Senorita.

I tried to drown my sorrows, but the bastards learned how to swim, and now I am overwhelmed by this decent and good feeling.

Frieda Kahlo    

           

 

The painting is called Carlotta and is by Wilma Johnson a.k.a Surf Mama! 

Due to the frequency of hearing the question 'are you Spanish?' I have developed something of a soft spot for Latino culture and especially Latino actresses. The likes of Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz frequently play characters who embody all connotations of femininity, whilst exuding a free spirited persona - I love a multifaceted, strong female lead! 

Recently I watched soppy 90's comedy 'Fools rush in,'  which uses Mexican culture as a central theme. There were some cliches, which I wonder what the Latino community feel about, but as an English girl far away from either South America or Spain, I loved the style and artistic nature of Salma Hayek's character Isabel. 

Its made me curious about Spanish surfer girls, whats the terrain and culture like for them? I'm aware of exceptionally good Peruvian and Portuguese surfers but I struggle to think of other equivalents. I wonder if this is due to ignorance and is the surf community inclusive to our Latino sisters? 

Alongside the strong female leads was style and decor that I absolutely adored. Its inspired me to collate images along a Spanish, Bohemian theme which will be in a future post. Its also motivating me to perhaps try and learn Spanish and salsa dancing. Why not?! New Year is an opportunity to remind ourselves to grow our branches up and out into the world. 

Spanish surf trip perhaps?? 

A few things for this week...

So. What do you reckon? Do I look a teeny tiny bit Spanish? 

 My compliant sister took a 'style' photo in the Thursday sunshine! 

Being early for the train I couldn't resist looking round one of my favorite vintage shops...I ended up buying this Mexican style dress, turquoise scarf and I got the red one for free! 

 

I love that my dog refuses to let me be too much of a poser, look at him totally stealing the spotlight! Below are scenes from my city, sometimes I think I like it. 

 

Above is a mermaid zine I've been working on and below are art I've collected for my room. 

 Until next time,  

Stay strong and surf well 
Love 

Sea Glass.

“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape.” 
― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations


 Discarded glass which ends up in the ocean goes through something of a metamorphosis. When at the mercy of the tides the sharp edges get worn smooth leaving a thing of beauty, this gets washed up on the shore and although it is a product of man made disregard, the ocean, she returns it back as something to marvel. 

Lately I've been thinking a lot about hope and how it is good to have expectations. Often optimism is something to be ridiculed, an archaic past time if you will which is for the naive and the ignorant. If you dare to be an optimist then it seems you are vulnerable to the cruelties of the world. 
This is your turn, this is your moment in history and as we never really know how many years we'll be blessed with don't you think it is preferable to live with lightness? 

Today I woke up bone weary from six days of fourteen hour shifts but the sun was shining and I relished the opportunity to make a rare free day wonderful. As aforementioned it has been an arduous week both physically and mentally but I know that with a little hope and expectation I can turn this around. 

I walked around my local park with my Dad and dog stopping to take photos of buildings and trees we always stop to take photos of. Its hardly news worthy but as I stood to watch my Dad take pleasure in reliving a place he knows like the back of his hand, I reveled in the simplicity of it. 

One day in the not too distant future I'm going to live by the ocean, it'll be a place where I can surf when the waves are right. On the flat days I'll walk across the beach and paddle just for the sheer hell of it. I'll stay when winter comes and the holiday makers leave, I'll watch my beach change through the seasons and be thankful when summer returns and the water gets warmer. Some days I'll go to paint what I see and on others I'll take photos. Hopefully I'll fall in love there and one day in the distant future bring up children, or dogs or maybe no children at all, maybe it'll just be me. 

I'll love the beach and my ocean irrevocably and perhaps when I become mere dust and memories I'll return to the sea and become part of the great tides. 

 Until next time...

Stay strong, surf well 
Love 

Aesthetica

A friend of mine has recently invested in a bodacious amount of body art (a tattoo sleeve) which has really got me retrospectively thinking about my own aesthetic aspirations. 

My current style lies somewhere between: 

hippie chick//surfer girl//vintage darling. 

I enjoy fluctuating between the three as they all encompass aspects of my personality. The hippie chick costume mirrors my morals, I am liberal and deeply interested in environmentalism, the surfer girl captures my spirit of adventure and my dare devil attitude and the vintage attire represents my creativity and love of finding old treasures. 

A part of me has always wanted dreadlocks and lots of tattoos my current appearance being devoid of both. I often wonder whats stopped me up to now? With the job market being as unstable as it is, looking smart and sensible is no guarantee of getting a job anymore so why not go all out and dress how I really want to?? Truth be told if I seriously wanted dreads and tattoos I would have done it by now, my reservations I guess are founded in not truly knowing what I aspire too. 

The Pop up Bazaar Birmingham.

