The mindless rambling of yet another Sophie

So as another year draws to a close many of us reflect on the events of the past twelve months. Before the fireworks start and the countdown begins I want to review 5 of the good and bad moments of 2015. 1. Fallon - July 29th 2015 was the day my beloved dog passed away. I loved her for 13 years and love her still. This perfect little ray of black and white light came into my life at a crucial point and was my support throughout my childhood. It was a defining moment of this year but this is not the post to talk about her. She deserves something dedicated solely to her. 2. My 20th Birthday - you would think with my 21st birthday in less than a month a 20th would be nothing. However I have joked with every passing year that I'm finally becoming an adult due to the presents I've received. Except I don't think it's a joke anymore. I've started feeling more like my own person this year. One that is unrecognisable from her former self. 3. Holiday to Italy - I think ...

This past summer I was lucky enough to go to Italy for the second time in my life. After visiting Venice previously we decided to investigate Sorrento this year. We love visiting historical sites in the countries we explore and decided to go on a trip around the Pompeii and Herculaneum excavation sites. The Herculaneum trip is where this story begins. The sun was blazing and our calm and unnaturally cool tour guide was pointing out all the beautiful mosaics and telling us about the people of that time. As she was gesticulating at a particularly vibrant and stunning mosaic something caught my eye. Now I am a very trigger happy photographer and whilst there was a lull I sought out this distraction and it was the picture below. The words "History makes you feel small" is located in the blue band Photograph by Sophie Brown  A part of me was annoyed that someone had decided to graffiti these historical ruins but the other half of me couldn't help but love it. It...

♪ A very merry Christmas And a happy new year Let's hope its a good one Without any fear ♪ John Lennon - So this is Christmas The food has been eaten, the presents opened and all around the world people are unbuttoning their trousers and relaxing with their nearest and dearest. Apart from a post I made over on my friend's blog  for blogmas I have made no other Christmas themed posts. So now that Christmas has past I have decided to reflect on 25 things that I have enjoyed this month because, let's be honest, December has essentially become Christmas month. 1. Festive food - Give me all of the cakes that look like snowman 2. Seasonal drinks - I'm looking at you Costa 3. The Last Kingdom - a great historical drama that was on the BBC 4. The excitement of coming home - speaks for itself 5. Finishing my winter term at university - so glad to have completed my last exam for 2015! 6. Visiting the Warner Brother Studios Harry Potter...

Whilst flicking through old folders I found this piece from 2012. Anyone who knows me now knows that I love food. I am not a fussy eater at all and eat near enough anything. But that wasn't always the case. When I was a child I choked whilst eating and that sparked a fear. A fear of eating. I couldn't eat solid foods. I couldn't physically force myself to swallow as I was terrified of choking again. At this time of year when the house is filled to bursting with food it can be torture for people with food anxiety. There are snacks and sweets stowed away in every nook and cranny and goodness forbid you don't want that mince pie your aunt is offering you. So, here is a short story about my experience with my food anxiety and therapy. I hope it helps someone out there. Enjoy Sophie

Now that I am home for the Christmas holidays I finally have time to do something I love - Read. Sometimes it's great just to sit back, relax and unwind with a  good book. The last time I was home I took a look at my bookshelf and realised I had at least 12 books that I had bought but never read. If you take a peek at my kindle there is countless on there that are also sat abandoned or half read. If you follow many bloggers or vloggers you make have heard of the 50 book reading challenge. The idea is that in a year you read 50 books, pretty simple. So at the start of this year I picked up a book and set to work on the challenge. By the end of January I had read 3 books. I'm sat here now in December having read a grand total of 6 books. 6 books in a whole year. I'm not disappointed that I didn't complete the challenge because to be honest I don't think I took it seriously. It did teach me something. When I haven't read for a long time I read so slowly. In...

