thrift – Page 20 – L'ensemble du jour

May 11, 2018 – Love Thee, Notre Dame (OOTD #281)

Published on May 28, 2018May 28, 2018 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

That’s it! I’m done with this year of school!

It was overall, a good year. I made friends, I got decent grades, I wasn’t consumed by some kind of illness, and that’s honestly all I could ask for. I hesitate to call it “the best year of my life,” or anything ridiculously positive like that, but I think I could definitely say freshman year of college was way better than any year of high school.

I wasn’t sure if I was really going to like it at Notre Dame — whether the classes would be too difficult, whether I’d be able to find my way around, whether I’d end up failing out and coming home after my first semester — but I did like it. I didn’t like all of it — I didn’t like all of my professors, and I didn’t like having to be vegetarian on Fridays during Lent — but on the whole, everything was mostly good.

On Friday, my last day, pretty much all I had to do was hand in my final Philosophy paper and pack up and get out. I did have a few loose ends to tie up though as well.

I baked some vegan cookies and gave them out to all of my friends who’d done pictures for me at some time during the year as a means of thanking them for always being willing to help me out. I went to Starbucks and spent the last of my Flex Dollars on some mugs. I went to the bookstore and returned my rental textbooks. Basically, anything I should have done a week previously but didn’t because I was stressing out about my finals, I did on the last day.

Packing was no fun, but at least I had my parents to come help. I got a portion of it finished up on Thursday night, but I still had the majority to finish up on Saturday. The car was very full when we were done, but we did manage to get everything secured in there — including my plants! They all came home with me, and are doing just fine.

Oh! And I did my photos in the hall of the Main Building. That’s not a place I ever really am during a normal day, so it’s never a place I have the opportunity to do pictures. Since my parents were there, I was able to ask them to come in for the special location, since they wanted to see around campus anyway and I knew I wasn’t inconveniencing them.

But that’s it for Notre Dame posts until August! It was a good year, and I’m very glad I was still able to keep up my blog even with school. I hope you enjoyed reading about my life as much as I enjoyed writing about it. I’m glad to get a break, though. Having a chill(ish) summer at home will be good for me.

That’s about it for today. 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, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Shirt: thrifted

Jeans: Hot Topic (thrifted)

May 8, 2018 – Not Oscar de la Renta, Sadly (OOTD #280)

Published on May 25, 2018 by lensembledujour2 Comments

Get it? Because Oscar de la Renta is an expensive designer and my shirt says “Oscar?”

In my last post about this shirt about a year ago, I talked about its origins and the reasons why I owned a work shirt that labeled me as Oscar of S.B Cox Demolition and Construction Services, even though I don’t know anyone named Oscar and I am (obviously) not Oscar myself. If you’d like to read more about that, definitely go check that out.

These photos were, believe it or not, taken at 3:50AM in the morning. I think I look quite decent for so early, though.

The story here is that I was working on a paper late at night in the library after having had a late start that morning (or rather…a late start in the afternoon. Pretty sure I didn’t start doing anything productive until like 3PM ). As often happens with me, I fell asleep while working, and only woke up from my uncomfortable slumber at a 9th floor library desk at 3:00AM.

I’ve done this a few times before, and it’s really not my favorite. I have nothing against working late at the library, but sleeping at the desks is awful. It’s definitely not something I ever do intentionally.

Normally, I would have taken waking up with a back ache on the ninth floor of the library in the middle of the night as a cue to head home, but I still looked cute from the day, so I decided to stop by the art building and do some pictures really quickly first.

I was pretty tired at the point, so I didn’t hang around any longer like I usually do. It was cold, I was sleepy, and I had an exam the next morning (don’t worry — it was an easy one, so staying up late didn’t hurt me much). Hooray for good study habits!

Shirt and skirt: thrifted

May 7, 2018 – On The First Day of Finals (OOTD #280)

Published on May 24, 2018November 18, 2019 by lensembledujour5 Comments

My university gave to me…a week full of anxiety!

I hope I haven’t used that as an opening/blog title before. I know I definitely used it as a caption last year around Christmastime at winter finals, but I don’t think I’ve used it in a real blog. Apologies if I have.

Anyway, these shots are from the first day of finals week for spring semester, and I must say — this set was definitely worse than last. Last semester, I had a nice balance of papers and exams, and the only major term paper I had was due before finals even began, so I had plenty of time to prepare and even relax a little before dipping for the semester.

Not so much this time — I had plenty of stuff due before finals week, and then even more due during finals week. It was no fun.

I may look sunny and cheery here, but I definitely was not on that Monday. I had nothing due that day, and no exams to sit for, but an obscene amount of work to do. I spent all day in the basement of the student center, which is about as soul sucking as any location at ND is.

