Beauty and Tea Hagglers

Right now Smashingmagazine.com is my homepage.  They have so many neat tools, freebies and sources of inspiration for artists.  Recently they posted "50 Beautiful Winter Wonderful Photos."  Left is an example.   Perfect if you're looking for a new desktop wallpaper or trying to get into the holiday spirit among other things.

Speaking of holidays, there are some real swindlers out there trying to get your cash as the shopping season approaches it's pinnacle.  SNEAKERS!  I was at a tea store with my mom the other day and couldn't believe it.  The tea they sold was loose tea in these huge tins with big prices on the front.  Then, really small next to the price, it says 2oz.  The sales ladies quickly explain that you can either buy a 1/2lb or 1lb tin for $6 (for the container) and show the two tins.  All this info comes at you at lightning speed and is followed by the question: "how many pounds can I get you?"  OK, which means, if you see the price of $12.50 on the big tin, they are trying to actually sell you 4 or 8 times that price; 1/2 and 1 pound respectively.  In addition to this trickery, they have all sorts of yummy teas out and presweetened for you to test.  Delicious stuff, but they are often actually mixtures of teas they sell.  So, when you try to buy this or that tea that you tried, the salesperson explains that it's actually a mixture of soandso and soandso tea.  "So," they add, "you can either buy it mixed like that OR (in a more excited tone, like of course this next option is the only one that really makes ANY sense) you can buy a pound of each of the teas used in the mixture.  So you have a variety when you get home."  The pressure doesn't end there.  After asking whether the price on a particular tea set included the cups, the girl answered my question, but directed me to the other side of the store where the cast iron pots were.  She explained that they are really the best way to brew tea and add many beneficial properties to the tea the more you use them.  Could she "put a set together for me?"  So, I went from a $60 tea set to looking at $100 just for a cast iron pot.  I had previously bought my mom a whole gorgeous cast iron tea set from a little Japanese store close to my house for only $50.  Ah!  All I wanted was some yummy tea and maybe a cute tea set.  Not car salesman-like heckling.  

The teas at Teavena are delicious though.  You just have to be wary of all the words thrown at you and avoid the pressure to spend more than you intend.  Although they weren't shown to us, they do sell very cute 2oz sized containers.  If you have an airtight dark container at home, you can also have them package the tea you pick into a little paper bag to avoid the extra charge for their tin.