Happy New Year & There's No "T" in Pregnancy

No tea? At least, no tea blogging after I reached a certain stage of pregnancy.  

Photo: Drew Taylor

The event itself was dramatic and ultimately successful, with the well-steeped product turning out as perfectly as we could have wished.

Unable to simply sip this concoction, we have been taking constant doses but now are starting to develop some room for other infusions.

There certainly is a "T" in team, and while not tea related, here's a tremendous shout out to the staff and doctors at Women's Hospital in Vancouver, BC for their knowledge and dedication to helping us deliver a healthy and hearty boy.

From the moment of his birth I have to acknowledge the team at home, as I was helped by my husband, and he and I were supported by my mother and my sister who devoted weeks of their 2014 to staying with us and helping in the establishment of some order in our new world.

I won't go into too much detail, but suffice to say we survived (all of the above), and my relatively new husband, brand new son and myself are starting to develop a groove in 2015 that's going to include my participation in the Toronto Tea Festival in just a couple of weeks!  Woo hoo!

Photo: Drew Taylor

Next Steps

So here we are!  Back where we started!  Adventures in Tealand with Certified Tea Sommelier Rita Fong!

Only everything is different now!  I have a much better idea of where I might fit into the whole business world as it relates to tea and me but for obvious reasons, I'm going to have to put starting my business on the back burner until after the baby is born and I'm settled.

For those of you who've come along for the ride, thank you for your patience while I shared my experiences from taking the Entrepreneurship course and tried to incorporate my own spin on the whole thing.  I hope you enjoyed the pictures and if you have a clear idea of a business opportunity you see for me, feel free to let me know!

Just kidding.  I have a business plan, and as mentioned previously I just can't go off spreading the ideas openly yet, until I have my model ready for action and my body is too!  

No surprise, I'm obviously interested in celebrating quality tea and tea products and uniting my desire to see a sustainable business practice joined to my love of travel, photography and positive people.

Part of being an entrepreneur is developing an eye for seeing a problem as an opportunity.  As I prep for my upcoming nuptials (Working on the wedding favours, which of course will consist of tea!), I can totally see why my instructor suggested a "last minute wedding planner" business might be a good idea. I had a month to prep my wedding, and if I didn't have my "team" to help me, I could definitely use the services of such a business. I can also see why brides are planning their weddings a year in advance!  

The next course in the University of Toronto Continuing School of Studies Certificate of Entrepreneurship is Market Discovery and Intelligence.  The course outline describes what the prospective student will gain:

• Define their target customer and the different stages of their customers’ buying process

• Determine whether the customer problem/need is a valid one they are willing to pay to solve

• Utilize various available market analysis frameworks and market research techniques for early stage companies

• Collect and analyze primary and secondary research on their market to incorporate into their overall business strategy

The next course for me, however, will be focused on the business of a wedding, then setting up a nursery and supporting my partner in making a stable and safe home for our little one.  

I will also take great delight in using him as a guinea pig for trying things I can't indulge in for a while.  Stay tuned to follow what we get into next!

Follow #StartUpEdu, @rfongtea, @entrepreneurSCS on Twitter to join in on the entrepreneurship conversation.

This is a sponsored post on behalf of University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies Certificate in Entrepreneurship program; however, the opinions provided are my own.

Happy Mother's Day!

Hello!  It has been a while since my last blog post. 

I shared this lovely green tea with my mom today.  Hope all the mothers had a wonderful day with their loved ones.  

I've been busy as you can see...yes, I am expecting!  I'm five months along now.  

Around the same time as the Toronto Tea Festival  this February I was busy with planning and volunteering to help make the second annual two day festival a great one.  I thought I was starting to get sick, perhaps the flu.  It had been a really rough winter with the Polar Vortex and all.  Found out later that I was expecting! What a amazing surprise!

Morning sickness and fatigue took over all of my first trimester.  Morning sickness can last all day, not just morning by the way...  Still working full time in my day job so I haven't made a post in a long time.  My experience thus far has given me a new appreciation of some of the things mothers go through, and it's only the half way point.

I had read and heard from others that the second trimester gets better.  I was waiting patiently and I'm happy to report that it's true!  

My taste buds and sense of smell are heightened.  A lot of the foods I normally enjoy, I can't stomach anymore.  Unfortunately tea is often one of them.  I have to be careful of my caffeine intake for the baby's sake. Now and then I'm allowed a cup or two but the tannins and any slight imperfections are now magnified and quite disagreeable to me. Lighter brews are more palatable.  

It's now after the Spring tea harvest.  One of the top Chinese tea shops in town, Tao Tea Leaf was holding their annual Spring Tea Tasting event.  Over the last couple of weeks, I carefully sipped little Chinese cup samples of the Spring teas.  

I was so happy to be able to taste and enjoy great quality teas again and catch up with many of my tea friends that I hadn't seen in months!  

I still can't drink as much as as I used to, so I only bought one tea.  Hey, that took control and effort on my part!  I decided to pick up some Tai Ping Hou Kui, since I didn't have any of this beautiful long leafed premium green tea left in my stash.  

Fresh, smooth and sweet finish.

Lots of changes ahead, stay tuned for more blog posts to come!