2017 – Page 2 – L'ensemble du jour

December 8, 2017 – December Splendor (OOTD #178)

Published on December 15, 2017December 15, 2017 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

Christmas Outfits Challenge 2017: Day 7

Pardon the lack of a blog yesterday – finals and all, you know?

Actually, in truth, finals have not been the most pressing thing on my mind recently – I mean, sure, they’re a big deal and such and maybe I’m blowing them off more than I should, but I’ve been pretty distracted by this recent snowfall we’ve gotten.

It’s so weird – weather never distracts me like this. I guess I’ve also never had so much pretty snow in the weeks leading up to Christmas; it’s always too hot still in Kentucky in early December. This whole “white Christmas” thing is a foreign concept to me, but one that I’m happily adapting to.

Maybe part of it is just how pretty my school is. Like, with the exception of a couple of ugly buildings on North Quad that look like an 80’s attempt to be modern, Notre Dame’s just a really architecturally interesting school, and the snow just accentuates that, falling on the curves and angles of the buildings in such a way that it looks like a purposeful accent – a highlight, if you will. There’s a reason that like, half the photos of this blog are just me standing in random doorways.

Another part of it (me being distracted, that is) is that I’m just looking for ways to keep myself from studying for my finals because I don’t want to accept that to the possibility that they could actually cause my grades to fall at this point in the year…but I’m pretty sure that’s not a thing. Consequences? What consequences?

Thankfully, all I’ve got left though is Theology tomorrow morning, and then it’s all over. Then there’s packing, and returning my textbooks, and doing laundry, and cleaning the rooms, and going to bed at a decent-enough time so that I can wake up in time for a 4am bus to Midway – okay, so maybe it’s not over. Is it ever?

Anyway, wish me luck on my Theology exam tomorrow, or, if you’re feeling extra religious, pray for me. Maybe if I go to the basilica tonight I’ll earn some extra brownie points with God that he can then transfer to my exam.

Because if Theology has taught me anything, that’s exactly how God and Christianity operate!

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: H&M

Skirt: River Island

December 6, 2017 – The Final Countdown (OOTD #176)

Published on December 12, 2017February 14, 2018 by lensembledujour2 Comments

Christmas Outfits Challenge 2017: Day 5

Finals haven’t even started yet, and I’m completely done with them.

Done in the sense of “emotionally done” – not literally done. I wish they were literally done. I can’t wait for them to be over, and for me to be back home preparing for Christmas instead of exams.

I have to be honest though – I don’t really have much to complain about. Three of my classes just had papers instead of exams, so I’m done with those, and in the remaining three classes, my grades are fine – I’m not going to fail anything, and even if I do bomb an exam, I’ll still pass the class. Objectively, I’ve got nothing to be worried about.

Of course, though, I’m still worried. I remember, back in 9th grade, for my first round of high school finals, I was so concerned about my grades that I stayed up all night one weekend trying to prepare for my exams. I had no reason to – I had over 100 in several of those classes due to extra credit (in fact, in Biology, I would’ve had to have made a negative grade on the exam just to dip below an A), but because everyone around me was worried, I was too.

I’m pretty sure that’s what’s happening here again, though my grades aren’t quite as obnoxiously high as they were when I was 14. I’m going to pass my classes, and even if I pass them with something less than an A, that’s still fine, that’s still passing. There are people around me, though, who are actually freaking out, and have legitimate reasons to be doing so, so that vibe is feeding into my anxiety.

It’ll be fine, though, and in four days, I’ll be done, and I can go home and celebrate Christmas in full.

Notre Dame’s done a really nice job of trying to alleviate finals stress though with various events around campus; I must give them that. There’s been free food pretty much every day, plenty of Christmas-themed events (like the Christmas sweater sale I mentioned the other day), and lots of encouragement from everyone I’ve come across about how it’ll all be fine.

And with that, I should probably go back to studying. Bonus points if you count how many times I said “fine” in this blog. It’s pretty much my mantra at this point.

Jacket: Forever21

Top: The LOFT

Scarf: The LOFT

December 5, 2017 – Irish You A Merry Christmas (OOTD # 175)

Published on December 10, 2017August 13, 2019 by lensembledujour7 Comments

One of the many reasons I love Notre Dame: the other day, in the LaFun student center, there was a vintage Christmas sweater sale.

