Wonderful Wednesday 24

The mornings are getting colder!

Back after a week's break! The reason for this break? Well, as well as working late most evenings (seriously, 10pm was a low), my mister was up in Edinburgh photographing a conference from Monday to late Thursday night (more like the early hours of Friday morning by the time he got home) and he brought my laptop with him as it's a little lighter than his. So although I could've typed up the whole post on my phone, which I have done before, I do like to edit it on the laptop so decided that taking a week off would be far less stressful!

It was odd not having him around though. I think that's the longest we've been apart since we moved in together and it was not fun! I firmly believe in separate interests and taking the time to socialise separately with your own friends, but as I was working late and that brought its own stresses not having the mister around for 4 straight days was tough. So that in and of itself is the first happy snippet of this week's Wonderful Wednesday! On to the rest of the cheer...

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♥ Adorable neighbours... This one actually dates from the week before last - Halloween. I came home from work that evening to be greeted by the two little chaps below. Now I'm afraid, because I was home alone, I had made the decision to hide away from trick or treaters at the back of the house but I could still hear the doorbell ringing upstairs and the two little girls and their mum answering the door with treats on hand, and my neighbour each time letting her daughters know that the chocolates were not in fact for them but for the other children shivering on the doorstep. They are very young - valuable learning experience there!

I probably shouldn't mention the fact that at the time all this was going on, I'd put a pan of rice on to boil and walked away from it to do something important (*cough*watch Gilmore Girls*cough*), completely forgetting about it until the smell of smoke hit my nose. Thank goodness they were putting on distracting adorable amusement for me upstairs while I sat in the smoke-filled back room below, hiding from trick or treaters. (The rice, alas, didn't make it...hopefully the pan will live to cook another batch another day...I've been soaking it and finally remembered to buy some scouring pads today. Don't ever let me hear you say I don't bring the fun stories.)

♥ The Crown... Has anyone else started watching this on Netflix? Oh my goodness, I started watching it this weekend and I'm trying my best to ration it because I'm enjoying it so much and don't want it to be over too soon. It is absolutely stunning. I thought I might find it slightly bizarre, effectively watching a costume drama about people who are still alive but as none of the cast look particularly like who they're playing there's some distance there (thankfully, in the case of Matt Smith - hello to you Prince Phillip!) Beautiful, tragic, gripping, splendid stuff. A must watch.

Image found here

♥ Christmas Countdowns... I'm not going to lie, I'm excited about Christmas as soon as my birthday passes at the end of August but that's not something I feel like I can get publicly excited about. Now that both Halloween and Guy Fawkes night have passed, I'm sure it's ok. I popped into the Christmas floor at Liberty's with my brother on Saturday and started getting so excited about the festivities...even picking up two little nutcracker soldiers to add to our Christmas collection. I put one back at first because his beard was slightly dishevelled but then I thought that nobody would want him and that made me want him all the more - I adore him!

Now I've actively started making lists, booking a Christmas shopping delivery and looking at times for carol services. Christmaaaaas!

♥ Brotherly catch-ups... So, further to the above Liberty-based snippet, I spent Saturday catching up with my brother and enjoying a good ol' London day out. We met up in the British Museum for coffee and cake before visiting their Sunken Cities: Egypt's lost worlds exhibition. It's only on until 27th November but if you get the chance, you must. go. It focuses on two ancient Egyptian cities which were recently discovered submerged under the sea and the finds they've discovered (and are still unearthing). An absolutely magnificent exhibition and the British Museum is always good for a few hours (at least) of wandering.

We walked from there to Covent Garden, then in to Soho where after browsing some of the shops for a little while we popped to Bodeans for some American BBQ. Yums. We then met up with my brother's girlfriend and headed to the cinema. I call that a perfect Saturday, even if getting home was slightly marred by an Anonymous protest, which led to various streets being closed off, tube entrances shut in the vicinity of Trafalgar Square and a rather terrifying police presence. Harrumph.

♥ Classic FM on a cold evening... We've got into the habit over the last few nights of hooking the radio up to the speakers and blasting out some classical cosiness while having dinner. In fact, I'm still listening to it while writing this post. How very brainy of me.

♥ Minstrels... Last but by no means least, I discovered this weekend that Minstrels are gluten free and I've been making up for this knowledge ever since!


I hope you're all having wonderful weeks so far!

♥ 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, Samantha, Kerri, Laura, Sarah, Peta, El, Laura, Sarah, Mimmi, Jasmin and Martina - and then join me in counting down the days until the weekend. It's in sight! ♥