What Sophie Said

Happy 30th September! This month has flown by. I know I've fit a lot into the time, but at the same time I just don't know where the days have disappeared to. At the beginning of the month I said that I was going to be trying the Warrior Women September Self-Development Challenge - I'll call it 'the challenge' from now on as that's a bit of a mouthful. It therefore seems only right that on this, the final day of the month, I let you know how I got on. Below is the original list of challenges, and I can say that I've successfully ticked every single one! If you want to know exactly what I did do each day I was tweeting the whole thing (look for the tweets where I've shared this image). So, how did I find it? Realistically, most of the things on this list are things I already do regularly, so maybe for me 'challenge' was the wrong word. It was more a daily prompt to make sure I was staying in the habit of these kind of practices, or ...

Where on earth has September gone? Honestly, the fact that it's October on Sunday is a little scary! Whilst I've not blogged as much I had planned to this month, it's been a month packed with great things and I've been doing some planning to really focus on this space in October... Today, we're here for another reading list. Without fail, I start my mornings reading, and I usually at the moment have multiple books on the go at any one time. For that reason, there will be a fair few of these posts popping up over the next few weeks and months! Mindfulness for Life, Craig Hassed and Stephen McKenzie This really is a sweeping mindfulness manual, covering history, theory and practice. It's all about how mindfulness can become a part of your everyday life, and is far from difficult. It takes practice, but the benefits you get in return are huge. I think this book strikes a really good balance between offering an overview of mindfulness alongside pract...

Since moving to Chester two months ago, wevre been making an effort to explore both the 'things the locals do' and the more touristy side of the city. A couple of weeks ago, we spent the morning at a museum I remember fondly from being a child. I remembered the Dewa Roman Experience Museum was good, I remembered I had been to it, but that was about it. The museum promises to help you 'experience the sights, sounds and smells of Roman Chester', and it certainly delivers. For a fairly small museum, they certainly pack in a lot of information and a lot of interactivity. The experience starts in a darkened ship, with a voiceover telling the stories of Roman Chester, with signs on the wall beginning to set the scene and give you context. There's plenty to look at as you walk through this first section, which brings you to a room with a video screen. Here, a short film sweeps you back through time to the days the Romans walked through Chester, and really capture...

Until early this year, I had never been a traditional 'dieter' or tracked my calories and macros in any way. In fact, I'd count myself as slightly clueless when it comes to the calorie composition of many foods, or how many grams of protein could be found in a meal. I then began a series of sessions with a personal trainer, as I realised it was time to start looking after my body as I was looking after my mind. I'd been told time and again how much of an impact nutrition and exercise could have on anxiety and depression, so it was time to stop making excuses. One of the tools suggested to me by my personal trainer was the popular app My Fitness Pal. It allows you to track your food and water intake and your exercise, and also offers articles on fitness and food on the homepage feed. She emphasised that we were not going to get hung up on calories or numbers, but that because my eating had been affected so badly over a sustained period that it would be a useful way ...

Now celebrating its 10th anniversary, the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool has long been one of my favourite museums. Liverpool as a city is the place to be for incredible museums, but this one in particular I return to over and over again. Situated on the top floor of the Maritime Museum, right by the water, it strikes that perfect balance of delivering lots of information in an incredibly accessible and concise way, with a focus on presenting these things in innovative and interactive ways. My latest trip was just over a week ago, and I honestly think it gets better every time. The museum follows the journey of slavery from its earliest origins and leads right up to ancestors of those slaves living in England - specifically the Liverpool area - today. That's another thing I love about this museum: the balance of the big picture alongside the local stories. There's a huge timeline charting the American Civil Rights Movement, there are stories of experienc...

I cannot stop reading at the moment. I've truly and utterly fallen back in love with reading and tend to have a few on the go at once. It's reading list time again, so here are my thoughts on four more of the latest books I've read... Radical Self-Love, Gala Darling The subtitle for this book is 'a guide to loving yourself and living your dreams', and the content could not be summed up more clearly than that. It's brimming with positivity and inspiration, but everything feels so accessible. I think sometimes when you're being told about self-love by people who have already reached that point of contentment within themselves, it can feel preachy or patronising, or like you'll never reach that place they're at. This book offers the tools you actually need to get there, with a healthy dose of love and support. It honestly made me feel so uplifted and empowered, and I've already passed it on to one of my friends. No Way Back, Kelly F...

I've found a new favourite lunch spot! Each time we've wandered into town since moving to Chester, Urbano 32 has caught my eye. Yesterday, we finally tested it out. Specialising in amazing sourdough pizzas, and also offering a great range of drinks and antipasti dishes, it was easy to see why it always seems to be busy when we walk past. The menu hits that perfect balance of offering plenty of options without being overwhelming, and the menu is written in a friendly style on plain brown paper. The interior of the restaurant has a bit of a warehouse feel, with metal piping holding the lightbulbs and lots of wood and brickwork on display. The outdoor seating proves very popular on sunny days like yesterday. We ordered two pretty different meals to sample a wider portion of the menu, and both meals were a hit. To drink: 1 x apple juice, 1 x apple and mango juice To eat: 1 x tomato, mozzarella and basil sourdough pizza (mine, of course!) 1 x king prawn skewers w...

You know when people make a homemade version of a takeaway or unhealthy favourite and claim it tastes better or as good as the original? I usually roll my eyes at those claims, but I've found something which, while it tastes different to the traditional recipe, is still so satisfying and definitely fits the craving. Naan bread pizzas are now one of my go-to meals if I need something quick and simple, and I wish I could just eat a pizza. While it's not necessarily 'healthy', it's a lot better for you than plenty of store-bought pizzas, and you know exactly what you're putting into your sauce. I combined a naan pizza recipe from food.com with an easy pizza sauce recipe from allrecipes.co.uk, played around with the quantities, and here is the result: For the sauce, you will need: 90g tomato puree 2.5 tbsp olive oil 1 clove garlic, minced salt and pepper 1/4 tbsp each oregano and basil 1/4 tsp rosemary up to 150ml water Mix well the puree and...

Well, here we are again. The first of another new month, and September will always feel like the start of a new year to me. As each year passes and I move further from my school days, I can't shake that September feeling and the need to buy some new stationery. I'm not really sure what happened to August. Now well over a month since moving, we are settling into routines. The weeks feel a bit more familiar and patterns are starting to emerge. Now the work on meeting people and joining new things has begun and will continue to go on. I'm going to treat this September a little like it IS a new school year. I'm going to make friends. I'm going to throw myself into some new clubs or hobbies. And I'm going to push forwards, not look back. For all these reasons, September seems the ideal time for a little challenge. A short while ago, Warrior Women Worldwide was born, created by Ginny Coates and Zoe Hale, with the aim of 'empowering women to...