September – Page 5 – L'ensemble du jour

September 18, 2017 – Plum and Fuchsia (Or Purple and Pink) [OOTD #114]

Published on September 24, 2017 by lensembledujour4 Comments

What did I tell you? I said flowers were going to feature much more heavily in the background of photos on this blog, and what do we have here?

This lovely set of purple-y bushes are right outside of my residence hall, making them nice and convenient for photos. They are also, apparently, very convenient to the campus’s hornet population because they’re always covered in them. I had to be careful not to get too close to the bushes actually, while I was doing this set. I can’t wait for fall/winter to come and for the bugs to finally get lost.

The heat is really beginning to pick up here, hence the short sleeves and the skirt. I hate it. I thought we had finally gotten over the summer temperatures – in fact, at the time of these pictures, the autumnal equinox (and thus, the last day of summer) was only a few days away. And a week previously, it had been beautiful – dare I say, chilly even – and now it feels like mid-July again.

I’m not a fan.

I wish I were, though. Maybe then it wouldn’t be so blistering hot in my dorm room. All we’ve got right now is a pathetic little box fan that we stole from the hallway, and that you can only feel if you stick your face right up next to it.

In other words, I’m basically taking every opportunity possible to hang out in air conditioned rooms and buildings and avoid my own room – but that’s not actually terribly different from how it was before the heat wave struck.

I don’t know, I don’t mind my room, and my roommates are all pretty cool, but I feel like I’m usually more easily distracted when I’m there. There’s nothing like looking at the dead silent nerds in the dead silent library to motivate you to do work. And thus, I spend an obscene amount of time there, soaking up the AC and the nerdy vibes.

Anyway, I probably ought to get back to work now. It never ends.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life here 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!

Top: Zara

Skirt: Rue21(Bonus: sometimes, when your photographer is taking a rapid succession of pictures, you wind up with gems like this as you transition from one post to another)

September 15, 2017 – I Think They Call This A Misnomer (OOTD #113)

Published on September 21, 2017 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

Today, I am Speedy.

I’m actually not sure what Speedy refers to – was Speedy particularly fast at doing his job? Did he eat his lunch quickly? Was he a track star in high school? Only Speedy knows the answer to these questions, and sadly, the only thing I know about Speedy is that he dropped off this shirt at a Salvation Army in Kentucky for me to come along and buy sometime later.

I love work shirts with someone else’s name on them. In fact, this is my second outfit featuring the misnomer shirt trend – the first one, which I featured on this blog back in June, labeled me as Oscar, and came in the mail as a surprise gift from my uncle who also enjoys lying about his name on his shirts.

I don’t know, there’s just something stupidly funny about the whole thing. The shirt is ill-fitting, made of cheap fabric, features no interesting design elements, and can’t even get my name right. It’s so unfashionable – but that’s what makes it kinda cool.

In other news, check out that shot of the Golden Dome in the background! I still haven’t quite gotten over my enchantment with Notre Dame’s campus. Maybe, in a few months when it’s freezing and Notre Dame is covered in a layer of dirty, half-melted slush, I’ll come to loathe the sight of Golden Mary because it means I’m still a solid 5 minute walk away from my dorm, but for now, she’s still pretty cool.

The only campus landmark I’m really not a fan of is Touchdown Jesus. Sorry Jesus, but not even your giant face can distract from the fact that the design of Hesburgh library is literally nothing but a giant rectangle. Sure, it’s kinda neat to see this giant mural of Jesus and his disciples peaking up from above the trees, and it’s really great from orienting yourself when you’re on a more unfamiliar section of campus, but view Hesburgh from any angle other than the one featuring TD Jesus, and it’s just an ugly brown box.

How did I even get to ranting about Touchdown Jesus here? I guess I just have a lot more feelings about the library’s design than I thought I did. Maybe I’m just bitter because I spend so much time there, and I can attest to the fact that it is in desperate need of more windows.

Speedy agrees.

