Location Location Location// Eden Project

Have I already warned you that this is the most photo heavy post in town? Well consider that your warning. So sue me, Sunae convinced me to man-up and practice shooting in manual and I pretty much ran with it. My photography knowledge now stretches to 'moving the dial-ly thing' but hey, I'm getting there! If you haven't yet gagged over my 'ode to Sunae', take a little read here and come on back for some plant photos, a couple of funny looking birds and mostly a little tour around a must-see attraction in Cornwall (and one of the only ones still open in the winter months!)

I've been to the Eden Project a few times now; more-so for charity related goodness or a little browse before seeing a band or two, it's somewhere that I totally overlook and take for granted, living so near by. The great thing about going there though is that so much is indoors (a rarity for a Cornish attraction) and meant that it didn't really matter what the weather was like, Sunae and I could visit and warm the o'l cockles whilst taking our time snapping and nattering. Starting in the education centre, she educated me more on the microbiology more than the exhibition did- I'm sure we had a small group even listening in at one stage. The 'seed' pictured above is an incredible instillation with the most amusing acoustics (when you're stomping around pretending to be dinosaurs like we were, you need great acoustics!)

Beautiful tiles in the Mediterranean biome. I'm not actually a penguin by the way, my TOMS just make me look like one. Can you spot the bird?

David Attenborough eat your heart out. 

Cacti and succulents galore!

I'd just like to remind you (again) that I am using the manual mode on my camera finally and for first attempts I'm pretty proud as punch (even if Sunae and I probably took hours longer seeing everything!) After a spot of lunch (which was super tasty, if incredibly overpriced-it's a tourist attraction so you kind of expect it!) we headed over to the rainforest biome for what became a LOT of humidity that made us go a little crazy...

I spent a good while hunting for these little birds name plaque (like the ones you get with all the plants) only for Sunae to highlight to me that 'birds move around Sophie, there probably isn't one!' I think I dubbed thee, punk chickens.

A lot of craziness later, and deciding as evening descended so much so that it got rather dark, that we were in-fact in Jurassic World, we started hiding from dinosaurs. As you do.

Finally we made it to the end, after being a little convinced that it had actually closed and we were going to spend the entire night trapped in dino-land. *wipes brow*

To wrap up, Eden Project is a great day out for a visitor to Cornwall in winter because it's mainly inside. It isn't cheap but they do offer a locals' pass which is great value for money and gives you access during all the exciting times of year. It's been almost two months since my little dinosaur queen was here and I totally miss her every day. Sorting and commentating these photos has filled me with joy and reminiscence. I'm suddenly back to planning moving my life to Australia again.

Miss you Sunae.

Over & Out

Sophie

Sunae Goes Euro

There's a lady right over on the other side of the world who's captured my heart. In our little community we were all living through Sunae over seven weeks as she bravely, inspirationally and amusingly traipsed herself around Europe. If you haven't followed, head over to Instagram and look under #sunaegoeseuro (which she reminded me that I actually thought of!) and get yourself up to speed with this little Aussie treasure. You may already know her as Little Foal, or maybe you've come across more recently, her midwifery themed blog, Life En Caul. It blows my mind how through writing in this little space on the internet, you can come across real life people who actually are just as great as you hope and think they will be! Ignoring the few who muted 'but what if she's actually a murderer?' I was overjoyed when she told me she'd pay me a little visit in Cornwall-land. 

The best thing about Sunae (and trust me, there's loads- she's a total babe) is that we're pretty much exactly the same. Though she only stayed for three nights, it honestly felt like a lifetime that we'd known each other. Possibly something to do with the fact that we barely breathed for air from talking  so much, possibly because we could not say a word and be thinking exactly the same thing. We squeezed in as much as you can in Cornwall during winter (I'm sure she didn't realise quite how much I meant Cornwall shuts down for winter but discovered this when she couldn't get food past 3pm or cake in the evening!) Still, a few long walks, a trip to Eden Project (which needs a separate post because it's one heck of a photo heavy day!) and cosiness galore, we lapped our time together and when it came to waving her off at the train station like some 50's film noir, I sobbed all the way home (and some!) because it felt like a little part of me had left.

