Wonderful Wednesday 08

Oh my goodness, it feels so great to be back with another dose of Wonderful Wednesday - last week felt so wrong (and about three weeks longer) without it! Granted things were really busy at work but I can't use that as an excuse. The whole reason for joining this merry little gang was to make me take some time out to reflect on the good and happy, and not doing that really took its toll.

Enough with the woe though - we're off to Germany over the long weekend and I'm so excited! It feels like ages since we've been on holiday and to somewhere completely new. If you have any Germany/Dusseldorf tips, please do drop me a comment and let me know. I'm a little concerned at the prospect of what gluten free food will be available but I suppose as we're near a city, there will be a range of food options to choose from (I hope!) Also, it's a slightly different trip because we're going to visit the mister's half sister who lives there and so I know I can totally rely on her to talk all things gluten on my behalf when we go to a restaurant. Phew! I'M SO EXCITED! Have you picked up on that yet?!

Here are a few other things which have made me just that little bit happier over the last week or so...

♥ Glorious exhibitions... The Sunday before last, the mister and I went to the Tate to see the Painting with Light exhibition, which focuses on the links and overlaps between British art and early photography. If there's even a hint of Pre-Raphaelite artwork on display, I'm there like a shot and I loved all the Pre-Raphaelite gorgeousness on display in this exhibition but there were also many other really stunning works to lose yourself in by Singer Sargent and Turner, to mention only two. As I mentioned on Instagram afterwards, I discovered some other artists whose work I'd never seen before but also saw some new Pre-Raphaelite pieces, including Millais' stunning landscape painting 'Dew-Drenched Furze':

'Dew-Drenched Furze' (1889-90), Sir John Everett Millais
Image found here

Don't you just want to walk right into the painting? Look at the amazing light!

♥ New furniture... On Saturday we received an exciting Ikea delivery - two bookcases and a day bed for the spare room. Wholeheartedly recommend their delivery service by the way, they email you in the days preceding the delivery date to let you know if it'll be a morning or an afternoon delivery, then phone you an hour before they're due to arrive. Ace service. (No, I'm not sponsored by Ikea.) So this weekend was mostly spent building (by the mister) and then arranging (by me). We've unpacked all the boxes of books that we had sitting in the spare room - not all my books, which are mostly still at my parents' house - but having them out has made our house feel so much more like our home already. It's wonderful. Sunday was spent constructing the day bed, which also folds out to a double bed, so we can now welcome guests chez nous...as long as they don't mind bedding down amongst yet more boxes of course. Things are so much better already though. We can start to plan getting a desk and yet more bookcases, but first a wardrobe and chest of drawers for our room. I think it speaks volumes about us that we ranked bookcases above a proper wardrobe but I'm happy with that.

♥ Scott Walker albums... I can't get enough of Scott on the record player at the moment. It could be a combination of a few glasses of red wine of a weekend evening and the fact that those very same evenings have been quite grey and rainy, but I've loved cosying up to the sound of Scott's dulcet tones. Good times.

Found here

♥ Great British Sewing Bee... Is anyone else so excited that this is gracing our TV screens once again?! On paper it's not something I really think I'd enjoy - a group of people in a room, carrying out timed sewing tasks but there's just something so gloriously comforting about it. They're all so talented, for one thing, I'd love to be able to create such wonderful items (loved the little capes this week!) And they're all so lovely to each other. Yes it's a competition but if someone needs a hand putting a popper on or tackling the layout of a tricky pattern, they tend to help each other out. It's fab. Next week's episode will show them tackling lingerie - can't wait! Also, Patrick Grant, one of the judges, who's a Savile Row tailor... I'll just this little piccy right here and say
no more...

♥ Four Day Weeks... Work always seems to triple in volume just before a holiday and I'm working late every night this week but at least I can hold onto the thought that I only have to do this for another two nights (including today!), which leads me seamlessly on to...

♥ Imminent trip planning... Is it too soon to mention our little holiday again?! I'm excitedly writing lists and planning what to pack, I went to Boots yesterday to stock up on supplies (small shampoos mean it's time for a holiday!) and now I'm on the hunt for books to bring along too. I'm hoping to get some reading done on the plane at least and to have some time to relax with a book when we're not pacing the streets of Dusseldorf. Something that I can just pick up and lose myself in... Any suggestions?

♥ 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 - and then join me in counting down the days until the weekend. It's in sight! ♥