7 things I miss about secondary school

Today I thought I'd do a little fun post, as it's coming up to the end of the School year and I KNOW people are going to be excited that they get to leave School forever! I was like that, but 9 years on I really bloody miss it. So, here's a few things I miss about my time at school. But first I'm going to put up some super cringey photos of 14/15 year old Sophie! #awkward

Wow - A super blurry photo. Soz. PS I thought that coat was the bomb!! 

See point 6 below! HA. Total cringe.

1. The social life - Seriously, I was at a sleepover with my friends almost every weekend. We'd watch movies, hang out at the shops and tell our parents we were places that we weren't ;) even if we weren't allowed to sleep over, we'd still spend the whole day with friends. Also ALL THE PARTIES! The organised discos or the unauthorized house parties were pretty frequent, but I don't do this now... I'm hardly friends with anyone that I went to School with, but even my good friends that I have now, I don't spend half as much time with them as I should. Life is just too hectic y'know!?
2. School Uniform - Bear with me on this... At 25, and working full time I really bloody miss knowing what I'm going to wear every day. At School I had no choice but to put on my uniform but now I can choose what to wear to work, I hate it. That being said, I've actually given myself a 'work uniform' because it annoyed me that much.
3. The holidays - Oh my gosh do I miss the holidays!!! Who doesn't love 6 weeks off in the summer?! I so wish I worked term time only just so I can have this perk back in my life... When I was at School I used to find them a bit boring but seriously, give them back to me now!
4. No Social Media - I'm old... Facebook/Twitter/Instagram didn't exist when I was at School. We had Bebo (anyone remember that) and Myspace but that's it and you could hardly do anything on them. We didn't have social media to compare ourselves to others, if people had anything to say about you, they'd bitch behind your back or to your face and that was that, they couldn't get others to join in online or make group chats about how ugly you are. We didn't have any of this online hate and bullying because it didn't exist! There was no quest to have the 'pinterest perfect' bedroom or having to take the perfect selfie. It was easier 10 years ago that's for sure! In fact, the last photo above is the first ever selfie I uploaded to Facebook in 2007 just as I was leaving school. Hardly anyone had camera phones, let alone a phone with a selfie camera ;) so this was taken on a crappy old Kodak!
5. Party Dances - My friends and I knew every single party dance going, and when you're 11 it's acceptable to whack them out at a party or at a Haven campsite,seriously my friend Rachel and I LOVED it. When you're 25 though, it's not so acceptable and normal! HA. I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for them, and I can't wait to join in the 'parent dances' on our annual camping holidays ;)
6. Breaktimes - Going to school knowing you're gonna get a mid morning break and then almost an hour for lunch is something that you really take for granted when you're 15... Fast forward 10 years and sometimes it's just too busy to even take a lunch break!
7. School Canteen Brownies - Seriously, my school had the best chocolate brownies EVER and I haven't ever found any as nice. I miss them... 

So there you go - Just a little bit of fun! ;) 

What do you miss about School?

Love 

Sophie x 

Visiting Ryde

Last Sunday on the Bank Holiday weekend Martin and I decided to go to Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth as it's just a 15 minute drive up the motorway and we ended up taking an impromptu trip to Ryde on the Isle of Wight! I'd been to the Isle of Wight tonnes of time before, but never to Ryde and it was seriously so beautiful and so much fun.

We caught the Catamaran which was roughly a 20 minute journey across the water and it cost us £26.80 (with a network rail card) for a return journey and tickets for the pier train if we wanted to use it. (we didnt, we walked which only took about 8 minutes!)

The Isle of Wight tends to get slated quite a lot by people that live on the mainland as being 'old fashioned and behind the times' etc, but you know what? I really liked it. It was nice walking along through the streets on a Sunday and having the majority of the shops closed and I really liked using cash for things instead of just swiping a card! The internet was also pretty shocking which was fine for me, cos as a work widow it was nice to spend quality time with Martin without him constantly getting distracted by emails! ;)

Anyway I thought I'd take you along in a sort of picture diary of our day type thing!

We were super lucky with the weather so decided to walk along the pier, and the view was amazing. I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this! I'm sure you'll agree it just looks so quaint and pretty and I was actually pretty darn excited to be there! We turned left at the end of the pier which took us to the road to the beach. Even that was pretty and everyone that walked/cycled past us just seemed so chilled out and happy.

Along the beach front, were the typical tourist type shops that sell a load of tat (I still love them though), an amusements arcade and a bit further down was crazy golf, bumper boats, water zorbing and some other things like that including loads of little restaurants, cafes and the cutest little icecream shop.

