Wonderful Wednesday #201

{Crisping & crunching into the midweek...}
Who can believe that pretty soon we'll be almost halfway through January?!  More than that who also can't wait for first snowdrops, then daffodils then crocuses and hyacinths?!?!?  Have i even got the order right?!  Who cares just give me all of the flowers and all of the colour right about now please!  I bought my first bunch of daffodils this week.  They're still pretty pricey in the shops as it's a bit too soon for them yet {?} but this sorry little bunch were sad and wilted and reduced to 25p!!!! And you know me, i can never resist reduced rescuing bunches of blooms.... I'm currently watching their every move and after two days in water their little green buds are just starting to open.  I'm excited to bring some colour indoors now that we're Christmas tree-less!  I have still kept the fairylights strewn across our kitchen sill though and around our headboard in a bid to banish the short grey days and lack of light.  How are you cheering up your January?!


Enough wittering and more listing, #wonderfulwednesday style!


1.  Fresh air.  Never ever underestimate the true power of a few lungfuls of it - it really does do wonders for everything:  It clears my head, calms any nerves or anxieties, boosts my mood and better still if i'm my usual power-walking self or happen to be on those two wheels of mine; it also gets my heart going and those endorphins whizzing every which way.  However it comes:  as a walk to work, a tired wander home or an energetic few laps of the park on my day off - it's the fixer of most things!  Hurrah!


2.  Concocting.  Isn't it great when you throw a couple of things in a pan and something fantastic and better still, exactly what you wanted, comes out and you feel like you could eat and eat and eat it.  Tuesday afternoon's 'day off' lunch was exactly that.  Three eggs whisked up.  A great big handful of baby spinach wilted down in some coconut oil until almost ready and then the whisked eggs folded through gently until they were cooked.  I piled the whole lot into a bowl and topped it with toasted black sesame seeds, chopped coriander and lots and lots of salt and black pepper and it was HEAVEN.  


3.   Sleep.  I just can't do it.  Late nights are not and never will be my jam.  I'm ever so productive in the morning and it's all just down hill from 6pm if we're being really honest!  I've been off work since Sunday.  That's right, a blissful three whole days off in a row and the most i've had off since my birthday at the start of December.  The best bit?  Sleep.  Sleep, sleep and sleep.  I love it so much i'm actually thinking it should probably go on my CV....  




4.   Time.  Another thing that really does just pass me by so fast the older i get.  Remember the days when school holidays literally felt like forever?!?  Those really WERE the days.  Now it just goes.  These couple of days have had me slowing down and not feeling one little ounce of guilt.  Even if it is in a desperate bid that life itself might follow suit....Has anyone found the pause button yet?!


5.  Routine. Okay so a few days off work haven't helped the 'get back to normal' routine post Christmas and upside down shifts and hours and days and weeks feeling like they were all part of one great big.....THING.  BUT there has been comfort found in cooking our usual weekly staples, having normal bed times {i.e not becoming distracted by another great Christmas film or version of something great at silly o' clock!} and even strangely, in plainer, greener, lighter and lovelier food.  I write that as i've just drank two cups of tea in a row and ate far too many mini malteaser bunnies which i found squirrelled away at the back of the cupboard...But what is life if it doesn't have some balance in it!?


6.  Power walking with Beyonce.  Oh okay so not literally {because if i was that would definitely at the very top of this list!}  BUT having that gal up the loudest it would go in my little ears even for just twenty minutes on a grim, minus 'who knows what' dark evening and not only that but singing at the top of my lungs all of the way; cheered me up no end and sort of made me feel like i too could....run the world.  Yes, yes i did just write that and no i don't care who blooming knows it.  We all find our January blues/ 'Picker Uppers' in the oddest of places....


7.  Lush Cosmetics 'Celestial' moisturiser.  Okay so i'd be lying if i said i already wanted it to work for my skin even long before i knew what the heck was in it purely because of the name.  Sometimes i'm very easily influenced!  But i was on the look out for a new facial moisturiser a week or so ago and popped into our local store to ask some advice.  At the moment my skin isn't very dry, but in cold weather i definitely feel the need to ramp up the moisture but want to not feel like i'm wearing something that's heavy on my skin through the day.  I like something that will balance, be kind to any sensitivities {'cos i'm forever a little bit rosey or red without makeup} but also sit nice alongside my makeup.  This stuff is the DREAM!  It's gentle, light but heavy {i know, sorry, this is why i'll mostly never be any kind of beauty writer!} and i can dot it on lightly for through the day and add a little more in the evening and wake up feeling like my skin has been really nourished throughout the night.  INFACT because i'm pretty much convinced it's also helped with my red and rosey bits; during the day i've been lightly applying this and Just.  Wearing.  Concealer.  And of course my usual blush and mascara.  This for me is big news, really big news.  I've NEVER been a 'i just dot concealer where i need it' sort of a person.  Celestial, i salute you.


8.   Support.  However it comes and whatever it's for {this might win the award for the most cryptic #wonderfulwednesday point ever} those who appear and are miraculously just there when you need them most - hell especially when you don't even know you need them - they just know you need them {are you even following?!} are worth their weight in GOLD.  Whether it's a hug, a very well-timed message or just saying exactly what you needed to hear exactly when you needed to hear it.  Well they my friends, are your Keepers.  Hold onto them tight and don't let them go!


9.   Pushing yourself.  I'm a stickler for a routine, we all know that by now.  We all know how i like my tea, my porridge and that i like to know what's-what with life.  I rarely push myself in life - in fitness?  All of the time.  In cooking?  All of the time.  Hell in what i wear, all of the time BUT in life?  Not so much.  Why? Fear.  Fear of failure, of the unknown and maybe even lack of self belief in my own ability.  This week i pushed myself.  Not very far but far enough and it made me feel like i could do ANYTHING.  Again, apologies as this is also the second most vague point i've ever wasted words wittered on about on here.  But soon i hope i'll be able to explain.  Either way if you learn one thing from it:  Sometimes, it's good or great to step outside of what you're used to.  It makes you appreciate your greatness.  and whatever your 'Great' is, you've all got it!


10.  Rude Health 'Rye Oaties.'  Because 'things' have all got a little bit deep and verging on a Beyonce-style self-help book and not a #wonderfulwednesday SO #balance.  AND these little morsels are the bees knees and elbows.  Little round biscuits {are they biscuits or are they crackers...?} of savoury rye and oat delicious-ness!  I'm not going to lie, i've mostly eaten them straight out of the box when i've been hungry but not craving fruit or something sweet - which is rare for me in itself!  BUT i imagine them being delicious dunked into Dahl, swished around in soup or simply spread with hummus.  They're a more savoury digestive biscuit with a bit of cracker-power thrown in and i do LOVE them so!



 
*  *  *


And we're only flipping done!!!  What a list!  This week i could have kept going, and going and going was it not for the fact that i'm starving and having roasted tomatoes and avocado on toast for supper and i'm EXCITED.  As we all know by now it doesn't take much to get me excited.  Hell i might even go ALL OUT and crumble some feta on top too.....


Don't you dare forget to hop right on over to Jo, Helen, Michelle, Sarah, Kate, Cat, Sam, El , Kerri's, and Peta's blogs and devour their very own #wonderfulwednesday -shaped loveliness!  These gals are just the very BEST and their constant love, care and support of this little corner and this little post no less, is pretty special.  Go show them some love too!


Until next week, it's goodbye from Me!