lexington – Page 7 – L'ensemble du jour

March 15, 2018 – Springtime Cerulean (OOTD #246)

Published on March 27, 2018March 27, 2018 by lensembledujour1 Comment

Guys look! I found some wall art in Lexington!

I’ve mentioned this many, many times but I find wall art to make for some for the best backgrounds for fashion photography. Shots like these here just support that thinking for me — all of the pretty archways at Notre Dame can’t compete with some colorful walls.

On a side note, these are some of the tightest, most uncomfortable jeans I own — though thankfully, you can’t tell that here. Seriously, I could barely bend my knees. Granted, I’ve had these jeans since like, middle school, so it’s honestly a miracle that I could even get them over my hips still. Think it’s time to give them to Goodwill.

I’m beginning to break out some of my spring clothes now, even though it still doesn’t really look or feel like spring in Kentucky or Indiana yet. Maybe my white jeans, bright colors, and polka dots can convince the sun to come out a little more?

Pretty please?

I’m also considering dyeing my hair a different color for the new season. The purple’s fading at this point and I’m presently with a kind of strange, lavender-tan mixture, so now’s as good a time as ever to do another semi-permanent color.

Leave me a comment below if you’ve got any suggestions for new hair colors! I’m not looking to use any more bleach, so I can’t do blonde (at least for now) but I’m open to other ideas for color to go on top of the bleached ends I presently have.

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, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Jacket: Banana Republic

Top: PacSun

Jeans: Abercrombie

March 14, 2018 – Sunlit Suburban Stroll (OOTD #245)

Published on March 26, 2018March 26, 2018 by lensembledujour3 Comments

You’d think that with a name like “spring break” I could actually get some spring weather at home.

Instead, the literal day after I arrived back in Kentucky, we got about eight inches of snow. I don’t even think there was that much snow at Notre Dame when I departed Chicago.

I guess I can’t really complain too much – winter is still my favorite season, and snow is still my favorite weather condition. The winter is getting a little old for me at this point in the year, and I’m fairly read for spring to come, but that doesn’t change the fact that I still get excited whenever it snows.

As I mentioned, we had about eight inches of snow on Monday — so why are the roads totally clear in these shots from Wednesday?

One of the craziest things to me when I moved north for school was just how long the snow hangs around. You can get snow that falls one day and stays for two more weeks afterwards.In Kentucky, the snow, when it actually sticks (which only happens a few times a year) usually only stays around for a day or two.

So here, on Wednesday, all that snow had pretty much already melted, owing to some sunshine and temperatures during the daytime hanging around 40 degrees (not warm, but warm enough to melt the snow).

I wouldn’t be sad if this were the last snow I got until late November, though. As evidenced by my bare legs and skirt here, I’m in the mood for warmer temperatures.

Jacket: Adidas (thrifted)

Shirt: Altar’d State

Skirt: H&M

March 13, 2018 — #Skooled (OOTD #244)

Published on March 25, 2018 by lensembledujour2 Comments

As much as I resent losing sleep during spring daylight savings, I am a fan of having more hours of daylight in the evenings.

It’s particularly useful for doing photos after dinnertime. It used be, especially in January/February, that I would have to get my OOTD shots done before about 6:00pm or else it was too dark to get natural light at all. Now, I’m good until at least 7:30, which takes a lot of pressure off of me.

When I’m home, like I was in these photos, I like to make my outfits out of articles of clothing that I know I will not have with me while at school, like this coat, sweater, boots, and scarf. I feel badly when my clothes aren’t worn, and I miss the pieces I can’t bring with me to my little wardrobe in my dorm at Notre Dame.

Breaks are a time for me to capitalize on my sleep and free time so I am very appreciative of them.

Though, to be honest, I might actually prefer going to school year-round if it meant my workload was significantly lightened. I’d sacrifice a few weekends and breaks to get rid of homework. It’s been a nuisance since literally kindergarten, and it’s only gotten worse as I’ve gotten older.

