feeling festive… or not?

2019, lifestyle, student

Hello!

December has rolled around! You scroll through Instagram to see trees galore, there’s pretty lights everywhere you look and I bet your feeds are choc-a-block with festivities… but do you actually feel festive?

Do you feel that cosy warmth of the twinkly lights and tinsel and dark evenings with warm drinks? Do you feel the excitement building for the one day of the year where you spend time with loved ones and you get to spoil them with special gifts you’ve chosen and amazing comfort food? Do you feel Christmassy?

However much I want to, I’m not really feeling it yet – it might be something to do with the tooth infection I’ve been diagnosed with and the potential six months on an NHS waiting list to get it removed (fingers crossed for me please!) but Christmas is the last thing on my mind.

I’ve been to my local light switch on, I’ve planned Secret Santa with my favourite gals at uni, I’ve got plans to see my boyfriends family and the tree is up (even if I haven’t bought any decorations for it yet).

The reason I’m not feeling Christmassy is probably more personal than ‘I’m just not feeling it’ – the aforementioned tooth pain, the fact this will be my first ever Christmas without seeing my family and financial worries are probably putting a negative influence on my desire to watch festive movies and wear that one Christmas jumper I have with bells on it.

But here’s how I’m trying to put a bit of festive fairy dust in my step (but not really because getting that out of the carpet would be a nightmare).

ONE – PUT THE DECORATIONS UP!

Like all mums, my mum have a spare six foot Christmas tree under her stairs so having that has really helped make my new house feel a bit more homely. I’m all for fake trees because having the same tree come out every year is so sentimental and lovely. I see the appeal of a real tree, but the upkeep and the hassle of having to go pick one isn’t for me – and I’m saving the environment lads! Hashtag Team Fake Tree over here. Don’t @ me.

Either way, I spent a couple of hours on Sunday trying to make myself feel a bit better after calling in sick again by putting up the tree (with no decorations because I only had enough for the little tree that’s gone in our room) and some tinsel on the bannister.

It’s quite exciting because this is where my boyfriend and I can start to build our little Christmas collection – our own decorations, our own bits and bobs that come out every year and our own traditions. That warms my heart just a little bit.

TWO – MAKE PLANS TO SEE FAMILY!

Not only am I missing seeing my own family this Christmas but our ‘family Christmas’ where we do see each other is on a weekend and I now have a retail job so I can’t go which I’m genuinely gutted about. But I’ve got two mid-week trips planned – one before Christmas and one over New Year where I’m hoping to see my family but I’m just waiting on my work schedule to set it in stone.

My boyfriend’s family are lovely, but I’m a very sentimental person and my family means more to me than I can put into words (I may not be a McPherson by name, but I’m a McPherson by heart) so at 23 having my first Christmas away is definitely going to be emotional.

Having that time booked in where I know that I’ll at least see my immediate family will make this new change a lot easier!

THREE – PRESENT PLANNING

I know I’m very fortunate to be able to live in a nice house and pay rent and pay for my car and go to university in a different city, but finances are something I’m struggling with at the moment. Moving is expensive and stretching my wages to cover everything has all but ruined all the good work I put into my savings this year (but at least I did the saving so I had something to fall back on!).

I’m going to write a whole blog post about doing Christmas on a budget but making a list of everyone you want to buy presents for, setting a budget and getting as creative as possible with home crafting makes it all feel a little more achievable.

The other thing to bear in mind that all these places posting ‘shop local’ and ‘shop small businesses’ – that’s great if you can afford it, but you’ve got to do with what fits best for your budget. I’d love to do all my shopping from Etsy and Not On The High Street and independent sellers on Instagram, but it’s infinitely more convenient for me to do one big Amazon order. Maybe next year, but for now – I’m doing what works for my bank account!

FOUR – MAKE THE MOST OF TIME WITH YOUR FAVOURITE PEOPLE

Another change I’ve had to get used to that is probably another reason I don’t feel too festive is that I’m still getting used to my boyfriend not being home all that much. He works in live broadcast, mostly at sports matches, so it means he’s away all over the country for three/four nights a week and after spending a whole year living in my mum’s house together and not really being apart overnight much at all.

I think at first we were grateful for the time apart to be ourselves for a bit and now I can feel myself waiting for him to get back. This is definitely something I need to work on 1) because I’m an independent woman who thrives with or without her man and 2) because it’s not going to change for however long he decides to work in this industry.

But making the most of the time that he is home by cooking together, planning activities to do together (like buying decorations for the aforementioned naked tree) and playing video games together makes everything feel a bit more like home.

