notre dame – Page 22 – L'ensemble du jour

February 6, 2018 – The Little Things (OOTD #220)

Published on February 12, 2018February 12, 2018 by lensembledujour2 Comments

I love the way my shirt collar just barely peeks above the top of my sweater here; it’s a nice detail.

It’s just noticeable enough to make a difference in my outfit – that little touch of asymmetrical balance takes an outfit that’s pretty unexciting by itself and gives it more dimension.

I think the stripes also really help to elevate things, adding some pattern into an all-solid outfit. And then the way that the stripes run against the lines of my knit sweater…I don’t know guys, I’m just proud of myself on this one.

What I’m not so proud of is the way that I nearly wiped out in the solid 12 inches of snow on the ground before I took these pictures. I got my friend to stand on the sidewalk with the camera, and I was just going to hop really quickly into the snow bank, get my shots, and then hop back out again.

What happened instead was that my foot got stuck in the strap of my backpack that I had tossed on the ground nearing that instead of a quick, clean jump into the snow, I ended up hopping around wildly, kicking up snow and flailing my arms in an attempt to regain my balance. Of course, this happened nearby a fairly busy sidewalk right outside of the dining hall at lunchtime so there would plenty of people who got to witness my blunder.

I kind of laughed it off, but I’m still kind of embarrassed. What is it that they say? She is beauty, she is grace…she’s about to fall on her stupid face?

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!

Shirt: Abercrombie

Sweater: unknown (gift)

Pants: The LOFT

Boots: LL Bean

Saturday Musings + Coffee – I’m A Potato

Published on February 10, 2018February 12, 2018 by lensembledujour5 Comments

It’s rare that I have a day where I am as useless as this.

It started out very well, actually. I got up at 8AM, did some really good work for my job in the athletics communications department at school, and cleaned up my desk. I thought I was going to have a really productive day.

Then, I made a fatal mistake – I decided to go back to bed for a short “nap.” That short nap turned into a few hours, and I was in bed until 1:30.

Okay, not the worst, right? I could still salvage the day by focusing and getting some good work done in the remaining hours.

I didn’t, of course.

I did go for a run, write a blog, and write a bit in my planner, but it’s 6:30 now, and that’s all I’ve done. I have been about as hardworking today as a potato, and I am very much not proud of myself. I’m hoping I can turn things around a bit this evening and actually do some reading for my peace studies and history class, some laundry, and maybe my sketchbook assignments for drawing.

Or I could just go to bed early and pray that maybe tomorrow a wave of productivity hits me. Or if not a wave of productivity, at least some anxiety that class starts again tomorrow to force me to actually get some work done.

February 4, 2018 – Fly Eagles Fly (OOTD #219)

Published on February 10, 2018 by lensembledujour3 Comments

I never thought it would happen, but here we are – the Philadelphia Eagles have won their first Super Bowl!

I admit, I wasn’t following them very closely at the beginning of the season (I was more preoccupied with Notre Dame’s football performance), but by Thanksgiving, I was watching every game. It helps that by Thanksgiving, Notre Dame was pretty much out of the consideration for the playoffs so…I was able to focus more of my energy onto the Eagles.

Still, I never expected them to make it so far. I’ve seen them come close a couple of times, especially when I was a younger kid, but every time, I’ve been disappointed. I remember a particularly heartbreaking playoff loss to the Arizona Cardinals when I was about nine, causing me to question if, like my father, I could perhaps wait 50 years and never see them win to the Super Bowl.

But now that’s all changed – it’s 2018, Year of the Dog, and the underdog Eagles of just won Super Bowl 52, hopefully the first of many!

I watched the Super Bowl in the lounge of my dorm, which was a little less than ideal – it was noisy and crowded, the food wasn’t nearly as good as what my mother makes for football parties, and my family wasn’t there with me. I don’t know, I don’t get homesick much, but I would have really liked to have been at home with the people who fostered my love for the Eagles when the Super Bowl win finally happened.

