Tag: 2017

December 31, 2017 – To Grandmother’s House We Go (OOTD #190)

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Grandmothers are the best.

If you’ll remember, I mentioned that over Christmas, my parents were too sick to visit my grandmother like we usually do. Instead, we hung around home and opened presents by ourselves – which was totally valid, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t quite Christmas without my grandmother.

On Sunday, we made up for that by driving over to Louisville to see my grandmother and doing something of a “Christmas part 2.” We exchanged the last of our presents, ate the cheesecake we were supposed to eat the weekend prior, and watched the Eagles lose to the Dallas Cowboys (at home, of all places). That last bit was a little depressing, but otherwise, it was a fun day.

Seeing as it was New Year’s Eve, when I made it back to Lexington, I went party-hopping with all of my 500 friends and had a crazy fun time until the dawn of 2018.

What? Does that really sound so terribly unlikely to you?

Yeah, so in actuality, I had no real New Year’s Eve plans – so instead, I went over to Amanda’s house and cooked dinner before playing some old video games and watching Eclipse with our other friend, Zach. I’m not sure it was what the kids would call, “lit,” but that’s about what happens when you put three introverts in a room together and tell them to have fun on the last day of the year.

We did venture outside once to pick up some ice cream, which was such a terrifying and harrowing experience that I think I’m going to hide myself in my room indoors for the entirety of 2018.

While it was no exciting party, it was still a perfectly fun night with friends. Also, I fell asleep shortly after midnight, meaning I spent the first moments of the new year unconscious – which is arguably the best way to spend any year.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one. 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: thrifted

Sweater: Forever21

December 30, 2017 – Resolutionless (OOTD #189)

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Happy New Year’s Eve!

I guess this will be the last blog I publish before 2018. In that case, I hope you have a lovely time partying tonight or whatever it is you’re doing, and I hope you start of 2018 right, whatever that means for you.

My New Year’s Eve will consist of eating an obscenely unhealthy pasta dish I found on Pinterest, and watching old Disney Channel movies with my friends. I’ve got no parties to go to, or else I’d have a more exciting, glittery outfit to show you. As it is, I do have this fun Hollister sweater I found at Goodwill for $4; it may not be glittery enough to pop champagne in, but it’s fuzzy enough to keep warm.

I’m not really one for New Year’s resolutions; I personally feel there’s no need to designate certain goals for yourself at this arbitrary time when you could be striving for improvement at any time during the rest of the year. If I were to set one, though, I guess I should post more and more consistently to this blog.

In fairness, it’s far from my main priority – I do have to put school first – but I definitely could do better. I feel like I’ve got to give myself a little credit, though: 500+ followers on WordPress and 6000+ on Instagram over the course of a few months isn’t half bad. If nothing more, this is a hobby I enjoy, and I enjoy that some of you like to follow along with my hobby.

Anyway, here’s to hoping you have a wonderful 2018, and that you succeed in whatever your resolutions may be. And if you’re like me, and you consider the concept of resolutions that you probably won’t keep inhibitory to progress, then I hope you enjoy not making resolutions and moving on with your life like normal!

Sweater: Hollister (thrifted)

Skirt: Zara (thrifted)

Shirt: the LOFT (thrifted)

December 28, 2017 – Not A Bowling Outfit (OOTD #188)

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If you’re wondering: yes, I did make it out of bed before 2PM today.

Look at this shirt. Doesn’t it just scream “bowling?” Or maybe “Hawaiian vacation?”

Unfortunately, I did neither of those things yesterday. Instead, I tried to go bowling, just to find there was an hour long wait (on a Thursday night of all times!), followed by driving around aimlessly trying to figure out what to do before finally giving up and going home and watching The Cheetah Girls 2.

That’s all fine and good, but I’m still a little disappointed that I didn’t get to go bowling with my bowling shirt on. I mean, honestly – it looks like something straight out of The Big Lebowski. Alternatively, one could also say that I look like I should be selling knockoff Rolexes out of my coat in a dark alley, and that would be equally valid.