If you want to see more Christmas content this week, I will be uploading a Christmas themed vlog on my YouTube channel at the weekend, so go over there and subscribe to make sure you don’t miss it!

Thank you so much for reading,

Sophie xx

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a lovely family Christmas 🎄

2018, lifestyle

Hello!

First off, I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas day filled with the best people and infinite food!

I just wanted to write a quick little post on a pleasant boxing day (with The Greatest Showman in the background, might I add) just to have a little ramble about what a lovely Christmas I had with my family.

Maybe it sounds vein or spoilt or whatever but as a kid, Christmas was all about the big Mr C and the presents but thinking back at it now? My strongest memories are of the times with family – I don’t remember the presents (other than the year I got my first laptop, that meant a lot) because it was always about having my closest family there and spending time with them.

Ever since my nan passed away last year, my family have been closer than ever – it’s the best thing that came out of 2017 for me and this Christmas was just perfect. There was laughter and chatting and games and a pub quiz and we almost entirely forgot to take pictures but we got some great family photos in between phone calls from Sri Lanka, China and just down the road from my cousin’s family!

When I went to bed last night, I’ve not felt so grateful or content for such a long time – so grateful that I had such a caring family, grateful that they gave such thoughtful gifts when they really didn’t have to and grateful to have that day to celebrate with them.

At the end of the day, my family have been there for me through everything – friends come and go but I will always have my family and valuing people and experiences over belongings and ‘stuff’.

Towards the end of 2018 I decided there was a lot of clutter in my life – mostly in my bedroom and various rooms around the house. So I decided I only wanted to keep the belongings that have a purpose or a use, except the sentimental stuff – my photo albums and scrapbook are such important memories that I want to keep forever and build on for my family, 80 years down the line.

Christmas and New Year are an incredibly sentimental time of year – I get very reflective and think a lot about what’s changed, particularly who I’ve got in my life. I’ve got wonderful friends, a supportive family and an amazing relationship and 2019 is going to be a big year.

I hope you all have wonderful holidays surrounded by people you love, looking forward to the New Year!

Thank you so much for reading,

Sophie xx

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October photo diary

2018, lifestyle, photography

Hello!

I mean, we all know I’m a big fan of capturing memories, documenting things and taking photos, so is this post a surprise to anyone? Probably not!

I’ve always liked having printed photos – I’ve just finished an album of some of my uni photos and I’ve got a couple of other photo albums and scrapbooks on the go. I’ve recently started making the most of getting 50 free 6×4 from Snapfish each month and I love choosing which ones I want to print to capture my month.

So I thought I’d do a more digital scrapbook, photo album thing and make a little snapshot of my month so far! Not sure if this is something I’ll do regularly, because I’m really enjoying making physical photo albums and I don’t think a blog post of 50 photos to summarise my month will have the same long term impact (nor do I think anyone is really that interested) but for the moment, I’m sticking with it and this last week has been pretty manic so it’s a good time to share!

[ o c t o b e r ]

I actually really love Sainsburys TU clothing, but I can’t justifying buying any part of this outfit at the moment (though after payday is a different matter entirely)

the first crunchy leaves feet picture of the year!

I wasn’t joking when I said I got loads of photos printed – there’s 140+ in this batch

Sainsburys released these collectable Lego cards for children. My 22 year old boyfriend is obsessed and very disappointed that it’s now ended and he didn’t complete his collection!

Oops it fell into my basket? (I really like the sunlight in this photo)

and here, three thousand years late, the girl discovers Huji – the photo app that says you’re living in 1998

when the boy takes outfit photos and then asks you to take a photo of him

I love cooking so much – this is the stuffing mixture I make usually for putting inside roasted peppers, but recently we’ve been putting them in wraps and making enchiladas with them and it’s been a big success (would anyone care about a blog post recipe?)

a photo of my granddad 1954 (left) – he just looks like such a ladies man and this is why I love printed photos!

my boy and I on our way to London!

Nick was our housemate for two years and one of our best mates at uni for all three years, this was the first time we’d seen him since graduation in July – three months!

