Take A Moment

Take a moment, if you will.  To open your eyes and ears and see and smell and realise that even if it sometimes rains, and it is quite blustery out there, wherever you are, Spring is here and its so pretty.  Even if you are the most un-girly of girls, and the thought of going anywhere near the colour pink or a bunch of flowers makes you want to cringe, just do it, if only for one single moment.   I wont tell anyone and if you do it will be sure to fill you with the lovliest feeling.  
Bluebells starting to sneak up.
Daisies scattered across the grass.
Flowery inspiration.
Wild garlic filling the air and the verges.
Sunny-faced Dandelions cheering up the green.
Blossom
Again...
Spring Inspiration.
A bit more..
Never too much!
If you are a girly girl (like me), sit on the grass and make daisy chains; fill old jam jars and even the smallest space with blossom;  smell the sweet aroma of wild garlic on an early evening wander;  sit under a blossom tree and read your favourite book;  enjoy the smell of freshly cut grass;  listen to the birds sing or just sleep with the window open.  
*  *  *  
And even if you can't do any of those things, and you think i have gone a little bit 'flower mad', smile at how daft i must have looked getting blown about like a rag doll, atop a hill; by a busy road junction, with a precarious number of M&S carrier bags balanced on my handle bars taking these blossom shots.  Completely worth it in my book. 

* If you would like to be ever so kind, you could make my little day and vote for Sallytangle under 'Best Lifestyle Blog' in The Cosmopolitan Blogger Awards 2013 by clicking the link at the top right hand side of my blog.  Thank you so very much xxx

A Spring Reduction.

A long and sunny then not sunny week where i seem to have lost the art of making a half decent cup of tea, felt a bit seasick watching Life of Pi and have been endlessly and stupidly laughing until i cry at my own jokes - namely mimicking Masterchef, where everything is served with a whatsit confit, a this or that crumb, a thingy-ma-jig foam or a something reduction.  In other news...

Lately has been rather resplendent as we are now able to zip here and there often, since we now have wheels and the Mr can drive.  Sunday was filled with pretty little fruit tarts and visiting Ullswater and Airaforce waterfall and never really knowing where we were going or what we were going to.  The Mr would probably disagree with that.  It was a windy 'all around the houses' kind of trip, but it was most pretty. 

Eating Lovehearts and drinking strawberry milkshake.  A pleasantly welcome alternative to tea and biscuits.  I am much more of a chocolate gal if pushed, and i am never too fussed when it comes to sweet sweets, except for Lovehearts.  And possibly Percy Pigs.  Then i can make an exception.  


Birds nests, bicycling and bright greens.   Its so lovely to hear the birds in the morning and until late at night, and it has been super sweet spotting new nests atop the highest trees.  I am loving cycling more and more and more.  I have had Willow over a year now and cycled through each and every season, rain or shine.  I am falling in love with Spring all over again. And the very best way to see it all, is trundling along on my bike, fist thing in the morning or just before the sun goes to sleep.  Everything seems so much fresher, greener and brighter - it makes me want to wear the brightest colours i own too.



More and more train travel and time to spend a small fortune on magazines, and dream and think all the way there and all the way back.  Above, my favourite workwear of late. A beautifully soft cotton dip dyed inky blue fine knit, printed skinny jeans and an embroidered cream, red and green embellished jacket.

Outfits for rainy sunny rainy sunny sort of days and more new jumper appreciation.  Topshop denim cut-offs, soft jersey cream Gap tee and an old Monsoon Navejo cardigan with pom poms.  Lovely teamed with my new favourite fedora, black tights and clunky tassled brown ankle boots.  If anyone wants to pick me up and take me to Glastonbury in a few months then i am good to go… 

Dressed for the garden (not really!) and re-loving the lavander-y Lush' Angels on Bare Skin.  This is how i do jeans.  Of late i have been trying to mix it up and swap my dresses and maxi skirts for jeans once in a while.  I tucked my printed shirt into my dark indigo skinny jeans and wore them with my new and shiny Cath Kidston high-tops.  The above result was a look which seemed destined for the allotment - if i had one.  The general consensus was that i looked 'weird.'  

