Wonderful Wednesday #88

{That sweet moment when blue reservoir, wildflowers galore and an accidental butterfly collide!}
Well a good DAY to you!  Are you well?  Feeling suitably Autumnal?  Panicking about the 'C' word yet?  Ploughing through this week at break-neck SPEED creating little cyclones of positivity and productivity as you GO?!?  

Who ME?  Well yes i'm just fine.  I'm starting to feel Autumnal, although the temperature up here is sticking to what we'll call 'decidedly mild' for this time of year.  But it's not stopped a little of that inevitable and predictable 'fluff, feather and puff cushions and blankets and crave anything and everything with either custard or gravy or wrapped in a sweet blanket of pastry' feeling that comes along come this time of year.  I wasn't ready to be fully embraced with the site that was ALL of M&S Christmas Shop when i reached the top of the escalator the other day.  Especially since i had really just been on the hunt for a weightier duvet.  But it is heading toward half way through October i guess.  I have a SNEAKY suspicion that the cold weather will just come out of nowhere and catch our breath one morning and that will be that and suddenly it will feel okay to mull everything and add cinnamon to anything heading for my tummy.  But for NOW?  Well this sweet post is for the Now.  Not the past, or what's to come yet but simply for recording the present and all of the silly lovely little things that go with it. It's time for my dear sweet Wonderful Wednesday.
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1.  New ripped jeans.  Well the 'ripped' part aside there's no such thing as too many pairs of jeans, not the good 'fit like a glove'/ 'make you feel like a proper little sassy-pants' kind anyway.  I'm always on the look out for jeans, i feel like i have been all my life.  Good jeans and white or grey marl cotton tees.  These purchases are perfectly justifiable as they make up the basis of a good basic wardrobe. Or three {i didn't just say that out loud did I?!}. I bought my first pair of ripped blue jeans from Gap a few months back.  I LOVE them for those can't be bothered days.  They're my go-to Sunday attire:  Ripped jeans, my favourite pumps, a white cotton v-neck tee and a cable knit cardi; bed-hair scraped up on top of my head or simply hidden beneath a floppy fedora.   So when i saw a faded black pair - the perfect sort of faded - in H&M i snapped them up.  They're deliciously ripped just enough and are made from re-cycled denim to boot.   It's like they just saw me coming!

2.  First custard of the season.  Okay okay so we promised ourselves we'd wait.  We'd wait until it was cold enough to feel the need to be warmed through by something drenched and drizzled in creamy, vanilla-ery custard.  But we didn't wait.  We indulged so very happily in an apple and calvados almond and oat crumble slathered in the stuff.  So very slathered in the stuff that i really struggled with my porridge the morning after.  I felt so…sooooo custard-ey still!  Hey i'm not complaining though!

3.  Routines.  Well you know what you can keep your spontaneity and all - well most of it, i like a little sometimes - i just love my little routines lately.  And my favourite ones?  I know you didn't ask because you're thinking that this is so incredibly dull as dish-water and all that you couldn't give a monkeys.  I love my morning routine:  Taking time out for me and for making breakfast {the BEST meal!} properly and savouring every mouthful.  My exercise 'routine' that fits in and around our week so well that i never ever dread doing it.  That's when you know you've found your 'thang' for sure.  And lastly my nightly Rose-y shower and then camomile tea with honey in pyjamas.  It's not for everyone but i really relish having some sort of lose routine to keep me on track.  I don't feel half as bad when i have those hours where my creativity and imagination get the better of me and productivity {the real life kind} levels are low.  

4.  Frankincense and Myrrh incense oil.  Okay so i'm a little premature on that count.  But somehow our usual Fresh Cotton scent has felt a little out of season…?  As mild as it's been it's not been 'crack every window open wide always, and dry your washing outside' sort of mild.  This little oil is a dream.  A little bit floral, hints of cinnamon and heady smoky sort of undertone.  It's perfect for burning now.  There's plenty of time for snow, pine, clove and the rest of the slightly more seasonal army of scents yet.  