Actually, I didn’t buy this shirt with the intent of looking like a bowler or a street vendor a or even a 90s Leonardo DiCaprio – it was inspired by this one girl in my art class my freshman year of high school. She used to always come into school with these really cute,  vintage-y outfits usually consisting of a jacket, some sort of patterned shirt, and leggings. There was some variation of course – a scarf or other added accessories – but it was always very chic.

Also very formulaic, which I was less a fan of, but I’m nitpicking.

Anyway, I have no idea what this girl is up to, or if she’s still wearing the same outfits because she was a few years older than me and graduated my sophomore year, but I guess you could say this outfit is a tribute to her. Also bowling.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one. 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

Shirt: Thrifted

Leggings: The LOFT

December 26, 2017 – Liminal Space (OOTD #186)

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The time between the end of Christmas and New Year’s Eve is a liminal space.

Do we even exist here? Is life progressing between December 26-31, or are we simply in limbo? What even is time?

I don’t know the answer to those rhetorical questions; my point is just that December 26-31 is a really weird time when nothing’s really happening and life is trying to continue like normal but failing wildly.  I think we’re all still recovering from our food comas from Christmas.

So what better to do during liminal space, the time between what was and what’s next, than change up my hair? Again…

This is the second (arguably third) major haircut of 2017, and if you ask me, the most drastic. I don’t know if I’ve ever had such short hair before; not even as a kid. I’m pretty sure I had that bob with bangs that every preschooler had, and I hated it so much that as soon as my mother let me grow my hair out, I did. And I kept it that way until a few months ago when I decided to cut it short and dye it grey.

And then, a few days ago, I decided to cut it even shorter and go back to brunette. It’s not quite my natural color, but it’s closer than it’s been for years, since I dyed it blonde when I was 17. The bleached bits were just starting to look really awful, so I had to do it for the health of my hair. I have always wanted a pixie cut as well.

I might still dye it darker, but for now, I’m keeping it how it is. Besides, if I do end up changing it, as long as I do it before liminal space is over, it’ll be like it never happened, right?

Sweater: Thrifted

Jacket: Forever21

December 25, 2017 – No More Christmas Captions (OOTD #185)

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Christmas Outfits Challenge 2017: Day 15

My goodness, do you even know how hard it was to keep making up Christmas/holiday-related titles for these blogs and my Instagram posts?

It was hard, okay? I mean, honestly, I wound up with one blog so-cleverly titled “Candy Cane Costume.” Talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel. I’ve had some lame blog titles before, but that one was, to me, particularly lame. Like, I couldn’t have even titled it “Candy Cane Couture,” and made it sound a little classier?

Speaking of fashion, this, I admit, was not the outfit I actually wore today on Christmas day. Rather, I wore this when my friend Amanda and I went hiking the other day at a nearby woodsy area. In fact, I don’t even have curly grey hair any more…but more on that in tomorrow’s post. I may have a new haircut to show off.

The thing, though, is that I just don’t usually get dressed up on Christmas day; I’m lucky if I even make it out of my pajamas, especially if my family doesn’t go out. I mentioned this in yesterday’s blog, but my family doesn’t really do much exciting on Christmas – we don’t really have visitors, we don’t go to midnight mass, we don’t have a big fancy dinner.

We do usually have my grandmother over, but my mother was sick, so we had to postpone that meeting. It’s alright though – we had a fun Christmas anyway, and we’ll see my grandmother some other time.

Anyway, I’d like to wish anyone reading this a very merry Christmas (or, as it’s likely this won’t be published until late Christmas day or even the day after, a very merry December 26t)! And thanks to everyone who’s kept up with this blog since I started it a few months ago. It means a lot.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one. 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!

Coat: Juicy Couture

Sweater: American Eagle

Shirt: Forever21

Saturday Musings + Coffee – Merry Christmas Eve Eve

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Happy almost-Christmas!

