Tag: travel

Saturday Musings + Coffee – On the Road Again

Published on by lensembledujour4 Comments

I like, actually don’t know a single lyric to that entire song except for what I wrote in the title – “on the road again.”

It something a tired and delirious Amanda would sing in the Atlanta airport any time we had to run from one terminal to another in an attempt to make it onto a plane from the standby list. I was too tired and delirious myself to question it – I’m not even sure it was a real song, now that I think of it, maybe she was just expressing her frustrations through song.

Welp, I’m frustrated and on the road again, so it struck me as a sensible blog title. Frustrated? I don’t know if that’s quite the right word…it’s more like, mildly annoyed. See, I’ve got another Greyhound bus to take today, and I was not so much a fan of the last one I had to take, and this time, I don’t even have home to look forward to at the end of the road.

Granted, I do have the Notre Dame game against the University of Southern California to look forward to, and that’ll be neat, but it’s much more exciting for me to get to sleep in my own bed than to get to stand for three hours in a football stadium with a bunch of *not at all intoxicated* college kids.

So you’ll have to pardon my particularly unglamorous coffee lifestyle photos today – it was a particularly unglamorous morning.

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

October 13, 2017 – Friday the 13th (OOTD #135)

Published on by lensembledujour3 Comments

**spOoKy vibes**

It’s not even a spooky outfit here – I left my glittery spider tights and my ghost socks at home – but it was a spooky day.

What made it spooky, you ask? I took a Greyhound from South Bend to Dayton, Ohio, and that was quite creepy. Not necessarily the worst experience of my life, but um…far from great.

I’m no stranger to public transport, but I’m no connoisseur either – I am, you’ll remember, from Kentucky, and we don’t exactly have any subways or trains here. Plenty of horses, but sadly, you can’t just hop onto one of those and ride off to the mall.

Thus, pretty much all of the transport you do in KY is by car, which, for me, a car-less individual who is a pretty lousy driver at any rate, is far from ideal. I do believe Lexington has a public bus system, but I’ve yet to meet anyone who’s actually used it.

The entirety of my experience riding public buses comes from the school bus, which I suffered on regularly from age 11 to age 17, a bus or two from North Jersey into NYC, and a tour bus in Beijing. A Greyhound was an entirely new experience for me – all I’d heard about them came from Billy Joel’s lyric “taking a Greyhound / on the Hudson River Line” in “New York State of Mind,” and the La La Land lyric “I left him at a Greyhound station / west of Santa Fe” from “Another Day of Sun.”

And how was the experience? Ehhhh…it might have been better if the driver weren’t the rudest person I’d met in my life (though I can’t blame him, a job as a Greyhound driver must suck), and if I’d not sat next to an extremely obese woman for the first leg of the journey (though I can’t blame her either, it’s not her fault I chose to sit next her), but all in all – it was alright. I napped. I watched Treehouse of Horror episodes. I looked at memes on Twitter. It was pretty dull and the only sketchy thing that happened was that one time that the bus driver threatened to kick this one guy off the bus for…reasons? I don’t really know actually; I was pretty engrossed in Treehouse of Horror VI.

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 sweater shrug thing: Forever21

Top: H&M

Bralette: Aerie

Jeans; Abercrombie

August 4, 2017 – I Don’t Even Like Donuts (OOTD #82)

Published on by lensembledujour6 Comments

No, really – I don't.

I've tried over and over again to like them. Every time I see a donut, I think to myself: look at that adorable little thing – it's like a cake bagel with icing. How can that go wrong? And every time I try one, I get three bites into it and then think: oh, that's right. Donuts are heavy and greasy and I don't like them. 

The only donut I've ever really enjoyed come from McMillans Bakery in Westmont, New Jersey. They've got these amazing cream-filled ones that are delicious and gooey and don't really even taste like conventional donuts  - and maybe that's why I like them. They don't even have holes in the center like donuts are supposed to, but I don't really care because they're just so good.

So why am I rambling about donuts? Well, Jane's friend, Kristen, invited the two of us to go with her to a donut shop in downtown Louisville that she had discovered during a music festival, and even though I don't like donuts, I'm always down to going out to eat in new places in unfamiliar cities. She picked us up around noon and drove us (blasting Selena Gomez all the while) to this little place called Nords Bakery, and wow, am I glad I agreed to go.

I did eat a donut while I was there – original, with a strawberry glaze – but that wasn't what I enjoyed best. It was the décor of the place – bright pinks and yellows covering the exterior, sprinkles on the door, and a big window in front of our table with beautiful afternoon lighting streaming in – that really impressed me.

