Wonderful Wednesday 51

Well, we're all moved in and it all went surprisingly smoothly (touches every piece of wood in sight that I'm not jinxing something going forward). I'm sitting at our kitchen table looking out of the window at a completely different view to the one I've been used to for the last few years. Now if only the sun would shine ever so slightly, although if it could wait until the weekend actually that would be splendid.

But despite the grey grey grey weather, the past week has been full of sunshine in heaps of other ways and here are a few of my favourites...

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♥ Short weeks... A four day week either side of a bank holiday weekend is all kinds of wonderful and I really wish they were sprinkled a little more regularly over the course of a year but perhaps I wouldn't treasure them so much when they did happen in that case? I think I would. I'm actually not back to work until tomorrow so this week is only two days' long - not too shabby at all, even if the sun didn't shine at all!

♥ Our own little place... It feels so wonderful to be all moved in at last and we keep looking around in shock that it's actually ours, having been renting for so long. It's our third place together but the first one that we've owned and every so often I have to remind myself that we can decorate it exactly as we choose, and move away from that distinctive shade of landlord-approved beige that you always seem to find in rental flats. My to-do lists are only increasing or being replaced with yet more tasks but these are only the most exciting ones; full of DIY plans, furniture options and shades of paint colours. 

♥ Lovely neighbours... We've been so lucky with our neighbours in all the places we've lived and I know how important it is to have people you can rely on next door as my parents have lived next door to some of theirs for years and years, and they're almost like family now - even coming to our wedding a few years ago. We knocked on the door of one of our new neighbours over the weekend to pick her brain about rubbish collection (why is it always so different in each place you live?!) and were invited straight in for a cup of tea and a chat. I could feel my shoulders just drop instantly, I had no idea that I had been feeling slightly apprehensive about this, but one wee chat later and I felt so much more relaxed.

♥ London adventures... While we may have moved out of London, we're still close enough for trips into the city and we ventured in a few times over the long weekend and during our time off together afterwards. On Easter Monday, we visited the Tate Modern for the last day of the Modigliani exhibition, which we'd been lucky enough to get tickets for. I'd been raving about this since I first went during the Christmas holiday and I was so pleased to be able to visit some of my favourites again, and discover some new pieces which hadn't caught my eye the first time round. Isn't that often the way? There are a couple of prints I'd like to save up for and buy for the house so it was productive too!

♥ Isle of Dogs... I love love love Wes Anderson's films and when I saw the trailer for a new one focusing entirely on dogs, it was instantly added to my must-watch list. We went to watch it yesterday and I already want to watch it again. I had the hugest grin on my face the whole way through, I loved every moment - it was hilarious and oh so heart-warming, with an oracle-spouting pug - what's not to love? Also, London-dwellers, we went to watch it at the Barbican. I've never been to the cinema there before but it was lovely - perfectly angled (and comfortable) seats and a great size screen. A lovely experience. Also a cloakroom, which as we were wrestling a not-insignificantly-sized shower caddy was a very welcome bonus.

♥ All of the chocolate... I gave up chocolate bars and cake for Lent, as well as sweets (I have a serious Percy Pigs habit) so it's been bliss to be able to tuck in again since the weekend! I'm really trying to eke out my Easter chocolate though...I think I say this every year but I don't know why it always tastes so much more delicious in egg form.

♥ Do let me know what's made your week a little rosier by leaving me a comment below or dropping me a tweet (I'm @happygoluckycat) or better yet, why not join the fabulous bunch of #WonderfulWednesday bloggers? Pop over to their blogs for a dose of mid-week happiness - Sally, Michelle, Helen, Kate, Jo, Sam, Kerri, Laura, Sarah, Peta, El, Laura, Mimmi, Martina, Lynsey, Katie and Em (I think that's everyone - shout at me if you're not on the list!) - and then join me in counting down the days until the weekend. It's in sight! ♥

Wonderful Wednesday 50

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Sporadic posts at the moment because we're moving house this week and the last few weekends (and a fair few evenings) have been a whirlwind of packing and checking off items on ever-increasing to-do lists. It's all so exciting though so definitely a good *break* from posting.