Shirt: Salvation Army (thrifted)

Jeans: Abercrombie

September 14, 2017 – Goth Kid at Catholic School (OOTD #112)

Published on September 20, 2017September 20, 2017 by lensembledujour5 Comments

I spent a decent portion of my adolescence complaining about public school, but I have to give it this – it made for a nice, diverse collection of people.

You want art kids? Public school has those. You want jocks? Public school has those. You want people who fit any racial, cultural, or stereotype imaginable? Public school has you covered.

And the nice thing about my high school was (wow, never thought I’d use those words together…), you never had to stick to any particular group – people were pretty free to float around the different social categories at will. And there was really no such thing as rivalries between the groups – no Jets vs Sharks stories here. Or, I don’t know, maybe we did have gang fights with choreographed dance sequences, and I just never realized. It’s entirely possible that I just never learned the social structure of my high school in the four years I was there – just like I never learned anything about physics or how to pay taxes.

But here I am now at private Catholic school, and gone are the diverse social groups. I mean, I’ve only been here for a month, and maybe I just haven’t gotten a feel for them, but it’s definitely less likely that I’ll encounter anyone in a Black Veil Brides t-shirt or with rainbow hair here than I was in high school. And I miss that.

The typical Notre Dame kid is probably athletic, white, well-dressed (but not creatively dressed…I went to a party once and all I saw were Kylie Jenner wannabes), the son or daughter of an alumni, and from one of the suburbs of Chicago. If it’s a dude, he’s probably named Jack. If it’s a girl, she’s probably a Katie.

(Also, if I hear one more Midwestern kid with that nasally Chicago accent talk about which suburb they’re from, I’m gonna lose it. Why isn’t anyone from like, the actual city of Chicago? Do people even live in Chicago?)

Anyway, fed up with the perceived normalcy of my peers, I just had to go for an outfit that had a darker edge. You know, the commercial, non-offensive version of “darker edge” – basically, nu goth.

Essentially, I dressed in all black and put my hair in Wednesday Adams braids. Simple, but effective – I was basically edgiest kid on campus. Which, if you ask me, if pretty sad, considering a blonde girl in braids and a black hat is hardly edgy or goth. The architecture at Notre Dame is more goth than 99% of the student body, meaning I’m pretty sure the architecture would have the better taste in music than the student body – goth kids have great taste in music.

Top: Unknown (thrifted)

Pants: Altar’d State

Jacket: Forever21

Hat: Target

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September 13, 2017 – My Pants Story (OOTD #111)

Published on September 19, 2017 by lensembledujour5 Comments

Pardon the tragically late post today – I just woke up from a three-hour nap.

I knew I needed one, but I definitely didn’t intend for it to go on so long. I had pulled a late night the night before, so I had every intent of taking an hour-long snooze after classes let up. Then one hour rolled into two…and two into three…you get the picture.

I guess I should’ve set an alarm, but it’s okay – for once in my time here in college, I’m not super bogged down with homework. I mean, I am, but less so than I have been for weeks. I fee like this is probably some kind of “calm before the storm” experience…but I don’t know what kind of storm to expect or when to expect it.

Good thing I have this totally not flimsy scarf to protect me!

Wednesday’s outfit was one of those ones that I did not plan out the night before, and outfits like that tend to be hit-or-miss. This one, I feel, is a hit. It might be a little top-heavy with all the red, but I don’t think it’s too bad. There’s also the fact that I’m wearing my most flattering pair of jeans – I think these high-waisted dark-wash skinnies have the ability to make anything I wear instantly more chic, whether it actually is or not.

There in high school, I was more of leggings kind of a person, but now in college, I think I may just transition back into a jeans person for the first time in years. Perhaps the first time ever, actually – I hated to wear jeans as a kid, growing up. I thought they were stiff and never breathed well, so I had a phase from about 1st grade to 3rd grade where I refused to wear jeans. In fact, I basically refused to wear anything that wasn’t a skort from the Children’s Place.

Then, in middle school, the leggings-as-pants trend kicked in, but it was against my school’s dress code – you weren’t even allowed to wear yoga pants, not even the bootcut ones. At that point, I started wearing skinny jeans from Hollister and Abercrombie, and while they sort-of fell out of use in high school when I realized the joys of leggings, I mostly haven’t looked back.

