MY RELATIONSHIP WITH MY PHONE

My relationship with my phone has had its ups and downs. Sometimes we're joined by the hi...hand, other times I can easily go without checking it all day. I'm sure a lot of you are the same. What I find interesting is going from my first flip motorola when did it happen our phones weren't just a phone, but instead our life? All stored on a little device. 

Although my relationship has got to the point where I'm really not on it as much as I used to be - countless hours of procrastination in the library might be to blame for those endless hours on it? but it still remains my third arm - just slightly more detachable.

I'd well and truly be devastated if my phone got lost or stolen - thank god for iCloud so not all would be lost. Regardless though, I really would be upset/lost. Now, is that healthy?

Like I said, phones aren't just phones anymore, in fact the thing I do least on my phone is actually ring anyone. It's your music collection, your games, your connection point with social media, all your photos aka memories, and your conversations with your nearest and dearest (and co). In this digital age its your portal to just that.

The positive and negatives of this is clearly endless. Some people's relationship with their phone is probably the most committed relationship they've ever had. But in a world where AI (Artificial Intelligence) is a threat to jobs within banks, is it time to accept that phones are just a new limb?

I'd love to know your thoughts!

Sophie xx

THE PRESSURE OF TIME

The pressure we put into a change of year, season or even day is fascinating, for what is wrong with now? With the idea of time and how we idolise it in order to achieve so much is something I've never really put much thought into. Until now...

It wasn't till the other day when I saw a tweet basically saying they can't wait for summer to be over, as with a new season comes a new vibe etc. they're going to be happier. Now firstly, upon us is autumn...that cold weather isn't making me feel any vibe anyhow, this tweet really made me think and realise how much pressure as humans we put on a change in time.

You'd be lying if you havent said 'I'll start the diet on Monday' and it's just Tuesday. This outlook and attitude to how a new week can bring a positive attitude and motivation is intriguing, for I personally believe socially we have accustomed to expecting a lot from a new week, year or even season. I just can't help but wonder why not now? How have we become so accustomed to waiting for a new day, week, year or season to change our ways.

Don't get me wrong I feel the same sort of newness a new season, year, day etc. brings, with the idea of starting from fresh. Is this outlook in fact negative? As why are we always waiting when we have now?

This pressure on time won't be changing anytime as I think it's in our blood to say 'the diet will start Monday'. Personally I'm going to be trying to stop myself saying it and just instead live now, and not in a weeks time or till the new year hits. 

Sophie xx

MY HONEST THOUGHTS ON THE CONSUMERISM BLOGGING ENABLES

I personally believe there is a very fine line between needing and wanting something. A line which is actually very blurred. Unless you sit and think about it, you really can't easily decipher whether seeing your favourite blogger in that dress you've been eyeing up is in fact a need, or just a matter of want?

One of a few reasons my blogging took a halt these past months is due to the never ending consumerism blogging enables. Now it's clearly down to the self control of the person (spoiler alert: I had none). Simply being involved within the blogging community and just being on social media makes you deep down want the latest trends yet in reality you fully feel as though you need them. This for me meant I needed to take a step back, with my student budget not quite covering all my rent, life and an unnecessary amount of clothes I apparently needed to then only wear in a blog post and never make use of again. It was time my wardrobe stopped growing.

Living in this age of endless obsessive consumerism is hard. Scrolling through Instagram often leads me to scrolling through ASOS or Topshop, bringing me to my next item of clothing I apparently need when trying to justify why I'm even considering getting another jacket when I don't wear the ones I have now. 

Now don't get me wrong *reality check* I do not have the greatest willpower, I am still fairly impulsive with buying clothes and I still spends hours online putting things into my basket (only now I have to have a stern word and make myself exit the tab or app before I press 'continue to check out'). 

It's not easy but since actually thinking whether I need this or want this it makes a difference in my consumerism. FYI I am all for treating yourself and indulging in things you want - just personally for me not at the obsessive rate blogging encourages with fast fashion and trends coming and going like buses. 

So, to round up this little ramble, my honest thoughts on the obsessive consumerism blogging (for me) enabled isn't all that positive and once you take a step back and really consider if you need that dress of want that dress, you might just find you buy one or two dresses' less. 

Sophie xx

LIFE | 2018

Hello, it's me, I'm back. Again. And as if it's 2018?! I'm pretty sure it was 2016 like two weeks ago.

