2017 – Page 5 – L'ensemble du jour

October 27, 2017 – Warm Colors, Cold Person (OOTD #146)

Published on November 1, 2017 by lensembledujour2 Comments

If I wear wear colors, I’ll be warm, even if it’s cold out…right?

I wish. Rather, it was chilly and autumnal outside while I was doing these photos, and my thin orange swearer and burgundy scarf only helped so much.

I’m still getting used to how different the weather here in South Bend is compared to what I’m used to in Kentucky. The weather we’re getting right now in late October/early November is actually more like the weather we get in December in KY.

So basically, what I’m saying, is that it feels like Christmas and I’m ready for it to hurry itself up and get here.

Actually, on the contrary, I’m not one of those people that is really very interested in celebrating Christmas as early as possible. I’ve got a friend whose family puts up their Christmas tree on HALLOWEEN NIGHT – as in, they have trick-or-treaters coming to their house in their costumes as they put the ornaments on their tree and listen to Christmas music – and that to me is just too early.

I, personally, am a staunch believer that one should not celebrate Christmas until Thanksgiving is over. But when it is time to celebrate Christmas, I do it with intensity – I bust out the Christmas sweaters, the Christmas playlists, and the decorations, pretty much all at midnight on the day after Thanksgiving.

So what’s my point here? I like Christmas, quite a lot, and I’m definitely excited for it, but even though I’m excited, I don’t want it to start celebrating it for another month still. Halloween and Thanksgiving must be given their equal share of time before Christmas comes.

But when Christmas does come, you’d better be ready.

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!

Dress: Forever21

Sweater: Target

Bonus: me being interrupted by a jogger

October 26, 2017 – Plaid Is Rad (OOTD #145)

Published on October 31, 2017October 31, 2017 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

(Alternative title: plaid is bad, depending on your opinion of plaid.)

I’m sitting here writing this blog in my Astronomy lecture.

And by that I mean, of course, I’m not paying attention at all to my Astronomy lecture. My poor Astronomy professor is horribly sick, and every five words he manages to wheeze out, he’s interrupted by a 30 second coughing fit. It makes listening to him rather difficult – he sounds like he’s dying. It doesn’t help that he wears a microphone, and every time he licks his lips or exhales a rattling breath, I have to hear it like he’s right next to my ear.

It all just makes you want to fall asleep, if only to escape the horrible, pained gasping. Or maybe write a blog.

The Meilin of today (Halloween, by the way – happy Halloween!) is rather jealous of the Meilin of October 26 – the Meilin of October 26 was wearing pants, and today’s Meilin is not. And now, as a result, today’s Meilin is cold.

It, of course, doesn’t help that I’m drinking an iced coffee from Starbucks – yes, I’m one of those people. Allow me to explain myself – I like to have something with a bit of sugar in it in the afternoon to wake me up. However, I don’t enjoy things that are both hot and sweet, and thus, I’m not a fan of Starbucks’ hot, dessert drinks. I’ll go for one every once in a while – see my blog about pumpkin spice lattes – but in general, hot drinks are best bitter, and cold drinks are best sweet.

And so, even though it’s 30 degrees out outside, I don’t mind the cold drink. Or rather, it’s not that I don’t mind it, but I need it, and so I grimace through the negative effects. Is this what addiction is?

Anyway, happy Halloween! Even though the post that depicts my ~sPoOky~ Halloween outfit isn’t going to come for another few days, because that’s what happens when you have your blogs on a several day delay. I hope you have fun doing whatever festive things you’re doing tonight, or, if you’re like me and you did your festive stuff over the weekend and now that it’s Tuesday you have too much homework to do to bother doing any more festive stuff, I hope you have fun being non-festive!

Jacket: Vintage (thrifted)

Turtleneck: The LOFT (thrifted)

Saturday Musings + Coffee – Gonna Make It To The Game This Time

Published on October 28, 2017 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

Considering the fact that I’m sitting in the ND stadium right now, I think I’m going to make it to the game against NC state today.

For context, last week, after rushing to get back to campus in time for the USC game, I missed the game regardless because I couldn’t find the email with my tickets. Instead of going to the game, I sat in my dorm and folded clothes – so in other words, it was kind of a bummer.