I mean, granted, that’s not a common occurrence – it’s pretty rare for there to be any kind of market or vendor sale. This one was only happening as a fundraiser for some club on campus – and of course, because of the widespread need for Christmas sweaters for upcoming Christmas parties.

At any rate, it happened, and I’m glad it did. Not because I need more Christmas sweaters – because Lord knows I have plenty – but because I want more Christmas sweaters, and it’s not like I’m really able to go off campus very easily and shop the local Goodwills and Salvation Armies without a car. Notre Dame’s great, but the campus can be kind of isolating from the outside world, and I’ve been craving some good old-fashioned American consumerism.

At this Christmas sweater sale, I got this fun little jacket – something a little different from all the sweaters I own, right? Nothing says “hipster” quite like getting an ugly Christmas jacket while everyone else is getting Christmas sweaters. Plus, jackets tend to be more versatile than sweaters because they offer more opportunities for layering, so I’ll be sure to get plenty of use out of it before the end of this holiday season.

Speaking of the holiday season, nothing says festive holiday cheer quite like locking yourself in your dorm room all day and studying for finals in silence, right? Because that’s what I’ve been recently doing to prepare for Christmas. I’m not kidding about that silence thing either – there’s a 23 hour silence rule in all of the residence halls from now until the end of the semester when finals are done. I love it – not the studying for finals bit, but the quiet. Silence is as golden as the golden dome.

Jacket : thrifted

Skirt: Forever21

Boots: Doc Marten

Saturday Musings + Coffee – Snow Joke

Published on December 9, 2017 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

Get it? Because it’s a pun on “no joke” which is in itself a joke about snow…?

I really, really should not be allowed on the Internet to make terrible jokes like this – I’m just going to end up embarrassing my grandkids when they look back on the Internet archives to see what their grandmother was doing when she was a young adult.

Anyway, we here in northern Indiana, like a large chunk of the US, got a nice helping of snow last night! While not technically the first snowfall (that was actually Thursday), this is the first time we’ve had enough snow to actually do anything with, you know?

And what anything did I do with the snow? This morning, my friends and I took advantage of the fresh wintery coating to head outside and build a little snowman on South Quad. Here he is, sporting my gloves, scarf, and hat. Honestly, he wears them better than I do – I should probably just give up this blog and let him run it from now on.

After that, I sat in my dorm, drank some coffee, and did pretty much nothing for the rest of the day. I’ve got an essay to write, three finals to study for, and a concert tonight, and I have pretty much made no progress on any of these things! In fairness, I was pretty productive yesterday night…so that makes up for it, right?

I really do think it’s this wonderful snowy atmosphere that’s got me so easily distracted. I mean, sure, I can be easily distracted on any day, regardless of the weather, but today’s been especially bad. I just want to stand by a window, watch the snow fall, and listen to Christmas music, yo. This studying nonsense is cramping my style.

And with that cringey statement, I’m going to go before I embarrass myself further. Wish me luck on my work!

December 4, 2017 – A Not Ugly Christmas Sweater (OOTD #174)

Published on December 8, 2017August 15, 2019 by lensembledujour2 Comments

When did the ugly Christmas sweater become a trend, anyway?

I feel like it’s been within my lifetime, but that’s admittedly been pretty short so far, so I’m not sure. I remember being embarrassed as a kid to have to wear oversized, holiday-themed sweaters – I thought they made me look like my grandmother (no offense to my grandmother – a truly fabulous, fashionable woman).

But sometime within the last few years it seems, weird, vintage-y sweaters seem to have come back into style. I myself can attest to this – I have about seven Goodwill Christmas sweaters proudly stored in my closet, all waiting until December when they can finally be worn after sitting in storage for the rest of the year.

Maybe that’s why I go out of my way to wear as many Christmas-themd outfits as I can in the weeks leading up to two the holiday – I’ve got all these amazing sweaters that I’ve collected over the years, but I have to keep them stored away in my closet for eleven out of the twelve months. It seems unfair.

This, however, is not one of Goodwill Christmas sweaters – it’s still a Christmas sweater, sure, but it was one that I bought for about $50 at Abercrombie rather than $5 at a secondhand store. Overpriced? Yeah, especially for the fact that it’s only in season for a small portion of the year.

All the more reason to make a point to wear it whenever I can during the holiday season, right? Got to make make the most of that $50 impulse buy.

Sweater: Abercrombie

Skirt: Pitaya

November 30, 2017 – On the First Day of Christmas (OOTD #172)

Published on December 7, 2017April 30, 2018 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

The Christmas season is finally here!