And, I think I may have arrived at the inception of a new era of Meilin’s pants-wearing history – the revival of the jean. The fact is, jeans always look classier than leggings, and they’ve gotten to the point now with all the spandex in them that they’re almost as comfortable as leggings. Basically, jeggings have taken over the market – though I doubt anyone would call them that. Whenever I think of “jeggings” I usually have war flashbacks to a pair of Justice “jeggings” I had in fifth grade that didn’t even have real pockets, just printed-on ones. I do believe that’s what they call a crime aganist fashion.

Anyway, I should never be allowed to take three-hour naps in the middle of the afternoon. I just used “inception of a new era of Meilin’s pants-wearing history” in a sentence. Something tells me none of my professors would be impressed.

Scarf: Stolen from my mother’s closet (Mom, if you’re reading this, I demand $1,000 paid in cash or you’re never seeing it again)

Jacket: Forever21

Shirt: H&M

Jeans: Hollister

September 12, 2017 – False Step (OOTD #110)

Published on September 18, 2017 by lensembledujour5 Comments

You know, looking back at these photos, I’m not sure what I think of the shoes with the top.

Maybe it’s the pictures. I swear, in person, the yellow of the boots went much better with the yellow in the shirt. Or at least, I thought it did. Maybe I just walked around all day looking awkward and mismatched. I’m sure everyone stared and thought I was a freak – in fact, I should probably just drop out of school now, since I don’t see any way I could possibly recover from this terrible faux pas.

Luckily, most of my photos from Tuesday didn’t show my feet, so we don’t have to worry about that too much.

Anyway, things here in South Bend have slowly been beginning to feel more and more like autumn – and I’m very happy about that. I passed a batch of trees with a few orange leaves on them today, and I was so excited I had to post it to my Snapchat story. That’s real test of a millennial’s enthusiasm – did it make into onto their story?

I hope there’s somewhere on campus or nearby that I can get a pumpkin. I don’t think autumn exists without pumpkins, and I fully intend to decorate my dorm with as many of them as I can fit. I don’t even feel the need to carve them (here at Notre Dame, at least – I’ll definitely carve one when I go home to Kentucky for fall break); I just like their presence. They’re like the big round orange patron saints of the October-November season.

My birthday actually falls in the fall (ba-dum tshhh), so I have a particular affinity for the season. My favorite season, though, is definitely winter – but maybe that’s just because I’m used to mild Kentucky winters. Will I still enjoy winter after I’ve experienced my first one in South Bend, which ranks among the snowiest towns in the US?

I feel like I will, but maybe I’m being overly optimistic. I hear that in the parts of the Midwest, like Chicago, the snow never melts in the winter – it just gets dirty and turns to slush and then freezes into a grey ice that is then covered by a new layer of snow.

But personally, I feel like that’s preferable to the general lack of snow that Kentucky has. I’ve never even experienced a white Christmas before – what a depraved, unfortunate creature I must be.

Sweater-jacket thing: Francesca’s

Top: H&M

Choker: Francesca’s

September 11, 2017 – Petal to the Metal (OOTD #109)

Published on September 17, 2017 by lensembledujour8 Comments

(Is…is that pun an acceptable title? I debated about it for a while and I ultimately went for it because I couldn’t think of anything else…but I’m still not sure. After you’re done reading this blog, you’ll have to leave me a comment below to say if you got it or not.)

I think I’ve found my new favorite photo location on campus.

In these shots, I’m right outside South Dining Hall, which is perhaps the only not golden-beige brick building on campus – instead, it’s made of exotic reddish-brown brick. As I’m sure you know, red bricks are extremely rare – I don’t know if I’m ever even seen a red brick before in my life. So obviously, SDH is the greatest photo location in the world, case-closed.

Okay, so the brick is hardly worth getting excited about (well, maybe it is, as it’s the only red brick building I’ve seen here – though I never thought I’d say typical red brick was exciting…), what’s really nice here is the landscaping.

