Wonderful Wednesday 33

It's approaching 8pm on Tuesday evening as I type this. I've just left work and I'm finishing this post up as I try to stop myself from dozing off on the tube home. Thank goodness for that mid-week feeling and for some lovely moments of happiness over the last week to keep me going, including...

♥ Weekend brunches... Oh this weekend was full of tasty treats, including not one but two fantastic brunches. We had to head into town relatively early on Saturday for an appointment and decided to pay a visit to Beyond Bread, my favourite gluten free café which has graced these pages on several occasions. Honestly though, the thrill of being able to order absolutely anything from a menu full of deliciously-tempting options never gets old. I opted for the toasted banana bread, which arrived with a generous helping of Greek yoghurt, all drizzled with honey and scattered with juicy blueberries. I could have eaten three. Yums. We then decided to walk to the Wallace Collection and spent some time looking at the gorgeous art on display (and the armoury, for the hubby). Excellent day, more of those please.

But back to the brunch...not to be outdone, lovely husband prepared a splendid brunch of pancakes, crispy bacon and fresh coffee on Sunday morning, which was so good that we managed to squirrel some extras away to have on Monday morning too. Now *that's* how you start the week.

♥ Having a weekend off... This weekend I did no work at all and it was wonderfully refreshing. Granted, I stayed at work until 7pm on Friday but it was worth it to be able to completely switch off when I got home and I put it all to one side for the whole weekend, coursework too. A much-needed break.

♥ Reading... I've been doing my best to keep the thought of 'balance' at the forefront of my mind over the last few weeks, and reading (for pleasure!) has been a great help with that. I've ploughed through a few books already, which I'm planning to review here in a separate post when I finish the one I'm currently reading. I was always the child with her nose in a book and I've missed just sitting down with a book, as I've either been too tired to focus or had a long list of other things to get done. There's a time for to-do lists though, and a time for just curling up and losing yourself completely in a good story and your imagination.

♥ Listening...to BBC 6 Music as much as possible over the weekend and loving every moment of it. I particularly enjoyed Katie Puckrick's show on Saturday morning, when she was sitting in for Huey Morgan. The Shins, Interpol, Television...SO many favourites. I also discovered the wonderfully haunting 'Prepare the Lake' by a Danish group called Lowly - you can find it here, if you fancy a listen. Their album has been added immediately to my Amazon wishlist and I'm sure I'll be treating myself to it before too long. It's a song that I want to listen to again and again and again, love discoveries like that.

♥ Wedding album... This is something that's taking us a long long time but I'm sure that this year will be the year that we finish it! We whittled down the photos again after another sitting this weekend, and now have a selection ready to print. Next step will be to organise them in their album, although that might be a little longer process again as we'll have some of the photos slightly larger than others. It's very much a labour of love when you put it all together yourself and something I know we'll treasure...when it's finally finished!

♥ The Great Pottery Throw Down... Does anyone else watch this?! I'm so pleased that it's back on TV (on BBC2 on Thursday evenings, for the uninitiated) providing a lovely dose of creativity, charm and innuendo (teehee!), that have been missing since the last series of the Great British Bake Off finished. 

♥ Holiday planning... Last but BY NO MEANS least, we've booked a summer holiday! After some to-ing and fro-ing, we've decided to visit Sicily again, where we spent our glorious honeymoon back in 2015. We're going to the other side of the island this time though, to Palermo which is variously described as flamboyant, feisty and slightly scary. I can't wait...and that's primarily based on the food for now until I research the place further, but hey I'm comfortable with being ruled by my tum on holiday (and always, see 'weekend brunches' above). Have any of you visited Palermo? Do let me know your top tips, if so!

A little snap from our trip to Ortygia on honeymoon.

♥ 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, Samantha, Kerri, Laura, Sarah, Peta, El, Laura, Sarah, Mimmi, Jasmin, Martina, Lynsey, Katie and Debbie (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! ♥