Wonderful Wednesday #48

^That is a photo taken by someone who is just itching for those first signs of Spring!^
Good day and a HAPPY New Year to all of your sweet cheeks!  My very FIRST post of 2015 and a #Wonderful Wednesday to boot!  If that isn't a jolly good sign of a year brimming to the very top with positivity then i don't know what is!  Or just a sign i could have got my behind in gear a little sooner - depending on which way you look at it i guess!  But either way, what better way to start my blogging year?!  
How ARE you all?  How did you spend your New Years'? Ours was quiet and low-key.  But in my heart, just as it should be.  I really don't know how anyone has the energy to do anything so full of beans over New Years.  By this point i've usually worked most of the run-up to Christmas, and fired myself straight back into work.  And then thrown myself full throttle into sale.  By New Years eve I am good for NOTHING other than a hot bath and my pyjamas.  This year i had the hottest bath i could manage and we sat and munched our very last mince pies of the season alongside big mugs of hot spiced chai tea.  We watched 'Saving Mr Banks' and then CURLED up under a blanket to watch Jools Holland.  Then we had the best sleep of our lives followed equally by the most spectacular lie-in!  Pretty much heaven right there.  I really am easily pleased.  Anyway, let's get down to the jolly GOOD stuff shall we?!
*  "Working nine-to-five…" (sung to Dolly Parton - naturally)  or Nine until six as the case maybe.   Either way, getting back to my usual alarm, my usual routine and just vaguely knowing what day it is, is a massive positive in this gals book i can tell you!
*  Spying my very FAVOURITE shoes i have possibly ever ever bought, in a different colour, in the Clarks sale, reduced from £70 to £27.  Now that is exactly the kind of sale buy that becomes totally justified.  I have slowly, started to really appreciate the importance of really good 'i'm on my feet all the live long day long' sorts of shoes.  Over the past few years Clarks have really upped their game in the style stakes.  I am faithful wearer of their brogues and recently added their Busby Jazz shoes to my collection:  A sort of flat jazz shoe in a soft grey leather and with a strap across each foot.  I am now the very proud owner of the exact same pair in a dark oxblood colour.  
*  Feeling all kinds of PROUD seeing our new January Accessorize window installed this week.  It's been designed by the darling who is 'Miss Magpie Spy…' If you are not familiar with her beautiful drawings and illustrations have a goosey gander at her instagram HERE and drop by her wonderful website just HERE.  Having followed her on instagram and twitter for SO long, on opening our window guidelines i couldn't help but yelp in delight!  The window is just beautiul and may well go down in history as one of my very favourite Accessorize windows to date.  Just magical!  
*  APPLES.  Simple. Crisp, shiny and straight out of the fridge.  I just can't get enough.  I often go through phases with fruit.  Lately i just cannot get enough of apples.  My apple of choice? A british cox:  sweet but not too sweet, with a delicious juiciness i just can't get enough of!  
*  A SPECIAL kind of feel good hot chocolate.  I know i know hot chocolates aren't supposed to be healthy.  But i returned from a frosty bike ride early this week, and i was chilled, chilled through to the bone and I knew the only thing that would fix me was a piping hot mug of the good stuff.  After Christmas, and New Year and feeling like i might try and re-invent a healthier take on my beloved drink, i got concocting.  What i cam up with was heaven.  Granted not calorie-free, but in my experience, calorie free usually equals taste free too.  My goal?  To try and make a purer, more health boosting drink.  I warmed through unsweetened almond milk.  Added two heaped teaspoons of raw cacao powder and one each of carob and maca powder.  I warmed it altogether until it had all dissolved and then frothed it with our little milk frother.  After decanting into my favourite mug i drizzled half a teaspoon of honey and added some grated nutmeg on top and curled up.  It was delicious!  and packed full of anti-oxidants, vitamins and minerals AND it heated me up just as i knew it would.  
*  Tights.  For being the ONLY way to keep me so very toasty warm.  I don't care if you're not a dress person, you prefer jeans to skirts or you just don't think they are your thing.  Just give them a shot, it's all i ask.  Even be a dress person just for Winter!  Because let me tell you that wearing something that covers your feet completely and pulls right the way up to just below your bra is The Bees Knees and Cat's Pyjamas all in one. Trust me!
*  Signs of SPRING.  Yes i know i am fickle!  I anticipate, revel and dismiss each season as soon as there are any sightings of the one to follow.  Last weekend we de-Christmassed our little attic.   Now i just can't wait for Spring i just can't!  Our sweet little farmers market has tulips and daffodils peeking out on their stalls and i am finding myself looking for the first signs of Spring anywhere and everywhere.  Gosh i cannot wait for blossom!  
*  NEW beginnings.  See above.  But also the feeling of a fresh start, that anything is possible and that anything is within your reach.  Even if you are not one for resolutions, that New Year feeling brings out optimism in even the most weariest of souls.  And writing on the first page in a beautiful new diary or notebook with a golden pen?  Right up there!  
*  Baked eggs.  Cooked in only plum tomatoes, garlic, red pepper and diced chorizo.  Served still slightly soft with a helping of sea salt and a side of rocket and watercress.  Two words: The BUSINESS!
*  LIGHTER mornings and lighter evenings.  Even if it's only minutes or so, they're coming:  That extra bit of sunlight to warm and soothe our Wintered-selves, i promise. *  *  *   So TELL me, share your good things, spread your loveliness and tell us all of your positive moments - no matter how great or how small.  I know i'd LOVE to know, and i bet others who pop by should like to know your secrets to those little and sweet happy moments.  Heavens after the rose-y glow that Christmas brings, January can feel like the longest and most greyest of months, can't it?  We must UNITE and share our goodness.  Remember to leave a sweet comment below, or to share your #wonderfulwednesday on Instagram or Twitter.  I'm @sallytangle on both.