I heard one of my friends talking the other day about how she enjoyed exams, how they were like puzzles for her to figure out — and I couldn’t agree less. What kind of person likes exams? Even if you know every answer, and make 100% — which probably hasn’t happened to me since middle school — what’s there to like about the actual process of sitting down and writing out answers so someone else can offer you validation?

As much as I appreciate the education I’ve received so far in my life, I still don’t think I’m really the type of person who likes school. I do alright grades-wise, but I can’t imagine becoming a teacher or a professor and remaining in this system for the rest of my life. I mean, I can’t necessarily say there’s anything better out there in the workforce, since I haven’t gotten there yet, but looking back, I think the most enjoyable moments of my life have happened separate from my education experience.

You never stop learning, of course, but I hope I do get to stop schooling at some point, haha.

Sweater: American Eagle

Boots: Target

March 11, 2018 – Shocking Pink (OOTD #243)

Published on March 22, 2018February 23, 2019 by lensembledujour3 Comments

Now how’s that for pink and purple?

View this post on Instagram

do you have this in pink?

A post shared by Meilin || L'ensemble du jour (@lensembledujour) on Aug 24, 2018 at 6:00am PDT

Like I mentioned a few blogs ago, I’ve been trying to get more pink and purple color palettes in my OOTD posts for the sake of creating an appealing rainbow order Instagram feed.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bif8A7Mlj3B/

So when I came across this bright pink wall at a Mexican restaurant, I knew I had to use it as a background for these photos. I thought at first the vibrant pink would be too much, but I think it meshed well with my more deep-toned jacket and pants.

On Saturday, the first day of my spring break, my family went out to celebrate my mother’s birthday with lunch and an outing in Shelbyville, Kentucky. We saw a distillery tour and went to some antique shops — it was, on the whole, a very Scanish family day.

By that I mean I feel that eating and shopping around little local place in Kentucky is basically what my family does every time we have something to celebrate. Just look at what we did when my uncle came or visit last summer or when we wanted something to do together before I went back to school after winter break — it was basically the exact same thing.

The remarkable bit is that I don’t think we ever get tired of it. When I was a kid, I absolutely hated going to antique malls because there was rarely anything for me to look at, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to like antiques more.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg3tT5iH-F_/

Could it be because I’m becoming more and more like an antique each day? I’m practically an old lady at this point.

Jacket: thrift

Sweater: Forever21

Jeans: Hollister

March 9, 2018 – Feed Me and Call Me Pretty – (OOTD #242)

Published on March 21, 2018March 22, 2018 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

Home is where the heart is, and the way to my heart is through my stomach.

The first meal after leaving university for break is my favorite.

I admit, Notre Dame has a pretty good dining hall. I’ve heard my friends at over universities talk about the food they’re served, and on the whole, I think I’ve got it good, excluding maybe meatless Fridays during Lent.

However, no matter how passably edible (and occasionally legitimately tasty) the food is at school, it almost never matches up to real food from home or a restaurant. That’s why on the hour and a half long drive from the Louisville to Lexington, I relish the opportunity to eat some real, freshly cooked food that hasn’t been sitting under a heat lamp for hours.

As it turned out, the Saturday I went home, my dad and I passed a popular chain restaurant while traveling back after he’d picked me up from the airport, and we agreed to stop in for dinner. Interestingly, The OOTD shots I got outside of the restaurant are very reminiscent of the shots outside of a different restaurant I got on the drive back to Lexington for fall break. Thankfully, my hair looks a lot better here.

To be honest, the mashed potatoes and chicken I ordered there were far from the best things I’d ever eaten – but they sure tasted like it after eight weeks of the same menu over and over again. In a way, I’m glad campus is so isolated because that way, I’m not tempted much to ever go out and spend money on food, because Lord knows I would.

