food – Page 4 – L'ensemble du jour

Saturday Musings + Coffee – Planning for London

Published on June 24, 2017 by lensembledujour9 Comments

Hey there.

As some of you might know, I’m going on a trip to London in a little more than a week, and I’m beginning to get quite excited!

The whole thing was a little impromptu actually – my friend, Amanda, has a family friend in England, and she was talking to me in January maybe about how she was planning to visit over the summer. So me, being rather jealous, jokingly asked if I could come along, and to my surprise, she was cool with it.

We’re getting to stay with this family friend for free, so no hotel to pay for, and Amanda’s mother used to be a flight attendant, so our airfare was greatly discounted. It’s all very lucky for me, because there’s no way I’d be able to pay for a trip like this otherwise. I’m still surprised it’s happening.

Anyway, Amanda and I met for lunch the other day (I actually wrote about it a little here) to discuss what we wanted to do while there. We’ve already got tickets to see Cage the Elephant (ironically, a Kentucky band) in their acoustic set at Union Chapel, but otherwise, our schedule is fairly free for whatever we want to do on any given day.

We decided we definitely want to do the Climb the O2 experience, as our means of getting a good view of the city from above, rather than doing something like the London Eye. We also want to hit Shoreditch for its beautiful Instagram opportunities, St. Paul’s Cathedral (I’m a sucker for old, beautiful churches), Brick Lane Market, and probably way more things than we’ll actually be able to see.

We’re going to meet again sometime before we leave to sort out our priorities, but, since I know many of you guys live in Europe, and some even in England, I thought I’d ask – what should I make sure to hit while in London? And honestly, even if you’re not English, but you’ve visited the country – or if you’re simply a person who likes giving their opinion – please leave me a comment below! I love hearing feedback, and I know I won’t be able to get to everything I want, so I’d appreciate any advice you can offer.

There’s so much still to do – pack, pick out clothes, order tickets, figure out how many bags I need and what needs to be checked and what can be carry-on – and so little time! I’m beginning to get rather excited though. This is my first time out of the country in years; the last time, I was in third grade and my parents took me to see China. That was such an amazing, memorable experience, so I hope England can compete!

Anyway, it looks like it’s going to be a short post today – my parents are calling me for dinner. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one!

June 18, 2017 – Father’s Day Fashion (OOTD #46)

Published on June 18, 2017June 21, 2017 by lensembledujour11 Comments

Sorry for the late post, but it’s been a busy day.

It’s Father’s Day here in the US, and my family likes to celebrate by taking a day to spend out doing some things of my dad’s choosing. He opted to get lunch at a new(ish) restaurant in the Summit called Ted’s Montana Grill, and we walked around and window shopped for a while.

We also invited my grandmother (my father’s mother) into town to join us, making it a nice little family outing. I actually shared my lunch with her – it was a half chicken, and neither of us could eat the whole thing.

I wish I had gotten a picture of the thing – it was so good! Best chicken in my life? Well, no. But pretty solid. I did get a picture of our appetizer, some homemade chips, so you can look at that instead and pretend I was a good blogger who actually documented what she ate like she was supposed to.

On a more serious note, I do rather like Father’s Day – not just because I love excuses to go out to eat, but because I rather love my father too. He takes a lot of pictures for this blog for me (including almost all of the ones for today!) and does all of the proper fatherly duties very well. I must give him something of a shoutout – he’s pretty cool.

In addition to my father, I also love my outfit from today. I layered a sheer, lacy top underneath my sleeveless dress to create a really interesting, unique look. I particularly liked the mixture of the velvet texture of the dress with the sheer top. For accessories, I added my trusty black sun hat, which seems to make any outfit look more chic and trendy.

I also added some cute rings – I got this little bird one in New York, actually, at a street market. Only $10. The little sales lady said it was sterling silver, and my fingers haven’t turned green yet, so I guess I’ve got to believe her.

And that’s all, folks! A huge thank you to all of you for helping me reach over 200 followers! I couldn’t do it without you (obviously…)!

Dress: Kohl’s…I think. I honestly can’t remember and the tag doesn’t help!

Shirt: Altar’d State

Saturday Musings + Coffee – I Made a Cake!