Needless to say, I had a field day taking photos of my friends and myself sitting around the table.

I like Jane and Kristen. They're not weird about having photos taken of them, and better yet, they were happy to take photos of me and my outfit. It makes me wish I still lived near them or was going to the same college in the fall so we could take cute photos together all the time.

Speaking of which, here's to hoping I can find someone who's willing to take my pictures for my fashion blog once I get to Notre Dame! Fingers crossed that my roommates don't think I'm weird and super-narcisstic…?

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!

Dress: Vintage

Scarf: The Metropolitan Museum of Art's gift shop

Shirt: The LOFT

 

August 3, 2017 – Schoolhouse Rock (OOTD #81)

Published on by lensembledujour11 Comments

Guess what? There’s only one outfit in this blog post!

That doesn’t, however, mean that there are going to be any less photos for this one. Why?

Well, after a nice, long day hanging out with Jane involving walking around not one, but two separate malls and having Starbucks iced coffees at both of them like the basic (practically) white girl that I am, we decided to drop by my old elementary school, Liberty.

Some history about Liberty Elementary – it was constructed back in 1923 as a little one room schoolhouse, and was, if I’m not mistaken, the oldest school in the Oldham County school district until its 2015 closing. In fact, Jane’s grandmother even attended there, and of course, I did as well, from 2005-2010.

It was a nice little school, and I have a lot of fond memories from there, including winning a dance-off against a girl I didn’t like in first grade, accidentally breaking the finger of a boy I had a crush on while playing four square, and pretending to be a cat for like, a solid week in kindergarten.

So it was very nice when Jane agreed to hang out at the now abandoned Liberty Elementary that evening, even though she doesn’t really have the nostalgia for it that I do. It’s getting a little creepy and run down-looking, and the fact that it was getting dark by the time we got there didn’t help.

But you can’t really be afraid of the school that you went to as a kid, can you? Sure, the random hallways that still lit (emergency lights I guess?) and the giant X over the door of the playground entrance were kinda spooky, but I knew this place, and so the spookiness didn’t hit me that hard.

You could say that we weren’t exactly supposed to be there…especially given the signs that said “No trespassing” (in both English and Spanish, as Jane pointed out to me), but we caused no harm, and we didn’t even go in. There was no way to, actually, even if we’d really wanted to – the doors and windows were all locked.

How do I know that? I might’ve checked a few…or something. Not because I wanted to see inside, of course – just wanted to make sure there wasn’t any rain getting in, right?

Eventually, Jane got tired of me walking in circles and snapping photos of every other door and peering in every third window, so she went off to sit in the car. And since she was kind enough to entertain me for even that long, walking around some creepy old building that she probably didn’t care about, I soon followed.

I would definitely go back though! Maybe in daylight, for some clearer photos…and maybe with a crowbar…

I’m kidding, of course.

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!

 

August 2, 2017 – The Blog Post of 1000 Outfits (OOTD #80)

Published on by lensembledujour7 Comments

I’m going to apologize for two things here: 1) not posting a blog for a few days, and 2) returning to posting blogs with an obscenely picture-heavy post with about four separate outfits in it.

The four separate outfit thing is less directly my fault though – my dad and I went canoeing for the first part of the day, so I had the outfit I wore for that, then the bathing suit I wore underneath for when we stopped and swam in the river, then the outfit I changed into afterwards since my first outfit was wet and dirty, then the dress I changed into when my friend, Jane, and I went out to dinner.

So you see, the costume changes were all necessary to the day and totally not all due to me simply being an excessive person who likes excuses to change her outfit. What, you think I’d start a fashion blog and actually enjoy putting together outfits?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXseat9FBee/

Pshaw.

Anyway, my dad and I started out day at about 5:00 AM with a two-hour drive out to Milltown, IN in order to catch an 8:45 bus down to the Blue River for canoeing. This – canoeing on the Blue River –  is a tradition we’ve had since I was a kid, maybe third grade or so. It used to be that we’d go along with some of my friends and their dads, in sort-of a daddy-daughter thing, but over the years, people moved away, and the tradition sort of died off.

In truth, we hadn’t even done it for years ourselves. But, with me going off to college in a few weeks, we thought it would be a nice time to bring it back.

And I’m glad we did. Canoeing is a low-key kind of fun; there’s not a ton of screaming and laughing, and conversation’s quite difficult since you’re sitting one in front of another, but it’s a nice way to simply enjoy each other’s company. The part of the Blue River that we canoed (didn’t know that was a word) down was really pretty, and there were a couple of banks where we stopped to walk around the woods and wade in the river as a break from sitting.

