Wonderful Wednesday #80

{This dear sweet smock was made for a printed scarf and pale yellow grasses don't you think?!}
Hello!  It's just ME, back once again to fill your lovely heads with some slices of wonderful from the past few days.  Use it however you wish:  As a middle of the week pick-you-UP; a quick fix of happy or as rocket fuel for your own positive notions and IDEAS.  Either way it's fast become my very favourite kind of thing to write and read on other blogs.  Because sharing positivity can only ever be a jolly GOOD thing can't it?!  Shall we get to it?!

1.  Blooming MARVELLOUS sunsets beyond belief!  If you follow me on Instagram {you can find my little self HERE} you'll know by now that my feed is jam-packed with my feet, skies or flowers and that pretty much sums me up!  Oh and with an odd breakfast shot thrown in for variety!  Lately we have had THE most breatakingly magical sunsets that even I {word lover and general adjective championer} have found hard to find the words to justify quite how wonderous they have been.  All turkish delight fire-y-ness from one side of our sweet home and the most magical peachy pink haze-y cloudiness from the other.  I swear i could just sit and watch the sunset each night lately. I've never been much of a night owl but if sunsets were this pretty all year round i'd be up at the crack of dawn to watch it rise and curled up with cocoa waiting for it to set each and every day.

2.  Making the very most of the good when it's there.  Sunny days have been rare up here this Summer.  Not just sunny, real sunny, cloudless powder blue-skied ones where you need the lightest layer, to be able run barefoot on the grass and spend the whole of it outdoors because it's just so warm and balmy.  Instead of be sad about that, lately has been making the very most of any spare second when the sun does come out, no matter when and no matter where!   I've been wandering through lunchtimes under blue skies that come out of nowhere just to get my vitamin D fix;  hopping on those two wheels after dinner if that sky has broken and even if only for an hour i get to ride with the prettiest most orange glow cast upon my little self.   Or simply pottering around and about our attic with every window, door and skylight cast open as far as can be.  We might need blankets, cushions or cardigans and jumpers, but sometimes just feeling the air through your hair and the amber light against your skin is worth each and every goose pimple.

3.  Sweet-peas.  Or more to the point, sweet-peas in the bedroom.   I've wittered more times than i can remember about my love for sweet peas.  This week i had a ground-breaking idea {by my standards at least!}.  I've been snipping these sweet blooms as fast as i can before they fade lately.  I always sit them in water in a old jam-jar and perch them on the window sills.  This week i snuck a sweet posey onto the chest of drawers in our bedroom and falling asleep to the sweet scent of the sweet-peas alongside the cool breeze from a little open window is the bees knees, elbows and toes!  It's so good!! Do bees even have toes?!?  Who knows…

4.  Tuesday nights typing along whilst listening to Alicia Keys full blast and singing at the top of my little lungs whilst simultaneously pretending to 'play' the piano 'keyboard.'  I find singing such a cathartic thing to do.  It makes my soul feel happy and when i don't quite know what's wrong, it has a magical way of just fixing anything and everything in the same way that writing does for me.  

5.  Roast lamb.  Okay so this was actually from Sunday evenings' dinner but it's my wonderful wednesday and it was so flippin' good that it had to have a little mention.  Roast leg of lamb scattered with fresh rosemary, wedges of lemon and crumbled with feta and slow-baked.  Oh my.  Served alongside a simple salad and some cauliflower cous-cous with spiced chickpeas.  I could have eaten it each night for the whole of this week and it wouldn't have been enough.  

6.  Knocking the porridge making out of the park!!!!  I'm just going to put it out there and say i rarely make a terrible bowl of porridge.  I've been making it for so many years now that i've pretty much got it down to a fine art.  Sometimes, and once in a blue moon though, you don't just make good porridge; you make AMAZING porridge beyond any kind of belief!!!  It was humble in its ingredients:  Almond milk, oats and coconut oil.  And topped with blueberries, goji berries and chai seeds with a little maple syrup.  The secret is my newly discovered almond milk.  I must dig out the brand as it is so delicious!!! It's almost milk-come-cream and it much richer and almond-ey tasting than any other i have tried.  Another plus is that it's only made from almonds, sea salt and a little date syrup.  It makes the creamiest bowl of porridge!!!!

7.  New underwear.  I have this thing with underwear.  Hey, we're all friends here i can be honest!  I love it.  I can't not wear nice underwear, no matter what and it's not unknown for me change underwear at least twice a day if i'm getting changed and have to change bras for example.  It doesn't mean it's expensive underwear.  In fact i DELIGHTED in the fact that i filled my boots {or drawers i guess!} in M&S 50% sale on Monday and got so many lovely interchangeable sets for half the price.  What can i say?  I'll never be one of those people who has mis-matched underwear, or grey bobble-y pants or a 'past it's best' out of shape bra.  Don't judge me!  I'm just a magpie for anything with a frill, or a scalloped edge or…..i should probably stop now…

8.  Stocking up on jeans and tees at Gap outlet.  Because i really struggle with jeans and Gaps' have always been one of the very few places i can find them and i don't have to roll up the hem at all and they sort of feel so soft that i almost forget i'm wearing them.  And they just get better with age too.  So many places {Topshop i'm looking at you!} sell cheap un-denim skinny 'suck you in so much you get tummy-ache' or thin 'fade so fast' washes that you've barely had five minutes before they wear badly and wash away the colour.  It's Gap all of the way!

9.  Good hair days.  Because heavens with such erratic weather up-north these kinds of things are to be celebrated and recorded if only to prove that they do indeed exist.  This was for no real rhyme or reason and neither on a day where i'd particularly tried or made extra effort.  But isn't that always the way?! No no, my hair just decided to stay perfectly flicked under and smooth and shiny on Monday morning.  What better start to the week do you need?!?

10.  The camomile tea coma!  I rarely go the bed without a pretty floral cup of camomile tea.  My favourite thing is when the Mr decides he'd like one too.  We curl up on the sofa and sip our tea and curl up all sleepy and happy.  Maybe i need to get out more but i just LOVE the feeling camomile tea gives me.  I often find switching my thoughts and head off so very hard and so having this little routine come night time really helps me. I sleep so soundly and deeply after my nightly camomile tea fix.  

11.  Dew on the grass.  There's something…dare i say *Autumnal*{?!?!?!?} about starting to see the grasses and verges covered in dew en-route to work in the mornings.  It reminds me of new school shoes, of freshly brushed teeth and stiff sometimes itchy school uniform.  But it also makes me think of new beginnings.  September's fast-approaching and there's something magical about it always for me.  Whilst January is un-arguably an obvious new beginning, there is something about that 'back to school' 'change in season' vibe that the start of September brings that makes it feel sort of okay to have a second fresh start.  I'll be relishing it this year since i start my new job on the 2nd September.  Eeek!  
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Now my dear friends it is your turn!  I want to know exactly what has been putting a sweet smile on your lovely faces!  It doesn't matter how little, simple or even insignificant-feeling it might be {aren't those usually the very best examples of happy-making?!}, i'd love you to share!  You can pop a sweet comment below; tweet me or tag me in your Instagrams with the #wonderfulwednesday tag.  I'm @sallytangle on both.  

Have a beautiful rest of week whatever you might be up to!