Me and my fishy face still continue to muddle through my style/fashion dilemmas. Since writing this post and this post, I’ve been turning things over in my mind ad nauseum. And you guys have been brilliant offering your two cents and telling me how you handle buying, shopping and being all-around conscientious consumers. And so it continues! Here’s how I’ve progressed these past few weeks:

When in London I was not at all lured by the siren call of high street stores. Mega-huge Top Shop? Nah. H&M on every corner? I didn’t even see you! I spent most of my money on food and museum fees: feast for the tummy and the eyes. I did manage to buy a few things at Spitalfields Market and at this wonderful thrift store of designer finds called Dress for Less.

Thrifting/shopping vintage. Nothing new there (literally. hardi har har), but it is something I’ve been doing much more now. Most of it is just popping into charity shops to see what’s what and then leave empty handed (still very much trying to buy less even if it is recycled/re-used). I thought I would do the same at this lovely shop, but I found this gorgeous Reiss coat (left). I also tried on this buttery/dreamy Celine bomber (right):

I also found these pretty rings. One for me, one for Cath:

The owner of Dress for Less was so sweet. I’m always kind of weary of designer vintage shops. I’ve met with a fair share of snootiness going to the American equivalents. Dress for Less’ proprietor was just lovely and welcoming (makes sense that’s just been in business for 19 years). Her shop assistant was also the cutest thing this side of the pond — if a bit camera shy:

Now you might be going “Thrifting/schmifting. Thanks for pointing out an obvious way to be an ethical-consumer, Lar!” So here are some actual helpful ethical fashion links to make this muddle less… muddly (p.s. None of these lovelies are sponsors, just so lovely I had to link them):

• Cri de Coeur: vegan-friendly shoes and purses. Check out Jesse.Anne.O to see how she styles her’s.

• Fashion-conscience.com: not super-cheap, but a lot of beautiful, ethically made clothing, accessories and home goods.

• I love Fashion Change’s “Wear this, Not that” where they show you similar yet more ethical versions of things J.Crew, Gap, Urban Outfitters, etc. sell

• The Mother Nature Network has a terrific Eco-Fashionista blog: sample post title, “‘Mad Men’ Style Goes Eco-Friendly”

• You guys have to check on {r}evolution apparel. It makes me want to stop shopping full stop, or at least cut way back and be much more creative. Thanks for the link, Spatial Drift!

• LearnVest Daily made this super-helpful chart that rates major brands (American Eagle, Zara, Asos, TopShop) on their eco and ethical friendliness.

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Dear Cath,

Off the to the Highlands today. I hope we can skype video soon. Isn’t that doggie photo the cutest thing ever? I want to blog it up poster-size and frame him

Miss you so much! I promise I won’t climb the whole mountain. Found out Ben Nevis means Terrible Mountain. Trying to tell me something?

LOVE,

Larbar

This is so unfair to do to Edinburgh because this past week we’ve had glorious weather: birds are singing, the sun is shining (and warm!), daffodils are nodding their heads, and the wind has abated. But instead of showing you what the vibrancy of spring can look like in such a stoney northern climate, I’m giving you fog. Last night was just so eerily beautiful though, I have to show you. I mean, you all know what sunny fields of flowers look like, but what about a historic town shrouded in mist? I would hate a city that was continuously foggy, but Edinburgh (bless her) is discriminating and varied when it comes to climate. Just when you think you can’t take any more wind, she gives you a glorious day of blue skies — and vice versa, of course.

See for your selves and let me know what you think about Edinburgh’s muted and and mysterious fog attire:

Fantastically spooky, isn’t it?

—-

Dear Cath,

I don’t remember it ever being this foggy when we lived here. You always hear about London’s pea soup, but Edinburgh’s winds must keep the fog from the rolling off the ocean and just staying put. That last photo is walking across the meadows — doesn’t it look like a back drop for a Jeff Wall light box?

