All posts by AsianCajuns

Yeahhhh Burgers and Cartoon People!

So last weekend Matteo (also known as “bf” ’round these here parts) and I finally made it over to Yeah Burgher! Atlanta loves a good burger (hello, Grindhouse and Farm Burger, we drool for you too).

The burgers were indeed mighty fine, but what really sold me were the illustrations on everything: the walls, the menus, my burger (via a sticker). As a graphic designer who would secretly love to do more illustration, I kind of drool and get green with envy when I see stuff this gosh-darn perfect.

Hat: H&M, Coat: Victoria Secrets (ironic to buy outerwear from them, non?), Sweater: Lands End, Boots: thrifted via Finders Keepers, Jeans: Madewell, Purse: Ann Taylor.

Glasses: Warby Parker, Blazer: H&M, Mustache curls: the opposite of gravity.

That’s my veggie burger on the left and Matteo’s real deal beef burger on the right. Yarmmmm.

Crispy, flaky onion rings

Awww just look at that guy! I couldn’t eat him! Well, actually I could and I did, but I thanked him (silently) the whole time we were there.

There’s another reason I feel an affinity to Cartoon People (the general cartoon population be they Adult Swim or Disney), I’ve been told I sound like one. On multiple occasions, in different settings, by different people. I guess that’s better than looking like one, right? One guy actually said I needed to stop my current job and get a job at the Cartoon Network (conveniently located in the great city of Atlanta). By the look on his face, I can tell you, he thought that was a compliment and would go over really well. like me saying “Whoa, Sailor, let’s start with dinner first.” It didn’t.

One day you might hear me on a vlog, and you will probably agree (I tend to get squeakier when I’m more excited or nervous). In person, that’s one way people tell Cath and I apart. Her voice hits normal, soothing octaves, and mine makes dogs wince at times. Wait, is it that bad? I don’t really think about it until someone says, “You sound exactly like.” And then I wince.

Holiday Blah-diddy Bloops

www.natlsunshine.com Holiday Blah-diddy Bloops/ noun/ hall-ee-deh blahh-deh-di blew-oops:
1. What happens around the holidays when you are so busy with the fun things (parties, gift-buying) and the not-so-fun things (work deadlines, obligatory holiday todos). You don’t have another free moment until the new year and by then all the warm fuzzy holiday feelings you were planning on savoring have whooshed by.

2. A made-up AsianCajun expression

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Here are a few things that have been going on in AsianCajun holiday land:

1) We finally met Sheemeka Ayers (aka The Broke Socialite)!!! What a sweetie, and a gorgeous lady to boot. For those of you who aren’t familiar with TBS, she is pretty much the most famous blogger in Atlanta. For reals. What the AsianCajuns are to about 25 people, Sheemeka is for the entire city. She is one inspiring lady.

2) Anddd we met Annette Joseph!!! – the same day we met Sheemeka! It was nearly too much ATL-celebrity for my easily-overwhelmed brain. Annette is the lady when it comes to amazing styling, and yet another person whom I look all googly-eyed at. You might have seen her on Goop (she renovated and decorated Gwyneth P’s pad in Nashville). Cath and I ran into Annette at Sheemeka’s (un)conference Lavish, where Annette showed her adoring fans how to style a room for a photo shoot (read more about it on her blog).

3) We wore victorian Christmas crowns and told stories at the  Chronicle Christmas party. Party-goers paid us to read Christmas stories and do a mini-danced version of the Nutcracker. All the money went to The Wren’s Nest– huzzah!

(Below: this is what happens when you let your storytellers have a few glasses of white wine before storytelling).

4) Receiving the best Christmas card ever from Diane at Snapshot for Fashion. Thank you, Diane! (she even captured my hair poof!)

5) Watching this awesomely inspiring short video about Toys for Tots. Locals, donate here. Non-locals, donate here.

6) Planning some last minute Christmas shopping at Mama’s holiday market this Saturday (p.s. this is not the AsianCajun’s Mama. Mama is a local store that sells all natural body products- made locally). Our favorite local jeweler June Shin will be there! Mama is located right by the best cookie place in the world The Cookie Studio. Might as well kill two birds with one stone this weekend: Christmas shopping and obligatory holiday weight gain. Perfect!

