Wonderful Wednesday #97

{Just a little sneak peek of our sweet fairy-lit kitchen.  There's no such thing as too much…right?!} Hello!  It feels like a terribly LONG time since i wrote last weeks' post.  Maybe that's because last weeks' post wasn't in its usual guise - but anything other than what came out of my little heart and onto the page wasn't really an option!  I can't thank you all enough for your kind comments on last weeks post or for your lovely tweets of concern, they really did mean the world.  Almost a couple of weeks gone and it finally feels like a little bit of normality has returned to our little city.  Although as i write this the rain is once more urgently beating against the skylight above my head and the wind is tugging at the beams up in the roof of our little attic flat.  
I digress.  This week has also brought DIFFERENT bouts of topsy-turvy-ness!  Incase you hadn't heard as yet, i returned to Monsoon Towers on Monday of this week!  To the job i left just short of three months ago.  It all came about quite quickly to be honest!  Without getting into the ins and outs {and sparing you a heartfelt jumble of words!} sometimes it takes stepping away from something to make you realise how much you took it for granted and {maybe} how much you'd learnt and could do because of it.  And sometimes it takes stepping away from something you had done for so long that maybe {just maybe} you'd taken it all a little bit too much for granted.  I feel like i've really learnt a heck of alot about myself over these past few months.  And starting back at my old job this week has thrust me head first right into Christmas!  And am i prepared?!  Am i heck prepared.  But what's Christmas without a little festively charged stress bubbling away in your tummy?!
Without further ado, shall we get CRACKING….?  I've got some wonderful 'somethings' to share!
1.  Great friends.  Working back with some of my closest and oldest friends has felt wonderful and a little bit like the feling you get after taking your very first sip of tea first thing in the morning.
2.  Sunrises.  Starting work at 8:30am again instead of 10am has meant layering up in old cardigans and stumbling about trying to find the switch for the fairylights {who can stand anything more pre-6am?!} and heating thermostat in pitch black darkness.  I'll admit for the first fleeting moments i find it ever so hard to leave our cloud of a duvet {and the Mr still sleeping soundly!!} but then once i've set a mug of hot tea to brew; splashed my face with a little warm water and sat down to a hot bowl of porridge with the sun just starting to peep out:  I remember how much i love this time of day.  In fact i'd go as far as to say it could be my very favourite part.  
3. Mascapone cheese.  Or more to the point mascapone cheese flicked and dolloped across a pizza laden with sliced portobello mushrooms and speck ham.  The.  Best.  Thing.  Ever.  Well as far as pizza toppings go at least.  The few odd teaspoons of pesto dotted about was inspired too.  Long may 'Pizza Tuesdays' reign supreme!!! 
4.  Prettily printed Christmas wrapping paper.  'Cos let's face it you all know i'm a sucker for a pretty print.  I can't wait to get wrapping our christmas gifts this year - well you know when i finish getting them!  They're going to be a hotch potch of William Morris and Liberty-espque printed wonders all fastened up with golden twine and bedecked with white pom-poms!  Isn't wrapping just the very best part?!?
5.  Decorating alternatively.  This year we've sort of not really gotten around to getting a main tree.  Truth be told i'm not quite sure how it happened.  Time has just….well gone.  Yes, remind me where has this month gone?!?  What we do have though are several strings of clear fairylights strung along the walls and around the beams;  a couple of red-as-you-like prettily potted poinsettias and a couple of teeny tiny christmas trees.  And on my day off this week {obviously when i've finished - aherm - the gift shopping} i'm going to string up our red paper chains and white paper snowflakes. And maybe more fairy-lights.  And i'm thinking i might put some more lights in a bowl with the clementines and pomegranates.  Does it sound like i'm over-compensating?!?  
6.  Being wished merry Christmas for the first time.  Because wherever you are, whatever you are doing and however you are feeling;  those two words are a game-changer.  You can't be annoyed, tired, stressed etc when somebody says that to you.  If even for a split second, those two little words take you to a magical little place:  All warm and fuzzy and festive.  It's a little bit magical.  
7.  Egg custard.  Eaten alongside a big mug of chai tea and right before bed.  The perfect coupling of vanilla and spice all in one go.  
8.  First bike rides.  For well, what felt like years.  What with incessant rain and then our sweet little city being all blocked off with floodwater, that little bike hasn't seen my face in at least two weeks.  I fixed that the other day and heck did i suffer for it the day after.  It was worth it though, a thousand times over!  You can't beat the feeling in your lungs after a little pedal power on a frosty winter afternoon.  Once i got going i felt like i could cycle forever.  Which, given how much it hurt to climb our three flights of stairs the day after clearly isn't true at all!!!
9.  Belated birthday presents.  When your little, these seem like the worst thing in the world.  That feeling, knowing that you might have to wait a little while for a present because you haven't managed to see someone on the day of your birthday.  Once you get older, isn't it the best?!  
10.  Wearing teeny tiny gold stars dotted upon the top of my cheeks.  Why?  Just because i can.  A little bit of sparkle never hurt anyone did it?!
11.  Feeling well and truly inspired.  Exhausted - but inspired.  With a head thats been full of ideas and a tummy that's been alive with flutters too.  I'd like to feel like this always please! *  *  *   Over to YOU!  I'd love to hear all about the very best bits of your week so far!  You can drop me a sweet comment below or tag me on Instagram or Twitter with yor #wonderfulwednesday best bits.  I'm @sallytangle on both!
Have a super duper rest of week DEAR ones!