Check out those beautiful red flowers. Gaze in awe of their non-golden-beige-brick-ness.

For real though, what Notre Dame lacks in their buildings’ exterior color, they make up for in some really nice flowers and plants. If you ask me, that doesn’t entirely make up for how everything here is basically the same color…but it helps.

Unfortunately, flowers don’t last forever, and they – and the bursts of color they provide – will be gone in a few months. Hopefully, we’ll get some nice autumn leaves though, and from there, we’ll get some more color. Maybe?

In the meantime, expect more photos of me next to flowers.

Jacket: Evan Picone (thrifted)

Skirt: J. Crew (thrifted)

Shirt: Banana Republic

Saturday Musings + Coffee – Homework Day

Published on September 16, 2017 by lensembledujour5 Comments

Sadly, unlike last week, when I was able to chill on the 7th floor of the library by myself, I have found that neither “chilling” nor “having the library to myself” is possible today.

Why? Because it’s my first weekend here in two weeks without a home football game, and while I am not stressed out about trying to carve a whole 4 hours (for real, football games are time-consuming) out of my day to go stand in a stadium all smushed up next to students I don’t know, I am stressed about homework. Plus, since there’s no game, the usually empty library is now…well, busy‘s not the word, but it’s got a little more bustle to it than I would like.

If I’m going to be honest, though, the lack of a football game is kind of a relief. I was looking forward to it all week – I thought it was going to be so nice and relaxing without all the commotion of a thousand visitors who all come to tailgate and end up waking you up at 9 in the morning by blasting “Wagon Wheel” from their portable speaker that they’ve set up on the lawn below your window.

And I was right. It is relaxing…in a way. At least, it would be relaxing if I didn’t have so much homework to do. These last few nights, I’ve been working on projects that I’ve been putting off since the start of school – which has been a very good thing – but it means I’ve fallen a bit behind in my reading. It also doesn’t help that I took a nap Friday afternoon.

Luckily, though, it’s a very nice day, so I took the opportunity to sit outside at one of the café tables near Au Bon Pain in the library. It’s not quite as quiet, but it’s also not nearly as stuffy. And I don’t feel badly about myself when I have to sneeze and all the hardcore studiers look at me like they want me excommunicated from the Catholic church.

(Little do they know…they cannot excommunicate me if I’m not even Catholic in the first place…mwahahahaha)

Anyway, I’ve probably already taken more time than I should have to write up this blog post, so I’ll let you go. Enjoy these photos of my Starbucks cup.

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.

September 9, 2017 – One Point (OOTD #108)

Published on September 15, 2017October 6, 2019 by lensembledujour1 Comment

Since these blogs are on like, a week delay, I guess you already know – we lost to Georgia by one point.

It’s fine, like, I don’t even mind. I hadn’t even necessarily expected us to win. It hurt I guess, since we were winning there, up until the final quarter…but it’s fine. I don’t get invested in football.

It was a little unfortunate, though, because I have a friend at UGA, and I told her with conviction that the Irish were going to win. Of course, when that didn’t happen, she took every opportunity to rub it in my face….but it’s fine.

Anyway! My outfit: I didn’t crawl out of my my cave until about 5:00 in the evening because I had so much work to do, so I didn’t have a ton of time to get ready. In the end, I went for m’y ND football jersey (which I’ve worn on two separate occasions already during the time I’ve had this blog), and my new ND baseball hat. And if you’re wondering, yes, I did have pants on – they were running shorts that were covered by the jersey.

In the end, I didn’t have much time for tailgating, but I didn’t mind. I had tried the whole tailgating scene the last home game, and it just wasn’t my style. Maybe it was because I don’t have any family who tailgates here, but mostly, “tailgating” for me just involved walking around and looking at the people tailgating.

As for the homework I was doing that took so long, I didn’t even have that much work, actually – I was just really enjoying having the entire 7th floor of the library to myself. I spread out all my crap over the table, opened a bag of potato chips without being embarrassed, and sneezed loudly and as frequently as I wanted. It was heaven.

