june – Page 4 – L'ensemble du jour

June 5, 2018 – Four Years Later (OOTD #299)

Published on June 25, 2018June 26, 2018 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

Storytime!

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, my mother and I were shopping at an outlet mall. The store, I believe, was Charlotte Russe, which is a brand I’m pretty sure I haven’t shopped much since.

We were looking for a dress for me for my sophomore year Fall Formal. It was my first formal dance in ever (excluding father-daughter dances when I was really young), and I was determined to find something perfect. This was my first big high school dance, and I was excited for it.

I had a vision in mind of how I wanted to look, but I knew that it wasn’t really practical. 2014, if you’ll remember, was the era when the faux nude Elie Saab dresses were all the rage on the runway and on haute couture Pinterest boards. I mean, they’re still pretty big, but back then, during my sophomore year, they were both wildly popular and wildly innovative and new. I wanted something that drew inspiration from Elie Saab gowns, but was still appropriate for a high school formal.

So, that day, when my mother and I happened upon a dress in the Charlotte Russe outlet with a high neck and lace detailing, I thought perhaps that that was the best I would be able to do. As much as I loved the lacy neck detail, though, I didn’t much like the style of the actual dress — it was a peplum, and, not that I had anything against peplums, but I thought it was a little boring for my first high school dance.

In other words, I wanted something with more impact. I put the dress back on the hanger, and resolved that I would buy it if nothing better came along before the dance.

As it turned out though, something did some along that I liked better — a red dress with similar faux nude lace detailing, but with a skater style skirt instead of the peplum. I don’t know if I would call it a showstopping hit, but I remember getting a lot of compliments on it.

So what’s the relevance of this story? The other day, in Goodwill, I happened upon a peplum top from Charlotte Russe of the exact same styling of the dress I had passed up in the outlet mall so many years ago. And even though the style was a few years old, I couldn’t resist picking it up, if just for the sake of staying I finally owned a high lace neck piece.

And that, four years later, is the end of the lacy high neck detail journey. I’m not sure if I really feel like I’ve become any better of a person at the end of this story, but at the very least, I now own a piece I always sort of regretted not purchasing. Yay closure?

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

Top: Charlotte Russe (thrifted)

Jeans: Abercrombie

Saturday Musings + Coffee – Kathmandu Preparations

Published on June 23, 2018 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

This is it, my last weekend in the US before I leave for Nepal!

I have a lot still to do — packing, applying for my visa, completing some reading, just to name a few of my upcoming tasks. I’m hoping actually do get some done this evening, we’ll see though. I have a bad habit of falling asleep with the light on after finishing up an evening blog.

Perhaps most concerning of things on my to do list is some reading I’d really like to do before I head off — reading that totals about 350 pages. And it’s not really even exciting reading, just dull academic stuff. That’s not to say it won’t be interesting, just difficult to motivate myself to do considering it’s not a necessity for a grade. Heck, I even had difficulty motivating myself to do academic reading in school when it was a necessity for a grade.

Thankfully, though, I have a few days off from work before I go, so I should have time to do all the travel preparations I need to do. I’m a little nervous to travel to a foreign country by myself, and I’m not at all looking forward to my six hour layover in Chicago, but once I’m settled, things should be alright. It’s just the process of getting settled that worries me.

I have a hard time getting excited for things before they occur, but once I’m actually in Nepal, I should be able to enjoy myself. I’m less likely to excitedly anticipate an event, and more likely to forlornly reminisce about it afterwards.

On a final note, check out this blop tongue from my cat this morning. He’s a good boy. I’ll miss him when I’m gone.

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

June 3, 2018 – Trendy Brunch Date (OOTD #297)

Published on June 21, 2018June 21, 2018 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

I’ll let you in on a secret — I think brunch is overrated.

I like the aesthetic of it, I guess — white tablecloths, fresh floral arrangements, elegant baked pastries, and indirect morning light. But in reality, brunch food is overpriced, lousier than real breakfast or real lunch, and not worth the cute table settings and the potential of snapping a good picture. Honestly, you might as well go to a home and garden store, take a picture sitting in a random patio chair, and post that to your social media and tell everyone you had some super expensive brunch.

I make an exception though for my general distain towards brunch for special occasions. I had a good friend come visit me the other day whom I haven’t seen since Thanksgiving owing to us living in different parts of the state and going to different schools, and so brunch seemed warranted.

So why are there no trendy brunch photos in this blog? Well…after spending the money and finding the cute table, we forgot to take any pictures! I guess trendy brunch pictures are just not meant to be for me, at least not today.

The more optimistic way of looking at it is that we were enjoying each other’s company so much, we didn’t feel the need to take a photo to prove to people on social media that we went out and socialized. Imagine that — not taking photos to post to social media when you go out and do something. What a novel concept.