I thought I would try to sneak in one last Wonderful Wednesday before the move though because, despite letting our internet provider know that we're moving and the precise date that this is happening, I have a feeling that it may not be line up quite so exactly...

So, very much short and sweet this week, but here are a few of my happy snippets!

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♥ Reading... Sadly, reading always seems to be one of the first things to take a hit when I'm feeling stressed and it feels like I just don't have the attention span to focus on the words or the story. Although we're so busy at the moment, I've been making the time to read more on my commute and in the evenings before bed, and it's the perfect way to wind down at the end of a long day. I devoured 'Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine' in the space of a weekend because it was such an enjoyable and engrossing read, and am currently reading 'The Glass Painter's Daughter' - it's not challenging but I'm enjoying it and loving the Pre-Raphaelite references.

♥ Spring... and the clocks changing really makes such a difference, doesn't it?! I'm ignoring the talk of more snow forecast this week (it's just showing rain at the moment!) and focusing on the extra sunlight of an evening and the hint of warmth in the air over the weekend. It might even be time to pack away my winter coat and scarf soon but in the meantime I'm loving walking home while it's still light, no matter how late I leave the office!

♥ Breakfast... Despite a very busy weekend, I made sure to take some time to savour breakfast - Sunday a little more than Saturday as we had some people arriving early to view the flat (first thing on a Saturday morning, really?!) My breakfasts during the week are usually squeezed into a 10 minute (at best!) window with the emphasis being more on speed of tea to mouth delivery than any kind of proper ritual to begin the day. Weekend breakfasts on the other hand - tea, cereal of some kind, then toast and orange juice, accompanied by the paper or a good novel. It's a thing of great beauty and sets me up for the day magnificently.

♥ Goodbye Dinners... Not saying goodbye to friends, but to two favourite food places from the area in which we're currently living. On Saturday evening, after a full day of packing, we treated ourselves to a curry from our favourite Indian restaurant. We had initially planned to go to the restaurant itself but after spending all day wrestling with packing boxes, tape and bubble wrap, the thought of leaving the house paled in comparison to a takeaway on the sofa with a movie ('The Big Sick' - loved it!) A perfect last Saturday night in our little flat.

On Sunday, my parents came for a visit and so that my Dad could help us take some furniture apart. We then headed to a favourite pub in the area where I'd booked a table for lunch. We all opted for the Sunday roast - chicken for me, with roast potatoes, peas, runner beans, the tastiest braised cabbage I think I've ever had and lashings of gravy, all washed down with a glass of wine. It was so tasty and we were so ravenous that I forgot to snap a photo so you'll have to take my word for how delicious it all was! Good food and good company, a real treat of a final weekend. 

♥ London... So, when we move tomorrow, we'll actually be leaving London, which feels rather like the end of an era. I've left before - university and a few years abroad after that - but I knew they weren't permanent. While it's been amazing to live in various parts of London with my husband over the last few (8!) years together, it was time for a change, somewhere a little larger and in an area we felt happier putting down roots. So we're moving out of London, close enough to still be able to get into town when we fancy it, but far enough away to give us a little more space.

Here's to a new and exciting chapter!

♥ Do let me know what's made your week a little rosier by leaving me a comment below or dropping me a tweet (I'm @happygoluckycat) or better yet, why not join the fabulous bunch of #WonderfulWednesday bloggers? Pop over to their blogs for a dose of mid-week happiness - Sally, Michelle, Helen, Kate, Jo, Sam, Kerri, Laura, Sarah, Peta, El, Laura, Mimmi, Martina, Lynsey, Katie and Em (I think that's everyone - shout at me if you're not on the list!) - and then join me in counting down the days until the weekend. It's in sight! ♥

Wonderful Wednesday 49

It's late on a Tuesday night as I type this intro. I'm in my PJs and my bed is looking really inviting, although there's no doubt that it'll look even more inviting to me on Wednesday morning when I'm checking this went up ok before I dash out the door to run to the station. So short and sweet as ever with this little blurby section and onto the goodly roundup. Happy Wednesday!

