Let's Go To The Beach-each, Let's Go Get Away

Hello, 

It doesn't feel right writing this post, it's pouring down with rain and I've just gotten soaked walking from the bus stop to the flat after uni. 

I find it hard to believe that just a few days ago I was eating ice cream on the beach, frolicking in the waves and watching the sun set over the coast. However I shall share this adventure with you anyway (mainly so I can reminisce on how much fun I had). 

Once upon a time, it was very sunny in Edinburgh, it felt like summer was in the air, people were smiling and birds were singing. After a few rather average hours at uni, we did not imagine what we would soon be doing. There was Jack, Khalid, Hannah and myself. As expected, we pilled into the car and we were off to Tesco before being dropped off at our flats. After raiding Tesco for sandwiches, juice, sushi, bananas and butternut squash (Jack!) we headed back to the car where plans started to fly. It was such a lovely day so we all thought we better make the most of it rather than sitting inside. 

We went from going on a walk, to 'shooting some hoops', climbing Arthur's Seat or going to Deep Sea World. Then came the winner a day trip to North Berwick! 

So we were on our way. North Berwick is not too far from Edinburgh, it took less than an hour. We parked up before we reached Berwick and went for a stroll and Jack was determined to go crabbing (no crabs to be found).

Pit stop en route

In the car Hannah was telling us that top of the list of things to do in North Berwick was to visit the public toilets. I know this may sound weird but all over their walls are awards for cleanliness and standard of facilities. I, of course, had to pay them a visit and they were the best public toilets I've had the pleasure of using. 

We explored the quaint little streets and browsed the charity shops; and noticed the high volume of dance music CDs on sale!? North Berwick appears to be the Scottish Ibiza.
Next on any visit to the sea was ice cream, cones in hand we headed for the beach. Sun shining down warming my face, ice cream, sand in between my toes and the soft roar of the waves...BLISS! 

Group Picture

It was as if we were children again, having races along the beach, doing handstands and paddling in the sea, which was freezing, just a little reminder that we were still in Scotland in March. After a while it was time to discover a new area. We then went to what I can only describe as a swimming pool, outdoors, full of sea water. I think it's so you can swim safely rather than in the great, vast sea. It was lovely, the water was so still. Hannah and I walked around the edge of the pool to the other side while the boys got all artsy with their photography. 

I LOVE this photo, all credit to Jack! 

This is so perfect because of the completely unsettled water, mirror image 

As it got a bit colder and the sun was starting to go down we skipped along to the harbor, where the boats were moored to get a better view of the setting sun. It was so peaceful and calming gazing out to sea and admiring the fiery sun descending before us. We must have sat there for a good hour and a half and perhaps pretended we were on the Titanic. 

Don't let go Jack! 

Boats and Hoes 

It was getting late so we made one last pit stop, the chippy, then sat on the wall by the car to eat and get our final glimpse of the coast. Then it was time to hit the road and get back to the hustle and bustle of city center life. 

A lovely day was had by all, it was a great way to momentarily forget about the stress of work and looming deadlines. Sorry for the overload of pictures, North Berwick was just too picturesque and they all turned out so nicely with the rare Scottish sun. 

Peace and Love, 

Sophie. X 

OOTD, Rain & Lunching

Hello,

I haven't started my university 'Live Project' yet, that's the 17th of February, so I have been a lady of leisure since being back in Edinburgh.

On Wednesday my friend Jenna and I decided to go for a little lunch date on her break from placement, which just happens to be on my street. 

We picked the Red Squirrel on Lothian road. It's a cute little place with nice food and pocket friendly prices. It is absolutely freezing in Edinburgh right now, and yes I am discussing the weather, how quintessentially British of me. Luckily it's only a 5 minute walk but it was a horrible trek through the strong winds and fighting off the lashing rain, but somehow we made it. 

Once inside we settled into the alcove seating area near the back, we got our drinks order taken, 2 pints of diet coke please, and scoured the menu. They have a delicious looking breakfast menu served until 12 on weekdays and later at the weekends. I'll have to go for brunch one day, French toast with bacon and maple syrup um helloooo! 

