H&M & New Look Haul

For a while now I’ve been trying to find some new clothes and I’ve been popping into town every other weekend to try and find some. However, I was really struggling to find anything I really liked and I had no luck….until now! This weekend I popped into H&M and New Look (mostly h&m) where I’ve managed to pick up some jumpers and new tops.

First I picked up this mustard jumper with ‘Sunshine on my mind’ on from New Look for £17.99, which I have paired with a simple pair of black high waisted jeans from Primark. This is definitely an ‘out there’ purchase. I’ve never worn this colour before and I may possible return it but for now, its staying….

And on to H&M! I picked up this red jumper for £6.99 with stripes running across and down the arms and have paired it and tucked it into a nice little denim A-line skirt. Again, this is not something I thought I would have liked but I’m getting a 70s vibe it and I love it.

Another jumper! Can you tell I’m excited for Autumn? This one is again from H&M and was £6.99! Its a lovely grey (back to my usual colours) with NASA on the front. Now, my reason for this purchase is because I’m a bit of geek and appreciated the NASA logo. I didn’t know what to pair this with so I’ve gone with a black skater skirt, which was also from H&M.

Finally I got a couple of causal tops, again, from H&M which were £6.99 and £8.99. A simple black top with white stripes on the sleeves! and a little black and stripey top.

I seem to have a thing where I can’t go shopping and not buy a stripey top! I just get drawn towards them!

 

Sophie

x

 

 

 

 

 

Pretzel Success!

One thing I do love to do is bake! whenever I get the chance to bake I will do it! However, I always bake sweet things and have never really baked anything savoury! so today I changed that and made soft pretzels! Anything savoury and salted is my weakness and I’ve got a pretzel reciepe from TanyaBakes (Youtuber Tanya Burr recipe’s book)! so I decided to have afternoon of baking and give them a try!….and they were a success! They were golden brown, soft in the middle and a very much salty!

I thought I’d share the recipe for those who don’t have it and would like to give them a try… 🙂
Ingredients…. (makes 12 pretzels)

• 500g strong white bread flour
• 1 x 7g fast-action yeast
• 50g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 300ml warm millk
• 80g melted butter
• 20g bicarbonate of soda
• 1 egg beaten
  To Decorate

• 1 tablespoon of ground cinnnamon + 3 tablespoons golden caster sugar (sweet pretzels)
• Sea salt (for salted pretzels)

Instructions

1. Put the flour, yeast, sugar and salt into a large bowl or mixer
2. In a separate bowl, combine the milk and melted bulter and slowly pour into the dry ingredients
3. Bring together to form a dough, then knead for 10 minutes. Put in a greased bowl, cover with clingfilm and prove in a warm place for 1 hour until doubled in size.
4. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees
5. Split the dough into 12 pieces. Roll each out into a long thin sausage, about 40cm long.
6. Cross the ends of the dough twice, then bring the strands down and press into the dough.
7. Boil a full kettle, and pour into a large saucepan. Add the bicarbonate of soda (this will fizz so watch out) and mix till dissolved. Dunk each pretzel into the water for 10 seconds and remove with a slotted spoon. Transfer them to a baking tray.
8. Brush with the beaten egg.
9. Combine with cinnamon and caster sugar or salt (which ever you fancy)
10. Bake for 10-12, until golden.

Sophie x

Travel bucket list

I’ve had a lot talk with friends about travel recently and its got me thinking of all the places that I want to visit and things to look forward to

1.Iceland

Iceland is right there at the top of the places I want to visit in my 20s. It looks unbelievablely beautiful and, for a geographer, it is the place to go to see all the wonderful geographical features! geysers, hot springs, lagoons, glaciers, volcanoes and the list goes on *tries to control the inner geography nerd inside of me*

wonders of iceland

2. New York

New york new york! the city that never sleeps! I am defiently a city gal and I like to be around everything and have the possibilty of being able to do whatever whenever and where better to do that than new york where you can get whatever you want at 2am? There are so many places I want to visit in new york; the empire state building, statue of liberty, times square (of course all the typical tourist places). I want to endulge in as many pretzels and pizza slices as possible. explore broadway. ride in a yellow cab. ice skate in central park. and of course FRIENDS was set there…..can I go now please?

