Wonderful Wednesday 04

A floral treat!

Wow, how can it be Wednesday again already? This last week has flown by, which is what's
happening with this year too...it's mid April already! This time last week I wasn't feeling quite so perky - back to work after two days off, and somehow those three days at work felt at least a fortnight long. Why does a shorter working week after some time off always drag so?!

This week is scurrying along though and there are a couple of three day weekends in sight in May! So without further ado, here are a few things that have been fab over the last week:

Cod, chorizo and chickpeas, oh my!

♥ Housewarming gifts... We've been so spoiled since moving house and it's all been completely unexpected! Lots of wonderful 'happy new home' cards have arrived in the post over the course of the last week and one of my lovely work buddies surprised me with some flowers on the train into work.

Our friend B (who reads this blog - hello!) came to visit on Saturday carrying a heavy bag with an intriguing-looking wrapped gift inside. The mister hauled it up a nearby hill that we needed to traverse in order to reach the pub we were planning to visit. We then excitedly opened the box to reveal a gorgeous cast iron enamel casserole dish - it's stunning, something to treasure and play an important role in many meals over the years to come. In fact, the mister used it that very evening when he made a delicious meal of roasted cod, with chickpeas, chorizo and coriander. Such a fantastic day - good times with good friends.

Then yesterday, when I got home from work, I found an Amazon parcel sitting waiting for us from my aunt. She'd treated us to a lovely little set of grow your own herbs, which I've arranged on our kitchen windowsill. I'm watering them morning and evening, and anxiously watching out for some little green shoots to appear. All being well, we should have our own basil, parsley and chives to add to all manner of delicious treats this summer!

♥ Ikea... The mister and I made a trip to Ikea on Sunday to check out some potential new items for the new flat (wardrobes, chests of drawers and bookcases, in case you were wondering). We made a little list of some other items we needed and swore we'd stick to it rather than running through the marketplace flinging items liberally into our yellow bags. I'm not going to lie, the mister was pretty miserable at the thought of spending a sunny Sunday trawling the hallowed halls but somehow we managed to make it enjoyable and even managed to stick to our list...apart from two candles and a big bag of mini Dime* bars. *cough* Man, they're good.

♥ The Masked City... I am BEYOND excited about this book. I devoured the first book in this series, called 'The Invisible Library' over the course of a few days - it centres around a junior librarian/spy called Irene (just reading those words made me download it) who works for the Invisible Library, which is a mysterious place which exists between parallel worlds and contains copies of all books ever-written from every world...and where it doesn't hold a book it sends its librarians out on secret, often danger-filled quests to obtain them. Irene is on such a quest in a parallel universe- Victorian London. My wee blurb in no way does it justice but I really don't want to give anything away, just read it! What I can say is that it was 800 different kinds of superlatives and I was really excited to discover that the second book in the series is out (and a third will be released before Christmas!) I'm trying to savour it but it's so hard!

♥ Cooking in our new kitchen... I'm loving having the space to cook alongside the mister as well as getting home in time to help with the cooking, rather than coming back just in time to shovel some food in before collapsing on the sofa and then scraping myself off it and dragging myself to bed.

♥ Wool...! After mentioning in this post that I'm hoping to try crochet, I've been doing some research and the lovely Jo was kind enough to give me some pointers about where to start in terms of wool and hooks. I've ordered some and am really excited to start crocheting my very first granny square, hopefully this weekend - my wool has arrived already and I'm tracking the hooks, which are also on their way. I hope it's easier than it looks!

♥ This llama... The mister sent me this picture last week when I was having a low day. An instant happiness fix in an orange scarf! Happy Wednesday all!

*now branded Daim - is that a new thing, or just an Ikea-Dime thing??

♥ Do let me know what's made your week a little rosier by leaving me a comment below (I do love comments!) 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, Emma and Kate, who joined the group last week - and then join me in counting down the days until the weekend. It's in sight! ♥