october – L'ensemble du jour

October 31, 2019 – Boo (OOTD #573)

Published on January 4, 2020January 5, 2020 by lensembledujour4 Comments

I think Halloween may be my second-favorite holiday.

As a kid, that was not really the case. I never disliked Halloween — it was always up there in the top 5 list of Meilin’s favorite holidays — but I wasn’t really enamored by it. I was never a fan of sweets and candy, I was afraid of a lot of the decorations and scary movies, and I thought trying to come up with a costume was stressful.

I much preferred Christmas and Easter and my birthday (yes, I’m going to be a narcissist and call that a holiday) because I got actual presents on those holidays. Halloween, I just got a bunch of candy that I wouldn’t even eat anyway.

Then, as a teenager, when I became too old for trick-or-treating, I got bored with Halloween. Around that time, I also moved cities and schools, and so I had none of my old friends to go to costume parties or haunted houses with. I did eventually make friends by high school, but by then, I was so busy with school and work that I didn’t have time to go to people’s costume parties and haunted houses. And besides, I wasn’t really invited to them anyway. So mostly, I just sat at home and did homework while my parents handed out candy to the neighborhood kids — making Halloween a kind of lame holiday.

As I’ve grown older, though, I’m beginning to learn to appreciate Halloween. For one, the other holidays that I used to really love, like Easter or Valentine’s Day, have become less exciting as I’ve grown older and so are no longer there to compete with Halloween for the top spot.

Secondly, even though I still don’t really go out for parties or get dressed up (and that’s really not because I don’t want to, the timing just doesn’t work out during school), I like to see all the decorations. I like carving pumpkins. I like putting together Halloween-themed outfits.

And that’s what you see here. Unfortunately, I had class Halloween night, so I didn’t have anything to do or anywhere to go for Halloween itself. I didn’t even put together a costume. But my 21st birthday was the following day, so I knew I just had to be patient.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life this semester in Washington, DC. 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!

Jacket: Vintage (thrift, Foxhouse Vintage)

Top: The LOFT (thrift, Goodwill)

Skirt: Vintage (thrift, Street Scene Vintage)

October 29, 2019 – Thrown Together (OOTD #572)

Published on January 3, 2020January 3, 2020 by lensembledujour2 Comments

Living a fifteen minute walk away from where I work is not a good move for me.

And it’s not necessarily for the reasons you might think. It’s not necessarily because I’m too tempted to stay late at work or come early. It’s not because I want to go to the office on the weekend.

Apparently, it’s because I struggle not to wake up ten minutes before I’m supposed to be at my desk, realize that I’m running late, and then have to throw together an outfit (like this one) and get ready in five minutes so that I’m not more than ten minutes late. The amount of times I got to work at 9:10 instead of 9:00 was rather unfortunate.

See, I think if I lived farther away — you know, like a metro stop or two away — I’d be better at not being late. I say that, and then I think about how often I was 5-10 minutes late to my internship in Rome, when I had to ride the metro for an hour every morning, and then I realize that that’s not at all true.

I’m bad at being on time, I admit it. I’ve been bad at being on time for 20 years, and I’ve not really done much to improve my timelines over the years because I’m not usually more than 5-10 minutes late — that is, in real life.

In my blog posts, I’m a lot later. This outfit was worn in October 2019 and here I am publishing it in January 2020. Oops.

Sweater: Forever21

Trousers: Donated by a friend

October 28, 2019 – 70s Hollywood Producer (OOTD #571)

Published on January 2, 2020January 5, 2020 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

Today’s outfit inspiration is 1970s Hollywood — not the glamorous red carpet stars, though, but the behind-the-scenes executive producers.

For goodness’s sake, I’m wearing an ascot. An ascot. I don’t think it gets any more 70s than that.

I’ve become a little bit enamored with the 70s lately. For a while there, I was all about 60s style — the retro patterns, suede skirts, the layered jumpers. I had what was basically a Hairspray phase, but 10 years after the Zac Efron movie (and even more years after the original Broadway musical) came out.

