The English Mademoiselle Diaries

Call my nosey but I love seeing what people eat, I could easily watch 'what I eat in a day' videos on YouTube everyday... So I decided to bring that concept over to my blog to share what I'm eating. This first post is from a very lazy holiday day when I had more time to spend on making my food etc. So here we go my first 'what I eat in a day' post:

Breakfast: I nearly always start the day with juice or a smoothies, in this case it was a banana, mango and fresh orange juice smoothie, as well as a slice of toast complete with vegan butter and marmite. Yup I'm one of those people who loves marmite...

Lunch: I don't always have a smoothie at lunch but I knew I wouldn't have eaten enough calories if I didn't include it that day. So to go with my mango, raspberry, and almond milk smoothie I had fried garlic mushrooms and peppers, with little gem lettuce, and a touch of mustard all on top of toast.

Dinner: Bit of a random dinner here, I used up some homemade red thai curry paste, some mushrooms, peppers, and corn to make a spicy risotto because why not... And of course I had some orange juice with this as well.

I also drank about 2 - 3L of water during the day, as I take my bottle everywhere and sip on it as I go.

XO, Miriam

//Top - H&M//Jeans - Jack Wills//Shoes - My Sisters//

I have a confession to make, it was bloody freezing when I took these photos, this top is definitely more of a spring piece or to be layered with a leather jacket. But I couldn't wait to share this top with you all, mainly because it is one of the cutest slogan tops I have owned or will ever own but it also comes with a little sass. I didn't plan on buying this but it came to my attention while I was shopping with a friend that I don't have all that much colour in my wardrobe so instead of buying a black fuzzy jumper I opted for this number. Now I know that I haven't exactly gone for anything bright or summery here but the jumper reminded my of the ballet cardigans I remember wearing when I was little, even complete with a little bow and a delicate fabric.

Now while I could have gone with something a little more girly, I felt that this top's slogan "It's not me it's you" needed something a touch tougher. So naturally I went for the black skinny jeans and some biker boots to help streamline the look. What?! I'm not going to stop wearing mostly black over night now am I...

XO, Miriam

Source

As mentioned in my A New Page post, I wanted to write a little post of all my goals for the coming year. I have spent the last few days thinking of what it is I want to do this year and how I can achieve these things. So this list is more of a bucket list rather than a set of resolutions. So here is a list of 20 things I want to do this year:

Go vegan!
Read 72 books.
Attend as many yoga classes as possible.
Write in my journal more.
Save more money than I did last year.
Visit the Harry Potter Studios again.
Go to the gym/workout at least twice a week.
Get more sleep.
Go to another country in Europe.
Travel outside of Europe.
Meet all the wonderful people I connect with online.
Collaborate with other bloggers (P.S. I'm already planning this one)
Drink more tea.
Smile everyday, even when it's hard.
Eat my 5-a-day, as much as I can.
Make new friends, either in real life or online.
Take more baths.
Beat a PB in the gym more than once.
Don't leave it all until the last minute.
BE HAPPY.

Some of these goals and things I want to do are more important than others, and some depend on my circumstances this year. But it is nice to have something to look back at and give me ideas for new adventures or new ways to incorporate self-love into my day to day life.

XO, Miriam

As I have mentioned love the last year or so, specifically in these posts (here and here) since my last post the amount of vegan meals and days I have been having has increased dramatically, not only is it cheaper to be vegan but also I feel better physically and mentally when I do. But the reality over the last couple of weeks is that I do still eat dairy and eggs more than I want to, so in order to challenge myself and hopefully make the full transition to veganism I am taking part in #veganuary (yes I know I hate that they put two word together as well) The idea is that you give up all animal products for the month of January, now I started a couple days late so will be continuing to the 3rd of February. You can find more information about it here.

For me at least the reason I want to do this, and ultimately go vegan is for both my health and the environment, while I also believe in the animal welfare reasons behind veganism it is something that I find quite hard to connect with as I can't bring myself to watch more graphic documentaries like Earthlings. I personally feel at my best when I eat a lot of carbs either mainly fruits and veggies or more starch based ones, so during this month I will be following a High Carb Low Fat vegan diet, which so many people that I follow in the online vegan community thrive on. I will be updating you on my progress throughout the month and hopefully the coming year about how I feel, with recipes, and tips for becoming vegan.

XO, Miriam

For once my absence from this blog was intentional, I knew I needed time to gather my thoughts on oh so many topics, I wanted more time to write and to read, I wanted more time to spend with the people I love the most. I don't regret the break I thought I might feel guilty but it was the best thing for me to end the year with. A new year has started and with that I will begin to blog again, with more constancy than before, no more waiting a week for a post that I could have written the day I thought of it to go up, no more thinking re-watching Scrubs is more important... Okay fine Scrubs will always win over most things.

