Sunshine-ing

It feels ever such a long long time since i just sat here and WROTE.  Just put the kettle on, made myself a big floral mug of Lady Grey and wrote down all that has been going on around these parts.  It's not great or grand but lately has simply been all consumed with work related paraphernalia.  This time of year sees the launch of our Summer sale which this year has brought mixed emotions.  I have so been enjoying this summer sunshine; long lighter days and nights and feeling so inspired with everything around me that i am not quite ready to let it go just yet.  It's been exciting seeing the first peeps of AW14 trickle into Monsoon Towers but at this moment in time i cannot bear to think about jumpers, cardigans and tights. No no, not until at least September.  Are you with me?!  
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The launch of our summer sale inevitably also brings with it some very long LONG days and odd working patterns in order to get it all off the ground and running smoothly and so i am just starting to adjust back to a normal 9am-6pm shaped day.  Those precious moments i have had free have all been spent out and about in the sunshine.  There is forever a British feeling that whenever it is sunny we must all rush out and bask in it because its never certain or dependable on our shores.  So when in Rome and all that jazz…
^Colour co-ordinating my breakfast^
^The way all day off's start ^
My mornings have been of the spectacularly super SLEEPY variety.  Energy has been an absolute must and so i have been saving toast and pastries for my days off and piling pretty floral bowls high with spelt muesli, blueberries, chopped banana, chai and sunflower seeds and a great big glug of ice-y cold almond milk for those days at work.  Consequently days off now always start with a mug of Lady Grey in bed, whilst i check emails and compile a list of things to do for the day.  It's a new day-off shaped routine that feels a little more LUXURIOUS and a slower wake up is never a bad thing.

Days off have been spent in in any kind of cotton-printed ANYTHING that i can get away with!  I finally took the ever so beautiful Jack Wills for Liberty print strapless sundress out for a spin and i think it could go up there as one of my very favourite dresses ever and that's one mean feat!  My trusty straw panama hat has been worn pretty much every day and wins the award for best hot sunshine shady piece with a distinction in covering up messy 'i have just done five laps of the park' type tresses.  
^Green and wild flowers as far as the eyes can see!^
^Pimping my…ride?^
^a new friend
My morning bike rides have been just what i needed to COOL down in the early morning breeze and gather my thoughts for the rest of the week.  I have collected a pretty little seasonal collection of wild flowers from my cycle EXPEDITIONS through the forest-y part of our local park too.  In much more exciting news, i also got to know the kind gentleman i mentioned HERE and HERE above (except for his name…sometimes i can be a real dolly daydream!) a little more.  I see him on most of my days off now and he always pops over to say hello and to ask how i am.  On Monday he showed me a little photograph of himself a long time ago with his Parabike.  My beautiful Pashley Penny pushbike is based around the design of a World War Two ladies Parabike and we struck up an uncanny kind of friendship when he stopped me to compliment me on Willow a few weeks back.  He is the sweetest man and has so many lovely stories and tales about his adventures on his bike throughout the war.  I have really been enjoying hearing them!  

^the summer skies of dreams^
I can't help but fall more and more in love with this GLORIOUS weather we have been enjoying lately.  Despite the odd rain shower last week, it's been a little like heaven and the way i remember summers when i was a little dot.  I have replaced post-bike frothy cappuccinos with the largest iced soya latte i can get my paws on.  It's about the only way i can drink soya milk.  I rather like it in hot chocolate too but that shan't be making an appearance anytime too soon!  Its lighter and much less rich on my tummy than full fat or skimmed dairy milk, especially in a latte, and the nutty flavour is a nice addition in an ice cold drink.  


^twilight love^
 For those days when i have been working later or starting later the very next day, i have relishing in late summer evening laps of the park in a much cooler and crisper breeze with the most breathtaking sunsets you can ever imagine!  It really is a wonder i haven't rode into a tree or off the path into the river yet.  
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In other news,
*  One of my very best friends in the whole wide world got engaged a couple of weeks ago and has asked me to be a bridesmaid.  This made my tired and exhausted self very emotional.  I am so excited!

*  Oatcakes, chopped strawberries or hunks of juicy donut peaches with a huge and whopping spoonful of cottage cheese on top is my favourite lunch right now.  If i need an extra boost i sneak in a little handful of walnuts too.  Mmmm!

*  I can't get enough of Lana Del Ray's new album 'Ultra Violence.'  The Mr doesn't get it.  Sometimes i don't either.  Her music is rather slow, sleepy and a little sad at times.  But somehow her sultry songs are my summer time ear worm time and time again.  

*  The Mr announced he was making bangers and mash on saturday night.  I got in a grump. I was hot.  SO DAMN HOT that if i was by myself i might have cried.  You know that sort of 'i've been at work aaaall day and i'm so tired i just don't have the energy to shower' type strop?!  Bless his heart he cooked it and we ate what might well have been the very best pork and fennel sausages slathered in pear and apple chutney; mashed buttery potatoes and onion gravy of our lives.  If not also the most un-seasonable meal ever.  It felt decidedly Autumnal.  We are calling it a dress rehearsal…he's a keeper.  

*  Eating the best gluten free walnut and caramel shortcake slice of my life!  It was from Marks and Spencer's and i ate it on a break on one of my very long shift-shaped days.  Man it was good.  In a 'don't talk to me' sort of way.  I got through the rest of that shift purely because of it and i know it.  It shall now be my weapon of choice for those long and sleepy days.  
So tell me DEAR faces, what's new with you all? It's been an age since we all just caught up over a cuppa and had a good natter.  Have you all been enjoying the sunshine too?  How have you been spending your days?  I am forever jealous of those of you on school or uni summer holidays.  I want five weeks off dammit!