I miss you so much! Why aren’t you on skype right this moment?!

xoxoxox,

Lar

I’ve always wanted to go to a market in London: inexpensive-ish clothes, food, books and odds and ends all thrown together sounds like heaven, doesn’t it?

We spent most of our time around North London this trip, so Spitalfields Market was in my sights. I thought I was sniffing out a non-touristy part of London, but apart from this neighborhood becoming trendy of late, there has been a market at this location since the 1600s. So I’m about 400 years behind the times, but no matter. Chinese steamed buns taste delicious either way:

Just look at all this marvelousness! There are stalls of all kinds: indie seamstresses hawking their wares, vintage Penguin paperbacks, bowler hats, leather goods. The stall on the left (below) sells garlands for your hair so you can get your boho look down; pastries galore to the right:

Oh the food! Apart from the steamed buns, Matt and I consumed roughly three lunches in the span of three hours. We went to Leon (post upcoming) and fell in love with a stall called Rainforest Creations. Everything is raw and mostly sprouted. I know, I know, sounds terrible. I would have whole-heartedly agreed with you three months ago, but even though it doesn’t win you over with words like “butter” and “bacon,” I swear it is delicious. It was fresh and wonderful (who knew raw food could have so many flavors apart from “green” and “greener”?) and the colors are just amazing. We loved it so much we went back for seconds and bought thirds for dinner:

Still attempting to be a conscientious consumer on all fronts, I went easy on the buying: tricky thing when everything is fairly cheap and shiny (bit like a magpie, I am). I bought a summer striped dress for Cath (said it was made in England, so hopefully no sweatshop labor or labour) and an old Penguin edition of Gigi (when we were little, Cath and I wanted to be Leslie Caron’s Gigi. We had very little understanding of what a mistress/kept lady was, but it seemed to involve pretty dresses and walking around Paris. Done!).

I also got this sweater. It’s a brighter pink than this photo lets on.

And that was Spitalfields! Next London trip I hope to hit up another market. I don’t understand why we don’t have something similar in Atlanta. I mean, these British markets started outside and if they can have something outside in the rain and the cold, Atlanta can do it in the heat and humidity, right?

Update: Matt just pointed out this amazing blog to me called Spitalfields Life. I’m just dipping my toe in, but it looks to be amazing and is written daily by a Gentle Author. So even if you don’t have a London trip on the horizon, take a look at this blog to feel like you have your own Brick Lane tour guide.

—-

Dear Cath,

You would looooove Spitalfields and the whole east London vibe in general. It is pretty different from where we stayed in the past. Wouldn’t it be awesome if Decatur had something similar? I know there was that artist market, but it was missing the food and the vintage wares.

August seems much to far away.

LOVE,

Lar

(Above: me stomping around close to our flat in Islington wearing my Eugenia Kim hat, old pleather jacket, canvas tote, Madewell jeans and Hunter Boots)

Cath and I are nutty about London: the history, the Englishyness and the non-Englishyness (so diverse!), the food, the book shops, the shop shops, the old mixed with the new. . . we love it to bits and pieces. Last week when I visited for the first time in eight years, I really, really missed not having Cath there with me. So this post is a bit selfish (or twin-ish): a way to bring Cath with me on my trip!

“Licking the windows” (faire du lèche-vitrine = window shopping). Thrifitng and marketing abounds in London. So even if you don’t have gobs of money to spend you can do more than window lick:

I stopped by Fortnum and Mason to drool over their champagne and caviar picnic hampers and feel poor (cheapest thing was a £13 tin of tea – lordy!). Kate Middleton and the Queen were here just a week ahead of me. Our experiences differed slightly (I was shocked when no one offered me a free hamper!):

Even though it’s an incredibly congested city, the air quality (as far as cities go) is marvelous in London. Could it be the congestion fees, public transport and biker-friendly ways? I would be terrified to bike in London traffic, but almost convinced if I could lock my bike to one of these planters:

My highlight to the trip (apart from seeing old friends) was going to the super-hyped David Hockney exhibit at the Royal Academy. After hearing so many amazing things about it I thought it couldn’t be all that wonderful. Holy schmoly wholy, it was! Amazing fantasticness! I’d go so far to say it was the best exhibit I’ve ever seen (and I’m quite the museum-goer). The show was £14 which seemed steep until I saw it. Now I would gladly pay that daily to go back again and again:

London has amazing fast food, and I don’t mean hamburgers and pizza. Matt and I could easily stick to our vegetarian/gluten-free routine while going to a fast food chains around the city! This photo is from Itsu, but we also ate delicious healthy things at Leon and Pret A Manger:

Freshly juiced apple, lime and mint at Leon:

On our way to Spitalfields Market (upcoming post all about that glorious place!):

Have you guys been to London before? Where are your favorite places? Does it rank as one of your favorite cities? I love every big city I’ve been to (SF, NYC, DC, Chicago, Madrid, Paris, Rome, etc.), but London takes the (tea)cake for me!

—–

Dear Cath,

London (just like Edinburgh) does not feel whole without you. Everything we saw I tried to catalog in my head and tell you about — this blog post works much better than my old noggin.

Hope you had fun in class yesterday! See you on skype soon!

xoxoxox,

Lar

Chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga. . . the Orient Express, the Trans Siberian, Harry Potter! Aren’t trains just so romantic? Maybe it’s just being a car-centric American, but train travel seems so marvelous. It’s the stuff off cinematic fog-filled farewells, rolling green countryside, and ladies with fur stoles drinking tea in the dining car. (Can you tell most of my knowledge comes from BBC period dramas and old black and whites).

I’ve been on a few trains in my day (mostly around Spain, Scotland and Eastern Europe), and no one runs alongside them waving hankies any more and everything is sort of gray plastic and fabric on the inside (no more polished wood and white linen table cloths). Still, there is something marvelous about them. Sitting snugly while the countryside and cities sweep by.

We took the train down from Edinburgh to London last weekend. Here’s a bit what that journey looked like:

Edinburgh’s Waverly Station:

That’s the Scottish National Gallery looking all neo-classical in the background:

Southern Scotland whizzing by:

Train necessities: freshly baked bread, Scottish butter, and dominos:

Newcastle through my smudgy window:

The sun came out around York (just look at them clouds! Ahh to be in England!):

Still on the fence about all my fashion dribble, so in the meantime here is a tilted photo of what I wore to train travel:

Really old pleather Express jacket • Madewell Skinnies • Hunter Boots (on sale now at Shopbop!) • Zucca canvas tote via a Japanese fashion mag

Have you guys been on any train trips? Any romantic hanky waving moments? Cath and I had one our senior year in high school when studying abroad in Spain. Our Spanish families came to say good bye to us and there was much crying and cheek kissing. I think everyone should have a misty-eyed goodbye at a train station at least once in their lives.

—-

Dear Cath,

Remember when we left A Coruña years and years ago? I loved that sleeper train! I even loved the non-fancy trains we took around Scotland — just watching the landscape change.

I have more posties coming up about my London trip so I can show you a bit of what we did — so not the same as you being there!

xoxoxox,

Lar

(Above: Matt showing you how to get rose-colored glasses).

I’ve always wanted to visit India for Holi, the festival of Colours celebrated at the end of winter in India. Throwing colorful powder around, eating delicious Indian food, and dancing sounds like a brilliant combination. Lucky for Matt and me we didn’t even need to get on a plane to celebrate our first Holi. Holi came to us in Edinburgh.

Our beautiful friend Nutan (remember her and her Bollywood Coffee Box?) threw a Holi party for us. The party was open to any Edinburgher who wanted to be covered in colorful powder by Nutan, willing to dance on the sidewalk by her coffee and curry stand during rush hour, and can’t get enough of her delicious food and generous spirit.

