Last weekend was a magical one. Jessica and Cathy, the founders of Southern Blog Society, hosted a wonderful brunch for 15 members at Cooks Hall in Atlanta. Well planned doesn’t even begin to describe it. These ladies thought of everything: a fashion blogger photographer (the talented Beka), personalized menus, and the most amazing gift bag known to (wo)man.

I wore an Opening Ceremony dress from Rent the Runway. It was perfect for brunch because I could loosen the tied waistband – not that I needed to, ahem.

 Opening Ceremony dress • Kenneth Jay Lane cuff • Payless shoes (a designer collab from years ago – originally Lar’s shoes)

The absolutely best part about the whole weekend was getting to see old friends and meet so many new blogging friends. It’s always a bit surreal when you finally get to meet someone in person that you feel like you already know because you’ve been reading her blog for months. I’ve included a complete list of the attendees and links to their blogs so you can check them all out.

Those flower crowns in the photo below? They’re from the super creative and talented Allison Rhee of Flower Crown Society. I loved my flower crown so much that I attended Allison’s event at Free People this past weekend where I got to make my own fresh flower crown – see?

A big thank you to Rebekah Carson Photographer for most of these photos!

Southern Blog Society Brunch Bloggers: My Style Vita • Poor Little It Girl • The Serena Saga • Julie Leah • Lou What Wear • Glitter & Gingham • The Fashion Lush • Let It Be Beautiful • Here & Now • Pearls & Twirls • Secretive Style • Waiting On Martha • Baby Shopaholic

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Dearest Lar,

I’m not going to go on about how much I wish you could have been at the brunch – but I really wish you could have been there! You would have loved meeting everyone.

I can’t believe that these past two weekends have been so busy. I feel like I haven’t Skyped you in forever! Do you have time to Skype during the week? I desperately need some quality sister time.

Hope you’re having a good week.

Love, Cath

 Photo credit: Andy J. Scott

Hello, dear readers! I don’t think we say write it enough here, but having you in our blogging lives makes us so incredibly happy. Reading your comments, “meeting” you through social media, or – even better – meeting you in real life is just the bee’s knees. So, if you’ve been following us via Google Reader we wanted to make sure that you know you can find us on Bloglovin’ once Google Reader goes to the big browser in the sky July 1st (sob!).

We’re big fans of Bloglovin – love the interface and are all about the fact that Bloglovin’ visits count as page views for us. We’ve also heard Feedly is a great option as well, but haven’t tried it yet. Drop us a line and let us know what you’ll be switching to.

Cheers,

Cath & Lar

I was super excited about renting this Tibi dress from Rent the Runway for a wedding this past weekend. I’ve always wanted to try out Rent the Runway and figured a wedding was a perfect time to do so. Unfortunately the wedding was cancelled, but Troy was sweet enough to take some photos this weekend before I had to return the dress.

Tibi Coral Paradise Dress • Club Monaco necklace • Juliet & Company Wilma bracelet • vintage clutch • Forever 21 heels

See the photo below? That’s my I’m-running-for-office-and-I-only-have-a-dog-as-a-family-member photo opp. At least that’s what it looks like to me. I’ve been watching back to back episodes of VEEP so I was channeling my best Selina Meyer impersonation. If you have HBO, but haven’t watched Veep yet, make it the next thing you watch when you turn on your TV.

Adding gold accessories plays up the warmth of the coral-ish color – it’s more orange in person and more pink than the photos on Rent the Runway. If you follow me on Vine you might have seen my video unwrapping the Juliet & Company bracelet. I love it because it makes a jangly sound whenever I move my wrist.

I loved the material of the Tibi dress. According to the website the material is crepe de chine – whatever that is. It looked like a kind of shimmery silk and it didn’t wrinkle. Also it has a kind of formal crop top feel (is that oxymoronic?) without showing the midriff – so two thumbs up in the trend department.

For those of you who have never used Rent the Runway, here’s how it works:

1.) There are a wide range of dresses on the site. I sorted them from low to high. The cheapest dress rentals start at $40, which isn’t bad considering that you don’t have to pay for return shipping or dry clean anything. Once you pick your item, you schedule when you want it delivered and then you have it for four days (or eight if you want to pay double). You can choose to add the same dress in a different size to your order for no additional charge, which I did since I always seem to fall in between two sizes.

2.) The dress(es) arrived in a branded garment bag that you get to keep.

3.) The shipment also comes with instructions just in case you’re like me and forget how everything works. You can see below that I received the same dress in two different sizes. I was really hoping the smaller size would fit, but no such luck! It made me really grateful that you can order more than one size.

4.) On the fourth day, you just pop your items back into the prepaid envelop and drop it off at a UPS box – and that’s it!

Rent the Runway also sends you a cute little Neutrogena  goodie bag with your order. I love a good goodie bag!

