Gold n' Cold

Despite that this week has been the first week that i have started to get the hint of frantic retail type Christmas stress at Monsoon Towers; i have rather enjoyed myself.  This year i am going to make an extra EFFORT to not fall too far into the stress and try to see the bigger picture (ie that huge and lovely Christmas dinner at my parents with the Mr) and to see everyone's lovely faces when they open the presents that i have not yet got them.

But don't worry.  I have my Christmas CARDS and all of my wrapping paper and 'bits' and so whatever those i love and care about get, be sure to know it will look BEAUTIFUL.  I exaggerate a bit as i do have a few odds and ends but i do feel like i really need to up the ante and not be doing the usual Tasmanian devil type 'sweep' i always do on christmas eve.
*     *     *  
That said, this week has been jolly okay you know.  I feel like Winter might play fair this year.  We are teetering on the very edge and this week saw a bit more of a tease and tickle of frosty mornings, so so bright skies and a hint at what i hope will shape up to be a flipping freezing, dry and BRIGHT Winter please…




If you pop by here ever so often you will no how much i love my BREAKFASTING.  Breakfast is always something i have to set aside time for.  Even when i am working and time in bed is precious, nothing breaks my heart more then the thought of skipping breakfast or not devoting the time to it that it deserves.  If i am working, everything else in the world gets done ultra fast - make-up, hair, clothes and more thought goes into what i put onto my TOAST than what i wear.  I also have to allow at least half an hour to sit and munch.  Anything less and my day feels unsettled.  When i am off, i make breakfast stretch as long as is humanely possible, often enjoying several cups of tea and two smaller breakfasts popped together.  Sometimes i even allow myself a second breakfast, for lunch.  I know i am wild.  I know how to live, what can i say.  

Early bike rides on my day off this week were the CRISPEST i have seen so far this year.  I layered two tops, a jumper, extra wooly blue tights and a tweed kilt up so much that i could barely cycle.  You will be pleased to know that i wasn't cold though.  I love how the air feels as it hits your LUNGS when it is this cold.  I am weird like that.  I love how warm and cosy my mittens keep my hands and how icy my little red nose gets and despite how silly i probably look, a day like this one makes you just feel so good and healthy inside and out that i don't care.


Each time i go cycling my usual route i fall in LOVE with it more and more and at the moment it changes so much in just a short space of time.  You can see the last few leaves holding on tight, the stubborn ones that wont give into Winter.  They are so bright and golden that staring at them too long hurts my eyes.  Its almost as if they hold all the sun and loveliness that our long warm summer brought.  They are such a huge contrast to how cold and icy i feel that just looking at them warms me right through.  How can you not want to be outside when it looks this damn lovely?!
*    *    *   
In other less descriptive news:  My third column for Carlisle Living is out now.  So if you live locally to me you can grab yourself a copy and get a bit lost in my Christmassy ramblings.  I think this might be my favourite piece so far and i am loving WRITING for them so very much 

 * This week saw the end of my summer perfume.  I need a new winter perfume as my usual wintery scent (PHILOSOPHY 'FALLING IN LOVE')  has been snaffled by a few people i know and it has started to remind me more of them than me.  I don't like to follow the crowd but i am thinking of dipping my toes in the Jo Malone pool. Thoughts? 

*  I wrote a little guest post for the BEAUTIFUL Beetas' blog this week.  I am quite a new reader to her little space and have really fallen in love with the way she writes.  She is now firmly at the top of my favourites.  Go and say hello  HERE as she has been under the weather recently and you would make her day.  

*  It is my birthday on Monday of next week and i am really struggling with knowing how i want to spend my day.  I shall be twenty-nine.  Except i don't feel like i should be allowed to be that age as i am a little bit of a dizzy donut and struggle to think of myself as a 'grown up'.  The Peter Pan inside me still thinks i can survive on no money and that it is okay to blow a lot of money on something if its beautiful enough.  This year might be the year i get a grip.

Tonight i am excited for pea-shoot stirfry with duck spring rolls and noodles, and also the fact that we have the best cookies to dunk in Lady Grey before bed.  See? One needs to get a grip.  Tomorrow evening, the Mr is out playing and so i have a hot date with a LUSH bath bomb and i am going to try and concoct a ROSE G&T to keep me company.  

But for now, the spring rolls are a callin'!
Have the most splendid of weekends dear readers!