Sooooo, this year I think instead of resolutions I'm going to instead look at how I can improve myself generally and not just focus on one specific thing.

1. First up, I'm going to try and be a better friend. Now don't get me wrong I'm not a bad friend. BUT I find myself very easily consumed into day to day life and not make plans till plans are way overdue. SO, one way I'm going to better myself is actually make plans with my besties.

2. This second one is a tad daunting to even think about but...it is officially the year I graduate. With that, I really want to finish with the best grade I can and wether I go onto to do a Masters or get a job, just do my best to do well in whatever I chose to do.

3. The final one is that cliche one you can't help but hope for when a new year comes but I really want to be happier, 2017 brought a few new low points for me and I really want to spend more energy on positivity than negativity, which I've been guilty of not doing in the past. SO, I strongly believe 2018 although being the year in which I'll no longer be living with my two besties *crys* can and will be a bloody gooden'.

So there we have it my three ways and wishes that'll make 2018 better than the last.

Whats your guy's new year new you mottos?

Sophie xx

LIFE | MY TRIP TO AMSTERDAM

 Hello lovelies!

Earlier this month I was lucky enough to go to Amsterdam for a long weekend to celebrate my mums 50th birthday (yeah I know Amsterdam with the parents?! surprisingly hilarious). 

Having never been before I didn't quite know what to expect, however I was not disappointed the city is incredible. I was also lucky enough to stay in the ohmygod Kimpton De Witt hotel - honestly, google it its amazing, the free wine between 5pm and 6pm make it all the better too. 

Personally for me I didn't go to Amsterdam for the sole purpose that many people in their twenties do - weed - having no interest in the stuff whatsoever. So, instead I actually enjoyed the sites and culture.

I won't bore you with the ins and the outs but a couple highlights of the trip was firstly, how insightful the Anne Frank Museum was and which has since inspired me to buy the book feeling ashamed I for some reason never read it as a child. 

The next highlight could be pretty strange seeing as I went with my parents but the Red Light District was a definite highlight. If you know my parents they're pretty damn funny so walking round and sitting in bars in such a place with them was hilarious. The best recommendation for you all is the Old Sailor pub in the district - lets just say - the BEST people watching in the world goes on through them pub windows, need I say more?

On the other hand, unless you love canals (unlike me) I wouldn't recommend the canal cruises so strongly. Let's just say I paid 11 euros to have a solid half hour nap on an hour cruise, to which my sister kindly took photo evidence of.

Have any of you guys been to Amsterdam? What did you think?

Till next time,
Sophie xx

UNI | THE 3 THINGS I'LL MISS THE MOST

With my third year being in almost full swing now, and the word dissertation looming just that little bit more also comes the thoughts of what the heck I'm going to do when it's all over. Which lead me to thinking about what I'll miss most when it's all done and dusted.

1. So, first things first, I'll miss my best friends. Katherine and Monique aka my little chickens. I didn't come to uni expecting to meet two better people. Firstly Kat whose put up with me from day dot and then Mon who was the best friend we didn't know we needed till she ended up moving in with us in second year. Even the thought of us this time next year not living together makes me want to cry. So yes, seeing my favourite lil chickens everyday will be one of the things I miss most.
2. The freedom. Moving away from home is weird, you're just one day fully independent - no having to do the dishwasher or be forced into walking the dogs. So yeah freedom to do whatever I want whenever is up there.
3. The spontaneity. I'm going to miss the random nights that myself, Kat and Mon share in the kitchen. With us trying to be nice to each other for 5 minutes and not lasting 5 seconds, to the random dancing and singing and all those girly chats. I'll also miss the spontaneous trips to the pub, and the random last minute decision to get drunk playing card games in Harry's room on any day of the week (come back Harry). 

So there we have it. The three things I'm not quite sure how I'm going to live without when uni is officially done.

STYLE | MY MUST HAVE WINTER COAT

Hello loves!

So I finally had time to go do the autumn cliche of visiting a 'pumpkin patch'. However, the so called pumpkin patch I went to in Norfolk had more squished up ones than they did whole ones so that wasn't great. Anyway, to the post...

Alas with cooler weather coming to play I could finally wear my all time favourite coat (I never thought in my life I'd be wearing a pink teddy bear coat but here I am and loving it). Since I'd bought it from Topshop a month ago (it's already no longer available?!) I've wanted it to be cold enough so I didn't melt to death whilst wearing it so thank god it's finally feeling like autumn as I'm quite literally obsessed. 

