Pardee House Tour & Tea Party

Several months ago, one amazing comm member posted to our Facebook page about the possibility of having a meet at a historical house in Oakland. 40 people bought tickets to see the Pardee Home Museum and have tea in the gardens.

I ended up being late, so I missed the first few minutes of the house tour. What was truly amazing about the tour was that our docent was actually a family member of the Pardee family. He had great stories to tell us about Thanksgiving dinners here and could describe the backgrounds of and how the family used each piece of furniture and decoration. 

Photo credit Chen Jay

The house had been renovated a few times since it's first construction. There was added electric + gas chandeliers added when electricity was put into the house, the main fireplace was moved when it got damaged in the 1906 earthquake, and the traditional Victorian rooms were opened up when radiators were put in. There had been a lot of renovations during the Edwardian period, so we didn't see much of the original Victorian detailing, but everything was still gorgeous.

I think one thing that did bug me was that everything in the house had been left exactly as it was when the family lived there. This was a blessing because you can see authentic placement of furniture and ornaments, but I didn't like how much 1950s wallpaper and "electronics" there were.

 Photo credit Julia Yu

Photo credit Alegra Vasquez

What I love about the next photo is the historical significance. This is part of Mrs. Pardee's "crazy quilt". The white patch that says "Lincoln" is a scrap of Lincoln's widow's clothing that she sold after he was assassinated. I never knew that his family was left destitute after his death...

Photo credit Julia Yu

The tea service was quite good. The army of old ladies were a bit slow to bring around tea after the first round, and two friends at my table actually snuck over to the tea dispenser and refilled our cups themselves!

We had more than enough tasty tea sandwiches, pastries, and desserts. My only regret is not snatching up the last mushroom quiche!

Photo credit Julia Yu

Here's my coordinate rundown:

• One piece dress, socks, shoes, and headdress are from BTSSB.
• Purse is from Angelic Pretty
• Wig is from Lockshop
• Necklace is from Marmora Handmade

I just got this Icing Princess OP in the mail, and half an hour into wearing it, one of the waist-tie buttons popped off ;-; Never again will I reach into the backseat of a car in a dress with no shirring... 

You can't tell from the photos, but the lace has some silver glittery threads. I think it added a nice dimension, just like the silver lace on my Innocent Rose JSK.

I was originally going to wear rose printed OTKs with this outfit, but at the last minute decided to wear ankle socks for the heat. I was also originally going to wear Juno's Bouquet straw hat, but it didn't fit with the wig on so I went for Juno's Bouquet headdress instead.

Overall, today was a pretty good day. Taking my wig off as soon as I got back to my car was of course, the highlight xD