(Below: Matt gets powdered by Nutan)

Nutan explained to all of us that the powder is not just a way to welcome spring (or commemorate Lord Krishna teasing his consort Rahda), but also a way to equalize everyone. It doesn’t matter what caste or class you come from or what gender you are. Everyone comes together on the street looking the same (in my case, that meant Oompa Loompa) and celebrates. Don’t you wish we did that at least once a year here in the west?

Want more Holi? Look at these gorgeous photos from The Boston Globe’s Big Picture.

Thank you, Nutan, for such a wonderful night!

Readers, have you celebrated Holi before? I’d love to hear your stories!

—-

Dear Cath,

I sooo wish you and Troy had been there! You would have had so much fun! The color powder kind of acted like booze usually does. Once you were all powdered and looking ridiculous you couldn’t not dance in the street because you figured you already looked strange to most passer-bys.

I don’t remember ever hearing about local Holi celebrations in Atlanta. Maybe at the Hindu temple in Gwinnett?

Miss you so much!

Love,

Lar

(Black and white photo = broody, thinky, rambly post ahead).

Roughly a year ago I started getting rid of a lot of my clothes. I had been feeling a little weighed down by the number of shoes, bangles, earrings, blouses I had and rarely wore. It wasn’t excessive. I’d say it was the average amount of stuff that most of us have who are at least slightly interested in fashion/style (and can afford to be).

I gave a bunch of my stuff to Cath, went to a couple of clothing swaps, sent things to charity shops, etc. I knew I’d be moving and thought it would be a great time to start with a clean slate.

By the time I made it to Scotland in September, all of my clothes fit into one large duffel bag. I had this idea that this “clean slate” (aka extremely paired-down wardrobe) would give me the chance to really think about things (warning: long-winded rambling about to ensue…). Could I live with less stuff? How important are clothes and outfits and trends to me? Did I really want to be a fashion blogger?

Cath and I rarely talk about just clothes and fashion on AsianCajuns, but when I do, I feel kind of fraudulent. I like using clothes/attire as a way of expression, but I feel a bit stuck. I don’t feel the urge to shop at the places I can afford (H&M, Zara, Primark, Target, etc.) because I’m still struggling over the ethics of fast fashion. And the fashion world that I can’t afford, seems a little silly to me sometimes. I’ve always been inspired by the gorgeous craftsmanship and creativity that goes into high fashion, but my brain struggles with cost and importance of it. The artistry and creative expression will always be necessary, but the price, turnover and regurgitation of trends seem unnecessary and out of touch.

There are charity shops, Etsy designers, and independent boutiques to shop at when I do want to consume (nom nom nomm). But there’s still the tricky balance of buying less and having less in general.

In conclusion: I’m in a muddle!

While I try to figure this out, I hope you’ll continue to be inspired by Cath’s wardrobe and our adventures around Atlanta/Decatur and Edinburgh! I’ll try to keep most of my ramblings to myself and just share any light-bulb moments I have. In the meantime, thanks for your generous patience, readers!

xoxox,

Lar

Cath and I have lived apart now for five months (minus our holiday stent in Paris), and I really, really, really don’t like it. Really, really, really. Six reallys. And it’s more of a hate rather than a dislike. I really(x 6) hate it.

We are obviously separate people living separate lives, but I’m not entirely sure I can deal with that. When we lived in Atlanta we didn’t see each other daily, but knowing that I could drop everything and be by Cath’s side in five minutes or less was key. Now I can drop everything and be by Cath’s side in 10 hours (if I had gobs of moola and no lay overs). I feel like I’ve adjusted to living abroad in every way except for that.

I really don’t feel quite whole being so far from her — it’s just one of those twin things. So in order to banish that feeling of half-ish-ness, I like looking at what her home looks like and to see what she’s up to (thank you, blog). So these photos aren’t meant to be a comparison, just a peak at how small the differences are between us each day — it makes those 10 hours distance feel more like five minutes.

—-

Dear Cath,

Miss you as per usual and can’t wait for our Skype date!

xoxox,

Lar

p.s. When are you moving here?