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♥ Cooking... I know I'm really really lucky to have a husband who does the cooking. I could say it's because he's always home earlier than I am, which is true, but doesn't apply at the weekends and yet, he still does the vaaaast majority of the cooking because (a) I can be really lazy and (b) he's so good at it! But there's one thing I can still do better than him, which is a risotto and the other week, after popping a butternut squash in the week's food shop, I had a craving for a roasted safe and butternut squash risotto. My goodness, it was tasty and the perfect accompaniment to a cold winter's evening.

♥ Fargo... Now I've been marathoning this for a couple of weeks now and I keep wanting to talk about it to anyone who'll listen. It's a series inspired by a 90s Coen Brothers movie (which is also SO good) and there are three now, all on Netflix. If you like your crime dramas slightly out of the ordinary, with an abundance of black humour and some amazing characters, stop what you're doing and watch this right now!

♥ Porridge... I may be writing about this about four months later than most of the porridge-loving Wonderful Wednesdayers, but I picked up a box a few weeks' ago and this weekend's cold spell felt like the perfect time to break it open again. I'm ready to rock some exciting flavour combinations (Miss Sally, I'm looking at you!) but this weekend's just called for a sprinkling of brown sugar and I was happy.

♥ Surprise weekday meet-ups... On Tuesday I had a seminar in central London and met up with my brother for dinner afterwards. We headed to Bodeans in Soho and caught up over BBQ, fries and ice tea (well, I had the ice tea, he had a beer...on a school night and everything). It was a wonderful end to a day that involved a lot of reading about trusts followed by a two hour seminar on trusts and actually, I enjoyed every moment of it! 1000 extra geek points to me. 

♥ Snow days... Last week was so cold, wasn't it?! I don't remember ever experiencing weather like it over here before. So so pretty as long as you didn't have to actually go out in it. My walks to work on the first day it fell were gorgeous but when the wind started the next day, swiftly followed by blizzardy snow, I felt slightly afraid that I wouldn't be able to get home from work! So on Thursday, I headed home from work early and stayed there on Friday - I got lots done, with the added bonus of being able to curl up in all the layers, my cosiest socks with a pot of tea on constant refresh. Our new house is about a 15 minute walk from my office so I think (unless the next few weeks continue in this Siberian-vein), this will be my last snow day for a while! I'm glad I made the most of it!

♥ Cosy weekends... I did have plans with my Mum this weekend but neither of us really felt like heading out into London to brave Saturday's icy slush, so we rearranged to next weekend, which left me with two glorious days with no plans at all (save for beginning to pack). I'd saved my new issue of the Simple Things to enjoy with breakfast on Saturday morning and it was bliss; curling up with a big mug of tea and some toast and Nutella, peeping out of the window at the garden covered in snow and not moving until I'd read it cover to cover. We did venture out of the house a few times but only to pick up some paint and other DIY-odds and ends, and then back to chez nous to start the epic pack-up, pausing for more cups of tea and food. Productive and restful, I'd say that's a good weekend.

♥ Throwing things away... I don't know why it usually takes me until I'm moving out of a place to go on an epic de-cluttering session - they're so cathartic!

♥ Do let me know what's made your week a little rosier by leaving me a comment below or dropping me a tweet (I'm @happygoluckycat) or better yet, why not join the fabulous bunch of #WonderfulWednesday bloggers? Pop over to their blogs for a dose of mid-week happiness - Sally, Michelle, Helen, Kate, Jo, Sam, Kerri, Laura, Sarah, Peta, El, Laura, Mimmi, Martina, Lynsey, Katie and Em (I think that's everyone - shout at me if you're not on the list!) - and then join me in counting down the days until the weekend. It's in sight! ♥

Wonderful Wednesday 48

Sometimes these little introductions just roll off my fingertips really quickly and other days, it's a little more of a struggle. Today's is because I'm bursting to share some exciting news so perhaps I should just skip straight to it, right?!

