Random facts about Sophie

I bought a new laptop earlyer this week; a Sony Vaio again. So far I really like it though I'm not yet too fond of the new home screen with the Apps. The idea might be great but I'm used to my own system of how I have my stuff on the desktop so that I can access what I need quickly. So I don't really need the homescreen.

As my external harddrive went haywire when I tried to copy all my stuff on it I moved everything to the new laptop with my 8GB USB... Which took ages and so far I don't felt like moving my itunes...

I will spend the weekend with friends for a huge crafting session which is quite good as I need to work on my christmas picture. Otherwise it will be the third christmas in a row where I try to finish it on time and fail.

Only three weeks till THE event of the year - which will also meen two superbusy weeks.

As we'll need tons of cake for THE event I'm currently having a small bakery at home... Plan is to have 3 lemon drizzle, 3 lilly cake - still haven't blogged about it... - two carott cakes and two cheesecakes. Beside the cheesecakes I will prepare everything in advance and freeze it. Good that I have such a big freezer!

I'm a massive Starbucks lover. I love the busy atmosphere and for me it is a creative place as I often craft there witn friends.

Wednesday Music

Todays wednesday music is about one of my favourite pianists; Russ Conway. I could listen to his music almost all day every day. And one of the videos even have cats in it... What more do we want on Wednesday evening?

Sophies week

*film/series* Nothing besides youtube videos

*book* How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you

*song* some piano background music

*craft* stitched on a birthdaycard for a friend

*food* Pain au chocolat. My favourite cake. Fruit salad. Spätzle. Sandwichs. Gnocchi. Mac'n'cheese. Tiramisu. Sushi.

*drink* Tea.

*done* Did some office work. Spent a lazy morning at home. Been annoyed by my computer. Had my hair cut. Spontanioiusely went out for a meal with my bestie and her boyfriend. Visited my parents and met my grannies, aunt and uncle. Meet some friends.

*met* My family. Bestie with boyfriend. Some knitting friends.

*bought* A new powder brush. Ordered a new laptop. Ordered a shirt.
*thought* That it is high time to get a new laptop as the other one crashes all the time.

A small walk and weekend plans

Already Saturday evening and actually time for bed, but I need to get some office thingies done and want some distraction ;-) As I always distract me instead of doing the things and then have the rest of the d ay for myself. Welcome to my world...


Yesterday the weather was really nice and warm. Too nice and warm to go from A to B by public transport. So I walked some meters, along a small stream and watch ducks.

Tomorrow will be a busy day... Meeting friends in the morning and then having lunch with my parents, sister, both grannies and an aunt and uncle. If it turns out the same as the last time my aunt visited us it will be more a funeral than a party and my Mum and I already make jokes that the only decent thing for us left to do is getting drunk....

So here are some pictures from my nice, small friday evening walk.

Sophies week

*film* Young Victoria

*book* The Supremes at Earls Diner

*song* June Carter Cash songs (and discussing her voice with my dad)

*craft* Worked on my christmas cross stitch.

*food* Marmelade glaced ham. Spaghetti Carbonara. Caprese. Soup.

*drink* Wine. Tea. Hot chocolate.

*done* Went into town with my bestie. Had my parents over for lunch. Spent some lazy evenings.

*met* My parents. My bestie.

*bought* Tea pot. Box.
*thought* That I hate to battle with my internet conection.

Tea with Sophie - or my recent shopping

Yesterday evening, my bestie and I met in town and went to Spencer Tablewear (if you live in/near Zurich, check it out!) which sells tablewear that is no longer produced. They had some pretty nice things. I was looking for a teapot but they had none which I liked.

