The Big Cake Show.


 I only bought a couple of these Macarons but they were to die for, I just wish I could have had more!

 One does not simply watch Paul Hollywood bake with out promptly eating cake, oh and his eyes are as blue as they look on the Great British Bake Off! I also got to watch Kimberly off the last series bake and as it was in Exeter Glen Cosby was milling around!

 So this had demonstrations and lots of stalls, I founds some really cute ones who made me want to buy lots and lots of mismatched crockery and decorate the house with too much bunting and eat cake and cake only... Shhh. I know that isn't possible but a girl can dream right?

 Now this stall has to be my favourite, the milk bottles, the straws the cute vintage style signs were all so pretty, fortunately I know were to buy some of those straws in time to make 50's milkshakes and wear pastel skirts to match the era!
Never say no to freebies from a bakery. Ever.

I went to The Big Cake Show for Mothers Day, with my mum, sister and nan, it was a great day out and we really enjoyed watching people that we love on the Bake Off in real life!

XO, Miriam

The Small Things| Mollie Makes Magazine

 I love searching through magazine racks in newsagents, so the other day when I was doing just that I found a single copy of this magazine. Now I love making and editing clothes and find inspiration for just that, see this post... so this magazine seemed like a good idea. I could not have been more right, there are so many wonderful ideas hiding between the cover pages.
 Not only does it have DIYs and the like, it also has wardrobe tours, and interviews with budding fashionistas and DIY bloggers, from sewing to knitting... Most magazines like this tend not to be teenager orientated, but this seems to have the right balance of young adult and actual adults sorted perfectly.

And then there are the inspiration pages, which are my personal favourites.

No this post is not sponsored, and yes it is short but I could not resist writing a little something about it so I remember to find it again.

XO, Miriam

Live the Adventure.

How can it be that the world is both so very real to us, but society creates a plastic coated version. Go and live your small adventures, nothing it truly real until you believe it to be, when you experience it in vivid colour. Of course daydreams count as adventures, but I suffer from permanent Wanderlust so travelling to new places, and bringing back a thousand memories, of the sights, smells the books I read on the plane and the music that I sang with the people I met.

 How is this relevent to an outfit, well I am am jetting off to India this year and I have finally created a list of things that I can and cannot wear while I am out there... but this scarf from Zara will be coming with me, along with the trousers both of which I invested in this week on payday ;)
Life is only in focus if you live the way you want to, and if the camera lets you capture it that way.

These photos were taken on the 22nd of March, following that I promptly watched 6 episodes of Downton Abbey with my best friend and my mum, I am not even a little bit sorry. There were sultana scones and copious amount of tea.

XO, Miriam

The Coffee Shop List


Recently I have discovering new coffee shops in the city that I go to college in, and that I find it a lot easier to concentrate when I have good coffee, and no one I know around to distract me. So me and my boyfriend have decided to create a list of all of the coffee shops in the city, and visit them all before I head off to university in the autumn. It is my version of getting to know a place if they have good coffee shops and book shops I am sold!

The pictures were taken in a small place called the Exploding Bakery, where not only do they do amazing coffee and the photographed hot chocolate, they bake several gluten free goodies including some of the best chocolate brownies I have ever tasted.

XO, Miriam

P.S. What do you judge towns and cities on? and do you prefer independent coffee shops or big brands like Starbucks?

Being Stressed and Under Pressure.

Source: Weheartit.com


I suppose you could call this a reaction to a Teen Vogue article, but it is also and agreement with some of the people who gave their short stress related stories.


As someone in the process of applying for student finance loans, navigating multiple social groups, a part-time job,driving lessons, and with my exams just around the corner it is all too easy to become very overwhelmed by it all. I will freely admit that I do at times, when I have more than two pieces of homework a night all week the stress soon builds up, but I have found a few ways to deal with the increasing levels of stress in teens, especially those in the later years of secondary school, college and university.Whenever I think of a stressful school life my mind always turns to Blair Waldorf, not only did she have the pressure to get in to university but here every move was being posted on the Gossip Girl blog... (I am not even sorry that I referenced Gossip Girl, I love that show I don't care if it has stopped airing)

"A recent study by the American Psychological Society found that teens my experience higher levels of stress than adults"

