wanderlust dreams




//T-Shirt - Zara//Trousers - Monsoon//Shoes - Toms (not in shot)//

These are the days I crave during the spring months, when it is summer and winter all at once, during the day you wear fewer and fewer layers, but retreat to central heating and your trust knitwear in the twilight hours. I have been spending a lot of time dreaming about traveling to new places, but I have also spent a lot of time appreciating the city that I live in. Time spent in easy outfits having easy days when I'm not in lectures is perfect. And I have to say these trousers are great for walking around in, I cannot believe I almost threw out these beauties.

Besides being incredibly comfortable the t-shirt defines a lot about me, I always have an incessant need to move around, I hate staying in the same place for long periods of time. Life becomes frustrating and monotonous when I settle, and things just aren't as clear. I think the thing I like most about moving around is the journey, I can read all the books I have been meaning to read or daydream to my hearts content. When I say I suffer from wanderlust I don't just mean physically, I want to let my mind and soul travel to new places to, and discover new things.

xo, miriam



Rainbow Coloured Thoughts| Yellow


I will miss the night. A short story.

It was odd to be back in school, the summer had been made up dreams, but mostly long nights smoking with 'them', It was weird to think that their faces will one day be gone from my memory, and just the heady smoke will take their place. The smoke will take everything eventually but for now I begin to settle back to the routine of late night essays and parties where I try to remember the details in the morning. 

 There was a point to all of it once, but it becomes a lifestyle quickly. There is a sense of community that comes from that, very few of my class know what we want to do. So we come together on that by talking about nothing, smoking whatever someone has and leaving deadlines until the early hours. I will miss it. I will miss the lack of routine and the people. I will miss the awful accommodation and the talent of the school. Most of all I will miss the night.

XO, Miriam

The Book Club| Great Expectations


"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light and winter in the cold"

Great Expectations - 3/5

This is the first Charles Dickens book I have read since reading A Christmas Carol for my GCSEs. The story follows Pip who is both the main character and the narrator making him influential in the readers opinion of events as he becomes acquainted with Miss Havisham, and the resulting timeline. Because the narration is done with hindsight there are almost two Pips for the reader to understand. When reading the book I loved the fact that Pip has two very contrasting personality traits, on the one hand he aims to improve himself both intellectually and in terms of social status. But on the other hand at heart he is generous and sympathetic. This two contrasting characteristics made it hard
for me to decide whether I like him as a person or not.

One of the most difficult things I found about reading this books was how slow the plot progressed, at times I would get frustrated with the excess descriptive details. I also became irritated with the contrasting female characters of Miss Havisham, Mrs Joe, and Estella, however I think this might have the reaction Dickens was hoping for, as he tries to make a point about how happiness and well-being are separate from social class. To me Dickens represents the dramatic social change that occurred throughout the Victorian Era.

Overall Great Expectations taught me a lot about social class, love and how people can have two very opposing characteristics because of the events that have shaped their opinions.

Here is one of my favourite quotes from the book:

"I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be. I loved her none the less because I knew it, and it had no more influence in restraining me, than if I had devoutly believed her to be human perfection" 

XO, Miriam

30 Minimalism Challenge| Weeks 2 and 3


The past couple of the weeks of the challenge (original post here) have consisted of several different clear outs, from my cosmetics collection, my wardrobe and my daily habits. The experience has been somewhat therapeutic, especially given that I have incorporated new daily rituals like meditating before bed or before an important event, in to my life. I feel that I could do with clearing out all of my physical possesions again over then next few weeks, especially when I go home for the spring break from university, when I am swapping rooms with my sister, meaning I have a smaller living space just for myself.

One of the other focuses of the past few weeks has been analysing my personal habits and learning new skills. The main habitual actions I want to change in my life is finding more time to read, and to change the way I eat, by including more plant based meals into my diet. In terms of learning new skills I plan to spend some time over my break dedicated to learning more about web design with the hope to redesign this little corner of the web.

So far this challenge has helped me to remove any negativity in my life, as well as any unwanted material items.