When we left the shop I saw another one next door, Pourtoujours, and told my bestie that I want to go in there. Which we then did. The first thing I saw was THE teapot. When we browsed the rest of the shop I could just control myself in time to not buy more. But I'll go back. They have some very nice things, tablewear, pillows, napkins, glasses and kitchenstuff, plus some vintage furniture. And good shops like that are hard to find here in Switzerland.
They have a lot from Danish lable Green Gate and somehow, Green Gate has something with the name Sophie as it is on quite some of their things... So I really wanted to have all of it just cause of the name.
When I googled the lable later I realized that the teapot is also called Sophie!

Beside "Sophie" I bought a box for teabags which was reduced as the glass is missing. I'll use some nice fabric to substitute the glass and will fill it with bits and bobs.

As we're already talking about shopping, I made a photo of all my shopping of the last two or three weeks.
The darling owl tumbler won't be for coffee but to take my porridge into work should I go up too late and don't have time to eat it at home.
The two candles in "Musc Angelica" and "Bergminze und wilder Lavendel" are from Cachet. "Musc Angelica" smells a bit fruity and sweet while the other one smells as its name indicates of mint and lavender.
Lush Skindrink is my new favorite skincare product along with Fresh Farmacy. Since I use it I don't have any dry spots in my face and don't feel greasy after using it.
As the skindrink was not expensive enough for a stamp on my little, yellow card, the shop assistant asked if I don't want to buy a bath bomb and I decided to get the charity one, "World Peace"

Sophies week

*film/series* Yes Minister Series 1

*book* The strange journey of Mr Daldry (Marc Levy)

*song* My autumn-playlist with some oldies. Brighton in the rain.

*craft* stitched on my deckchair picture which should apparently show the beach in Beer.

*food* Lemon and poppy seed muffin. Vegetarian sushi. Spaghetti Carbonara. Tiramisu. A wonderful brownie. Cordon Bleu with chips. Porridge

*drink* Tea.

*done* Went for a daytrip with my sister and granny. Meet my knitting friends. Established some new routines. More or less stayed in my Weight Watchers points all week.

*met* My parents. Some friends. My granny. My sister. A friend I haven't seen for ages.

*bought* 2 candles. A coffee-to-go thingie.
*thought* That you should check if there is a parade on the only street leading to where you want to go before going there.

Wednesday music

Today is a rainy day, so here are some rain-related songs ;-)

Sunny afternoon

I really enjoyed this sunny afternoon off. First I went to the mall for the not so enjoyable reason that I had to bring my camera for repair as I smashed it on a walk. Then I went into the bookshop, forget about all my don't-buy-so-many-books plans and bought The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Strange Journey of Mr Daldry. The second just because Brighton was mentioned in the summary. I than had a nice half an hour at Starbucks, starting to read. On my way home I left the bus a bit earlier and walk home over the fields and promptly ended up laying in the grass, munching blueberries and listening to my favorite laying-in-the-grass-eating-something-nice-and-doing-nothing song; Hoppipolla. I'm in love with the song ever since my sister and I listened to it while we hung out on Fulking Hill, eating pistachias and talking about Lord of the Rings - just an hour or so before I fell on the way downhill and smashed my camera by the way.

 

And there is the soundtrack for the whole thing ;-)

Random facts about Sophie

I was sick last weekend and though I would maybe have felt better when up and about I decided to stay in bed almost all day. Problem was that I couldn't shake this lazynes off on Monday and consequently didn't managed to do anything all week...

I'm quite proud about how the weekend is going so far. I cleaned my whole flat yesterday - not even postponed hovering today, which I normally do - and now it is only after nine and I'm already up, dressed and having breaky with freshly washed hair and polished nails.... 
These last weeks I always stayed in bed till almost noon when I had no plans for Saturday morning.

My Dad helped me hang up the new catnet last weekend, so I can finally let my catties out without fearing that "Bamse" might escape. We already used it quite much, I let him stay out while I went for a walk and also had the door open all night. it was a bit annoying these last weeks to always fear that he might find another place to slip out.