It’s two days until Christmas, and things are finally beginning to look like it at my household. I’ve baked some cookies, a cake, we put up our tree, my dad and I put up our outdoor lights – we’ve got just about all of the traditional Christmas stuff done.

I’ve still got quite a bit of wrapping to do, and even a few more gifts to buy, but I’m not too concerned. The gifts I need to buy aren’t due until after Christmas, and the wrapping can be done later tonight while I watch some Christmas specials on television.

It’s weird not being in school – I at once seem to have so much to do and nothing to do at all. For example, I stayed in bed until like 1PM today, like a proper lazy teenager, but after I finally got up, my dad and I managed to get some legitimate work done on the outdoor decorations. I’ll probably stay up late again tonight – I’ve got some Christmas cards to sign and address, the wrapping to do, and maybe even some blogging – and then wake up late tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I’ve been trying to make it through the most recent Harry Potter book – The Cursed Child. I don’t know, does it even count as a book? Is it even officially canon? I actually bought it like, a year ago, but I only made it about halfway through the first act before I gave up on how contrived and corny the plot seemed.

I’m coming across much of the same issue now, trying to read it again – the plot does seem a little silly, and the characters are, for lack of a better term, out-of-character. Maybe it would’ve been better had I seen the actual stage play.

Have any of you read Cursed Child yet? What do you think? Feel free to leave me a comment below.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one. 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!

December 15, 2017 – A Long Day (OOTD #183)

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Christmas Outfits Challenge 2017: Day 13

Fun fact: by the time these photos were taken at about 4 in the afternoon on December 15, I had been up for over 24 hours.

Well, nearly. See, it all started at 6 AM, December 14. Why was I up that early, you ask? I had my final final, that morning at 8 AM, and I wanted to get up early enough so that I could relax (sort of), have some coffee, and get ready before I made the ten minute walk to the building where my exam was held.

This was the final I was most worried about too – Theology. I had an A in the class, but I needed an 87 on the final to keep that grade, so I needed to make sure I actually did well. Thankfully, the exam went well (well enough… I forgot to memorize the quotes I was supposed to by Nestorius and Cyril, but…y’know – you can’t win them all), and by 10 AM, I was finished with my first semester of college.

Then, I managed to sneak in an hour-long nap in my room before my roommates came in and we had to clean up our dorm before we left.

After that…well, I didn’t do much. I really had no reason to be awake – I had a bit of remaining work to do, I guess, and some blogging to work on, but I probably should’ve napped so I could be up in time for my 4 AM bus to Midway Airport.

Should’ve. Instead, I stayed up all night with some of my friends were also waiting to catch buses to catch plains that Saturday after classes ended. It was kind-of a weird night…

Anyway, I wound up on that 4AM bus with only one hour of sleep under my belt. I managed to get another hour of sleep whilst on that 4AM bus, and by 6AM-ish, I was sitting at my gate at Midway Airport. My plane, though, didn’t leave until 9AM, so I just kind-of sat there bleary-eyed for three hours watching the people go by and thinking about how I wanted to nap but I didn’t really want to in the middle of an airport.

Time-skip ahead a few hours, and I was standing in front of my grandmother’s house in Louisville at 4PM taking my photos with only three hours of sleep over the course of 34 hours – one hour after my Theo final, one hour on the 4AM bus to Midway, and one hour on the plane from Chicago to Louisville.

It’s great being home though, and it’s great being done with my first semester of school. It was worth a very long day of being awake.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life as an idiot college student. 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: H&M

Shirt: Forever21

Turtleneck: The LOFT

Pants: American Eagle

Boots: LL Bean

December 14 , 2017 – I Heart Santa (OOTD #182)

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I would not necessarily have bought this sweater for myself.

I do rather like it though, and I’m glad I own it nonetheless. It was a gift I received from a Secret Santa exchange that my friends and I at Notre Dame decided to do. I suggested as a part of my wishlist that my Secret Santa should get me an ugly Christmas sweater, and this is what she came up with.

