london

2020 travel plans!

2020, goals, travel

Hello!

One thing I’ve always wanted to do since I first signed up to go on a charity expedition to Tanzania in 2012 was travel – I’ve always wanted to see the world and different cultures and all the beautiful things humanity has to offer. In 2019, I was incredibly optimistic about how much travelling I’d do – setting a goal to do a trip every month with my boyfriend (local, not necessarily international, but I managed maybe 6 or 7? But not really?) and planning to have trips abroad four times in one year on my part-time income? It was never going to happen!

But having learnt from that mistake, I have much more solid (potentially as unrealistic, tbh) goals for 2020 so I thought I’d share them!

1) Center Parcs with my boyfriend, mum, god-mother and her children

It’s become somewhat of a tradition that my god-mother takes her kids to the British holiday park that is Center Parcs for their birthdays and my mum, boyfriend and I tag along for the adventure. This year we’re hopefully looking at June and I’d really like to not put the pressure on my mum to be the only one paying for it!

Center Parcs is an expensive rip off, but they’re such lovely holidays, they have the most amazing swimming pools and it’s so lovely to just be surrounded by woodlands for a few days. I’m already really looking forward to this one.

2) MCM Comic Con London

2020 will be my fourth time at MCM and every year it just gets better and better. It reminds me that I’m nowhere near as nerdy as I thought I was and that my sister and my boyfriend are five times as nerdy as I thought they were and it’s amazing. The cosplay, the panels, the shopping, it’s just an amazing weekend and I’m really hoping to be able to afford a ticket, the hotel and maybe even pulling a cosplay together… Stay tuned.

3) A week in Spain by the beach!

My boyfriend and I had it on our radar to think about a holiday this year but with him being the only one with income and my masters not finishing till September, it was all seeming very far away. But for Christmas he said he’d put some money aside and we could go wherever I wanted (within budget) so we’d have an international holiday and I can’t wait. I was thinking about all the amazing places I want to visit but then I realised that actually? I just want a week by a beach to read, relax, walk by the water and not be a tourist – I loved New York and Paris but those weren’t relaxing holidays, we crammed in as much as we possibly could to those trips and I want something calmer.

Currently we’re looking at all-inclusive resorts in Spain but I’m a little baffled and overwhelmed about the concept of booking an international holiday so any advice, tips or tricks are more than welcome!

*BONUS POTENTIAL TRIP* A few days in Rome!

My boyfriend works in live television broadcast (I know, it sounds well fancy!) and he found out before Christmas that in June/July he’ll be flying between London and Rome for the Euros (football… big football tournament… neither of us are into sport okay?) and we’re really hoping that at some point or even after it’s done there’ll be a few days where we can make the most of the fact he’s working in Rome! I will have just started the final months of my dissertation so having a few days in the Italian sun with Italian food and my international TV working boyfriend sounds perfect. But we’re not sure on this one yet so it will be a bonus if it happens!

Even learning from my ridiculous plans for 2019, these plans for 2020 are still pretty optimistic but with hard work and determination (also getting a job) I think I can make all of these work.

Let me know if you have any beach holiday recommendations and if you’ve got any trips planned for 2020! I’d love to hear them.

Thank you so much for reading,

Sophie xx

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just an outfit post

2018, fashion, lifestyle, mental health

Hello!

I really want to make an effort to talk more about fashion and outfit posts on my blog because it’s something I love and I feel so much more confident about and it’s something I’ve made huge progress on this year so I want to continue documenting that!

So I thought it would be nice if I could find somewhere cute to take the photos on a trip to London on Monday and we walked past this shrubbery outside a restaurant with fairy lights in it and I decided it was festive and cute and this would be it.

However I didn’t think to not be holding the bulging purple bag of my new NASA sweater and the hat and scarf it was too warm for, I didn’t think to shrug off my coat and actually show off my outfit, nor did I think to get any close ups of nice details. But it’s all lessons to learn for the future – can’t rush outfit photos!

This pinafore dress has become such a favourite of mine this month – I bought it in Primark and I really didn’t think it would suit me at all but it’s so flattering! I decided to wear it with a New Look shirt (similar), an old TU from Sainsburys cardigan and my men’s Primark coat.

The shirt and pinafore is something I hadn’t tried before, usually I wear knitwear jumpers with this dress but I really loved the shirt and I’ve decided I’m definitely wearing it on Christmas day.

