Queen Bee made me do it.

At 8:56am I was crying watching Beyonce: Life is but a dream on catch up and demand. Here is a woman, a child of destiny who literally redefined what success means to the 21st century woman. 

In her own words she inspired me for one hour 27 minutes about how being vulnerable is actually ok, that women are beyond powerful and above all that love endures. She said so many nuggets of wisdom that I'm struggling to remember all of the quotes I could use on this here blog! 

Well Beyonce gave me an idea. I've been toying with the notion of film for a while now and seeing Bey use video blogs as a way of finding solace has given me the courage to give it a try for myself. I'm planning on putting together a surf film when the land locked surfer club heads to Saltburn, but for now I'm going to practice getting comfortable on screen and editing by leaving a few video blogs of my thoughts for the day on RWHCS. 

Notice in this first video I forgot to brush the dry shampoo out of my hair (which gives me lovely silver grey streaks) and that I've held the camera far too close to my face...

*cringe* 

Rest assured watching this video, I am fidgeting and rosy cheeked throughout - but hey growth is allowing yourself to be vulnerable! 

Pictures of the week. 

Yet again Birmingham city is proving me wrong, far from being boring this week has seen the return of Flatpack Festival (no nothing to do with Ikea!)Flatpack festival takes over venues across Birmingham (UK) every March bringing in people from far and wide with a mixture of films, performances, contraptions and surprises. This week alone I watched Shynola: The collective (the animators behind music videos such as Queens of the Stone age, Blur, Coldplay and the title sequences of The IT crowd and Scott Pilgrim vs the world), a silent film about Joan of Arc in Saint Martin's Cathedral and today enjoyed bicycled themed frivolities in the custard factory (a factory which has been converted into a creative space for Birmingham artists).  

Its good to have a passion in life. 

   




































Stay strong and surf well amigos! 

Love Sophia 

X 

Snow in March.

To me inspiration is like a fizzing in my fingertips, I practically effervesce until I find the medium in which to express myself. Finally after a drought of creativity I woke up feeling completely rejuvenated so much so I had to be dragged away from my artwork. I've eagerly begun my project:

'Rottweilers dream of love'

and have started making preliminary drawings in my sketch book. I've seen this massive canvas in my local art shop and every time I go past it I get a pang wishing I was inspired enough to create a piece of art work so large. You know what, I think I just might. I just might buy it. I need a challenge and if I can highlight the plight of dog breeds who often end up unloved in rescue centers then even better! 

Here's a sneak peak at the direction I'm taking, you'll notice there's a distinct surf theme there too! 

So anyway. 

There is never bad weather just bad clothing.
- Anon. 

There's a reason us Brits talk about the weather all the time. Its not because we're trying to make polite conversation its because we are genuinely baffled by our weather system. Last March we were wearing shorts because it was the hottest March on record, this year we're moaning because we're knee deep in snow and its set to get colder. We're always unprepared because for some reason we never see it coming! 

Now I've always been a glass half full kind of person which is precisely why snow is an excuse for me to get wrapped up and go play outdoors. So I roped in a best friend, grabbed the family dog Jack and promptly made our way to the nearest beauty spot to appreciate how awesome snow is. Voila! 

(Below)

This guy was an absolute legend, he spoke to us for ages and joked that he looked like a character out of Harry Potter. His dog Flossie was also gorgeous a Springer spaniel x Labrador cross who managed to win Jack over!

Keep watching this space we'll have another interview coming soon! Until then...

Stay Strong, Surf well 

Love Sophia 

x 

Rottweilers dream of love.

Since deciding (somewhat abruptly) to put together an artist's portfolio in the pretense of becoming an art therapist (I say this lightly as you all know my career is as changeable as the British weather), I've been stuck in a bit of an uninspired vortex. 

The trouble is I'm over thinking it which naturally leads to artists block. The blank white sketch book seems a vacuous stretch of potential and it scares the bejesus out of me. Before I even start to draw my mind is filled with doubt and self loathing for the art work I'm yet to even start. It doesn't help that I am flirting with the Birmingham art scene and even though its been in a completely different medium (I've been around a lot of digital art and independent films recently) it still makes me think my bedroom based sketches seem a bit of a joke. 

Obviously this is not the attitude to have as I'm fairly certain all artists go through periods of hating their work. Heck poor old Vincent Van Gough cut his ear off! Whilst my ear lobes are still in tact I am getting increasingly frustrated with feeling that the work I'm producing is just 'pretty' pictures without any 
real substance. 

So far I made the vague decision to do projects on surfing, sea life, tribal women oh and Rottweilers. Whilst half way through a marine themed painting I decided I just had to explore drawing dog breeds that are considered dangerous e.g. Rottweilers, mastiffs, Dogue de Bordeauxs, Pit Bulls, Staffordshire bull terriers. This decision is largely based on the fact I've grown up around these types of dogs and love them but also that a lot of these dogs are perfectly lovely pets if given the chance. Its sort of inspired the project title:

"Rottweilers dream of love." 

(I challenge you to not smile watching this super CUTE video...) 

Well I felt monumentally chuffed with myself until a little googling produced the search results of Givenchy's Rottweiler jumper. Dam Givenchy has already made Rottweilers a thing! 

  



































I was inconsolable for a little while until I realized Givenchy has gone with the stereotype, look at the teeth on that jumper! I think I'm going to explore the theme of 'the soft side of dangerous dogs' anyway and see where that takes me. 

Obviously in terms of my surf blog, this is a somewhat irrelevant post but hey I think my diligent followers have come to realize this isn't just a space for me to pay homage to surfing, its a bit of an online journal somewhere to thought purge. 

Um. Sorry about that. 

This week I've been very wistful, much is happening in my life and I am grateful for all the peaks and troughs it brings. I'm still unsure what my niche is in this world but I'm not going to be afraid to love, or be loved in return. 

The simple pleasure of finding a great new hang out in excellent company. 

Some-days I want to be a wildlife conservationist, others to be an art therapist. I dream of living in a little house by the sea where the waves rouse me from sleep and afternoons are spent watching sand spray from the heels of my dogs, whilst my body nestles into the alcoves of my great love, we walk two figures along a beach. 

These days I'm not sweating about what I haven't got, better that I spend my energy cultivating patience, finding contentment in the simple endeavors and above all daring to dream at all. 

Until next time Surfettes and surfer dudes! 

Stay Strong, Surf Well 

Love Sophia 



    
I just hate to be in one corner. I hate to be put as only a guitar player, or either only as a songwriter, or only as a tap dancer. I like to move around.

- Jimi Hendrix 
 

Aesthetica.

Lets go to the sea and unravel. 
                      Lykke Li  

 
 

  

     

I had a dream that I owned two guinea pigs called 'Bodhi' and 'Utah' now I really want to own them for real!(Bonus points who can name the film characters they are named after - here's a clue it was surf inspired...) 

Stay strong, surf well 

X 

The Land Locked Surfers Club.

I came back to Birmingham kicking and screaming. 

During University I had spent three wonderful years playing in the English Lake District, a land of mountains and wilderness. So as you can imagine, returning to the urban sprawl which was Birmingham city was like hauling a fish onto dry land, I felt so out of depth, so alien in a place which used to be home. 

For a long time all I thought about was escaping, I even managed it a few times retreating to Africa to 'find myself.' The funny thing is I always returned to Birmingham because home is not a place its a feeling, its a sense of being. I don't think it was until I met my ex that I truly started to fall in love with Birmingham, as an artist he had an insight to the city that I didn't, there were so many events and like minded people thriving there I just wasn't looking hard enough. 

I work in Handsworth which is a borough of Birmingham and a pretty dangerous one at that. If you like your reggae you may have heard of an album called 'Handsworth Revolution' by the band Steel Pulse, which is all about the riots there back in the 80's. Nowadays its a melting pot of multiculturalism and I adore the place for it. Handsworth is where I worked with the wonderful refugee youth who taught me about the world, I had amazing Rwandan colleagues that were tireless in their efforts to help others and even now when I see them down the Soho Road we run at each other full pelt to embrace. Nowadays I work in a residential home which is so full of love and fun. The staff are English, Jamaican, Gambian, Asian, Malawian, Ugandan - all nationalities and its wonderful. I mean I think its a perfect example of people being united for a common cause and its reminding me that Birmingham is the setting where I've met these wonderful people. 

When I found surfing there was a renewed sense of frustration for living in the most land locked city possible. Travelling miles in any direction in order to reach water certainly inhibits any progress in surf ability! This has been one of the qualms I've found hardest to overcome but I believe I have. If I didn't live in the city I wouldn't have started 'The Land Locked Surfers Club.'

I'm pinching myself as I write this but through the use of social media (the surf girl mag community page, on facebook to be precise) me and my intrepid surfer friend Jemima have managed to reach out and find surfers who are in exactly the same position. Tentative correspondence has led to an organised trip with eight people and counting, who are both friends, acquaintances and strangers. We'll be heading to Saltburn for a cheeky surf sesh and I have the feeling there'll be many more road trips in the future. I have such a gooood feeling about this venture, we're onto something, The Land Locked Surfers Club is I think the start of something wonderful... 

Deep down I know I take my heart in my footstep and will eventually leave Birmingham. Since my break up I've weirdly thought a lot about children, probably because I'm thinking this might not be on the cards for me (maybe I should worry about getting a dog as opposed to children. I'm 24 what am I seriously worrying about)?! I hate to admit it because it exposes how soppy I am, but I dream of bringing kids up by the beach somewhere. I want them bare foot and sun kissed, happy with being outdoors, I want to give them the opportunity to surf and run unburdened. There'll be love too, gawd I'll love 'em! Above all I want my sons/daughters to have a strong mom, a woman they can really look up to whose followed her dreams and encourages that in her kids. They'll also know about Birmingham...

Birmingham I love you and I hate you but you'll always be a part of me! 



Stay Strong, Surf Well 

X 

Head, heart and gut.

Listening to: Soup Dragons "I'm Free"

Forgive me Jemima Stubbs but I'm going to steal your excellently coined 'head, heart and gut' theory and use it as inspiration for this here blog post!

In one of her ever insightful and thought provoking emails to me Jemima came up with this brilliant theory of helping make difficult decisions about love (I'm sure the principle can be applied to any aspect of life however). 

So. Here it is. The Theory. 

Use your head. Think logically, analyse, make pros and cons lists and consider the sensible options. Ask for advice and seek different perspectives. 

Use your heart. Then explore what you desire, allow yourself to sink deeply into the true nature of your feelings. Be soppy and romantic and try to identify what it is that you want. 

Use your gut. Your gut knows best. Deep down you know what it is you need/want to do but often pause over the decision making process to test how adamant you are about a certain choice. 

After reading Lauren Hill's interview I've been philosophizing about her answer to question 4 quite a lot. 

"Feminism has won some incredible victories  and created so many opportunities for what is possible for us as women.  Many of us can have it all—career, family, love, passion, surfing---just probably not all at the same time . It is rare to experience perfect balance of all aspects of life at the same time….and if you do, thank your lucky stars, but know that it will change. All will descend into chaos again at some point. Doing  my best to be present and do what makes my heart sing are the things that allow me to find balance. Also, not taking on too much at any one time. And, when all is out of whack, I've always got the ocean to go to and put things in perspective."

In the aftermath of a break up I'm beginning to reflect on my own conduct and my role in helping the demise of our relationship. On reflection I realize I was setting up my dude for a fall because of my expectations (I know you all know his name but I feel strangely protective of using it now)?! I believed he needed to fill all of my needs - physical, intellectual, emotional and social, when in actuality these needs must come from a variety of people but most of all from myself. 

Check out the diagram below, I had a bit of a eureka moment whilst attending an 'Attitudes and Values' training day at work!

What we want and what we need in life are two very different things. In Buddhism we are taught to let go of attachments  minimal living is the route to enlightenment. As a rookie Buddhist (and a very bad one at that), I sometimes get lost in the philosophy of it all and find myself being increasingly concerned about my status in society. When I graduated from University I was hungry to be seen to be doing something, I had so much to prove which if I'm honest made me a little crazy! The thing is attitude affects behavior which then affects the attitudes of others and their behaviors - a negative cycle. Make sense? 

None of us are truly independent in this life (I certainly couldn't get to work without the train driver)! We're all codependent, the same as empowerment comes from the individual,  I can't empower you that has to come from within. 

So you could argue that its fool hardy to think that a partner should provide you with everything, there are many facets to me and one person cannot be expected to meet all of these requirements. 

Since starting my new job I realize how a lack of purpose really interrupted an otherwise great love. I don't want to sweep our problems under the carpet because they certainly existed but after a little space and clarity I'm starting to wonder if there's enough love and kindness left over to start again? He was a wonderful boyfriend and a truly great soul and as much as I'm terrified of losing my balance which I've had to carefully reconstruct I keep asking myself do I want a life without someone  like that? Time is a great healer and my gut is telling me to go slow and explore what my heart really feels. As Dejene my Ethiopian brother once said, when your sad you fix, fix fix!

The funny thing is it doesn't matter if 1000 people don't love you if one person does then that could be argued as all you really need in life... 

Projects.

This week I had another joyous Monday to myself and spent it at the Sealife Centre in Birmingham. Surrounded by all the beautiful marine life filled me with so much creativity and stoke for my forthcoming seahorse tattoo. Here are some photos from my trip and my new art project:

'The shapes, colours and textures of marine life.'

 

My obsession with seahorses continues...

    
































Stay Strong, Surf Well 

X