Hiatus. A Catch Up In Photos.

noun, plural hiatuses, hiatus.

1.

a break or interruption in the continuity of a work, series, action, etc.

Good morning friends! Happy Mother's Day to all of you that have produced little (or big ones!) If you're not following me on Instagram (SOPHIELOUISEANNE) then you may not have seen much of me recently. Still too afraid to use Twitter, seriously someone help me, I thought it'd be nice to have a little catch up in Instagram-land. 

Walks in the woods have featured almost once week.

I've taken out a small mortgage to fund my Lush obsession and been having all the baths that I've actually transformed into a raisin like creature.

Feeling moody and pouty. What Instagram's made for?

Read this little number by Matt Haig and though didn't find it particularly helpful for myself as I'd thought from the reviews, I do think it's a pretty great read for people that have someone in their lives suffering from depression and anxiety. 

More trips to National Trust lands have been encompassed by cake and chocolatey drinks. Also, this book is amazing. I'll be posting a little book review list later in the week but it's by far the best book I've read in a while.

Batman and I dressed ready to rob a bank, or be ninjas, or hide in the shadows....or be goths.

Cover me in lavender all day please.

I should read this every morning. I've recently shared my first ever quotes on Instagram...inspiring ya'll since 2016.

This wonderful woodcarving of Neptune is on my walk into Charlestown and I always pass by without much thought. It's incredibly intricate though isn't it?

Getting home to lighter evenings home fills my heart with joy!

Arty beach photos. Of course.

Making steps towards my new career as a bee keeper. 

Morning snuggles with this little guy, who's in his favourite spot at the end of the bed.

More books, more treats. Stoner is a great read and a vintage classic. 

Pretty floors in Truro library making me swoon.

Seeing all the fire skies which make early mornings and late evenings almost acceptable.

I genuinely used to think that oil slicks were called floor rainbows....They should be.

Covering up a RIP in an actual book that I own! My drink leaked in my bag and ruined a part of this lovely read. SAD TIMES PEOPLE.

So yeah, it's been mainly reading and wintery walks in my life over the last six weeks. Feeding the soul. How about you all? Let's catch up!

Over & Out

Sophie

A Week With My First DSLR.

Black Friday got me. It's the first year I've ever succumbed to the insistent advertising and made the brave purchase of our first proper adult camera. Harps and I have been talking about upgrading a Kodak digital camera that we've had for about six years now for a while. With lots of exciting times coming up next year; our wedding and honeymoons, friends weddings, friend's babies and so much more, it just seems like the right time. Harps needs a better camera for his bike riding and I need a faster one for catching photos of that little ball of black fur that scurries around my house. 

Having a few days off gave us a chance to get a few festive jobs done; a visit to the barbers for a beard trim, pottering around Harps's grandparents garden, movie nights on cushions on our front room floor with Batman, baking all sorts of cookies, biscuits, gingerbread people and mince pies, foraging for goodies and this cute little spaniel who's my parents rescue dog. She's a daft one.

So here's to learning to use my new camera - A Nikon D3300 with 18-55mm lens and 50-200mm zoom lens incase you wondered. Any tips for new starting photo taking people would be muchos appreciated!

Over & Out,

Sophie.

November In Photos.

Psssttt...Winter has arrived friends. November is a funny old month; when leaves finally fall after hanging on seemingly impossibly for weeks, that darker, colder morning is hard to adjust to and the days seem to be swept away. I'm sure I probably haven't actually done that much during the month but it seems to fleet by nonetheless. My favourite photo of the month (which lets face it- all are Instagram snaps) is celebrating my seven year anniversary with this bundle of winter beard above. 

• My best friend was in an actual magazine for FOUR pages. It was the most brilliant of articles and you should check out her handmade knitwear winter discount here! 

• I ran around with the messiest hair pretty much all month. And wore the same scarf almost every single day.

• Local art in my local town. I walk past this all the time and never stop to look. It's quite great really!

• Dared to get the smallest pinch of festivities rolling in the house by buying this pretty little poinsettia for a whole pound at Lidl!

• Spent a Sunday sat up at the bar like a proper lad and put the world to right with a lovely friend.

• Started The Great Gatsby. It's all very grand! And invested in a snuggly wooly blanket that totally had to be bought being reduced from £59 to £17!! 

• Had one pretty stripes and snazzy sunrise! Look at that palm tree making St Austell look all fancy. You ain't fooling St Austell.

• And had a bitterly cold morning that was only made slightly better by this view over Truro .

• Baked for the first time in actual months. I wanted to get a little practice bake in before starting the festive treats and this banana, honey and blueberry loaf got pretty good reviews! 

• And finally, spent some time being an utter weirdo with this creature. 

