Gym Motivation

Looking for motivation to hit the gym? But you'd rather sit on the sofa re-watching Made in Chelsea from the very beginning wishing you had all the monies whilst eating a bag of haribo and about 973645 cupcakes? 

Yeah, me too! 

One of the best ways I motivate myself to go to the gym (or at least try) is with new gym gear and the total babes that are Sweaty Betty have a totally bangin' sale on RIGHT NOW! 

Below are some of the things I am lusting after from SB. 

All of these item are available form Sweaty Betty

This is my last attempt to get #beachbodready for my holiday to Cyprus in September which I am so excited about! I'm not bragging I'm just really, really excited to get some sun and a break from working 9-5 in a dark office that has bars on the window, it looks like a prison, eeeeek! 

When I do go the gym I like to either do a bit of running or the cross trainer (while watching YouTube videos obvz) and sometimes if I'm feeling fruity I'll do a bit of weight training although sometimes I'm not sure I'm doing it right but I'm a bit of a yolo gal and will do it anyway.

Annoyingly, I hurt both of my knees about a month ago and haven't been going to the gym at all and have lost all form of motivation! What are your tips for staying motivated for going to the gym and keeping fit?

Love, 

Sophie x

 P.s You're all beautiful honeybuns and if you want to sit on the sofa eating 27375 donuts that's totally cool too!

Instagram Round Up - June

How is it already the end of June? It doesn't even feel that long ago I posted my May - Instagram Round Up. Summer has defintley hit Scotland now! I'm sat at my desk window wide open wishing I was outside on a beach sipping on a cocktail, a gal gotta dream to keep her sane! Anyway, on to my round up...

1. This has become my favourite dress from Fat Face. You can read more details about it here.

2. This was my boyfriend and I making plans for next year, we're hoping to head to Thailand for two weeks #soexcited P.s that chia seed pudding was totes delish!

3. This was a gorgeous coastal view I found just minutes from of office, I didn't even know it existed! How gorgeous is it?

4. In a recent blog post I wrote about Whats Inside My Travel Bag.

5. Okay so not to brag or anything but I made these shoes and I'm pretty proud of them!

6. This was an outfit I wore recently to a friends birthday.

7. Appreciating the peonies in my parents back garden.

8. I was using up some frozen fruit we had left over to make my own take on Eton mess.

9. At the start of the month I had a few days off work feeling really unwell. The day I came back to work my lovely boyfriend sent me this beautiful bouquet of flowers and they are my favourite, peonies! Boy did good!

Leave your Instagram links below so I can take a look at your profiles :) 

@sophiehmstewart

Speak soon.

Sophie x 

OOTD - Summer Stripes

How much of a babe is this dress? Y'know when you've found the one and this is the one! For this Summer anyway. I discovered this dress from reading Hannah Gale blog, she's a beaut, check her out! 

This beauty is from Fat Face. I don't think I have ever bought anything from Fat Face before because I didn't really think it was my style, how wrong I was! I now have a wish list as long as my arm! 

I think this dress is the perfect Summer staple. It can be worn as a day dress or in the evening and can be worn at home in the UK or on holiday. The other great thing about this dress is that it's not a high fashion item so I know next year I'll still be able to wear it. What a bae.

I love the pastel blue and white stripes, the tie waist which fits just at the right place, oh yeah and it has pockets! Pockets are a game changer! This dress has to be one of the comfiest dresses I own and because it's a bit longer than most of my other dresses I don't need to worry about a gust of wind flashing my hooha, ain't nobody got time for dat! 

Dress - Fat Face
Jacket - Old (similar here)
Bracelet - Tiffany
Sunglasses - Old (similar here)
Shoes - Old (similar here)

Speak soon gal pals. 

Love, 

Sophie x 

Have you seen my last post Date Night - Friday 24/06/2016

Date Night - Friday 24/06/2016

Davie and I haven't had a proper date night in a long time, sure we go out for dinner all the time but we haven't really spent a lot of quality time together in a while. As we both wanted to go see The Secret Life of Pets we thought Friday evening would be the best time to have a proper "date night". 

Black Milk Galaxy Rainbow Long Sleeve Skater Dress

Pandora Charm Bangle

This was a really easy outfit to throw on as I only had about 20 minutes to get ready. The dress is from Black Milk Clothing which I love! I have a lot of Black Milk dresses, they are so comfortable and suit my style when I want to dress a little different. I'll be posting more about Black Milk Clothing in another post.

Normally for a date night we would go out for dinner but we decided this time to stay in before heading out to the cinema. The Secret Life of Pets was amazing! I would highly recommend going to see it. It's one for all the family but equally as funny if you are going with friends or your other half. For me it was a good length of film, it was 90 minutes which was great for us. Remember to take a tissues with you as it was a little bit sad at the end but I do cry at everything haha.

 

I am so excited to go see Finding Dory next month!

To finish off our evening we went and got a McFlurry which remind me of my childhood! It was tasty for our walk home.  We both really enjoyed our night and this time we're not going to leave it so long until our next date night.

Have you see The Secret Life of Pets, what did you think?

Love, 

Sophie x

P.s Yesterday was 6 months until Christmas :D 

Appreciating What You Have

Today at lunch time I decided to go for a walk as it's blazing hot sunshine in Aberdeen and I wanted some vitamin D to take me from blue to white - Scottish people don't tan we just defrost! I was also hoping for some blogging/Instagram inspiration but lol I work in an industrial estate and that was never going to happen!  

