Tag: the loft

November 14, 2017 – Cherry Blossoms (OOTD #159)

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Happy 8PM on a Sunday night, I’m presently standing in the basement of a building I didn’t know existed, typing this blog on my phone because I forgot to do it earlier, and waiting in line for food.

It’s pretty nice, actually – my residence hall has a “Friendsgiving” event, where all the residents, freshmen through seniors, come together with dishes they’ve prepared to celebrate Thanksgiving.

What’s not as nice is that, as a freshman, I get last pick of the food.

I mean, I can’t really complain, because I know I’ll eventually be a senior and get first pick, but I’m pretty hungry and lines are not the friend of a hungry Meilin. I hope there’s still plenty of food left by the time I make it up there – there’s a shrimp dish that looks particularly good, and I’d be a little more than hurt if I didn’t at least get to taste some of it.

Since coming to college, I’ve gotten really spoiled with being able to eat pretty much whenever I want to without waiting, assuming I go to the dining hall at a decent time (there are certain periods that are busy where’s you do have to wait in lines). The whole “waiting for food to cook” notion isn’t something I’ve come across for a while.

Regardless of how long into the afternoon I’ll have to wait before dinner is served, I’m still very excited for Thanksgiving! The food they’ve got for us for Howard Friendsgiving looks good, but it’s nothing compared to my mother’s cooking.

For that matter, it’s nothing compared to my or my grandmother’s cooking, as we both contribute pretty fairly to the Thanksgiving meal. My dad on the other hand…he does a nice job setting the table and turning on the grill.

November 12, 2017 – Dementor Style (OOTD #156)

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Alternative title: fashion for mourning Notre Dame’s playoff hopes and dreams.

You know how I wrote a blog yesterday about enjoying switching up my style from day to day, going from goth teenager to preppy Cher Horowitz wannabe – yeah, I went back to the goth teenager phase.

I’ve always wanted to look like an impending vaporous phantom of dark soul-sucking depression, and on Sunday, I did!

For real though, that Saturday game against Miami was an unfortunate display. I made it to the third quarter before I gave up and curled into a ball sobbing – I didn’t even do any  homework that night, just fell asleep feeling sorry I ever hoped we could win another National Championship.

Granted, I often neglect to do my homework, regardless of Notre Dame’s winning-losing history. Like right now, when I’m watching YouTube videos and writing a blog instead of writing my history paper or memorizing the work of Arius or Athanasius.

It’s a hard life, getting distracted so easily and then leaving all of your work to the last second, but I make do. It’s nearly Thanksgiving break, meaning if I can manage to wing it for another week, I can reward myself by eating copious amounts of turkey and mashed potatoes.

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!

Shawl: Unknown (thrifted)

Turtleneck: The LOFT (thrifted)

November 7, 2017 – RIP My Theology Grade (#153)

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Alright, so context: at Notre Dame, there’s this superstition that if you walk on the grass of God Quad, you’ll fail your freshman theology class.

What’s God Quad? It’s this area of grass in the middle of campus, right in front of the Golden Dome and the Basilica. It’s a bit sketchy about what the exact boundaries are, some people (but not all) posit that the rule doesn’t apply on game Saturdays, and no one really knows if the rule still applies to theology grades beyond your freshman year. Still, though the rules regarding the rule are kind of hazy, the fact still stands that there is a rule that no one – not students, not professors, not even visitors – step on the God Quad grass.

So naturally, I just had to go romping all around God Quad for this set of photos.

In my defense, I never really intended to step on the grass;  my photographer actually did it first. I felt sort of badly about what happened – so I was standing there on the sidewalk, posing stupidly as I do, and, in order to get a better shot, she stepped back onto the forbidden God Quad grass.

I believe I actually shouted a bit in shock when her foot landed upon the ground, I was that shaken that she was willing to break social convention for me. And so, I figured that if she was going to break the God Quad rule, I ought to do it with her – a sort of solidarity in rebellion, you know?

Ah yes, the rebellion of being a college kid at a prestigious Catholic university walking on the grass…put me up there with Che Guevara and George Washington. I’m headed for the history books, guys. Remember my name.

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!

Sweater: H&M

Scarf: Coach

Pants: The LOFT

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October 26, 2017 – Plaid Is Rad (OOTD #145)

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(Alternative title: plaid is bad, depending on your opinion of plaid.)

