Wonderful Wednesday #95

{The first real winter sky spotting on a blustery late afternoon wander through the city} Yesterday marked the start of ADVENT and the first day of WINTER {in my book!}.  And today it's my birthday!  I can't believe it's a whole year since i sat and wrote THIS post about how i felt about turning thirty.  I feel like whilst my life has largely stayed the same this year, give or take the odd thing; it's really my heart and soul that i feel have been stretched outside their usual fluffy box and that i've learnt alot about myself this year.  I haven't completed a bucket list, or any grand plans for the future and i've tapped my feet steadily along to the beat of my own little heart just like always.  I feel stronger inside and like i know who i am a little bit more than last year.  Im slowly learning the art of how to listen to my own body - not somebody else's and to know what it responds to and what it doesn't.  I still find comfort - more than ever - in words and songs and quite often relish getting completely lost in them and still sit with tears running down my face after hearing a certain song!  Better than all of that, i'm learning to just me be and to be sort of proud of that.  
And on a much lighter, tickety-BOO sort of a note - still more than ever i am enjoying writing these lovely little posts.  Shall we get on with this week's instalment….?
1)  My own pillow.  There is NOTHING better.  Okay well unless you're talking about hot chocolate pudding with custard and a big cup of tea then there *might* be some things that are better.  This week i tried to use new pillows.  What's worse is that i tried them on sunday night - which is always my worse night's sleep of the whole week {tell me it's not just me?} and had to get up at 1am to dig out my old pillows out of the cupboard.  My advice?  Don't do it, just don't do it.
2)  First mince pies.  When i was little i never even tried a mince pie. i hated the smell of the mincemeat and i went years and YEARS and didn't try my first mince pie until….well look i can't give you a date but it was after university.  Since then the first one of the season is an event to celebrate!  Those who tell you that you can't eat them too soon because you'll get sick of them don't know what they're talking about!  I've got ground to make up!  At least almost twenty years of it!  What *is* dangerous is breaking the seal because now i want them all day every day.  We haven't had them with a festively spiked cream yet….i'm not one to peak too soon!  And i'm wholly tempted to create a mince-pie inspired porridge recipe so that i can get my fix and not knock my cholesterol off the chart!  What do you think?!
3)  Gloves and hats.  If you're one of those people who say they 'don't suit hats' then there's no hope for you.  You will never know real warm until you've wrapped up in the biggest blanket scarf, cosy cable knit mittens and a winter hat.  I actually don't know how people don't wear hats.  What is wrong with you?!
4)  Tomato and basil pasta served as hot as the sun with lashings of oregano and the sweetest tiny cherry tomatoes drizzled with olive oil.  Simplicity at it's very, very best!
5)  Sneaking on the heating in the morning!  There is no greater joy than standing watching the sun get up, with your little hands wrapped around your favourite floral mug of tea and your knees or bottom rested against a hot radiator.  There just isn't.  
6)  Blusher.  I'm never sure if i over apply my blusher sometimes.  All i'll tell you is that when i've had a sleepless night and i look in the mirror after washing my face i can't count the number of times i've thought:  Thank goodness for blusher.  If no other make-up existed in the world, i'd be happy just having my blusher.  It's a perfectly powder-ful pot of pink sleep!  And amen to that always!
7)  Your favourite perfume on your favourite winter scarf.  Is there anything nicer?  The perfume:  Paul and Joe 'Rose.'  The scarf:  A woollen inky blue and rust Fairisle creation.   
8)  Olive green.  It's a colour i just can't get enough of lately!  I fall for it come autumn every year and i've never fully celebrated its wonderful-ness due to mostly always being white blonde.  Since i'm now heading toward little miss darker blonde i'm embracing it wholeheartedly!!!  Hurrah for olive green and gold!  Quite possibly my new favourite colour combo!  
9)  Locally made Ginger and Fennel dark chocolate, broken generously into chunks and eaten alongside hot spiced chai tea before bed.  Mmmm!  I've hidden the rest of the bar in a place i know that the Mr wont ever find it.  Tell me it's not just me who does this?!  Not for *everything* just for the really good stuff!
10)  Discovering pressed flowers that i knew i'd pressed way back at the start of summer when my very first sweetpeas flowered but couldn't remember where the heck i'd pressed them!  I came across them prettily sandwiched in between a few pages in my jolly great big Celia Birtwell book!  They're SO pretty!  And incidentally i bought some teeny tiny completely glass frames recently and can't wait to pop them in and dot them around and about our bedroom.
11)  Hot water bottles.  Not only in celebration of the fact that it's legitimately okay to sleep with one between your legs now seen as it's December and therefore Winter but also for medicinal reasons!  If there is one thing that being thirty has brought it's the mother of all period pains like never ever before!  It's like the universe is trying to remind me that i have a womb and have not yet used it.  Just incase i happened to forget you know? Nice.   *  *  *   Now it's your TURN dear ones!  Hows the rest of your week looking?  Do share with me, you - us even - what has been making your week tickety-boo, wonderful or the best beyond belief!  Also please do feel free to contribute to the post-thirty wisdom or to add any horrendous monthly pain-shaped 'fixers.'  Right now i feel like a mint Aero would really help me out.  A mint Aero and a third hot water bottle….there's no shame in already using two is there?!  Remember you can also share your #wonderfulwednesday paraphenalia on Twitter and Instagram.  I'm @sallytangle on both!
Wishing you all a WONDERFUL one!