I don't know where to start, I guess I have some goals for the coming year as do most of us, but I think that will be a separate post entirely. I'm currently re-reading the Harry Potter series again, I'm also doing #veganuary (again there is a post coming up about this), I'm making plans with friends I haven't seen in a while, I'm dreaming of travelling to so many places that I couple of things I've wanted to do for a year or so are becoming redundant. My TBR list is forever getting longer, not to mention the books I need to read for my module. Somewhere in amongst all this there is a point about trying to live the way you want to live, but I think I lost it somewhere in a list somewhere on train ticket.

Happy New Year, here's to a year of adventure and happiness, here's to writing new stories on every single one of the 366 pages this year.

XO, Miriam

So I read and re-read more books than I anticipated over the last couple of months, having said that most of these are for my university course, but I hope to get back to my TBR pile over the christmas break before i get my reading list for next semester.

Selected Poems by Oscar Wilde - 4/5
This has started a love affair with Wilde, I had never read anything of his until I studiedThe Ballad of Reading Gaol in class. And now I'm obsessed, my little book of selected poems if full of random notes to myself and accidental analysis because I just can't help it when I read poetry anymore. I don't really know what it is about Wilde's poetry that makes me re-read it over and over but I don't think that matters anymore as long as i enjoy it and get something new from it each time i go back.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - 4/5
I reviewed this fully while back, but I re-read it in preparation for the week we were studying it in class, and my opinions haven't changed so check that out here. However I definitely think it improves with each read so my rating of it has gone up, but this is also due to a deeper understanding of the text.

The Monk by Matthew Lewis - 2/5
Hooray another university text! I was dubious about this book before i read it, mainly due to the subject matter, but I was surprised to find it was an easier read than others had led me to believe. I definitely agree with my english lecturer in that it was the trashy book of it's time, think 50 Shades or other such books. I didn't like that it went off on chapter long tangents that are basically irrelevant to the main plot and overall meaning behind the book. But if you are looking for an easy yet controversial read this book would be it, having said that I won't be reading it again.

The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith - 2/5
I actually listened to the audiobook for this one, as I was travelling a lot on the week I was required to read it so it made sense to listen to the book so my luggage was a bit lighter. Turns out this was probably the best way to understand the book, as you can understand the tone of the narration and the context of the book a lot better. I'm not 100% sure I was listening to the official audiobook as I found a free download, but who ever narrated the one I listened to added a whole bunch of meaning I didn't get having gone back and read chapters as a part of my exam prep this week. Given I have read a lot of crime novels this semester this isn't up there with my favourites, however I might come back to the Character of Mr Ripley in other Ripley novels later next year.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman - 4/5
I have been a lover of the film of this abridged version of this book for quite some time now. So unsurprisingly this book was an absolute joy to read, and quite frankly I am glad it exists, the idea of reading a persons favourite bits of a novel is fascinating as well as creating a far better and easy to read novel. Goldman's abridgement is a clever one, explaining and making anecdotes when he cuts out sections. If you love the film you will love this, I laughed in public reading this, and quite frankly i should have finished it faster than I did.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - 3.5/5
Another University read this one, not that I have any complaints due to my unadulterated love for the BBC's Sherlock. (Can we discuss that I might be a little excited for the Christmas episode?! It is even going to be in the correct time period!!) Anyway back to the book, as with all Sherlock Holmes books it is made up of many short stories as written by Watson, who narration is nothing short of incredible, how do you fit a character such as Holmes into such a short amount of pages... Naturally I am now going to read even more of the Sherlock books.

Eat Pretty by Jolene Hart - 4/5
Welcome into my life fantastic little book of recipes and advice for how to eat in-tune to what your body wants, may you be forever useful, except when you mention meat and fish of course. While I did read this whole book from cover to cover, I know I will be coming back to it as a little reference guide, to see what is in season, to discover which veggies I should be eating for certain vitamins and minerals, and for recipes, because I cannot go without new recipes for too long. It turns out food can change your life and the way you perceive yourself and as a lover of food and positive thinking I won't say no to that idea any time soon.

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert - 5/5
I am going to write a full length review about this book, oh the ideas it has given me. There is so much to learn from this book, and as a love of the Eat, Pray, Love book as well Gilbert is gradually climbing the ranks of my favourite authors. So watch this space for a lengthy set of thoughts about this book that has taught me so much about creativity and how to live creativity without having to be an artist.

So that's my November and a little bit of October Wrap up, here's to a better reading month in December!

XO, Miriam

Please believe me, I'll never do you no harm...

//Cardigan - Thrifted//Top - Primark//Skirt - Urban Oufitters//Tights - TU//Shoes - Ted and Muffy//

I planned to shoot a different outfit with this skirt today but when I picked up this amazing vintage Chanel-esque cardigan yesterday I couldn't help but pair the two. I definitely feel that recently I am going back to my more preppy roots with my style, even if now there is more of a hipster vibe. As always I get most of my inspiration from books, TV and films and in this case Madison Montgomery from American Horror Story: Coven is my muse, and because of the textures of the cardigan and skirt I am still channeling some of the Chanel catwalk combos over the years. You know the ones I mean. I wish I had time to write more but I have to get back to studying for end of semester assignments and exams.

XO, Miriam

P.S. Have a wonderful day or night.