I bought myself a new...

...mug last night. That's not a clothing item, a shoe, or an accessory, right?

I was at Kroger doing my grocery shopping, and wanted a particular kind of tea, Yerba Mate, for its metabolic stimulant and antioxidant qualities. They only had it in loose-leaf. So I bought the full one-pound bag of fair-trade tea for just $5.00. I have a tea kettle I can use to steep the leaves.

Except I have NO IDEA where it is. Probably in Michigan, which is a danger when your stuff is strewn across two far-flung states.

So I went to Target. I needed a new travel mug anyway, as the lid to my Bellevue Baptist mug has died with no hope of resurrection. That cup held so many memories. I got it on my way to Mississippi for Hurricane Relief Round 1 more than three years ago.

Moving on. I found the travel mug and a tea strainer ($3 for the ball, $10.00 for the mug) and was just deciding on aesthetics (style and color are VERY important), when I saw it...

A marvel of drink engineering: The Aladdin Tea Infuser Mug.

Inside the lid is a tea cage. It stays tucked in its cozy home until you push down on the lever, plunging it into the hot water and disbursing rich herbal flavor throughout the mug. When the tea is strong enough, POP! Flip the lever back up and the built-in strainer hides under the lid again, out of the reaches of the now-perfect tea.

It was $15.00 -- more than both of the other pieces combined -- but how could I resist its brilliancy, it's simple-yet-sleek styling?

Tomorrow I'll add a photo. However, my phone is (I'm praying) in the pool house today. No pictures, no texts, and no phone calls for me. But I have tea, glorious tea.