M. and the Queen

As I told you – here – a few months ago, I have recently moved into a new place in Paris. This apartment came with basic furniture: a couch/bed, wardrobe, shelves, table, and chairs. Basically, it left me with a world of possibilities for decorating as I saw fit which is exactly what I plan to do!

So of course, new flat means hours spent on homeware websites, and hours spent on homeware websites mean one thing: wishlists!

And who doesn’t love a good wishlist, amaright?

Is it cool or vain to want a decorative gold letter M – yes, it is the first letter of my name – for my place? I am not too sure but, anyhow, I am buying it! And if I ever needed another good reason to get it, well, it is on sales at the moment so hurry up!

And for my French readers, you can also find similar golden letters at Hema for 6€: here!

OliverBonas trinket dish – £9,50 / 11€

Do I really need to give you a reason why this is in my wishlist? Isn’t it just the cutest trinket bowl you have ever seen? I mean, it has a cat on it so… 

And for those who don't like cats – who even are you? – there is a llama one too: here!

This pretty cool rose gold map is not like any other map. I think it could make a really nice gift for someone who likes to travel a lot. The concept is simple: each time you travel to a new country you get to scratch it off the map like a lottery scratch card. This is a fun way to keep track of the countries you have visited.

This is probably one of the most superfluous item of this wishlist but come on, copper straws!! This is just too pretty to ignore. I can already see myself sipping on mojitos or delicious smoothies with those. Also, this is pretty practical to have in your kitchen, as I never seem to have any plastic straws when I need them. At least these ones are reusable! 

At the beginning of summer, after a strong existential crisis, I decided to make a few changes in my life. One of my goals that I set myself is to develop a healthy lifestyle. So the first decision I took was to tackle one of my main bad feeding habits which I call my ‘candy addiction’. This is something I have always felt bad about but never did anything to stop it so it felt like a good first step to take in the right direction.

I have always been a huge fan of candies – a lot more than chocolate actually – but since I started living on my own and doing my own grocery shopping my trips to the candy aisle have been a bit too frequent for my taste. And the more I ate sugar, the more I wanted sugar. It got to the point where I basically felt like a candy junkie. I was constantly craving sweets and eating maybe two or three candy bags per week!

So about three months ago I decided to cut myself off candies. 

However, I did not want to cut off sugar completely because I would have lasted maybe a week, tops. I just wanted to take things slow and start small, so by cutting off only my sweets intake, I have managed to maintain my objective to this day. Now October 2nd, I still haven’t touched a single candy since the end of June which is quite the accomplishment for me.

When I started my “candy detox” I knew that I had to replace them with a healthy snack that would fulfill my need for something sweet without all the nasty stuff that you find in candies. Today, I’ll talk to you about two of my favorite recipes – which are basically two versions of the same recipe – that I’ve been loving and that have helped me get over my candy addiction.

The banana & strawberry rolls

1 banana

A handful of strawberries (raspberries can work too)

Organic peanut butter

1 whole wheat tortilla

1 banana

Organic peanut butter

1 whole wheat tortilla 

This recipe is actually my favorite and is even quicker to make than the other one. I basically eat this all the time when I am craving candies now. It is sweet thanks to the natural sugar in the banana so it is also healthier and it fills you up so you don’t crave any other snack before your next meal.

This goes almost like the first recipe. First you spread the peanut butter on the tortilla. Then your place the whole banana on the tortilla and start rolling the tortilla around the banana. And finally you just need to cut the tortilla in slices of about one inches to make bite size bits, and voila! 

Music is one of those things i can’t live without. I can’t get through a single day without it. I love discovering new bands. I love being on the bus with my headphones on, inside my comfortable little bubble, away from the real world, mesmerised by a beautiful song. I love singing at the top of my lung while cooking (‘cause let’s be honest, that’s the only way i’ll agree to cook) even if i don’t particularly know the words nor sing very well. I love when listening to a song makes me laugh. I love when the lyrics are so beautiful it makes me cry.

