Journey to the past

Well last week I journeyed to the past... not literally of course, that would be ...weird and impossible (for now).

I went back to my home town Barrow-in-Furness for 9 days, mainly for my boyfriend, he had family and friends celebrating their birthdays!

We arrived on the 15th of June at about 3:30pm, travelled by train which is a first for us as we usually have a car. But the journey was so fast and easy, would definitely do it again in a flash!

CHOO CHOOOOOOO !

That night was my boyfriend's dads and sisters joint party, his dad turning the big 50 and his sister the big 18!

We arrived just after it had started, there were a lot of people at the event and Damo went off to be re united with his family. If you have ever been to a partners family event you will know it is pretty awkward, and it was for me. You know that they are wanting to see your partner, not you, and you just feel... out of place. Do not get me wrong, the party was lovely and it was nice to see people but, well, like I said... Maybe it was the fact I've been socially distant for so long, who knows. 

This is what I wore to the event, and let me tell you it took a while to find the whole outfit!! (Woman issues)

I felt nice for once, I hope I looked it!!

The next day we met up with one of Damien's old friends and had a drive to the coast road in Barrow-in-Furness. It was nice, I think he really misses having company (a man's company) which is one void I can not fill. 

The rest of the trip consisted of visiting family and friends, celebrating birthdays and a lot of eating and drinking! I will let pictures describe the rest: 

Trip to Windermere

The Final night out

This was our final night out which was supposed to be a celebration for a friends birthday, but they weren't here at the time...

Anyway, I had a lovely night seeing people I haven't seen in a while including one of my closest friends in these pictures here! >> 

A list of things we did:

• Went to Windermere (and ate carvery and ice-cream)
• Had a meal at 'The Brown Cow' (Massive meals)
• Met up with numerous old friends
• Beat all of Damien's friends at Lazerzone
• Watched Despicable me 2 (Amazing film)
• Had lots of alcohol
• Visited my Grandad
• And much much more...

Such a good film!

As a round up I had a really nice time for once, I saw a lot of people I missed; a few mentions to people I met up with, Luke Fisher (One of my closest friends) we had a lovely, yet tiring walk around Barrow. Hannah Wheeler and Yasmin Phillips, had a drink with Hannah and met up with Yasmin later on, that was a lovely day, so nice to see you!! Ruth, lovely to see you glad you came out with us :),  And of course all of Damien's friends for being there for him and for me, of course a special shout out to Michael Steele for being a personal taxi for us whilst we were there and being the last one to see us off on the train ! Thank you everyone! (Sorry if I missed anybody)

Well that was my trip to my home town, it was a nice break but I am glad to be back in good old London, I missed the sushi and frozen yoghurt if I'm honest...hahaha! Bye for now!

Sophie Rebecca xo

A thankful year

Hello!

So usual when I blog its a dismal array of things going wrong in my life, but one of my friends has helped me in trying to look at the positives.

I am still somewhat dubious in how this will aid my life but here goes!

Firstly, its my boyfriend (yes I know here comes the soppy crap) BUT, he is my backbone. He keeps me going every day, with constant support, acknowledgement of little things and knowing what I like. We have our hard times, mainly due to our situation, but we still manage to thrive off each other and he always has that positive and optimist attitude (which frankly I lack in). And, most importantly, he is my best friend.

Well enough with that, I don't profess to be a women who needs a man, in fact being independent is one of the main 'life stories' I was taught as a child, and in some respects that worked/ still works for me today. But having someone their to support you, god knows I don't have many people who do, gives you a burst of life like no other. People thrive off compliments and recognition it is just a cold hard fact.

Secondly, one of my biggest achievements in the last year is my weight loss/ healthy eating/ exercise regime. Being bigger has always been in my family, they say it's 'in the genes' and for many many years I believed that and didn't help myself. I was told constantly by my mother that there is nothing you can do about it, nothing to be done, you will just be bigger your whole life. Let me tell you a bit about my mother, she was 22 stone until a few years ago when she had a gastric bypass operation on the NHS, now I have a very strong opinion on people working for what they get, in this case of course there are many factors of why she was obese which I will not delve into. She told me she had fought many years trying to lose the weight naturally but nothing worked, however, from what I saw through my childhood she stuffed her mouth with whatever rubbish she could find, an example of this is she would get me to walk to the local shop and get her a two tier tray box of milk tray nearly every other night. Anyway, she received the bypass and is now only 10 and a half stone. But she still treats her body like a rubbish bin eating chocolate everyday, crisps, using the excuse of that's what she feels like, and she won't gain weight. Did she really deserve a new life when she treats her body the same? That wasn't and isn't for me to decide.

