Wonderful Wednesday #152

{Edinburgh being...Edinburgh a couple of weeks ago}
Bonjour one and all!  How do i find you?!  I mean i've had one whole day at work this week after having Friday to Sunday booked off for a hen weekend and that one day?!  Well i am EXHAUSTED.  I cleverly booked Monday as a days holiday realising that i might appreciate the extra day off to catch up with myself.  Might have been the wisest move ever.  It was luckily icy cold and sunshine-y and getting out in the fresh air and taking it a little slower after a long sleep was just the ticket.  One day back at work though and i feel like I'm still catching up on.....myself?!  

I need these good and great things to power me through i think.... 

1. Sleep.  And largely the realisation that without it, you are in fact a real life, living and breathing monster!  I'm not sure how but rather regularly at university I'd survive on five hours a night.  Five hours a night was considered plenty, enough and a good amount of sleep to function.  Now anything less than seven or eight and I'm a gremlin!  What can i say you're used to what you're used to.  Last weekend i was away for one of my best friends Hen weekends and naturally not much sleep was had.  By Sunday night when i was back home i could have actually cried i was so very tired.  Booking Monday off after the weekend might have been my finest idea in a while...

2.  Porridge.  Because *whispers* things have gone a little quiet on the porridge front over at Tangle Towers!  Shock! Horror!  Okay I'll admit that the only real reason is laziness/tiredness and over the Christmas period; once things really got chaotic at work i took every single second of sleep that i could over anything else.  Yes even over breakfast!  *covers face*  I survived on sourdough crumpets slathered in nut butter with hastily chopped banana and a seedy sprinkle.  Just as yummy but ready a little quicker than my porridge-y concoctions!  This week i jumped right back aboard and made one of my very favourite porridge flavour combos:  Spiced oats {half a teaspoon each of cinnamon, All Spice and nutmeg added before everything else} with almond milk and topped with cinnamon cashew butter and Chai seeds.  It did not disappoint!  And deep down inside i felt a *little* bit like a superhero!  Huzzah!

3.  Singing.  I don't sing enough.  It relaxes me, somehow switches off all of the silly nonsense in my little head and generally just makes me feel a bit snazzy!  I'm not bad but then i also don't think I'm very good either but when you just want to sing softly and gently or as loud and as powerful as your little lungs will let you at home then i don't think being good really counts.  Everyone should sing.  Fact.

4.  Journey-ing. So i mentioned that i scampered off for one of my best friends Hen weekends last weekend and I'd forgotten quite how nice it was to travel solo on a train.  Nothing but the smudged trees, roads, towns and villages to watch and your very own carefully curated playlist or a good book.  Whilst I'd hate to be someone who has to travel by train for long amounts of time, all of the time; once in a while it can be a little bit of treat.

5.  Potato wedges.  So here's the truth, I'm not really much of a potato person *waits for a gasp that might shake the world and the sun, moon and stars too*.  Truth is, if there's a potato side to go with something I'm more likely to have more fish, meat or vegetables.  I mean I'll have a bit but I'm not too fussed about the...fuss?!  But then a few weeks ago the Mr said that he fancied making potato wedges to go along side something.  I was indifferent.  Until i tasted them.  I do not know what the bobbins he does to said potatoes BUT i confess to you right now that i could eat a plate of the crispy skinned, herby, a-little-bit-fluffy wonders for my tea with nothing other than flaked sea salt and black pepper.  We've already planned them into this weeks meals once.....and i genuinely worry it might not be enough for me!

6.  Adele.  I feel as if this should really be a sub-point to number three.  It's all i've been singing.  In the shower, in the morning pottering about before work and sometimes even in the queue for the self-service till in M&S at lunchtime.  SOMETIMES when there isn't even any music to sing along too.  Truth is whilst i love Adele's voice, listening to her a lot can be somewhat....melancholy...?!  But i could sing to her over and over and never get bored.  So thanks Adele, you've saved my 'sometimes lost feeling' little soul these past few days.

7.  Red pepper and walnut dip.  I wish I'd thought about it myself but alas, it's an M&S special - like a great deal of most things are really.  We ate it slathered on sweetcorn falafels which were piled into wholemeal pittas with a little rocket. There may or may not have been a potato wedge or two involved.  PS:  Potato wedges + red pepper and walnut dip = YUM. 

  
8.  Self care.  Wait, i feel all....preachy/smug/.....pinterest-y calling it that but one of the things i promised to myself {not the rest of the world because i can't be jiggered with this 'resolution-shaped' jiggery pokery} was to be kinder to myself and look after myself a little bit better.  So after feeling a little bit tired and sorry for myself i spent Monday relaxing:  a little yoga, a long overdue bike ride and a little online Lush order which I'm beyond excited to receive!  

9.  Friends.  Of all kinds but mostly the kind that you haven't seen for years and {shamefully} years but when you do, nothing has really changed at all.  There the people you need to hold onto tight.

10.  Late night toasted teacakes with salty butter and bitter marmalade.
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And just like that we're done!  Don't forget to pop right on over to these fab gals>>>>>{Jo, Helen, Michelle, Sarah, Kate, Cat, Sam, El , Kerri's, Mimmi's, Martina's AND lovely Isabelle} and have a good read at their very own #wonderfulwednesday posts.  And join in with the chit-chat over on Twitter and Instagram by tagging your very own best bits of your weeks so far.  I'm @sallytangle on everything !!!
  
Happy half way through the week!