September 2017 – L'ensemble du jour

Saturday Musings + Coffee – First Pumpkin Spice of the Season

Published on September 30, 2017September 30, 2017 by lensembledujour1 Comment

Call me basic, but there’s nothing more I love in the fall season than a good pumpkin spice coffee.

I distinctly remember the first time I ever got one – I was a freshman in high school, and I had just started using Twitter. I had followed one of those “Basic White Girl” humor accounts, and I started seeing a lot of mentions to the mythical pumpkin spice latte. At that time, I wasn’t a huge coffee drinker, but I liked it well enough, so, one day when I was out with my parents in early fall, hitting up some neighborhood yard sales, I decided to stop in Starbucks and give one a shot.

I even remember what I was wearing – an oversized knit sweater from Hollister, black leggings, and Uggs – that was how earth-shattering of an experience drinking this coffee was for me.

The thing is, I didn’t even like it that much. Like, it was good enough, but in terms of decadent Starbucks coffees, I still think their Christmastime salted caramel latte is 10 times better.

I think what was such a big deal to me, was that it was one of my first experiences buying into an image. I didn’t necessarily like the pumpkin spice lattes themselves, but I did like the image of a Starbucks-guzzling, PINK yoga pants-wearing, messy bun-sporting basic teenage girl. Maybe it had something to do with being a freshman in high school who was still enchanted with the concept of being in high school.

At any rate, pumpkin spice lattes have since become a staple in my fall lifestyle. I still don’t love them, but I like to have one or two before Thanksgiving rolls around.

Today, I had my first one of the season – though actually, it wasn’t a real latte…it was just a pumpkin spice-flavored black coffee from a café at Notre Dame called Waddick’s. It wasn’t quite as good as the legendary Starbucks pumpkin spice latte, but it it was half the price of Starbucks, so it worked for me.

You know what else works for me? White backgrounds for photos. Seriously, I love them, so much so that I walked a whole extra 10 minutes after I got my coffee to the library so I could sit at a white table and take pictures of it. On the way, I picked some flower petals to add some color to my photos, and I had a nice little photoshoot right there in the library foyer. Call me extra.

Anyway, it’s probably time for me to get back to work now. We’ve got a home game tonight at five, which means that my entire evening is basically going to be consumed by football. You’d think my professors would let up on homework for football weekends, considering that this is a huge football school…but no.

Two weeks to fall break. I can do this.

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September 25, 2017 – I Have Pants On, I Promise (OOTD #119)

Published on September 29, 2017 by lensembledujour4 Comments

When will I ever stop posting my Friday OOTDs late on account of taking too long of an afternoon nap?

This time, at least, I woke up early enough to still be able to go to the dining hall for dinner. Last time, I made the mistake of sleeping until 8pm…and the dining hall closes on 7 on weekends. There was a very sad, very hungry Meilin that night.

Actually, I had ramen that night for dinner, so it was pretty chill. I’m never sad when there’s ramen around. The whole “starving college student who can only afford ramen” stereotype doesn’t bother me in the least.

Upon waking about 15 minutes ago, I immediately got to work on this blog – only to realize about three paragraphs in that I was missing the photos I needed for this date. Why? On Saturday, September 23, I went out apple picking with from some people in my residence hall, and I did my photos while out there. That shouldn’t be a problem, of course – except that my photos were taken from someone else’s camera, and I haven’t been sent them yet.

So rather than miss out on a blogging day, I figured I’d switch the dates, so that September 25 will come before September 23 in the order of release. I believe this happened some other time in the history of this blog (I can’t remember quite for what reason, though), so it’s a bit annoying, but not the end of the world.

Anyway, the outfit for September 25 – I swear I have pants on. See, you can tell if I lift up my arms so my jacket raises above the hemline of my shorts. I admittedly got a couple of second-glances today, likely on account of my pseudo pants-less outfit.

It wasn’t even my intent to look pants-less! I’ve actually done that look before, so I have no problem with it, but I found I was self-consciously pulling down at my shorts all day trying to make them look more in existence under my jacket. Eventually, I decided to just unbutton my coat so that my shorts were clearly visible, but of course, I didn’t think to do that until after I’d done my photos.