Huji returns 4 The Circle Final – hosts Alice Levine and Maya Jama on the right and all the contestants are on the sofa on the left but it’s not very clear in this photo

We got moved to the other side of the studio and for a while we had a much better view (until some rude boys pushed in front of us) but I love this photo of all the finalists!

the view from our hotel was actually really cute

Really felt my make-up – I often avoid looking at myself at any opportunity but I didn’t hate myself on this day lol

underground signs aesthetically make me happy

the Natural History Museum is actually stunning

my tol boy with real tol boiz

I’m now obsessed with Dinosaurs and skeletons are proper cool

I thought this photo was proper artsy when I took it but it was mostly so I could read about the dinosaurs

trying to be creative but I wasn’t quite tall enough for this cool granite stone wheel thing to be a cool background and the lighting was rubbish but STILL

Huji photos and lens flares? CUTE

weekly card game night with le fam (minus my sister, who’s at uni)

RIGHT let’s talk about this – we’re quite competitive so we’re keeping track of overarching scores and somehow I’m OVER SIX HUNDRED POINTS BEHIND? Raging m8

even more Autumn-y leafy feet photos

the amazing cupcakes I made for my sister’s birthday (I wrote an insta post all about them which you can see here!)

family squeeze themselves into a car for a long ass drive to Bournemouth

Le Birthday Girl!

Bournemouth beach outfit shoot – I wrote a whole blog post about it which you can read here!

my sister in her funky new coat / the outfit she would wear if she was the Doctor

family birthday dinner at TGI Fridays

the birthday hat

I FINALLY GOT THE BIRTHDAY GIRL TO WEAR THE BIRTHDAY HAT!

nobody gets left behind… (he did though, reluctantly)

the drive home was SO PRETTY and all the trees were full of Autumnal colours but I couldn’t properly pick it up on camera

and my phone is mostly full of very exciting screenshots like these! Where are my Arrowverse fans at?

‘I can’t share a post with 50 photos in, that’s too many!’ she thought, then not being able to cut her photos from 17 days to less than 30.

Ah well, who doesn’t love a long post every now and then! It’s a bit like scrolling through Instagram but it’s just me, bit vain. Maybe I take too many selfies, maybe that’s not the worst thing in the world, but I’m getting better and taking family photos and documenting the everyday and I’m really happy with my mentality towards preserving memories – I’m going to have rooms full of photo albums and scrapbooks at this rate!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx

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“One day, she’ll know” | creative writing

2017, lifestyle, student, travel

She was playing – she had her favourite dolls and Lego and she’d built a house for them all to live in. She was playing mummy’s and daddy’s and using all the words and phrases she’d heard her parents saying; ‘I love you more than the sun loves the moon’, ‘Let’s dance like we did when we were young’ and ‘I told you to put the bloody dishwasher on’.

Her mummy and daddy liked to go on holidays a lot. They told her that one day she would be able to come with them but for now she gets to spend lots of holidays with her grandparents.

So her dolls went on holiday too – they flew away from the house they loved and flew all around the house until they landed in her mummy and daddy’s bed. They were talking about how they want to have a little brother or sister for her to play with.

When building a pillow fort for her dolls to have a sleepover in that she found a little device – she pressed a button and a light blue screen popped up with different squares and words and more colours. She dropped her dolls and started clicking, until all of a sudden daddy rushed in.

“Hey there baby girl, what are you doing with that? That’s not one of your toys is it.” He laughed, scooping her into his arms and taking the device away.

“I didn’t mean to daddy I was just looking.” She was scared – she never wanted to upset her daddy; he was her hero.

“What are you doing up here anyways? It’s nearly bedtime, what story do you want tonight?” He asked, lifting her onto his hip and picking up her dolls as he carried her back to her bedroom.

“I want one of your stories, they’re the best.” She rest her head on his shoulder and cuddled into him.

He tucked her under the covers with her dolls in her arms, sitting on the edge of her bed and taking a deep breath before he started his story.

“Sometimes, when mummy and daddy go on holiday, bad people do bad things. We have to do what we can to save people! Mummy is very, very clever – she can move things with her mind and read peoples thoughts and daddy can fly and build robots and devices like this one,” He held up the little machine she’d found. “Last time we went on holiday, there was a man who wanted to make people part of his army with a bracelet that put them under his control. Mummy and daddy worked together so make sure he couldn’t take any more people and made sure that everyone made it home to their families.” He told the story, watching her eyes flutter slowly shut.

“Daddy, are you and mummy superheroes?” She asked, very nearly asleep.

“For you, always.” He whispered, leaning down to kiss her forehead and then switching out her bedside light.

He closed her door as quietly as he could to his wife, standing with a raise eyebrow in the hallway. “If you keep telling her those stories we’re going to have to tell her sooner rather than later.”

“It’ll be fine, one day she’ll know.” He smirked, throwing an arm around her shoulders and kissing her temple. “One day.”

Hello!

I just watched Ant Man for the first time and I was in the mood to write something whimsical and superhero related – I really do love superheroes.

Just something silly and fun a bit late on a Monday evening, hope you’re having a good day!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx

March favourites!