The tights however – don’t recommend! You think chub rub is just a summer problem? Nah mate – I love how they look and they’re generally so comfy but after 15,000 steps it was a bit much and they actually broke skin, definitely learnt my lesson. They’re okay if you’re staying at home or not walking too far but long term? Don’t bother!

This might be the only cute candid photo of me ever taken. Ironic that it was taken on Monday and then on Tuesday I spent 2+ hours letting a very nice lady called Gemma change dye and cut my hair. I’ll be posting some pictures on Instagram in the next few days but for now these are the photos that I’ll be keeping for a while!

Sometimes I have a proper complex about liking a picture of myself – I don’t want people to think I’m vain or self obsessed because I love a picture of myself but y’know what? It’s so rare that I don’t hate a picture of myself that I am going to sing and shout about this picture and post it everywhere because why not make the most of a photo I actually like?

I think this is the first outfit post I’ve ever written without any particular kind of purpose or message – normally I have a statement about body confidence or my improving relationship with my body but I think my last post about finding some confidence still rings true. I’m still not 100% confident in my body or what I’m wearing, but I don’t think anybody is all of the time! I’m not scared of trying new things and I’m really working on refining my wardrobe and ruthlessly getting rid of the stuff I don’t wear even if I love it.

I’m kind of working on a long term blog post on the process of making my wardrobe into something a bit like but not quite a capsule wardrobe – if you have any tips or advice that would be very much appreciated!

So learning to write about fashion without having a huge point or a big meaningful conclusion is the next step I think! Maybe I need to write less and just let the pictures do the talking (and spend longer getting much nicer pictures that actually show the outfit) but we all know I love a ramble.

And I like reaching a conclusion! In the last week or so a few old friends from school that I knew literally years and years ago have reached out to me on Instagram and said they really like my content and my positivity online.

Being told I’m positive is news to me, I always feel like I’m super depressing and negative and I’ve been desperately trying to make more of an effort with this and I feel it’s paying off. So I like my blog posts to reach a positive conclusion, even if it’s not got a weighty point or covers a topic like body positivity.

Sure, I just wrote a couple of paragraphs about positivity but I can’t smile in an outfit photo because I’ve got a lil bit of a complex about my smile at the moment. But that’s not the point!

I really like this outfit, this pinafore and the fact it coordinates so well with my Dr Marten’s. It’s only from Primark but it’s really opened my eyes to trying things that ‘don’t stereotypically fit my body type’ and giving things a chance! Yes, I’m trying to change my body shape and this time next year I think I’ll have a whole different level of fitness and hopefully be a fairly different dress size, but coming to terms with my body and accepting it for what it is? It’s such a useful life skill to have that peace with yourself.

So no, I don’t have a ‘point’ – I wanted to write an outfit post, I thought it would be fun to take the pictures in London and it’s an outfit for the sake of an outfit. I like sharing and posts without a big conclusion are definitely a work in progress!

As always, thank you to my gorgeous boyfriend for taking the photos – we’re both getting the hang of this ‘fashion blogger’ malarky and I’m so grateful to have my number 1 cheerleader as my go to photographer.

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!

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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commuting to London

2017, lifestyle, travel

Hello!

It’s been a couple of weeks since I was commuting into London and I’m really glad to not be travelling by train every single day anymore, but it was a really interesting experience and I thought I’d share a few tips on how to survive commuting in London (or any other city!), because it definitely took a bit of getting used to.

1) Be ready to sit next to a stranger, if you get to sit at all – morning rush hour trains are busy, everyone wishes they had two seats to themselves but it’s never going to happen at that time of day. The person next to you cares about you as much as you care about them; they don’t, so just get on with whatever you’re doing (listening to music, bit of laptop work, MarioKart) and don’t worry about.

2) Everything runs like clockwork at that time in the morning – you’ll get used to the train being in the station at the exact same time every day and you’ll see the same faces, the same people yawning and falling asleep on the train, you’ll know every stop the train goes to and you’ll start to get bored real quick.

3) Once getting in to London, you’ll have to join to stream of people heading for the underground. No doubt there’ll be some sort of accident or one of the escalators will have stopped working or someone will be standing in the middle of the stairwell trying to figure out which way they’re meant to be going. The real advice: know which route you’re taking, know if you’re going northbound or southbound (or east or west, you get it) and just head down and go for it, everyone’s in a rush, just go with it.

