30th Birthday: Afternoon Tea

We ended up at Lady Mendl's for tea. Thanks to reader Erin Wigger for the suggestion! It was the best way to end my date with Ella.

memories
1. Ella's choice: sitting on the couches next to the fire place (in picture above). The huge candles, the beautiful china. It was warm and inviting without being fussy.
2. Ella kept finding excuses to say "Cheers!"
3. Everyone in the restaurant was seated at 5pm. We all got served dinner at the same time with the same food. There was no menu, just a tea menu. I was so proud of Ella for eating all the grown up food they prepared for us! We cheered to that.
4. As the night wore on, Ella sat next to me on my couch. She was cuddly and tired. We cheered to that.
5. When the dinner service was over, we lingered in the intimate reception area (pictured below). We didn't want the night to end. We sat in the chairs and looked through books. It was as if we had escaped to a different time period. Everything about Lady Mendl's was effortless.

I didn't take a lot pictures of my birthday. I thought I would, but I was pleasently surprised that I somehow turned off the blog switch for the day. All photos from lady mendl's site.