I'm desperate to find some new and exciting people to stalk in this darker days, send me all the links to all the people! 

Love Sophie Xx

For Readers, Growers & Photo Takers.

I probably should have come up with a snappier title for this post, it's pretty much a little catch up of what I've been up to and discovering over the last week or so. You may remember a little over a month ago (isn't it weird that we're only a couple of months into the year but we talk about how fast this year's going?!) I posted about my reading list for 2015. I ventured into my local TkMaxx last week and came across a whole SIX Nick Hornby books for £10! I really couldn't resist even if it did mean almost snapping my arm taking a photo of my new list of books to read. I'm currently still re-reading 'To Kill a Mockingbird;' inspired by the recent Harper Lee controversy but I'd better crack on and get started on some of these new ones! Has anyone read anything on my book list? I'd love some recommendations on what to start next! Or maybe one of these books is currently stacked up, waiting to be read by you? If so, let me know and we could read along together! 


My wonderful gift selection from Leona for my birthday (which is always the best birthday gift selection!) Included this lovely little porcelain plant pot and pack of forget me nots' which I started growing about a week later to cries of Harps shouting 'They won't grow, you're planting them too early." Well shove this in your face fecker, they have just started to sprout over the last couple of days and I'm very excited by all their germinating and growing and stuff! New house plant high five to you all! 


I also have started to buy little bits here and there for our wedding next year. I have the theory that if I buy the odd bits throughout this year, the financial tornado won't completely fuck me over next year. Great plan right? So I've been collecting a variety of thank you cards, from robots to hand drawn illustrations (who says everyone needs to get the same design?!) and last week I came across this brilliant company online called PrintKlub where you can get your Instagram or Facebook photos printed into polaroids. It was really a good price and I want to make a little display at our wedding, after a few clicks they were ordered. I was delighted when just a few days later, the adorable box that they came in arrived, showcasing my fancy little polaroids that were great quality. I'm super impressed and will definitely be using them again! If you fancy ordering some yourself, you can get €5 off by using the code SOPRUQ!

Lastly, how brilliant is pancake day? We gorged ourselves on all the pancakes and it was delicious. What's your favourite topping? 

Love Sophie Xx

Location Location Location: Roche Rock & Hermitage.

It never ceases to amaze me how the brilliant photographer (and my very good friend!) Tracey finds such beautiful, local places for us to head out and take some images. After a much needed catch up, we arranged to take a little trip outside of St Austell to Roche Rock for a little photoshoot. 

I'd had a nightmare of a day due to a clumsy plumber flooding (and I really do mean flooding) my bathroom floor/hallway and was in a right panic, that the fresh December air was just what I needed whilst waiting for the house to dry out a little.

I hadn't heard of Roche Rock and enjoyed getting another mini history lesson from Tracey as we set up for the shoot, after hearing some of the tales of the location, I couldn't wait to find out more! 

Roche Rock and hermitage has many myths surrounding it; from being known for it's haunting activity and religious historic roots, the rocks themselves are a natural phenomenon and mystery, thought to have been created some 270 million years ago. The chapel or hermitage itself was actually built from grey quartz and black tourmaline, withstanding the elements since the 1400s. Though dedicated to St Michael in 1409, it is believed (though still not completely known) that the chapel was used for religious or sacred purposes for years before, the rocks used for thousands of years even prior to that.

One of the fascinating stories take us back to the days of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, it is said that Tristan (or Tristram), the nephew of King Mark, was sent to Ireland to fetch the King's bride-to-be, Isolde. The couple 'accidentally' sipped a love potion (obviously) and became besotted with one another. Needless to say, O'l King Mark wasn't best impressed and they took refuge at Roche Rock, possibly at the hermitage or chapel at the time.

Another tale is about Gundred, whose father was a leper. As such, he kept himself away from the local society, and protected her by living in the chapel and becoming a hermit. She however, tended to her father by carrying him to a holy well, just a mile from the rock itself, this became known as St Gundred's well, and is still there today! 

Today,a beautiful hidden gem to walk, climb or take photos but it really does have a mysterious feel to it, that I could almost believe the haunted tales, even in daylight!

Love Sophie Xx

Travel Tattoos: Rome.

Good afternoon Friday friends! How are you all coping in this cold spell? (Unless you're Sunae, in which case you're on the beach, having a blast!) You may remember last month Harps and I celebrated our six year anniversary! You may also remember that we added to our travelling tattoos during our time off- well here they are! Harps decided to get 'When In Rome' just below his collar bone, embedding his favourite phrase to say whilst were away forever. I decided on a roman labyrinth  on the back of my neck- it is straight, just really hard to take a photo keeping upright! 

What do you all think?! 

Love Sophie Xx