After brunch, it was only fitting that we went out and did more trendy things. We got popsicles, walked around an upscale outdoor mall, and — the most trendy of all trendy things — went to a plant nursery to buy succulents for our mason jars. Just give me my own Good Housekeeping editorial shot already, I’ve gone mainstream.

Again though, I don’t really have many photos of the various things we did together. And I’m okay with that. Taking photos all the time can be taxing, to the point that it hinders one’s ability to actually enjoy what’s going on.

You won’t catch me going off the grid any time soon, though. I enjoy living my social media life of fabricated perfection too much.

Jacket: AMIClubwear

Top: Altar’d State

June 2, 2018 – Closure (OOTD #296)

Published on June 20, 2018June 21, 2018 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

This is it — two years after I wrote my very first blog ever on a real estate team’s website about the Red River Gorge area in Kentucky, I finally get to visit it.

Summer, 2016. 17-year old Meilin was beginning her second job (the first one being a grocery bagger at Kroger when I was 16) at a real estate company as their blogger. The idea was that by writing blogs about local events in Central Kentucky, I could draw more traffic to the site, and by extension, more clients to the realtors.

On my first day, my boss suggested I try a blog about the Red River Gorge and Natural Bridge national forest area in Kentucky. I didn’t really know much about the area, but I did some research (thank you, TripAdvisor) and came up with the “Top 5 Things To Do In Red River Gorge In June.” It wasn’t revolutionary, but it was well(ish) written, and was my first experience realizing that I liked blogging.

I’d link to it, but sadly, since I left, most of my old blogs were purged from the website. It’s okay, you’re not missing much.

Despite writing my first blog over Red River Gorge, at the time of writing it, I had no memory of ever being there. I knew it existed, and I knew I had gone before as a little kid, but that was the extent of my knowledge. Any memories I had of actually being at the Gorge were hazy and faded. After completing the blog though, I decided to put it on my list of things to do while in Kentucky — a list that’s admittedly not super long.

Anyway, I ended up going to the Gorge hiking trails last summer with my dad, but on our trip, we never made it to Natural Bridge, which is arguably the main attraction to the whole national forest area.

Finally though, two years later, I got to see it with Amanda! Or at least, got to see it as an adult who could actually remember the experience instead of a child who was bitter that her parents were forcing her to go out and hike instead of sitting in the car and play video games, which is pretty much what happened the last time I was at Natural Bridge.

And now that I have my closure, consider this blog closed. Bye!

Top: ASOS

Shorts: Francesca’s

June 1, 2018 – Parking Garage Three (OOTD #295)

Published on June 19, 2018September 19, 2019 by lensembledujour7 Comments

Once again, I found myself atop a parking garage rooftop.

This time, it was in Frankfort — and this time, I wasn’t seeking it out for any particular reason.

I had just gotten off from work at the State Capitol, and my dad was there to pick me up. Being a great dad and all, he offered to do my pictures for me for this blog (shout out to him for always being willing to do that, by the way), so we scanned the surrounding area to see what would make for a good background.

Not far from the parking lot where my dad parked outside of the Capitol building, was this parking garage rooftop. It wasn’t much to look at from a distance — just some flat concrete and scattered cars — but I was more drawn to the view from the edge.

Which, to be fair, also wasn’t much if you’ve lived in Kentucky for years and you’re used to seeing giant hills/mini mountains covered with greenery, like a giant mound of broccoli. Still, I thought the green would look nice with my outfit, and because of the distance, portrait mode would work well. Even though it wasn’t anything spectacular as Kentucky views go, I still like some of the shots with the trees in the background. I look like a blueberry on a bush with green leaves.

…on top of a giant grey concrete slab?

Interestingly, what I ended up liking better were these shots of me standing next to a plain blue wall and some green lattice. Just goes to show that sometimes the prettiest backgrounds aren’t actually the prettiest sights — what’s important is the composition of the shot, not what is actually visible in real life. Case in point — this.

One of these days, I really ought to do my shots inside the actual Capitol. We’ll see, maybe once I finally get my ID badge, I can let my dad in and we can do some photography in the rotunda without having to go through the security guard at the front door. I’ve been working here for a month now without getting my ID badge, though, so I’m not hopeful.

Tune in next week when my dad and I break into the Kentucky State Capitol! It’ll be epic.

Top: Anthropologie

Pants: unknown (thrifted)

Saturday Musings + Coffee – Bullet Journal Life and June 2018 Bullet Journal Spread

Published on June 17, 2018December 15, 2020 by lensembledujour3 Comments

Oh no guys, I’m posting another Saturday Musings blog on a Sunday. What a terrible blogger am I.

