Wonderful Wednesday #117

{Just hangin' out with handsome friend:  ^Edinburgh Castle^}
Howdy CAMPERS!  I write this half peeping around the corner...half sort of hoping that not too many people mind that it's a little on the late side.  I'm never late you see.  I'm the weirdo that turns up half an hour before everything just incase.  Being late worries me.  But if the truth be told, this lateness was caused by a sudden decision from myself yesterday morning, to take my little self off up to Edinburgh for the day alone.  I always write this post on a Tuesday evening but returned from {the loveliest!} five or six hours scampering around and about Edinburgh town with the mother of all headaches.  I've only got myself to blame.  I walked alot {but you've got to in Edinburgh - most of the charm is in just meandering around} and didn't drink enough knowing that I'd got a train journey home to contend with.  Me and train toilets?  No, just no.
Anyway, enough of that!  I'm feeling jolly refreshed and actually a little bit eager to get back to work on Friday!  And more than that, ready steady go-ing to share a super duper list of lovely things from this week so far!  And then I'm going to procrastinate from hoovering and tickling our little somewhere and drink tea and eat a chocolate brownie!  On your marks.....
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1.  A new 'do!'  I've been putting off getting my haircut for at least a month and a half now.  We've spoken about my dislike of hairdresser visits before so i won't bore you with the details BUT i recently changed hairdressers and couldn't be happier! Today {Wednesday} i had an appointment and decided to go shorter....and a little bit different from my usual 'just take the smallest amount possible off and keep it all the same length' {i know rebel}.  I'm not going to lie, I've had free time during my few days off and i have spent alot of time on Pinterest {aherm}.  At the moment i LOVE it and cannot stop swishing and swooshing it all of the time!  Big thanks go out to Louise at the lovely Violet White in Carlisle.

2.  Green Fingerrrrrrrs.  Sort of sang like 'Goldfinger'.......i digress!  My herbs are growing!  I SAID MY HERBS ARE GROWING!  In a typically un-green-fingered manner i have totally forgotten what the hell I've planted, or least which is which so we're playing this fun game where we're both guessing what's what the more each pot grows.  I know what you're all thinking:  We know how to party right?!  We've definitely got good growth in each pot and i know they're either basil, coriander or parsley.  All bets are on...

3.  Happy lunches.  We all know I'm a creature of habit but one of my very favourite things about being off both last week and into this week has been being able to eat better lunches.  I've largely lived off avocados, hummus and sundried tomatoes interspersed with various leaves, herbs, grains and vegetables.  It's been all of the yum!

4.  Me time.  I work with a big team of lovely girls at work and i love them all dearly.  We're all very different and a good mix of ages too but we all get on and it's like a jolly great family at Monsoon Towers.  But spending a good few days mostly just being quiet little me:  Pottering, film watching, reading, scrap booking and sorting through life has been just the ticket.  I guess I'm just one of those people who needs a little solo me time once in a while. In fact, scratch that, i actually think that no matter how busy you are or how sociable your little life is, that we should all make time for ourselves once in a while.  It's good for the soul....

5.  Adventuring.  I guess sort of as a sub-point to ^above^ point.  Taking myself off up to Edinburgh yesterday was something i toyed on and off with ever since i started my time off.  I made excuses most days:  the weather, feeling tired still, having too much to do at home etc etc.  Not because I've never done anything on my own - far from it - but just because i wasn't sure if I'd have as much fun!  I woke up to sunshine yesterday morning and thought 'stuff it I'm doing it!' and off i popped.  I got some lovely eatery recommendations and enjoyed a day of mostly walking {in glorious sunshine!} and taking in the beautiful buildings in the Old Town.  I visited the castle and stood and watched the city hustle and bustle from the top, armed with a big takeout coffee.  I did a little bit more people watching sitting and eating my lunch in Henderson's in the New Town {gorgeous food!} and also managed to treat myself to a few little things in Anthropologie {aka 'The Mothership'} and generally just experience Edinburgh in the Spring. I've only ever been in December, ever!  Weird but true!  A day well spent i think.