Well, according to me, anyway. I suppose the Catholic church may have a different definition of the advent season, and the big box stores seem to think Christmas begins as early as mid-October (seriously, I swear, while I was looking for Halloween decorations this year at Target, I was already coming across Christmas lights), but for me, Christmas begins on the last day of November.

I’m not really sure how I came up with the last day of November as the first day I start dressing for Christmas – it’d make more sense that it be the first day of December, right? It also doesn’t make sense because I’ve designated the day after Thanksgiving as when I first begin to listen to Christmas music, so the last of November isn’t even necessarily the day I first fully begin celebrating Christmas…

I wish I had some kooky story to tell you about some imaginary fantasy I had as a kid about why I had to wait until November 30 to break out my Christmas sweaters and the red and green color combinations, but I have nothing. This arbitrary, self-imposed rule has been like this for years now, though – on November 30, I start dressing for Christmas.

And it’s my goal, from now until December 25, to continue dressing in Christmas outfits. Call it an outfit challenge. How many ways can I wear the red and green pieces in my closet? How many hours can I go in my wool Abercrombie Christmas sweater before I’m trying to itch off my pores? Looks like now’s the time to find out.

If you’re still looking for a kooky Christmas story though, I do have one about how, in first grade, I went on a loud tirade in the middle of our Christmas party about how Santa wasn’t real, and that my classmates were stupid to believe in him. I was obnoxious enough that my teacher had to pull me aside to tell me to shut up. Interestingly, though the Santa illusion didn’t last long for me, the concept of flying reindeer was significantly less unbelievable to my childhood self. I’m pretty sure wasn’t until years after my Santa realization that I realized that flying reindeer were fake too.

To be fair, I’ve never seen a reindeer before in my life. How can I be sure they don’t really fly?

Jacket: Forever21

Sweater: H&M

Pants: Banana Republic

Saturday Musings + Coffee – Festive Feelings

Published on December 3, 2017 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

Look at these Christmas festivities – look at them!

I love Christmas decorations, but, going to public school for 13 years, I didn’t get to see them much in a classroom setting. I guess maybe in elementary school, I had some teachers who would decorate their rooms and let us do Christmas-themed crafts, but the Christmas festivities decreased significantly as I got older.

I’m pretty sure I didn’t even know what Christmas was in high school; I didn’t get to see it at all, so how could it possibly exist?

But no longer – I go to a Catholic university, so Christmas is a pretty big deal. It’s like…it’s the basis for the religion practiced here, or something.

Pretty much all of the class buildings have Christmas trees in them, and many have Christmas lights outside. My favorite has to be O’Shag, one of the Arts and Letters buildings, which has some really beautiful garland and a wreath at the entrance.

South Dining Hall also has some really nice decorations, but maybe that’s just because SDH is a beautiful building to begin with. There are lights lining the entire main dining area, and there’s a nice big Christmas tree right where you walk in. If you’ve seen the Great Hall Christmas feast scene from the first Harry Potter film, it basically looks like that.

It’s all especially nice because finals are coming up, and anything sweet and beautiful like Christmas decorations are appreciated as I stare into my textbooks and pray that I remember any information in them.

November 27, 2017 – A Literal Glow Up (OOTD #169)

Published on December 2, 2017 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

You know what’s spectacular about being a little old university student?

I’m finally beginning to feel distant from teen culture. Saying something like “glow up” feels awkward to me, like I’m not the right age to be saying it and I’m just an old lady trying to keep with the times. And furthermore, is it a Glo Up? Or a GloUp? A GlowUp?

Literally, I had to Google it to figure out how to use the phrase, which I’m pretty sure 16-year old me didn’t have to do with words and phrases like “or nah” and “bae.” What even are the kids doing these days? I don’t know; for the first time in eight years, I’m not really a part of that culture anymore.

Back to this “glow up” concept – I didn’t even use it in my title in reference to its actual meaning. My physical beauty has not increased in any significant quantity recently – though I did get more sleep than usual over Thanksgiving, so I guess that might make me look a little less battered than usual.

No, I’m just referring to the fact that in half of these pictures, my shirt is glowing like something out of a fantasy novel.

When will I learn to stop standing in direct sun when I’m wearing a white shirt? My poor 2010-era point and shoot camera cannot handle it.