I’m sitting here writing this blog in my Astronomy lecture.

And by that I mean, of course, I’m not paying attention at all to my Astronomy lecture. My poor Astronomy professor is horribly sick, and every five words he manages to wheeze out, he’s interrupted by a 30 second coughing fit. It makes listening to him rather difficult – he sounds like he’s dying. It doesn’t help that he wears a microphone, and every time he licks his lips or exhales a rattling breath, I have to hear it like he’s right next to my ear.

It all just makes you want to fall asleep, if only to escape the horrible, pained gasping. Or maybe write a blog.

The Meilin of today (Halloween, by the way – happy Halloween!) is rather jealous of the Meilin of October 26 – the Meilin of October 26 was wearing pants, and today’s Meilin is not. And now, as a result, today’s Meilin is cold.

It, of course, doesn’t help that I’m drinking an iced coffee from Starbucks – yes, I’m one of those people. Allow me to explain myself – I like to have something with a bit of sugar in it in the afternoon to wake me up. However, I don’t enjoy things that are both hot and sweet, and thus, I’m not a fan of Starbucks’ hot, dessert drinks. I’ll go for one every once in a while  – see my blog about pumpkin spice lattes – but in general, hot drinks are best bitter, and cold drinks are best sweet.

And so, even though it’s 30 degrees out outside, I don’t mind the cold drink. Or rather, it’s not that I don’t mind it, but I need it, and so I grimace through the negative effects. Is this what addiction is?

Anyway, happy Halloween! Even though the post that depicts my ~sPoOky~ Halloween outfit isn’t going to come for another few days, because that’s what happens when you have your blogs on a several day delay. I hope you have fun doing whatever festive things you’re doing tonight, or, if you’re like me and you did your festive stuff over the weekend and now that it’s Tuesday you have too much homework to do to bother doing any more festive stuff, I hope you have fun being non-festive!

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!

Jacket: Vintage (thrifted)

Turtleneck: The LOFT (thrifted)

October 25, 2017 – Short Sleeve Sweater Weather (OOTD #144 )

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Short sleeve sweater – isn’t that kind of counterintuitive?

See, I’m wearing one here, and I don’t really know why. My body was warm, and my arms were freezing. A short sleeve sweater would be too warm to wear in the summer, when you typically wear short sleeve shirts, and yet too cold to wear in the winter, when you typically wear sweaters. How does this design even make sense?

One of the cool things about fashion is that it’s fairly close to pure design. Unlike, say, cars, where the designers have to work with the engineers to make their ideas practical for use, fashion designers have fewer restraints to work within. Sure, in the mall, the designs sold are more likely to conform to trends in order to sell, but head to a local boutique, and you’ll get something more unique, like a short sleeved sweater. It’s not practical, it’s not trendy, but it’s some designer’s vision, and that’s what makes it special.

Special, or maybe just difficult to wear. Welp, at any rate, I own it now, and, as with all of my clothes, I see it as my duty to wear it.

Thankfully, it went nicely with a new pair of trousers I got over fall break. Less thankfully, the trousers were made form a fairly thin material, so my legs were cold, my chest was warm, and arms were cold. It’s alright though – I looked fashionable, despite freezing half of the surface area of my body off.

Who needs arms and legs anyway? If Chuck Close manages, then so can I.

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!

Sweater: The LOFT (which is admittedly not a local boutique – but my point still stands)

Trousers: Forever21

October 14, 2017 – Looking Like a USC Fan (OOTD #136)

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Obviously, I’m not.

Why do I make that sound like it’s obvious? Well, because Notre Dame is playing USC (as in Southern California, not South Carolina – as my father just recently informed me) tomorrow, and despite how little my pea brain knows about football, I do rather hope that ND succeeds.

You can bet that tomorrow I’ll be wearing blue and gold (and maybe some green?) rather than maroon and yellow.

In fact, I’m so passionate about Notre Dame’s success in this game that I’m going to be headed back to school on another Greyhound bus for another five hours of fun so that I can make it to the game. I’ll miss out on the tailgating and the pregame photos, but I don’t mind – I have yet to have a tailgating experience that’s I’d call “fun.” I guess I haven’t had enough alcohol yet.