New York

3. New Zealand

Yes New Zealand looks beautiful, and like iceland it is full of geographical features such as glaciers I’d love to explore, but the main reason this is on my list is because of Lord Of the Rings! yes thats right, Lord of the Rings! All 3 films were set in New zealand and the first thing I’d do here is the film location tour and I regret nothing. They’re taking the hobbits to Isengard!

The shire

Sophie x

Letter to my younger self

Having being home for a few days and having gone through a difficult few months it made me think about being at home as a teenager and how difficult that period was but how I came out stronger. And it gave me an idea for a blog post idea. To write a letter to myself at a time where I was about to go through an awful period and what I would say now.

Dear 16 year old Sophie,

I write to you on a train to Nottingham where you will soon work full time, live in a nice little flat with your boyfriend but right now you are about to finish your GCSEs and soon begin another chapter of your education….A-levels. Right now you feel excited and happy to study the subjects you actually enjoy and feel more ‘adult’ but, what you don’t know is, these next two years will be two of the hardest you will go through. You will go through difficult period in your life. There will be several people (and I think you know which group of people with additional people) who will try to make you feel the worst about yourself, they will tease you, mock you for their own benefit and to make them look cool…but you will survive!!

My advice? Just keep your head down. Don’t respond to the nasty of others (easier said than done, I know but trust me) the people around you right now like it when you argue/respond and it only encourages them to tease more and poke at your weaknesses because they know you don’t like it.They will make you feel more alone maybe because it will make them feel better about their own lives, you don’t know and unfortunately you never will. But what you can do is be the bigger person and ignore them and do your own thing….they’ll soon realise their immaturity. It may be difficult and you may not want to go to lessons but remember why you chose those subjects and let that keep you going. You’ll start to experience anxiety and depression a lot!! And this is normal and you’ll learn to control it but for now talk to a teacher, you know which teachers you can trust, so use that trust and talk to them when things get tough, I know you want to and I know you’re scared to reach out for help but it will help you feel less alone and help you talk about problems in the future and you’ll thank me later.

Be yourself, if you don’t want to go out and drink then that’s fine and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

In the next two years you will meet a boy, who is charming, handsome and the popular kid but wont want anything to do with you. It’ll hurt and you will feel heart break and you feel like no one will ever want to be with you but that’s not true…you can’t go looking for these things. You’ll meet someone, who you are still with now and who is just right for you, when the time is right.

Be yourself and stay strong because you will get through these two years and the next 3 years after will be the best you will ever have.

Kind regards,
Your future self (22 years)

Day at the beach

Hii

As it is the bank holiday weekend I decided to take a little trip back home (I live and work in another city few hours away) and I can’t begin to explain how nice it has been. It’s been quite a stressful and difficult few weeks or shall I say months and to come  home and to relax was exactly what I needed.

One thing we always normally do when I’m home is we go to the beach (weather dependent obviously) but this weekend the weather has been perfect so hopped in the car and went to a little seaside village called Beadnell which is in Northumberland about an hour away from home. Our good family friends have a caravan up there so we take the opportunity and visit them too which is an added bonus! The day consisted of a long over due catch up, a good old BBQ and a long walk along the beach….perfect! 

Moving out, graduate job and adulting|Life update

So… I haven’t wrote a blog post in a few months! and it’s fair to say life has completely changed and I have been chucked into adult life very quickly! My experience with adult life so far has been a whirpool of emotions; panic, stress, tears, excitment! and it’s not been easy I can tell you that. I’d explain it like when you’re in the deep end of the pool and all of a sudden you realise your feet don’t touch the floor! when you go to get your phone out of your bag and you can’t find it, or when you miss a step coming down the stairs and you fear for your life…you get my point?