4) Don’t push past people to get to the barriers – these are seasoned commuters and they’re easily angered. As long as you’re not running late, just go with the flow and let the stroppy men do their thing.

5) Men in suits are the norm and they will judge you for being female, not dressed formally, dressed formally, listening to music, sitting at a table, having a Macbook, having a windows laptop; literally everything. The men who wear a suit to work and commute into London every day either are in a really well paid job, are really stuck up, or hate their job. They’re assholes on the tube and you giving them a death glare will not change them.

6) When getting on a train at the end of the day, the further you walk down the train the quieter it will be – totally worth the extra walk.

Commuting into London, or any city, isn’t particularly fun. For me, work experience on the other end and coming home to my family every night was totally worth it. Have any questions? Let me know in the comments!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx

 

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summer travel plans!

2017, photography, student, travel

Hello!

I wrote this post out on my train journeys to and from London this week and somehow it has completely evaporated without being sent anywhere, so here I am – rewriting it a couple of days late. This is all completely irrelevant information because not everyone will read this on the day it goes up but I just needed to say it; I’m very frustrated.

It’s not a surprise that I want to travel as much as I can – I’ve talked about it enough – but over the summer my boyfriend and I can’t afford to go on holiday so we’re planning to have a few days out just to break up the summer and to compensate a little, so I thought I’d write about the places we’re thinking (or I’m thinking!) of going!

London – I love London and in the past few months I’ve really been craving a trip to one of the museums. I’m a nerd, I love learning and history and science and I love taking pictures and I think I could take some really pretty pictures of everything that’s there. I want to visit the Natural History museum and I’ve love to go back to the V&A because I haven’t been there since I went on a school trip like six years ago. I just think it would be fun, I’m very excited by the thought of an educational trip to London because I’m a huge dork.

Brighton – I’ve never been to Brighton before but I’ve seen so much of it through YouTube videos and Instagram and fiction that I really would love to see it for myself – I’d love to see the Lanes and all the quirky places to see and the beach. I love seaside towns – where I live is a port town so I’m near a river that leads to the sea but it’s not like the sea, I can go sit by the docks but I can’t go to a beach and I just love them, so I want to take lots of Instagram photos.

Bournemouth – we’ve already been to Bournemouth and I really love it, for the same reason of beaches and pretty Instagrams but there’s an awesome arcade called Funzone and it’s right next to an old theatre converted into an Odeon cinema and it’s like two seconds away from Harry Ramsden’s fish and chips and I’d love to go for a sit down meal looking out to sea. I love the seaside and I love Bournemouth. I’m desperately trying not to make this post really repetitive but I really love the sea and taking photos.

Weymouth – my boyfriend and I went to Weymouth for New Years and I know I wrote a blog post about it (read it here, if you like) and again; Sophie wants to visit a seaside town wow, omg. But I don’t think Weymouth is as big as the cities of Bournemouth and Brighton but Weymouth is a bit like my hometown but like four times the size and near the sea. I just want to see more of Weymouth and with two of my closest uni friends living there it’s a pretty good excuse to see them too.

The New Forrest – an area I know very little about, to be honest, I’m imagining it’s a bit like the Peak District or the Lake District and I’ve been to both of those places. I just feel like it’ll be a fun place to go for a long walk adventure with a picnic on a pretty summer day.

Edinburgh – less of a ‘cheap day trip’ and more like a little holiday but I went on a family holiday to Edinburgh and one of my best friends lives there and I’m considering doing my masters there and I’ve seen a few YouTubers go on holiday there and everyone talks about it being such a beautiful city and I want to see it! Flights from Southampton Airport and an AirBnB could be quite reasonably priced I think, so might be something I can look into!

I know I talk about travelling a lot – it’s something I really want to do but it’s not something I can afford to do in the way I want to just yet, but travelling isn’t just about going to one city in a country and saying you’ve seen everything that country has to offer, so why don’t I spend some time exploring my own country first?

I’m sorry my content has been so disrupted this week – I didn’t realise how much commuting would take it out of me but I’m trying my best to manage my time a little bit better before doing it all again next week. I’m going to be taking my laptop on the train so hopefully I’ll be a bit more productive than last week.

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx

 

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