2017, lifestyle, student

Hello!

I was fully prepared to start this post with something along the lines of ‘there aren’t as many favourites this month because I’ve been busy and stressed and there’ll be a post about it next week’, but when I actually got round to planning it all, I actually thought of ten favourites pretty easily which made me really happy. Let’s not do this awkward ‘so here’s my favourites for this month!’ and just start.

Supermarket Flowers – Ed Sheeran

I’ve been obsessed with this album ever since it came out but I wanted to save it for the new series of monthly music blog posts I have planned, but I couldn’t not include this song. When I first listened to it I knew exactly in what situation I would like to cover it but then I had to face that situation and it was all very sad (I know, I’ve talked about it enough) – I just couldn’t leave this song out of my favourites for this month because I absolutely adore it.

being in a musical!

Not really a physical thing I can photograph but my friend is part of the drama and performance society and with the dance season coming to an end and talking about how much I miss musical theatre, she suggested I audition for the musical. These auditions happened literally two days after the last dance competition of the season because apparently I don’t like giving myself any time to breathe! But we’re doing a medley of five musicals and they’re a brilliant selection of musicals and I’m really excited.

42 coloured pens

Now, I’ve always been a stationery lover – when I was in primary school there was literally nothing more exciting than buying a whole new pencil case. Since starting my bullet journal back in January, I’ve been desperate for a bigger variety in colours of fineliner to colour code and just make my journal a little bit prettier. I found this pack on Amazon for a really good price (considering if you buy the 20 pack in WHSmith it’s normally upwards of £20) and I sent a link to my mum to show her one of the things I was going to buy once I have more money and then she treated me to them.

I’ve been showing literally everyone I know, I’m very excited about these pens.

flippy shorts

I was having a browse through boohoo and I found these shorts – they’re gorgeous and their name made me laugh so I added them to my basket (at this point I was adding a lot to my basket). I then placed a huge boohoo order and it all arrived and I couldn’t be happier – not only does the name ‘flippy shorts’ still entertain me, they’re really comfy and because they’re plus sized they’re really flattering and make me feel happy and comfortable wearing them. Cannot wait for summer to wear them properly!

David the 4th

I’m not sure how much I’ve mentioned this, but I have a collection of cactus’s called David – it started with a felt one I bought from Tiger, then I got a real succulent from Ikea, then I bought a ‘make your own cushion’ cactus (again from Tiger) and now, the newest addition to my David family – David IV, the cute, aesthetic, fake plant from Primark. I’ve decided my room for the new house in July is going to have an elephant, space aesthetic and I’m going to have lots of plants and flowers. I’m so excited to have a room I can actually decorate, it’s going to be so good.

elephant light

I got a bit homeware happy when I went into Primark at the weekend but when I saw this fairy-light-esque copper elephant I knew I needed it for my elephant, space, plant aesthetic. I have no words for how much I love elephants and literally anything with elephants on it is destined to be in my life. Except an elephant candle, because I don’t want to burn an elephant.

cookie dough ice cream

Like I keep mentioning – I’ve faced a very sad death this month (I know I sound like a broken record and I hate it too) but I knew that there was no way I was going to be able to continue my (minimal) attempt at healthy eating and losing weight right now. I’ve had a lot of ice cream this month. I have ice cream in the freezer right now as I write this on April 4th at 2.18pm after saying I was going to stop eating everything I wanted in April. March was both a good and bad eating month – good in terms of how much ice cream and chocolate I ate, bad in terms of how much weight I keep putting on and and my consequent self-esteem. I’m trying to get a handle on that in April.

asdf movie 10

From sad, over-eating to mindless, cartoon comedy. I’ve been a fan of the asdf movie series and their creator, TomSka for about seven years now and asdf movie 10 came out on April 1st, actually so not really a March favourite but I’m including it anyway. It’s mindless, it’s quotable, it’s got a song to accompany it and it’s the same short-skit comedy that I’ve loved through asdf movie 1 through 9. Thoroughly enjoyable watch and worth 2 minutes 15 of your day.

nose piercing

I got my nose pierced two days after my last dance comp and three days after my nanny passed away so it was a combination of ‘I won’t have to take it out for comps’ and ‘fuck it, you only live once’ – that day was a very brave day for me, with auditioning for a musical as well. I wasn’t sure how I’d look with a nose piercing but I actually love it – the flower crown filter on snapchat makes me look as indie as I feel and I have further become the model image of a ‘white girl’, but like a plus sized version.

family

Now for the soppy bit – my family are brilliant, but I don’t see them that often and I wouldn’t have described us as particularly close just because as me and my cousins have grown up we’ve not seen each other nearly as regularly as we used to and we just missed out on continuing to get to know each other, I guess. But with everything that’s happened, I’ve seen more of my family in the last month than I have probably in the last ten years and it’s been amazing – we’ve found new common ground and we have a group chat on WhatsApp now. Jokes aside, I’m so grateful for my family and I hope this will mark a new start in making sure we make the most of each other while we’re still here.