Thankfully, though, I don’t think it made things look too bad – a little shiny, sure, but the rest of the photos are intact. Changing lighting conditions are just one of the many joys of outdoor photography, and one that I’m still learning how to work with. Onward and upward.

Shirt: Banana Republic

Skirt: Zara

November 26, 2017 – Greyhound Adventures Part 3 (OOTD #168)

Published on November 30, 2017 by lensembledujour3 Comments

Why, oh why, can’t I avoid the travesty that is the Greyhound bus system?

I fully understand that the bus drivers and workers for Greyhound are likely underpaid and have to deal with grumpy, frustrated people all day, so it’s very difficult for them to maintain the will to be friendly…but, my goodness, it certainly makes it difficult for me to enjoy bus trips.

On Sunday, it was time for me to head back to Notre Dame, so I grabbed breakfast with some friends, and then hitched a ride with my friend, Amanda, back up to Indianapolis, where she goes to school. From there, I took a Greyhound back to South Bend. Seems pretty simple, right?

Well…it was. Objectively, nothing went wrong. With the exception of my bus being about 30 minutes late dropping me off at South Bend, everything went as planned, and I made it back to school at a decent time.

That’s objectively speaking though – subjectively, it was a harrowing and stress ulcer-inducing experience.

I love Amanda, don’t get me wrong. We got trapped at the Atlanta airport for two days together; how could we not be friends? But her driving…I don’t know if she obeyed the speed limit once.

In one sense, who does? I’m probably consistently going five or ten over, depending on the road, which is pretty normal. Amanda, however, drives her Prius like she’s racing in the Indianapolis 5000. Her average speed while we were on the interstate might have been 100; I don’t actually know, I had to force myself to not look at the speedometer out of fear of what the number was.

But she got me to the Greyhound station, and no one died, and for that, I’m grateful. I mean, I‘ve totaled a car before myself, so in a sense, she’s a safer driver than me.

The Greyhound station was also one of the sketchiest places I’ve been in my entire life, which didn’t do much for my unhealthily high anxiety levels.

Like I said though, everything turned out alright in the end, so perhaps I was worried for nothing. I mean, if a lion suddenly jumped out from one of the overfilled trashcans at the Greyhound station and attacked me, my sympathetic nervous system would have been prepared, but there were no lions, as far as I know.

Unless the Detroit Lions were perhaps playing the Colts that day? I was right next to the football stadium; it’s possible.

Sweater: Forever21

Boots: Doc Marten

November 24, 2017 – A Shopping Day (OOTD #167)

Published on November 30, 2017 by lensembledujour5 Comments

Once upon a time, my dad and I used to go out on Black Friday at 2 or 3 am in the morning to get to big stores like Target or Best Buy and stand in hour-long lines in the late November cold.

It doesn’t sound like much fun, but believe me: it was!

I used to love Black Friday, and truth be told, I still kind of do. I don’t know, I just really like crowds, (strange thing to like, I know), so even though the nature of Black Friday has changed drastically in the last few years, I can still enjoy it.

I may not be lining up at 5pm on Thursday evening to get to the stores right when they open (because honestly, what’s the fun of going to Target at 5pm? I could do that literally any other day of the year), but I still do like to go out with my family at some point in the day. My mother hates crowds, so we tend to avoid places like the malls, but we get to get out of the house and spend time together, and that’s what matters.

This year’s Black Friday shopping had the super-glamorous goals of finding a pair of winter gloves and boots for me, and a comb for my dad! As you might have guessed, we didn’t expect to find such rare items anywhere in the stores we looked in, but to our surprise, we stumbled upon what we were looking for. A Christmas miracle.

Speaking of Christmas, the day after Thanksgiving is officially the day I begin listening my Christmas playlists on Apple Music. Back when I used to do early morning Black Friday shopping with my dad, this meant listening to my iPod while I stood in line to check out or in line to get into the store, but now that tradition is gone and I don’t really have one in its place. I still enjoy that first Christmas song I play at some point during the day on Black Friday, but it’s not quite as magical.

I like the traditional Christmas classics – you know, your Perry Como and Frank Sinatra – and I like the traditional carols and hymns, but in particular, I’m a fan of bitter pop punk Christmas rants. Give “Merry Christmas, Kiss My Ass” by All Time Low or “Yule Shoot Your Eye Out” by Fall Out Boy a listen – they’re a nice way to shake things up from your typical “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.”