XO, Miriam

Rainbow Coloured Thoughts| Blue


A little fictional something about a young woman who attempted suicide and the way society perceives her:

It was mid February and it was raining as I walked home from where ever it was I had come from. The last few weeks have been a blur of tangles thoughts and nights spent knotted between the duvet and different people. All of those people I spent nights next to all have stories of heir own, but I am a reckless person right now seeking gratification for only myself. Nights like that make me forget all the questions, all of the people trying to work out where it when so wrong for their golden girl with blue hair. 

 I have left everyone who was ever close to me confused and guilty. Part of me feels bad for that but then I am surprised no one saw it coming. For me the biggest thing was he number of people who pretend that they have been your friend for years when it looks like you won't make it. I never knew I would be around to see the fall out of a few scars and stories. I'm unlucky I guess.

XO, Miriam

P.S. I know very little about those who survive suicide attempts and I am still trying to learn more about depression and the effects it can have on the person and those around them.


My Favourite Minimal Living Quotes.

Source
 Lately I have been browsing Pinterest and Tumblr for new sources of inspiration for my 30 Day Minimalism Challenge (here and here). The first quote is something that has always rung true for me, most of all while traveling, but recently I have been thinking I would rather go through life collecting amazing memories than objects. An example of this is, I could either spend my money on new clothes or other material items or spend my money on something that will give me an experience to remember, books, flight tickets or a new notebook.

Source
For me currently this means clearing out what I own, if it is no longer of use to me either physically or emotionally I shouldn't have it in my life. I feel like this theory can be applied to people as well, if someone makes you unhappy or unworthy of their presence then you shouldn't be around them if you can help it of course. 

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This goes back to the first quote of wanting to experience more than I own, for me traveling and discovering the world is of the utmost importance for my spiritual and emotional experience in this life. I have some traveling experiences planned for this summer already both in and out of this little country I live in. I plan on writing about why traveling means so much to me in another post because I could go on for a while.

XO, Miriam

Longer Days.



//Dress - River Island//Top - Free People//Tights - Joy//Necklace - Accessorize//Shoes - Converse//

The weather here in Oxford is starting to call for fewer layers, I'm not even hiding multiple coats and/or jumpers behind the camera today either. I can safely say I am looking forward to updating my wardrobe after a thorough clear out recently, so I can begin to create new combinations ready for the warmer weather. As the days get longer I become more inclined to change out of my pyjamas and out of bed to spend my days in beautiful sunshine, wearing my favourite clothes with people that make me happy.

This is a combination I have been considering for a while with different dresses. I chose this one not only because I still cannot seen to stop wearing Black 'n' White but because I enjoy the way the necklines pair up almost perfectly and the length of the dress allowed my to slip into these tights. If you have read my blog over the last couple of years then you will know I have an infatuation with Paris and these skyline tights have been a sort of staple in my drawers. I might even wear them when I head out to the city again later this year...

XO, Miriam





Rainbow Coloured Thoughts| Pink


 Over the last week I have been observing the actions of those who live in my city, and here is a fictional account of the way they think about this city:

Turning away from the problem, the person, or the situation is sometimes the only way to deal with it. Just because closing your eyelids and turning your head doesn't solve the issue, doesn't mean it won't help. Turning away, looking down, silence, can all bring clarity to your mind. In this city of prestige and hierarchy, sometimes all a person needs is to allow their mind to clear.

In this city where grades aren't everything. Except when they are. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, but how can that be true when in this small city of ours peoples close their curtains on themselves and present the person everybody wants to see. For me that means long sleeved clothes, contact lenses, 'cat-flick' eyeliner and stories that have been edited to suit the listener. Lies, breakdowns and incredible amounts of talent are what got us to this small city of ours and what will take us further.

XO, Miriam

30 Day Minimalism Challenge| Week One

Source

I have completed the first 7 days of the minimalism challenge, and here is what happened. (The original post can be found here)

Day One: Stay offline all day
I managed to stay offline from when I woke up until 11pm, but during the day I used Whats-app to communicate with a few people as we had plans and Skype to talk to my boyfriend.  This day was just as challenging as I thought it would be, but it was rewarding to not feel like I had to check social media.