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♥ Our first house... The very exciting thing that I've been keeping to myself for a little while now is that my mister and I will soon be moving into a little house of our very own. I didn't want to jinx it until we'd exchanged and that happy day took place last week! We're not moving until the end of March but now that we have the date confirmed and in the diary (fingers crossed nothing goes wrong in the meantime!) the planning can truly begin. And by planning, I mean I've started writing the mother of all lists and I'm so excited about it! On that note, if you're looking for organisation-inspiration generally, check out Lynsey's fantastic post on how she stays organised. I'm speaking as someone who loves organising and it's the stuff that dreams are made of!

♥ Country Living magazine... Following on from the above, I picked up a copy of this magazine at the weekend for some home inspiration. 'How to create the modern country look' is exactly what I'm going for in terms of home decor. Before I started reading the magazine though, my attention was caught by a little plant booklet that fell out and I spent a happy few hours browsing for plants for our new garden. We have a garden in our current flat but we just didn't have the inclination to do anything with it because it's not ours and we knew that we wouldn't be staying here for longer than a few years. With a place of our own, I want to start with a little herb garden (perhaps in pots to begin with?) before deciding what else to plant where. I'm also on the lookout for bird feeders so I can sit and look out at the birds as I eat my breakfast in the morning. I'll be cutting my commute right down so hoping that I won't have to start the day in my usual whirlwind of frantic activity. 

♥ Instagram takeover... Proud wife claxon! My husband has been chosen to do a week's takeover of Telegram Gallery's Instagram feed. Pop over and take a look - link here.

♥ Shetland... It's back! I absolutely adore this crime drama and my husband and I marathoned our way through the first three series fairly swiftly last year. Series four has just started and I'm going to have to wait for each new episode to arrive on IPlayer, which is tough, but I love it and I'm already enthralled (and every time I watch it I want to visit Shetland oh so much - despite the seemingly terrifyingly high murder rate for such a small island!)

♥ A fresh bunch of tulips... They've been popping up all over my Instagram feed for a few weeks now and I picked up a gorgeous multi-coloured bunch for my parents last weekend. On Saturday, while I was cleaning the house (accompanied by the Greatest Showman soundtrack!), my husband popped out and came back with the gorgeous bunch at the top of this post and they've been cheering up our kitchen ever since. I could quite happily have bunches all over the house!

♥ Domestic Sluttery... Have you heard of this site before? It used to be a blog, which I loved so much - a collection of interesting articles, links to things to do/see, wonderfully inspiring people and a round-up of not-to-be-missed treats from sales around the internet. It stopped a wee while ago but returned (last year I think?) as a daily newsletter and I look forward to it everyday. You can sign up via their site here. Monday's newsletters are always about a wonderfully inspiring woman, with last week's being Emily Dickinson - someone who I've heard mentioned a lot but knew shamefully little about. They included excerpts of some of her poetry and one really stuck with me (that's the second time that's happened this year, harking back to this post. Perhaps 2018 is the year I discover poetry?!) so I thought I'd share it here so you can all revel in its gorgeousness. Happy Wednesday, my loves!

"Hope" is the thing with feathers 

(Emily Dickinson)

"Hope" is the thing with feathers - 

That perches in the soul - 

And sings the tune without the words - 

And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - 

And sore must be the storm -

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm - 

I've heard it in the chillest land - 

And on the strangest Sea - 

Yet - never - in Extremity, 

It asked a crumb - of me.

♥ Do let me know what's made your week a little rosier by leaving me a comment below or dropping me a tweet (I'm @happygoluckycat) or better yet, why not join the fabulous bunch of #WonderfulWednesday bloggers? Pop over to their blogs for a dose of mid-week happiness - Sally, Michelle, Helen, Kate, Jo, Sam, Kerri, Laura, Sarah, Peta, El, Laura, Mimmi, Martina, Lynsey, Katie and Em (I think that's everyone - shout at me if you're not on the list!) - and then join me in counting down the days until the weekend. It's in sight! ♥

Wonderful Wednesday 47

Image found here - with the option to grab this cute image for your phone!