Add on the fact that everyone there was also preparing for finals, and it was even more soul sucking than usual.

I ended up hanging out in the basement for 9 hours. I am never doing that again. I was with a friend, so I kind of felt pressured to sit there in that booth for hour after hour, but like I said, it was awful. I like to move around a lot while I work and take breaks to stretch my legs, but I pretty much just sat there the whole time. I got some good work done, but it honestly wasn’t worth the headache.

#neveragain

jacket: Ralph Lauren

Top: H&M

Shorts: H&M

April 28, 2018 – Chi-Town Chinatown (OOTD #275)

Published on May 6, 2018May 6, 2018 by lensembledujour2 Comments

Guys look! I finally made it into Chicago!

I can’t believe I’ve been at Notre Dame all year, basically an hour and a half away from the third largest city in the US, and it’s taken me eight months to finally go.

There’s a train station about fifteen minutes away from campus that could get me into the city easily, but getting off of campus is a huge hassle without a car. Heck, it would probably even be a hassle with a car. The Notre Dame bubble has not diminished at all since I’ve been here.

I actually had an opportunity to go to Chicago way back in December with a friend of mine who was going to see the Nutcracker with her Russian literature class. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I didn’t feel like I could take the time out of my day to go at the time (which I know now is a dumb excuse — there’s always time to go do fun things and ignore your responsibilities), so I missed out.

This time, though, when I heard that the Taiwanese Student Association was planning a Chinatown trip, I made sure I had room in my schedule to go. I lost a little extra sleep that weekend doing homework at late hours, but it was totally worth it.

What surprised me most about the Chicago Chinatown was how different it was from the New York version — while New York’s Chinatown is pretty much a gimmicky tourist destination, Chicago’s is a real diaspora neighborhood. The stores sold real Chinese food and products and not just the knockoff Rolexes you see in New York. It felt so much more welcoming and so much less sinister.

It was also fun because I got to interact with some people I never had before. None of my friends were able to go, so I ended up hanging out with some juniors and seniors, who were pretty cool and didn’t at all seem to mind that I was just a freshman. They were some of the first upperclassmen I’ve been able to interact with beyond surface level all year, so that was neat.

My favorite part of the whole trip was probably getting to purchase this money plant tree. As you probably know by now, I love plants, so getting new ones is fun. She actually sadly toppled over just today after a strong gust of wind from an open window pushed her off the window sill, causing several of her branches to break. I used a chopstick as a makeshift splint, so hopefully the branches will scar over and heal.

Oh well. For now, enjoy these photos of me and my pre-topple plant.

Since we all had work to do back home, we decided to make the hour and a half long drive back in time for dinner. I’d actually stayed up pretty late the night before, so I ended up napping almost all of the way back, which was great. By six when we arrived on campus, I was refreshed and ready to pull an all-nighter making up for all the work I had neglected due to being gone all day.

All night I worked though, I didn’t regret my decision to go. It was some of the best fun I’ve had all year, definitely worth the lost sleep and sanity.

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

Jacket: thrifted

Turtleneck: thrifted

Leggings: The LOFT (

April 27, 2018 – Equestrian Kentuckian (OOTD #273)

Published on May 2, 2018 by lensembledujour3 Comments

For a person who hasn’t seen a horse in months and who won’t even be in Kentucky in time for the Derby, I sure look like I’m going to go out and work with horses in this outfit.

Horses were always something I took for granted for years — they’re all over Kentucky, probably one of the most common sights in the entire state. Here, at Notre Dame, though the most common sights are white boys in Vineyard Vines in the business school building and giant squirrels. There are no horses here, since the Four Horsemen don’t count.

Not seeing horses everywhere was pretty easy to get used to though, considering I’ve never really been a horse person and can only kind-of sort-of ride. I can do trail rides, but so can pretty much anyone with a little training.

I’m a sad excuse for a Kentuckian.

I do like to pretend I’m an equestrian-minded Kentuckian girl, at least, through my fashion choices. Have these riding boots ever once been used for riding? Nope. But they look like they might, and that’s what counts for me.

Meanwhile, I still haven’t found my missing black shoes , which is absolutely baffling to me, since there’s really no where they should be other than my dorm room. And yet I’ve searched around my dorm room repeatedly to no avail — it seems like, unless they pop up sometime in the next few days, I shall be going home without them. Sad lad. That would mean that I’ve gone through two pairs of black booties during my year here at school, which, while kind of understandable given the fact that they’re my go-to shoes for everyday wear, is still kind of dumb.

Speaking of dumb — that’s what I am for not doing any work so far today, and for spending hours looking at plant blogs instead of anything productive. Guess I should start on my history paper now that it’s 11pm and I need to be up at 6 tomorrow.