This time, I made sure to have my tickets downloaded the day before, so I could definitely be there for the game.

In exchange, I might have lost my camera (with the last several days of OOTD photos on it too!) because I have no idea where it is currently, but hey, at least one thing went right today. Little victories.

It’s currently 35ish degrees right now in South Bend, Indiana, which is, to me, way too cold for October. That’s like, December weather to my Southern brain. And furthermore, that’s like, much too chilly to be standing outside for hours in a stadium without a coat.

And with a wet butt to make matters worse! It was drizzling this morning, so all the stadium seats are damp. I’m actually fairly warm right now because I dressed in so many layers, but my butt is having a different experience from the rest of my body.

Anyway, kickoff’s in 10, so it’s time to devote my attention to field. Go Irish! Beat Wolfpack!

October 14, 2017 – Looking Like a USC Fan (OOTD #136)

Published on October 20, 2017October 20, 2017 by lensembledujour1 Comment

Obviously, I’m not.

Why do I make that sound like it’s obvious? Well, because Notre Dame is playing USC (as in Southern California, not South Carolina – as my father just recently informed me) tomorrow, and despite how little my pea brain knows about football, I do rather hope that ND succeeds.

You can bet that tomorrow I’ll be wearing blue and gold (and maybe some green?) rather than maroon and yellow.

In fact, I’m so passionate about Notre Dame’s success in this game that I’m going to be headed back to school on another Greyhound bus for another five hours of fun so that I can make it to the game. I’ll miss out on the tailgating and the pregame photos, but I don’t mind – I have yet to have a tailgating experience that’s I’d call “fun.” I guess I haven’t had enough alcohol yet.

I am definitely excited for the game though. I hope I make it on time – my bus gets into South Bend at 6:15, and the game starts at 7:30. It’ll be an interesting hour and fifteen minutes, trying to get from the South Bend airport to my dorm room to drop off my bags to the stadium to find my friends, but the alternative was to have arrived a day earlier, and I was not about to sleep in my crappy dorm room bunk bed for any extra days than I had to.

Sleeping in my bed has been the greatest part about being home. Eating a crap ton of junk food and my mother’s cooking and not exercising at all has been lovely too. Having my parents to drive me around places (since I’m not allowed to have a car on campus) was also great – it meant I could go to craft fairs like this one I’m so cheerily posing in front of in these photos.

I’m going to miss home. Thankfully, this time, it’s only four weeks of school before I get to be home again for Thanksgiving. I can already taste the turkey.

Sweater: Forever21

Pants: the LOFT

October 12, 2017 – Photos Taken Seconds Before Disaster (OOTD #134)

Published on October 17, 2017February 14, 2018 by lensembledujour2 Comments

Number 12 will shock you!

Actually, I don’t think I even have 12 photos for this blog. It was a fairly simple day in terms of fashion photography. You want to know why?

Look back at that first photo again. Notice anything strange about it? Like, a cracked door, perhaps?

Yes, once again, in the middle of my OOTD photo shoot, someone came along and hit me with a door. This time, I heard the door beginning to open before it was too late, so I was able to jump out of the way, but it was awkward nonetheless. The person exiting the building always gives me this look of utter confusion when they see me, a kind of ‘’why were you leaning against this door I was trying to use? Why does that person have a camera?’’

That’s part of the reason why I always wear my sunglasses when I’m doing my photos – that way, I don’t have to make eye contact with the people who are confused and or judging me for staging a fashion show in the middle of public property. And if I don’t have to make eye contact, then they’re not there! #hatershades

That strategy works with all other problems as well – a messy room, undone homework, split ends – if I don’t look at them, they don’t exist. It’s the adult version of Peek-a-Boo.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life here at Notre Dame.

Saturday Musings + Coffee – Home Again, Home Again

Published on October 14, 2017October 16, 2017 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

Jiffity jig.

I’m back, Lexington, KY! Did you miss me?

No? You didn’t even feel my absence? What’s one less person in a population of over 300,000? Oh…okay. That’s cool too. Well, you know what I missed though? Panera. There isn’t one on campus – there isn’t even one within delivery distance, I don’t think. We have an Au Bon Pain, but it’s not nearly as good. You have to serve yourself out of these giant pots of soup and scoop it into cardboard cups, rather than getting prepared for you in those chic little white bowls Panera has. Much less chic.

