a photography day in the life

2019, lifestyle, photography

Hello!

I love doing these photography posts and with posting weekly vlogs on my YouTube channel, sometimes I forget to include some more of these ‘diary’ like and more of an insight into my daily life over here on my blog! So that’s what I wanted to do today.

This day started as most of my days do – with a 30g bowl of off-brand Corn Flakes. I wanted to try and take photos that are a bit different so I tried to get an action shot of pouring the cereal (it didn’t go very well but I tried and that’s the important bit).

I then take my cereal up to my little office that I share with my boyfriend and watch some YouTube whilst eating breakfast. I used to try to multitask and post on instagram or start my to do list at the same time but I’ve found focusing on one thing at a time is so much more useful – so I start with just breakfast and YouTube before the day really begins.

When I’ve finished, I take my bowl back downstairs (otherwise I will stay sat on my sofa for hours), brush my teeth and go to get dressed before I start on that days to do’s.

This day was a day for a cosy chunky knit jumper with a pinafore, blue eyeliner and some glowy highlight. Just for the sake of transparency, I’ve photoshopped the colour of my hair and eyes because I fancied playing around and editing stuff like that is fun, even if it’s not real. Just a disclaimer!

(the highlight is all real though)

Then my boyfriend and I went on a little walk to Sainsburys (to play Pokemon Go) – he had his second driving test that afternoon so he was feeling very nervous and I was trying to keep him distracted.

(unfortunately he didn’t pass but it was one very minor mistake so he and his instructor are hoping he’ll pass by the end of next month, fingers crossed!)

I meant to take a picture in Sainsburys to prove we went but I forgot so here’s a picture of Lucas (the boyf) carrying the bag out the shop, as proof. I haven’t bought a new carrier bag for a long time and I’m actually so proud of myself – I’m not one of those horribly pushy people that will tell you you’re destroying the planet, but I’m really trying hard to not use unnecessary plastic in day to day life and I’m actually enjoying it.

Haul from our walk – juice from Tescos (it’s the best juice), pizza for dinner from Sainsburys and a lemon tart for Lucas because he had a craving and I said I’d buy it for him as congratulations or commiserations after his test.

He ate nearly the whole thing in one sitting last night, it was actually a bit gross. How that boy can eat so much and still be so thin absolutely baffles me.

For lunch, I had some leftover roast vegetables and cous cous (so yummy) and played some Overwatch on the X-Box because ‘mission: keep Lucas distracted’ was not yet complete.

Then he went off for his test. This boy has been on a real difficult journey with learning to drive and no, it wasn’t the outcome we were hoping for but he did bloody well and I’m still so proud.

Whilst he was gone, I filmed my own video about driving and did a little update about how my driving lessons are going and what I’m up to. I also took some posy photos because I can link my camera to my phone and take photos remotely and I’m still so impressed by it.

And I feel adorable in this jumper so I took more photos. Maybe it’s vain, but I’ve hated my reflection for a long old time so when I’m feeling a bit vain, I’ll indulge. Why not, eh? A selfie never hurt anyone!

That afternoon I was at my dance school volunteering on reception – this is something I do twice a week. Usually I’ll have some emails to send, some things to sort, calls to make or queries to answer but today there was nothing to do so I did some work on my own laptop.

At this point in the day I was starting to get tired (because no matter how much sleep I get I just can’t shake it at the moment!) and this photo was a bit boring so I played with it and y’know what? This is a pretty good visual representation of what my brain has felt like for most of this week – muted and blurry.

In the same congratulatory/commemoratory vain as the lemon tart, we had pizza for dinner – I’ve really been enjoying this veggie pizza from Sainsburys and ended up having a whole veggie day on this day. I’m not deliberately going vegetarian but I like to notice that sometimes I am eating this way. It’s all about being conscious isn’t it and I’m making an effort!

One of the goals I’ve been working on this month actually covers two of my New Year’s Resolutions – not being on my computer in the evenings and doing a ‘grid drawing’ every month. I do love art, I’m not very good at it and haven’t really done it properly since I was maybe 14, but this year I’m doing a grid drawing every month.