Before I give you my favourite ways of dealing with stress, if you can have favourite ways that is... I would like to say that, in school I felt like I had to be perfect, skinny, good grades, in the "popular" social group, but looking back I know I don't, everyone gets stressed not just students, people of all ages get stressed and that we all need some time out of our increasingly hectic lives to regather our personal forces and head back in to daily life. I also find that you need to admit that you are stressed in order to deal with it before it gets out of control and leads to unhealthy habits, for example when I am stressed and I don't know it I will forget to eat sometimes for days at a time. So on to what I do to prevent and/or cope with stress:

  1.  Read. If you don't already know I am a big promoter of reading books, not audiobooks or on e-readers, real books with real pages and the printed word, even a magazine would do I recommend ones like Oh Comely who don't have articles about weight or how you should look etc.  
  2. Create To-Do lists. I find that writing out what I need to get done that evening or that week helps me, and I love the feeling of accomplishment after I crossed something off the lists. Sometimes I will create a list of what I am doing that day so I can be sure that I know where I am going and I won't forget anything...
  3. Listen. To music, to other people, to the radio, or to the sound of the train on your commute to and from work or school. Just sit and listen to the sounds that surround you everyday, don't let them sink into the background. Reserve your iPod for when you have a big deadline or something similar and play it obnoxiously loud, yes even on public transport if it means that you will get through your day without snapping at someone who did nothing wrong then go for it. 
  4. Exercise. Yes I know this is what everybody says, but for me I get stressed if I don't. My mum will happily tell you about the times I threw a strop before swim practice and then got me to appologise for it afterwards because she was right that even at the age of 9 or 10 I could not deal with a lack of exercise. Plus it will do you body and your willpower a world of good. Dog walking is included in this not just sweaty cardio workouts. Eating well goes along nicely with this!
  5. Go outside. This may seem silly, but sitting in front of your computer screen or staring at your phone probably isn't helping. Go outside experience new sights, smells and sounds, explore nature even if you live in a busy city go to the nearest park and watch the world go by for 5 minutes.
  6. Spend time with Friends. This one is self explanatory, but for me I cannot remember a time when I was not happy when I was with my friends, just hanging out, going for coffee and eat good food, yes even study sessions....
  7. Sleep. Get your beauty sleep, if something isn't working at 10pm it probably isn't going to work at 2am, go to bed sleep on it, then try again in the morning.

 I hope you found a few of these helpful.... Pleas comment what you do to help with stress!
XO, Miriam

P.S. I forgot one go shopping for new clothes ;) 

 

Jam Doughnut Cupcakes

I like doughnuts and I like cake so this seemed like the perfect idea, why not make jam filled vanilla cupcakes!

You will need: 2 eggs, self-raising flour, caster sugar, butter, vanilla essence, milk, and some homemade jam (or shop bought if you really have none)

 

  1.  Pre-Heat the oven to 180 degrees C
  2. Weigh the 2 eggs together, then measure out the flour, sugar, and butter to that weight.
  3. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large-ish bowl.
  4. Beat in the 2 eggs and a splash of vanilla essence.
  5. Sift in the flour, and stir until well combined, in the mixture is stiff (won't drop off your wooden spoon easily) add a little milk and stir again.
  6. Spoon 1 teaspoon of the mix in to cupcake cases. DO NOT FINISH THE MIXTURE DOING THIS.
  7. Bake fore 5minutes/ until the mix has flattened out in the cases.
  8. Take the half-cakes out of the oven, and spoon your jam in to the centre of the partly cooked cake mix. I chose my mums blackcurrant jam duh.
  9. Follow this by adding more cake mix on top of the jam, and bake again for approx. 15 minutes
  10. And as always eat with a cup of tea and a good book.
XO, Miriam

The Start of Something.



The skirt is by no means finished! I have more layers to add and a bow to make, but I am proud of what I have don so far, and I cannot wait to wear it the summer or maybe even this spring. Given it has been since last summer that I took to my sewing machine full of ideas tangled in measuring tape and thread I am glad I made the time to do so again before I go through what will probably be some of the most stressful weeks of my life so far in the lead up to my IB exams!

I am also looking for some feedback for my blog in order for me to do a good write up about for my CAS folder, which if you don't know is why I started the blog almost a year and a half ago. 

XO, Miriam

Sweet Lips.

