Donna Nichols-Lawrence has always enjoyed a good cup of tea and gardening, but after returning from a trip to England in 1990 she found she had become addicted to everything associated with Afternoon Tea.

In 1997, she was asked to present a class on tea as a fund-raiser for the Guild of the New Jersey State Opera, and an idea was conceived. Combining her love of tea and Heritage roses, the company of Tea and Roses was born. Two years later, Donna decided to incorporate these interests and her studies into a quarterly newsletter. The initial subscription base quadrupled in less than two years of publication and the Tea and Roses Newsletter was read by subscribers in forty-two states, Canada, and Great Britain. Publication of the printed newsletter ended in 2009.

Donna has presented numerous programs in the New Jersey and New York areas. Her handmade china mosaic teapot trivets and teapot cozies may be purchased at specialty shops in New Jersey and New York.

An avid knitter and spinner, Donna recently added weaving to her fiber arts undertakings and she works part-time at The Spinnery, a wonderful shop in a lovely village along the Delaware River. Donna teaches knitting classes, maintains their website and writes their e-newsletter as well as working the counter.

A former high school chemistry teacher and science department chairperson, Donna was the Assistant to the Artistic Director of the New Jersey State Opera for 25 years, as well as CEO of DLD Consulting, Inc., a company specializing in individual coaching in all aspects of presentation skills, business and technical writing and computer applications. She retired from the opera in 2007 and closed DLD in 2008.

In 2011, she made the decision to close TnR's Gift Shop and Tea Shop and she is no longer available for presentations or classes. Donna will continue selling her Tea Tasting Journal and her Teapot Cozy kits and will keep the Tea Party Ideas, Tea & Knitting, Seasons of Tea and Book Corner pages updated on the TnR website. Thank you to all our wonderful customers through the years...it was a fun trip.