There were only a couple of things Sunae wanted from her time in Cornwall; a couple of new places to take pretty photos of (and ended up teaching me in our own language how to use my camera's manual settings!) The other, to try some traditional Cornish foods. The obvious choice being a delicious and PROPER Cornish cream tea (Jam to cream ratio and layering is important stuff ya'll!) and a proper pasty (which I didn't get a photo of because I blinked and she'd devoured it.) 

There's something really rather special about being so comfortable with a friend who you've only known online,  in real life, after less than 12 hours together, being able to look at each other and say 'Yep, you're in my life for good now.' Making plans for the future together, talking about the past and generally learning those little things that cement a friendship, I could honestly talk about her for days and days (and will most certainly be doing so!) So stay tuned for more Sunae adventures and love letters addressed only to her. 

Over & Out

Sophie.

Oh and if you'd like to know a little more about the super places photo'd above, check out Lanhydrock here and Charlestown here.

Blog Posts to 'Look Out' For.

See what I did with this old photo of me? Blog Posts to 'Look' Out For? I'm so clever! Anywhooty, there seems to be an awful long build up of posts I've saved on Bloglovin because I've loved reading them and I felt that it may be time to share that blog reading love. Some may be a little old now but hey what does that matter? So put the kettle on, snuggle down and have a good ol browse. Who knows, you may find some new friends!

• Sunae aka Little Foal's Casual Spring Outfit post was super lovely and just what I needed after a rainy walk home from work.
• Bee aka Fill my little world's Lessons learnt moving out of home and away from London was refreshingly honest and so well written. 
• Sophie aka onetenzeroseven's Letter To My Young Self, Aged 17 & a Half was really inspiring! I think I'd like to do something similar sometime. It's good to look back. 
• Liona aka Oh! Leona's Spotlight of Awesomeness showed some really cute doggy illustrations! I'd like these all along one wall, like a library of doggies. 
• Rosie aka A Rosie Outlook's 40 hours in San Fransisco gave me huge wanderlust. I had never really rated it 'up there' as a place to go, her post has COMPLETELY converted me.
• Sarah aka daydreams of summertime's Saturday Switch Off makes a good point about how much time we spend watching tv, online etc. It's nice to stop with a cup of tea without these things.
• Michelle aka Life Outside London's The Kindness Project is my favourite blog post of the minute. I actually have a massive girl crush on Michelle and stalk her on a semi-regular basis.
• Emma aka Made In Hunters's A tour around Cornwall had some lovely photos of some lovely areas, definitely showcasing Cornwall at it's best!
• Rosie aka Life's a Cup of Tea's Travel: Blue Lagoon, Iceland, cements my wish to visit there sometime soon! Funnily enough Harps and I were considering it as our next destination just the other day!
• Louise aka Whiskey & Pancakes's #Camptober makes me want to wrap up warm and camp out with a huge fire. Any takers? 

Love Sophie Xx

Wednesday Words #2

Wednesday wishes to one and all. I hope that you're all trudging though the week like the troopers you are! I've had a rather pleasant week so far and unlike many, am rather enjoying that fresh autumn crisp that's suddenly in the air.

I confess, I still have donkey sayings on the brain- seriously how can you not be when you just see this happy fellow? I was really pleased with the response to starting this little wordy based series, and I'm hoping that the lovely Sunae is going to be joining in with some Aussie idioms soon!

"Talk the hind legs off a donkey..."

An interesting phrase wouldn't you say? I expect some people haven't even heard of it? Thats something I'd be interested to find out actually, if there are phrases etc that you haven't heard of? So, after a little fiddling around with google, I checked a few sites (just to be sure) and the most accurate origins that I could find were that it was originally an expression used to show admiration! Showing powerful signs of persuasion, a suggestion that someone could create the impossible just from talking, is now though still admiringly, more likely to be used when complaining about someone's chatter.

And now we know.

Love Sophie Xx

Weird and Wonderful News Wednesday #19 The Fairy Tale Tag.