Jacket: Hollister

Leggings: Forever21

Jersey: NFL (thrifted)

February 3, 2018 – Rose Gold (OOTD #218)

Published on February 8, 2018 by lensembledujour5 Comments

I don’t believe I’ve ever shown my dorm room on here.

Well…tada! Here it is: plain white walls, some command hooks, a radiator, and that’s all.

No, of course, my room is significantly more decorated than that – we’ve got four people living in here together. This white wall is probably the emptiest and cleanest part of the entire quad.

These shots were done in the middle of middle of the night with my phone set up against a bean bag, much like I did with these shots in an empty art room when I was unable to find anyone to do pictures for me one day.

Why did I feel the need to do these pictures at such an odd hour? It all has to do with that little faint hint of pink color in my hair. That’s the result of the Clairol Color Crave Hair Makeup that was sent to me by Influenster to review.

So it was late at night on Friday, and I had the room to myself. After I finished my homework for the evening (well…my homework’s really never finished – I just eventually give up on it or pass out from exhaustion), I decided to get to work testing my product and writing my review.

I fixed my hair all nice and pretty, did my makeup, and took some selfies for my review. And then I thought – why stop there? Might as well get some OOTD photos out of this too. It’s not often that I take the time to make up my face, so when I do, I need photographic evidence to prove it actually happened, you know?

By now, it was pretty late at night – too late to reasonably ask someone to do my pictures for me. But thankfully, there was this beautifully plain white wall in my room, so I set up my phone camera and my Apple watch’s remote photo-taking features, and I had at it.

So that’s the story of the outfit I wore and photographed in the middle of the night just so that the makeup and hair look I had put together didn’t go to waste. Was it more effort than it was worth? …maybe. But at least I got a funny story to write about in this blog post.

Shirt: Vintage (thrifted)

Jacket: Vintage (thrifted)

Pants: The LOFT

February 2, 2018 – Ducking Around (OOTD #217)

Published on February 7, 2018February 14, 2018 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

I call this my duck sweater because it’s fluffy and yellow like a duckling.

It also sheds all over the place like a baby bird, which is a bit of a downside.

I have a lot of nicknames for certain articles of clothing in my wardrobe – there’s my Sherlock Holmes jacket, my dragon slayer shirt, my Southern soccer mom jacket, just to name a few. I have a pretty sentimental connection to my clothes (I’m just waiting for the day when I make it onto one of those hoarding television shows), so I guess it makes sense that I would start nicknaming them like stuffed animals.

Anyway, in this outfit, I paired my duck sweater with my yellow rainbows, which made for particularly duck-like results. I don’t know, maybe it’s something in the way there’s a high contrast between the dark of my jacket and pants and the brightness of the yellow tones.

I suppose the duck-centric thinking I’m doing might also be due to the fact that the dorm I’m standing near, Howard Hall, has the mascot of a duck. It’s admittedly pretty lame in comparison to some of the other hall mascots, like the Keenan Knights, but it’s also not as bad as the PDubb Purple Weasels (seriously – purple weasels.)

I’ll leave you with this – a super cute photo of me looking behind myself to try to see if anyone’s walking by who would ruin my pictures.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one!

Jacket: thrifted

Leggings: The LOFT

Sweater: Forever21

February 1, 2018 – For The Love of February (OOTD #216)

Published on February 6, 2018 by lensembledujour1 Comment

Did you know? February is actually my favorite month.

I know a lot of people aren’t a fan of it – it’s normally pretty grey, cold, and in some parts, snowy. There’s also not really much to get excited for, save for maybe Valentine’s Day, which, as holidays go, is about as applicable to me as as Hanukkah. It’s nice to observe from a cultural standpoint, but I don’t necessarily participate in the festivities, you know?