I print off a line drawing, split it into however many even days are in the month (so this is 30, even though there’s 31 days in January) and do one square a day. It’s really relaxing, it’s colouring without the commitment and I think it’ll look somewhere between a bit cool and really silly by the end of the month.

Yes this is a Lego Spider-Man car, because my mum suggested I like Spider-Man and I like cars (I’m not, really) so I combined the two and found this wonder on the internet. I’m having a great time.

If I have time, I like to do a bit of knitting in the evening – it’s something I only picked up in the last couple of weeks because over Christmas my sister did loads of knitting and I thought it would be a great TV watching activity because it’s not staring at a screen but it’s doing something mildly productive whilst relaxing in the evening and I’m really enjoying it!

Then at about 10 I headed upstairs to start the bedtime routine – step 1, brush teeth and wash face. This photo was has been layered and blurred in an attempt to make a slightly more interesting edit – my eyes are definitely struggling to focus at this time of night.

I’m going to do a full morning/evening routine video or blog post soon so I’ll go into more detail about products etc in that if you’re interested!

Next it’s back to my room to tone and moisturise my face, get changed into my pyjamas and get ready to read a chapter or two before I go to sleep.

I wanted to get one last photo to round off this little series and then Lucas wanted to join in so this happened (I kind of hate it but he’s too cute not to include).

And this is generally the last thing I see before I go to sleep – I’m in a pretty good routine of being in bed and falling asleep between 11-11.30 and getting out of bed between 6.30-7 which I’m so proud of because boy I’ve been working on this sleep schedule for years.

And that was my day! It was a mixed one with the sad news of Lucas not passing his test and being out of the house but I really enjoy these posts and I definitely enjoyed experimenting in photoshop a little bit!

If you like these kinds of posts or have any photography recommendations for me please do leave a comment down below! This isn’t my best photography by any means but it was meant to be a snapshot of my day and a little more instant and I really enjoyed making it, so I hope you enjoyed reading it too!

Thank you so much for reading,

Sophie xx

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Christmas Bedroom Tour!

2016, lifestyle

Hello!

I moved into my flat for the next academic year nearly 4 months ago now and I’ve not done any kind of room tour or anything so I thought I’d show you round my living space right now with a few little Christmassy touches!

This is my door. To anyone who knows where I live, now you know what flat I’m in. I thought this would be a nice introduction to the post.

This is the entry way to my room, yes my room is tidy and no, my room isn’t that messy it’s just that there are a lot of things and I can’t fit it all in, I’m still working on it four months later. It’s not a massive room at all but I do what I can to make it mine.

This is where I keep my coats, hoodies, scarves, hats and shoes (I built the shoe rack myself, very proud) – it’s a bit messy and one day I need to ruthlessly get rid of a lot of my clothes and shoes but today is not that day. I like shoes but not like ‘pretty’ shoes like sneakers, pretty sneakers.

This is my whiteboard that fell off the wall and my collection of musical instruments that I’m going to play so much in the time off I have this Christmas, going to teach myself a bunch of songs on guitar in preparation for some covers I’m making on my YouTube channel next year (stay tuned lol).

My desk area is quite messy, but again that’s to do with too much stuff and not enough space – it all has it’s place and it’s purpose and I’m working on becoming a more minimalistic person so it’ll hopefully tidy up towards the end of the year.

This is the shelf area above my bed – I’ve got my knitted dalek and my baby Groot and my mine turtle (and the TV I don’t use because we have one in the living room) but I love the more personal touches here.

These are the shelves above my bed, they’re quite busy but again – working on it! I love my elephant bunting but I had to add tinsel somewhere! My pin board is okay but for some reason it’s too thin for the pins to go in properly? But it holds up my calendar and my dance medals and my little ‘notes to self’. I do love working at my desk area, I find it quite productive.

Hence why I’ve just edited and uploaded my Vlogmas for today and I’m writing this before 9pm. I haven’t done any uni work but it’s actually been a busy day, so I’m going to start it tonight (I’m so behind, this is quite a composed paragraph considering how freaked out I am).

I love my poster wall and I had to Christmas-ify it! I know there’s a big gap but I’m going to get a bunch of polaroid pictures printed to put in that gap but there’s fairy lights and I love my wall a lot. I put a lot of effort into that wall. Very pleased (even if the push pins don’t go into the wall properly and they fall down all the time).