In and around Zurich next Monday - or sometimes only the afternoon - is a public holiday due to "Knabenschiessen", a traditional shooting match. Hence the name "Boy's shooting" girls are nowdays also allowed to participate. I'm happy about half a day off work ;-)

My new neigbourhood still astonishes me every now and then! When I put my newspapers out for collection I didn't found a pile of newspapers at first... Till I noticed that they were neatly and nicely piled up between two bins. In "my" old house everybody just piled them up carelessly and when the whole pile fell to pieces it was somebody elses problem...

I do miss England! Very much at the moment! My sister is no help, as she is in the same state and keeps sending me texts like: "I want a Pret-breakfast" or "I wish I could go down to the beach, sit in a deckchair and watch seagulls"

Weather report says that today is the last real summers day of this year, so I will enjoy the afternoon on the balcony. But now I must be going to get all the things done I want to do today.

And as there was no music on Wednesday, here is my this weeks favourite.

Wednesday music

What about a new category on this blog? Music? I love music! Who doesn't? 

So I thought I'll share some random musical facts about Sophie ;-) and a song or two.

My favorite music of all times is Country, mostly Johnny Cash, June Carter and the Carter Family, but also other artists.

I listen to Gold 945 and Juice 107.2. Every now and then it is also BBC Scottland - cause of their lovely accents - or German radio station SWR3.

The last song I bought was "I can't decide" by the Scissor Sisters.

My best friend and I do have "our song" which is "Griechischer Wein" by German singer Udo Jürgens. We heard the piano version of it in a restaurant and it took us ages to figure out which song it was. Ever since we call it "our song"

I associate books with the music I listened to when I read it. "Saving Ceecee Honeycutt" belongs to the Puppini Sisters, "City of New Orleans" belongs to my favorite book of all times and whenever I hear "Call me manãna" by Scooter I have to think of Valencia and Jacqueline Auriol cause I read about these topics when I heard this song.

My first CD was from Kelly family... I'm ashamed... The second was Spice Girls.

I love the soundtrack of "Amelie" and "Mrs Dalloway"

A piece from the "Mrs Dalloway" soundtrack is my all time earworm, together with Manamana.

Can't get them out of my mind at the moment.

Always great! I do love Travis.

Sophies week

*film* Mrs Dalloway

*book* My Policeman (Bethan Roberts)

*song* A lot Johnny Cash stuff.

*craft* Nothing....

*food* Mash. M&Ms. Sandwiches. Chips. Lemon Cake. Pasta with my favourite sauce.

*drink* Beer. My favorite tea.

*done* Been very tired and unmotivated. Worked on our town fair. Been annoyed by some people there. Surfed a lot. Did some shopping.

*met* My parents. Some friends.

*bought* Flowers. Ordered a dress.
*thought* That some people can go on my nerves so hard!

Things I miss from the UK

I guess all of you know that. On holiday or while living abroad you discover nice food and when you're back home you miss it. I have this problem with quite some things from the UK. For example I miss Pret-à-manger. Really miss it, though I guess I found a way to substitute some of their sandwiches. I miss cookies, the chocolate chips one from Sainsburys, the Lemon-Merengue from M&S and many others. I would be so happy to walk into a shop and get some Cornish Pastry or a cheese swirl thingie - don't know how they're called, these pastry-thingies with cheese.
And I miss quite some baking or cooking ingredients like golden syrup or custard powder.
So I tend to stock up on some of these things when in the UK and always travel with a decent stock of tea too. But luckily there is Britshop.ch, which delivers some UK food thingies. Of course I can't get everything I want from there - no Pret... - but it is a good supplier for the small bits and bobs on misses.

So last Sunday I ordered some things and got them on Thursday which I think is quite quick.  I also stocked up on my favourite tea, though in the days between I ordered and got it delivered I found both of them in our local supermarket!

The two teas and the Eclairs are things I really miss here. Then I thought some real British vinegar would be nice as I'm really into chips with vinegar at the moment. Golden syrup for baking and
Ploughman pickles for cheese-and-pickles sandwiches. The poridge will hopefully help me cope with our cold office during fall as I could just stuff them into the microwave and have something war for breakfast.