This post has been a mess…kind-of like my life lately. Wish I could stay and organize it a little more, but I’m scooting out to a pep rally in a few minutes. and I’m already late. Whoops.

Guess I shouldn’t be taking Friday afternoon naps.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life here at Notre Dame. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Jacket: Forever21

Top: Aerie

Shorts: They’re from H&M…but why bother mentioning it? They’re barely featured in this post 😂<<<
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September 22, 2017 – Bright Sun, Wet Hair (OOTD #118)

Published on September 28, 2017September 28, 2017 by lensembledujour5 Comments

While in yesterday’s post, my hair looked odd because it was greasy, today it looks odd because it’s clean. And still wet.

But hey, at least it’s clean now. It’s unfortunate it wasn’t dry by afternoon when I did my pictures, but trust me, it would have been more unfortunate if it were still dirty.

Ho hum. I swear, one of these days, I’ll have a post where I don’t have any complaints to make about the state of my hair, the quality of the photo, or what’s going on in the background. I don’t know when that day will be, but I’m sure it’s going to happen eventually.

Actually, I have no complaints about my outfit at all in this set of photos – I’m legitimately pleased with how it turned out. I’m even more pleased that I managed to put it together in one of my before-class frenzies with no pre-planning at all. There’s something a little unconventional going on there with the layering of the halter bralette under the ruffled off-the-shoulder top, and the skirt is exquisite all by itself – no creative styling required.

In the end, it all just made for a nice outfit. I like to think all of my outfits are nice (if I didn’t, I probably shouldn’t have a fashion blog, right?) but this one is especially so.

As this was a Friday outfit, I actually only wore it for half a day. On Fridays, I’m done with classes by 11:30, so I bother a friend from my residence hall to snap a few pictures for me, and then I change into my pajamas. If I’m lucky, I even snag a nap! It’s too bad that such a nice outfit didn’t get more exposure, but that just means I’ll have to wear a variation of it again some time in the future. I try not to repeat outfits, but I have no problem with drawing inspiration from past ensembles.

Wish I could stay and write longer, but I’ve got two exams tomorrow that I haven’t studied much for, so I’m afraid I need to get going on that. Wish me luck!

Top: Hollister

Bralette: Aerie

Skirt: River Island

September 21, 2017 – The Catharsis of Complaining (OOTD #117)

Published on September 27, 2017 by lensembledujour3 Comments

Check out those greasy bangs.

It happens. Sometimes you’re rushing out the door to make it to your 9:25 Theo class and all you have time to do is throw your hair into a messy post-run ponytail. Your dry shampoo is located a whole 20 ft away in the other room, and while you could take the extra minute to grab it and spray some on your greasy roots, you might then only make it to Theo by 9:24, and sometimes your professor decides to start class early. 9:23 is much safer.

Walking in at 9:24 is by no definition evil – in fact, you’re still definitely on time – but, in the case that your professor does start lecturing early, you’ll have to walk past him to get to your seat, and by then, everyone’s eyes are focused on the from of the room. Even if they don’t notice your greasy hair, they’ll notice the disheveled state of your ponytail, and perhaps even the fact that you haven’t quite stopped sweating from your run.

Without any better ideas, you put on a headband, in hopes that it will somehow conceal how dirty your hair is. Unfortunately, the headband is too thin to make much of a difference, and it’s not even very visible because it’s the same goldish-silver color as your hair.

It also doesn’t help that you’re wearing wedges that slow your walking speed by about 25%. They look really cute with the buttons of your sweater, sure, but they’re definitely not going to help you get to class any faster…which is a problem when you’re running late as is.

My point? I like complaining – it’s cathartic. Also, maintaining a daily fashion blog means I have to take pictures of myself even when I don’t look my best, such as when I have greasy bangs. Rather than try to pretend they’re not there, though, I like to point them out – especially when I have no better ideas for how to start a blog. Complaining’s a good way to get the ball rolling fast enough to blast through the writer’s block.