Also, the sunglasses are back! Thank goodness. I wasn’t about to wear eye makeup while canoeing and swimming, and I also wasn’t about to be doing pictures without either eye makeup or my sunglasses.

About three and a half hours later, around 12 noon, we reached the end of our trip. From there, I took on my second costume change of the day (the first being changing from my canoeing clothes into my bathing suit while still on the river), changing one dirty, wet top for a clean, dry one.

We then stopped in Louisville in the Bardstown Rd. area (very cute and hipster, by the way – almost like a little Shoreditch) for lunch, and, though I didn’t intend to take any more pictures, I couldn’t resist when I saw this big beautiful wall with a colorful mural on it. Then, I ate a popsicle, and I thought that would make for a good shot too…you see now why this is such a picture-heavy post?

Up next, I met up with my friend, Jane, who lives in Louisville. Jane and I became friends in 6th grade, and a year later, I moved away to Lexington. Regardless, we’ve stayed friends through texting and social media (and before texting and social media were huge, emailing and IMing), and we visit each other a few times a year.

That leads to my next costume change of the day – a beautiful pale pink maxi dress Jane bought in France and gave to me since it didn’t fit her anymore. We were going out to dinner that night, and I thought, you know, why not change out of my slightly ratty canoeing/Bardstown Rd clothes and into this new dress?

Thankfully, that fourth time was also the last time I needed to change clothes for the day…unless you count the pajamas I changed into at Jane’s house. I guess that would’ve made for five? Oops.

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 1: Forever21

Shorts: Forever21

Coat: North Face

Shirt 2: Hollister

Dress: Unknown (gifted)

Saturday Musings + Coffee – Taking Photos in a Mall Starbucks

Published on by lensembledujour5 Comments

My friend, Jane, giggled at me the whole time I was taking the photos for today's blog.

I've gotten used to taking photos in public – you put on your sunglasses so you don't have to make eye contact with anyone, and then pretend no one's judging you. It was weird at first, and I used to purposefully avoid public places for my photos, but I'm immune to the embarrassment now.

So it's funny when I hang out with friends who aren't used to my constant photo taking because they usually look confused and awkward when I whip out my Canon in the middle of a restaurant and start taking pictures of my coffee. Which is funny, you know, since we teenagers have no problem taking photos with our phones to post to our Snapchat stories – but pull out a real camera, and *Heath Ledger voice* everybody loses their minds!

To relieve Jane of her embarrassment (and also to get to a spot with better lighting), I scooted over to an empty table a few feet away to snap my photos for my Saturday Musings post today.

I dunno, there's just something really cute about a nice flatlay with some sparkly things, coffee, and a plain white background, and it makes for a really lovely Instagram post to break up all the OOTD photos. It makes the uncomfortable stares in public places all worth it.

Plus, since I suffer no embarrassment anymore from public photo taking, it's funny to watch my friends cringe and look like they don't know what to do when I start arranging all of my accessories on a table and snapping pictures.

Anyway, that’s it for today! 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.

July 26, 2017 – Modeling For The Powell Spring/Summer 2017 Collection (OOTD #75)

Published on by lensembledujour4 Comments

Yes, after years of waiting for my big break, countless headshots, and strict diets, I’ve finally landed my first serious modeling gig for a professional designer.

That…that’s sarcasm if you can’t tell. Sorry, I probably could’ve kept that joke running for longer, but it was so ridiculous that I felt uncomfortable, lol. The real story is that I’ve got a friend, Terence, who just this summer has picked up sewing as a hobby. He texted me and asked if I would be willing to be the model for what he was making, so how could I refuse?

If I’m not mistaken, I think this skirt is the second complete piece Terence has made, and while I don’t really know anything about sewing or technique, I must say, it’s pretty impressive. Certainly better than anything I could’ve made! I can do buttons and maybe mend torn seams, but that’s about the extent of my ability.

It was actually originally going to be a dress, but he unfortunately, he ran out of time trying to complete it. See, he really wanted me to wear it out for a show we were going to see in Cincinnati, but by the time Wednesday rolled around, all he had done was the skirt and some of the parts of the top. The judges on Project Runway might not have been impressed with his time management skills, but regardless, he managed to “make it work” (*prays for someone to laugh at that Tim Gunn joke*) by simply sewing and pinning the skirt until it was wearable on its own.

As for the styling of the outfit, that was actually a lot to do with Terence too. I brought several tops and jackets over while he was still sewing so we could figure out what would work best, and he chose this black dragon scale top out of all of the other pieces. And to be honest? I think he made the perfect decision.