Wednesday is upon us and it's been a bleddy long day, I'll tell ye. What with the recent weather and all, I haven't browsed the news as much as normal, for once have no idea what's going on in the world (world cup- yawn) and to be honest, it's been quite nice being in a sunny, book reading and gardening kind of bubble. As a result of this, I have no amusing news to share with you, for which I apologise. But my plants are doing super well! Little lavender is sprouting and my hot lips (that's actually their name) is also blossoming. Happy days, I can actually grow something! If anyone has any tips for keeping my aloe vera plant alive though, it'd be muchos appreciated.

So last night, my bosom buddy, Liona tagged me in The Fairy Tale Tag (which is basically a myspace quiz for those of you that did those) and massively loving all fairy tales and Disney related things, that my dears is what I'll be blabbing about today! If anyone else happens to be doing it, let me know! I'd love to see them! 

Snow White - Do you consider yourself beautiful?  Oh what a question, well of course! Haha! Just kidding. It's hard. When I was younger I suffered with an eating disorder, it is something that has never quite left me. I guess it'd be diagnosed as body dysmorphia, but over the last few years it's something that I've been able to cope with much better. I still have days where I pick out the stupidest things- like 'oh my god, what's wrong with the shape of my knees.' Really silly stuff. Are there things I'd change? Absolutely. Are they the things I'd have changed ten years ago? No way. I think we all go through fazes of how we see ourselves. For me, a massive loss emotionally meant that I suddenly snapped out of it and realised that people really couldn't care less about my wide back or my small boobs, life is on a deeper level than that. If it isn't, something more important is  probably wrong. 

Sleeping Beauty - How many hours do you sleep at night?   Once again, a pretty hard question to answer. I get up at about 7.30 every day and usually I'll get into bed at about 22.30 and Harps and I will watch something until about 23.30? I always aim to get to bed earlier, but quite often Harps doesn't finish work until 20.00 and by the time he's got home, we've had dinner etc... It ends up being super late. So probably like 8 hours on paper, but I'm a bit of an insomniac, so probably closer to 6. I'm practicing my mindfulness though to help me switch off at night.

Cinderella - Do you have a curfew?   Nanny always used to say, 'Nothing ever good happens past 2am.'. I think that's pretty true as a general rule. 

Rapunzel - Do you love being outside?  Of course I do! I live in Cornwall! IT IS THE PLACE TO BE OUTSIDE. I'm outside now. I'm not, that was a lie...sorry.

Red Riding Hood - Do you trust strangers easily?   Yeah. I'm really glad no strangers offered me sweets to get into their cars as a child. To be honest, if someone offered me cake to get into their car now, I probably would. Like a sophie bear trap. In my job, there's a certain level of trust that has to be built with complete strangers, so I think that's helped. I kind of have two completely different sides. There's surface sophie (sounds like a cleaning product.) That everyone knows, funny, open blah blah blah...that level comes with a superficial level of trust I guess. I think if everyone knew everything about me, they'd probably be  a bit scared. Surface Sophie is a massive extrovert. Deep cover Sophie (cheers 24 for influencing my life) is as introvert as it gets and very untrusting. There's literally like 4 people I'd go to with actual life problems. 

Beauty and the Beast - What makes someone beautiful in your eyes?  An open mind. Anyone who can be accepting, have a good conversation with and some sort of idea of what they're talking about is more than beautiful to me. I find closed people with no interest in the world around them, other people's views or anyone that doesn't have at least an ounce of curiosity about them is wasting themselves. I'm super curious about EVERYTHING. FEED ME KNOWLEDGE.

The Little Mermaid - What would you sacrifice for love?  My sanity. Just kidding. Pffft. You shouldn't be sacrificing anything for love. It's the most beautiful, natural thing in the world. Saying that, I've sacrificed onions and Mexican food and birds for the Harpster...so maybe sacrifice a few things...fucker...

The Frog Prince - What do you find disgusting?  So much. So so so much. I'm grossed out easilyish. Feet being number one on the list, Arnold Schwartzhisface being a close second. Both are the most frightening and disgusting things in the world. I don't like open mouth chewers...I really could go on for hours...

