What Sophie Said

Happy birthday, little blog of mine. I couldn't believe it when I realised that my blog started three years ago today. I've certainly not been consistent, and I've fallen in and out of love with it, but it's been mine for three years. This year, that consistency is going to improve. I find writing so relaxing and am determined to do more of it and document my year. In January, I posted on this blog 28 days out of 31. I'm not saying I will continue to post almost daily, but I wanted to really commit to making the content on here more regular. So that's what I'm doing. I have so many posts planned for the next month and beyond and can't wait to continue this routine of writing and sharing more often. A lot has happened over the last three years, and I want to make sure that the years ahead are ones where I collect even more memories. The fourth year will be a good one.

The return of the blog means the return of my monthly challenges, as they were great motivation last time. Having just returned to this little corner of the internet, I thought I’d get September off to a strong start, and blog every day for the month. I’ve seen lots of my favourite bloggers do similar things over recent months and years, and I think it’s a great way to challenge myself and get back into the swing of things. It will also hopefully help to guide me in the direction I want my blog to be heading in. The creation of lots of different posts will reveal the things that are on my mind and that I feel most comfortable writing about. So there we have it. Day one: DONE. Only 29 to go…

Sometimes when it gets to teatime after a week of work, simplicity is the key. A few weeks ago I tried out this really simple chilli beef and bean tortillas recipe, which I originally spotted in Sainsbury’s magazine. With a couple of adaptations, here’s the meal we ate: To serve 2, you will need: 1 red onion, sliced Olive oil 1 small garlic clove, crushed 250g lean mince 400g kidney beans in chilli sauce 100ml water 4 flour tortillas Grated cheddar, and anything else you want to serve with In a large pan, fry the onion in a little olive oil for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and mince, stirring until the meat has browned. Add the kidney beans and 100ml water, turn the heat down and simmer the mince for 20 minutes. Towards the end of the 20 minutes, griddle both sides of the tortilla wraps. Serve the chilli topped with grated cheese, wrap into the tortillas and enjoy. This was beyond simple, and is so fi...

My name is Sophie, and I buy FAR too many magazines. That would have been my confession just six months ago. For as long as I can remember, I have loved the world of magazines. The glossy covers, the beautiful images, that mixture of beauty, fashion, life and advice. Monthly magazines, gossipy weekly magazines, it didn’t matter. I loved them, one and all. Looking back at the amount of money I must have spent on magazines over the years actually now makes me shudder. When you consider your average glossy monthly is around the £4, and I loved far more than one of them… Then, about six months ago, I graduated from university and ‘real life’ begun. I moved back home whilst job hunting, and began work in September of 2013. I realised more than ever that I needed to watch my pennies. Don’t get me wrong, I learned a lot about budgeting at university, but it took starting work and earning an actual salary to really make me think. Flicking through the November issue of a popula...