I ended up walking a different direction than I normally do because I'm totally crazy and wanted a change. I found this cute little bridge and this is where my inspiration for today's impromptu post came from! 

When I decided to go under the bridge (anyone else got the Red Hot Chill Peppers song in their head?) and see where it took me I wasn't sure what I was expecting! I knew I was close to the ocean as I can see it close to where my office is but I didn't realise just how close I was! A ten minute walk from my office took my to these beautiful sights that I didn't even know were right on my doorstep! 

How gorgeous are these views? And I didn't even know they were there! I felt a million miles away from reality even though work was just a ten minute walk away. 

This post was supposed to be about appreciating what you have even if it is just small, like finding a beautiful view to look at like I did today, your boyfriend making you coffee while you shower in the morning (thanks Davie) or maybe a call from a friend. But also not forgetting the bigger things like having a job (even though you might loathe going to), having a roof over your head and a caring family around you. All these things are so important but can so easily be taken for granted! 

Todays walk by the coast really made me stop and think about the more important things in life! 

"Happiness is not about getting what you want; it's about appreciating what you have."

This was a bit of a different post for me today but something that I thought was important to talk about. 

Love, 

Sophie x 

Did you see my previous post? What's Inside My Travel Bag

What's Inside My Travel Bag

For todays blog post I took my pictures outside in my garden because natural lighting for the win! But if any of my neighbours saw me they'll definitely think I am nuts haha. Yolo. I'm still trying to master the art which is the flat lay, one day I will get it, today is not that day!

I don't actually go on holiday until September, but as holiday season is upon us and I am sure a lot of you will be heading on holiday before I do, I thought I'd share with you what I take in my travel bag. 

Okay, so I know this isn't exactly the most stylish bag but I hate having to lug around a heavy bag that is full to the brim (which it always is) and end up having a sore shoulder and back, not a great way to start a holiday! I realise I sound like a granny here so lets skip past that and get into my bag.

First up it's an obvious one - passport, tickets and hotel confirmation. These three things are the absolute essentials and I always pack these things first. Often I'll actually put them in a wallet so they are all easy to hand. 

The next thing I make sure to have is my purse with my foreign currency for whichever country I am heading to, this time round it's Cyprus and I cant wait! I also make sure I have some sterling with me for the standard W H Smith splurge on books, magazine and snacks, ALL THE SNACKS! Graze lemon flapjack I'm looking at you! If you haven't tried them yet you have to! They are like a party in your mouth! 

Headphones and a headphone splitter is a holiday travel bag essential if you are travelling with someone else. Often my boyfriend and I will watch films/TV programmes off our iPad to pass the time but it's so much better to watch with someone else. 

I always  have sunglasses with me in my everyday day but travelling somewhere warm it's even more essential! My eyes are really sensitive to the sun, even on a bright day my eyes will start watering even if the sun isn't actually out! And sunglasses make any outfit look stylish which is a winner for me, especially as I practically travel in my pyjamas, comfort is key! 

I tend to not take any make up with me in my travel bag but will sometimes take a brightly coloured nail polish (like this Essie one in Sunday Funday, you read my thought on this nail polish here) for a last minute mani if I've run out of time for getting ready (which is usually every time). Although I do try and have my feet done before travelling abroad, nobody wants horrible feet at the beach! I am even thinking about getting a manicure done professionally this year as a treat for my feet, ohhhh. Has anyone had a gel polish on their feet? Does it really ruin your toes?

I will always have a magazine with me too but as mentioned before I will buy this at the airport, it's a bit of a novelty.

 What's inside your travel bag? Is there anything I have forgotten? 

Love, 

Sophie x 

DIY - Marc Jacobs Mouse Ballet Pumps

I have lusted after a pair of the mouse Marc Jacobs flats for a few years now. I have often thought about buying a pair but I just couldn't spend a couple of hundred pounds on a pair of ballet flats. I had the idea to make my own mouse flats based on the Marc Jacobs ones. One of my favourite pair of mice are the Marc by Marc Jacobs Disco Mouse Flats and I also thought these would be fairly easy to recreate. Below I am going to show you how to revamp a pair of ballet flats into a pair of disco mice. 

Picture from Pinky Polish

What You Will Need:

Plain pair of ballet pumps (New Look)

Multi coloured gems (Amazon)

Six large gems for eyes and nose 

Glue gun

Pencil

Unpicker (if need to remove bows from shoes)

First off I unpicked the bows that were on the front of the shoes, now the shoes were all ready to decorate with the gems. I started round the top of the shoes with the largest gems on the sheet, this didn't take as long as I had thought it would and was probably the easiest part of the decorating. 

I glued on the eyes and nose (I got these gems off an old bag but you could use anything for this, maybe even buttons) on each shoe and then I drew on the tail, whiskers and ears as a guide. Then I glued on the middle sized gems for the tail and the smallest gems for the whiskers. For the ears I used a mixture of all the gem sizes as I thought it gave a good effect. 

Overall the shoes were fairly easy to make, just very fiddly and time consuming! To decorate the pair of shoes took me about three to four hours but I did really enjoy making them. The total price for the shoes came in at under £13 which is a fraction of the cost for the designer Marc Jacobs pair and don't look too dissimilar. 

Would you buy a pair of Marc Jacob Mouse Shoes or would you make your own? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. 

Love, 

Sophie x