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: Evan Picone (thrifted)

Turtleneck: Free People

Jeans: Hollister (a new, better-fitting pair of white jeans than my old Abercrombie ones!)

April 19, 2018 – Happy One Year! (OOTD #268)

Published on April 24, 2018 by lensembledujour8 Comments

Can you believe it’s been one whole year since I started this blog?

I certainly can’t. I’ve come a long way since my very first post here. When I began LEDJ, I meant it as a hobby I would play around with every once in a while. I didn’t really mean to commit to it every day (not that I’m always perfect at the everyday posting schedule — I do try though), and at best, I figured I’d do it for a few months over the summer and give up once I made it to college and had more important things to worry about.

Surprisingly though, I’ve managed to keep it up! Like I said, I’ve gone several days — even a week or two — without posting, but otherwise, I usually manage to put something out there every day.

How do I stay motivated? Part of it is simply that I enjoy this — forget the fact that I get free stuff from sponsorships (rarely — but it’s nonetheless super exciting!), forget the kind and lovely comments I get on my Instagram posts and blogs — and still, I just like to write. I always have, and it’s nice to have an avenue for more casual writing since most of the stuff I do for school is very formal and academic.

Blogging is also a really great way for me to keep a record of my outfits and how I felt when I wore them — in a way, it’s basically like journaling. In fact, it’s kind of strange because it’s almost like having my diary out there on the Internet for anyone to read — including people who actually know me. It’s always a little weird to have my parents mention something I wrote about in a blog but that I didn’t tell them otherwise.

It would be wrong for me to talk about this blog without also mentioning my gratitude for anyone who’s ever give me a view, a like, a comment, a retweet, or a follow. You guys are part of what makes this blog worth it, which keeps me motivated even after I’ve had a long hard day of schoolwork.

One of these days when I’m not a poor college student, assuming I’m still going at this, I’ll do one of those nice giveaways that I see other bloggers do for anniversaries. I wish I had the resources to participate in those sorts of things, but I don’t right now.

I would however be happy to offer shout outs to anyone who leaves a comment here on an upcoming blog! I know it’s not much, and I’m not a huge blogger, but maybe it can help direct a little traffic to your corner of the Internet.

Again, happy first birthday for LEDJ, and here’s to many more to come!

Jacket: Lilly Pulitzer (you might notice it’s the same one featured in the April 19 blog of last year, the very first post I dd for this blog!)

Shirt: J Crew (thrifted)

Jeans: Hollister

April 13, 2018 – 80s Figure Skater Aesthetic (OOTD #266)

Published on April 21, 2018April 21, 2018 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

I’m pretty sure I’m only getting this vibe because I just saw I, Tonya and I think she wore an outfit like this in the movie.

You see what I’m seeing though, with the vibrant striped sweater and the swingy skirt? Total 80s figure skater vibe. The sweater’s even vintage and everything!

You’ll have to excuse my lack of a Saturday Musings post today; I didn’t get a chance to take any flatlay photos before Saturday. In its place, you get a regular OOTD post — hopefully, I’ll get a Saturday Musings post in tomorrow instead. It’ll be Sunday instead of a Saturday, but you know — it happens.

After this weekend, I’ll only have a week and a half left of classes before finals week and then the end of my freshman year. Can you believe it? I definitely can’t.

I’m kind of sad because I’m afraid I’ll almost completely miss out on spring weather — it’s only just this week really begun to feel spring-like here in South Bend, and I know that by the time I’m back in Lexington, it’ll feel like summer. Ho hum. I guess that’s what I get for getting such a lovely, long autumn earlier this school year.

I am excited though to go home and get to use some new backgrounds that aren’t just Notre Dame buildings. I think I did a decent job of diversifying things with stairwells and empty classrooms in recent months, though — it’s not all doors anymore!

I’m also excited to have my parents come visit campus, because then I’ll have free reign to have them take my picture in front of any building I want without feeling badly about asking someone to go out of their way and take pictures of me! Not that my parents wouldn’t necessarily still be going out of their way for photos — but I don’t feel badly asking them because they’re my parents. Maybe we’ll get some shots inside of main building — or even the basilica.

Stay tuned.

Sweater: vintage (thrifted)

Skirt: thrift

April 12, 2018 – The Blues (OOTD #265)

Published on April 20, 2018April 20, 2018 by lensembledujour4 Comments

I think the recent trend of a short sleeveless shift dress layered over top of a long sleeved shirt is one of my favorites.

Maybe it’s just because I’m a sucker for layering, and I love any kind of trend that allows me to put multiple pieces together in a stylish way. It allows me to feel trendy while still maintaining my love for piling as many clothes on my body at once.