6.  Booja Booja chocolate truffles.  100% vegan and dairy free.  Except don't let that sway you because {and if you don't know by now} I'm the world's hugest most massive chocolate cheeks trust me.  I'm not sure if I've chit-chatted to you on here before about my taste-shift in chocolate over the last year or so.  In short, I'd started to fall out of love with your general run of the mill chocolate and started to realise that a lot of the time i ate it out of habit and not because i actually wanted it.  So i stopped.  And when i did eat chocolate i made sure it was the really good stuff.  It was more expensive but i noticed that i hardly ever wanted the stuff and that when i did, i really enjoyed it.  Enter Booja Booja.  Trust me these truffles are the bees knees thank you please!  So rich, dense and......well they're heaven in one little mouthful.  I found a little deli in Edinburgh that stocked mini-packs {the boxes are pretty pricey!} and so last night we curled up with spicy Chai tea and a toasted hazelnut and a  champagne truffle each.  Oh.  My.  Word.  Please do try them!

7.  New routines.  Gee-whizz I'm like a broken record!  We all know i love a routine {so it would seem, of any sort} and i've been doing the same arm workout {mixed in with various other bits and bobs and my cycling} for the last......almost a year?!  It's fab.  It really does work in toning and sculpting your arms and really builds up you strength in your upper body too.  {wait, who am I?!}  This week i added in another workout i stumbled across by the same wonderful lady {Mary Helen Bowers - search on YouTube - all ballet and barre-based exercising - she is FAB} and again it's another short and easy to fit in one at a little around 11minutes.  It's also very different from my other arm workout too and so mixing it up has been fun!  I've decided to do both of them back to back twice a week {about 25mins in total} and so far, well don't judge me but I'm sort of loving the burn.....

8.  Learning.  I religiously buy The Simple Things magazine monthly.  If you've never heard of it where on earth have you been?!  Go forth to the newsagents and buy a copy now!  It's an order!  I love how much i learn from this sweet little magazine.  In this months issue there is the loveliest article all about birds and why they sing at dawn and dusk and how to pick out the birds you here and whereabouts in the country you'll find all of the mentioned birds.  Now I've read this back it sounds totally geeky!  But i love it and so i don't care!  

9.  Toasted rye bread slathered in crunchy peanut butter and piled high with the sweetest, juiciest British Strawberries that there ever was.  What you thought there'd be a Wonderful Wednesday where i didn't mention breakfast?!?  As.  if.  This ticks all of my sweet and savoury boxes and more and it's just flippin' delish!

10.  Later nights and lazier mornings.  By that i mean hardly any different to normal really but isn't one of the very best things about being off work is that you can go to sleep when you're tired - stay up later drinking tea and just chit-chatting or watching a film all of the way through safe in the knowledge that you can just wake when you do {which is barely a lie in and is usually 7:45am anyway} and tip toe into the kitchen and make tea and then take it all of the way back under the duvet and be nice and cosy listening to the wind whistling and the birds singing...?!  I don't even wake up that much later, but some how coming too when i wake up instead of being disturbed by an alarm is just bliss!
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And that's that!  I can barely believe a week has whooshed past my little ears since i hit 'publish' on last week's post!  But that's life, 'Que Sera' and all of that jazz.  I mean I'm late, but it's still here *waves hands manically and jumps up and down on the spot*.  I hope you didn't mind too much!?!  I'm off to tackle several big piles of laundry that need putting into their correct homes and not just moved from one spare chair/sofa/bed to another.  Tell me it's not just me who does that?!? 
Remember if you're on the hunt for more happy {and quite frankly who isn't?} then skip on over and read along with Kate, Cat, Michelle, Katie, Emma, Jo & Helen, 's #wonderfulwednesday posts.  Better still, join in yourself and leave a sweet comment below to tell me what the best bits of this week so far have been for you.  Or join in the chit-chat on any social media platform.  I'm @sallytangle on everything and remember to use the #wonderfulwednesday tag so we can all see!
Have a tip-top rest of week!