Random facts about Sophie

I love baking! My current favourite is Lilly Cake, a plain, a bit old fashioned chocolate cake which is a family favourite.

At home, my mum is the cook while dad does the baking. He makes the best Lemon drizzle cake. 

I read a book that is set in Brighton this week. It was so nice to read and know where all the places are.

I love local colour in books anyway. So I try to put as much as possible into my own writing.

In most of my short stories somebody dies. So my mum said I should try to publish them under the name: "Of death cases and other cases of (bad) luck."

My granny once told us that she prays that  people she doesn't like will go to heaven soon. When we told her off her answer was: "I'm praying for them to go to heaven. What's bad about that? I could also pray for them to go to hell!"

Am almost off to our town fair today. It is no big business, but there are so many people i know. Will meet my mum an sister, first deliver some Lilly Cake - what else? - to the stall of Mums knitting group, then walk over the fair, chat and maybe have lunch somewhere. Tonight I'll have to work two shifts at a stall which is always very good fun.

Pillow case to peg bag

At the moment I'm very much into crafting and DIY and into upcycling. The upcycling, however, has more to do with the fact that I have an idea and want to do it right then, than with upcycling itself. When I just want to get something done that moment and  can't run around for supplies I have to make the best out of what I have at home.

I do own a peg bag. A very simple, boring, store bought one. Nothing special. But I actually need two as I hang a part of my laundry downstairs and the rest on my balcony. The peg bag I had in my flat was so far just a bag; a paper bag from Lush to be precise.
I was thinking about making a peg bag for a while. So on Saturday when I finally dealt with the last messy place from my moving I found a pillow case from Cath Kidston. It is pretty cute with roses, but I won't going to use it as a pillow case anymore as it is for a 35cm pillow which I find too small. Later that day, I gave the peg bag project another thought and remembered the case. In my wardrobe I found a matching clothes hanger and there we go.

All you need is a pillow case (best not bigger than 35 or 40 cm unless you want a really big peg bag) with an opening at the front and a hanger for a skirt, one like these. Plus scissors, a scale and a pen.

Find the middle of the pillow case and make a tiny cut. Just as big to get the clothes hanger into it. Insert the hanger into the pillow case, making sure to stretch the case neatly with it and then move the hanging part of the hanger - don't know how this thing is called, don't even know if it has a name - through the hole. Fill with your pegs and enjoy hanging up the laundry.

Lemon-thyme chicken

I love lemon and thyme. They're my favourite seasoning. There is hardly nothing I cook without thyme or bake without lemon. In fact, whenever a recipe requires vanilla sugar I use a decent amount of lemon zest instead. So when I came across a recipe for a lemon-thyme sauce for chicken I knew that this is the right thing for me. As I lost the recipe before I could try it, this is my own version of it. I'm quite sure that there was no wine in the original one, though I think it just adds a little bit more taste. As if there isn't enough from the lemon.... I have to warn you; if you're not seriously into lemon, don't cook it. It is very lemony and quite sour. But soooo tasty.

For two servings:

300 g chicken breast, sliced

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 natural lemon (1/2 teaspoon zest and half of the juice)

100 ml sour cream

50 ml white wine

50 ml water

1 teaspoon vegetable stock powder

Ca. 5 gr thyme

pepper, salt

Fry the chicken in the olive oil, season with a bit salt. Mix lemon juice, sour cream, wine, water, stock powder and lemon zest and add to the chicken. Simmer for two or three minutes and allow to reduce. Season with thyme (I used about 5 grams fresh thyme) and pepper.

Serve with rice or Ebly.

Sophies week

*film* The Gathering Storm (well, parts of it. Which is ok as I know half of the movie by heart anyway)

*book* Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban. My Policeman (Bethan Roberts)

*song* Hard Rock Candy Mountains by Pete Seeger

*craft* Peg bag. Some mini-diy (picture, camera strap). Worked on my deckchair cross stitching.