Jack and the Beanstalk - What plants do you have?  Aaahhh well, see above! I've got some toms growing at the moment and they're doing amazingly well! I have some white foxgloves that haven't flowered yet but I'm holding out hope and a rose bush growing-ish. My other indoor plants, excluding weekly flowers and my aloe vera are my super duper parrot plant, which is probably the best thing I've ever grown...and my peace lily. 

Puss in Boots - Do you have pets? If not, do you want them?  I have the best rabbit in the world. Batman. I also in my heart, still have Polo, my childhood cat, even though he doesn't live with me anymore. 

Pinocchio - What is your biggest wish?  For no more heartache. Ever. And to be a gazzilionaire. Obvs. 

Peter Pan - What is your mental age?  I'm an old head on young shoulders....But also super immature. And childish. And weak like a newborn baby. So that's really impossible to answer.

The Snow Queen - Who is your best friend and what would you do for him/her?  My best friend is Harps. He's the only person in the world that knows every single little, nitty, fucking twisted part of me. I'd carry him to Jupiter on my weak little shoulders if he asked me. I'd bring him all the tea in China if I knew it'd make him smile and I'd probably even consider wiping his ass when he's old and saggy and incontinent....I'm not too sure about that last one...ask me in 60 years...

The Princess and the Pea - Are you sensitive?   I'm actually like a marshmallow of sensitivity. Yes. I cried for three days once when I saw a donkey with his head stuck in a fence trying to get to some grass on the other side...I'm welling now thinking about it. Poor donkey. 

The Brave Little Tailor - Do you consider yourself brave?  On a day to day basis? Nope. I'm a real scary cat. Which is horrid because I like to pretend in my head that I'm really ready to be a secret agent and defend the world...probs not though. In life. Yeah I can be and I have been.

Well how very revealing for a little quiz. I may have taken it all a bit seriously. Maybe I've scared you away. If so, sozages! I tag the very spectacular Sunae, who we should all cheer for because she's got onto her midwifery course! Well done Sunae, we all knew you would! Sophie, because she's my Sophie buddy and I'm sure she'll like this! And ma gurl, Stacie, because she shares my love for fairy tales and Disney and it's pretty fun! Enjoy!

Love Sophie Xx

Thankful Thursday.

Happy Thankful Thursday thankers and non-thankers! I hope that you're all enjoying April so far! Isn't it nice just to be able to say "It's April."...It may or may not have been bleddy cold and raining today though...I realised that I haven't shared my lovely mothering Sunday with you all. Well let me tell you, I'm most certainly thankful for that! I bought my mummy some daffs but in my busy state didn't look and just asked the florist possible moonlighting crack dealer   for the freshest bunch he had....They may have been a little too fresh? I also got her a lovely No7 beauty kit and we went and walked FOUR YES FOUR spaniels. It was wonderful. Then we had yummy roast. Yum yum yum! 

It's been a busy and long old week. I'm pretty stacked out at work. But of course, there's always the time to be thankful. (and I'm getting there with planning my posts.)

1) Bosom Buddies UK- BosomBuddiesUk is a charity that was started by a lovely local lady (Pauline Giles) when she battled and won her own fight with cancer and wanted to help others. A dear friend of mine is doing a firewalk to help raise money for them and any sponsors would really help. I'm thankful to you, Paul Morgan, for helping to fight against cancer.

2) Whaling ban in Japan- I'm thankful that the whales are a step closer to being safe.

3) People holding the door for me- Thanks kind people, you restore my faith in humanity! I'd gladly do the same for you!

4) My glasses- Did I mention it's been a long week? Working in finance means that the end of tax year IS THE BANE OF MY LIFE. Thank you glasses for stopping me from going blind.

5) The series 24- Ok ok, so I know I've missed the train with this one. But thanks Jack Bower for confirming my suspicions that I would make AN AMAZING SECRET AGENT...Maybe with a bit of help to stop using caps lock?

Also, a few of you bloggers have stopped me from going insane this week.

Thanks to the following:

Michelle- EVERY post you write makes me roar with laughter somehow! Most recently being your sexy new work clothes post. I wanna see you get your work wear on!

Sunae- Your post on your illness really made me make this post much less crabby than it would have been. You are awesome and I adore you. P.s. Your new Wednesday Wishlist is AMAZING!