Anyway back to me and my journey, since 2012 I have lost 3 and a half stone; my heaviest being 12 stone and now my current weight is 8 and a half stone. My target at the beginning was 9 stone, but I have exceeded this, which I should be proud of, but I still have a way to go and new targets to aim for. Not only have I lost this weight through extremely healthy eating and exercise, I have incorporated it into my everyday life it isn't a 'diet' it's a lifestyle. Many people think that losing weight is a temporary thing and once it has dropped off you can relax, well it isn't, you have to either maintain your weight through exercise and watch what goes into your body. Some people are very lucky and are naturally slim and have a high metabolism, I'm not so lucky, mine was extremely slow and the only way to change this for me was through exercise.

Here is a quick breakdown of how I managed it:

•  I started with home workout videos: Jillian Michaels 30 day shred, Davina workout and lastly what motivated me the most was Shaun T's Insanity (highly recommended) 
• I focused in on my diet and started replacing some of the things in my cupboard/fridge for things with higher fibre content/ protein content/ lower fat (eg. replacing white pasta with brown pasta) 
• When I started to get more serious I joined a local gym (The Gym) which is very reasonable in price and has just what I need. 
• I then started to look at my general food intake and meals and decided there were ways to improve on them (More vegetables, less carbs) and god knows I loved my carbs. 

Me at my biggest (not a great pic I know)

Me today. (Yes I am pale)

And here I am today. Feeling a lot better about myself but I have target areas which still needs to be sorted; in my case the thighs and bum area.

Another piece of advice is; having a target really helps, whether it is weight or body measurements (you have to remember muscle is heavier than fat) but I would rather be toned than flabby!









It is hard to break out of the mentality that you are no longer a fatty bum bum, but I am nearly there, I will always be worried about my weight it's just me, and being a bigger child too is difficult. Also, you have to take into account I am only 5ft 3 Inches, so being bigger when you are small makes you look MASSIVE, so that will always be a worry (I am wearing heels in the picture of me today ha!).

Thirdly, I suppose, is that I am at University studying English Literature and Politics, a course I thought I would never be able to get onto as my A-levels don't reflect these subjects at all. I am determined to do well and achieve a high degree level- my first year results are not in yet so I can't tell you if I'm filled with joy or angst yet! However, I have been reading a lot more and feel I can do well if I worked hard.

Well there you go, my biggest achievements in the last year, it's not much (I probably have more) but these are the most prominent ones for me...

I would be interested in your achievements, however small they are!

Well goodbye for now (However long that it) and speak soon!

Sophie Rebecca xox

Kensington Gardens

Well I went to Kensington Gardens (again) with my sister and boyfriend on bank holiday Monday.
It was a nice day, but not nice enough, there was still a chill in the air and it was quite windy- but we still braved it and stupidly I wore a dress with a cardigan, I was freezing.

Our main reason for visiting the park was for my little sister to go to the huge princess Diana memorial park, however would you believe there was a queue a mile long just to get into the park! I was shocked and it didn't look like it was going down at all, so we sat opposite on the green and ate our picnic- mine was a Moroccan cous cous salad with chicken pieces (home-made of course)- YUM. My sister was annoyed about not being able to go on the giant play ship surrounded by sand, and secretly so was I...
I do recommend this park to anyone with children as it is fantastic and very safe, they only let children in with their parents and no adults on their own are allowed in. The rest of the park was breathtaking and the lake and fountains were very nice, it is an enormous park and we probably missed out some of it, it was a disappointing day but it was better than being stuck indoors doing nothing !

Google plus decided to make a GIF of me and my sister... (funny right)

Yes I was adjusting my hair...

Tah Dah, that was my day out with my 9 year old sister, unfortunately we haven't had any nice days since then and it has been raining almost everyday ! I hope for nice weather even though I will be working at the weekend.


I will do a blog post soon on mine and my sisters adventure to Westfield's in Stratford, my only purchase was something from MAC cosmetics which I did a review about on my style blog  (linked here).

See you soon!

Sophie Rebecca. xo

Oomph

I thought my blog needed an update,a bit of an OOMPH, so I have re-designed it again!

Just an update for now;

1. I have currently finished the first year of University, hooray, but now I am extremely bored and need to start all my writing/reading projects.
2. I have changed my hair colour again, its still a shade of blonde..just a different shade!
3. I got my tragus pierced as an end of year treat-

4. I am planning to finish my screenplay by the end of the summer (or at least most of it)

5. I am visiting my home town soon, don't know if I am looking forward to it or not as most people I never hear from. But it is mainly for my boyfriend, so I will suffer for him!

I need to get more serious with this blog and my writing in general, but at this moment in time I haven't planned anything or been anywhere exciting so I will get back to you on that one.

Bye for now,

Sophie Rebecca. x

Friendship

Hello again, it has been ages (again)..

But I feel like it's time for another rant...

Basically I am 20 years old and I frankly lack in friends, the ones I did have were in my home town and ever since I have moved most of them have not kept in touch or barely made an effort, which is kind of understandable.