5.   Squirrel spotting.  Quite unexpectedly i keep spying these cute critters on my evening bike laps of our sweet park.  I'm sure they're not expecting company as the sun is slipping away into tomorrow and it's been ever so sweet spying on them gathering fallen conkers and rustling about in verges.  Even if i see them on and off throughout the year, the something about a squirrel scampering through autumn leaves that feels all kinds of right and proper.

6.  Using up the last of my summer shampoo and conditioner.  I doubt that i've ever timed it so perfectly in all of my life before.  But this year i seem to have ran out of both at exactly the right time to start using something a little more protective and nourishing in time for the temperature dropping.  Any suggestions?  I think i'm going to try the Organix range from Boots.  I can't think of the exact one, but a few of them have oils in and smell divine.  I'd love to know what you use come this time of year though.  I'm usually an 'Aussie' gal {that smell} but i fancy something different.  Answers on a postcard.  Or you know, a comment below works just as well too.  

7.  Menu planning.  Or not so much planning and more daydreaming.  A change in the season always has us me conjuring up new dinner ideas with the new produce around.  It largely comes in the form of unusual soups, stews or winter salads.  I'm quite sure the Mr would happily live on some pie-shaped variation each day for the whole of autumn and winter.  

8.  Finding some BEAUTIFUL Liberty of London notebooks for a mere £2 in Tk Maxx the other day.  Of course i also bought another candle {a 'This Works' Black Cardamon and Clove one - smells like cough sweets!}, an Orla Kiely pillowcase and a spatula. Because it wouldn't be a successful Tk Maxx trip if you didn't come out with a couple of entirely random but equally useful items would it?!  

9.  Old jumpers.  There is a certain satisfaction in re-discovering old forgotten gems in your wardrobe.  It *almost* sates that 'i must buy something new season' feeling you get in your tummy as you wander around and about town as the new season items start to filter into the shops.  This week i've been excitedly revelling in the highest shelf in my wardrobe {the kind you need a stool, your tip-toes and a jolly good poking stick/coat hanger to fish and hook anything out and have to quickly stand back before a merino wool and cable knit-shaped avalanche occurs!} and pulling out all the jumpers and heavier cardigans i'd almost forgotten about.  

10.  Rosemary.  On everything because it just naturally feels like it should be on everything in autumn no?  If in doubt you *can't* go wrong with tearing sprigs {or a jolly good pinch of the dried kind} through oven roasted fluffy potato wedges; sprinkling them heavily with sea salt and dunking them happily in hummus.  Just saying….

11.  Lush Cosmetics seasonal gems.  Now i know a lot of people who only really shop at Lush come this time of year.  I'm not one of those people {notthat there's anything wrong with that at all!} and i've been using their skincare range ever since my uni days and the realisation that what you put on your skin did make a huge difference.  What can i say i was a late-learner.  Lush sorted my shiny, spotty, blemish-prione skin way-back then and i've not looked back since.  I love that even though i shop Lush' skincare more than anything else, that i can indulge in the seasonal frivolity just as much since they release some BEAUTIFUL colder weather skin-care bits.  This week i picked up my first {of many!} pots of Buche de Noel {it's like cleansing your face in Christmas Cake!}, my longtime favourite and limited edition Rose Jam shower-gel {the best rose scent you'll ever smell, ever!} and a new calamine and rose face-mask called 'Rosy Cheeks.'  If you've ever over-looked their skincare i really really cannot speak more highly of how great it is.  I've used so many expensive brands over the years and nothing compares.  

12.  Sunrise.  That's right!  If you follow me on Instagram, it's about to get interesting!  {you can follow me HERE} You can expect more photos of my feet, my breakfast and sunsets now  interchanged with sun RISES now that the mornings are becoming a little darker.  As much as getting up in the dark is tough, sitting sipping your first cup of tea as the sun comes up, in complete silence is a little bit perfect.  Don't you think?!?
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Oh ho, oh NO you don't get away that easily!  Now dear ones it's over to you!  I LOVE reading all of your #wonderfulwednesday comments.  Remember you can leave one below, easy peas-y lemon-squeezy OR you can be a miss savvy sassy-pants and drop me a sweet tweet or tag me on Instagram.  I'm @sallytangle on both.  Don't forget to use the #wonderfulwednesday hash-tag so i can see!

Happy mid-week DEAR ones!