Wonderful Wednesday #158



{Remember that time i took a photo and it looked just like a painting?}
OK SO I'm just going to get this out of the way early on and say 'Waaaaaaah I don't want to go back to work!!!'.  
It's worth mentioning right here that i flipping love what i do and the lovely girls that i work with but this has honestly been the loveliest few days off, pretty much plan-less and the first time since Christmas that i have had time to just be.  I've faffed and pottered and done odd jobs around and about the house.  I've started each and every day alarm-less {but still wide awake early - damn you body clock!} and with a hot mug of tea buried beneath the duvet, I've eaten longer and lazier breakfasts in daylight, i've rode those beloved two wheels each and every day - come rain, a gazillion miles per hour wind and rain and i've read the past couple of issues of Simple Things magazine forwards, backwards and all over again just because i've had time.  
What i AM feeling is rested and....reset....does that sound all hipster and naff...?!?  Let's stop wittering and get some happy listin' done!!!

1.  A funny old mix.  I love food.  And one of the things i also love are how much food changes with the seasons.  I love seeing different fruit and vegetables come into season now we're on the brink of Spring {as i type this, the rain is hammering on the window pain and the wind is whistling around the side of our house...} and even more so i love seeing new recipe ideas pop up and get excited to switch up what i eat a little bit too.  Earlier this week i was nosying around M&S food-hall and stumbled upon a new section they have which are all based around wholefoods:  seeds, pulses, nuts etc - RIGHT up my little pipe.  I picked up a little pouch of ground walnuts, hemp seeds and raw cacao nibs and it's mmm!!!  I've been sprinkling the stuff on most things:  coconut yoghurt, crumpets already topped with nut butter, wedges of pineapple, apple slices and also dates dipped in cashew butter and sprinkled with this crumbly creation.  I also think it'll work fab on top of chocolate porridge and in overnight oats too.  

2.  Growth.  That's what lately is all about and it's everywhere you look:  Sweet little buds forming on the barest of branches, teeny tiny nibs of green pushing their little heads up and out of the soil and scrappy patches of the greenest grass in places that once were brown and sludgy!  But the best bit?!  The sweet little shoots of green in the little ceramic plant pots on our patio at home.  I planted those teeny tiny daffodil bulbs months back and i never thought they'd grow at all!  I can't wait until they flower.  More than that i can't wait to plant more.  Maybe herbs, or wild flower mixes or vegetables....?  Any suggestions of easy pot and patio friendly plants for later on in the year that even I can't kill...?!

3.  A new duvet.  Now i need NO excuse to buy a duvet cover, a prettily printed pillow case OR a perfectly pastel-hued bed sheet BUT i can't honestly remember the last time we bought a new duvet/quilt.  I am NOT one of those people who changes their quilt or duvet with the weather {Or probably ever.  Don't judge please!}.  We're a one size suits every season and if it's too cold you grab a hot water bottle and a blanket type!  But last weekend we treated ourselves to a new one after realising that ours was looking VERY sad and sorry for itself.  Oh.  My.  GOLLY gosh it's like sleeping under the softest, lightest cloud of lovely.  

4.  Creative lunches.  Days off so far this week have meant i've had time to fiddle and faff and create at lunchtime instead of running around like a headless chicken on my lunch hour at work and eating most of my lunch in the last twenty minutes watching the clock.  That's a bad habit i need to kick!  I've loved putting a little bit more love into my lunches and breakfasts and all meals and whilst we eat quite well anyway, we do so forever in a bit of a rush!  I really must allow myself more time to eat....if only to curb the inevitable hiccups that occur most days....

5.  New hair care. Well i mean i needed a new shampoo and conditioner anyway but had been squeezing and scraping my current one as much as possible until i decided if i was going to try a new one or re-purchase the same one.  Then i fell in love with the smell of a shower-gel in Boots:  Coconut and Passionflower by a brand called Kind Natured.  And then I also realised they made a range of shampoo and conditioners and promptly bought the shower-gel, shampoo and conditioner and body cream in all of the same smell because i loved it so flippin' much.  It's worth mentioning i did actually need all of these items and actually decided to get the lot as there was a third off!  Here's to smelling lovely and for being excited to wash my hair and have a shower later!  It's the simple things.....

6.  T-shirts.  Here's also to living in my favourite pale charcoal grey ripped jeans and a small rotation of my very favourite t-shirts and cardigans for the past however many days with my hair tied up out of my face and hardly any make-up!

7.  Emptying the laundry basket.  Not even that {because in our house even that is an achievement worth celebrating!} but more the fact that for most of this week so far the whole of our little house has smelt wonderful.  Hurrah for the smell of fresh laundry and for burning your favourite scented candles on miserable grey days in the afternoon! Hurrah, hurrah, HURRAH!

8.  Sunlight.  Sunlight always!  I think because Great Britain is not the kind of country where sunshine is dependable or expected, well it sort of makes you grateful for it even more.  This week {and in fact most of my time off} has not been sunny or blue skied BUT there have been moments.  This week has been for those out of the blue grey bursts of sunshine so bright that it lights up the house in the prettiest way.  I can't help but long for a little bit more please....

9.  First day without a full-on Winter/warm kind of a coat.  I write this as it happened earlier today and right this very second i can't actually see out of the window for all of the rain and apparently storm 'whoknowswhat' is also on his or her way....ho hum!  But today, much much earlier i ventured out on those two wheels and rode into the hazy sunshine in just a little jacket and no gloves or big wintery scarf either and it felt glorious.  DID YOU HEAR ME WEATHER?!?!  I *SAID* IT FELT   G-L-O-R-I-O-U-S.......
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And I'm done.  Not surprisingly this weeks list of downright lovely came pretty easily.  I put that mostly down to extra sleep and a lot of me-time.  Don't forget to skip right on over to 
Jo, Helen, Michelle, Sarah, Kate, Cat, Sam, El , Kerri's, Mimmi's, Martina's AND lovely Isabelle's blogs to catch their very own happy lists.

OH and whilst we're all here, if you're lovely and take part in writing a #wonderfulwednesday or happy-type post, don't forget to always use the #wonderfulwednesday tag in ALL of the links you share on Twitter and Instagram so that we can all share them and read them!

As always you can find my little face {i lie - it's largely my feet, the sky, my bike or sometimes a pretty door or house} on Twitter and Instagram as @sallytangle. 
Happy mid-weekin'!