Normally I'm a little skeptical of vintage stores, they tend to charge inflated prices for garments you could easily find in a
charity shop for half the price and the money going to a better cause. Well  pessimism has never been my bag so I'm happy to be proven wrong in this instance. In Birmingham (UK) a little pop up bazaar has appeared in New Street which is absolutely brilliant. Moth balls and mustiness aside I've come across some really great pieces at seriously good prices. £15 for two dresses and some tops for as little as £5. I am always happy to find a bargain especially with the purse strings almost permanently tight. So for blogging purposes, I've done the posey poser thing and made a little fashion collage of my finds.
Sorry for the incredible vanity present on this page (and for another post which has NOTHING to do with surfing...)

1950's style parrot shirt £5! 
I absolutely love tropical birds and the yellow just reminds me of warmer temperatures.

(Above and Below)
Here are snapshots of the zebra dress I found. Its super cute and as I have a passion for all things African it fuels my obsession! 

(Mom is going to kill me for standing on that chair....)

Ignore the constipated expression I have on my face,
 I was trying my best 'serious model' pose. FAIL. 

This is the 1970's fabric up close. Unfortunately it is polyester 
so I'm likely to sweat profusely in it but hey at least it looks pretty!

I think if I had to pick a favorite this would be it. I'm not sure you can tell but its a dress and for a mere £7.50 I feel almost like I stole it!

My Beloved.

You may have noticed the number of posts this week has suddenly increased. While I'd like to hypothesis this is because I became suddenly a lot better with time management  in actuality I think it has rather a lot to do with the fact Antonio is away. My beloved is in Chicago doing his arty thing at the Glitch Festival. Whilst I'm loving my independence (i.e. not shaving my legs), I am kind of restless. Something isn't quite right in my universe, not having him around feels like I'm witnessing birds fly backwards. Now him and me are made of stronger stuff of course, we managed long distance for three whole months whilst I was working in Ethiopia, but even so this week feels agonizingly long. 

In my spare time I've caught up with friends, got a job in the museum (temp), drew nearly all of my gifts for people, cooked, shopped, ran, spent quality time with the family and ate - a lot. I also watched this darling film which has made me feel pretty emotional and even more desperate to go live out in the woods Thoreau style.

You can actually watch the entire film on youtube. 
Please do so its BEAUTIFUL. (p.s. You'll love Bruno the dog).


      













  


Among my boredom fueled internet surfing I also came across several gems. The following blogs are all about being vegan and travelling which has really inspired me to stick with my ethical diet. I've fallen off the band wagon of late either through ignorance or weakness but these sites have 100% inspired me to stick with the veganism - and the food looks AMAZING, they are proving that vegan food isn't cardboard, ugly or flavor-less. Enjoy!

The Vegan Backpacker

 

Will Travel for Vegan Food Project

Well have a lovely weekend my dears, wrap up warm and make sure you use the lip balm in this cold weather! 

Lots of love 

Sophia 

Milestones

And so it begins...

The first of my friends got married on Monday in a wedding which can only be described as incredible.

As a twenty something I know I am still young but it feels an old kind of young, especially as people are entering the next chapters of their lives- engagements, marriage and babies.

One of my old school friends coined the word surreal to describe the whole day and I'm inclined to agree. I remember playing games with Mrs Everall as a snot nosed school kid, so to now see her as someone's wife is just mind boggling.

The wedding symbolised a passing of time that on reflection seemed to happen in a heartbeat.

Naturally being dressed up to the nines and celebrating a whole day of love made me and Ant feel pretty loved up ourselves. Slow dancing with him was a memory I'll cherish forever, I know its soppy and I'm not actually sure how I feel about marriage for myself but yeah - I guess I could be someones wife if I had to be!
Leigh-Anne and Jim (the newly weds) did are the blue print, they met as teenagers, were together for ten years then decided to get married. I think its important to spend that time together before declarations, live together, be a couple in every sense of the word. Learn to be best friends before becoming husband and wife. And that is what Leigh and Jim are best friends who happen to love each other <3  

Look, a big distraction of wedding pictures!

Vintage Dress found on a Norfolk car boot!

 

Beautiful Rowton Castle where Leigh-anne and Jim got married - they even got sunshine!

 The beautiful bride and her old school comrades!

The boyfriends!

My bezzies, L-Viki, Kate and me!

 More bezzies Laura and Viki

 No need for explaination!

 All of us a little worse for wear in the after party!

Two of my favourite things. Antonio and tea.

The happy couple <3

 One of the nicest meals I've ever been to!

 Signing the guest book

The dress in all its glory :)

 Waiting for food :)

 I'd just been told 'wear the camera around your neck, so you don't drop it'

You can't take a hippie anywhere...

So dear readers, (all six of you)! I'm sending you much love and happiness for this week hope you have a good one.

<3