The last few days have been a little blur of Birthday-ness – I will share my holiday break photos and stories with you, but today I wanted to share my favourite memories of the past year a la this post!

1. Moving house, and having our first ‘gathering’ and getting to show my friends around The Villa.

2. Running a 37minute 5k…when I didn’t think I could run that far at all!

3. Being offered, and accepting, a job that I love.

4. Making a whole new friendship group in Taunton.

5. Lois coming to visit

6. Teaching my first Boys’ Hockey lesson, and loving every minute.

7. Reaching my target weight.

8. A student telling me that I was going to make a good teacher.

9. And another telling me how much I meant to him.

10. Ordering my iPad as a birthday present to myself (happened this morning!)

There are lots more, obviously but it’s been a good year!

What are your hightlights from the last 12 months?

<3

Sophie

This Lent I’m giving up diet coke. I know I drink too much of it, and although I don’t want to cut it out altogether, I would like to break the habit and begin to view it as a sweet treat again, instead of glugging it daily and rotting my teeth to death!

In addition to this, I am going to run a mile (1.6km) every day from now until Easter. I read this article, and this article, last week, and though ‘how hard can that be?!’ There are 1440 minutes in a day, so I should definitely be able to set 20 of them aside to runa mile. Please help support me with this!

What are you doing for Lent this year? Have you had any massive success stories in the past?

<3

Sophie

How was your weekend? I will be back to fill you in on the holiday soon, but for now there is too much cake to be eaten, presents to be opened and fun to be had!

(WordPress is having a spaz out but imagine nice, colourful, birthday-related picture here!)

Peace out <3

Favourite vacation of all time? As mentioned yesterday, when I was younger I went to South Africa and it was amazing! We visited Cape Town, and I remember being completely amazed and inspired at how laid-back and friendly everyone was. I’d definitely be very happy going back there one day! I don’t know if this counts, but I also spent a month travelling between my 2nd and 3rd years at uni which was obviously pretty amazing!

Favourite running workout? As a general rule, I just run…without a plan. I always feel quite satisfied after running rolling intervals though

Do you track your daily dietary intake? I used to when I was following the Slimming World plan more strictly. I probably still should, at least a little more accurately than I am…

What were you doing around this time 10 years ago? Well, I was 12 years old. Just about finding my way at secondary school – playing a lot of hockey, working hard, and spending all the time I could with my friends (and probably chatting to them on the phone when we couldn’t actually be together!)

What’s your favourite cheat meal? I love chicken fajitas! Spice and cheese and tortillas jam-packed with chicken. Nom nom nom. (Not really overly bad for me, I know, but I don’t really do ‘cheat meals’ as it were, so that’s just one of my favourite meals!)

What’s your favourite memory of 2011? Oooh, I don’t know! Getting my new job and working at the summer school was a big highlight. Also, reaching my target weight, spending New Year with my uni friends at a little ‘reunion’ and the first party we had at our new house.

Have you ever been hospitalized and how were your nurses? Only once, when I was about 13. To be honest, I can’t even remember the nurses :/ (sorry NHS!) All I remember is having a really hot doctor, and being embarassed that I hadn’t shaved my armpits – as if he would have been interested! hahahaha

Do you prefer to train alone of in a group? I prefer to do my actual workout alone, but I quite like having ‘gym dates’ to make sure I get there!

What’s your resting heart rate? I have no idea!

What accomplishment makes you most proud? Most recently, running a 37minute 5K! (I’m still reeling off that one..!) Also, losing my weight, getting a degree and my job, and making my Mum proud of me

Tag 11 people and ask them 11 questions? I am only sure of one person other than John that regularly reads the blog, so Melissa, you’re up! (Big shout out by the way chick!)

<3

Sophie

She has been a massive part of my life ever since the day I met her, and I hope she will continue to be for another 7 years.

Happy Valentines Day Maisie’s Birthday to you too! Have a great one my loves.

<3

Sophie

Here are the rules:

1. Post these rules
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer
5. Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them

Okay, 11 random things about myself, here we go….