I wanted to end this post on a family note but wow it got a bit depressing. I know I’ve been banging on about this family thing and over my other social medias I have talked about it a little bit – I’m not keeping it a secret on my blog but I do have a full length post planned to go up next week where I want to talk about it in more detail, so I don’t want to end up repeating myself. Sorry for being so sporadic and unreliable on this blog – it’s a little bit of a reflection of my brain and mindset right now.

Thank you for reading and sticking with me – it’s very much appreciated.

Sophie xx

Merry (belated) Christmas!

2016

Hello!

Christmas is probably me favourite time of year – I love all the decorations and the festivities, I love giving presents and receiving presents, I love all the brilliant TV and I really love that eating unhealthy food is actively encouraged at this time of year.

For my family, it started off with just the four of us opening the presents from each other – I finally got to tell my sister that I’m taking her to see Busted next year and I got to talk about films all day but I also got lots of really practical presents such as a hard drive, a new set of kitchen knives and salt and pepper shakers that look like the TARDIS from Doctor Who. Very happy with all of my wonderful presents this year (and got lots more to come when I go to my boyfriends house next week, I’m so excited to see all his family!).

Then all the family started arriving, we exchanged more gifts before lunch and then spent the afternoon playing quiz games and Heads Up, predominantly. It was a really fun and day and no family arguments, surprisingly!

We had twelve people over for Christmas and it was so nice to have so many family around, I’m not used to such a big Christmas but it was so lovely to have it being busy and loud and my cousin brought her little chihuahua too and it was very fun having a dog running around all day. One day, I’ll have my own dog. One day.

I’m so grateful that I don’t have any uni assignments over this holiday because I can properly relax and I’m really enjoying not having to think about any more work I have to do or any work I have to prep for. I can really mentally prepare myself for finishing second year!

I’ve got some really good vibes about 2017 – I’m going to try and take real control of my mental health and be as productive as ever, I want to be making things! But the New Years Resolution post is for next week.

I think I’ve talked about this before, but there have been a lot of New Years where I’ve thought about how much I didn’t want the year to end and I didn’t want the next year to start but I’m excited for 2017 and I think that’s a good start.

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx

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2054th Birthday Gathering! | Turning 20

2016

Hello!

This weekend I went home for a little family event gathering occasion thing for my mum and my birthdays – the number in the title is our combined ages, combined in what way I shall not reveal. Though it’s not too difficult to figure out. Sorry mum?

There are always family photos at gatherings like that, especially in my family but I really love this one. My sister’s hair looks incredible right now, my mum is actually smiling and laughing and (aside from my brown/black/green hair, I’m getting it fixed soon I promise) I’m really pleased with the shirt I got, I think it’s really cute and it was only £10 from Primark!

The thing I really love it the bread roll in my hand. If any photo really sums me up it’s this one.

It was a really lovely weekend filled with people I love and appreciate all in one place – I got to see my not-really-Aunty Heather, my aunt, uncle and cousins, my nan and another uncle and even one of my friends from uni managed to make it to my family home too, it was so nice to be surrounded by such important people for the weekend. It was a really nice way to bring my family together for one occasion with lots of cake, food and barbecue!

Some of my most favourite people, so much love for them all right now.

Being 20 is something I’ve been thinking about for a long while – I feel like it’s a big change mentally going from 19 to 20; am I an adult now? Do I have to be responsible now? The joke that people always ask if you feel older on your birthday every year kind of resonates with me right now because I feel like I’m really starting the next chapter of my life – my 20s begin now, my second year of uni is about to start and everything just feels that little bit more serious right now.

Of course, I’m not quite an adult yet but I am getting there in feeling more independent and self sufficient, which is something I’m aiming towards, but that doesn’t mean I can’t still enjoy birthday parties and presents and cake!

I’ll still go home to my mum and my parents still give me money to go to Asda and book dentist appointments for me but I have to remember to schedule uni, assignments and personal projects for myself, make sure I’ve got eggs in the fridge and I don’t spend all my money on random Amazon purchases and caramel doughnuts.

Thank you, Birthday 2016.

And thank you for reading,

Sophie xx