November the 29th marked my second visit to the Warner Brothers Studios for the Harry Potter tour but this was, I daresay, a little more magical than the last. That was because Hogwarts was covered in snow. My friend organised the trip in August and although I was excited I did not expect it to be half as wonderful as it was. Now I know what some of you are thinking. What's so great about the tour being covered in a little snow? Trust me it is much more than that. The atmosphere is so festive and although not every feature is covered in snow or tinsel you do become immersed in the merriment. That and everyone around you is also feeling particularly merry at this time of year. Perhaps you've already been before and need just a few more excuses to warrant returning for the festive season. Here I have composed a list of reasons why you should revisit Hogwarts in the near future:- 1. The Great Hall has been decked out with all sorts of festive goodies such as roasts, crack...

As the days are getting shorter I find myself more and more inclined to curl up and watch a good film. So today I decided to share with you one I found at Halloween and it is called 'What we do in the shadows'. It is a mockumentary about a group of vampires living in a flat together in New Zealand. Sound boring? Now there is where you are mistaken! They're all from different time periods lending itself to some comedic situations. Fun game for anyone that watches - see how many nods to other popular vampire films you can find (Hint - there is a alot!).The film was released in 2014 but I only recently discovered it, completely by accident, and I am so happy that I did!  As mentioned before I have a love of vampire films and this one is so different from any others I've ever watched. It's got funny parts, sad parts and what on earth parts and let's be honest what more could you ask for? Now there is no real story line to the film. There is no epic ques...

Hello again! This post is quite a personal one. I have to admit I am a little apprehensive about posting it but it's time to do so.I get very attached to people. I also get very nostalgic. My brain likes to play a wonderful game with me called 'Don't sleep, worry about all these things instead!'. I get very sad when I think about people who are no longer actively in my life and I find myself wondering. Do I miss them, the person they used to be or the good times we had? This short story is not a story at all. It's something real that happened to me one day when I couldn't sleep and all I wanted to do was play an old game. Hope you enjoy Sophie

For the past few days my brain has bombarded me with ideas the moment I walk outside. Today expecting a similar thing and feeling itchy to write I sat with my phone ready in my hand and... stared at my phone screen blankly. The first line was something that came to mind during my frustration. Then, slowly but surely the words soon followed. We can't force ideas but sometimes we can give them a little coercion. Have a great day as always Sophie

You know how when you go to the train station or the bus station or just generally any public space that pigeons can fly into there are signs saying not to feed them. Why are there no signs saying not to chase them? Now I am guilty of chasing pigeons as a child I won't lie and say I'm a saint but as I've gotten older I find it aggravating me. Let me tell you a story. I was sat in the train station (I know, I know a lot of my stories start this way) and I was just watching the world go by. Now to my right is a mother on the phone and with her she has a small daughter. Her daughter decides it would be super duper fun to chase the pigeons around my chair. So what do the pigeons do? They run away of course and flap about. The pigeons flapping about doesn't bother me at all but the little girl does. Here's the thing. This little girl was chasing the pigeons by running at them, kicking towards them and hissing at them. The pigeon obviously ran away because it is sca...

I, like many people, am a sucker for a pretty notebook. Whether that be notepads that show the animals of the London underground or a simple black felt book with some pretty stitching. I feel like I have to commit to these books when I start using them and as you know I am a procrastinator extraordinaire. This means that I have many,many books scattered half filled around my room. I can't tell you the amount of times I've ripped out pages from books to make them fresh again for a new use. As I have said quite a few times by now I'm finally committing to things. Hey if I say it enough times it might come true! For the first time in forever I have some ideas buzzing away in my head for stories and blog posts. I can no longer waste these pretty books by leaving them sat in a drawer and I'm finally putting them to use. I find myself worrying about making mistakes in them, especially when I'm planning stories. Here are some of my brains frequent questions:- Should I ...