Published on June 17, 2017June 17, 2017 by lensembledujour2 Comments

Baking is one of my all time favorite hobbies.

It all started the summer after my freshman year – it was probably the week before school started again, and I was so bored. Back then, I was too young to work, and too young to drive, so I basically spent every day stuck at home by myself, which, though peaceful and relaxing, was hardly exciting.

Anyway, I had just started to learn to cook things from scratch (on account of the Food Network being one of the only good channels on at 2pm on a weekday), and I was looking for a new recipe to try on Pinterest. Lo and behold, as I was searching through the #food tags, I came across one of those beautiful cake designs from a baking blog.

I remember thinking it was beautiful but that there as no way I could possibly do it myself. Still, I followed the link through to check the directions, and they seemed doable – mix some ingredients together into cake batter, separate into tins, tint them different shades of pink, and then coat with icing. Seemed simple enough.

In a sense, I guess, it was. I completed the cake, and though some sides were definitely more attractive than others, it wasn’t a far shot from the image I saw on Pinterest. Plus, it was a ton of fun following the directions and having them turn out into a beautiful, tasty creation.

Flash forward to today, and I’ve made cake baking a little hobby of mine. It still takes me almost a half day to complete one, start to finish, so I usually only do it a couple times of year – during winter break, summer break, and maybe fall or spring break.

Today’s cake, which I mentioned baking back a few days ago , was inspired by a recipe on The Cake Blog. Their version was arguably more beautiful than mine, and I kinda wish I’d made mine tall like theirs, but I think mine has a creative spin to it. In addition to the birch “bark,” which circles the cake, made from Ghirardelli melting squares, I melted some extra candy and swirled it around on some parchment paper to create the flourishes on top. I really do love working with chocolate; it’s really easy to shape into forms to make pretty, if delicate, designs.

J As for the cake itself, it’s a walnut and cinnamon flavor with buttercream frosting. I didn’t try to be creative with that; I find that while in cooking, they’re plenty of room to add your own flair, in baking, it’s more of an exact science.

Anyway, that’s it for today. I’ve got some work to do (always) if I’m going to have some time to celebrate Father’s Day tomorrow. 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

June 14, 2017 – Nice to Meet You, My Name is Oscar (OOTD #43)

Published on June 14, 2017June 16, 2017 by lensembledujour8 Comments

At least, that’s what the shirt says.

I got a wonderful surprise the other day – a package in the mail from my Uncle Tim. If you read my post from about a week ago, when Tim visited my family in Bardstown KY, you’d have read that he has a little quirk where he likes to wear old work shirts with other people’s names on them. I guess my father mentioned to him that I thought that that style was both hilarious and actually quite interesting, because Tim saw it fit to send me my own misnamed work shirt: this one proclaiming that I am Oscar of SB Cox’s Demolition and Construction Services, out of Richmond, VA.

I say shirt – it’s more of a dress, really, on me. I have no idea what size Oscar was, but it’s suffice to say he was a bit larger than me. I don’t really care though; I ended up wearing the shirt more like a dress, or maybe a long tunic.

No worries, there are shorts underneath though. I like to stay mostly modest – and to keep my mother happy.

To accessorize, I wore a black tank top and a black choker underneath. I guess that’s not terribly exciting, but I really wanted the shirt to speak for itself. It’s already a bit of a risky move, a) wearing a shirt as a dress and b) wearing a shirt with some guy named Oscar’s name on it. No need to go overboard.

Anyway, I spent most of today at home in the kitchen, working on a cake for Father’s Day. I used this little recipe from The Cake Blog that I saw on Pinterest. I’m actually still working on it, but assuming it doesn’t turn out a horrific, ugly mess, I’ll post some pictures of it on tomorrow’s blog.

Spending the day at home, I also got to make myself a nice little lunch of a gorgonzola, walnut, and apple salad, a cup of tea, and some macarons. And what better thing to do when you make yourself a chic lunch than to take overly staged photos of it so you can post it on your blog?

(Also, Uncle Tim, if you happen to be reading this – thank you so much for the shirt! I love it!)

That’s it for today! 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

Shirt: SB Cox’s Demolition and Construction Services

Choker: Claire’s (cringey, I know. But it was cheap and no one has to know where it can from!)