I decided to keep it simple with the rest of the outfit as the coat really does the talking lets be honest. So I went for another favourite Topshop item of mine, the gingham top which ties at the waist and just some black Joni jeans.

What other styles of coats have you guys been obsessing over so far this autumn?

LIFE | THE HARSH REALTIES OF LIVING ON A STUDENT BUDGET

Hello all you lovely gals and guys. 

Today's post is a ramble on my personal experience of coping on a student budget (prepare for a large amount of complaining)

For those who haven't gone to uni or are about to, you might think that I must of known I'd be living on a student budget for 3 years so why complain? but trust me when you're initially setting off to uni whilst money is somewhere in your head it's certainly not a priority. Personally my brain was more focused that I was about to go move to a city, and into a building with hundreds of people I'd never met.

So first year...a word that sums up how I survived is overdraft. Boy oh boy was that a good friend of mine by the end.

I'd decided seeing as I needed to settle into a new city the last thing I also want to be stressing about is also settling into a new job so I decided not to get a job this year. I figured I could survive off of my student loan and savings...fast forward to Christmas and I'm deep deep in my overdraft. Semester two certianly called for some sort of budgeting (which of course didn't last...).

I've never been good with money really, for some reason it burns a hole in my pocket and I think my obsession with shopping is something to do with that. So from being comfortable with a part time job at home, and having money to buy some of the clothes I wanted,  to be able to go for a meal if I wanted, to suddenly have the reality check I can no longer do that hit hard. 

If I had advice for any first year it's to not blow all your money in freshers and actually attempt to budget. For me personally, the summer between first and second year the amount of hours I worked to get myself financially stable again wasn't all that fun!

Fast forward to second year...it was time I got a job. Which I did, I worked at my local Topshop in Cambridge. Getting a job there was one of the best parts of second year because I got to meet some of the best babes ever, two of which blog themselves go peep Charlotte at iamcharrloteolivia and Sophie over at sophiefoskett.

Anyhow, so yeah not only the people were fab but payday was also. But me being me now worked in Topshop which meant most of my wage went there...but without having a job in my second year I wouldn't of survived! So whilst being finically stable and not having to become friends with my overdraft again I still to this day have a spending problem...

So to finish of this post here's a list of the top 5 harsh realties every student faces when living on a student budget...

• Not being able to order takeaways whenever you please. The worst is when you're hungover and all you want is a dominos but your bank account just won't let you.

• The guilt. To a degree shopping isn't as enjoyable as it used to be for now every single time I buy anything (even a weekly shop) I'm filled with guilt and dread that £15 is about to leave my bank account and I'm left feeling guilty for picking up an expensive pack of grapes.

• A lack of luxuries in your life. The holidays, the massive spending sprees are a thing of the past for a while. Which is very depressing. 

• Not being able to give back. For me I LOVE buying presents for people for no reason at all, and this becomes a rare occurrence when surviving on a student budget. As a weekly shop is probably a little more crucial than that top for your mum.

• The trade off. For many students I think we've all at one point or another had to do a trade off. For example, I buy that dress I really don't need instead of doing a weekly shop, and end up eating pasta for a week...When this starts to happen it's when you know times are tough.

So there we have it, the harsh realities of living on a student budget. Although at times it's very testing. I love uni and whilst would love a lot more money wouldn't change it for anything.

Here's to hoping I survive my final year!

Thanks for reading xx

P.s I reached 900 followers Monday and I want to thank all 916 (current following when typing this) of you for following me and reading my blog! It's very much appreciated xx 

LIFE | TIPS ON FINDING YOUR CONFIDENCE

Hello all! 

So today's post is all about confidence (if you hadn't figured by the title...). For me confidence was never a thing that I had, I knew that and accepted it. I think it wasn't till just before I went to uni that I actually began to feel 'confident' - thank god.  

Confidence for different people can mean different things and therefore defined by different things. For me confidence is positive feelings towards myself, my body and mainly a belief within yourself, which in turn makes me more 'able' to do more things.

STYLE | DARE TO DOUBLE DENIM

Double Denim. Otherwise previously known as a fashion DON'T. 

However it's 2017 now and the days where myself and probably many others wouldn't dream of 'double deniming' are gone. Alas, it's socially acceptable (not that that would stop me anyway...).