I think it has to do with the way that February has always been a month that’s heavy in snow days – not that I get any of those now now that I’m in the Chicago area, where several feet of snow is just an average Tuesday. I wonder what it would take for Notre Dame to cancel classes for the weather? I feel like even in the event of a blizzard, they’d have us trudging through the ice and winds unless Mary herself descended from the heavens and told Father Jenkins to let us stay in.

I heard a horror story once of some time in the early 2000’s when, upon students’ return from winter break, the windchill was 40 below on campus. If that happens while I’m here, I think I may have to reconsider the winter’s status as my favorite season.

As for February though, I feel like no one else tends to really favor (or even like) it, so it’s in need of some love. Plus, by proclaiming it as my favorite month, I get to tell people about the time my junior year of high school that I only went to school for one week the entire month of February because Kentucky didn’t know how to handle #snowpocalypse2016.

Notre Dame’s excessive snowfall hasn’t yet hampered my love of the stuff, though. It helps that I swear it actually makes things feel warmer here. And when it’s 0 degrees Fahrenheit when you wake up for your 9:30AM, you take anything you can that’ll act as a buffer to the horrific winds.

jacket: vintage (thrifted)

jeans: American Eagle

top: Forever21

January 31, 2018 – Maroon Moron (OOTD #215)

Published on February 4, 2018 by lensembledujour2 Comments

I like maroon, and I personally consider myself to be a moron…so Maroon Moron? That works, right? It’s too bad I’m not a Mormon too. And that it’s not the morning. Then we could’ve had a truly alliterative title.

Okay, so maybe it’s not the cleverest blog title I’ve ever come up with. But I do this every day, so I’m kind of bound to have some misses every once in a while. It’s got to beat “petal to the metal,” which was so out there that no one even understood it.

I’m presently sitting in my dorm room’s common area watching the Super Bowl, which, presently, is going pretty well for the Eagles. I think it’s because I have my old McNabb jersey on. It’s a lucky charm that hasn’t failed me yet.

This is my first Super Bowl away from home, which if it weren’t for the Eagles playing, wouldn’t be a big deal. But seeing as the Eagles are the favorite team of my family, and seeing as my parents always put on a good Super Bowl party, and seeing as this is the first time I’ve ever actually seen them play in the Super Bowl, it’s a little more unfortunate. My dorm room’s common area is fine, and their store-bought chicken tenders were edible, but it’s nothing on my living room and my mother’s Hawaiian roll sandwiches.

I haven’t much gotten to see the commercials so far, as the people who are watching the game with me are pretty noisy, but the few I have seen have been pretty funny. I liked the one that had Morgan Freeman and Peter Dinklage rap battling each other. I don’t know what on earth the commercial was for, but the imagery at least was funny.

Welp, I think I ought to go back to watching the game. There’s a really vocal Patriots fan behind me who just groaned, so something must have happened good for us.

Fly, Eagles Fly!

Sweater: Abercrombie

Skirt: Forever21

Scarf: My mom’s closet (don’t tell)

Saturday Musings + Coffee – Go Iggles

Published on February 3, 2018February 3, 2018 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

Actually, it’s tea. Blueberry pomegranate açaí tea, to be exact. I didn’t really feel like coffee today, but I knew I still needed some pictures with me and a mug for this post, so I made some tea instead.

These last few nights, I’ve been hard at work playing with my hair. You know how I was discussing getting tired of my new short, brown hair a few weeks back? That sensation never really left. It’s annoying to style, I have to put more effort into making my makeup and outfits look feminine, and it’s beginning to grow out, which in itself, is not problematic, as I want to get my hair long again, but it’s growing out in a kind-of awkward way.

So when Influenster offered me my first VoxBox with some Clairol hair color products to review, I jumped on the chance. A haircut likely won’t solve my woes, but perhaps a new, more exciting color than light brown will. Keep an eye out for a review of said products on this blog coming soon!