*food* Cheese cake. Ice. Potato salad. Chicken with lemon and thyme. Sandwich. And other rubbish.

*drink* Lemonade. My favorite tea.

*done* Crafted. Went for a tour on the lake with friends. Took photographs. Cleaned out my make up. Enjoyed the cooler weather. Went crazy on the Brithshop homepage.

*met* My parents. My sister. A lot of my frinds.

*bought* Hair colour. Cards.
*thought* That the week wasn't as bad as expected... 

 

Picture-frame tray

I while ago I saw a lovely tutorial for a tray out of a picture frame. So I decided to get a tray for my coffee table. I won't need it to carry heavy stuff around, so I don't know how stury it will be in the end. But I'm sure it is pretty useful on a coffee table as a nice "underground" for all my stuff. And when I get tired of the colour, I can just change it.

I decided to not add the glass back into the frame as I fear that it might get scratched. So I might just have to take the fabric out every now and then to wash it, but as it is so quick and easy to assemble it back together it isn't too bad.

You'll need (I used my picture frame as a guidline, but of course you can take any size you want and just add 2.5 cm seam allowance to all sides)
picture frame for a 30*40cm picture. Fabric 35*45 cm.
Tools: Iron, scissors, stapler, maybe yarn and neadle

Cut the fabric to the right size and iron it. Lay the part of the frame that will be behind the picture on the backside of the fabric. Fold the seam allowance over the edge and iron flat (as seen on the photograph)
When you want to go the extra mile and will add the glass you can stitch the edges together. If you won't add the glass and might have to take the fabric out and wash it every now and then, you might just want to staple the edges together.
Now assembly everything. Glass inside the frame if you like, fabric part inside the frame and just close it up. If you won't add the  glass, iron over the fabric again once everything is done to make it lay flat.

There you go. Ten minutes of work - or even less - and you'll have the perfect tray.

 

Thats how it sould look when you sew/staple

Sophies week

*film* Die harte Schule der 50iger, the German version of "That'll teach em"

*book* Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban

*song* some Elvis-songs

*craft* an elephant picture. A very quick picture-frame-tray. Started on a pillow.

*food* Pastry with pork, apples and ham. Ice, cream and original meringue. Mars ice cream. Baked potato with tuna. Salad.

*drink* Beer. Red wine. Peppermint tea.

*done* Crafted. Slept a lot. Been lazy. Did a lot office stuff. Been glad about some nice, cool weather.

*met* My parents. My sister. Granny.

*bought* Some stuff for my flat at IKEA.
*thought* That I'm not looking forward to next week...

Random facts about Sophies cats

Somewhen this week - Thursday? - was Cat-day so I decided that this weeks random facts aren't about me but about the two furballs living with me.

They're a bit older than a year - I don't know who is older, but I always think of him being kind of the older brotehr - and live with me since December last year. They're from an animal shelter where they grew up together (they're no siblings, just good friends)

He is named after a character from a childrens series and got that name before he moved in with me. She was called Falballa, which I didn't liked, so I renamed her after a song my sister and I were listening when we went to pick them up.

She is normally called all sorts of "mouse" and "mousy" and "little mouse" or also "owl" as she has big, yellow eyes. He is "Kosebamse" which is the Norwegian word for teddybear, but most of the time shortened to "Bamse"

He loves water and hangs out in the bathing tub when there is still some water in there after I had a shower. He also loves cuddling - hence the name Kosebamse. Oh and he likes thundersturms, sitting on the balcony watching them! Well, this might just have to do with the fact that he loves to be on the balcony so much that a little noise can't put him off.

She loves her pink ball, being brushed and food. She seriousely purrs when she is eating! She also has her favorite pillow, which she drags around the flat so that she has a comfy place to sleep wherever she wants to. And she gets crazy when I eat cheese and cries till she gets some as well.