So all in all my first experience with RTR was a success. I’ve already scheduled another rental for the upcoming Southern Blog Society brunch. I can’t wait to show you guys the dress! It’s very not me so we’ll see how it turns out. Either way, I’ll let you know all about it in a few weeks. I realize this post kind of sounds like a sponsored post, but it’s not. I just figured if I was curious about RTR others would be too.

For those of you who haven’t been following the blog for a while, the dog in all these photos is my parents’ dog, Boo Radley. He’s best buds with my two dogs, likes drinking water from the garden hose, and his favorite dish is chicken with rice and gravy.

P.S.: It’s actually Lar’s week to do a post, but she’s been busy showing two of our Atlanta friends around town so you’re stuck with me and my dress rental story. Our friends are in the UK for two weeks and I couldn’t be more jealous. It bogles my mind that I haven’t seen Lar since December. That’s five months!! We’ll be meeting up in August in Italy and that can’t come soon enough!

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Dearest Lar,

You should check out and see if there’s a Rent the Runway type company in the UK – surely there is! Since you have such a tiny wardrobe, renting a dress for a fancy event would be perfect for you!

Did you have fun at the Whisky Society today? I just realized that you can keep out of towners busy for weeks in Edinburgh. There’s so much history and culture to experience. If someone comes to visit me in Atlanta, I can only keep them busy for a few days with shopping, dining and the Coca-Cola museum. No historic castles here – although we do have the Cyclorama, which is pretty amazing!

I can’t wait to hear about everything else you’ve been up to with Alison and Greg. Have any of the pre-festival activities begun yet in town? I get giddy just thinking about the Edinburgh Festival!

xoxo, Cath

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Lar and I figured most of you wouldn’t be back at work until today – apologies to our British readers (including Lar) who had to work on Monday.

This week we decided to try to something new: a little Google Hangout just with the two us. Lar and I showed each other our top five things we’re currently loving. You can watch the full video below, but for those of you who are reading this at work – or don’t want to watch 16 minutes of our rambling – we’ve also linked all of our favorite things below.

For those of you who do watch the video, we would love feedback. Even though we’ve done a Google Hangout before, it’s still relatively new to us. Eventually we’d love to add readers too, but now we figured it’s complicated enough trying to find a time that works for our time zones!

Cath’s pics:

1.) Kimberly Snyder’s The Beauty Detox Food

2.) Butter London Trout Pout

3.) A Beautiful Mess iPhone app

4.) Campers shoes (mine are in black, but they’re not available on line)

5.) Penfield Bascom Boyfriend shirt

Lar’s pics:

1.) Frankie magazine

2.) Owl & Lion journal

3.) A cute dress from a local Edinburgh thrift shop

4.) Neal’s Yard Remedies to Roll

5.) Bioderma Sensibio H20 

Alright, I know what you’re thinking, Memorial Day is about much more than getting to wear white shoes and you’re right. Who came up with that silly fashion rule anyways?

Today is a day to remember the men and women who have died serving the county – and for some reason we Americans celebrate the day by grilling out by the pool. . . go figure. Lar tells me it’s a bank holiday in the UK, but most people go to work.

Anywhoodles, since it is a holiday, we’ll have a full post up tomorrow – it’ll even include video! Also, don’t forget to enter our giveaway with These Odds.

Enjoy the sunshine and your day off work!

Update 5/29/13: This contest has been closed, thanks for entering!

Happy Friday!

I love finding new places to shop online, don’t you? A few weeks ago the owner of TheseOdds.com, an online thrift store based in Atlanta, emailed me about her site. I loved the clothes and concept so much that I immediately asked if we could do a giveaway.

One lucky reader will win a $10-off code for TheseOdds.com. $10 doesn’t sound like much until you see the site’s wonderfully reasonable prices.

How do you enter to win? All you have to do visit TheseOdds.com and leave a comment on this post about your favorite item on the site. My favorite piece? This Asian Inspired Dress – and it’s already sold out, dang it! I also have my eye on the Tanned Flowy Blouse. . . don’t blame me if it’s sold out soon!

The giveaway closes next Wednesday and is open to international readers too – woohoo! I can’t wait to read about which pieces you love.

I hope you all have a happy weekend!

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Dear Lar,

Wouldn’t the dress in the photo above be perfect to wear for the pop up tonight?! Can you tell that I still really wish I could come with you?

What other fun plans do you have for the weekend? The Decatur Arts Festival is Saturday and Sunday, so I’ll definitely be stopping by at some point. Do you remember when we did this post on the festival six years ago? It seems like so long ago! Also, why did we use such small photos in our post? Sheesh! AsianCajuns has come a long way!