Hello and happy February to you! The sun is shining as I type this introduction on Sunday, which bodes well, although it's freeezing cold. Don't get me wrong, I will take the cold and crisp day over the slightly warmer but damp (hello humidity!) day. The sunshine and the slightly lighter evenings and mornings fill me with all the happy feelings that spring is well and truly on its way.

As mentioned in my last Wonderful Wednesday, I had two dear friends visiting last week and we went to Brighton for a short trip during this period. I'm planing to do a separate catch-up post on that when I get a moment so it won't feature in this week's Wonderful Wednesday round-up although it was very much one of the most wonderful things from the last week. There are plenty of other splendid things to mention though so without further ado...

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♥ Taking a week off in January... I don't think I've ever taken a week off in January before - usually I feel that Christmas wasn't too long ago and I need to power on through until Spring at the very earliest before using too much of my precious annual leave but having friends visiting at this time of year was a bit of a revelation. I didn't realise quite how much the post-Christmas darkness and cold had already taken their toll and this break was a much-needed boost.

♥ Old friends... Following on neatly from the above, isn't there something particularly special about old friends? Friends with whom you don't need to explain yourself or fill the little silences because they've known you for so long that it's just not necessary. I feel so lucky to have these kinds of friendships in my life.

♥ Blossom... I spotted the blossom in the photo below as I was walking through my local park to the station at the weekend. It was bitterly cold, despite the sunshine and glorious blue sky, but I glanced up and saw the pretty pink blossoms dancing in the breeze. These little buds, together with the snowdrops, first signs of budding daffodils and crocuses beneath the trees made my heart soar - we don't have too much left of this dark side of winter!

♥ Pinterest... I fell out of love with Pinterest for a little while but I'd forgotten how useful it is as a tool if you're planning something and looking for creative inspiration, as well as then falling into a rabbit hole of distraction. I'm busily pinning to a top secret board at the moment but that doesn't stop me from stumbling across all manner of other lovely images to pin at the same time. Are you on Pinterest too? Do let me know and you can find me here.

♥ The Greatest Showman... Slightly late to the party here but we went to watch this at the cinema last week (after having fish and chips for dinner - what a great day!) and it was so so wonderful and just full of sheer JOY. I'm listening to the soundtrack on Spotify as I finish typing this post ('This Is Me' on repeat, if you're interested) and I think I'm going to have to treat myself to the album at some point in the future because Spotify's ad breaks really pop up at the worst possible moments!

♥ Stationery... I'm sure I've mentioned this on a previous Wonderful Wednesday (if not several) but it's getting a special mention again this week because one of my friends brought me a selection of treats from Japan and I'm so happy about it! I will bore on about Japan at length to anyone who asks, honestly you should all be adding it to your must-visit lists immediately if it's not already close to the top. The food, the culture, the history - there are so many reasons to love the country but included on my list of favourite things about the country is the amazing stationery. Honestly, if you love a planner as much as I do and can't leave a stationery store without adding to your collection of notebooks, the stationery options in Japan are to die for. One thing I am guilty of, unfortunately, is just not using my stationery collection so I'm determined to do so this time - I have stickers, post-its and washi tape aplenty - it's time to get creative!

♥ Do let me know what's made your week a little rosier by leaving me a comment below or dropping me a tweet (I'm @happygoluckycat) or better yet, why not join the fabulous bunch of #WonderfulWednesday bloggers? Pop over to their blogs for a dose of mid-week happiness - Sally, Michelle, Helen, Kate, Jo, Sam, Kerri, Laura, Sarah, Peta, El, Laura, Mimmi, Martina, Lynsey, Katie and Em (I think that's everyone - shout at me if you're not on the list!) - and then join me in counting down the days until the weekend. It's in sight! ♥