Tag: winter

November 27, 2018 – Pacing (OOTD #414)

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I wore this sweater in a post from just a few days ago.

I normally try to avoid repeating pieces so soon like this — not that I think many people would notice, unless I said something, but it’s just not as fun to wear the same things over and over. Plus, I like to actually wear the clothes I buy. It’s wasteful just to let things sit in the closet.

In fairness, the actual amount of time between wears for this sweater was longer than this blog makes it seem. In truth, it was ten days in between wears — and Thanksgiving beak was a part of that time —  though it was only four blogs.

If you’ll notice, I’m also getting caught up on blogs again. That’s both a good thing and a bad thing — good in that now my blogs should line up a little more with the actual calendar dates, but bad in that that puts more pressure on me to get content for my blogs  more often.

It’s a little frustrating, because I get more views on LEDJ when I publish new content every day. But publishing new content every day is hard — I don’t wear cute clothes every day, and even if I do, I don’t always have an easy way to photograph them. Publishing blogs every day while also taking photos every day leads to blogs of lower quality — something I’ve definitely been guilty of before —  and I don’t want to do that again if I can help it.

I guess that’s a reality that every Internet content creator deals with — of course you’ll get more views when you’re churning out new content. But since I’m still such a small Internet presence that I don’t really get much readership at all if I’m not posting, so I try to post every day.

I think that’s just something I’ll have to learn to deal with though. As I’ve learned, forcing myself to post and photograph my outfits literally every day is bad not just for the quality fo content I put on this blog, but also for my enjoyment of the writing process. This is still just a hobby after all.

Any other bloggers out there with how to pace oneself with how often to upload content? I’ve been doing the daily blog thing for so long, it would feel unnatural to stray from that — but I think maybe it’s getting to be time to find a regular upload schedule that’s not quite so chaque jour, as it were. I want to still post often, but avoid the burnout of a daily schedule. Thoughts?

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 home. 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!

Matching bra and underwear set: TomboyX

Sweater: Forever21

Jeans: Abercrombie

November 23, 2018 – Beginning To Look A Lot Like… (OOTD #413)

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…Christmas! This blog will start like fall and end like Christmas.

The day after Christmas — Black Friday — is officially the day I start listening to Christmas music. It’s been a tradition of mine since back in middle school, when Black Friday actually meant something, and my dad and I would go out shopping late at night/early in the morning. Once the clock struck midnight, I’d get out my iPod (or iPhone, depending on what year it was) and start listening to Christmas music.

Anyway, Black Friday doesn’t really mean much anymore, since it seems the sales aren’t even that great anymore, and — the worse offense — stores don’t even hold weird late night hours. That was the fun of the whole experience! It was so cool getting to wake up at 2AM to go shopping at 3, and then get breakfast on the way home when it was all over.

That era of Black Friday shopping seems to be over, sadly. I still like to go out, but usually just in the afternoon. I still like seeing the crowds. For as much of an introvert as I am, I like navigating crowds, assuming I don’t have to wait in long lines.

This set of photos was taken by my father while we were at the mall, and they’ll likely be the last set of fall-themed pics I post this year on this blog. From this point on, I’ll be making an effort to do Christmas- and winter-themed outfits.

Like these Christmas- and winter-themed pics here! Yep, these are all from the same day, just later at night. Some friends and I went out driving to check out the neighborhood’s Christmas decorations, and this house always goes all out. They went so all out that some photography seemed to be in order.

Shout out to my buddy Zach for getting these. He did a pretty good job, admittedly. Art students, am I right?

Jacket: Forever21

Sweater/skirt set: Vintage (Thrifted — Street Scene Vintage)

Shoes: Doc Marten

November 22, 2018 – Christmas on Thanksgiving (OOTD #412)

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I like holidays where I get to dress up.

I almost always have — I remember distinctly the excitement when I was a kid of getting to pick out the dress I would wear for the  Christmas or Easter at church. I’d also often change all of the clothes on my dolls to be similarly festive.

No offense to the holidays that don’t involve getting dressed up — like 4th of July or Labor Day — but a holiday to me is only as fun as the outfits I get to wear.

Christmas takes the cake thanks to Christmas sweaters and red-and-green motifs, but I think Halloween might be a close second. I don’t typically do weeks-worth of holiday-themed outfits for Halloween like I do for Christmas (though I will make an effort to go for fall-themed outfits, at least in October)

Thanksgiving, the day these photos were taken, can also be fun. Since Thanksgiving involves a big meal with family, I like to get dressed up, even if we don’t go out anywhere and do anything that exciting. Thanksgiving is always fun too, because it marks the division in my mind between fall and winter — between pre-Christmas and Christmas.

In fact, I even make Thanksgiving my marker for when I’ll allow myself to start listening to my Christmas playlists on Apple Music. Midnight on Black Friday, I bust them out and start jamming to my personal favorites, like Fall Out Boy’s “Yule Shoot Your Eye Out.” 

