Royal Teas with Grace and Style
Eileen Shafer is the former proprietor of Royal Tea Impressions, a charming teashop with locations in the historic river towns of St. Charles and Geneva, Illinois and is a well-respected tea enthusiast in her own community and beyond. Since 1996, Eileen has developed numerous programs for adults and children, highlighting tea's historic evolution from early Colonial Times through the present to hundreds of tea aficionado's.Aside from working as an interior designer, Eileen has written articles forTea Magazineand has conducted group tea and history tours to historic Williamsburg, Virginia over the past 10 years. Her love of tea and history has taken her to many great cities and towns across America where afternoon tea is still served.Eileen resides and works in St. Charles, Illinois and Williamsburg, Virginia.About the PhotographerAt the age of 40, Thom Rouse began his career as a portrait-wedding photographer. Based near Chicago, he now divides his time between commercial, fine art, and commissioned fine art images, with his clients as the central subjects of his pieces. His conceptual fine art images utilize real world photographs manipulated to create an alternative to real world perception.Thom holds the PPA Master of Photography degree, the Award of Excellence, the Master of Electronic Imaging degree and the Master Craftsman degree. He holds three Diamond, two Platinum, and one Gold Photographer of the Year Awards from the PPA and is three time recipient of the Illinois Photographer of the Year. Other awards include numerous Kodak Gallery and Fuji Masterpiece Awards, 32 images in the PPA and ASP Traveling Loan Collections, and the ASP Gold Medallion in 2006. Thom's work has been exhibited throughout the United States as well as in Canada, China, Japan, Korea and Italy.