I love Halloween. Now I'm from the UK and Halloween is still not as big as in other countries (I'm looking at you US) but it has been gaining popularity these past few years. Supermarkets have started stocking more treats, costumes and decorations and this is very bad for my bank account. I fell in love with Mr Kipling's Witches Hats (aka orange French fancies dyed green) and Cadbury's Creepy Cinder toffee cake bars (cinder toffee is amazing) this year. Now I must confess I hardly ever do anything for Halloween. In fact, I only went trick or treating a handful of times in my childhood so I am not exactly sure where this love came from. Despite my appearance I do love creepy things and there will always be a special place in my heart for Gothic novels and vampires. But hey looks can be deceiving! A few years ago someone said to me 'How can you like that band?! You are wearing knitwear and jeans with dogs on them!' Apparently you can't appreciate heavy ...

I have had no less than 5 drafts sitting on this blog waiting to be unleashed onto the world since I started it. However for one reason or another I never posted them so be prepared for a posting frenzy! Some say that it is quality not quantity that matters and I do believe that is true. Unfortunately though I know if I don't post now I'll never pluck up the courage to! You see I write about things I like and sometimes my fingers scramble across the keys like they are now and make something a little bit messy but ultimately me. (see how long that sentence is?) I look back and I edit and I check and I change and do this and do that and.... Eventually I become so self conscious of my writing that I just never post it. What will people think? Will I sound foolish? I love to write. I have friends who love to write as well. I have friends who are far superior at writing than me. This doesn't stop me writing. My own insecurities stop me sharing it though! What I have ...

Now I am not a professional writer, nor am I even particularly good. However I do enjoy writing and sometimes inspiration does hit and I scribble out a few lines of nonsense. Now my friend Jenn is a writer! She has her own blog  here One of the main differences between me and Jenn (besides her talent) is planning. She has pages upon pages of character notes, plotlines and main events. I, on the other hand, generally have an introduction, an ending line or paragraph and some vague skeletally framed characters. Starting from now I am determined to flesh out my ideas more and actually finish a story! (I have been saying the same thing about my art for years but that's another story) According to my phone I wrote the following short story in 2013 which is when I first got my phone. I can remember writing this laying on my bed one December night whilst QI or something played in the background. This is an example of me just splurging out an idea but I hope you enjoy it. See you soon ...

Hello again everyone it has been a while. Life has been busy to say the least. Recently my mum got two new puppies and I have become the official doggy babysitter, not that I mind of course! Today however I am not discussing the dogs or how they came to be at our house. Instead I am talking about something that has been troubling me for a long while now. Something that has become even more apparent since my last post. Often I find myself saying "I wish I could do more of X but I just don't have time!" but this has led me to think, do I really not have any time? I am a university student and I find myself, especially at exam times, saying 'I can't read a book I need to revise' but do I revise? No. I sit worrying about how I don't have time to do other things cause I need to revise. My biggest problem is daydreaming but that's another blogpost. In short I don't waste away the hours watching tv or going shopping or learning the oboe. Instead I s...

So today was one of my best friend's 20th birthdays so naturally we went to go see one of her favourite singers perform in a coffee shop. Wait. What? This here ladies and gentlemen is Mike Dignam and he is my best friend. *cough* That's a lie, he is not my best friend but he is an insanely talented independent artist and you all should really check him out. Before today I knew of Mike but didn't know his music. In fact 2 years ago I could have seen him perform live in the street but didn't! So off I went early this morning to see Mike who is currently on a tour around various Caffe Nero's in the country. Quite a few of his songs actually spoke volumes to me. In particularly how hard it can be nowadays to watch the news just because of his dismal and bleak it can be. But it's not all hard hitting life truths one of his most popular songs is called 'The great escape'. It's catchy with a pop vibe and is relatable to anyone who has ever had a tou...

Hello there! As you may have gathered from the title of this blog my name is Sophie and I ramble. Alot. I started blogs in the past, in fact this will be my fourth blog I've started! (However not many of those blogs have ever made it past the 5th post) I'm not sure what makes me constantly give up however this time I'm determined not to. When I've blogged before I've tried to keep to a general theme and that's why I think I failed. So this blog is going to be different. This blog is going to be about anything and everything. Here's to hoping I keep this up! See you next time ~