And then there’s the piano at the end of bed because it doesn’t live in the living room anymore and it doesn’t quite fit. And those plastic bags are Christmas presents, how exciting!

And that’s my room! It’s very little but it’s quite and I love it, even if it’s not worth the rent in any way, shape or form!

I hope you liked this post, thank you for reading!

Sophie xx

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What’s In My Backpack

2016, lifestyle

Hello!

This is the third time I have schedule to write this post but then Wind in the Willows popped up then Pokemon Moon came out and now we’re here, finally writing this very stereotypically lifestyle vlogger post, but I thought it could be fun.

I don’t have a handbag, I have this space backpack that I take literally everywhere and I’ve used for years now and it’s the best decision I’ve ever made, whenever I try to transition to a ‘proper handbag’ I regret it. It’s basically a cheap, knockoff Hype bag but no one can judge you for having a Hype bag.

And this is what I carry in it.

One of the only designer items I own is this Radley purse that I got for my 18th birthday and I’m pretty sure my mum got it because it has an elephant on it. Either way it’s very practical and I love it a lot.

I mean, it’s just the fob to get into my building but I like my lanyard because it’s from the first festival I worked and I’ve also got headphone splitters that I barely use and my student card which conveniently has the photo covered. It’s not a great photo.

I’ve mentioned my Ted Baker headphones before, that was the present I bought myself after my birthday and I leave them in my bag for whenever I fancy listening to music or editing a video on the go, they’re beautiful. I wear them at the gym sometimes too.

This isn’t the actual notebook I use but it’s prettier and gets the point across – it’s where I write my to do lists and make any notes I need for uni and often I just write stuff out to try and organise my brain. I can’t function without this book. Well, not this book but I’ve already done that.

A lil pencil case to go with my little notebook, I need a variety of pens. Obviously.

I’m a stationery nerd, what would I be without a little pencil case?

Sometimes I have my laptop and my charger but it depends what I’m doing and if I’m working but more often than not, I do have it.

And then I’ve got lots of little bits and bobs in the front pocket of my backpack:

My hard drive that basically never works and I’m going into the Apple store next week because either my computer or my hard drive is broken. Hopefully Santa will bring me one for Christmas. Fingers crossed.

My SD card case that I’ve half filled. I have a lot of SD cards. I’m the one that always remembers SD cards. Works out well whenever I go out with my camera and don’t have an SD card in my camera.

A bunch of bracelets that I shoved in my bag when we were moving and they’ve stayed there since but I feel like they’re safest in their.

Something most girls have – a spare tampon and painkillers, ironically, I have period pain relief right now.

And then my collection of miscellaneous things, normally with Apple headphones and hair pins, alongside a phone charger, an elephant finger puppet and two lipsticks. The other random crap I throw in there for ‘easy access’.

I also have a pin on the front pocket that says ‘In love with my best friend’ which I love a lot because it makes me think of Lucas and I got it for free from Summer in the City. It’s cute.

I don’t like to take anything in my bag unless I’m going to use it, so let me know if there’s anything you think I’m missing from my bag!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx

Why I call myself a Lifestyle blogger

2016

Hello!

I’ve talked before about how I don’t like putting myself into a niche or a category with my blog so I don’t have to limit my freedom to write, but if I have to, I would describe myself as a lifestyle blogger.

I say this because I blog about my life and my lifestyle which is what lifestyle should be, right? That’s how it made sense in my head.

However, most lifestyle bloggers write about make-up and clothes and fashion and very girly things which I don’t write about much. Don’t get me wrong – I like writing about make-up and clothes but I just don’t that often because I have other things I like to write about too!

So where do I fit in the blogosphere? I don’t want to stop writing about make-up and clothes to move away from lifestyle but also I don’t want to limit myself to just music or books or current affairs. I like writing about travel and my other hobbies as well as whatever else I want to blog about.

So, I’m going to continue calling myself a lifestyle blogger for now, until I find something I might fit better that is! I should probably do some research. In the mean time – do you think there’s any particularly topic you think I’m good at writing about? Or is there any particular direction you would like to see my blog go in? Your feedback means the world to me so I’d very much appreciate your comments!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx