Penny for your thoughts.

'Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.'

Jack Kerouac 

I am two sides of a coin, in that one side of me desperately wants to see the world and the other is a person who aspires to owning dogs, growing vegetables and having a place to call her own. 

This juxtaposition is a constant state of inertia for me and has spearheaded most of my major life decisions. Recently a work colleague described me as a nomad and could imagine that I'll be living out of a suitcase, but then she said that she saw a side of me which seemed to really want to settle. How on earth does a nomad and a homebody become bed fellows? 

My desire to travel dominates most of my waking thoughts and has been the massive white elephant in the room when its come to the deterioration of my relationships (whether that was me wanting to travel or him). What is it about the adventure of the unknown which draws me like a moth to the flame?

Because this is the ironic thing, when I'm travelling all I really think about is setting up shop, having a dog and living a very simplistic kind of life. 

So what of the seeking?? 

2013 has been the year of home, for the first time in a long while I haven't been out of the country for extended periods, this both pleases and unnerves me all at the same time. I see the immediate future as the 'treading water years' both literally (here's hoping for surf) and metaphorically in that all being well I'll be enrolled on a university degree which will require three years of stoicism. Where I decided to do this degree does however offer up some form of travel I could do it in Birmingham or head to the coast. 

I hear you, I hear you!! The coast for a surfer if the most obvious choice but its not as simple as that. Birmingham has got under my skin, there are people here who I deeply care about and for the time being a job that I really enjoy. Imagine getting up to go to work with the same feeling of happiness you feel when you realize you have a day off. That's how much I love my job and that my friends is rare, very rare. 

When I first started working in Handsworth a rough suburb of Birmingham (UK) I'm going to be honest I was shitting it. The place has a reputation and the litter, cat calls off men and feeling very conspicuous made me very nervous. Initially I was working as a refugee youth worker there before I embarked on my current job and bit by bit I started to get more comfortable. Handsworth is a really interesting mix of all different kinds of people, the cultures rub up against each other in a shanty town kind of way and I happen to love it. I love that one minute I can pretend I'm in Jamaica and the next Iran, there are amazing Asian bakeries and not forgetting Polish and African shops. There's something vibrant and gritty about Handsworth which makes me love it despite the crime and the rubbish. 

I feel like I'm rambling so allow me to be succinct, this curiosity about either lifestyle, whether that be travel or staying is a constant question which I hypothesize might take me a lifetime to answer. Here's hoping I can try for a little of both and see where that leads me! 

  

Until next time...Stay strong and surf well 




  



Love 
Sophia

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 
 

What Dr Seuss taught me.

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

― Dr. Seuss

In the transition between finishing one job and starting another I have the luxury of free time (for a little bit). This luckily coincided with one of my really great friends being free so we decided to go play outdoors. It doesn't matter that we're twenty somethings, being out in the fresh air surrounded by trees and wildlife made us giddy happy. 

I hope for more days like these simple but perfect. 

     

So anyway...

The Surfer Stoke Project.

This is a really neat little site I stumbled upon recently, its all about discovering what happiness is, applying the principles in our own lives and seeking to spread happiness to others. 

(Click the banner to follow the link). 

I also came across this gorgeous picture on one of my favorite fashion blog sites Mod Fox. I've always had a soft spot for the dogs society deems as dangerous (we owned a Rottweiler called Yogi for most of my childhood, he was a champion of dogs and I miss him almost everyday). Below is a perfect example that everyone starts out vulnerable and with the potential to be good. This is an 'ahhh' picture if ever I've seen one!

Talk to you soon hombres but in the meantime stay strong and surf well!

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