Afternoon Tea
I'll be 24 next week. Ahh! This year is seriously flying by. Since we all have our own agendas, my friends and I use my birthday as a time where we can all get together and have fun. For the past few years I've planned outings for us to do (it's usually a dinner at a local restaurant and then some random activity following shortly after), but last year I wasn't in the mood for some reason and didn't plan anything at all! It felt weird not seeing my girls. So I went ahead and got back to the tradition this year.
I'm personally over having birthday dinners for myself. I think I've overdone it, lol. All I knew was that I wanted to do something different and for everyone to look cute. I initially thought about doing a wine tasting event, but when I called around to some local wineries and wine shops to see how much it would cost, I realized that I'm not ballin' like that yet and I had to chill, haha.
Then the idea of having a get-together at my house in the backyard crossed my mind, but then I would've had to get tables and chairs and also cook. And if you know anything about me, you know I'm not very domestic so I cancelled that thought rather quickly.
Finally I had an epiphany and decided to go to afternoon tea at the Mad Hatter Bistro in Birmingham. Mad Hatter is a restaurant, bar and tea room that has an Alice in Wonderland theme. Guests can make reservations for afternoon tea which is held from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. daily. Our tea included three tiered trays of finger sandwiches, scones and desserts, as well as all the tea our hearts desired!
Their tea menu is pretty extensive. They have quite a few caffeinated and decaffeinated ones. The tea was bottomless, so I had about six cups. I was trying to taste every one on the menu! They have unique flavors like chocolate mint, white peach, strawberry kiwi, raspberry herbal, and so many more! I loved all of the flavors I tried. Oh, and the food was delicious, too! I definitely recommend checking this place out if you want to try something new.
When I sent the invite (read: text message) out to my friends, I encouraged them all to dress up so we could take pictures. I wore a purple satin off-the-shoulder dress I found from Forever21 with nude heels from Target and a bunch of midi rings from ALDO. My entire outfit was less than $100! After tea, we all spent about an hour outside of the restaurant taking group and individual shots. The sunshine was so perfect. We kept getting compliments from people passing by and some even offered to take our pictures for us, lol.
I hadn't been feeling 100% all week, but yesterday's festivities for sure made me feel a whole lot better! I'm so grateful for my friends and I'm glad well all had a good time.
Sidenote: I cut my hair again! I got my haircut done by Sarah at the Social Club in Midtown. Only $25 for a new shape. I love it!
Outfit:
Dress: Forever21 // Shoes: Target // Necklaces: Target (link is to an alternative)