And next week even more madness will descend. So far our Blah-diddy Bloops have been just awesome, but I’m hoping to scrape together a less harried week next week.

How do you guys make sure you don’t just speed through the holiday season? Tell us what you guys are up to too! We know we’re not the only ones running like crazy holiday headless chickens (what?!). Exactly.

Tea Collection: Stylin’ Baby Clothes

A few months ago Tea, purveyor of beautiful clothes for children and babies, contacted us about styling some of their clothes on our blog. I did a little happy dance when I got their email because I had seen Tea Collection before and loved it. This is surprising because 1) neither Cath and I have children of our own and 2) I’ve just recently become comfortable around little people, and Cath is still working on her comfort levels.

So how did I know about Tea in the first place? Well, their approach toward children’s attire was so unique, I had stumbled on to their site because their ads were so pretty. And for the first time in years, I wished I were shorter – so that I could fit into their clothes. In a nutshell, Tea is like Anthropologie for 0-12 year olds.

But as we all know, what is the next best thing to shopping for yourself? Shopping for the cute little bebes and children in your life that look way better in clothes than you do anyway. Cath and I are heading into the age of friends settling down with little ones, and now we have a place to go to get the cutest stuff (and stare enviously at how much better said little ones look in stripes and patterns).

Hope you guys enjoy the photoshoot below! Let me know what you think. I’d love to get my hands on more styling projects.

Stylist: Lar, AsianCajuns
Photography: Pam Crane, Pam the Nomad Photography
Model: Liam
Clothes: flannel, tee shirt, and pjs by Tea Collection. Other clothing items are model’s own.
Art Direction/Layout: Lar, AsianCajunDesign


Boys Clothes: Village Plaid Shirt


Boys Clothes: Tea T-shirts (shown tee no longer available)


Boys Clothes: Cityscape PJ set

Thanks for getting in touch with us, Tea! Pam, Esther and Liam, thank you for your help on the shoot!

p.s. Decaturites, Tea is available locally too- at Wiggle!

Sweet Auburn Curb Market

Sweet Auburn Curb Market is marvelous; right in the heart of downtown Atlanta and easily accessible by public transport. It doesn’t have the touristy gentrification of a place like Pike Place Market in Seattle, but in many ways, it’s better for it. People come here to actually buy produce, just-baked sweet potato pies for tonight’s dessert, and whole pigs for . cochon de laits? Oh and they also come here for delicious coffee and some of the best burgers in the city.

My bf and I stopped by Grindhouse (inside the market) for lunch. Two customized burgers, one hand-spun chocolate milkshake, and a basket of fries later, we rolled off our diner stools to start shopping: a huge batch of collared greens, sweet potatoes, 2 lbs of bacon, and freshly ground coffee.

The Sweet Auburn Curb Market’s neighbor is Grady Hospital. It made me feel better that the doctor sitting next to us was eating a large burger with no veggies and a great deal of onion rings. She was probably not a cardiologist, but if we clogged our arteries while chomping away at our lunch, we were just an elbow’s width away from medical service. Win, win!

In addition to burger grease, this is what I wore yesterday:

Hat is the bf’s, sweater is from my highschool years when I shopped at Wetseal, frilly tank thing is from Forever21, pink skirt is from Asos.com, boots are Target, purse is thrifted Coach.

I tried to meet up with Cath at the market to take outfit photos together, but we just missed each other. We’ll be eating lunch together today though- woohoo! She and her bf are due here in about an hour so I have to go get lunch ready: collards, mashed sweet potatoes, black-eyed peas and chicken. A solid Southern precursor to Thanksgiving- yummy!!!

Hope you all are having a wonderfully delicious weekend too!

Take a Vlog-cation with the AsianCajuns

Need a little weekend break? Cath and I made this little video while we were in the mountains of North Carolina a few weekends ago with Ali (the gorgeous blond in the video). Want a bite of caramel apple? A steaming spoonful of chicken soup? A drive through the mountains, sniffing the crisp autumn air? An encounter with a bear (or maybe that’s me in my faux fur coat)? Play this little video:

p.s. The music in the video is by Camera Obscura. an entirely underrated Scottish band.