Oh, and I guess I could also say that recognizing one’s own flaws is particularly relevant in today’s society, where technology allows us to remove our flaws with photo editing programs and thus present to the world a more perfect image of ourselves than what exists. But I’m a college student, and I already have enough essays where I have to say clichés like “in today’s society,” so this point’s just going to be stuck here at the end as an afterthought, okay? Don’t want to sound too preachy.

Sweater: The LOFT

Shirt: Vintage (thrifted)

Jeans: Abercrombie

September 20, 2017 – Wake Me Up When…You Get the Point (OOTD #116)

Published on September 26, 2017 by lensembledujour4 Comments

…when September ends?

I do hope you got the point, at least. If not, then you weren’t a proper emo kid from the early 2000s. Actually, I wasn’t even an emo kid in the early 2000s…I was just a kid. What is my point here?

“Wake Me Up When September Ends” is a good song, I couldn’t think of a better blog title, and it would have been a crime to let September pass without referencing it once in this blog.

September, for a long time, has been one of my least favorite months. Even as a kid, I kind-of despised it – September meant that awkward period after the end of summer break when you were stuck going to school in the sweltering heat, you hadn’t yet established who your best friends for the year were to be yet, you didn’t have a feel for how difficult your teachers and classes would be, and all the stores start putting out their Halloween decorations even though it’s not nearly cold enough to feel like “fall” yet. Even into high school, the same pattern of awkwardness and anxiety stuck around. For my senior year in particular, September was stressful because I was trying to get all my Common App college applications done in time for the November 1 early action deadline.

But guess what? For the first time in years, I don’t hate September. I don’t know what is is, but for some reason, the perpetual background anxiety I would feel for the entire month hasn’t reared its head. Maybe it’s because I’m so busy adjusting to college life that I haven’t had the time to feel sorry for myself? I’m not sure.

In fact, September’s been…almost nice?

At any rate, I enjoy not hating September for once. I hope I don’t end up hating October in its place now, lol. October is too lovely of a month to hate.

In celebration of my lack of hatred for September and of the start of fall, I went for a fall-like outfit. And by fall-like, I mean I just wore an orange dress and brown shoes. There have been, perhaps, less obvious interpretations of the standard “fall outfit,” but that’s for the Project Runway designers to think up, not me. Hey, I could have been wearing leaves and pumpkins, but I’ve got a touch more subtlety than that.

Also, I’m bitter, because the choker I’m wearing here broke when I took off. It was one of my favorites too. You’d think being from Madewell and costing like $15 it would last a little longer than a few months.

To quote the joke that both my mother and my friend Amanda made when I sent them a picture of the broken clasp: “…guess it wasn’t…made well!?!?”

Dress: Forever21

Sweater: Altar’d State

Choker: Not made well

September 19, 2017 – A Pirate’s Life for Me (OOTD #115)

Published on September 25, 2017September 25, 2017 by lensembledujour8 Comments

Let’s not lie to ourselves – this outfit’s got some pirate vibes to it.

From the flowy blouse that looks like the puffy shirt from Seinfeld, to the black and white striped turtleneck, to the oversized black hat, and the high-waisted shorts, there are definitely some, at the very least, nautical elements to today’s ensemble.

I feel like all I need now is a parrot or a spyglass.

The funny thing is, I didn’t even realize it until I was looking through these photos. It was just sort of one of those outfits that I threw together as I was running out of my dorm, and I barely gave it more than a 5 second glance in my mirror before heading out the door. That could have been disastrous – like submitting a paper without ever re-reading or editing it – but I think it turned out okay this time.

This blouse is probably one of the most difficult things in my wardrobe to wear – in fact, I’ve only worn it one other time, and that was in one of my days in London. It’s one of those things that I was smitten with when I saw it in the store, to the point that I was even willing to buy it in a size too big, and then realized when I got home that I had no plan for how to wear it.

Oh well, it adds to the challenge and the fun of getting dressed.

