Wonderful Wednesday #213

 {Where you'll find me, until Spring comes back...}

I'm sat here writing to you and already it's a 'stop-start; stop-start' kind of a writing rhythm and it's not really looking good since we're only one overly long and terribly punctuated sentence in.  Truth is, it's been one of those days and the mug of tea that is sat in front of me is such a good cup of tea and i'm in need of it more than anything else in the whole wide world right now!  I can feel it's bergamot-y zesty goodness traversing through my little veins and already bringing me back to life as i speak type.  It's been the kind of day where i feel like i've done everything back to front; upside down or inside out.  Each of the littlest things have felt like mountains to climb and they've all felt like hard work and as if i've really had to think and concentrate more than usual.  Only to achieve them in a haphazard and inefficient way.  Is this even making sense?!!  

But enough of that!  What i can be sure i probably  need is to collect all of the truly treasurable bits of this week so far and piece them together in what i can only imagine {and apologise in advance if correct} might become the most scatty 'all-over-the-place' sort of a #wonderfulwednesday that there was...hold tight!

1.  Warmth.  I don't want to rant or rave or go on about it too much but man ALIVE am i SICK of being cold and of The Cold!  I sat the other evening {wearing my winter pyjamas in April; alongside socks, a chunky cardigan AND a blanket across my knees} and calculated that i'd probably likely been cold since at least last October.  That's SIX MONTHS!  I can't tell you how icy my walks home from work have been but what i can tall you is how very grateful i've been for warmth in whatever way i have been able to find it:  Hands wrapped around  mug of tea, a hot water bottle clutched between my knees as i fall asleep {in APRIL, did i mention it's APRIL}, a random and last minute burst of sunshine on Tuesday evening as i walked to the supermarket to do our grocery shop - I stood still in it for five minutes; head lifted up to the sky, eyes closed and everything.  Did i mention i was next to a busy road in rush hour?!?  BUT I WAS WARM.  S'all about the warmth folks.  Am I cold old?!?

2.  Warmed lentils.  I'm back on the wintery salad bus.  Whilst it made me a little bit sad, said sadness didn't last too long when i remembered how much i loved leftover peppery black lentils tossed in a pan with crispy kale and spinach and served with chunks of sweet roasted beetroot, chunky of feta and toasted seeds.  Whoever says salads are boring clearly has never been properly introduced to a lentil....{or me!}.

3.  Light and bright.  Or neither at all.  I mean, my {possibly} over-joyous Spring enthusiasm once the clocks had changed may have been short lived {or a little bit on holiday} but despite the freezing temperatures {have i mentioned this week i've been mostly cold??!} solace has been {extra} sought in bursts of bright and extra {grey-ish tinged} light when i could snatch it.  Even feeling daylight on your cheeks and waking up in actual real life daylight is better than those dark mornings and short days.  Am i right?!?

4.  Sleeping until you wake up.  One of the best things!  I've felt a little bit out of sorts all week this week and just incase me mentioning the weather in each point already wasn't quite  enough, i'm most certainly and naturally blaming those feelings all on it all over again!  On Saturday evening i was so exhausted from work that i decided to have an early night and sleep until i naturally woke up {i know, we certainly know how to party around here there's no doubt about it!} on Sunday.  I woke, bleary-eyed after a solid twelve hours sleep and felt so much better!  When i'm Prime Minister i'm going to make it the law that everyone starts their working day whenever they naturally wake up and i shall ban alarms of all kinds!  It's most certainly the way forward.

5.  A new face cream.  I'm a fussy customer when it comes to skincare and i have mentioned a few times that i've been trying my best to only use products on my skin that are only cruelty free and as natural as possible.  I picked up a new face cream last weekend as my current one has been discontinued and i am in LOVE.  It's made with roses and smells like heaven and is THE nicest cream to use after a hot steamy eucalyptus-y shower before bed as the scent is so relaxing.  Skip to HERE if you'd like to read more.

6.  Honey.  For being my other non-caffeinated lifesaver this week!  I swear by it for every single thing and as something i use only really as a 'Fixer' and less of just a condiment.  I have a simple organic local honey i use for porridge, pancakes, toast etc BUT use a special {little bit more expensive but so very worth it AND lasts forever} unfiltered raw runny honey for when i'm feeling a little more run down and little less....'Me.'  A take a teaspoon first thing in the morning whilst i'm waiting for the kettle to boil and doing a few stretches to wake myself up.  Raw honey has lots of antibacterial properties and it's so sweet and soothing and i just feel like it helps a lot when i'm feeling a little out of sorts.  It's saved me so many times when i've felt like i was coming down with something or wasn't quite myself but couldn't put my finger on why.

7.  Talking to the plants.  It's a habit i always remember my mum having and i think i've inadvertently picked it up from her without even realising until this week!  We've only got a couple of plants inside but this week i've really been enjoying talking to them in the morning when i draw back the curtains and check on them.  Is this weird?!?  I mean i haven't killed them yet.  Although i'm pretty sure that's mostly only down to remembering to not over-water them and not just asking them how they are.  What do you reckon?!?

8.  A slow-baked potato on a really rainy and miserable evening with lots of candles lit for extra cosiness.  The dream.  I mean on what level do candles and any kind of jacket potato-inspired supper not make any kind of a day infinitely more.....brilliant?!   These were rubbed with olive oil and then rolled in a mix of polenta, dried rosemary and sea-salt and then baked for almost two hours.  We served them with lots of flaky sea-salt, black pepper and salty butter and piled them high with leftover homemade smoky beans and avocado and they were HEAVEN.   

Golly gosh i feel almost 'cured' just by writing this whilst also being fairly worried i haven't used nearly enough punctuation; wrote too many 'over-long' sentences and wonder how many spelling mistakes will dodge my spell checker this week in my 'wonky' state?!?  But it's done!  And i feel a gazillion times better and i'm about to hot-foot it downstairs to eat leftover carrot and sweetcorn falafels with a cobbled together grain-y salad with a big drizzle of lemon-y Tahini dressing and what could be better than that?!?!?

Remember there's a whole other collection of 'Wonderful' over on Jo, Helen, Michelle, Sarah, Kate, Cat, Sam, El , Kerri's, and Peta's oh, OH and Ellie's blogs as they write and share their very own #wonderfulwednesday posts each and every week too.  I'm not off until Thursday this week {where i'm actually off for a couple of days, hurrah!} so i predict that there will be much #wonderfulwednesday catching up and many a mug of tea drunk.  I'm already excited!  I might need to get out a bit more......

As always, thank you SO much and we'll catch up next week, yes?