The skirt is flowy and feminine, with this exquisite if slightly flashy pattern, so it contrasts nicely with the harsh, utilitarian look of the top. I call it my dragon slayer shirt,  usually pairing it with similarly post-apocolytic-styled pieces , but it occurred to me as I was looking through my closet for something to complement the skirt that perhaps it could work as a juxtaposition piece as well. Terence evidently agreed, and we wound up with outfit consisting of a bright, tropical skirt, a dark, edgy top, and a belt with the sole purpose of hiding the pins holding the pleats together – perhaps one of the most interesting combinations I’ve ever worn.

And the whole outfit was a huge hit at our show! I got plenty of compliments on it (both the top and the skirt, sometimes together and sometimes individually), and with every comment, I was able to point to Terence and say “Actually, my friend here made it!” I think he was really pleased with the attention his work got – he’s not really the type of guy who likes the limelight, but he’s also hardly shy to some flattery.

Looks like that’s it for today, so 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: Unknown (gifted)

Skirt: Terence Powell

July 23, 2017 – I Got Your Picture, I’m Coming With You (OOTD #73)

Published on by lensembledujour3 Comments

…dear Maria, count me in…

All Time Low is one of my favorite bands, so when I got to see them in concert on Sunday, you can say I was just a little hyped. I did my hair and makeup up all nice, took a few selfies, and then I hopped in the car with my friend Amanda (the same one I did London with), and prepared myself for the 3 hour-long drive up to Columbus, Ohio.

About an hour and a half into the drive, we hit our first issue – a traffic buildup just outside of Cincinnati. Thankfully, I was using Waze, which was able to give us another route around the the traffic, but we still lost about a half an hour. And we had to drive through Covington, Kentucky, one of the sketchiest places I've had the misfortune of driving through (it's right up there with Camden, New Jersey – my dad's hometown), where I glimpsed more shirtless old men than I have ever cared to have seen.

Anyway, we finally made it to the venue, Express Live, where we were greeted by a pleasant surprise – it was a pretty small venue! That's always a good thing for concerts because it means, in a free admission seating arrangement like we had, you're more likely to be able to get up close to the stage.

On the other hand, being a smaller venue, there was no kind of overhead coverage to protect the audience from the weather. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, but of course, it rained.And rained and rained and rained. It began right after the second opening act left the stage. Amanda and I had moved down into the pit and were standing there in the drizzle kicking ourselves over not bringing in our raincoats (and we couldn't go back and get them either – no re-entry) when the rain began to pick up, as it does in storms. We spent about 15 minutes running around, trying desperately to find some place where we could take shelter – there was literally nothing like, anywhere, not even a merch tent – before we finally found a bathroom that we could hide in.

And that's where we stood for the entirety of the third opening act, smushed up against the bodies of other soaking wet and miserable girls, shuffling around every once in a while when someone needed to get to the toilet, and listening to muffled sounds of the band through the brick.

Finally, about 40 minutes later, the rain let up. But by then my hair and makeup was pretty much ruined, so much so that I even considered not bothering to do photos today. I really loved my outfit though, so I forced Amanda to get some shots as quickly as she possibly could while trying to keep as much of the camera as possible under her rain poncho.It was all a very interesting experience, not unlike the adventure we had in the Atlanta airport (which, might I add, is abbreviated ATL – the same way as All Time Low…suspicious…). As for the All Time Low itself? They were great! Definitely a band I would go to see again, no question. Getting to hear songs I love like "Missing You" and "Weightless" in person was lovely and well-worth getting soaked just an hour prior.

Looks like that's it for today, so 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!

Top: Unknown (thrifted)

Shorts: Abercrombie

 

July 21, 2017 – Let’s Do The Time Warp Again (OOTD #72)