One thing I do really miss about being at home and having my own room was that I was able to, regardless of the time of night, go into my closet and assemble outfits. I can’t really do that now. My roommates all go to bed at some kind of reasonabletime, like rational human beings, so that when I come home from studying in the library at whatever odd hour in the night it is, I can’t just go into our bedroom and start shuffling hangers around in my wardrobe. So what I usually end up doing is putting together my outfits in the mornings before I head to class, which is not really ideal for putting thought and care into them.

You know what else is not ideal? Not having all of your clothes with you. I can’t wait for fall break – not just for finally getting something of a break from studying, and not just for getting to see my family and friends from home – but also so I can go home and see all my clothes. They’re my children and I want them back.

Blouse: Forever21

Shirt: Forever21

Shorts: H&M

September 18, 2017 – Plum and Fuchsia (Or Purple and Pink) [OOTD #114]

Published on September 24, 2017 by lensembledujour4 Comments

What did I tell you? I said flowers were going to feature much more heavily in the background of photos on this blog, and what do we have here?

This lovely set of purple-y bushes are right outside of my residence hall, making them nice and convenient for photos. They are also, apparently, very convenient to the campus’s hornet population because they’re always covered in them. I had to be careful not to get too close to the bushes actually, while I was doing this set. I can’t wait for fall/winter to come and for the bugs to finally get lost.

The heat is really beginning to pick up here, hence the short sleeves and the skirt. I hate it. I thought we had finally gotten over the summer temperatures – in fact, at the time of these pictures, the autumnal equinox (and thus, the last day of summer) was only a few days away. And a week previously, it had been beautiful – dare I say, chilly even – and now it feels like mid-July again.

I’m not a fan.

I wish I were, though. Maybe then it wouldn’t be so blistering hot in my dorm room. All we’ve got right now is a pathetic little box fan that we stole from the hallway, and that you can only feel if you stick your face right up next to it.

In other words, I’m basically taking every opportunity possible to hang out in air conditioned rooms and buildings and avoid my own room – but that’s not actually terribly different from how it was before the heat wave struck.

I don’t know, I don’t mind my room, and my roommates are all pretty cool, but I feel like I’m usually more easily distracted when I’m there. There’s nothing like looking at the dead silent nerds in the dead silent library to motivate you to do work. And thus, I spend an obscene amount of time there, soaking up the AC and the nerdy vibes.

Anyway, I probably ought to get back to work now. It never ends.

Top: Zara

Skirt: Rue21(Bonus: sometimes, when your photographer is taking a rapid succession of pictures, you wind up with gems like this as you transition from one post to another)

Saturday Musings and Coffee – Second Day of Fall

Published on September 23, 2017 by lensembledujour7 Comments

Look how beautiful and fall-like this whole scene looks. Too bad it doesn’t actually feel beautiful or fall- like.

It’s been ridiculously hot here in South Bend these last few days – like, hotter than it usually gets even in mid-July in Kentucky. And of course, my room lacks air conditioning, so I’ve spent a lot of my time trying as best as I can to hang out in buildings with AC.

I’ve also been drinking a lot of iced coffee – a tall vanilla iced coffee with one pump vanilla and skim milk, to be exact. I find I usually need something caffeinated in the afternoon to pick me up, and it’s been too miserably hot recently to get a hot drink. Though I’m typically more of a black coffee person, I’ve found I actually like the subtly sweet taste of my concoction – who knew?

Today, to commemorate the start of fall, my section within my dorm is going apple-picking at a local orchard. Though I usually hesitate to use these three words, I have to say – I’m pretty excited. I love picking apples, and I’ve been dying to get off campus, so this should be a well-needed trip.

It is a little too bad about the heat though…hopefully we’ll be done before the real afternoon heat comes in.

Anyway, I probably ought to go. I still need to workout and get dressed, and I leave in an hour. Thanks for reading!

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September 15, 2017 – I Think They Call This A Misnomer (OOTD #113)

Published on September 21, 2017 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

Today, I am Speedy.

I’m actually not sure what Speedy refers to – was Speedy particularly fast at doing his job? Did he eat his lunch quickly? Was he a track star in high school? Only Speedy knows the answer to these questions, and sadly, the only thing I know about Speedy is that he dropped off this shirt at a Salvation Army in Kentucky for me to come along and buy sometime later.

