Wonderful Wednesday 12

Back with a healthy serving of Wonderful Wednesday goodness after, my goodness, a few (?!) weeks off.  It is not good, not good at all when I cannot get my head together to even think about what's making me feel happy and I've noticed the effect it's had on me. It wasn't all news-related gloom getting me down though, I was also massively glutened when given an actual pizza in a restaurant despite telling them I was coeliac! Grim times. Why dwell on the rubbish though? I've done enough of that over the last few weeks! On to the Good Things!

♥ London... I don't think I say I love London nearly enough and as frustrating and expensive as it can be, it can also be truly wonderful. One of my closest friends came to visit a few weekends ago and I think I do appreciate London more when I have an excuse to spend all weekend wandering around the big smoke, rather than putting some time aside for dull tasks like laundry and/or sorting out the recycling. (It may be dull but it's no fun to get to Monday and already run out of tights for the week.)

I had planned the Saturday of all Saturdays - I met her off the train and then we pootled off to Beyond Bread for some brunch (any excuse to have more gf pastries - cinnamon bun this time!), then to Soho to check out the exhibition by the graphic designers from the Harry Potter films. They've taken over an entire house in Soho, with each floor focusing on different themes of prints, from newspapers to the books for each class and all manner of adverts for Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes...so many wonderful little details to exclaim over. If I had lots of money (or, really, any...thanks London landlords) I would have chosen a few prints to take home. They're lovely but a little pricey. The exhibition itself is free though and well worth a visit for a Potter fan - House of MinaLima on Greek Street in Soho.

We then headed over to the Wallace Collection, via a comic shop and a few coffees, and spent a glorious few hours there exclaiming over all the wonderful treasures on display, choosing our favourite rooms (oval drawing room for me please) and shrinking from an absolutely terrifying portrait of a crying little girl. Seriously scary business. Why hang that on your wall?? I would share it here but seriously, it is NOT wonderful. So the oval drawing room it is...view from a writing desk...

♥ Richard Herring's Leicester Square Podcast... In more comedy podcast discoveries, I've stumbled on these after listening to Adam Buxton interviewing Richard Herring - had absolutely no idea that he used to be in a double act with Stewart Lee - but anyway, I'm loving the podcast. Yes, I'm the loony girl walking through the park chuckling to herself but it's totally worth every single suspicious look (NO ONE smiles in London, right?!) There are so many episodes available to listen to - they're basically interviews with all kinds of comedy guests. I do choose people who I adore anyway and I have not been disappointed. I'm listening to David Mitchell's one at the moment, who I always feel that I'm learning something from as well as laughing, even if he's wittering on about nothing in particular. 

♥ The Allergy and Free From Show... Ahhh so much coeliac love for this show, which took place last Friday to Sunday. When I first went I was just so excited to find some gluten free cake but those are ten a penny now so I was determined to concentrate on the essentials this time - some really good pasta and gf flour. Four packets of gluten free pork scratchings, a cake mix and some gluten free beers later and I was leaving the show with some very heavy bags (hooray for husbands!) I did get some pasta though, fresh pasta at that!

♥ Belated wedding presents... The mister and I will be celebrating our first wedding anniversary in September but last weekend we went for lunch to Browns in Covent Garden, courtesy of one of our lovely wedding guests. We had some vouchers to use up but I'd been wary about what options I could have until recently when I saw that they now have a gluten free menu. So we decided to head into London on Saturday for a three course lunch and far too much red wine for so early in the afternoon. It was really lovely - I had smoked salmon to start followed by a steak and, joy of gluten free joys, tasty thick cut chips. The mister opted for scallops followed by lamb. We were really pleasantly surprised and they were so very careful with pointing out what I could have. Funnily enough, lovely Emma from our little Wonderful Wednesday crew was also in Browns in Bristol on the Saturday sampling their cocktails...think I'll have to do the same next time we go.

♥ Birthday Planning... It's my mister's birthday on Thursday (don't ask him how old he'll be, he'll only cry) and I'm excitedly planning some little surprises. He's going to a gig with some friends that night but I've planned something else for Friday and I'm really looking forward to it! Isn't there something wonderful about treating people?

♥ Hanging Pictures... In new 'making our wee house feel more like home' news, we've started hanging some pictures up - our Eggleston print in the sitting room, and my treasured Mucha exhibition poster and Pre-Raphaelite favourites up in the hall. We have some lovely large high walls, perfect for some fab pieces...I think I'd like to find something new and special to hang above my dressing table. The search begins.

Hope you've all had Wonderful-last-few-Wednesdays and that today will be no exception to that parade of wonderfulness! Drop me a comment and let me know how you've been.

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