Wonderful Wednesday #177

{This weeks photo - sans text because everything is breaking!  Pretty though?!}

I'm BACK!  It feels like forever and a whole LIFE time since i sat and tip-tapped out a post to you on this corner.  I wont bore you with the whole entire host of internet related complications we've had over the past couple of weeks {thank goodness for 4G because Instagram people!} other than to say if i could shout at the very top of my lungs from the highest point in the whole of the universe {?!} this:  I HATE SKY.  Ever tried to solve an internet-shaped problem with them?!  Good well good for you.  LUCKY you.  Just know that it takes FOREVER.  But that's all we'll say on that matter.  We're all about the BEST bits over here remember and those, those are not some of my best bits lately. 

What has been rather bloomin' lovely are the amount of lovely tweets, direct messages and emails to say how much I've been missed!  Who'd have though it hey?!?  Well i've missed being here too.  So without further ado, I'm gonna get listin'!  Bear with me though as this round up is more 'what's been keeping me smilin' lately' as appose to it's usual 'so far this week' sort of structure.  

1.  Together-ness.  I hadn't mentioned, mostly because it's been at least a zillion years since we spoke; that the Mr and I have had a few days off together this week.  Well almost a week to be more precise.  Is it awful that we've never ever had this amount of time off together - just us - in the whole of our relationship?!  This only occurred to us as we sat down to plan it!  *hangs head in shame*.  That's what you get when one of you is self-employed and the other works in retail.  Oh and you're both the most useless when it comes to planning/co-ordinating anything.  The most i can plan/co-ordinate  ahead of time is what i'm having for breakfast and what i'm wearing the next day.  These past few days have been all kinds of bliss:  Later get ups, less screen time and more green time {i rhymed!} and time spent walking in the Lakes and eating icecream, visiting family and eating tea by the sea {i'm at it again - the rhyming!}.  Time spent actually doing things rather than simply existing along side each other definitely makes you appreciate one another more!

2.  Meridian Peanut and Coconut butter spread thickly on sourdough crumpets and scattered with passion fruit and sliced banana AKA 'Holiday Breakfast.'  Is it bad that i've eaten it for the past....too many days to count?!?

3.  Not killing things in the garden.  Okay so i didn't grow them all from seeds which i dried in paper bags on the window sill or some kind of idyllic shed at the bottom of the garden etc etc BUT i have kept several terracotta pots full of all kinds of bedding plants - which i picked and planted all by myself - alive for almost a whole month.  I'm convinced it's not all down to the Baby Bio plant food and some also down to the little 'chats' we have....

4.  Quinoa bolognese.  Genius if you ask me.  I'm not a massive meat eater.  I'm sure i've sat here and told you before that most people think that i'm vegetarian.  That i think is largely down to the fact that i'll quite often mostly eat vegetables over meat most of the time.  Unless i know where the meat's from and what it had for breakfast.  Just joking.  I'd just rather eat it when i know i'm eating the good stuff, you know?  So Mondays are always pasta night in our house.  Usually a great way of using up whatever leftover veg we have lying about until our weekly food shop on a Tuesday.  It's often a tomato-based pasta sauce served with slow roast 'whatever's in the fridge' which is usually courgette, sweet peppers and sometimes some leftover tomatoes from the bowl on the window sill.  Sometimes i also whizz up some sundried tomatoes or add in some olives.  Last week i chucked in some leftover quinoa and tossed it through some wholemeal spaghetti and added in a big handful of some basil and rocket and a big glug of olive oil and it was DELICIOUS.  Sort of 'beefed' {sorry!} it up a bit and soaked up some of the juices from the roasted veg.  Mondays might now have been re-named 'Quinoa Bolognese Mondays....'

5.  An empty wash basket.  I know #boring but when you're a grown up THIS is the kind of stuff that ALL of the domesticated dreams are made of.  THIS week there has been a clean bathroom, an empty laundry basket AND clean sheets all at the same time.  Just call me a domestic goddess.....

6.  All of the green.  If you've seen my little pic on Instagram lately {I'm @sallytangle} you'll know how much i've been wittering on about loving being out and about in the fresh air.  It's true.  Nothing makes my little heart happier than breathing in fresh air and seeing nothing but green for miles and miles.  Amongst this weeks many adventures we spent Monday walking around Derwent Water {a flippin' MASSIVE lake just outside Keswick incase you didn't know} and it was BEAUTIFUL.  The sun was shining and it was so warm that there were even people swimming in the shallows and rowing boats and it was LOVELY.  We weren't organised enough for any of that BUT we did walk for miles and finish it all off with tubs of icecream as big as our heads.  I chose Hazelnut sorbet and it was HEAVEN.  Thumbs up times a SQUILLION for getting out and about more often.

7.  Cold tea.  I know, i know but hear me out will you!!?  Okay so i am a little bit weird and have always not really minded my cup of tea when it goes cold.  I mean i'd never go as far as to make one and leave it to go cold but i've never minded it when it does.  Last year though i really got into cold fruit teas and especially sort of fell in love with making earl grey tea, then topping it up with iced water, wedges of lemon and sometimes honey and having a big jug in the fridge for who knows when you might want some?!  It was suprisingly zingy and fresh and this year i might have even concocted something more delicious!  It was mostly inspired by my love of whacking ice cubes, cold water, slices of cucumber and mint in a glass.  Truly the most thirst-quenching thing you'll ever drink.  This week i brewed up some Pukka 'Cleanse' tea which is a delightful little herbal concoction made from Fennel, Nettle and Peppermint.  I topped it up with cold water and ice and torn mint leaves and a few ribbons of cucumber. Oh.  My.  Gosh it's good.  I drank a whole litre of the stuff in less than thirty minutes.  It's got those little cogs turning as to what other delightful cold beverages i could make with all of my other fruit and herb teas.  Wonder what a chilled camomile tea might taste like?!?  If like me you're not a fan of fizzy or sugary drinks, make sure you give this one a whirl and let me know if you experiment too!

8.  Rest.  The general theme of this week and these past few days off i guess.  My days off are often quite erratic and it's rare that i ever work a typical Monday to Friday.  For that reason i find it SO hard to switch off from work.  These pas few days have taught me that i really need to try and do it more often, that i rarely put my own well-being - both mental and physical first and that life's too short to not do that.  I've felt so much better in myself just by slowing down and not letting myself feel burnt out and exhausted and I'm making a mental note to recognise the signs and slow down sooner next time!  

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And i'm DONE!  I feel like i could keep writing FOREVER this week!  I've really missed this little space and the cathartic process of recording those little moments of brightness in my week - i love the routine of it and the responsibility too.    Can you believe this is only the second time in one hundred and seventy-seven posts that i've missed any?!?  I don't feel so guilty now when i remember that!  This weeks post is with you a little late #holidaybrain {sorry!} but don't forget to pop your little selves right on over to Jo, Helen, Michelle, Sarah, Kate, Cat, Sam, El , Kerri's, Mimmi's, Martina's , Peta's , Kelly's blogs and catch up with the happy moments in their very owns weeks.  I'm off to do exactly the same right about now....

See you in seven days......