Another thing that Panera has that Au Bon Pain doesn’t is Lexington people who went to my high school. That’s significantly less cool. I saw two girls I went to high school with while I was there this afternoon, and I did my best to hide. We didn’t make eye contact, thank goodness, so we weren’t obliged to speak, but I’m fairly certain that if I saw them, they saw me too. Which means we all purposefully avoided each other.

Lol, that’s high school for you.

Anyway, I’m about to head out to get dinner with some friends, so this is going to be super short. Fashion posts to resume tomorrow!

That’s all, folks! 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!

September 28, 2017 – #Artsy (OOTD #123)

Published on October 4, 2017February 14, 2018 by lensembledujour3 Comments

I’d just like to let you know that as I’m sitting here writing this blog, I’m listening to a YouTube video called “the music of memes,” so that’s where the money my parents are spending on my tuition is going.

Anyway, other than getting distracted and wasting my life on the Internet, I’ve been spending a lot of time recently reading. I think that’s about the only kind of homework I receive anymore. I can’t decide if I like this development or not – in one sense, it’s nice not never having to pull out my hair over math problems or chemistry formulas. In other sense, it’s kind of quiet and boring spending so much time in isolation looking at words on a page.

What I probably miss most deeply though is having an art class. I wanted to be placed in one this semester, but it didn’t work out into my schedule. At first, I didn’t think I would even notice the absence – in fact, at the end of high school, I felt like I was getting kind-of burnt out on art classes, and that I needed a break from them.

But alas, I was wrong. Without question, I need art in my life. I mean, it’s not like I’m dying or anything, and it’s also not like I am completely without it either – I do like to doodle a little in boring lecture classes – but I can definitely feel its absence.

Notre Dame’s a lovely school, full of brilliant and talented people, but for whatever reason, it’s kind-of lacking in art kids. I discussed this issue a little in a previous blog, in which I was the most goth kid on campus by simply wearing all-black and Wednesday Adams braids, so I’ll save you the repetition here. Let’s just say that, while I’m very happy here and wouldn’t change a thing about that, I am the teensiest bit jealous of my friends who went to large state schools where the arts programs are more prominent.

It’s alright, though. I’ll make it into my art class next semester, and then I’ll have to find more things to complain about to fill space for these blogs. If you couldn’t tell by the My Chemical Romance t-shirt and billowy burgundy scarf, I consider myself quite the tortured soul.

(Erm…that was meant to be sarcastic, by the way. I assume you could probably tell that, but like, just in case…)

Anyway, my video about the music of memes is over, so I guess I ought to get back to work now. 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

Shirt: Hot Topic

September 12, 2017 – False Step (OOTD #110)

Published on September 18, 2017 by lensembledujour5 Comments

You know, looking back at these photos, I’m not sure what I think of the shoes with the top.

Maybe it’s the pictures. I swear, in person, the yellow of the boots went much better with the yellow in the shirt. Or at least, I thought it did. Maybe I just walked around all day looking awkward and mismatched. I’m sure everyone stared and thought I was a freak – in fact, I should probably just drop out of school now, since I don’t see any way I could possibly recover from this terrible faux pas.

Luckily, most of my photos from Tuesday didn’t show my feet, so we don’t have to worry about that too much.

Anyway, things here in South Bend have slowly been beginning to feel more and more like autumn – and I’m very happy about that. I passed a batch of trees with a few orange leaves on them today, and I was so excited I had to post it to my Snapchat story. That’s real test of a millennial’s enthusiasm – did it make into onto their story?

I hope there’s somewhere on campus or nearby that I can get a pumpkin. I don’t think autumn exists without pumpkins, and I fully intend to decorate my dorm with as many of them as I can fit. I don’t even feel the need to carve them (here at Notre Dame, at least – I’ll definitely carve one when I go home to Kentucky for fall break); I just like their presence. They’re like the big round orange patron saints of the October-November season.

My birthday actually falls in the fall (ba-dum tshhh), so I have a particular affinity for the season. My favorite season, though, is definitely winter – but maybe that’s just because I’m used to mild Kentucky winters. Will I still enjoy winter after I’ve experienced my first one in South Bend, which ranks among the snowiest towns in the US?