But then, all the 60s stuff became mainstream, and you couldn’t go to Forever21 without seeing fourteen different suede skirts and twelve different denim jumpers in their storefront. The 60s were new and cool in 2017. They had become a little old and tired again by 2019.

The 70s, on the other hand, are on their way up — at least, in my opinion. I like the 70s. They’re like the 60s, but worse — less optimism, more drugs, worse pop music (though better rock), more polyester. If I don’t look like I walked out of an early Scorsese film, what’s the point?

Jacket: Thrift (Goodwill)

Blouse: Banana Republic

Trousers: Thrift (Salvation Army)

October 25, 2019 – To the Library Again (OOTD #570)

Published on January 1, 2020January 5, 2020 by lensembledujour1 Comment

I never thought I’d miss Notre Dame’s library.

With its ugly brown cardboard box walls and perpetual scent of moldy paper, I thought I’d never want or need to go back. Sure, I spent most of my waking hours while on campus in the building — but time doesn’t always equal emotional affinity. In fact, I thought given all the time I forced myself to spend in there, the more prepared I would be to leave it for a whole year.

I don’t miss the building itself; I should preface what I’m about to say with that. I do not miss the cardboard box design (Touchdown Jesus literally looks like a cereal mascot on the front of a box, try and convince me I’m wrong), and I don’t miss the uncomfortable wooden chairs and 1970’s elevators.

You know what I do miss, though? The convenience.

Hesburgh Library was about a ten minute walk away from my dorm, and that ten minute walk was just close enough to make it convenient and just distant enough to give me some mental separation from home. When I went there, I could try to convince myself to be productive. I didn’t always succeed, but at least I tried.

In DC, though, I didn’t really have a good go-to library. I went to one of the DC public libraries on my first days in the city, but it was a little too far away to make it into a regular study space. I ended up spending a lot of time at Brookings’s library, but it was too close to home and much too close to work. It was in the exact same building as my cubicle, and that’s never a good thing.

What Brookings Library did have over Hesburgh, though, was windows. And you could open them to get some fresh air! I know Notre Dame is concerned about kids trying to throw themselves off the 13th floor of the library during finals week, but I sure would have appreciated the ability to get some cool night air on the evenings I got stuck there late. I would have also appreciated the ability to throw myself out a 13th floor window during finals week.

Dress: Target

Jacket: Ann Taylor

October 23, 2019 – La Maison-Blanche (OOTD #569)

Published on December 30, 2019January 5, 2020 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

If I were ever elected President, I’d turn the White House into a haunted house for Halloween.

I mean, they decorate it for Christmas and Easter. They’ve got the turkey pardoning at Thanksgiving and the the Easter egg hunt at Easter, so you can’t pretend that the White House doesn’t do trivial holiday festivities.

Think about it: you could have the ghosts of all of the old presidents and their wives. It’d be like those in-character history museum presentations, but cooler because they’re dressed as the undead.

What, you mean to tell me that having the zombie of Abraham Lincoln with a gunshot wound on his head reciting the Gettysburg Address would be “in poor taste?”

Unfortunately, during my class field trip of the White House, it wasn’t decorated for any occasion in particular. It was just a normal day, it seems, at the Trump Manor. Still, it was very beautiful to walk around and see some of the old furniture and decorations. I even got my picture taken with the portrait of George Washington from the 2014 George Washington meme era. It was worth the wait for that.

Jacket: White House | Black Market

Blouse: ASOS

Skirt: Zara (thrifted, Poshmark)

October 21, 2019 – Cultured (OOTD #568)

Published on December 25, 2019December 30, 2019 by lensembledujour2 Comments

Do you remember that trend back in like, 2011 where people would wear fake nerd glasses in an attempt to look “nerdy” and “smart?”

Yeah, I definitely did that.