1. When I was a kid I used to have a pet barn owl called Willow. We used to let her out to fly at night and one day she just didn’t come back in the morning Other than that I’ve had gerbils, stick insects, a springer spaniel, and now Maisie and my fishcakes (that’s my goldfish to normal people!)

2. The kids at school really make me laugh sometimes at their misunderstanding of the English language. For example – getting mixed up between sarcasm and circumcision, or between forehead and foreskin?!

3. I love to read. I really want to vary my tastes a little more and complete the World Book Night 2012, but it’s happening very slowly because I am always so busy at school, and get so tired that reading before I go to bed is normally the last thing on my mind!

(Source)

4. When I was little, my Mum used to work for a large ferry company, and as a result we always went to France and Spain on holiday. I never flew a substantial distance until I went to South Africa when I was about 14. I wasn’t scared then, but have since developed a fear of taking off and landing in Planes.

5. My standard Sunday morning routine is to get up and read Postsecret with a cup of tea. I have always wanted to send in a secret but have yet to decide on one/actually get round to it.

6.  Following on from number 3, I really want to write a book. I’ve been thinking about it quite a lot lately – I’d like to record my experiences of living in a boarding house full of international students because not only do we have a lot of fun, but some of things they come out with are absolutely hilarious! I just haven’t quite come up with the right ‘stance’ or worke dout how to go about it yet!

7. One of my favourite things to do at the weekends is walk down to Lounge Seco with my Mum and Maisie and have some brunch. Egg and bacon stack nom nom nom!

8. If I were to go on Mastermind, my specialist subject would be Harry Potter. Despite never blogging about it, I love those books! I normally can’t get to grips with books/films about things that aren’t ‘real’, but let’s be honest, how cool would it be to be a wizard?!

9. I love tea and hot chocolate, but I can’t stand coffee. I detest everything about it – the smell, the taste – I can’t even eat coffee flavoured chocolates!! :O I’ve tried, really I have! Mochas, lattes, your standard builders coffee?!! I just can’t do it!

10. When I was little, I always used to go round to my Grandparents for tea on Fridays. After dinner, I would sneak in the the living room and play cards with my Grandad – he taught me to play rummy. He obviously used to let me cheat, but I used to think I was so clever ‘pulling the wool over his eyes’ and winning every week!

11. It has taken me literally days to write this post because I couldn’t think of 11 even slightly interesting things about myself! Does that make me a loser?! Probably. Does this count as a fact? Probably not, but hey, it’s my blog…!

Part 2 (the question & answer sesh) coming tomorrow!

<3

Sophie

Apparantly we can be friends?! Find me here, and while you’re these please explain the basics to me!

While we’re at it, you can follow me on twitter here.

And follow the blog here. Seriously, isn’t bloglovin’ one of the best things ever invented?! So easy to use!

Feel free to plug your own sites in the comments and I’ll check them out

Happy Monday my sweets

<3

Sophie

Back on it tomorrow.

I’m so glad that it’s finally half term! The last few days have been hectic – more to come on that later, maybe…

This afternoon I went to see the latest Spielberg hit, Warhorse. Now I didn’t have high expectations of enjoying it because I’m not really in to war films, or animals (other than Maisie, naturally..!), but it was a-mazing. I really enjoyed it.

I don’t want to include any spoilers, and it’s not really my style to write big reviews, but for those of you that don’t know it is set in the 1st World War, and is the story of a boy and his horse who are split up and their different journeys.

I was only really keen to go and see it because it was filmed literally 2 miles away from my old house, and I wanted to check out the scenery!

I highly recommend it though

Now for a quiet evening catching up with the rugby. I’ve been trying to avoid looking at facebook or twitter incase I see the rugby or United vs Liverpool scores! #needtogetoutmore

Have a great weekend!

<3

Sophie

You shouldn’t have to sacrifice who you are just because somebody else has a problem with it.

Friendships don’t last for years – you have to invest in them.

Maybe the best any of us can do it not quit, play the hand that we’ve been dealt and accesorize what we’ve got.

Happy Friday!

<3

Sophie