It all started back in Novermber, 2016 when I got a job for a company I had tried to get a job with since I left uni that summer. I was so happy and excited but there was one thing….the job was in nottingham….about 3/4 hours away! And so the flat hunt began and I can honestly say that I  think that this was more stressful than my interview! Trying to look for a flat in a city you don’t live in/know and where you can’t just drive there for the day is extremely difficult and stressful. Flats were getting taken very quickly and I honeslty thought I was going to be homeless…. no joke! In the end, I managed to find a nice little flat just outside the city centre and only a 15 minute walk to work….bonus!
Living on my own has honestly been the hardest most difficult thing I’ve done. Being about a 3/4 hour train journey away from home makes it difficult to just ‘pop home’ when I want and with my boyfriend being at uni and friends being miles away means it can get a bit lonely but I’m slowly getting there..very slowly ha I’m trying to get some confidence to actually go outside and meet people ha

My first day at work is all a big blur at this poin as I was terrified, anxious and even more socially awkward than normal, and my ID badge will remimd me of that for the rest of my career there. Now I am 6 months in and have just passed my probhiation period  and continuing to learn and get more experienced yey! And as tiring as the long days are I can honestly I am thoroughly enjoying my job! which I am very happy about because I was terrified about starting – I didn’t think I would be any good, or wouldn’t like it but all is well 🙂

Thanks for reading 🙂

Sophie x

 

 

 

 

Homemade chocolate brownies

Hey! So about a month ago my parents bought a recipe book from the charity shop which had a recipe for chocolate brownies, which looked fairly simple and I knew I had to give them a try.

I was planning on baking them for when I next go back down Hull for the weekend but because I’ve never made brownies before, or baked in years for that matter, I thought I’d give them a try first.

The recipe was very simple to follow and took about an hour/ hour an a half to make all together and I wanted to share the recipe to those who may want to give it ago.

What you’ll need; (serves 12 pieces)

225g of softened butter

150g of plain chocolate

225g of self raising flour

125g of caster sugar

4 eggs, beaten

75g of pistachio nuts (optional)

100g of white chocolate (I’m not a huge fan of white chocolate so I added an extra of 100g of plain chocolate instead)

Icing sugar, for dusting

square baking tin & baking paper

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180 c/gas mark 4 and grease your baking tin with baking paper.
2. Add the chocolate and softened butter into a heatproof bowl and set over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir until melted and allow to cool slightly.
3. Sieve the flour into a separate bowl and stir in the caster sugar.
4. Add and stir in the beaten eggs into the chocolate mixture then add the flour and sugar and mix well. This is where you can add any white chocolate or nuts you want to add in.
5. Pour the mixture into the tin and spread evenly. (At this point I got some cadburys giant chocolate buttons, smashed them into pieces and spread across the top of the mixture)
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until firm to touch around the edge (If the brownie wobbles in the middle, it’s not ready and put it back in, and I read online that if the sides of the brownie start to come away from the paper, then take it out).
7. Leave to cool in the tin for 20 minutes and then take out and dust with icing sugar and cut into 12 pieces.

 

Enjoy

Sophie x

Turning 21!

So last week, 26th August, it was my 21st birthday. Having my birthday at the end of August means I get to have a summer birthday, but I have to watch my friends have their birthday and I have to wait months. So when I turned 21 I was so happy and I felt so much more of an adult when turning 21 than I did when I turned 18! Maybe that’s because I’ve done so much since then? moved out, gone through 3 years of university and graduated….or maybe just because I’m 3 years older, who knows? haha

I had a lovely chilled birthday/birthday weekend. On my actual birthday I had a chilled morning opening cards and presents with visits from family and family friends which was followed by a nice, sunny an afternoon along the Derwent River. A few hours later and we headed out to one of the local pubs and had a few drinks before heading to a little Italian restaurant for a meal with my family and boyfriend..and of course, I had pizza..nom! I wore a 21 badge in the hope I would get a free dessert, like I did for my 18th….unfortunately, I was unsuccessful 😦 After eating a lot of food it was time for CAKE! My birthday cake was designed with a photo of myself from year 4 where I have missing teeth and one of those threaded hair braids you get on holiday haha (you can get this done at Asda if anyone is interested 🙂 )

The following day was spent in town where my boyfriend and I went around town and into a few shops and was followed by a trip to the cinema to see Finding Dory! I was so flipping excited to see this as I loved Finding Nemo as a kid! I was really hoping it would be good and I was interested to see how good it would be compared to the first! As sometimes when they make a squeal it’s never as good, and just a disappointment. However, I was not disappointed and I absolutely loved it and dare I say but it was close to beating the original. If you haven’t seen it GO AND SEE IT, you won’t be disappointed.
The last day of the weekend was a chilled Sunday where we went swimming, something which I love to do, and had a afternoon of watching films!