June 12, 2017 – Boho Feels (OOTD #41)

Published on June 12, 2017June 13, 2017 by lensembledujour4 Comments

These Kentucky summers can get devilishly hot.

It’s presently 90 degrees out, and to be honest, I’m not a fan. As soon as I got this shot done, I rushed right back inside to air conditioning and some cold water! The heat is bad enough, but you add the Kentucky humidity on top of it, and you have a muggy, awful mess that is simply no fun.

But that doesn’t matter, because I’m a middle class suburban teenager in first world country and I have a climate controlled home that I can spend my whole day in! And that’s just what I did today. I didn’t work today, for the first time in what felt like ages (though it’s probably only been five days or so), so I got to wake up late, pour myself some coffee, and simply relax.

It was lovely.

As I was relaxing, I figured it was a good idea to do some work on this blog. In addition to creating a lovely new logo (which you can see at the top of this page!) and adding some sidebar widgets that link to my social media (which, if you’re on desktop, you should be able to see on the right!), I also did some photography.

I absolutely adore the work of lifestyle organization bloggers, such as Alexandra and Co, who create beautiful but minimalistic arrays of…basically just pretty objects. It’s kinda hard to explain what makes it so beautiful – there’s something just really visually pleasing about the bright colors on the stark white background. Thus, I decided to give it a shot. I gathered up all of my bright pens, cut some flowers, found some colorful candles, poured myself some tea, spread out a white bedsheet over the kitchen table, and tried my best to pretend I have an organized life.

What do you think? I’m planning on posting all of them on Instagram sometime in the future to give myself some variation to my feed, so be sure to follow me there to see them when they go up!

And as for today’s outfit – I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t actually spend a whole lot of time wearing it today! I spend a good deal of my time in just my pink Victoria’s Secret robe, and I probably would’ve spent my whole day like that if it hadn’t been for this fashion blog! I don’t mind; I love getting dressed up. With the heat today, I was feeling a summery boho vibe, so I went for these fun tribal-printed shorts with a lace-up sweater. For accessories, I loaded up on thin beaded bracelets, and topped it all off with a simple choker and a black sun hat.

Sweater: American Eagle

Shorts: Target

Bracelets: Altar’d State

Top 5 Pinterest Picks for the Week 6-11-17

Published on June 11, 2017June 11, 2017 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

For those of you who know me well, you probably know that Pinterest has been a huge obsession of mine for years. Huge obsession as in before I was even using Instagram, Twitter, or Snapchat regularly, I was pinning away on Pinterest.

Before I got interested in blogging, before I even knew what “aesthetic” meant,” Pinterest was there. Like, I remember being a member of Pinterest’s beta phase, where I had to have a friend who already had an account send me an invite to even join!

Anyway, I figured this blog was a great excuse to share with you guys some of my favorite Pinterest finds for the week! Plus, I know all about having a small blog and trying to get some exposure, so anything I can do to help some other bloggers out, I’ll do. If you have a blog with original Pinterest content and you want to be featured on this series, hit me up with a comment below with a link to one of your pins and I’d be happy to give you a shoutout!

Oh, and if you’d like to check me out on Pinterest, please do! I’m constantly pinning – it’s like an addiction. I have boards on fashion, beauty, lifestyle, travel food – you name it! Also, it would mean a lot to me if you’d go repin some of my fashion content from this blog – you can find it all on this board – to help me get some more exposure.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s my top 5 Pinterest picks for the week!

1. Elie Saab – Spring 2017 Couture

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I’ve been a huge fan of Elie Saab since forever. If I had $100,000 to go out spending willy-nilly on evening gowns, you can bet I would own at least 10 of his spectacular evening gowns. His designs always manage to be so alluring without being to showy, and I think that subtlety is what makes him a great designer. Other designers, like Alexander McQueen or Marchesa, like to make their haute couture stand out by having outlandish silhouettes or embellishments (and trust me, I have absolutely no problem with that!), but Elie Saab takes a more understated route. These are the kind of dresses you could wear to a red carpet event or wedding and get comments like “how elegant” rather than “how unusual.” Again, nothing wrong with unusual, but sometimes, it’s better to go for the crowd-pleaser.