The menu consists mainly of burgers of all variety, Jenna and I decided on chicken burgers having dismissed the soup as it was spicy lentil, not a favourite of ours. I chose the tandoori chicken and Jenna the blackened chicken. They both came with fries and a small dish of red cabbage coleslaw which is delish! My burger was topped with a mint yoghurt, caramelised onion and rocket. It was super yummy and best of all the bill only came to 23.50 for the two of us, best of both worlds. 

I underestimated as to how cold it really was outside and the fact that it was raining, meaning that my outfit choice was rather inappropriate for the weather but oh well. I wore my favourite blouse that I got for christmas a few years ago and I still love it. It is from Warehouse. I love the pattern and colours of the blouse, it has small silver buttons and 3 silver studs on either side of the collar which make it a bit more unique.

 I paired it with a basic grey cotton t-shirt from zara, it was a normal length when I bought it but it somehow shrunk a bit in the wash so I altered it to be cropped.

I wore my favourite jeans ever, I have 2 identical pairs, from Topshop, Joni super high waisted. They are a really nice blue colour and not exactly denim but very soft, stretchy material. These jeans are so easy to wear, during the day and I even wear them to go out in the evenings paired with a nice top or camisole and a statement necklace.

I finished of the outfit with a gold chain (Primark), my skull embroidered smoking slippers (Zara) and a black leather jacket (Topshop).

      

   

       

 All in all a nice lunch date with a good friend, what could be better than that! Any recommendations of other good lunch spots in Edinburgh that are worth a visit?

Peace and Love,

Sophie. X 

Popping Bottles

Hiii,

So January is the biggest birthday month in my calendar, with over 5 of my closest friends and family celebrating their births. 

My sister, Livvy, turned 23 this year but she was in Aberdeen so sadly didn't get to see her. However I did send her a nice card and the new Bridget Jones book. 

Jenna, my friend from uni, a youngin' like myself turned 20, no longer a teenager! We celebrated by having a nice birthday dinner in the flat, tasty chilli, homemade guac, our favourite (Sally makes the best ever), doritos, cake and champagne. It was a lovely night to relax and gossip all together. 

Jenna making a wish

                                

Mummy's birthday is on the 24th. I went home to see her, I cooked her supper as a treat; fillet steak, hand cut chips, asparagus, and garlic mushrooms with a peppercorn sauce. DELISH. This was then finished with chocolate soufflés all washed down with lots if champagne and wine. 

It was also my good friend Sarah's 21st the same day as my mums. For her birthday I drove up to Aberdeen, where she's from (we met at uni in Ed), on the Saturday afternoon. We popped out to buy some decorations and drinks, then set up a little party in her flat, which was great. 

Cocktails,cupcakes and chocolate strawbs

                                 

After a few hours in the flat we headed to Amicus Apple, one of my favourite places for food and amazing drinks. There is one in Aberdeen and one in Edinburgh, definately worth a visit! Here we had more champagne and cocktails, try a twizzler, one of my favs, it's pink and comes with a lolly and flying saucer, oh and it's delicious! 

                                      

Our Twizzlers being made, (Photo from Amicus Aberdeen Facebook Page)

After that we headed to Nox, a well know club in Aberdeen, where Sarah had a table booked and the partied the rest of the night away. It was a great night had by all. 

Having a little pose 

                                        

Me with the Birthday Princess Saz 

                                             

Then there is my birthday on the 30th. I am just having some people round to my flat for pres and might head out afterwards, tonight. I'm not the biggest birthday person, they don't bother me too much so I'm never that worried about having a big celebration or anything. I will be turning 20, I am the baby of the group and always have been even at school. 

So farewell teenage life, and hello adulthood I guess, let's see if I feel anymore grown up? I highly doubt it though haha. 