I have tried my hardest to make friends at my University, and I do have friends there, but I suppose I'm just selfish as I want a good friend...no a GREAT friend who will come and see me when I need them, will support me/ moan with me/ shop with me/ party with me, is that really too much to ask ?  Obviously it is.

Well whether I am the most likeable person in the world is a different question entirely, at the moment I have a rather negative outlook on life- I'm hoping for change. But this change never seems to come. I am still living with my mother/sister and boyfriend, which is a terrible situation to be in. But when we tried to move out recently we were met by the challenge of finding a guarantor and frankly no-one would or could be one for me- hooray.

I have lots of essays due which I should be doing right now, but instead I choose to write and moan about my life...oh yeh that's why I have no friends.

Anyway, if you seem to have the same problems or know the secret to making best friends, lemme know!

Bye for now!

It has been...a long time

Hiii!

I know it has been some time since my last blog post on this blog...

My apologies, I have been busy (I swear..) I have created another blog on beauty/fashion along with my other about acting. I had fun designing it! Might have to tweak this one a bit now.

Check it out if you wish (If not just  for the design work) !: http://stylisticwoman.blogspot.co.uk/

Well I am in my second semester of University, and today was my first day. Didn't go fantastically I must say. Had a International relations lecture with an Canadian man who I couldn't hear and sounded like a robot (you know Steven Hawkins that kind of thing)... Then that was followed by a woman in my seminar who was possibly one of the most boring/wet people I have had the privilege to be taught by. Then the same old English lectures that, I can deal with!!

However, University has improved since my last post about it, I now have friends...I know it's weird, but I must accept I can have social interactions with people now. Real people.

My course is improving slowly, more information, less, well little bits of useless paperwork. However, I already miss my old tutors, I miss the ramblings of my old politics tutor (he was french and old and very passionate about EVERYTHING to do with politics) and my old International Relations tutor, he was passionate too, and liked to discuss! But I still have my old English tutor, I call him Steven Fry 2, he knows everything, and he knows he knows everything. 

I am still looking for a place to live, unsuccessful so far, the only one I rang up about and wanted to view went the day I was going to see it. Bad luck. I have no money, that is a BIG issue when looking at places, after all, I am just a humble student. 

Another thing, I now exercise pretty regularly and have just started Shaun T's beach insanity workout. Insane is definitely what it is. But it makes me feel good when I have achieved the finishing line. I am aiming high, I want a nice toned stomach, some non flabby thighs/arms, is that really too much to ask? If only God had been kinder to me...

HA, like I believe that, I make my own fate, and hopefully I  can change my body shape!!

Erm, what else....

I'm trying my best not to spend money... telling myself I am not allowed to buy myself any new clothes/accessories..It's hard. Little treats cheer me up. But I will strive on and hopefully by the end I will have more money !!

My hair is changing colours again...it was lilac but it washed out...after one day. So it is now blonde, but hopefully that will change AGAIN tomorrow when I use a Lavender hair dye. We will see, it doesn't seem to like my hair. 

I probably have a lot more I could say, but for now I think that may be enough...

Well good night for now, and like I always seem to say... See you soon!

(Maybe)

(Probably)

(Maybe not too soon) 

Bye for now!! 

Is it right to criticise? or moan?

Moaning.

A word I have heard a lot recently.

Have I been moaning too much?

Is life really as hard as I make it out to be?

Whatever anybody tells me, however much I annoy people... LIFE IS HARD.

My list of problems currently;
1) No money, literally NO MONEY, I am living off credit.
2) The university I am at is lacking, lacking in passionate teachers, lacking in resources, just lacking.
3) I am lacking motivation- I want to write, but I keep changing my mind on what I want to write!!Arrgghhh!
4) I still live with my mother and sister.
5) These are all holding me back.

But of course I must balance this out with the positives....

1) I have a wonderful boyfriend.
2) I am healthy/alive...(to an extent)
3) I'm not homeless?

wow.

Well anyway, looks like I am the moany bugger everyone makes me out to be, but wouldn't you be moaning?

On the upside, I am liking the idea of being the next Tina Fey, writing some fantastic sitcoms or just editing them. I am feeling it combines my acting dream and my writing dream...
But I must get my arse into gearrr!

I suppose feeling sorry for my situation will get me absolutely nowhere...

Back to the 'thesis', I also criticise people a lot, whether we realise it or not we all judge other people. I shouldn't, such things as;

"She has a manly face"
" Eugh that outfit"
"Personally not my taste..." etc.

I suppose that's my womenly side coming out, it doesn't come out often, and I can see why...

Anyway, it has been a while since I blogged and it needed a kick start.
I will be blogging more and maybe posting some ideas up, I would like to know what you think etc.

And if anyone out there ever meets me here is a fair warning that I am a moany miserable so and so !!!

ha

Ciao Ciao!!