Jacket: Forever21

Shirt: ASOS

Pants: The LOFT

Saturday Musings + Coffee – It’s Not Saturday and There’s No Coffee

Published on March 18, 2018March 19, 2018 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

Happy Sunday from me and my empty coffee mug!

You know, I do rather like to do these Saturday Musings blogs because they keep things interesting and more diverse than if I just did OOTD posts (plus that would be a lot of OOTDs to do), but sometimes, I don’t actually drink any coffee on Saturdays.

For example, yesterday, I swear I was so busy packing and going grocery shopping with my parents and then going to dinner with my friends, I don’t think I had time to really sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee. I didn’t even time to post this blog on Saturday like I was supposed to, haha.

Anyway, 24 hours, and it’s back to school again.

These breaks seem to go by so quickly — to be cliché, I swear it was just yesterday that I was flying home from Midway (after having sat in the airport for three hours, of course).

My spring break wasn’t the most dynamic experience I’ve ever had, but it was pretty relaxing, and think that’s what I needed. I got some good sleep (including sleeping for nearly an entire day on Monday!) and ate some food that wasn’t from the dining hall, and I was pretty satisfied with that. Going to the beach might’ve been fun, but that also would’ve been exhausting, and I was already pretty exhausted come midterms week.

Plus, I don’t much like the sand. It’s coarse…and it gets everywhere.

Anyway, looks like my flight back to Chicago is about to board, so I ought to go. Can you believe that I actually got here at a normal time and only had to wait a very reasonable one hour at the airport this time around? Wild.

January 13, 2018 – Winter Shorts Part 2 (OOTD #201)

Published on January 17, 2018 by lensembledujour6 Comments

If you’re looking for context behind the meaning of today’s blog title, look no further than this blog from earlier this week.

However, unlike the situation from earlier this week, when I found myself in 65 degree temperatures in mid-January, making shorts an unusually rational choice, this outfit features shorts for no particular reason other than I couldn’t find anything else I wanted to wear with this sweater. Also, it was like, 10 degrees and snowing, so you can rest assured that I’m still as irrational about my fashion choices as ever.

I did opt for the tights-under-shorts look in a (mostly vain) attempt to warm up my legs a little. It might have also had something to do with the fact that I wanted to get more wear out of the patterned black tights I had worn the day before… but like I said – it was vain.

(Peep my dog)

The decision to layer a collared shirt underneath the lace-up sweater actually came from an LL Bean catalogue I saw my dad flipping through. Normally, I’m more one to get my fashion inspiration from Pinterest and Tumblr rather than print sources, but that’s a preference rather than a rule. I’ll take new ideas from whatever I can get – I don’t believe there’s any intellectual elitism in inspiration, only in how you explain the inspiration.

Anyway, I saw some model in the catalogue wearing a collared shirt underneath a lace-up sweater, and I thought to myself that I had to give it a shot. And that’s how we got here with me in a collared shirt and lace-up sweater with tights and shorts on a snowy, 10 degree Kentucky day: one part practicality, one part vanity, and one part inspiration.

Oh, and one part just frantically trying to pick out an outfit in time to take the dog for a walk with my dad before he got irritated and missed much of the Eagles game. Does that fit into the practicality category?

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!

Sweater: American Eagle

Shirt: Hollister

Shorts: Hollister

January 12, 2018 – Snow Place Like Home (OOTD #200)

Published on January 16, 2018 by lensembledujour4 Comments

It finally happened! We got snow in Kentucky!

It didn’t really do much for me personally, as I headed back to school at Notre Dame a few days after it fell, and if there’s anything we in Northern Indiana are accustomed to, it’s snow. That and corn fields.

Kentuckians, on the other hand, are significantly less familiar with that white fluffy stuff that falls from the sky – in fact, I’m pretty sure we see more falling cotton from the cottonwood trees than snowflakes.

Winter has always been my favorite season in Kentucky because it’s fairly mild. Not so mild that it doesn’t feel like winter at all, like what you get in warm places like Florida or California, but not so bitter cold that you get tired of it quickly. Snow in Kentucky is a pleasant rarity – the sort of thing that you only get a few times a year so it never outstays its welcome.