Thanksgiving also makes a great opportunity to mix pieces that could lean Christmas-y or fall-ish. This outfit would look at home on a Christmas tree farm or an apple orchard, no?

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 home. 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!

Top: ASOS

Skirt: J. Crew

November 15, 2018 – Neckwear (OOTD #409)

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Hey look. I have a scarf on. Am I French yet?

My first exposure to the world of scarves for fashion and not just warmth was Hannah Montana. I remember she used to wear these sequin-covered, long, skinny scarves that she’d wrap around her neck or tie like a necktie. Honestly, they looked more like long stingy pieces of yarn tied around her neck than an actual scarf.

But I thought they were the coolest things ever — I even bought a green sequin-covered one to match the one she wore on the cover of her debut album.

Hannah Montana was quite possibly my first fashion icon, not including my mother, whose taste I’ve always admired. My mother, however, never dressed quite as sparkly as Hannah Montana did — and I wound up being quite a fan of sparkles, though not quite so much now as I was when I was in third grade.

(Actually, as I write this, I am wearing a Christmas sweater with rhinestones on it, so clearly, the sparkles interest has not died down.)

My usernames for a lot of accounts when I was younger actually used to be sparkles-related: for example, pinkglitter or crystalchic. Who knows, maybe you happened upon me in a Webkinz or Howrse chatroom back in 2008. I was there quite a lot.

But for real, I’d be open to an early-2000s fashion resurgence. I always liked the flared jeans and Abercrombie cardigans. I probably even still have some of the ones I had in middle school, and they probably still fit. They’re authentic vintage at this point.

I think I may even still have my old sparkly green Hannah Montana scarf somewhere. Maybe I’ll put together a Hannah Montana-inspired outfit one day for this blog — everything comes back in style eventually. Maybe it’s 2006’s time.

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!

Sweater: Forever21

Pants: Thrifted (Salvation Army)

Scarf: My Uncle Tim, who gave it to my grandmother for Christmas, who then gave it to me

March 8, 2018 – Purple Paucity (OOTD #241)

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Recently, I’ve been trying to incorporate more purple into my wardrobe.

I’ve been trying to be more purposeful with my Instagram post order, making it a little less haphazard and more visually appealing for someone scrolling through my feed. In order to achieve this effect, I’ve been posting photos in blocks of six that all follow a particular monochromatic color scheme, ordering these blocks by rainbow sequence.

So far, I’ve been pretty satisfied with the results, but my issue’s been that I’ve realized that I’ve worn and photographed very few purple outfits to make up the purple/pink block on my feed that goes in between the red and blue blocks.

While out over spring break with my parents, I actually purposefully searched for more purple clothes, but for some reason, I found very little. Is purple just not in this season? And if that’s so, why? I would’ve thought purple, especially in its lavender variation, would be particularly trendy due to the fact that it’s nearly spring.

Speaking of nearly spring, I’ve been seeing some buds around campus recently. I’m hoping perhaps that means I’ll be able to start bringing some more color into the backgrounds here, maybe even some purple in the form of purple flowers. We’ll see I guess; I’ve never been on campus at springtime, so I don’t actually know what kinds of plants they’ve got around.

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!

Sweater: The LOFT

Tank: H&M

Pants: The LOFT

March 7, 2018 – Like A Lion (OOTD #240)

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March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb, right?

Welp, it’s definitely still leaning more on the lion side right now here in South Bend.

About a week before spring break, we got a few inches of snow, which I was not at all feeling given it was midterms week and I was already miserable. It was just the time when I could have used some sun, but of course, we got more snow.

South Bend has not yet squashed my love of snow, but I’m regardless very ready to be down with it now this season. The winter has overstayed its welcome, and the spring can come anytime now.

Come to think of it, I don’t usually have any complaints to make about springtime. Summer is too hot, winter is too cold, and fall is too short (or too long if you’re hoping for snow come Christmastime), but I generally like the spring. It’s not my favorite season — that honor ironically enough goes to winter — but I do rather appreciate it.

With spring typically comes horse racing season, but I don’t know if I’m going to at all be able to experience that this year since I’m no longer in Kentucky, Both the Keeneland spring meet in Lexington and Derby season in Louisville occur while I’m at school and end before I get back.

Not that I’ve ever been rich enough to really go out to the race track and do anything but look at the horses — but it was always nice to go and pretend you were cultured. Here, the most cultured thing I do is spend the extra quarter for the super cycle in the laundry room, haha.

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!

Sweater: Hollister (thrifted)

Turtleneck: Forever21

Pants: Abercrombie (thrifted)

Saturday Musings + Coffee – It’s Not Saturday and There’s No Coffee

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Happy Sunday from me and my empty coffee mug!

You know, I do rather like to do these Saturday Musings blogs because they keep things interesting and more diverse than if I just did OOTD posts (plus that would be a lot of OOTDs to do), but sometimes, I don’t actually drink any coffee on Saturdays.

For example, yesterday, I swear I was so busy packing and going grocery shopping with my parents and then going to dinner with my friends, I don’t think I had time to really sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee. I didn’t even time to post this blog on Saturday like I was supposed to, haha.