I have used Lush products on my skin since i was 18.  Back then my skin was a horror of oiliness, pimples and general grottiness.  At first i used a product called Herbalism, which is aimed at more troublesome beans.  Now i use and love Angels on Bare Skin, one of Lush' cult cleansers - for a reason.  Its jam packed with ground almonds, kaolin and lavender and is just the most wonderful little product in the world.  It is gentle, yet scrubby, softening and balancing all in one.   Having worked my way through a long list of much higher priced skincare through my teens, since then i have never tried anything else. 

Tonight i am hoping we shall eat pizza and drink mojitos and then i plan to curl up with the latest issue of The Simple Things magazine and some chocolate ginger biscuits and victoria sponge flavoured tea courtesy of the beautiful The Bluebird Tea Company. 

Right now i am off to lie on my tummy on the rug and do some cutting and sticking, with Miss Lana Del Ray and a walnut whip for company.  
***Ps if you would like to be super duper lovely, you can now vote for Sallytangle, under Best Lifestyle Blog in The Cosmopolitan Awards by clicking the pink box at the very top, right hand side.  It would make my little day if you did.  Thanks very much xxx

Bright Little Thing

Lately there has been lots to celebrate.  Not the big, whopping, life changer type of celebrations.  Far from it! No, just the little tiny things you miss when you get caught up in the day to day and '9 to 5.' I feel like the older i get (AND THE LESS SAID ABOUT THAT THE BETTER) the more i appreciate the tiny little things i let pass me by in my teens and early twenties as i was galavanting about haphazardly; always on the look out for the latest dress/skirt/bag/pair of shoes that would  'change my life' somehow.  They never did.  And i was always poor.  

I still want to weep if i see anything remotely resembling a Liberty print, in any shape or form. I believe that to be somehow instilled into my being.  But now i like the quiet.  I find smiles in the silliest of places and i like things that are straightforward and uncomplicated.  I feel content with being me.  The sort of contentment that only comes on the wrong side of twenty five.  I know i wont get any taller.  That my legs wont get any longer and that i should be proud that i quite like lentils, beans, seeds and eating quite healthily over chips and crisps any day. (PROUD NOT SMUG).  

The littlest things like…..
 The perfect cup of tea.  A 'cup of magic' my mum calls it and has done for as long as i can remember drinking tea.  It fixes everything.  A broken heart; a grazed knee; or just a really naff day.  My current favourite - Bluebird Tea Company Earl Grey Creme brewed for five minutes and a good glug of organic milk. Sometimes a pistachio cookie to dip in too... 
 The deepest bubbliest Sunday afternoon bath (USUALLY FILLED WITH LUSH ROSE JAM BUBBLEROON) and wearing nothing but underwear, a super soft oversized jumper and lots of your favourite body cream.  Soft knees and lots of cuddles!
Thinking about what to wear to bed.  I have quite a collection of pyjamas.  I would quite happily live in them and eat breakfast all the live long day.  Life would be good.  But that is a different story.  I love to pick and choose what tops, t-shirts, pyjama trousers or old blouses combinations i am going to wear to sleep in.  Its quite therapeutic..or weird.  Its a fine line!  



Appreciating the outside and the seasons.  Since acquiring my beautiful little pushbike eighteen months ago, it feels like i have fallen in love all over again with being outside.  For me it is the perfect exercise.  I can whizz around the park, have a little think and dream and just take in everything around me.  Although i would find it hard to pick a favourite season; i would be hard pushed and say that Spring has my heart of late.  Everything looks better brighter, greener and happier with a little sunshine.  

Mixing it up.  I am a dress and skirt gal at heart, always.  But its nice to try something new.  The sunshine has made me want to wear more colour, to be bright and smile just by what i'm wearing.  This little Mexican inspired old old Monsoon cardigan and my new patterned jeans have been my go to items of late.  And prettying it up me-style with beautiful ankle socks and geeky shoes! 




 
Playing dress up.  My mood-boards are my little inspirational place - apart from this lovely little space - and my new fedora is my new dress up item.  It is something i would never ever have picked up in a million years usually.  When i meander through Topshop on my lunch i often feel as if im not quite cool enough to pull off a hat like the cool kids do in there.  But guess what? Its a great way to hide messy hair, pull an outfit together and to actually look quite snazzy.  I am in love.  And who would have thought it? 

Dreaming.  About anything and everything.  Always dreaming.  Of late my dreams are of beautiful sunsets, beautiful homes and faraway places.  

The brightest, littlest things are the best things.  Always.