Wonderful Wednesday #156

 {A newly discovered 'favourite wall.'  That's a 'thing' yes..?}
Good day to you!  How the devil are you?! This week feels like it's been gone and spoken for before it's barely begun!  The kind where you have a to-do list as long as both arms and legs {and one that keep on growing!} and not enough days or hours to get through it! Sitting down, all quiet and {mostly!} still was just the calm 'sort of oasis' i didn't realise i needed in the hustle and bustle, snowball of busy that these past few days have been.  A little chance, by myself to sit and be grateful and thankful for who knows what!  

Shall i tell you why....? 


1.  Old favourites.  You can't help but have a little look at all of the lovely new items appearing in all of your favourite shops come this time of year.  Whether your weakness is home bits and bobs, clothes and accessories or even seeds and plants for the garden; the promise of Spring will forever bring along with it the urge to start a fresh:  To clean up and clear out, to replace things that are looking a little sad and sorry and to find new way to refresh and rejuvenate.  Part of me just loves how are little bodies are wired to do the very same as the outside world after along, grey and dark-feeling Winter.  I also hate the compelling feeling i get to pick up another white ruffle/frill/smock cotton blouse, or the urge i have to by new bed-linen when there isn't really anything wrong with the sets that i have.  So i took great pleasure this week in stumbling across a jumper i bought two years ago and had completely forgotten about.  It's cream cable-knit with big woolly frills all over and slipping it over my head on Tuesday's chilly evening it felt like a little cocoon of calm and happy after a long and stressful day.  Note to self:  Must look at what i've got already and not succumb to temptation!

2.  Testing yourself.  My days vary from day to day in my job depending on stock and the time of year and how busy it is but the skills i use are often the same each day - i just often have to mix them up and use them in a different order!  So when I'm in charge {heaven help that little shop!} once in a while it's nice to put on a different pair of glasses - to view things with different eyes and test myself with new/less practised skills.  Doing this makes you realise what you can do and are capable of if you need to.  Even if you do end up with the hint of a headache most evenings and a nervous tummy that maybe your not doing it 'right.' Another note to self:  Have more faith in oneself....

3.  Tea.  For giving me all the rocket fuel i need on a week that has been damp and grey and felt thoroughly miserable.  Tea and porridge have been my sole reason {oh yes and *aherm* work}  for getting out of bed in the morning lately.  I can't imagine starting my day any other way and i know if i didn't have a couple of mugs of hot tea and a warm bowl of porridge in my little 'tum i'd be pretty useless.  Hurrah for breakfasts!  Who's with me?!

4.  Scoring a bargain.  What was i saying about not succumbing to temptation all but five minutes ago?!?  Okay well this doesn't count.  It doesn't count because it almost cost nothing and it was from Ebay.  They're my rules and I'm sticking to them!  Is it just me who has a little list of various things {sold out dresses, a certain kind of day-bed, my favourite dis-continued perfume to name but a few} that I'm always casually keeping an eye out for?! They're usually the sort of things i pick up on Ebay, at second-hand shops or at vintage markets.  Truth is some of them just come from an idea in my head that goes something like "Wouldn't it be nice if i could find..."  Just me...?  Okay so this week i scored a limited edition Topshop silk dress that I'd been casually stalking the internet for keeping an eye out for for...two years?!  It's brand new and i found it on Ebay for not much more than £10!   

5.  Rose facial oil.  More to the point a rose facial oil I'd completely forgotten i ever had.  But lately well, facial oils are my jam.  I went for so long thinking that my combination skin wouldn't ever benefit from any kind of oil that i feel like i've got time to make up.  This ones by Pixi and was a Christmas present and it is DIVINE.  Not only that but massaging it into my little face after a hot shower before bed is doing all kinds of good for my pasty skin.  Hurrah for facial oils!

6.  Trying something different.  I wish what i wore wasn't such an importance to me sometimes.  Truth is, how i dress and what i wear is one of the ways that i love to be creative and when i feel like i look lovely, i feel like I'm the very best version of myself - especially when it comes to work.  I feel taller, stronger and the best version of me.  This month as part of my work uniform i bought a jumpsuit.  I'm not a jumpsuit kind of person.  In fact it's a million gazillion miles from what i would usually wear but do you know what?!  Once i got over the fact that i felt a bit like a swishy-clown AND had to basically sit on the loo in just my bra and pants; i felt ALL kinds of amazing and like i could conquer anything that the day threw at me!

7.  Warm things.  I can't be cold.  I mean, if I'm cold and i don;t get warm quick-march then i simply can't get warm again for hours.  This week praise goes to pockets - big ones at that.  the kind you can fit almost up to your elbows in for icy windy days when you've left your gloves at home.  Bright pink bobble hats - not only for their ear/head warming abilities but just for the fact that its PINK and so bright and cheery that it conquers and grey and doom and gloom it comes into contact with.  And last but not least:  Blanket scarves.  So named because they are quite literally a blanket and a scarf.  Genius!  And greatly welcomed to bury my little chin into on cold walks home or to wrap around and around my shoulder in the manner of a paisley printed super-hero when catching up on paperwork in our ice box office.  Warm things ALL the way!

8.   A possible sneaky visit to Anthropologie.  I can't help it - that place is my Mecca, the Mother-ship and the one high-street store {excluding Monsoon Accessorize naturally} that fills me with ALL of the inspiration and ideas and somewhere i could quite happily spend all the live long day {and spend ALL of my everythings too}.  I'm off to Edinburgh for our area meeting and I'm crossing everything cross-able that i can sneak in a crafty visit since it's the nearest one to us and i don't get there nearly enough...

9.  Green.  Because i feel like my body just needs all the green it can grab hold of lately:  Green peppers roasted with smashed garlic and olive oil and piled high on top of Monday's pasta-y dinner; green shoots every which way i look sneaking up through the ground and dotting the verges with their bright goodness, green jumpers worn with yellow scarves in the bid to {let's face it} be the human equivalent of a daffodil and just the change in the outside air:  Fresher, muchier and simply greener smelling.  Have you noticed it too?!?

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But that's just my little list of lovely and do you know the very best thing about these #wonderfulwednesday 's i write?!  Is hopping off to fill my little heart with everyone elses' lists too.  Go and skip on over to  Jo, Helen, Michelle, Sarah, Kate, Cat, Sam, El , Kerri's, Mimmi's, Martina's AND lovely Isabelle's posts and see what's been making their week pretty damned lovely too.  Better still tell us what's been making you smile by commenting below, or anyone's posts or by chit-chatting with us all on Twitter and Instagram using the #wonderfulwednesday tag.
 
Until next time....