This weekend sees me beginning my first bullet journal, which is arguably a terrible decision for the actual organization of my life. See, I’m terrible at devoting time to projects like this. I want them to turn out beautiful, as if I’d put hours and hours of my time in to it, but I’m unwilling to put the hours and hours into it, so I wind up with something where a few pages are done to perfection and the rest are half finished and neglected.

But I just couldn’t resist! I started watching AmandaRachLee’s bullet journal tutorials on YouTube, and I couldn’t stop myself after I saw her pretty pastel colors and simplistic designs. Plus, I figured I already spent a lot of time putting doodles into my planner and making that look cute, so why not put just a little more time into making a bullet journal look cute?

We’ll see how it turns out, I guess. I’ve finished my June spread, and I’m really happy with how it turned out! I used my Prismacolor alcohol-based markers, resulting in having to skip pages due to bleed through (“ghosting” as I’ve heard it called), but I didn’t really have anything better to use. My Prismacolors aren’t really being used for anything right now anyway, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I’ll keep you updated on my bullet journal adventures! I’m not sure I’d put much faith into me actually maintaining it, especially once school begins, but I wouldn’t count it out either. I like it so far, so hopefully my motivation remains!

July 30, 2017 – Lime Yours (OOTD #56)

Published on July 1, 2017 by lensembledujour10 Comments

Yeah…okay, I didn’t come up with that pun.

If you stole my phone right now and checked my Google search history, you would find “lime puns” among the first results.

Look, it’s hard work trying to come up with clever blog posts every day!

The truth is, I don’t even like limes as a fruit. They’re sour and kind-of bitter, and limeade will forever be second place to lemonade in my heart. But what limes lack in tasty flavor they make up for in a beautiful, rich color that absolutely everyone can wear.

I’ll admit, when I first saw this shirt in Banana Republic, I was hesitant. It reminded me of pea soup, which isn’t really my favorite, and I didn’t see it being a flattering color on me. Still, I decided to try it on, and I was pleasantly surprised to find it looked lovely on my skin – and I’m convinced it looks just as lovely on every skin tone.

If you’ll remember, this pea-lime color was quite trendy a few years back, and it hasn’t really gone out of style since. Why? Because, like I said, I believe just about everyone can wear it. For instance, my skin tone ranges from a deep tan in the summer to a pale beige in the winter, and I have no problem wearing it regardless of season. It’s vibrant but won’t overwhelm pale alabaster skin and saturated enough to not wash out dark chocolate skin; it’s a universal pleaser.

My point – I just really like this color.

The rest of the outfit is pretty simple – just some leggings, black boots, a necklace, and my favorite black sun hat. Some days are like that though, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

In other news, I’ll be leaving the country in a few days! Only two more shifts of work to make it through and then I’m free. I haven’t even begun to pack – I’ve been so bad with the procrastination. Ah well, maybe it’ll be like the time I flew to New York and I didn’t finish packing until about four hours before I left. That was an interesting time.

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: Banana Republic

Necklace: Forever21

June 29, 2017 – Like An Onion (OOTD #55)

Published on June 30, 2017 by lensembledujour19 Comments

Good layering is the key to any good outfit.

For real, I put so much value on being able to create interesting layers in my clothing that I sometimes ignore the fact that it’s too freaking hot to be wearing a jacket and just do it anyway.

With layers, you create intrigue because there’s a hint of mystery as to what’s beneath the jacket/scarf/sweater/whatever. It’s must like choosing to make your subject in a picture go off the page – you can’t see everything, so you’re naturally drawn in look closer at what is there.

Granted, you can still have a good outfit without layers – it simply requires that the pieces themselves be intelligent enough designs that they are fascinating to look at. And often, that costs more money. And, since I don’t have a lot of that, I usually prefer to rely upon layers to carry my outfits rather than the design of the clothes.

(That does also mean that when I do see a piece of clothing that has an interesting design – one that “speaks” to me, you could say – I’m eager to snatch it up, especially if it’s a good price).

Today’s outfit is probably my go-to for the fall. Or the winter. Or even the summer or spring, because let’s be honest – I almost never pay attention to the weather when I’m making up my outfits. A jacket, a flowy top, skinny pants, a necklace or scarf, and my favorite pair of boots – you can bet that on pretty much any day I’m too lazy to come up with a more unique outfit and/or shave, I’ll be wearing some variation of this.

Everyone needs their safety outfit, and this is mine. It’s particularly good for days when I want to wear leggings because it relies upon the contrast between the oversized clothes on the upper half of my body and the form-fitting clothes on my lower half.

Do you have a go-to outfit? Leave me a comment below and let me know what you wear when you feel like you have nothing to wear!