Though, once, my sophomore of high school, it rather did outstay its welcome, and I wound up staying home from school for weeks. I think I only went to classes a few days out of the entire month of February (which is, interestingly, why February is now my favorite month). That’s fairly unusual though; Kentucky snow is usually either only a slight dusting, so little that it barely impacts anything, or when it is more substantial, it’s gone within a few days.

Life at Snotre Dame has yet to kill my love of snow and winter weather – though it was getting a touch old by the end of last semester. I have months to go before the start of spring, so I hope that my favoritism for the cold stays around. If it doesn’t, I don’t see how I’m going to manage to stay around campus.

Jacket: American Eagle

Sweater: Altar’d State

Skirt: Forever21

Shoes: Target

January 11, 2018 – Looks like Kentucky (OOTD #199)

Published on January 14, 2018January 14, 2018 by lensembledujour1 Comment

When you think of Kentucky, what do you think of?

Probably some mix of horse farms, hillbillies, bourbon, coal mines, and bluegrass bands. Maybe throw in some University of Kentucky/Louisville sports for good measure?

I wouldn’t disagree with any of those descriptions, but for me, Kentucky is best represented by its small towns, which are usually less exciting than the stereotypical image- coal-mining hillbillies riding horses and drinking bourbon while bluegrass music plays in the background – would suggest.

Admittedly, I’ve never lived in a small Kentucky town, so I can’t really speak to their character, but I do like to visit them sometimes for little day trips to get out of the city. There’s usually not a lot to do, maybe some antique shops, a café, and if you’re lucky, historical site of some famous settlement or battleground or birthplace.

A few days before I went back to school, my parents and I went out to Harrodsburg and Danville KY to pass an afternoon. Like most small towns, there wasn’t a lot to do in either place, but that was sort of the point.

In Harrodsburg, there was an old pioneer settlement that had been converted into a park that we visited for an hour or two and where I did my photos. Being winter, it was pretty empty. The most exciting bit was honestly a cat that was roaming around and some friendly sheep that let us pet them.

Second most exciting was probably this cool old tree just outside the park. If I’d been wearing something other than a mini pencil skirt (which, interestingly, was ruined in the wash immediately after this trip) I would’ve climbed it more extensively because it was honestly one of the most perfect climbing-type trees I’d ever seen – knotty, twisty, and with thick branches in all the right places.

In Danville, about 20 minutes drive from Harrodsburg, we saw an old dollhouse museum, an antique shop, and got dinner at a Mexican restaurant. I don’t have any pictures from that part of the trip because the sun had started going down and the lighting made it so it wasn’t worth the effort, but it was more of the same: old buildings and old trees and old back roads.

I am not and will likely never be a country girl, but every once in a while, it’s nice.

Saturday Musings + Coffee – Compose Yourself

Published on January 13, 2018January 13, 2018 by lensembledujour3 Comments

Have I ranted about how difficult flatlays are yet?

What? I have? And they’re not actually that difficult, considering all it takes is for me to gather up a bunch of knick knacks and then photograph them in a pretty composition on top of a white bedsheet, so I should probably stop complaining about stupid, meaningless problems?

Sometimes I feel like these blog posts, especially on days when I haven’t really done anything and thus have nothing to talk about, are just me coming up with a problem to rant about for a few paragraphs before pointing out to myself that that’s not really much of a problem.

That’s kind of the downside of doing blog posts every day isn’t it? There are only so many mildly interesting things for me to talk about.

As mildly interesting things go, I’m headed back to school tomorrow, and I’m actually kind of excited. All through high school, returning to school after winter break just meant dread and angst, but after having a month off, I think it’ll be good to go back to having work to do.

I mean, I’ll be complaining about all the work I have to do within a few days of being back, but for now, I’m optimistic!

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!