We walked even further along, just following the road which took us past the most beautiful lake with some gorgeous houses the other side... I didn't hang around here too long though cos there were too many ducks for my liking! Oh, and I also found Rapunzels Tower... Well, it wasn't actually her tower it belonged to some spiritual healing centre, but I liked to pretend it was. We'll also pretend I didn't run up to it shouting 'babe, I've found my way home!'  There wasn't much to do the other side of the tower, just a little restaurant/cafe, so we headed back the other way and by that point, we'd walked about 2 miles and my feet were killing me because some idiot wore shoes that were too small. Good one Soph!

Lunch was just a quick pit stop in the Harbour Deli Cafe right by the beach! I had a tuna wrap with salad and Martin had a crab wrap with salad. They were ok, nothing sensational and when the cook came out with dirt under his fingernails I did cringe a little. I'd like to think it was an internal cringe but I'm not sure it was ;)

After lunch we decided to stop and play a quick game of crazy golf which was absolutely hilarious! I was beyond rubbish and we took so long, that a little boy actually over took us on the course. My hand eye coordination was shocking and Martin beat me by 10 points. Still, I laughed so much.

As if we hadn't already walked enough, we walked up into the town which was about a 10 minute walk from the crazy golf and amusement arcade. As I said before there was hardly anything open but that was totally cool with me. The town is full of cute little boutique style shops and funky little cafes and in one shop I found my dream wedding dress (hint hint) ;) after that we just made our way back to the boat terminal to go home! 

I absolutely loved my afternoon in Ryde and we've already made plans to go back with the kids cos they would love it there! Next time though we will be more prepared and take cash with us because finding a cash point along the front is near on impossible! 

Have you been to Ryde? What other cute places can we visit this summer?

Love
Sophie x

My Current 'go to' Hairstyle

Hi lovelies.
I thought I'd very quickly show you how I'm currently doing my hair. I don't know about you, but I tend to find a style I like, stick with it for a few weeks and then never do it again!

I am aware that it makes me look about 12, but I don't mind really. Anyway, this is so simple to do, I literally grab half my hair in a bun, twist a hair band round it and pin it in place. You can stretch the bun as big or as little as you like just to add a bit more volume. I always tend to loosely curl the half that's down but you don't have to.

Voila - super simple and quick and I love that it keeps the front half of my hair out of my face as well. I literally can't stand bits of hair that constantly fall in my eyes!

Love
Sophie x

April Recap and May Goals

Hey, so seriously, where the hell did the last month go? Yeah, I have no idea either. Anyway, it's time to see whether I achieved any of my little goals from last week and I think it might just be a good one ;) 

April

1. Start to get out of my overdraft - I'm not totally out of it, but I am a little! YAY. 
2. Sell some unwanted things - I put a load of stuff on Gumtree last month, but I didnt really keep on top of that! Boo. 
3. Complete and pass three modules of my diploma - Literally haven't even opened my books! ARGH. 
4. Try to worry less - Since I've come off my anxiety medication, I have actually found I'm much more chilled out. I'm an emotional mess most of the time, but hey, we can't have it all!
5. Upload new blog content twice a week - I didn't manage this really! I did upload more than the previous month though, so we're on the right track. 
6. Do a fashion related post - View that post here!
7. Visit somewhere new - This happened BIG TIME!! We decided to take a last minute break to Crete in Greece, which was amazing and then this weekend we went to Ryde on the Isle of Wight... Seriously, that place is so cute. 
8. Regrow my nails - When I was in Crete I got shellac done, which I never really do but it's really help with the nail growth! haha.

So, 5 out of eight isn't too bad is it?! 

May

1. No more new things! - Ok, so this is a bit of a funny one because I have already bought a new skirt and a dress BUT they were needed so I won't buy anything else for me this month!
2. Take the kids somewhere new - Last month WE went somewhere new, but I'd like to take the kids somewhere different. We only have them twice a week so I want to start making the most of our time together now the weather is getting nicer.
3. Lose weight - This is going to be a difficult one cos I don't own a pair of scales, but I'm really making a conscious effort to eat healthier and have smaller portions! When I was on holiday I wasn't happy with how I looked in a bikini and that needs to change!
4. Finish a book - On holiday (promise I'll stop soon!) I read 3 books and was half way through my 4th by the time we landed. I really want to read the rest of that because I don't read enough when I'm at home.
5. Increase blog followers/traffic - No idea if this will work, but I need to work harder at promoting my blog as my blog following has been static for about a month or so which is quite disheartening.
6. Go Running - I've said this before, but I used to go running three times a week and loved it. Then I got sick and stopped going. I really want to start up again!
   
7. Get our House finished -  If you've followed me on instagram (@sophie_louise90) or Twitter then you'd know we had our kitchen done towards the end of March/beginning of April but there is still more stuff to do, like glossing and we have to repaint the hallway etc and it's so boring I have no motivation to do it, but I also hate living in a part finished house, y'know?!