For a long time, before I actually needed glasses, I wanted them. I thought they looked so intelligent. My friend, Emma, once gave me an old pair of her glasses in a little pink plastic Barbie case with a pink plastic handle, and I’d take them out when I was alone in my room and just stare at myself in the mirror. I could barely see out of them, since they weren’t, you know, my prescription, but I was pretty sure I looked great.

Flash forward 15 years, and nothing has changed. I still get dressed without seriously considering whether or not what I’m wearing actually looks good, but I feel pretty confident that it does anyway. Except, now I do need glasses.

Naturally, though, I’m not wearing them in this set of photos, which makes this transition rather awkward. Oh well. Where would we be without awkward transitions in this blog?

The point of me bringing up the story about fake glasses is because I thought this outfit/background combination was reminiscent of my fake glasses days. I may not be wearing fake glasses here, but I am in spirit. I’m also wearing a fake handlebar mustache in spirit, perfect for twirling like a silent movie villain.

Coat: Vintage (thrifted, Ecseri Bazaar in Budapest)

Sweater: Forever21

Skirt: Vintage (thrifted, Street Scene Vintage)

October 17, 2019 – The Hill Has Eyes (OOTD #567)

Published on December 23, 2019December 30, 2019 by lensembledujour2 Comments

After a month in DC, I began picking up on DC lingo.

It’s the little things that make you seem like a local: for example, saying “to metro” as if it’s a verb. You don’t “take the metro” (or worse, “take the subway”) to get somewhere, you just “metro.” Oh, I’m going to metro to the game. I’ll metro and meet you there.

And another thing that DC people like to say — “the Hill.” It’s not Capitol Hill. It’s not the Capitol, or the Capitol Building. It’s just the Hill.

People work “on the Hill.” People who don’t work on the Hill go to meetings “on the Hill.” No matter what you do, you, or at the very least someone in your office, probably winds up “on the Hill” once or twice a month.

The same could be said of me while I was in DC. I went there for class, I went there for work, I went there with my friends on the weekend. I kept winding up there without really making any particular effort to go there; in a list of my top 10 favorite places in DC, the Hill area probably would not place, and it’s not like my apartment or place of work was really anywhere in that part of town.

But without fail, I would find myself near the Hill every couple of weeks, whether it was for lunch with my boss or to go to the Conservatory with my friends. And it wouldn’t be a DC semester without picture or two of me with that iconic dome (no, not that iconic dome. Or that one). I mean, if your LinkedIn headshot isn’t a picture of you on the Hill, did you even intern in Washington DC for three months?

Jacket: Forever21

Shirt: Banana Republic

Trousers: Banana Republic Sloan

Scarf: The MOMA gift shop

October 16, 2019 – Air, The Element of Freedom (OOTD #566)

Published on November 29, 2019December 30, 2019 by lensembledujour1 Comment

I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to have an October where it doesn’t snow at least one day.

Living at Notre Dame has completely messed with my conceptualization of normal weather. At Notre Dame, the first snowfall is in October. That doesn’t mean it’s a significant snowfall — it might only be a flurry or two, but it’s snowfall nonetheless. October means 30 degree mornings and cloudy 40 degree afternoons. By November, you get your first significant snowfall, if you didn’t already get it in October. By December, the permacloud has rolled in and there’re at least three giant piles of grey-black snow that never fully melt until May of the next year.

Apparently, that’s not normal weather.

Being in DC reminded me of that. I’m a little embarrassed to say that I was shocked by how warm it still was in October in DC. Every morning I would walk to work and the first thing I’d say to my coworkers would be “can you believe how hot it is?” And they would say “…uh, you’ve said that like twice in the last hour. Also, this is normal weather for this time of year, you idiot.”

If I had the ability to formate my own perfect seasons, I’d definitely want to replicate a Notre Dame fall. It’s much colder in Northern Indiana in the fall than most other parts of the country, but in the fall, that’s perfect. By fall, you’re sick of the heat (or at least, if you’re me you are) and there’s nothing better than that first 30 degree October morning after a long, hot summer.

