I'm willing to put my wheels where my mouth is...
 
One of the best ways to refresh creativity and allow God to talk with us is to get away from our regular routine. Whether you go with friend or alone, "Come away and get some rest..." (and fresh perspective). A well-planned outing to a new location or a road trip can literally bring you back to your senses.
 
First Exit: Boulder
Some friends and I took a jaunt to Boulder in early November. Since I spent some time in Santa Cruz, California, I look forward to visiting places with a similar flavor and flair. Boulder delivered. In fact, it seemed like the perfect cross between the coastal town and the open air mall in Boston. Our first stop: the famous Daneshabe Tea House.
 

 The artwork is lovingly hand-painted.

 

 
The best part of this mouth-watering feast for me was finding Mexican-style ceviche (seh-vee-cheh), a fish cocktail made by letting the fish marinate in lime juice for several hours. Tomatoes, onions and spices complete the flavor and you scoop it onto corn chips or, in this case, crispy-sweet plantain chips. It was fresh and light! Their famous Ginger Bread Cake was another story, it was dangerously dense and rich, so we passed it around and each had two or three bites. Oh yes, the Berry French Toast I shared for dessert was delectable with my Garden Romance tea, a gentle infusion of rose petals, jasmine and other flavors.
 
 
The Tea House has all manner of tea cups and pots or sale. http://www.boulderteahouse.com/

We took a quick browse, as one Australian friend woudl say, and then walked through the farmers' market.
 
My eyes were drawn to the vibrant hues below. Can you almost taste a sweet, crips bell pepper? God really is the Master Artist and Lover of variety. Look at how they the colors blend flawlessly and harmoniously.
 

 
 
Then it was onto the Celestial Seasonings plant and headquarters.
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Had it not been for my first taste of Lemon Zinger, I may never have taken to tea at all. Save for obligatory green or jasmine tea at asian restaurants, I was tea-impaired. Celestial was the first company to combine unusual flavors in such a creative way. Now I am a fan of their Roastaroma, Vanilla Hazelnut, Coconut Chai and other innovative blends.
 
The breathtaking artwork used for various tea box designs hangs on the colorful lobby walls. Next time you are in front of these tea boxes at the story, be sure to look at each carefully as they are truly magnificent. We were also enthralled by a whimsical collection of tea pots on display as we sampled teas and waited for our tour to begin.
 
        Skinny tea, anyone?
My favorite, an oriental art-inspired piece that could be in any world-famous gallery.
 
The various scents swirled around us, tickling our nasal passages and beckoning us to move onward. We learned about the various stages the tea leaves go through during the preparation process. The tall stacks of bins were labeled with various pure herbs, flowers and of course, the tea leaves themselves which are kept separate and are mainly for green or black though they also have white and red tea shipments.
 
    Dinosaur kettle.                                             Rusted metal barn teapot.       
 
I wish we had been allowed to photograph this next part of the tour, but alas, you will have to use your imagination. Picture a large gate rolling upward to reveal bags upon bags of peppermint and spearmint teas. You are prepared to meet the tour guide's challenge to enter the room and stay for at leas one minute. No problem. In you stride confidently and breathe deeply. At first the invigorating smell is amazing, waking your brain and making your toungue tingle. Now your eyes are tingling...no stinging... Suddenly your throat begins to itch and tears begin to form where the stinging started. You can't get out fast enough. The reason they close the gate on the Mint Room is that the smell is so pungent that it will pollute all the other flavors of the tea and actually be perceived for miles within one week if not closed. Now that's minty fresh!
 

A porcelain beauty.
 
The intricate system of coveyor belts and wrapping machines was at a non-production day standstill, yet we were astounded to find out that this modest plant produces thousands of boxes of tea each production day. To top off our tour, we headed to the gift shop and enjoyed picking up varous items to enhance our recollections later. We stocked up on favorite teas and on the special holiday ones like Gingerbread Spice and Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride. It turns out that the company that has acquired Celestial's line of teas, the Heins company, also owns Alba and Jason natural skin products and the products were available at a reduced price. I couldn't resist and picked up some Kukui Nut Body Cream-mmmm; it smells like a Caribbean vacation!
After the tour and a lovely chat outdoors, we shared appetizers at a local restaurant and proceeded to Peppercorn. This is no ordinary cooking store. This is a two-story culinary resource and tool emporium chock full of every food preparation book, accessory or gourmet product and appliance you can think of, and then some.The napkin rings still sparkle in my mind's eye. The tought of experimenting with some recipes from the specialty cookbooks I perused still make my salivary glands prolific. I purchased a snazzy hot pink, two-sided spatula for myself and we pitched in together for another to give to our group leader. Some shortbread to nibble on the ride home completed my purchases for the day and we piled into the car, bellies and senses satisfied, for our return drive to our usual lives.
 

Tea kettle or modern art?
 
If you can't make it to Boulder, check out the Celestian Seasonings online tour when you are done reading this.
tp://www.celestialseasonings.com/
I promised myself that I would savor this life using my senses as teachers a few years ago. This getaway was an invitation to leverage my senses in order to push my creativity a little futher. It's time to take some risks and thnk outside the proverbial tea box. My taste buds explored an old favorite coupled with a sweet alternative to the tired torilla chip.  I tried a new tea combination and loved it. My artistic perspective was refreshed as I looked through the camera's eye for a change. Why not produce story-book, color-saturated art of high quality and put it on a box of tea? Why not take an everyday utiltarian object such as a tea kettle and celebrate its artistic potential? How can you make a spatula more fun and functional at the same time?
 
It is official: Boulder beckons me back for a second visit. Maybe I will see you there.
 
Time to let some Truth infuse our hearts: Are you getting tripped up by a boulder in your creative/spiritual journey or getting bolder in your witness through it?
 
2 Corinthians 3:4-18 (NIV) 4Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. ⁵Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. ⁶He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
 ⁷Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, ⁸will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? ⁹If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! ¹⁰For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. ¹¹And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
 
 ¹²Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. ¹³We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. ¹⁴But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. ¹⁵Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. ¹⁶But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect^[a] the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
 
Go forth, creative and faithful ones, and may the Rock of Ages make you bold-er indeed.