Life is very exciting at the moment, I don't have a single idle moment. I thought that today I'd share with you a few things I've been doing (or six snapshots from my life).


I've got a new blog design! I spent the last week setting the template up on my test blog getting it ready to go live over here.

This template was harder to set up than any other I've ever set up before, but I had a lot of fun. It challenged my knowledge of HTML.

I like how this template has so many different ways of showing off my posts. I've got a slider, a featured post in the sidebar on the main page, some posts in the menu and, of course, I’ve got my popular post gadgets.

Speaking of blogging and HTML, setting up this template made me remember Codecademy. Codecademy is a website that has FREE HTML lessons.

I was using Codecademy a few months ago, but I got busy and stopped doing the lessons. I wanted to go back and finish off the course.

I'm enjoying doing a couple of lessons a day. I hope that one day, using the knowledge I've learned, I'll be able to make my own Blogger templates.

While doing these lessons, I'm starting to realize just how useful it is to know a bit of HTML. I can now format my blog posts manually to make them look awesome!


Another thing that's going to look awesome is ME! My brother, Callum, is getting married in five weeks. Mum, my older sisters and I have been trying to find clothes to wear to the wedding.

We looked online and found a website selling beautiful dresses. After a long time looking through them all, we picked out one for each of us girls and ordered them.

A few days later, they arrived in the mail. Excitedly, we rushed to our rooms to try on our dresses. Imogen’s and Charlotte's dresses look amazing, but there was a slight problem with mine. It was too big. Much too big. The waistline hung around my knees, and it was very baggy.

We had to send it back and pick a new one for me. We're now waiting for it to arrive in the mail. I hope it will fit better than the last one!

Dress shops online are really useful. Recently I found something else online: Fitness Blender.

Fitness Blender is a YouTube channel that makes workout videos you can follow at home. Every afternoon I've been disappearing into my bedroom to do one of their workouts.

I'm finding myself looking forward to my workouts each day. There is nothing more satisfying than finishing a hard workout and rewarding myself with a shower, cup of tea and perhaps a good book.

I've got a lot of new good books I can read after my workouts. On Friday Mum and Charlotte had to go into town for an appointment. Mum suggested that Imogen, Gemma-Rose and I come with them and visit the library while they were busy. We jumped at the suggestion. I'm always eager to find some new books to read.

One of the books I found was Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld. I borrowed the first book in the series, Leviathan, last time I went to the library. I enjoyed it very much, so I'm excited to have Behemoth to read now.

When Mum and Charlotte got back from their appointment, we all went to buy some lunch at a shopping centre food court. There wasn't a single free table to eat inside the mall so we took our cheese rolls and milkshakes down to the lake. I love picnics. Eating at the park turned out to be much more fun than eating inside. Perhaps it was a good thing there were no tables.

What have you been doing recently? Have you discovered anything interesting? Do you like exercising? What are you currently reading? 

For me, fonts are one of the first things I think about when making new blog designs and graphics.

So today, I decided to share seven of my favourite free handwritten fonts with you, to help with your creations.


These fonts are my go to fonts whenever I don't know what to use. They're from Googe Fonts if you'd like to download and use them.

I've always loved handwritten fonts. They aren't as formal as other fonts which makes them great for using on your blog.

Which is your favourite font? Do you like handwritten fonts?

"Mum come have a look at my blog header I have made," I called.

Mum came over to have a look. "That's nice. You know you could always change your blog title if you like."

"Really?" I asked. I had been longing to change my blog title for ages. It no longer seemed right.

I went around asking people for their ideas for a new blog name. Soon I had all the names I could want and more.

I looked down the list I had written out, trying to choose which name I liked best.

"It is either Sophie's Stories or Sophie's Scribbles," I told Mum.

I decided on Sophie's Stories and then went to Picmonkey to edit my new blog header. I smiled happily as I loaded the header onto my blog. Sophie's Sea Bed was gone and Sophie's Stories was born!

When Dad came home from work I rushed over to him. "I have changed my blog name," I told him. "It is now Sophie's Stories."

"I said you should have that name from the start," Dad said smiling. I grinned back. He was right. Sophie's Stories is much better than Sophie's Sea Bed.

Yesterday I thought that my blog would look nice with a blog banner.