Anyway, 24 hours, and it’s back to school again.

These breaks seem to go by so quickly — to be cliché, I swear it was just yesterday that I was flying home from Midway (after having sat in the airport for three hours, of course).

My spring break wasn’t the most dynamic experience I’ve ever had, but it was pretty relaxing, and think that’s what I needed. I got some good sleep (including sleeping for nearly an entire day on Monday!) and ate some food that wasn’t from the dining hall, and I was pretty satisfied with that. Going to the beach might’ve been fun, but that also would’ve been exhausting, and I was already pretty exhausted come midterms week.

Plus, I don’t much like the sand. It’s coarse…and it gets everywhere. 

Anyway, looks like my flight back to Chicago is about to board, so I ought to go. Can you believe that I actually got here at a normal time and only had to wait a very reasonable one hour at the airport this time around? Wild.

March 6, 2018 – The Most Glamorous Location in the World (OOTD #239)

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You know something I’ve noticed? My poses become significantly more dynamic when I take my photos by myself.

It makes sense, of course – it’s awkward to try out new, dramatic poses when someone else is looking at you from behind the camera. You don’t want to look stupid, flailing around your arms or gazing dramatically into the distance when someone else can see you, right? It’s better to test out new poses when you don’t have to worry about embarrassing yourself.

So where better to go to prevent embarrassing myself than the privacy of the bathroom in the bookstore?

Yep, you heard it here — I’m actually standing in the bathroom in the bookstore for these photos. Admittedly not a very glamorous location shot, but I really liked the pale yellow wallpaper they had.

I set up my camera against the sink, and, keeping an eye on the door the whole time to make sure no one walked in on me while I was posing…for my fashion blog…in a public bathroom…that sounds pretty silly, doesn’t it?

It just goes to show how much improvisation goes on in these fashion posts I do — I hardly ever plan out where I’m going to do my photos, I just pray that I eventually find some place I can do them.

And sometimes, the place to do them is a bathroom with pale yellow wallpapered walls.

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: Forever21

Shirt: thrifted

March 5, 2018 – No Capes (OOTD #238)

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This outfit/background combo makes me feel way classier than I actually am.

The residence hall behind me, Dillon (or maybe it’s Duncan?), has this wonderful little Harry Potter-esque courtyard that makes for a really dramatic, castle-like background. I don’t use it as much as I should.

The whole aesthetic reminds me of something out of Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” video — something about the theatrical outfit paired with the rich manor behind me. Or, alternatively, as one of my friends passing me in the dining hall said, “it looks like something Rowena Ravenclaw would wear.”

With an already dramatic outfit and dramatic background, it just makes sense that we would also get a dramatic and well-timed gust of wind to get my cape to blow out behind me as well!

I wasn’t counting on the breeze, but I’m glad I got it! Why wear a cape if it doesn’t catch in the wind, am I right?

Actually, the cape-in-the-wind thing was mostly just a nuisance all day trying to walk around to class. I finally ended up tucking it into my backpack — which probably wasn’t a very fashionable look. There’s a reason it’s not pictured here.

As Edna Mode from The Incredibles would say: 9Ybgz.gif

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!

Cape: H&M

Shirt: Banana Republic

Skirt: Abercrombie

March 3, 2018 – Farmers’ Market Fashion (OOTD #237)

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Oops…so it’s been a while.

Ironically, in my last blog post (well…not the last — but the second-to-last) , I said something along the lines of, “don’t worry, I’ll have a nice long blog post for you tomorrow!” And then, not only did I not have a long blog post, but I didn’t post a blog at all!

For three days.

I don’t typically have long periods of time between blog posts, so I guess three days isn’t the worst. I’m usually pretty good at posting consistently here, so here’s to hoping that I’m able to keep up my schedule for the rest of the year?

The other day, about a week before I left for spring break (so, a week before this blog was posted) some people in my section from my dorm all went on an outing to the South Bend Farmers’ Market. I don’t believe I’ve ever gone to a farmers’ market, but after what I saw on Saturday, I would 100% go again.

Maybe I was just really excited to see things that were for sale for money other than Flex Points or Domer Dollars, but it seemed like a nice little market they had set up. If I were rich enough to buy my produce locally every week, I could definitely see myself going with some friends on a Saturday morning, picking up our groceries, and then stopping somewhere for brunch.

Like I said, if I were rich. As it is, I bought one pound of grapes and that about wiped out my bank account, so I’m going to have to stick to every once in a while for now.

It was fun to get off campus, though. I think I’d been stuck at Notre Dame for about eight straight weeks when I finally got out for this little field trip, and I was definitely craving it.

We came across this little tea and spices shop, and the colors were just so delightful I couldn’t help but ask to get some pictures with it. I love a good background, so even on days where I don’t usually do OOTDs, like Saturdays, I’ll make an exception if I see a colorful, well-lit environnement. Lord knows I don’t always get those at school.

Top: Zara

Jeans: Abercrombie

Scarf: American Eagle