Wonderful Wednesday #187

{Jumping feet-first into that magical golden autumn light!}
Well good day to you!  How the devil are you and what's new?!  It actually feels like a little while since i was sat writing out last weeks' post - so much so that i had to quickly check the day of the week and also make sure that i hadn't in fact missed a week and not realised!  I once had a dream that happened and my Twitter and Instagram accounts got deleted because of it and i had to go to court to 'redeem' them!  Oddest dream ever AND living {or dreaming} proof that i should really spend less time online!  

Tangents aside {oh but what's a weekly #wonderfulwednesday post from yours truly without diverting from the original case in point at least a few times?!} this week has been really rather lovely.  I've been off work since Friday last week and i feel a trillion times better for it.  Why do i never learn to take it easy?  When will it not become hard to stop worrying over things i can't do anything about and when will i also to accept that i always do the very best that i can and that, is enough.  I know all of this but often {read: always} in the thick of a busy working week i just forget myself and get into such a flip and a flop.  This gal is seriously ready for a happy list! 


1.  Being still.  I've got such a short attention span coupled with no patience whatsoever!  I'm forever wishing something that couldn't have possibly yet happened was already done with.  Or that everything would just be faster.  It likely stems from having to juggle several squillion things at once at work for the past eleven or so years.  This week i have chosen to be 'still-er' if there is such a thing.  Because what is time off and rest if not for slowing down, not missing things, noticing things and simply being easier on myself?  It honestly takes a good few days for me to truly wind down, but this week i'm just really enjoying that process.  


2.  Tinkering.  I'll forever be a 'faffer' and 'fluffer' and a 'tinker-er'.  I'm truly at my happiest when i'm simply pottering along doing something silly like re-arranging a room, making my food look beautiful or tinkering with new food recipes and combinations.  Usually this starts with breakfast but actually, this week i made the yummiest lunch.  So delicious in fact that in true 'me style' i've eaten it for the past three days!    I had two pots of leftover pre-made salad pots to use up.  I'm not really a fan of pre-made 'anythings' unless i can look on the back of the packet and recognise exactly what the ingredients are.  This is a little salad pot from M&S that is literally just a pot of green:  Rocket, edamame beans, broad beans, mangetout, peas and green beans.  I've been really enjoying warm salads for at-home lunches lately so i simply chucked all of this in a frying pan on a low heat with a teaspoon of coconut oil and warmed it through.  Then i added a massive handful of spinach and once it had wilted, i turned down the heat and added a teaspoon of mango chutney.  I piled it high in a bowl, seasoned it and topped it with slices of avocado and toasted black sesame seeds and it was HEAVEN.  The next day i did exactly the same except i had the sticky, warm spicy beans on toasted sourdough with a poached egg.  Mmmmm!


3.  Figs.  Lately they're all i want.  They've been my morning crumpets very best friend every day so far this week - obviously topped with peanut butter and a drizzle of runny honey.  I've also been enjoying them chopped into chunks and dropped into a bowl of the thickest creamiest greek yoghurt; again with a great big drizzle of runny honey.  Did i mention that i'm also loving honey?!?  Well you've probably guessed.  I swear i could write this whole post about food this week.  I love the change in the seasons.  I'm forever inspired by ingredients and food and eating to nourish that little machine of mine; but come this time of year it's ever so nice to switch things up and to have a bit of a re-boot, don't you think?! It's not quite cold enough yet but i'm already excited for celeriac mash, sticky sweet cinnamon potato wedges and turmeric-spiced roasted cauliflower.


4.  An unexpected warm day.  Today in fact:  Tuesday.  It's the day that i write this little post and so far the weather has been GLORIOUS.  I just checked for exact temperature info and it is an amazing 18 degrees!!!  Naturally i did what all us British folk do at any sign of warm weather - i got outside!  I've spent most of the day out and about on two wheels running errands and gulping in great big 'lungfuls' of fresh air and blue skies and feeling the sun on my little cheeks and it has done WONDERS for - well just all of me!  Gotta get that vitamin D fix when it's there folks....


5.  Pink.  Lately it's my absolute favourite.  Okay so it's pretty much always up there somewhere in my list of favourite colours, but lately more so than ever.  But not just any pink:  a veritable dusky blush pink....sort offffff the colour of a pink rose just as it starts to crisp and curl up.  Somehow that colour, well it's my calm colour and the one i'm forever drawn to.  I spend my life {no exagerration} searching for bits and pieces in that colour.  Why?  Because it makes my heart happy.  Do you need any more reason that?!?


6.   Candles, blankets and biscuits.  Okay so it's not cold cold yet but any excuse to celebrate three of my favourite things even more so than usual.  I say that because i pretty much celebrate this trio of wonderful-ness every month of the year but Autumn, well it's most definitely the season for winding down things a little.  Today i picked up some almond, cherry and oat shortbread biscuits to crunch alongside watching The Great British Bake Off later.  I thought they'd go perfectly with our usual mug of spicy chai tea before bed.  And even if i just pop the blanket over my legs.....well you get the same effect.  


7.  The smell of outside the morning after a night-long rain storm.  That was my Monday.  Luckily the grey damp mist and heavy sky lifted within a couple of hours but the smell very first thing:  Well it was delicious.  Everywhere felt so still and quiet and in the distance all you could hear was a cheerful chirrup of sweet birdsong.  It felt like i was the only person in the whole world {okay couple of mile radius} that was awake.  I stood with our french doors open and sipped on my mug of tea, watching the steam from the hot tea curl up and out of the door.  It was a little bit lovely.


8.   Clean fluffy line-dried towels.  I mean this is one of the best things in LIFE let alone just this week only.  Truth be told, now being the proud owner of a teeny tiny garden and washing line, it's something we've been quite accustomed to this Summer.  There's no greater joy than a 'good drying day' let me tell you.  BUT i thought our luck had run out and on the return of Autumn we'd have to resign ourselves back to hanging duvet covers on doors and pillowcases on stairwells BUT ALAS.  There was today {Tuesday} and it's amazing re-appearance of not only double digit temperatures BUT ALSO SUN.  So i predictably washed ALL OF THE THINGS and even some things that didn't need washing at all because THAT SMELL my friends, is heaven in itself.  


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And how about you?  What's been cheering up your cheeks this mid-week or better still, what ounce of greatness are using as rocket-fuel to power yourself right through until the weekend...?!  Do share - because i'm nosey and i'd love to know.  Whilst you're here, put on the kettle and hop right on over to Jo, Helen, Michelle, Sarah, Kate, Cat, Sam, El , Kerri's, and Peta's blogs  and catch up on a handful more happy lists from some of my very favourite internet people.  Because if there's one thing you can't have too many of, it's great big twisting and twirling lists of great and good things!  
Have the loveliest rest of week!