Jacket: Forever21

Pants: Abercrombie

Shirt: Altar’d State

June 28, 2017 – A Lazy Day At Home (OOTD #54)

Published on June 29, 2017June 29, 2017 by lensembledujour14 Comments

Concerts are great, but they make you feel absolutely dead the next morning.

Believe me, I would know – I once was out until 2 for a Panic! at the Disco concert just to have to be up again at 6 to be back at school at 8. That was an interesting day – I think I crawled out of bed wearing pretty much the same clothes I had worn the night before and was too lazy to change, so I walked around at school all day in sweaty concert attire.

For this one though, I was smart, and I scheduled myself beforehand to be off of work the next day. I slept in, had a lazy breakfast, and basically did nothing but sit around in the kitchen and watch movie reviews on YouTube while eating PopChips.

Was it a fun day? I don’t know – fun isn’t really the word, but it felt good regardless. Work is emotionally exhausting, so any day I can spend where I’m not there is welcomed.

Just because I sat around at home where basically no one saw me doesn’t mean I didn’t still feel the need to put together a semi-nice outfit for you guys! Running this fashion blog does have the slight downside that even on my lazy days, I have to put together a real outfit to wear for at least the 10 minutes it takes to get my photos done.

What can I say? I have a terribly difficult life and I deserve all of your pity.

Today’s outfit was low-key (and I mean very very low-key – like such a low-key your ears probably wouldn’t even be able to hear it) inspired by Taylor Swift in the “Blank Space” music video. I recently subscribed to Apple Music, which I transitioned to from Spotify, so I’m a little starstruck by the fact I can actually listen to Taylor Swift again.

Anyway, I was sitting there in the kitchen with my PopChips when “Blank Space” came on. I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge Taylor Swift fan – at least, I haven’t been for many years, probably since Fearless first came out – but “Blank Space” is definitely a good bop. Plus, the music video is so stylish.

There’s one scene in the first chorus where Taylor and her copain du jour are riding bikes around a parlor, and she’s wearing an outfit with plaid high-waisted pants and a short sleeve cropped maroon sweater. I drew inspiration from this scene for today’s outfit – I don’t have the plaid pants (actually…I do have plaid pants, but they’re purple and wouldn’t go well with the red sweater), but I do have high-waisted floral shorts, and I have a similar short sleeve maroon sweater. I put the two together, and, without any accessories at all really, I had a fairly chic lazy day outfit that didn’t require much thought.

No one’s going to be mistaking me for Taylor Swift any time soon, and no rich men are going to be taking me to their mansions where I can change outfits every 12 seconds for an elaborate music video, but you can’t have everything.

Shorts: PacSun

Sweater: Ann Taylor LOFT

June 27, 2017 – Reggae and Calypso (OOTD #53)

Published on June 28, 2017 by lensembledujour9 Comments

…won’t you save me, San Francisco?

Had a great night last night with my friend Amanda at a Train concert in Cincinnati.

Admittedly, Train isn’t my favorite band on the planet. I like them well enough, and a couple of their songs – I’m thinking “50 Ways to Say Goodbye” and “Save Me San Francisco” – have been in rotation on my iTunes and Spotify playlists for years, but mostly, I wasn’t too familiar with their work. I actually had to create a playlist of their setlist the day before the concert so I could study up on their library more, since I wanted to be able to sing along at least to the courses of the songs I didn’t know.

But I love concerts, and I will happily drop all of my spending money to go see them, regardless of how much I know about the band. There’s something really spectacular about being in a room full of people connected by music, and whether I love the music or not, I love the vibe.

My first concert, Demi Lovato, was back when I was in fourth grade, and I’ve been hooked ever since. I even remember the outfit I wore to see Demi Lovato – black boots, denim skirt, green henley, denim vest, white jacket, green scarf, straw fedora-like hat. Tacky and awkward as it sounds, I remember feeling really fashionable for 2008, and I actually remember getting a lot of compliments.

Not wanting to be passed up by my fourth grade self, I had to put together an outfit worthy of a summer concert. I feel like Train has an almost country vibe to their music, and I wanted to reference that in my look. But I don’t really have any country-looking clothes, and regardless, I’m not really a country person, so I went for a boho summer festival look instead. Close enough…ish?

But for real, I do like my outfit today. I spent forever trying to find a bralette that layered nicely under the high neck of my tank top (as it turned out, a high neck bralette was perfect for the job), and I layered a sheer kimono on top for “warmth.” Or maybe just fashion. I don’t know, practicality and aesthetic run together in my head sometimes.

I topped it all off with a layered choker and a gold headband, and I felt like I was almost cool enough to stand in the parking lot of Coachella and direct traffic. Almost. Hey