This week’s been an emotional roller coaster of cooking related dramas. I burnt granola. Wasted a fiver’s worth of buckwheat noodles. Dropped chicken fat all over our (wooden, and oh so porous) kitchen floor. BUT. Hummus was made and enjoyed, and that roast chicken was a dream thanks to it having half a pack of sausage meat stuffed in every stuff-able crevice, and the granola bars don’t taste bad at all now I’ve cut the burnt edges away. So you see, it’s okay! This weekend Jason and I are planning to head to B&Q to pick up materials for a new project (which happens to be Operation Refit Rosie’s Wardrobe, and I couldn’t be more psyched about it), AND on Sunday I’m off for a day on the King’s Road with my lovely friend Cath. Life is good! Here’s what’s made me most happy, in the past week…

1. Seeing the robin take up position in the nest she’s built in the ivy on our garden fence (we can see her little face peeping out through the gaps in the leaves). It’s the sweetest thing! (Though we think Teddy might have eaten a fallen egg the other night. We think it was an empty one. We *hope* it was an empty one…)

2. Rewatching Homeland, from the very beginning. God bless Netflix.

3. Making (& devouring) Molly Yeh’s famous hummus, which is most definitely as amazing as Tania’s been telling me.

4. Watching Teddy wait for Jason by the kitchen door, when he’s late home from work. Teddy gets all twitchy and huffy, and watches the front door so intently waiting for Jason to appear. Those two boys melt my heart.

5. Making fresh coffee each morning. I love the ritual of filling up the little espresso pot and waiting for it to boil. Jason and I convinced ourselves last weekend that our lives were incomplete without a Gaggia bean-to-cup coffee machine. But incomplete our lives shall stay, because at 500 pounds a pop we won’t be adding one to our kitchen appliance any time soon ;)

6. Banning the word ‘should’ from my inner monologue. I’ve spent years driving myself nuts churning ‘shoulds’ over in my head, and recently, I just decided that enough was enough. No more comparing my reality (my job, my achievements, my body, my relationship) with what I think it all ‘should’ be like. It’s making me feel more peaceful and content and present than I ever have before, and I’d recommend it to anyone.

7. Waking up to sunshine streaming in through the curtains each morning.

8. NIGHTLY PINTEREST. (Shouting, because it really is awesome.) I get into bed each night, pjs on, and Pin away until I’m too tired to Pin anymore. It’s the best. The other night I maybe fell asleep holding my phone. #iphoneaddict

9. The pink ranunculus currently blooming on the living room window ledge. They’re just perfect.

10. Seeing the benefits of positive thinking. Somedays I pinch myself at how lucky I am to be able to do a job I love so much.

Three posts I’ve loved reading this week :: Malgo’s photos of less-commonly explored areas of Edinburgh || Tania’s recipe for no-bake hummus pizza || Joy’s post about being okay with an occasional lack of productivity (which totally struck a chord!)

Tell me, what’s made you happy this week? :)

p.s. Don’t forget to follow along with Cider with Rosie (@ciderwithrosieblog) on Instagram if you’d to keep up with me over the weekend! Happy Friday everyone!