I am definitely excited for the game though. I hope I make it on time – my bus gets into South Bend at 6:15, and the game starts at 7:30. It’ll be an interesting hour and fifteen minutes, trying to get from the South Bend airport to my dorm room to drop off my bags to the stadium to find my friends, but the alternative was to have arrived a day earlier, and I was not about to sleep in my crappy dorm room bunk bed for any extra days than I had to.

Sleeping in my bed has been the greatest part about being home. Eating a crap ton of junk food and my mother’s cooking and not exercising at all has been lovely too. Having my parents to drive me around places (since I’m not allowed to have a car on campus) was also great – it meant I could go to craft fairs like this one I’m so cheerily posing in front of in these photos.

I’m going to miss home. Thankfully, this time, it’s only four weeks of school before I get to be home again for Thanksgiving. I can already taste the turkey.

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!

Sweater: Forever21

Pants: the LOFT

October 4, 2017 – Another Generic Autumn Outfit (OOTD #128)

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And other generic blog title…

Look, I’m going to keep this not-waxing-poetic-about-fall trend going for this blog too, because the world does not need another white girl (well…white enough) yapping about how much she loves fall, but lemme just say – it’s going to be hard.

I put this outfit together with the intent that it embody fall. I mean, just look at that color scheme in the sweater – does that say “spring” to you?

See, this is what I get for wearing two too similar outfits one right after the other – I get stuck with repetitive blog topics. Note to self: keep things more varied in the future.

Well, if I’m going to hold myself off from talking about how much I love fall, how my outfit is so clearly the physical manifestation of my love of fall, or even how much I’m looking forward to fall break so that I can do dumb American fall stuff like carve pumpkins and get high off of the fumes the Bath and Body Works fall candle collection, allow me to give the story behind today’s set of photos:

So my Wednesday photographer is usually my friend, Odalis. Why Odalis over other people? I don’t know, She’s willing and doesn’t seem judgmental, and we’ve established a routine at this point.

After lunch, Odalis heads to class, so I follow her until I pass a building or location that looks good for posing in front of. It’s a super scientific process.

The building du jour (l’immeuble du jour?) here is Alumni Hall, one of the residence halls here at Notre Dame. It’s really quite a pretty building,  the only problem is – it’s a residence hall. People live there.

Meaning, people are likely to come walking out the door while you’re standing there posing for your fashion blog. And if you’re not paying attention, some guy might come walking out as you’re leaning against the door, pushing you over and ending your photo shoot session prematurely.

He said sorry, at the very least.

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: Forever21

Skirt: Abercrombie

Scarf: The LOFT

Hat: Forever21

September 27, 2017 – Waiting On My Growth Spurt (OOTD #122)

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It is no secret – I am very short.

I’m not going to bother telling you my actual height, but suffice to say – it’s not a very big number. I’m still waiting on my miracle growth spurt to push me up into the six foot range, but something tells me I shouldn’t hold my breath.

Actually, as a kid, I never thought I was going to be short my whole life. My parents were both pretty tall, so I figured I’d grow up and eventually be of equal height to them. The problem with that logic, though? They’re white, and I’m Asian: I was adopted. And unfortunately, when you’re adopted, you don’t get any share of your parents’ genes, including their genes for height.

So alas, whomever my Asian parents were, they did not offer me any genes for height. Even with heels, I’m just barely pushing “average petite” height – without heels, I’m on the more extreme end of the short spectrum.

RIP my burgeoning career as a runway model.

Where am I going with this? I’m really not sure. Maybe I was thinking I looked I little short (ba-dum tshhhhh…) in the photos for today’s post, likely due to the way the billowy blouse is too long next to my pants, making my legs look shorter.

Eh, whatever. The colors look lovely next to each other – bright and vibrant and classy  – so I can deal with some awkward proportions. Besides, that’s what sitting poses are for! No one can tell if you’re short or not.

In other news, fall break is in a little more than two weeks, and I’m slowly becoming excited to go home. Notre Dame is wonderful, especially now that the leaves are beginning to turn, but it’ll be nice to sleep in my own bed. I want to do nothing/be a social recluse at home rather than doing nothing/being a social recluse at school.

I didn’t think there was any conceivable way I could possibly miss Kentucky, but yet…here I am, missing Kentucky. I even, in a strange way, miss the Southern accent. It used to annoy me, but I’ve gone without hearing one for so long, that it’s like I’m developing an affinity for it.