I feel like I will, but maybe I’m being overly optimistic. I hear that in the parts of the Midwest, like Chicago, the snow never melts in the winter – it just gets dirty and turns to slush and then freezes into a grey ice that is then covered by a new layer of snow.

But personally, I feel like that’s preferable to the general lack of snow that Kentucky has. I’ve never even experienced a white Christmas before – what a depraved, unfortunate creature I must be.

Sweater-jacket thing: Francesca’s

Top: H&M

Choker: Francesca’s

September 9, 2017 – One Point (OOTD #108)

Published on September 15, 2017October 6, 2019 by lensembledujour1 Comment

Since these blogs are on like, a week delay, I guess you already know – we lost to Georgia by one point.

It’s fine, like, I don’t even mind. I hadn’t even necessarily expected us to win. It hurt I guess, since we were winning there, up until the final quarter…but it’s fine. I don’t get invested in football.

It was a little unfortunate, though, because I have a friend at UGA, and I told her with conviction that the Irish were going to win. Of course, when that didn’t happen, she took every opportunity to rub it in my face….but it’s fine.

Anyway! My outfit: I didn’t crawl out of my my cave until about 5:00 in the evening because I had so much work to do, so I didn’t have a ton of time to get ready. In the end, I went for m’y ND football jersey (which I’ve worn on two separate occasions already during the time I’ve had this blog), and my new ND baseball hat. And if you’re wondering, yes, I did have pants on – they were running shorts that were covered by the jersey.

In the end, I didn’t have much time for tailgating, but I didn’t mind. I had tried the whole tailgating scene the last home game, and it just wasn’t my style. Maybe it was because I don’t have any family who tailgates here, but mostly, “tailgating” for me just involved walking around and looking at the people tailgating.

As for the homework I was doing that took so long, I didn’t even have that much work, actually – I was just really enjoying having the entire 7th floor of the library to myself. I spread out all my crap over the table, opened a bag of potato chips without being embarrassed, and sneezed loudly and as frequently as I wanted. It was heaven.

The game on the other hand, was not heaven. It was a lot of fun, yes, but of course, we lost. Not even the cheeseburger I ate afterwards could make me feel better.And now, we have a few weeks until the next game. Personally, I’m grateful – I’ve had quite enough of Notre Dame’s football culture for a while. My last few weekends have been absolutely exhausting, and I’m looking forward to actually being able to relax for once on Saturday.

Ah, who am I kidding? I never get to relax. What college student ever relaxes?

Shirt: Notre Dame bookstore

September 7, 2017 – This Outfit Is A Shameless Ripoff (OOTD #106)

Published on September 13, 2017September 13, 2017 by lensembledujour6 Comments

Originality is hard, and sometimes, it just doesn’t work out.

Not everything you do can always be a brilliant, unique, creative concept – sometimes, you have to go with the trends. There’s nothing wrong at all with being trendy; if you want to set trends, in fact, I think you have to follow them first.

This outfit though, was less about following trends, and more about following someone else. I don’t even know who it was – some girl I saw walking across campus. She had on a really cute outfit consisting of a navy blouse and a camel-colored suede skirt, and lo and behold…what do I decide to wear the next day?

In my defense, the tights were 100% my own idea. And I 100% did it because I thought they added to the fashion of the outfit, not just because I hadn’t shaved recently.

It’s a surprise to me that I hadn’t already thought to pair these two pieces, considering how much I love the camel-black (or navy) color combination, and how much I love this suede skirt and this breezy blouse. Actually this was only the second time I wore this shirt at all (the first time, being on the plane ride over to London, actually), which is odd, because like I said, I really like it.

It’s funny how that works, isn’t it? My favorite pieces are not necessarily my most oft worn pieces. It’s like I want to save them, keep them secret until I have a really stellar outfit to show them off in. It’s almost like I’m afraid my love for them would wear off if I wore them too often; like listening to a song you like too many times until it eventually gets annoying.

Anyway.

So, random girl walking across campus whom I just happened to spot, kudos to you for thinking of this outfit before me. Because, you know, I’m positive she was the first person in the history of time to ever pair a navy blouse and a tan skirt.