Today I just wanted to share the love and tell you what I like to listen to at the moment.

James Bay – Collide

Sam Smith – Like I can

Lilly wood & the prick – Heyit’s ok

Born Cages – I just want the Truth,Baby

Hozier – Sedated

Highly Suspect – Lydia

Foals – Spanish Sahara

Enjoy :)

M.

You will soon notice that i’m a list-addict. I make lists for anything and everything just for the satisfaction of having done someting even when it's not really significant. Hoover the house : check. Clean desk : check. Brush my teeth : check (yes it can be that bad sometime …). So of course i made myself a to-do list for the summer.

This year is the first year in my life i barely had a month of summer holidays. All my free time was in May and i didn’t really got to enjoy it fully because i was sick for half of it. Yay. Anyway, now i have to reach my summer objectives while doing an internship. This is going to be tricky !

Getting better at blogging on a regular basis
I am putting my best effort into it guys ! I really feel like this blog is going to last. It makes me happy to write and to find things to talk about. It also gives me a lot of motivation for doing things which is something i didn’t always had these past years. I want it to be my special project and i hope i’ll keep writing indefinitely :)

Running for 30 minutes straight without dying

Ok so you experienced runners may think this is ridiculous but i am a novice and right now i can only run for 20 minutes without passing out on the side of the road. I now have two months to try to survive ten more minutes when i go for a run. Baby steps guys, baby steps ! I’ll keep you posted on that front ;)

Catch up with as much TV shows as i can before they all start again

I said i liked to make lists, i never said i always did all they said i had to ! Last summer i did a “Summer book list” to read but i never really finished them all. I think i still have two half read and another two i never even start. Of course i also have some more books i purchased recently that made the list so i better get started !

Catch up with some sleep

I started my internship in June and i have had a hard time getting used to this new rhythm. The last three years at the university were irregular in terms of schedule. Sometimes i had classes all day long, sometimes i had four hours in the day, sometimes i didn’t have any. As a result, i am now struggling to get up early every morning of the week and finishing late. I know most people would say “well, that’s real working-life dear, get used to it”, and i will, in due time.

Today i felt like writing an update on my life right now so you can get to know me a little bit better and what i am up to at the moment.

I have to admit that i had many (MANY) blogs throughout the years but i’ve never been as motivated and inspired as i am for this one. I am so determined to go back to blogging properly and do stuff to show you guys. I already have so many ideas for future posts !

I think this burst of motivation is caused by the return of the sun. It does things to me, it’s crazy ! The other day i was watching outside my window and thought : “I really want to go out for a run !”. True story. That thought actually crossed my mind, i swear. I’m telling you : it is NOT typical M’s behaviour AT ALL. But you know, thinking that made me really happy and really motivated to DO stuff, to go outside and make the most of the little time the sun is out there. I don’t miss those depressing grey clouds and stupid rain, trust me.

Anyway, i’m gonna have to wait a little more before going out there again because my ribs hurt and as it is painful when i sleep i can’t imagine what it would feel like while running. Fun fact about me : I have very bad luck at every beginning of vacations. Two years ago my laptop died the first day and this year i fell ill literally the night of my last day of exams. So, i’ve been sick for two weeks, coughed so much i hurt my ribs and now in my third week of vacation i am still not at 100%. It’s a conspiracy, i can’t see any other explanation !

In other news, i graduated yesterday ! *happiness dance* I now officially have a “Licence” (3 years degree at the university in France) in information and communication. Next September i am starting a Master of Science in International Marketing, so keep an eye open, i might talk about my college experience in the future.

Another exciting news : I’m getting my hair cut next week. I am little bit terrified because i want to cut shorter than i ever did before but i hope it’s gonna turn out good and that i am going to love it ! Keep an eye out for a post about this as well !

Follow my blog with Bloglovin !