I think my least favorite trends are the ones that require a single niche article of clothing that doesn’t really lend itself to creative outfits. I’m thinking like, some of the voluminous off the shoulder blouses that were all over the mall boutiques last summer — they were super cute, but they didn’t lend themselves to layering at all, and for that reason, I didn’t really buy up a bunch.

The job search is a little over a month old now, and unfortunately, I still haven’t come across anything that works for me. I actually was offered one that I really wanted to take, that paid well and that would allow me to take off for two weeks to go to Nepal, but I wasn’t going to be able to perform the job duties properly…so alas, I am still unemployed.

I’ve applied for some that really interest me, but getting one of those employers to actually contact me and then interview and then hire me is such a struggle. I wish I had majored in something more job-friendly, like business or engineering. Sigh. I’m going to have to do this every summer for four more years.

Hey, maybe this blog will have taken off by then and I’ll be paying off my student loans comfortably with just sponsored posts. Seems feasible, right?

Dress: Vintage (thrifted)

Shirt: Hollis

April 11, 2018 – Amethyst Ardor (OOTD #264)

Published on April 19, 2018 by lensembledujour3 Comments

Oh boy, is my current Instagram color scheme going to love this.

I’ve mentioned several times recently that I’ve been trying to create more color scheme-centric outfits in order to fit in with my attempt to make my Instagram feed more cohesive. This means that I’ve been putting more thought into making my outfits and backgrounds coordinate, which means they have both been more on the monochromatic side.

This then, is the perfect Instagram-friendly purple composition.

My mother would be so proud of me — purple is her favorite color. I think my purple hair color has been one of her favorites of the last two years of hair color changes.

Purple theme aside, I’m a fan of this outfit just on its structure. It’s very feminine, in a 40’s librarian kind of a way. And if there’s anything I like in terms of fashion aesthetics, it’s quirky vintage-inspired and narrative-friendly vibe.

Sometimes I fear my outfits lean a little too much on the narrative side, sometimes heading in the direction of costume, but it’s that line that I toe that makes fashion interesting to me. How do you create dramatic and eclectic styles without going gimmicky? How do you remain artistic while still following the trends?

In general, I’ve found that the best way to keep from going too far is to keep the accessories and styling contemporary and conservative, while going more quirky on the clothes themselves. In that way, I keep a pretty decent balance of the bold and the conservative.

My purple hair, however, is anything but conservative, which sometimes makes it hard for me to look like anything but an adventurous hipster. I have nothing against being an adventurous hipster, but it’s not always the best look for say, a job interview, you know? In general, though, it seems people are starting to fear unconventional hair dye a little less now. You wouldn’t necessarily be able to tell that on Notre Dame’s campus, where I’m actually one of the only people to have an unnatural hair color, but the whole of the US seems to be heading that way.

On a side note, today (the day of posting, April 19 — not the outfit featured here, April 11) is the one year anniversary of L’ensemble du jour! I’m going to be doing a more involved special edition post for the April 19 OOTD blog commemorating the anniversary, but for now, let me just say thank you to anyone who’s bothered to stick around reading this blog for an entire year! And also to thank anyone who just started reading or has been reading any amount of time at all really — it means a lot, as a relatively small presence in the ocean of the Internet, that anyone would stop by and pay attention to me.

Sweater: The LOFT

Turtleneck: Forever21

Skirt: Vintage

April 10, 2018 – Little Red Riding Hood (OOTD #263)

Published on April 18, 2018 by lensembledujour6 Comments

Plot twist: this cape has no hood.

Anyone else getting intense Catholic cardinal vibes from this outfit?

Just give me a little red hat, and I could fit right in at the Vatican. Well, except for being a woman of course. Okay, maybe not the Vatican, so how about the Volturi? I think immortality and vampirism might look good on me.

(Side note — man, I love an outdated Twilight reference. Do the kids these days even remember the Edward vs Jacob controversy? 2011 was a terrifying time to be alive)

Anyway, by a series of fortunate circumstances, I only had one class last Tuesday.

Two classes ,for completely independent reasons, were canceled, which meant I had most of the day, save for a short one-credit 9:30 class that ended up being cut a half an hour short anyway, free.

Or at least, it should’ve been free. I ended up actually being very busy, with two interviews and two meetings keeping me from relaxing. Honestly, I think I was just as busy as if I had had class.

I only have two weeks left of class though (as of writing this on April 18), so I’m looking forward to the end of everything and finally getting to go home. On the other hand, I’m not looking forward to going home and being jobless — that’s not going to be any fun.

Maybe I really should look into becoming a cardinal. Being a leader of the Catholic church surely has to pay something, right? I’m sure once I flash my Notre Dame student ID they’ll let me bypass being a normal priest and a bishop and an archbishop and then just promote me straight to cardinal — I mean, I already have the red cape, so what else is there to do?