Peace and Love, 

Sophie. X 

Stress, Cocktails and Candy Canes

Hi everyone,

After a ridiculous amount of work, stress and comfort eating I have now officially finished uni for the year. First semester of third year complete. I am not going to pretend that it was easy, I really noticed the jump in the work from level 8 (second year) to level 9 this year. I have spend a sick amount of time in the 'Kilby' my universities 24 hour computing center. One day I went in at 3pm and didn't leave until 10am the next morning, yep I spent 19 hours dying over a report that I had already started before this point. Let's just say that spending that long at uni makes you go a bit weird, well more than usual.

I have an OCD when it come to revision notes... 

I had 2 exams, one on the 13th and one on the 16th, they weren't awful but they weren't the best. But as my mummy would say 'what's done is done' I can't change the outcome now so there is no point worrying about them now.

After the exam at 9.30am on Monday, there was only thing the girls and I wanted to do and that was go for a tasty lunch and cocktails. We are students and don't have endless amounts of money but it was time to treat ourselves.

We decided to go to Candy Bar on George Street. It is one of my favourite places for a bite to eat in Edinburgh.  It's very reasonably priced for it's location and the food is delicious. We all settled on big fully loaded burgers (£5-7), Shona and Sarah had double cheese and bacon, and I had the Mexican, which was full of cheese, guacamole, sour cream and jalapenos. YUM. Being naughty little girls we also shared 3 sides; onion rings, chicken flat bread and mozzarella sticks, all which were really nice.

Tasty treats for the girlies 

Since it was a celebrations and the start of our Christmas we had to have cocktails, after all Candy Bar is all about the cocktails with an extensive drinks list to choose from. First we all had Candy Cane Swizzles, I can't remember what was in them, but they were delicious and had a candy cane in them to make them festive. Round 2, Shona had a classic raspberry mojito, Sarah had a 'call me maybe' which came in a huge goblet and tasted delicious and I had a 'Pop Ya Collar' which tasted just like bubblegum, so amazing. Cocktails are all around the £7-8 mark, not an everyday activity but it was a party after all.

Later on that day, Sarah and I continued with the pamper theme of the day and got our nails done at my usual spot, 'Total Nails' near Haymarket Station, not to expensive and the Taiwanese lady who runs it is so nice. We both opted for my favourite, gel nails extensions and glitter tips. (see instagram for picture) I love having nice nails, just makes me feel more girly and make my hands look a bit nicer. I also like going to this salon as it offers a 20% student discount, so my glitter set is £28 instead of £35, which is quite a saving, glitter is more expensive than just a colour, but I just love glitter and sparkle.

We then went and met some of our friends from uni at the Standing Order back on George Street for some chill time and chat before everyone head homes for Christmas.

I had a great day and finished it off my watching my first Christmas film of the year, The Grinch, all snuggled up in my bed with my twinkly fairy lights on. Perfect end to a great day.

Yay, holiday time. 

Lots of love, Sophie. X

Eat. Sleep. Rave. Repeat. Part 2

Sunday 9th of June

Last proper day of the festival. Started the day as we did the one before, everyone knows that festivals revolve around alcoholism and relaxing in the campsite. Today we took it slower, we enjoyed just sitting on the embankment looking out to the main stage, we also went and saw a comedian. I can't remember the comedians' name but he was from South Africa, he was rather unPC and crude but at points it was hard not to laugh or crack a smile.

The rest of the day I can't remember exactly what we did but just flitting between the arena and our tent and hanging with the guys. I do know that we all stayed out super late that night and just enjoyed the company as it was our last night and everyone would be leaving early the next morning.

Monday 10th of June

The bus was leaving at 10am, we got up in time, but as it neared 10 we were rushing a bit. We ended up regrettably leaving our tent as it was covered in so much food and drink and we were cutting it fine time wise. Luckily on the way back to the bus our bags were a whole lot lighter, but the walk was still quite far, we feared that we may miss the bus but we made it with 2 minutes to spare. The bus ride home seemed to go on for hours and hours, the air con was so cold as well. It was fair to say that both Sarah and I were ropey as anything, not the best journey in history.

Finally back in Aberdeen we parted ways, happy and hanging after the most amazing weekend.