I’m not typically a fan of words on clothing, especially when those words declare, for me, my adoration for something else (as it is in this case, Santa). I’d rather just tell people I love Santa myself rather than having my sweater do it for me, y’know?

In fact, I don’t really love Santa. I mean, Saint Nicholas, the actual dude who devoted his life to giving to the poor, is actually pretty cool, but Santa, the old white guy who sneaks into people’s houses at night and leaves them presents? Sounds suspicious.

In fact, I was pretty young when I stopped believing in Santa. Of the mythical lies that parents tell their kids, Santa was the last one to go for me – the tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny went first – but I had given up on him by kindergarten/first grade.

Interestingly, though, I continued to believe in flying reindeer for a little longer. Even after I had stopped putting cookies out for Santa (or at least, believing that when I put the cookies out, Santa ate them), I went out with my Dad on Christmas Eve to sprinkle “reindeer food” on the grass. I’m pretty sure it was just a mix of glitter and flour, but it was cool to me, regardless.

So no, I cannot say I particularly love the myth of Santa. Reindeer on the other hand? I’m still not convinced they can’t fly.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life as an idiot college student. 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!

Shirt: Free People

Sweater: Thrifted

Skirt: Forever21

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December 12, 2017 – Candy Cane Costume (OOTD #180)

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Christmas Outfits Challenge 2017: Day 9

Oops.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, hasn’t it? I got quite busy there with my finals, but thankfully, it’s all over now. And by all, I do mean all – my entire first semester of college is finally over!

I don’t actually know if finally is the proper word there – it seemed to pass by so quickly. I’m pretty sure Welcome Weekend with its terrible forced socialization and matching t-shirts was just last month. For that matter, I’m pretty sure I just graduated from high school two months ago.

At any rate, I’m back home now, and looking back at these photos from when I was still at school feels so odd. It was only a few days ago, and yet the Meilin of December 12 (that was eight days ago? I really am terribly behind on these blogs) was in a completely different place than the Meilin of December 20 (the day of this blog’s original post). Notably, I’m significantly less stressed now that I don’t have the crushing weight of finals and the societal expectation to perform well pressing upon my shoulders.

In its place, I’ve taken up a festive holiday spirit. My parents and I went out and got a Christmas tree yesterday, and I’ve already baked some gingerbread cookies. I still have wrapping to do, the tree needs to be decorated, not to mention the entire outside of our house – Christmas is a busy time, man.

It’s a good busy though. Tomorrow, I’m doing more baking, decorating the tree (hopefully?), going hiking with a friend, and getting my hair done. Wish me luck! If I’m successful, I’ll hopefully get a blog in too.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life as an idiot college student. 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!

Sweater: Forever21

Shirt: Thrifted

Skirt: J. Crew

Boots: LL Bean

December 11, 2017 – Brain Dead College Kid (OOTD #179)

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Christmas Outfits Challenge 2017: Day 8

Primal scream or person who’s just really happy it’s snowing out? 99% of people can’t tell!

This sweater is honestly one of my favorites – it’s oversized enough to be comfy, but still subtle-enough in its design that I can wear it unironically. It’s sort of like an attractive version of an ugly Christmas sweater.

In fact, I love it so much, it’s falling apart and I still haven’t gotten rid of it. I mean, I got it at a Goodwill, so I sort-of knew what I was getting into when I bought it, but now, I’m attached to it and I don’t want to let it go. I feel like I’m going to be wearing it still in 20 Christmases from now and all that will be left of it are a couple of knotted red strings.

In other news, I’m done with my first semester of college! I mean, the Meilin in these pictures wasn’t – she still had all of her finals to drag herself through – but the Meilin writing this blog several days later is!

First semester of college was honestly pretty fun – arguably much better than any one semester of high school. I’m glad it’s over though. I could use the month-long winter break.

Sorry, that’s but that’s basically all I’ve got to say about today. I’m brain dead. Send help.

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!

Sweater: Thrifted

Dress: American Eagle

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