I love work shirts with someone else’s name on them. In fact, this is my second outfit featuring the misnomer shirt trend – the first one, which I featured on this blog back in June, labeled me as Oscar, and came in the mail as a surprise gift from my uncle who also enjoys lying about his name on his shirts.

I don’t know, there’s just something stupidly funny about the whole thing. The shirt is ill-fitting, made of cheap fabric, features no interesting design elements, and can’t even get my name right. It’s so unfashionable – but that’s what makes it kinda cool.

In other news, check out that shot of the Golden Dome in the background! I still haven’t quite gotten over my enchantment with Notre Dame’s campus. Maybe, in a few months when it’s freezing and Notre Dame is covered in a layer of dirty, half-melted slush, I’ll come to loathe the sight of Golden Mary because it means I’m still a solid 5 minute walk away from my dorm, but for now, she’s still pretty cool.

The only campus landmark I’m really not a fan of is Touchdown Jesus. Sorry Jesus, but not even your giant face can distract from the fact that the design of Hesburgh library is literally nothing but a giant rectangle. Sure, it’s kinda neat to see this giant mural of Jesus and his disciples peaking up from above the trees, and it’s really great from orienting yourself when you’re on a more unfamiliar section of campus, but view Hesburgh from any angle other than the one featuring TD Jesus, and it’s just an ugly brown box.

How did I even get to ranting about Touchdown Jesus here? I guess I just have a lot more feelings about the library’s design than I thought I did. Maybe I’m just bitter because I spend so much time there, and I can attest to the fact that it is in desperate need of more windows.

Speedy agrees.

Shirt: Salvation Army (thrifted)

Jeans: Abercrombie

September 14, 2017 – Goth Kid at Catholic School (OOTD #112)

Published on September 20, 2017September 20, 2017 by lensembledujour5 Comments

I spent a decent portion of my adolescence complaining about public school, but I have to give it this – it made for a nice, diverse collection of people.

You want art kids? Public school has those. You want jocks? Public school has those. You want people who fit any racial, cultural, or stereotype imaginable? Public school has you covered.

And the nice thing about my high school was (wow, never thought I’d use those words together…), you never had to stick to any particular group – people were pretty free to float around the different social categories at will. And there was really no such thing as rivalries between the groups – no Jets vs Sharks stories here. Or, I don’t know, maybe we did have gang fights with choreographed dance sequences, and I just never realized. It’s entirely possible that I just never learned the social structure of my high school in the four years I was there – just like I never learned anything about physics or how to pay taxes.

But here I am now at private Catholic school, and gone are the diverse social groups. I mean, I’ve only been here for a month, and maybe I just haven’t gotten a feel for them, but it’s definitely less likely that I’ll encounter anyone in a Black Veil Brides t-shirt or with rainbow hair here than I was in high school. And I miss that.

The typical Notre Dame kid is probably athletic, white, well-dressed (but not creatively dressed…I went to a party once and all I saw were Kylie Jenner wannabes), the son or daughter of an alumni, and from one of the suburbs of Chicago. If it’s a dude, he’s probably named Jack. If it’s a girl, she’s probably a Katie.

(Also, if I hear one more Midwestern kid with that nasally Chicago accent talk about which suburb they’re from, I’m gonna lose it. Why isn’t anyone from like, the actual city of Chicago? Do people even live in Chicago?)

Anyway, fed up with the perceived normalcy of my peers, I just had to go for an outfit that had a darker edge. You know, the commercial, non-offensive version of “darker edge” – basically, nu goth.

Essentially, I dressed in all black and put my hair in Wednesday Adams braids. Simple, but effective – I was basically edgiest kid on campus. Which, if you ask me, if pretty sad, considering a blonde girl in braids and a black hat is hardly edgy or goth. The architecture at Notre Dame is more goth than 99% of the student body, meaning I’m pretty sure the architecture would have the better taste in music than the student body – goth kids have great taste in music.

Top: Unknown (thrifted)

Pants: Altar’d State

Jacket: Forever21

Hat: Target

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