The English Mademoiselle Diaries

Watch the numbers fall,
And me shrink.

Only miss me when,
I am gone.

Take advantage,
Then watch the breakdown.

Realise that,
It was you,
That caused this.

This suicide.
That leaves me,
Alive but dead inside.

Some unfinished thoughts about the past...

xoxo Miriam

So yesterday morning I was lounging in my pyjamas as we weren't going anywhere, and then my sister appears out of her room looking like this, personally I thought it was the perfect transition outfit, and a great way to dress down a lacy dress:

Isn't she just so photogenic!

I made the above hair bow, and shall be posting a DIY for it later this week!

What she wore:
Shirt - Ralph Lauren Denim
Dress - From a random boutique that we went into over the summer

xoxo Miriam

Autumn has finally hit the UK, and quite quickly too, but like the rest of you I don't want to stop wearing my summer clothes. So I have come up with an idea for how to wear your favourite summer dress in the autumn.

Take one summer dress (H! by Henry Holland):

(Please excuse the mess on my floor, I am avoiding tidying it)

Now add a chunky knit cardigan (New Look), a thin belt (New Look) to re-create your waist, and some tights (Iwi Creations):

Another option is to add a plaid shirt in a contrasting colour, in may case a pink 3/4 length one from Crew:

And for footwear, I will be wearing my converse and some frilly socks over the tights, or maybe some knee high tights with brogues?

The key to taking your summer wardrobe and wearing it in the colder months is to layer, and then layer some more, and shirts cardigans, coats, scarfs etc.

xoxo Miriam

Having watched the entire television series in on sitting, I thought it would be a appropriate to read the book, now don't get me wrong I loved the book, but AnnaSophia Robb (Carrie) in all those clothes is just a little bit better.
Anyway, I read this a while ago but I have been waiting for the back to school season to begin, as this is the worlds best coming of age story for this in the UK college system! Both me and 2 friend all read this at a similar time, but we all come from very different experiences in life, and yet the book was relatable and seemed real to all three of us. *Round of Applause for Candace Bushnell*

The teen years of Sex and The City's Carrie Bradshaw are utterly addictive, I cannot wait to get to the library and find the next installment "Summer in the City".

Anyway back to the book in hand, yes there are scandals, not always resolved, no she does not buy vogue before food when first going to New York, and yes all manner of things go wrong for her and friends none of which appear in Sex and the City...

xoxo Miriam

P.S. If you would like a how to dress like Carrie from the television show comment/like this post

This is not a series, but I love watching back to school videos on youtube for school outfit ideas, so I decided I would create a blog post for you all

Outfit #1:

Fedora: New Look, Tee-shirt: French flea market, Pinafore: handmade by me
Shoes: Converse all stars, Socks: Topshop

Outfit #2:

Shirt: Crew, Cropped tee: ???, Jeans: Topshop, Brogues: Clarks, Jewelery: given to me

Outfit #3:

I have no idea how those shadows happened so well but I like it!

Shirt: M&S, Jumper: Urban Outfitters, Skirt: New Look, Flip-flops: Hollister

xoxo Miriam

p.s. Let me know which is your favourite!

So because I watched Disney's Peter Pan, I have made a Peter Pan collar to wear with Tee-shirts and the like..

So anyway this is what you will need:

Needles and pins
White thread
Spare material
Ribbon

How to make it:

Draw or print off a picture of half of a collar and cut it out:

Now pin it to the fabric and cut it out x4

Pair them up with right sides facing if you have patterned fabric, and sew either with a sewing machine or by hand around the edge, leaving a gap to turn it the right way out:

Repeat this with the other side, then sew them together in the middle:

Finally sew on some ribbon, I used 2 thin strips on each side:

And this is what it looks like on:

xoxo Miriam

The Book Club: The Yellow Birds of Alaska

2 "books" with one stone... awful pun I know. Anyway, time to catch you all up with my reading habits, so this week the staring books are: Looking For Alaska by John Green (but you all knew that), and The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers.

Looking For Alaska:
John Green has done it again, and produced one of the most heart wrenching stories I have ever read... I read it in one evening so about 3hrs, I just couldn't put it down. You want to know what happens before, and what happens after the incident. Pudge is the sort of character that I would be happy to be in life, although I somehow doubt I will be, he feels like a real person to me. The day after I read this I found myself worrying about him and the others despite knowing he isn't real.

The Yellow Birds:
Not as addictive, but just as good. I found it both informative and the perfect answer to "What was it like over there?". I don't think anyone else from the armed forces could have produced such a emotional yet detached response to the war in Iraq.
The marching cadence quoted before the book starts is where the novel gets it's name, and it is hardly surprising given the nature of this book, full of promises broken and unbroken you begin to see why soldiers are treated like heroes when they come back, yet they are always modest. Powers wrote my book of the summer, read on the way back from London, my final holiday before the homework started again in the final panic before college.

If you have read either of these books let me know what you thought in the comments, if you haven't read one or both of them ASAP!

xoxo Miriam