There were so many things that happened that I couldn't write them all down, or maybe I wouldn't want to!? It was a weekend of boozing, meeting new people, chatting to strangers, listening to amazing acts and soaking up some sun that would rival the Mediterranean. All in all unforgettable! Even if I was still suffering the effects for about a week after. It was so worth it. Rockness 2014 anyone?

Happy Chappy

Getting Inked

This is Stuart and 'Only God Can Fudge Him'

Best views from someones shoulders

Looking worse for wear, he doesn't look most pleased...

Eat. Sleep. Rave. Repeat. Part 1

Thursday 6th of June 

I began my pilgrimage to Rockness. I got the Megabus, oh yes luxury travel, from Kinross up to Aberdeen where I would spend the night at my sister's flat. Once in Aberdeen I met up with Sarah who I was going to Rockness with, and we went to get our supplies from trusty ASDA.

 About an hour later and £100 down we were stocked up; sandwich ingredients, crisps (our favourite thing), water, some extra bits and pieces, and the most vital component ALCOHOL just a little bit though (2 liters of Vodka, 1.5 liters of Gin, 2 bottles of Mickey Finns, 4 bottles of Caribbean Twist). Oh and some apples just to cancel out of the bad things!

Friday 7th of June  

Sarah and I were getting a coach from Aberdeen to Rockness which left at 10am, crazy early I know, and we arrived at our destination just after 1pm. I am not joking when I say our bags were heavy! I though my shoulders were about to fall off! The layout of the festival had changed since last year and the walk to the campsite was a trek and a half, but after several pit stops, a lot of complaining and "I can't do this!" we made it and set up the tent.

I haven't mentioned the weather! I know it's North Scotland I'm talking about but this weekend was a scorcher I mean HOT! Felt more like Spain that Scotland.

Having set up our tent and sat down for a drink (on our pink kids camping chairs) some guys we know from uni came to see us, which then resulted in them carrying our tent, fully made, across 2 campsites to their area.

In our new home we sat down with our new neighbors, knowing basically none of them, and drank, as you do. Everyone was so nice and we had a great time sipping on koppabergs and gins. Despite only being there for a few hours, the boys were all getting a bit pink from the sun, I was loving the it, basking and hoping for a good tan.

Friday night is not 100% memorable for good and bad, boozing played a role and the loss of both Saz's phone and purse was not too good!

We saw a bit of The Vaccines, enjoying the view from some strangers shoulders and later on Above and Beyond which was absolutely insane!.

Saturday 8th June

After a longish lie in (10am), the sun was beating down on the tent and it was getting unbearable, so we got up, changed and ready, went outside and slowly worked our way onto the alcohol again. By this stage we had gotten to know some of the guys we were camping next to which was good so we could chat and chill in the sun.

ULTIMATE BETRAYAL- this was the day, the one person I was so looking forward to seeing was playing, the legendary Steve Aoki. I wanted to be caked, his trademark. We had planned to go to the arena to see him, as we headed in loads of people were coming out saying how amazing he was. Turns out the act before Steve didn't go on so he went on early and we didn't know, I was more than annoyed that we weren't told.

However later on we watched Fat Boy Slim, he may be 'older' but god was he amazing! EAT SLEEP RAVE REPEAT the most memorable song from his set and the catchphrase of Rockness '13.Sarah and I were loving life near the front, jumping around having so much fun, the crowd got rowdy and before we knew it, the both of us were at the bottom of a pile of people. It was rather scary, the weight of at least 8 people on top of you, and it hurt, Sarah had immediate bruises to show it, but people were really good at helping us up and asking if we were ok, but as soon as we were up we were knocked down again. After the second squashing, holding hands we gallivanted out of the mob, laughing all the way. Once we were out we sat on the grass and just couldn't stop laughing, gin makes it all seem fine, we got out fine with a few, large bruises but that's all that matters.

Friday we also went on the iconic Ferris Wheel which gave us an amazing view across the Loch and the festival and seemed much higher up that it looked.

We then hiked back to the tent village to chat and drink late into the night.