic timers. Almost all these lights turn on at 5pm and off at 10pm. Some come on in the morning so we’re not waking up in the dark mornings to a dark house. There’s nothing more cozy than cozy happening to you vs cozyness you have to work toward. I’m not workin’ hard here. I’m lighting retired.
And the tea, that’s on repeat too. English Breakfast all day long. Chai in the afternoon. Green if I’m feeling funky. Peppermint before bed. Sometimes with a homemade scone because I am totally that American-swooning-over-London.
Lights strung over streets, in windows, creating a warm light glow as you walk through town. They’re not Christmas lights, a Dutch coworker corrected me, they’re winter lights. Up November through March to brighten the city in the cold, dark winter.
Wow, that’s smart.
And not to be a total American-swooning-over-London, but I still haven’t recovered from how much I loved afternoon tea. Walking around London in November it made sense. It’s chilly and gray there, too. The total body warmth of tea, and ability to down more of it than coffee, I get it.
As a Coffee Girl I was not prepared to come home scouring the grocery store aisle tea selection… or Facebook Marketplace for tea sets.
I found one. For $8.
Anyway.
Winter just dumped itself on us, as it typically does in West Michigan. It’s freezing and gray, and it’ll stay this way forever.
I went wild on automatic ambient light this year. Some of it is holiday lighting and will come down post New Years, but most of it will stay for awhile. I’m taking after the Dutch and embracing more warm, dim lighting with the goal of creating a glow, not illuminating a whole room.
My secret is automatic timers. Almost all these lights turn on at 5pm and off at 10pm. Some come on in the morning so we’re not waking up in the dark mornings to a dark house. There’s nothing more cozy than cozy happening to you vs cozyness you have to work toward. I’m not workin’ hard here. I’m lighting retired.
And the tea, that’s on repeat too. English Breakfast all day long. Chai in the afternoon. Green if I’m feeling funky. Peppermint before bed. Sometimes with a homemade scone because I am totally that American-swooning-over-London.