Tanya- I have constant hair envy and I wish I could pose like you do! Your photography is inspiring.

Tracey- Always a pleasure, never a chore. I can't wait to write about our recent adventures when the second image is done!

Jojo- Your post about bunny ears hair scrunchie has made me decide that I NEED one in my life. I'll be getting the sewing kit out this weekend!

And of course, it goes without saying; thank you especially to the wonderful Liona for always being a babe and making me laugh out loud so much that Harps looked up from the tv on your Wednesday Loves post. And to the super duper Lisette for inspiring me to be more thankful!

Have a great week everyone!

Love Sophie Xx

Hey There Thankful Thursday!

Hellooooo again! Welcome to you all to this week's thankful Thursday! I've been really busy recently that the weeks just seem to be flying by! I'm ready for the weekend that's for sure! 

This week I am thankful for;

• THE SUNNY DAY OFF I HAD! It was like a magical vortex had sucked me up from this doom and gloom weather that IS Cornwall at the moment and I got spat out into this wonderful spring time, fresh, glowing world, that actually scared me a little because I didn't know whether to trust it...Do you take a hat or not Sophie? Ooohh the conundrums! I didn't and was fine by the way!

• Creme Brulee....Because it's amazing. Fact. (My brother made this actually. I went to eat at his restaurant on this sunny, magical day with a magical lady friend and felt ever so fancy being a 'lady that lunches') P.s This burger was fricking delicious too!

• Batman. Bless him, he scared himself and fell down the stairs the other day. *shakes head* (I'm genuinelly amazed that he hasn't killed himself yet.) And though yes, he did survive, he was in a very bad mood that evening. So the next day, I got him a lovely gift of hay ball stuffed with spinach and a juicy pear. It sure cheered him up!

• New blogger friends. There are some blogs that I love and am becoming slightly addicted to. The only thing I find hard is catching up on so many! If anyone has any tips, they'd be greatly appreciated! Some that I'm loving though are; Life Outside London- Michelle is super nice and has the most ADORABLE puppy! Everyone loves Miss Jojangles- Well because everything Jojo does is just amazing. True story. Little foal- Sunae is just brilliant. She's definitely one of my most addictive bloggers to read. She's just a delight (and I know she's not feeling great, FEEL BETTER SOON SUNAE!) All of these ladies are more than worthy of your attention, much more than I am anyway! Hahaha! 

As always, there are two lovelies who not only are blogger superstars, but inspire me to be extra thankful. Good evening and thank you to Liona and Lisette.

Love Sophie XX

*Drumroll please...* HAPPY THANKFUL THURSDAY!!

Good evening fellow thankful people in the land of t'interweb. I hope that you're all having a glorious day! I didn't. Haha. This cold weather sure is making me Mr Grumps. I just can't warm up no matter how hard I try...Must be too tired *sigh*..I currently write this to you all under a T-shirt, jumper, cardigan AND blanket...Maybe I was just made for the sunshine...

Anywhooty, I am still just as thankful as always this Thursday;

1. Rainbows: When my Nanny died, there was the brightest rainbow I've ever seen in the sky. Lots of people say that actually. I like rainbows because I like to think that Nanny is saying hello. Also I think that it means another wonderful person has passed away an left a gift in the sky.
2. My new wall motto! It's above my bed and Harps slaved putting it up on his day off because I INSISTED that it was up so that I could be thankful for it! Hahaha!
3. This snazzy jacket. Which so far everyone that has seen it, pretty much hates it. I feel like a Scottish detective in it! ;-)
4. THIS LADY RIGHT HERE. She makes me uber thankful always. (Especially my cute reminder to not forget Thankful Thursday!)  I love this picture, and in celebrating of  "Thankful Thursday" AND "Throwback Thursday"....(Which one is it? Thursday is a busy day to be online!)...I wanted to share it with you. Here's Liona giving a rawwww and me showing off my shark teeth :-)

And as always, a humongous thank you to Leona and Lisette for inspiring me to be more thankful! 

P.S. Have a look at my fellow newbie to Thankful Thursdays, Sunae, she's also a rep for Arbonne, the amazing line I was talking about yesterday and quite a bit of a babe!

Love Sophie XX