A lovely weekend to celebrate turning 21…

Sophie x

 

University results and Graduation

Heyy! It’s been a few weeks since my last blog post but it’s been a busy couple of weeks but guess what…I’VE OFFICIALLY GRADUATED!

On 30th June I got my university results and I passed with a upper second class degree (2:1) in BSc Geography and words could not describe how happy I was! I was so worried and partly convinced I was going to get a 2:2 after not doing too great in my last essay of third year. I mean a 2:2  is still a good degree class but considering majority of my assignment marks through out my 3 years were a 2:1, I would have been disappointed.The wait for the results was awful, I felt so sick and anxious the day before and I think I had like 3 or 4 hours sleep….less sleep than when I got my A-level results! I kept checking and checking the results as soon as I woke up and when I saw my result it was the biggest relief and I may have teared up a little.

A few days after I got my results I went back down to my uni house in Hull as my housemates and I thought it would be a nice idea for us to go down before graduation. This was just so we could spend some time together and do nice things before we had to move out of our house…which we had lived in for 2 years. This was a lovely week and a bit just chilling with my housemates and friends before we left.

A week after being in Hull it was time to graduate! I cannot explain how nervous I was for this and I just kept thinking of everything that could go wrong ‘omg what if I fall over on the stage’ ‘what if my hat falls off on stage’ ‘what if I’m late and I don’t get there on time’ literally anything that could go wrong, I thought about it. But I managed to get there on time, my hat didn’t fall off and I didn’t fall over….SUCCESS!
It was honestly the best day of my life and I would do it all again right now if I could. It was just nice to celebrate 3 years of hard work…and lets not forget the robes and hat, they’re so cool! Like I said, I was nervous so when I was sat waiting for my turn to go up on stage it was a long wait but when I finally walked a long the stage I just smiled and enjoyed it, it felt amazing! and also seeing all my friends walk along the stage and get their degree was such a lovely feeling and I felt so proud and emotional haha. Once the ceremony was over we left city hall and where we were announced by the town crier before doing the traditional graduation hat throw! The ceremony was followed by a reception held by my department at the uni where there was free drinks and a BBQ which was a lovely way to end the day of celebrations!

Here are a few photos from my graduation day that I want to share with you all

Sophie x

A day out at Corbridge

The weekend just gone my boyfriend Alex came to visit and we wanted to do something a little different, go on a little adventure somewhere. My parents suggested Corbridge, a little village/town up north from Newcastle and can be accessed by train. According to my parents I had been to Corbridge before however, being only little and still in my pram at the time, I couldn’t remember so this was a nice place for both of us. We decided to go and got a return on the train. It was a lovely little train journey, only 30 minutes away and went through nice villages, fields and along the River Tyne.

When we got there we walked up to the village and had a look around. The village had some of the nicest little homemade craft shops that I loved exploring. Definitely need to go back to buy a few house things(for when I have house) and some gifts! The streets were cobble and small and had little union jack flags around (I guessed it was because of the football? or just a cute decoration, who knows?) and I just fell in love with it all.

The weather wasn’t the best and we spotted a little afternoon tea cafe and decided to have a nice warm drink. This cafe was the cutest little cafe I’ve been in and the staff were the loveliest, friendliest people! I got a lovely pot of tea whilst Alex got a fruit scone (the biggest I’ve seen) with loads of strawberries and cream and a refill coffee!

As the weather had got a little better and we were nice and warm from our drinks, we took a little walk along the river where we sat and chilled, saw some cute dogs and see how far we got through stones into the river haha until it was time to catch the train home after a lovely day!

Sophie x