Also, if I hear one more Midwesterner call soda “pop,” I’m going to lose it.

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!

Shirt: Altar’d State

Pants: The LOFT

September 21, 2017 – The Catharsis of Complaining (OOTD #117)

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Check out those greasy bangs.

It happens. Sometimes you’re rushing out the door to make it to your 9:25 Theo class and all you have time to do is throw your hair into a messy post-run ponytail. Your dry shampoo is located a whole 20 ft away in the other room, and while you could take the extra minute to grab it and spray some on your greasy roots, you might then only make it to Theo by 9:24, and sometimes your professor decides to start class early. 9:23 is much safer.

Walking in at 9:24 is by no definition evil – in fact, you’re still definitely on time – but, in the case that your professor does start lecturing early, you’ll have to walk past him to get to your seat, and by then, everyone’s eyes are focused on the from of the room. Even if they don’t notice your greasy hair, they’ll notice the disheveled state of your ponytail, and perhaps even the fact that you haven’t quite stopped sweating from your run.

Without any better ideas, you put on a headband, in hopes that it will somehow conceal how dirty your hair is. Unfortunately, the headband is too thin to make much of a difference, and it’s not even very visible because it’s the same goldish-silver color as your hair.

It also doesn’t help that you’re wearing wedges that slow your walking speed by about 25%. They look really cute with the buttons of your sweater, sure, but they’re definitely not going to help you get to class any faster…which is a problem when you’re running late as is.

My point? I like complaining – it’s cathartic. Also, maintaining a daily fashion blog means I have to take pictures of myself even when I don’t look my best, such as when I have greasy bangs. Rather than try to pretend they’re not there, though, I like to point them out – especially when I have no better ideas for how to start a blog. Complaining’s a good way to get the ball rolling fast enough to blast through the writer’s block.

Oh, and I guess I could also say that recognizing one’s own flaws is particularly relevant in today’s society, where technology allows us to remove our flaws with photo editing programs and thus present to the world a more perfect image of ourselves than what exists. But I’m a college student, and I already have enough essays where I have to say clichés like “in today’s society,” so this point’s just going to be stuck here at the end as an afterthought, okay? Don’t want to sound too preachy.

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!

Sweater: The LOFT

Shirt: Vintage (thrifted)

Jeans: Abercrombie

September 5, 2017 – Now Accepting Donations For A Tripod (OOTD #104)

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I’m totally kidding about that title, by the way – unless my parents are reading this. I will gladly take money from you guys 🙂

But for real, I guess it’s time for me to finally shell out the money (and by “shell out the money,” I mean “pay the whole $20 for something cheap from Amazon because no way am I spending the money for an actually nice $100+ item”) for a tripod.

On Tuesday evening, I found myself coming home late again. But unlike last time when something similar happened, when I was able to ask a friend who was also coming home late to help me out, this time, it was so late that I didn’t feel like I could ask anyone to do my pictures for me. Regardless, it was already plenty dark out anyway, so the photos wouldn’t have even been that great.

What to do?

I could have just skipped out on doing photos for that day at all. And I almost did – I figured could always just wear the same outfit again some other day, pretend it was the first time I’d worn those green pants with that top, and then actually have decent photos to share. The issue with that, though, is that it kind-of takes away from the whole purpose of this blog for me, which is to document each unique outfit I wear.

With that philosophy in mind, I decided it was better to have terrible photos taken using my camera sitting on top of some books in the 2nd floor study lounge. Fabulous, right?

I did my best to edit the lighting so the color wasn’t so distorted, but there’s only so much you can do with fluorescents in a 100 year-old building. That’s why I was thinking a tripod might be a good idea – at least then, I could do some outdoor photos using my camera’s timer. Anything but indoor lighting.

It’s too bad, because this shirt is really quite exquisite and deserves better treatment than these orange-toned photos. I got it for only 10 pounds in a little boutique in Waltham Abbey in London because it’s missing a button in the back, but I absolutely love it regardless. The green pants really accent the rainbow pompoms nicely without upstaging them.

Ah well, I guess that’s just how the ball bounces. The rainbow pom-pom shirt will get a chance to shine in some nice photos in another nice outfit one of these days.

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!

Shirt: Some little boutique in Waltham Abbey

Pants: The LOFT

Terrible orange lighting: Howard Hall