DC, on the other hand, stays much warmer for longer. I don’t think it really started cooling off until late October, compared to late September for Notre Dame. It made me miss Notre Dame weather — something I never thought I’d have to admit.

Jacket: Forever21

Sweater: Thrifted (Goodwill)

Skirt: Forever21 (actually, it’s a dress layered underneath the sweater)

October 14, 2019 – Pumpkin Spice (OOTD #565)

Published on November 27, 2019December 30, 2019 by lensembledujour2 Comments

I know spooky season is long over, but I still have spooky season outfits to post about.

That’s the eternal drawback of my strategy of posting OOTD blogs well after the day they were worn. It gives me space to reflect on the outfit — and by extension, the day — and deliver a more thought-out blog post, but it means that holiday-themed outfits, like this one, will always be posted late.

Better late to the Halloween party than never though, right? It would be such a shame if the world never got to see me pair a navy shirt with a plaid jacket and orange pants in the name of spooky season.

On my Instagram page, I can always play around with the post dates — I don’t feel like I have to go in chronologal order. If it’s October and I want to post pictures that create an autumnal theme, I can select any photos from my library that fit that theme and only post them. It doesn’t matter when they were taken — yesterday or two years ago, they’re all fair game.

On my blog, though, I do my best to keep the chronology consistent and clear. It makes it easier for me writing, and I think it makes it easier on the readers as well. Not that anyone here really is all that interested in my overall character arc or whatever, but I like to think that if you compared one of my posts from today to one of my posts from high school, you could at least tell a slight difference in my writing and sense of style.

Maybe not in my face though. I’m pretty sure that hasn’t changed since I was 12.

Jacket: Vintage (Foxhouse Vintage)

Shirt: Banana Republic

Trousers: The LOFT

October 11, 2019 – Celebrate Good Times (OOTD #564)

Published on November 26, 2019 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

Completing a six hour-long midterm exam counts as a “good time,” right?

It took me a while this semester before I starting having much of a good time. That’s not to say I wasn’t still enjoying myself and beginning to get acquainted with people and getting a lot educationally out of my internship — I was — but there weren’t a lot of moments I could really categorize as “fun” either. Everything I did was either work or school. I like my work and I (mostly) like my school, so no complaints there, but for a semester spent away form campus in a brand new city, I felt like I was still missing something.

I think this is the case of any short term program where you move to a new place and have to meet a whole new group of people, but it takes a long time to establish a friend group. This semester especially, I feel like it took longer than usual to figure out what I was supposed to do on weekends other than sit in my apartment and study. I got lucky my freshman year at Notre Dame in that I made friends so quickly, and I had very little of that awkward “getting to know people” phase before I had at least focused in on the people who were most worth getting to know.

It reminds me a lot of my time in Rome. In Rome, I didn’t really make my group of ND friends until about the midway point of my time there (and in the case of my friends from the Lay Centre, until literally a week before I left). It just takes so long sometimes to get settled and get acquainted with people sometimes that by the time you’re both settled and acquainted, your time’s up.

My point in discussing all of this is simply because these photos were taken on my first weekend outing I think in almost the whole semester, a celebratory dinner after the six hour midterm was over. This was the day after I took that midterm — so that just goes to show how long it took before I started doing fun stuff. I think before, I had been out with my roommates one night and then to a little alumni get-together and a movie afterwards, but otherwise, I kept mostly to myself. That was my own choice, of course. There was a group chat where people would propose plans or invite people to do things there in the beginning, so there were opportunities for me to have been more involved in a social life earlier on, but it slowly fizzled out as people established their friend groups.

But even if it took me a long time, I eventually got around to doing fun stuff. Hopefully, you’ll get to see pictures of some of that stuff in the upcoming weeks’ blogs. Stay tuned.