The game on the other hand, was not heaven. It was a lot of fun, yes, but of course, we lost. Not even the cheeseburger I ate afterwards could make me feel better.And now, we have a few weeks until the next game. Personally, I’m grateful – I’ve had quite enough of Notre Dame’s football culture for a while. My last few weekends have been absolutely exhausting, and I’m looking forward to actually being able to relax for once on Saturday.

Ah, who am I kidding? I never get to relax. What college student ever relaxes?

Shirt: Notre Dame bookstore

September 8, 2017 – I Think They Call This A Pop Of Color (OOTD #107)

Published on September 14, 2017September 14, 2017 by lensembledujour5 Comments

I don’t usually even like wearing color.

I mean, look at my blog posts – it’s pretty much a sea of neutrals. Black is probably my favorite, followed by camel, grey, white, and navy. Though I’m probably never going to be one of those people who can create a minimalist capsule wardrobe out of only neutrals, I must admit – they do look pretty chic.

Unfortunately for the part of me that wants to rock the all-black everyday emo look, or the part that wants to look like a chic Parisian whose wardrobe only knows the occasional hint of red, I still come from the South. And the women in the South rather like their color.

Just look at the quintessential Southern brand, Lilly Pulitzer. It’s nothing but color. Is black ever a major component of her patterns? Does she even know that black is?

So every once in a while, I have to give into my Southern roots and go for some kind of color vomit outfit. And what better day to do that than a rainy day, when the rest of the world is grey? Talk about a pop of color.

This rain coat is one of my favorite pieces in my wardrobe, even though it’s not 100% my style. I just get so many compliments when I wear it; I can’t help keeping it around even if I personally find it a little too bright for my comfort. I’ve actually had for years, since I was in 7th grade or something ridiculous like that. If I remember correctly, I think it came from the children’s section of Target; I was with my parents, and we were just about to check out, when I glanced it out of the corner of my eye. I just had to have it.

It may be one of the oldest pieces in my wardrobe, but it just never seems to stop getting attention, and it has yet to go out of style.

The rain hat and boots are newer additions to my wardrobe. I’ve been dreaming of owning a yellow rain ensemble – yellow raincoat, rain boots, and hat – for ages, and I’ve finally managed to gather each piece. I have yet to wear them all together though; that’s for another rainy day.

No worries, though. Living in South Bend, rainy days should hardly be a scarcity.

Coat: Target

Skirt: Forever21

Boots: Ralph Lauren

Shirt: Free People

September 7, 2017 – This Outfit Is A Shameless Ripoff (OOTD #106)

Published on September 13, 2017September 13, 2017 by lensembledujour6 Comments

Originality is hard, and sometimes, it just doesn’t work out.

Not everything you do can always be a brilliant, unique, creative concept – sometimes, you have to go with the trends. There’s nothing wrong at all with being trendy; if you want to set trends, in fact, I think you have to follow them first.

This outfit though, was less about following trends, and more about following someone else. I don’t even know who it was – some girl I saw walking across campus. She had on a really cute outfit consisting of a navy blouse and a camel-colored suede skirt, and lo and behold…what do I decide to wear the next day?

In my defense, the tights were 100% my own idea. And I 100% did it because I thought they added to the fashion of the outfit, not just because I hadn’t shaved recently.

It’s a surprise to me that I hadn’t already thought to pair these two pieces, considering how much I love the camel-black (or navy) color combination, and how much I love this suede skirt and this breezy blouse. Actually this was only the second time I wore this shirt at all (the first time, being on the plane ride over to London, actually), which is odd, because like I said, I really like it.

It’s funny how that works, isn’t it? My favorite pieces are not necessarily my most oft worn pieces. It’s like I want to save them, keep them secret until I have a really stellar outfit to show them off in. It’s almost like I’m afraid my love for them would wear off if I wore them too often; like listening to a song you like too many times until it eventually gets annoying.

Anyway.

So, random girl walking across campus whom I just happened to spot, kudos to you for thinking of this outfit before me. Because, you know, I’m positive she was the first person in the history of time to ever pair a navy blouse and a tan skirt.