2. Srevolrof – Messy Braids

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By the looks of it, this girl has an absolutely fabulous blog; the only downside is – for me, at least – it’s all in German! Regardless, blogging is a rather visual medium, so language doesn’t also act as such a barrier as it does in other endeavors. Thankfully, there’s this little thing called the Internet, so, after hours of pouring over German dictionaries (or about 3 seconds on Google Translate), I found out that this blog post not only showed off a fabulous messy hairstyle, but it was also in support of a charity for Nepal! I do love a girl with good hair and a good heart ❤️ Definitely go check her out!

3. Gal Meets Glam – Charleston in January

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It was actually rather difficult trying to find a fashion pin that actually linked back to its original source. The Internet is a wonderful place that allows us content creators to share and promote ourselves to a wide variety of audiences, but it also means it’s very easy for others to steal content and repost it without crediting its owner. I’m not saying everything on Pinterest has been stolen, of course, but it’s definitely worth being aware of, and I’m usually more likely to pin something if I see it comes from its original owner’s website, rather than another source, like Tumblr or Instagram. Anyway, I thought this girl’s style was really cute – effortlessly chic and feminine – and something I might try to recreate here on L’ensemble du jour. A lot of my outfits are inspired by what I see on Pinterest, actually, and that’s part of why I love the website so much,

4. Sunrise on Kilimanjaro – Hudson Henry

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Doesn’t this photo just speak for itself? I follow a lot of travel bloggers and photographers, but this guy’s work really stands out above the rest. In addition to just being a really beautiful location, it’s also a really intelligently staged shot, with the tiny silhouettes of the adventurers peeking out from the bottom corner. It allows the beautiful scenery to shine, while also making commentary on how small we humans are in the grand scheme of things. I’m not trying to wax poetic here – it’s just a really pretty photo in the end, regardless of interpretations you can take from it.

5. Noel Badges Pugh Art

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Those of you who’ve seen some of my OOTD posts from art galleries know, I’m kinda into art. I mostly consider it a hobby because I know I’m not really talented enough to make a true career out of it, but that’s part of why I love seeing artists who have been able to make it their profession online. This guy does some really detailed and colorful ink work that mixes the human body and nature, creating a really interesting, psychedelic look. Have a look at his Tumblr and go show him some love!

And that’s all for today! I hope you liked the first in this Pinterest Picks series. If you do, there will be more to come! 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.

Saturday Musings + Coffee – Preparing for Work

Published on June 10, 2017June 11, 2017 by lensembledujour4 Comments

I thought I’d add a new series to my blog, in addition to my typical OOTD posts. These posts, which I’m titling Saturday Musings + Coffee, will simply be a way for me to let out some of the thoughts I have in the morning while I sit and sip some coffee. It’ll be more about lifestyle than anything else, but I might throw some fashion in there too. I don’t know, we’ll see!

Anyway, I woke up this morning with a pretty stiff neck after having slept on the couch.

I didn’t mean to, of course – I just happened to do it after falling asleep watching some television with my parents, and I apparently just stayed there all night. I woke up this morning wearing the same slightly sweaty t-shirt and shorts I walked the dog in last night. Gross.

The other problem with that is that I didn’t charge my phone at all, which I usually do overnight with a cord by my bed while I sleep. Thus, I woke up this morning to a completely dead phone, that I’m somehow hoping will charge itself to 100% in an hour and a half before I have to go into work.

I’m doing an eight-hour shift today, by the way, so wish me luck! My job involves being on my feet a lot, which is something I simultaneously love and hate. Love, because I hate sitting for so long, and hate, because it gets exhausting after about the three-hour mark. No idea what eight hours is going to do to me!

I did go running this morning, which I’m hoping will give me a little extra energy this morning. I like to go either in the morning, before I’ve eaten anything, or in the late evening, after all my food has settled. Otherwise, I often wind up cramping and not being able to run as far as fast, and I’m fairly confident it’s to do with the food I eat. I hadn’t been able to go for the last few days because I found myself so exhausted after work, but today, since I didn’t have to go in to the store until later, I had a chance to get my excercuse in beforehand.

Anyway, it’s about time I get going to shower and dress for my day. Again, please wish me luck on this long day of work! I hope I won’t need it, but, better safe than sorry. I really enjoyed doing this little blog in the morning to help organize my thoughts, and I hope you enjoyed reading it!