Happy, happy weekend, everyone! Let us know what you’re up to and if you came on our vlog-cation with us (cheesy, I know, I’ll work on it ;)). If you are anti-vlog, you can see “the stills” from our mountain vacay in this post.

A Match Made in Heaven

What happens when fabulous jeweler June Shin meets wonderful illustrator Jessica Swift? They make perfect jewelery babies pieces together. Last week, June sent us some of the gorgeous items from their new jewelery collaboration, and Cath and I are fighting over loving every piece!

If you’ve followed AsianCajuns for a while, you know we love June. We’ve been raving about her work since May 28, 2008, to be exact. Her jewelry is delicate and subtle without being whimpy, and compliments our style really well.

Below you can see some of the June Shin/Jessica Swift collaborations. We love the whimsy of Jessica’s art with June’s light metal-smithing. These ladies can do no wrong in our book.

Here is the lovely part: June and Jessica are local artists (you can see their wares at this weekend’s Chomp and Stomp), but they both have Etsy stores for you non-locals to peruse. June’s jewelry is also at Beehive Co-op, Sole shoes, Kelly’s Closet and Dakota J’s.

June Shin’s Etsy store
Jessica Swift’s Etsy Store

Update: June and Jessica’s collaboration pieces will be up on their Etsy sites November 10 (woohoo!), but in the meantime they have some gorgeous stuff up on their respective Etsy stores.

Zara and Saint James

Saint James and Zara. My baby name selections.

Hah! Totally kidding. Thinking about baby names totally freaks me out, and it really should if I even mostly-jokingly said St. James would be a decent name for a boy. Saint James made my shirt and Zara made Cath’s.

In the photo above I’m not actually crying as Cath looks on gleefully. I have fall allergies that cause my eyes to sting and burn right when I walk out of doors. Cath is trying to be all professional and hold a pose, but I couldn’t pry my eyes open for long (quasi-successful in the first shot).

Details:

I love the pleats and mini pom-poms on this gorgeous blue Zara tunic. It makes sense seeing as I bought it. I gave it to Cath when I realized she actually irons things (like this tunic) and I never would. I realized last night that half of the things in my closet were unwearable because I haven’t touched an iron in a year. So either I stop being woefully lazy or I hand over half of my closet to Cath.

Oh! Saint James! I know there’s been a lot of hullaballoo about these shirts of late. Madewell carries them online here, but I got mine discounted through the Refinery 29 store. These are the original nautical sailor shirts from Breton. Soft and slouchy and wonderfully woven – it’s my new favorite tee. Now everything else in the Saint James catalog is taunting moi . Et toi?

AsianCajun outfit details
Lar: hat form H&M, tee from Saint James, shorts from Old Navy (years old), boots from Target (also years old), purse from Moxsie.
Cath: tunic from Zara, pants from Ann Taylor, booties from Dolce Vita, purse from Vivid Boutique in Decatur.

Postcards from L.A.

Outfit details: H&M top, AE shorts, J.Crew belt, Aldo shoes.

I’m a few days behind on this, but check out Dana Pop for my LA “Postcards.” I showed you a few photos from my trip already, but there are a few more on Dana’s blog that you can check out. And if you haven’t done so already, check out Lar’s Postcards from Scotland on Dana Pop. Two very different trips, but both wonderful. I’m determined that my next trip will include Lar and I going to the same place together!

Cath: The HandyWoman

Lar titled this post for me. I like to think of myself as a handy woman, but my handiness is mostly limited to interior decorating. My drill has only ever been used to put together furniture and hang up shelves. Let’s just say I’m aspiring handy woman. The other day my friend asked me to stop by her new place to help her hang some photos so I thought I’d dress appropriately. All I need is my own tool belt!

Outfit details: Uniqlo shirt, J. Crew belt, Gap jeans, old Target faux cowboy boots.

Hard work calls for a practical hairstyle. I usually put my hair up in a messy bun when I’m too lazy to wash my hair that day. TMI? Hope not.

Happy Friday everyone!