Wonderful Wednesday #72

This is a pretty accurate representation of how my week has mostly been so far.  And it shall also most likely be a great and whopping contrast to how the rest of it pans out!  I've been ever so lucky to get last Saturday and Sunday and also Monday off this week, with a sneaky much later start on Tuesday.  I'd like to tell you that it's all been wild and exciting around these parts for that reason.  Except that it hasn't.  Well it's been my kind of exciting {read:  early nights, tv catch-ups, lazy starts and pedalling for as far as my little legs could take me!} and you know what?  These are my favourite times.  For me in life there isn't very often a middle ground.  I'm careering forward at a million miles an hour, or i'm pottering about buying too many bunches of Peonies {if there is such a thing?} and enjoying mostly not setting an alarm clock and sneaking in two cups of Lady Grey in, in the AM - the first of which is always enjoyed beneath the duvet.  Because for me the joy in life is always those little things i treasure when i'm lucky enough to get a few minutes peace and quiet:  the precious little things you overlook and cast aside when life gets too busy.  So as i career and cartwheel forward into the rest of my very busy week, let us celebrate those teeny tiny seeds of goodness that i have been relishing so far this week, in true #wonderfulwednesesday style…
1)  A super duper soft lilac blanket across cold bare knees.  I was feeling chilled after a late night shower.  The heady scent of late-night summer rain was too delicious to close the windows, or i maybe I was too lazy.  Whatever!  Summer pyjamas and blankets cast over knees and just lamp and candlelight is a little bit lovely.
2)  Said summer rain.  Which has been coming quite regularly to these parts.  In a refreshing {probably} very un-British stance - i've been quite enjoying it.  Sure my few days off together would have been nice basked in bright summer sunshine, but well it wasn't to be.  Instead i've been relishing the damp days.  They've not been the torrential 'must have a brolley' type showers anyway.  They've been light and misty and a little bit delicious.  I scampered to the park on a damp Monday morning only to find it completely deserted.  It smelt wonderful.  And even though i'm pretty sure i left with my hair at least three times as big after several laps and a little cycle along the river; it was more than worth it.  I spent the afternoon catching up on laundry and listening to Magic FM.  Pretty blissful actually.
3)  Burning candles in the afternoon.  I love scented candles.  And incense burners and quite frankly any excuse to flood our little attic with the smell of Rose and Bay, Linen and Aloe or Vanilla and Oatmeal.  But there is something ever so luxurious about burning scented candles on a rainy afternoon with the windows open just a little and the radio on.  Padding around and about our little attic barefoot and drinking Earl Grey.  It might have been one of my very favourite afternoons yet.  
4)  Raindrops on roses wildflowers.  And grass.  And trees.  I spent a large proportion of Monday morning faffing about with a camera, trying to capture the beauty that are raindrops collected in huge green dock leaves, spotted on buttercup petals or simply clinging to tall grasses.  I totally failed.  But it was worth it all of the same and meant i got to cherish that magical misty morning a little longer….
5)  Chocolate brownies.  Do you know until December last year i had never even eaten a brownie *feels grumbles and rumbles the world over as everyone gasps in unison*.  What can i say except i'm very sorry and MAN ALIVE was i missing possibly the biggest trick of my whole life!!! My very first brownie was consumed on my 30th Birthday in Edinburgh, at a sweet little secret Hipster style Cafe-come-mostly-cake shop called 'Love Crumbs' at the bottom of Grassmarket in Edinburgh.  I say secret, what i mean is we walked past it about three times before we found it.   I digress.  It was a dark chocolate and mint brownie which left me speechless and gave me the best chocolate fix of my entire life.  And, i'm convinced it was also what powered me through three days walking up, down and around Edinburgh's pretty streets in the freezing December cold.  Brownies are now my super-indulgent treat.  This Monday i locked myself away with my favourite mug filled to the brim with Lady Grey tea and the gooiest, most heavenly melty wonderful chocolate brownie.  It was so very good that i may or may not have licked the crumbs off the little Willow pattern saucer i served it on.  And i'm not even sorry……I was so so happy!
6)  New pillowcases.  A real treat!  I bought them from Jigsaw a little while ago but promised myself i'd wash them before i even thought about using them {it's not just me that does this is it?!}.  Sunday night was 'New Pillowcase Night.'  It was all imagined and more:  You know if dreams were made of 100% cotton pale grey and mint striped pillow-cases and all…
7)  Cucumber and cottage cheese.  If I didn't think it would probably give me the worst hiccups/indigestion then i'd totally eat a whole entire cucumber and a whole tub of cottage cheese.  Sometimes if i'm being all fancy-pants then i make little cucumber 'sandwiches' by putting a few mint leaves in between two slices of cucumber and eat alongside a few spoonfuls of ice-cold cottage cheese.  Mmmmmm!!!
8)  Finding a giant Neom Organics Rose candle in Tk Maxx for next to nothing.  Okay well not quite next to nothing but a good zillion miles away from what it should probably cost.  I'm going to save it for a really rainy special day because actually, it's doing a pretty good job of making our little bedroom smell beautiful without it even being lit anyway.   
9)  Binge-watching/catching up on a million episodes of The Supervet.  We sort of got busy/forgot about the end of the last series and couldn't find a single thing to watch the other night.  We watched three episodes and i didn't cry once!  Huzzah!  I did decide that i want to work in a vets again though.  Which i do each time i watch even thirty seconds of an episode and then i remember that i spend a large proportion of each one covering my eyes, wincing and then trying not to cry.  
10)    Monday night pasta-shaped greatness:  Tomato Putanesca sauce riddled with olives, capers and a very generous shaking of dried oregano stirred through fresh pasta with nothing but a handful of baby kale and a good drizzle of olive oil to finish it off.  On a grey day, sometimes all you need is a huge bowl of bloody good pasta, no? 

Other things to LOVE so far this week…
*  Darling lovely Rosie from 'Cider With Rosie' Vlogs HERE.  I'm not much of a vlog-watcher {words over pictures mostly all of the time!} but as soon as i heard Rosie would be vlogging i just knew i'd love them.  What's most heart-warming is how honest and true to life these little weekly vlogs are.  It's so easy to make out like life is ever so hunky-dory in the world of the internet, the charm about Rosie's vlogs definitely comes from the normality and relate-ability in each one.  Watch watch watch!
*  THIS dreamboat of a skirt which may or may not already be hangin' up on my bedroom wall.  What can i say, it had me at 'Rose Print'  and 'Cord'.  I'm a little bit in love with it's 70's vibe and {don't hate me!} i can already imagine it with opaques, my chelsea boots, an oversized knit and my fur waistcoat.  I might give the whole bare-legs thing a whirl and tuck in a striped breton for now….We'll see.  
*  THIS cake.  Because what sounds more Summery and more lovely than mixing Strawberry and Cardamon?!  How delicious would this be with a sweet scoop of vanilla ice-cream?!?    
*  THIS wonderful young lady's return to blog-land.  Because if you love to read words that you can fall into and feel mesmerised, lost and comforted in the most lovely way then you can't not stop by.  Magically relatable and perceptive writing at it's most beautiful!   *  *  * Now it's your turn!  How has your week been shaping up?!  Tell me everything that has been making you happy so far this week or what you are looking forward to for the rest of it.  Remember to share a in a little comment below, tweet me on Twitter or share a sweet snap on Instagram by using the #wonderfulwednesday hashtag.
Have a super-duper rest of week!