 Sundays as I have said before have to be one of my favourtie days, but yesterday was just wonderful because for the first time in what seems like forever the sun broke through the clouds and Britain saw warmth and spontaneous trips to the beach! As for me I relaxed, watched the rugby, which was disappointing (Welsh Supporter), then headed off to see The Book Thief.

 I adored Markus Zuzak's The Book Thief, I reviewed it here, but the film did not quite live to my expectations, some of the best moments for me in the book were not included and small details were not included! However I applaud the casting for Max and damn he was looking fine for a Jew who was on the run in Nazi Germany!
 I bought these sunnies out of necessity a few years ago when I realised I had left mine at home and my eyes were not ready for the bright sun of Portugal in June, oooppps. On the other hand I love the bright orange, and I cannot wait to wear them more often this summer with two holidays lined up for June!


Now on to the outfit! I have been meaning to take photos of this for a while, but due to a lack of time and sun it hasn't happened, none the less it is here and who knew a prom dress could look so casual. Underneath my recent purchase of this adorable lip patterened jumper from Primark is my year 11 prom dress! I paired it with thigh high socks and black Chelsea boots to contrast the white and cream shades in the jumper and the dress. I suppose you could say that I am stuck in quite a preppy fashion rut, but when you consider that I wear jeans and band tees almost everyday at college, I think it makes up for it. I also blame having to wear a shirt and tie for my entire school career from the age of 5 to 16! So naturally I have taken to dressing smartly using Blair Waldorf (Gossip Girl) and Spencer Hastings (Pretty Little Liars) for inspiration, not only do they dress well, they work hard and play hard too.

XO, Miriam

P.S. What do you think of the outfit?

Spotty Ideas.



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I spotted a skirt in Harvey Nichols the other week and being unable to afford the majority of clothing items in the shop I decided I would make something similar myself. But first I wanted to create a selection of photos that are also part of my current design process.


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So as you can tell I have found many a picture to start to base my design around, and I am looking forward to creating the skirt, and probably a huge hair bow to match! I enjoy taking ideas from different places as it changes the details of the design every time you find something new, from this I am probably going to go for something quite preppy like my favourite pair of celebrity friends Taylor and Lorde, I am thinking about quite a structured skirt or with layers as I have quite a soft floaty cotton, the nails and the 101 Dalmatians  made me prefer a small dot instead of very large eye catching ones. And the air balloons well I am not sure I might make a woven basket style waist band using some left over black with white stars material from my Pinafore Project last year which you can see here.

Hope you all had a great Monday!

XO, Miriam



The Perfect Pancake Day.

For me pancake day isn't about eating as many pancakes as humanly possible, although I have done this in the past... It is about making the most the pancakes you do eat. Now I am fully aware that not everyone celebrates pancake day which was originally Shrove Tuesday a Christian day not long Lent, and Easter! Nevertheless I will impart with you my favourite pancake fillings, both savoury and sweet. Now before we go on, I am not a fan of the American pancake, but I am a great lover of the French Crêpe so I tend to make very thin pancakes to make up for my lack of skill in making crêpes!
Homemade vanilla crepes - JUST made these this morning for the kids and WE LOVED THEM! Thanks @Michelle Flynn Anderson for bringing these to my attention through your pinning of wonderful things!
Photo from Pinterest

 Savoury Pancakes:

I like to keep it simple but not the "classic" combination of bacon and maple syrup, the maple syrup should always be served with sweet things, in my opinion anyway ;) Now you must be wondering what on earth I do eat with my pancakes? Well the answer is Vegetarian Chilli con Carne, my family and I use them as a subsitute for tortilla wraps and tah-dah. A great lunch idea for them, well in my opinion anyway is to make a wrap with grilled chicken and/or halloumi with baby spiniach, some sweet pepper and houmous.

Sweet Pancakes:

This is were I like to experiment, but my number one favourite along with the majority of Britain would be lemon juice and sugar, which can be made even better with the inclusion of strawberries! Anyway other ideas well I have quite a few: Nutella and banana slices, maple syrup all by itself or with vanilla ice cream, plain golden syrup and finally cooking the pancakes with a swirl of jam on top or with blueberries in them. I prefer the sweet pancakes mainly because I love fruit and sugar is never a bad thing in small quantities.


I hope you enjoyed this post and got some ideas as to how to eat your pancakes on pancake day as well as the rest of the time!

XO, Miriam



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