Ramdom facts about Sophie

Hi everyone!

I decided to change Sophies Friday to Random facts about Sophie. Like that, I can also post them at any other day during the week whenever I feel like it. Due to events out of my control - well, almost... - I wasn't able to post yesterday, so there they are on Saturday under their new name.

Well, let's start.

I have settled in my new flat, like it very much and it feels like I have been living here for ages. Gave back the keys to my old flat this week and not felt sad or so. There are still some things to be done in the new flat, but for the moment it is ok and I'll take my time find the missing pieces of furniture and decoration.

My cat managed to escape from the balcony yesterday. That was the thing that kept me off blogging... Suddenly he was gone and I found him sitting downstairs, scared to death. Somehow he managed to slip out of the catnet and jumped.... Took me ages to get him back inside but I guess he wasn't too sad that his adventure in the wildernes was over.

Due to the hot weather I'm only eating cold things. I guess I haven't used the hob in my flat for more than five times in the last three weeks. And four of these times were just cooking pasta or rice for a salad. But the oven is in use quite often and I'm baking like crazy.

After almost three months without a single book I'm reading like crazy since the beginning of July. The next book on my reading list is My Policeman by Bethan Roberts. The book was featured in a book review in the newspaper we have in our office. One of my colleagues called me and told me that this is THE book for me as it is set in Brighton.

While on holiday I bought a jar full of buttons in various colours and can't wait  to do some cute-as-a-button projects with them.

Whenever the weather is hot and sunny for some days I long for a rainy day or two.

Sunday again

*film* Anonymous. Some bits and pieces from Miranda.

*book* Broken Homes - Ben Aaronovich. The Novel in the Viola - Natasha Solomons

*song* I can't decide - Scissor Sisters

*craft* Cross Stitch which I messed up.

*food* A lot ice. Vegetable with balsamico. Potato salad. Chocolate. Pizza. Sushi.

*drink* A lot beer. Berry and Hibiscus refresca.

*done* Enjoyed my new flat. Finished cleaning the old one - luckily my parents did the most of it without my help -, spent a nice evening with my bestie. Read like crazy. Suffered under the heat.

*met* My parents. My bestie. Some of my knitting friends.

*bought* A lipstick which I'm going to bin again.
*thought* How great it is that it is now raining after two incredibly hot days.  

 

Sophies week

*film* Youtube videos from Sho Ko. UK Border Forces.

*book* actually I should remove this categorie....

*song* More Ewan MacColl songs. Once again...

*craft* Birthday card for my Mum

*food* Sandwiches. Meat from the bbq and nice salad. Cheese cake. Ice. Tomato-mozarella salad with peppermint instead of basil. Maltersers.

*drink* The best white wine ever, had quite a lot of it...

*done* Packed. Moved furniture. Met friends. Went to a garden party at my parent's place. Climbed over moving boxes.

*met* friends. The four months old grandson of my Mums best friend. Pretty much all of my parents neigbours.

*bought* My favorite soap. It is a limited edition so I had to stock up.
*thought* That I hate moving!

Eton Mess Cake

Lately I couldn't make up my mind whether I should bake a strawberry cake or make Eton Mess. So I decided to combine these two things.

For a 26 cm round "springform" baking pan

160 g self-raising flour

80 g sugar

80 g soft butter

some lemon zest

750 g strawberries

200 ml cream

50 g meringue

sugar

Preheat the oven. Mix flour, sugar, butter and lemon zest as if you were making crumble. Grease the baking pan and press the dough into it. Bake for 10-15 minutes on 180°. Allow to cool.
Whip cream, cut berries (but put some nice ones aside) and mix into the cream. Season with sugar to taste and then crumble in the meringue. Fill into the baking form and allow to cool in the fridge for 2-3 hours. 
Carefully transfer from the baking pan to a plate and decorate with the remaining berries.