So I thought since Cath told you about her Sunday in Decatur a post ago, I would tell you about mine across the pond. For one, I put on a dress! I haven’t worn one of these in roughly five months because they expose the legs too the wily Scottish wind (how is this the country where men decided to wear skirts sans knickers?!).

What did I get all dressed up fer, you ask? To walk two blocks from our flat, buy some delicious German bread from Konditormeister Falko, and come back home. 20 minutes later I was back in my sweats another tres chic outfit. We then proceeded to eat butter, jam and bread for the next hour (my first slices of bread since I started that diet thingy). My, it was delicious!

This is what it looked like on our two block walk (blue sky!):

We spent the rest of the afternoon reading, and I started a mini art project (I’m calling it Sheep in Party Hats… because, you know, the world needs more sheep in funny attire):

The scuba dress I donned to buy bread is from Primark — a shopping trip that happened in December, before I let my guilty conscience get the better of me. The dress and belt were only £17 -ish, so you can see why it will be a hard vice to back away from. I did get this ring on Friday that’s from a fair trade shop called One World Shop to make up for my sinful shopping:

So not a particularly productive Sunday, but isn’t that how they should be? What did you guys get up to? Any lazy plans for this weekend?

Oh and thank you for the sweet comments about our wedding! xoxox

—

Hi Cath!

How was your midterm?! It sometimes boggles my mind that we’ve been out of undergrad for so long. “Midterm” sounds like something 21 year olds worry about. Are they easier at 28?

It’s been so warm here (mid 50s!) that sometimes I keep the window open all afternoon! Lovely!

Miss you so much!

Love,

Lar

I hope you guys don’t mind some personal horn-tooting, but remember that teeny weeny wedding we had last year? Well it’s in the Spring/Summer issue of Atlanta Wedding Magazine! Woohoo! Yippeee! Huzzah!

I feel like I hit the jack-pot in Atlanta wedding vendors: they all listened to the vision I had and helped make it happen in three months. And the queen of all the vendors was without a doubt my lovely wedding photographer, and now wonderful friend, Aharon Hill (all these photos in this post are swiped from Aharon’s blog). I stumbled on her  just googling Atlanta Wedding Photographers, and feel so incredibly lucky!

It’s kind of ironic to have our teeny wedding mentioned anywhere because I still kind of feel like The Anti-Bride. Matt and my mom had to convince me not to elope. I’ve just never been a big wedding person. Getting to be with this wonderful human being (hi, Matteo) for as long as I’m here … words can’t express that euphoria! The hype of a super big party with a super expensive dress … eh.

Once I was convinced I should at least have a mini-ceremony for immediate family, I thought “okay, I’ll treat this like a styling job.” And I knew that if I was going to put the creative effort in, I wanted it captured on film. I spent the majority of my budget on photography and flowers, and the rest was three months of DIY blood, sweat and tears (wrapping all those books in white paper!). I had major help from my family and friends, Candler Park Flowers, Red Queen Tarts, Tinsel and Twine and of course Aharon Hill. Et voila, dream mini-wedding!

If you guys want to read more about all my wedding stuffs: click here (or under Categories, Lar’s Wedding Stuffs).
Engagement photos: click here.
Wedding photos: click here.

The wedding was also mentioned on Style Me Pretty here and here and the engagement was mentioned on Wedding Chicks here.

Okay, done with the horn-tooting, I promise!

P.S. Local Atlantans, definitely pick up a copy of Atlanta Weddings Magazine if you can (Barnes and Noble carries it). The cover shoot was styled by the uber-talented Ginny Branch. And if you are Top Chef fans, Kevin Gillespie’s wedding is shown on the pages right after mine. You go, peachy city!

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Dear Cath,

Sorry if you feel bludgeoned over the head with all this wedding stuffs again. Thank you for searching hi and low for a copy of the mag for us!

Good luck on your midterm today!

Muchos LOVES,

Lar