Day 2: Meditate for 15minutes
This is something I would like to incorporate into my life more, it was great to only concentrate on my breathing for a while and not everything else surrounding my life.

Day 3: De-clutter your online life
This is something I do about once a month, I clear out my inbox, remove Facebook friends unfollow twitter and Instagram accounts, so this was nothing new to me. This is such a cathartic experience you feel so much better once you have done it.

Day 4: No complaint day
This was tough mainly due to a number of mishaps that occurred during that day I am going to try this again next week.

Day 5: Identify you 3-6 main priorites
Be happy, read a lot, learn alot both in and out of university, relax more.

Day 6: Follow a morning ritual
Surprisingly I found this quite easy, having realised I already have a routine in the morning, albeit a generally rushed one.

Day 7: Streamline your reading list
Nope, nope, nope. I have a reading list that will not be streamlined, I adore reading lots of different genres and ideas. This is something I will never do.

XO, Miriam

White is the new black.





//T-Shirt - ZARA//Skirt - H&M//Tights - TU//Socks - Topshop//Shoes - Converse//

I still haven't begun to dress as if it is spring yet, so I am still in my mostly monochrome uniform. Except the glittery socks, those have been my favourite socks for this time of year, they are made of a similar material to tights. So instead of letting your feet freeze at the bus stop at 7:50am before you go to do a shoot, you can layer effectively 2 pairs of tights on your feet and still look amazing. 'Cause you know glitter.

I guess it is kinda ironic that I am wearing a shirt claiming 'white is the new black' and then wearing nearly all black. Over the next few weeks as I complete the Minimalism Challenge I will clear out my wardrobe and begin to work on creating a capsule wardrobe. Hopefully with some success, I have a list of things that I want to add to my wardrobe that I can wear all the time, number 1 on the list is a good quality pair of black mid-rise skinny jeans. I will update this blog with more about the challenge and my journey to a capsule wardrobe soon.

XO, Miriam

The Book Club| The Opposite of Loneliness


The Opposite of Loneliness (Essays and Stories) by Marina Keegan
Rating: 5/5

The essays and stories contained between the covers of this book are written by Marina Keegan who in 2012 died in a car crash five days after her graduation from Yale University.

I left writing about this book for a few days because it left me and still has me completely dumbfounded. Marina Keegan has a wonderful way of writing, while many people writing at her age and intellect are using too many adverbs and trying to sound older than they are, Keegan sounds like what she is a college student. She offers a unique perception of the world that only a university student would have the opportunity to envision. But is was the way she translated those observations into words is nothing like I have ever read before or will ever read again.

My favourite  short stories and essays from the book are:
The Ingenue because it took me a double read to fully understand why the Yahtzee was important, I could relate to the story in that at moments where you feel everything with intense passion even the small things are significant. But when you look back you wonder why.
Challenger Deep was a story of impending 'doom' how the importance of a sense of home and your sense of mortality changes. The story of the deep sea submarine suck in the Marina Trench with no light literally or metaphorically.
Why We Care About Whales, is an acutely accurate piece of writing about the way humans protect animals before they protect their own due to fear of becoming too emotional involved with those who suffer.
The Opposite of Loneliness essay I will leave you to read yourselves here.

XO, Miriam

Rainbow Coloured Thoughts| Red

Lately I have been experimenting with short pieces of fictional writing, so naturally I drew some figures with brightly coloured hair first. This the first of a few of these...

Who am I? Who am I to you? Am I worth something that is more than the way I look? Or am I defined by the way others perceive me? Who am I? Who am I, darling to you? Words circled in my mind as the camera snaps away from different angles, capturing the moment, capturing my youth for the rest of time. 

 My red hair shining under the morning sunlight, wisps falling around my face as my bun loosens over time. 'You should have used a few more grips this morning' a voice in my head mutters in a disappointed tone. The camera gets turned off, my body relaxes internally, and for that split second I have internal peace. The comes the worry and the anxiety that come with every shoot. As my hair is released to great my shoulders once more, my smile fades and I know that I will not be happy for a while longer.

XO, Miriam


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