Enjoy!

We cut the cake in 6 pieces and each had two of them... ;-) But it was worth it!

Welcome-door-sign

Well well... Here I am again... Moving is such a nightmare, I really hate it and there is still no end in sight as it'll still take roughly a month till I'll be settled in my new flat. In the meantime I'll move in with my parents for some weeks with the catties and will also go on holiday to my beloved Brighton. So at least something to look forward to in this messy time.

A while ago I did the first DIY for my new flat. A sign to hang outside my door. I really love buntings, they're so typical British and so I decided to do a bunting-themed welcome sign. It took me quite a while to find a suitable picture for the background as I wanted a garden picture, preferably one from a real English garden. So I ended up with one from the walled garden at Preston Park in Brighton. Well, maybe I'll take a better picture while in England this time.
The actual plan was to just write "welcome" on it, but then I decided to go for the German version, "Herzlich willkommen" which is a cordial welcome ;-)

What you'll need:
A picture frame, a background picture in matching size, coloured crafting paper, yarn
Tools: Scissors, cellotape, ruler, pencil, black pen
Optional: your favourite drink - I had white wine spritzer... Naughty me! - and good music

First you'll need to decide what you want to write on the buntings and consequently figure out how many of them you'll need and if you want to hang them in one or two rows. According to the number of buntings par row and the size of your frame, define the size of the buntings. Mine are 2 cm wide and 3 long. Cut the buntings out of coloured paper and write the letters on them with your black - or any other colour - pen. Cut one - or two, depending on how many rows you want - piece of yarn to be about 1.5 of the size of the frame. Use cellotape to add the buntings to the yarn. I cut a 6 cm piece of tape, covered the front of my buntings, then folded the tape over the top of the bunting, fixed the yarn as I went and covered the back. Cut off any excess tape.
Print a picture to match your frame or use a picture from a magazine or something likely. Add the yarn with the buntings to the picture, let the yarn hang down a bit in the middle. If it is the way you like it, fix it at the back of the picture with cellotape, cut off excess yarn and frame the picture.

There you go. Quick and easy and with material you'll most likely have at home anyway.

PS: Please excuse the strange angle of the picture. As you might know, taking pictures of something behind glass can be quite tricky, so I had to do it slightly from the side to avoid reflexions.

Sophies week

There it goes, my plan to post every second day or so and blabla....

This week was so crazy. Monday and Tuesday I was so tired that I basically came home from work, had dinner and went to bed. Wednesday I started packing for my moving. When I wanted to go to bed shortly before eleven, I noticed that my cat wasn't well so we ended up going to the vet at 11 pm! Which led to me being in bed by two in the morning.... Thurday evening was filled with some office stuff and gone in no time and don't ask me where the weekend went... Packed a lot, had a lay in yesterday, met friends this morning, had a hapnap and and and.

And so there we are on Sunday evening... Time for my little week-retroperspective.

*film* "Die Trapp Familie"

*book* A childrens book about womens rights ;-)

*song* Roy Orbison "Penny Arcade". Amy MacDonalds.

*craft* "A summery cross stitch

*food* Ice.Ice. More ice. Muffin. Sushi. Potato salad. Cheese.

*drink* Cider. Apfelschorle. Coffee

*done* Packed. Met friends for some crafting. Had too many lay ins and early nights.

*met* Friends. My parents.

*bought* Giftwrapping paper.
*thought* That I underestimated moving.

Sophies week

*film* Youtube videos

*book* none....Am no big reader at the moment

*song* More Ewan MacColl songs

*craft* "Welcome"-picture for my new flat

*food* Ice. Risotto. Cheese and bacon burger with fries. Mouse au chocolat. Brie.

*drink* Red wine. White wine spritzer. Apple cider from IKEA.

*done* Been incredibly lazy. Spent an evening with two friends, knitting. Re-started knitting my scarf. Spent an evening with friends on Friday. Cuddled with my cats. Worked for my side job.

