What Sophie Said

Since moving to university, I've never been settled in one place for very long. For many reasons I've hopped around, but that's meant I've been living in a very temporary frame of mind for about five years. I've moved from York to Darlington to Cheshire to Stockport to Macclesfield to London to Cheshire to Chester. All since 2011. Whilst some have been clustered closely together, they've still been moves. I've never felt like the place I've moved to will be home for the foreseeable future. Moving is stressful; anyone who has ever moved house will tell you that. But for me it's not so much the moving that's been an issue, even though that hasn't been easy. It's been that sense of unrest I've felt whilst living there. For various reasons, each of the places before my current one was temporary. It might have been because of the time span of university, or because of an uncertain job situation, or because I was t...

I'm not a huge film person and go to the cinema fairly rarely, but it's something I'm working on changing as I'm learning to appreciate it much more. Yesterday we spent the afternoon watching Goodbye Christopher Robin and I'm so glad we made the time to fit it in. I saw Margot Robbie talking about it on the Graham Norton Show and couldn't not go along and see what she was talking about. Goodbye Christopher Robin tells the story behind Winnie the Pooh. In a post-WW1 world, happiness is hard to find and people begin to find it in the pages of children's stories written by A A Milne. Created based on his own son and toys, and on time the pair spent together, the stories blur the lines between truth and reality. It's a fascinating story, an interesting insight into England following the War and a beautifully told story of a little boy who wasn't allowed to ever grow up properly. I knew very little of Milne's story, and I think this was the perf...

Willy Russell's 'Blood Brothers' is an iconic show for so many reasons, and the current touring production is possibly the best I've seen yet (this is viewing number three in the last ten or so years). The show is currently on its 30th anniversary tour and arrived at Storyhouse in Chester for a week, which is a stunning venue and a perfect home for the show. Visually, the productions I've seen have all been very similar, with the staging very consistent, so it's the actors who make up the cast that make the difference to the show. It became very quickly apparent that they've selected the best of the best for this tour. Blood Brothers has long been one of my favourite shows, and even when read on paper is fantastic. On Tuesday evening, those words were lifted off the page in the very best way I've seen yet. Act One was laugh-out-loud funny and packed with heart, and Act Two was raw, gritty and heartbreaking. There's a lot to pack into one evenin...

Today is World Mental Health Day. There's so much I could write, but on a day where so many are sharing such powerful thoughts, words and stories, I'm going to keep my message short. I speak very openly about my own mental health journey because I believe it is the only way to start breaking down those walls and letting other people know it's ok to talk and to ask for help. My message today: You know your own mind. You know when you're not ok. Even if to the rest of the world you may look like you're fine, or far better than fine, I know you could be fighting a huge internal battle. Maybe it's not huge; maybe it's a few small feelings, but you can sense they're building up over time. Maybe you've noticed a few small habits or behaviours that you know aren't healthy. You know yourself better than anyone else, and you know when something is wrong. If something is wrong, however 'silly' you're worried you may sound, ...

In August 2015, I packed my bags and moved to the big city. Just over two years on, I'm happily settled back up north, in beautiful Chester. My London journey was a complicated one. A lot happened, and it really challenged me. However, out of those challenges and out of the many great things that happened whilst I lived there, I know I learned an awful lot about myself. Why did I move to London? For those that know me, and certainly those that knew me at the time of moving, the move was unexpected! I had been spending regular time in London both with work and socially and I think I got swept away in the excitement. Couple that with the fact a job opened up at a company I had admired for years, and it seemed like the time to take the leap. I honestly think another big part of the motivation was exactly because of that fact it wasn't expected of me. I had spent years putting myself in a box of what I thought I wanted, what I thought made me happy and what I thought mad...

Recipe time again, and this time it's another salmon recipe because it's still one of my favourite ingredients. I was lucky enough to have this made for me (after it had sat in my notebook waiting to be made for ages) which I'm sure made it taste even better! I found the original recipe on littlespicejar.com, and we paired the salmon with simple veggies and some sweet potato mash. To say this was a flavour sensation certainly wouldn't be an exaggeration. It was absolutely delicious and will definitely be on the 'make again' list. For the salmon, you will need: 4 salmon fillets (or, in the original recipe, 1.25 lb salmon) 2 cloves garlic, minced salt and black pepper 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning 2 tbsp lemon juice 2 tbsp cold butter, cubed 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes Preheat the oven to 375F. In a pan, combine lemon juice and minced garlic, then when reduced a little, add in 1 tbsp butter. Remove from heat and swirl to start to melt butter. P...

October. The tenth month of the year. I'm quite a fan, I've got to say. Not of the fact the evenings get darker or that the weather isn't the best, but I do love the changing leaves, the autumn colours and the jumpers! Can we just get one thing straight though? I hate Halloween. Genuinely, I have really strong feelings about it. That might be a topic for another day but I can't cope with the amount of tweets I'm seeing today about the fact Halloween now apparently lasts the whole month of October? Not for me, thanks. To me, 31st October is my dad's birthday and nothing else! He's coming over with mum a few days before for lunch. Before that, we've got a wedding to go to, a couple of weekends away, numerous things planned with friends, a trip to see Blood Brothers... And alongside that I'm starting my new role. I'm sure I'll talk about that more at some point but for now let's say I've taken on a new part time role that I...