In other news, I’m getting temporarily kicked out of my dorm room tonight so one of my roommates can have some “friends over.” Normally, that might thoroughly annoy me, but seeing as I’ve spent pretty much all day cooped up in my room distractedly doing homework, it should actually be nice to be forced to go outside for a little. I’m thinking of headed to the haunted art building, Riley, to finish up my still life. Then, when my roommate’s party is over, I’ll come back and play with my hair some more.

In other other news, the Super Bowl is tomorrow! For the first time in my lifetime, my Philadelphia Eagles are actually playing, so I’m fairly excited. My dorm is having a watch party with typical game day food, which, while not as good as my mother’s Super Bowl party cooking, should still be a nice change from dining hall food. That’s part of the reason why I’ve been so eager to get my work done tonight rather than tomorrow – I want to give the television my full attention when the Eagles win their first Super Bowl!

Go Iggles!

January 30, 2018 – Art Student Aesthetic Squared (OOTD #214)

Published on February 2, 2018August 13, 2019 by lensembledujour5 Comments

On Tuesday, I found myself in something of a pickle – I couldn’t find a good opportunity for someone to take pictures for me.

It’s not so much that there weren’t people I could ask – I’m always surrounded by people, so in theory, I could always just ask a random stranger – but I never found myself in a good situation to get a friend to do them for me. My typical Tuesday lunch friend was too busy to meet with me, the people I ate dinner with went too late to get good lighting, and I didn’t really feel comfortable asking someone to go out of their way to help me, so I found myself at 8pm with no outfit photos.

In that case, I decided to take my photos myself. I took my phone, my watch, and a pencil case to prop my phone against, and headed to Riley, the creepy haunted art building.

I actually had some work to do on my still life for my Drawing class, so hangout out at Riley wasn’t just for this blog. When I arrived in the drawing studio, there were still some people there, which forced me to actually focus on my art for a few hours until the people finally left.

At last, once everyone was gone and I was alone in the room – around 10pm – I was able to set up my camera on top of a drawing table, and, using my watch’s remote photo-taking feature (a true lifesaver here) to take what I consider are some decent photos, given the circumstances. I even managed to get a few shots with the depth perception on.

What I love best about these shots is the giant artwork in the background. I actually have no idea what it’s supposed to mean, or what class it was for, but it’s not a doorway or a brick wall, which means it’s totally unique in comparison to what I usually get for my photos at this school. I get some street art vibes here, actually, which, if you’ve been following this blog for a while, you’ll know if my favorite kind of background.

If I ever find myself in this pickle again, I’ll definitely swing by Riley again late at night to do my pictures. Maybe I’ll even manage to get the Riley ghost in one of my shots one of these nights!

Jacket: Evan Picone

Shirt: J. Crew

Sweater: Abercrombie (thrifted)

Pants: The LOFT

January 29, 2018 – Art Student Aesthetic (OOTD #213)

Published on February 1, 2018February 1, 2018 by lensembledujour1 Comment

I guess I can finally consider myself an “art student.”

I never expected to be able to say that, actually – I thought for certain I was going to be done with art classes after high school.

Not done with art entirely, but certainly done with formal lessons in art a part of graded classes. I always figured I would continue it as a hobby on the side, but I was pretty burnt out by the end of high school of staying up late every night, struggling to compete the numerous art classes I was never able to take the time to develop as much as I would have liked to anyway.

But then it turned out that I missed it. I had hoped Notre Dame would at least have some sort of art club, but for whatever reason, we don’t. The visual arts don’t really have a very strong presence here, which I can kind of understand, given we’re not an art school, but they’re so nonexistent it’s a little bizarre.

They do have a very small art and design department, which, now that I’m attempting to minor in studio art, I suppose I’ve joined. I’m in a beginning drawing class right now, which, while not particularly creatively challenging, is still nice to break up some of my more writing-based academic courses.

So here’s my best attempt at embodying my newfound art student identity – plaid pants, baseball shirt, my “tattoo artist” jacket, and of course, my boyish pixie cut. It’s not the sort of look that would make it onto a “preppy fashion” Pinterest board, but I think it’s interesting nonetheless.