*met* friends. My sister.

*bought* Toys for the catties.
*thought* That it is only 4 weeks till I'm moving. So time to start doing something.

 Having fun with my sisters cat

 Summer for half a day

 Pret-a-manger stuff my sister brought me from the states

 Strawberries cake. Yummy!

My cat relaxing

Sophies friday

I don't know if I should be more annoyed by the bad weather or by everybody complaining about it.

It is high time to start tidying out my flat as I'll be moving in four weeks. Not that I'm an extreme hoarder but after five years there is still a bunch of things I won't need anymore but haven't binned so far cause there was enough space to keep it and I thought I might need it again.

Tonight I'll meet some friends which I had completely forgotten about yesterday and consequently fixed another appointment...

I started my first proper knitting project some weeks ago but unravelled it at least three times. But I hope that this is now the last time I did so.

I really want to paint my nails but before I do so I'll first have to do some manicure and am just too lazy for it.

I have the best sister in the world who brought me a huge bag full of nice things from Pret-a-manger.

The weekend will be a quite unspectacular one. After meeting with friends tonight and working for my side job on Saturday morning I'll just do some office stuff, start tidying out and the rest will just be lazy me-time.

Risotto Margherita

We all know Pizza Margherita. Why not turn it into risotto?

for 2 servings

200 g risotto rice

1 small onion

100 ml white wine

300 ml vegetable stock

2 tomatoes

balsamic vinegar

olive oil

salt, pepper

basil

1 tablespoon sour cream

100 g mozzarella pearls

Cop the onion and fry in 1 teaspoon olive oil. Add the rice and fry for two minutes then stir in the wine. As soon the rice is getting dry again add half of the stock. Cook risotto for about 20-25 minutes on medium heat, stir from time to time and make sure to add more stock if necessary.
In the meantime, mix 1 teaspoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar with some salt and pepper and cover the mozzarella pearls with it.
When the rice is tender, add 1 tablespoon sour cream and the chipped basil. serve risotto with the mozzarella pearls.

Sophies week

*film* Call the midwife. Pixiwoo youtube videos. Well, actually both not films....

*book* none....

*song* Sweet Thames flow softly (Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger), hot Diggity (Perry Como)

*craft* Finally finished a sheep cross stitch

*food* Ice. Strawberry cake. Lemon scone. A lot other unhealthy stuff

*drink* Cappuccino. My favourite Earl Grey. White wine. IKEA pear cider

*done* Stitched. Slept a lot. Entertained my sisters cat (plus my own). Went to Starbucks with friends. Went to another café with a friend right after we came out of Starbucks. Went to IKEA.

*met* a bunch of friends this morning. My former neighbour

*bought* some darling postcards from IKEA
*thought* That I shouldn't always worry

Actually this should be the place for a picture related to this week but I took no single picture all week. So there is the video to my absolute favourite song of this week. I couldn't help humming it every now and then.

Hello everyone!

Hi!

Welcome to my blog, Simply Sophie! As the name indicates, this blog is simply about Sophie. But who is Sophie? Well, as I don't want to lie to you I'm telling it straight away. Sophie isn't my real name, but besides, this is me who is blogging here. I was previously blogging on another address but then noticed that the quality of my blog had sunken quite far to just quick-scribbled-down posts. So I decided to start something new and was thinking about a new name. When I was on holiday with my best friend they got her name wrong at Starbucks and there was little me, drinking a cappuccino with the name "Sophie" on it (my best friend had a tea and consequently didn't got a cup with a name on it as they handed it to her straight away) So there it was, my new name.

So what will the blog be about? About the quite normal life of a quite normal mid-twenties-girl who thinks that she is living a pretty happy life. It will be about cooking and baking, crafting and DIY, clothes and cosmetics, books and movies. About good music, time spent with friends, photography, my cats and all the other important things in my life.

Hope you enjoy!

Love, Sophie