Published on by lensembledujour3 Comments

As promised from yesterday's blog, here's the blog post for Friday the 21st, posted a day after the blog for Saturday the 22nd due to technical difficulties and writer idiocy.
More on that here.
On Friday, my dad and I went out hiking to Red River Gorge, a beautiful canyon system in Central KY. We both got the day off from work and made it into something of a father-daughter thing. Actually, we'd initially planned on doing a canoeing trip on the Kentucky River, but that had to be canceled and rescheduled as there hadn't been enough rain in the week prior for the water levels to be high enough.
Hiking's pretty cool though, so no complaints from me there. I will always prefer to hike in the fall (pretty leaves, cooler temperatures, yada yada), but I admit, it wasn't bad at all. We left the house at like, 7:30 in the morning and got to the trails by 9 or 10, so it hadn't gotten blisteringly hot yet, and it was a cloudy day, so we didn't really have to deal with the sun beating down on us. Plus, for extra protection, we opted for a trail that was down in the canyon and surrounded by trees, so it was nice and shady.
My family and I went hiking a lot when I was a kid – Cumberland Falls, Red River Gorge, Gatlinburg – if it's in the Midwest/Southeast near Kentucky, I've probably been there. I used to absolutely hate it though – the bugs, the heat, the physical exertion – it wasn't really my style. I guess it's still not quite my style, as I still hate bugs and heat, but I do have a greater appreciation for the natural environment you get to experience when you hike.
Our trail led us to something called Whittleton Arch, a nice little rock formation about a mile and a half from the road. I, of course, took immediately to climbing it and posing on top of the rocks, letting my dad get some cool photos like this:
For real though, I like hanging out with my dad, and I wish I got to do it more. He's a pretty cool dude, and I'm not just saying that because he has the patience to take a decent chunk of the photos for this stupid blog, including the ones from this trip. I'll miss him when I go off to college, and that's what made our time together hiking so nice.

Want to read more about my Red River Gorge adventure, and how it affected my fashion choices for the next day? Part 2 of the epic saga is already up here!

Looks like that's it for today, so 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!

Jacket: Adidas (thrifted)

Top: Forever21

Shorts: Target

July 13, 2017 – Goodbye London (OOTD #67)

Published on by lensembledujour12 Comments

It was our final day in London, and, not to be cliché but it was rather bittersweet.

In one sense, I’m glad to be going home, back to a country where the restrooms are free, my cords work in the outlets, and air conditioning is abundant, but of course, it’s also rather sad going back to normal reality. I’m going to have to return to work in a few days, start packing for school, coordinate dorm decorations with my new roommates – things I’ve been putting off thinking about since I’ve been here in London.

We started off our day in the same way as always – a crumpet, some coffee, and fresh fruit. Sue, our host, has been so lovely about letting us stay with her, even getting to know our breakfast preferences and having them set out for us on the table every day when we wake up. It’s because of her we’ve even been able to come on this trip – like seriously, is a broke college kid going to be able to afford a hotel in London for two weeks? No.

We brought her some chocolates when we first arrived as a hostess gift, but Amanda and I both felt like we needed to do something more. She suggested that I do a little drawing of her and her daughters, so over the last few nights, I’ve been working on doing this little doodle. It’s nothing special, but people like getting art, and I like doing it.

After the unfortunate fires that went through Camden Lock just a day before we had been planning to go (we were going to go right after we did Shoreditch, but we found out that morning that there had been some bad fires in that part of town), we didn’t think we were going to be able to get there during our time in London, but thankfully, they managed to contain the fires enough that we could still see parts of the area and market.

Camden Town was cool, but I don’t know – I might’ve liked Shoreditch and its market better. Perhaps that was partially because we didn’t get to see all of Camden Lock due to the fires, but mostly, I just liked how colorful and artistic Shoreditch was. Camden has its own quirky personality – there were some really awesome goth and alternative fashion stores that I could’ve spent hours in – and I loved the canal (I think it’s a canal?) that runs through the area, but it just didn’t quite have the same soul to it.

After spending plenty of money on street food, Amanda and I headed back over to West End for another show – this time, we got tickets for Les Mis, a personal favorite for both of us. By then, both our phones were in the single digits in terms of battery, and we were desperately trying to conserve their failing energies while still using their GPS’s to navigate the unfamiliar area. We actually might’ve spent more time walking around that area and looking in the shops, but once we found the Queen’s Theatre, we were too afraid to stray very far in fear of our phones dying and having no way to navigate ourselves back!

For real though, Les Mis was excellent. I’ve been a fan ever since I watched the DVD recording of the 25th anniversary Royal Albert Hall concert (which I still argue is one of the best casts ever – with the exception of Nick Jonas as Marius), and I know almost every song by heart, including the odd ones, like “Confrontation” and “The Thénardier Waltz of Treachery.” It was wonderful finally getting to see the show live in-person. The cast did a lovely job, and even with our terrible upper circle seats, I was drawn into the world the staging and sets created.

After the show, we walked back to the Tottenham Court station and took our final Cambridge-bound train back to Broxbourne, and from there, our final overpriced cab (7 pounds! For literally a five minute ride!) back to the house.

London’s been amazing, and [insert clichés about never forgetting the adventures I’ve had, being grateful for the opportunity to travel, yadayadayada]. I joke, but I do mean it. I’ve had a lot of fun out here, and I’m sad to be going back.

That’s it for today! 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!

(Don’t let the sun go down on me, amirite?)

Top: Pitaya

Shorts: Abercrombie

Choker: Madewell