Yesterday morning I joined Fleeta, Brenna, and little Ronia at the Queen Mary Tea Room in Seattle. I had never been to a high tea before, I just had a series of elaborate fantasies built up from childhood about what it would be like–and the Queen Mary satisfied all of those fantasies!

This place is a girly-girls’ dream come true. All floral patterns, elaborate gilded tea cups, sparkly butterflies and rainbow-colored sugar.

With sweet little Ronia, who was wearing a dress recently purchased by Fleeta and Bob in Maui (Fleeta also bought a matching dress for her doll, of course). I wore one of my favorite dresses–a green and white vintage number with a fitted waist and full skirt, with a petticoat underneath and silver sandals. The waitress asked Ronia if she wanted to wear a tiara, but strangely didn’t ask us.

“Can I wear a tiara too?” I asked, and my wish was granted (thank GOODNESS!).

This trip was mostly to celebrate Fleeta retiring from being a teacher after 25 years. Her last last last and final day of school was this past Thursday. Hooray for retirement! Looking forward to that faaaaabulous wedding quilt, Fleeta!

Brenna looked like a 1960’s stewardess, which is to say she looked adorable, as always. I love her hair long.

Ronia dubbed herself “Princess Blue”, and she dubbed me “Princess Sparkle” (PERFECT).

She’s really into the 1990’s “Little Mermaid” right now, which happens to be one of my favorite Disney cartoons–probably the last Disney cartoon I really enjoyed. My brother was obsessed with it when it came out so it was in heavy rotation at our house. I have all of the songs memorized. Ronia said she didn’t like Ursula the Sea Witch, but that’s okay. She doesn’t have to! I do!

The tea selection was overwhelming–70 different kinds of tea! I went with a black tea called “Golden Monkey”–smooth and caramel-y. I learned that red teas don’t contain any caffeine, so obviously those were out. I almost went with a coconut tea, but decided not to go with a sweet tea because the food we ordered was so sweet. Fleeta and I both ordered the standard “Afternoon Tea”–an array of tiny sweet and savory tidbits that arrived on a tiered display. It was ridiculously unhealthy, but so delicious. Towards the end of the meal Ronia got a little overwhelmed from all the sugar and took a little “time out” under the table. At least she was quiet! Quiet children are the best.

The waitress kindly offered to take our portrait with my camera.

It was her idea that we pose with the tea cups, and she moved items out of the way to make sure the shot was nicely framed. I appreciate people like that!

All in all, the Queen Mary is a delightful place if you want one of the most intense Girly experiences of your life. If I go back, I probably won’t order the “Afternoon Tea” again–the standard breakfast items they had on the menu looked delicious as well. I’ve been trying to force myself to be a tea drinker for years and going to this place inspired me to give it another go. I mean, it can’t just be coffee all the time, can it? Should it? I’ll think about that while I pour myself another cup of coffee.