Can’t wait to Skype you this weekend!

xoxo, Cath

Apart from a purple iMac in high school, this bag is by far the nicest thing I’ve ever won – ever! If you follow AsianCajuns on Twitter, Vine or Instagram – or if you’ve seen me this past week at all – you probably already know about this. Seriously, ever since this beautiful bag was shipped to my house, it hasn’t left my sight and if anyone comments on it, I blurt out, “It’saPhillipLimbag! Iwonit!!!!!” It’s buttery soft and super versatile.

New York & Co cardi • Michael Stars shirt • J Brand pants • Mia clogs • 3.1 Phillip Lim bag

Marc by Marc Jacobs sunnies • Target blazer • H&M V-neck • necklace from Sq/Ft • The Limited skirt • TOMs wedges

Fab’rik cardi • American Apparel V-neck • necklace from Mingei World Arts • The Limited skirt • heels from Kohl’s

H&M jacket • Forever21 top • Club Monaco skirt • Mettle necklace • BCBG heels

So how did I get so lucky? I took part in a Keep.com contest a few weeks ago where I created a spring inspiration board around the Phillip Lim bag. I entitled it Spring is Bright! and posted everything that I would purchase for the spring if I had all the money in the world. The board is all about neutrals with pops of color. See the whole board here. Are you on Keep? If so, follow me and I’ll follow you back! If not, get on it already!

If you do happen to have all the money in the world, or at least $750 to spend on a bag, you can purchase it here on Shopbop.com.

I feel like now that I have a Phillip Lim bag, the designer and I are basically on a first name basis And yes, I have a cellphone charm!

On an unrelated note, I spent Friday evening on a Google hangout hosted by Snapshop Fashion and Seven Autumn Leaves – it was so much fun! You can watch the hangout here.

Also, check out Pocket of Presh’s coverage on last week’s Rent the Runway event at the W in Buckhead that I attended. It was so great to see so many Atlanta style bloggers!

Have you ever used Rent the Runway? I’m thinking about renting a dress for an upcoming wedding. I’ll keep you all posted!

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Dearest Lar,

I wish you could see my new bag in person! My only complaint? It’s so large that now I have an excuse to put everything but the kitchen sink in my purse. The other day it got so heavy that it left a giant indentation on my arm! I know, I know, first world problems.

I’m so glad we got to Skype twice this weekend. It always makes my day so much better when I get to “see” you!

xoxo, Cath

Troy and I flew out to Denver for a few nights last week for his cousin’s wedding. It was nice to take a mini vacation and get away from work and school for a little bit.

It’s all about the outdoors in Denver, but being a self-proclaimed city girl I love grabbing a map and exploring downtowns. We spent a long day in Boulder and the other three days bouncing around Denver.Usually before I visit a city I read up on it and make notes on all the places I want to go. I’m a planner. Troy is the complete opposite – he’ll talk to anyone and everyone. So, this trip, we got a lot of great tips from the locals. Combined, our different travel techniques usually make for an awesome vacation.

Below are some of our vacation highlights (note that we don’t have any photos from our last day in Denver because it snowed all day – not a highlight).

I love all of the independent shops in Atlanta, so that’s exactly what I look for when I travel to other cities. The candy and soda shop we visited was on Pearl Street in Boulder. Troy and I agreed that the next time we go out to Colorado, we want to spend a few nights in Boulder. It has a college town vibe, but it’s bigger than Athens, GA and a bit more polished. The other two shops in the photos were in the Highland neighborhood of Denver: Starlet and The Perfect Petal.

For this trip we left Toby with my parents and Wheatie with our friends, Alison and Greg (thank you guys!). We always miss our dogs so much that whenever we’re on a trip, we will run up to any dog we see on the street and pet it – not the smartest thing to do. Luckily Denver and Boulder are filled with dog lovers and dog owners. The owner of the pup in the first photo was giving out treats to strangers to help socialize her dog – he loved the treats we gave him us!

About 85% of all our trips – no matter where we go – are focused on food. Whether it’s eating delicious food, talking about food, planning out where we’re going to get our next meal, our main focus is food. Food, food, food, food, food. We love food, we love alcohol and we love food and alcohol together. How are we not both 400 pounds? Well, we try to cut back on eating when we’re not traveling – more on that in a few weeks (read: I’m going on a juice cleanse soon). From top to bottom, the food photos are from Oak at Fourteenth (our absolute favorite restaurant in Boulder), Uncle (Denver’s version of Momofuku) and True Food Kitchen (delicious, low-inflammatory food).

Other restaurants that we visited:

• Colt and Gray: Troy and I stumbled upon this restaurant last year and have been dreaming about our drinks and meal there ever since. This year, we landed in Denver at 8 p.m. and were sitting at the Colt and Gray bar by 9:30 p.m. The bartender, Kevin, is fantastic and was the one who told us to try Oak at Fourteenth in Boulder.
• Pizzeria Locale: a sophisticated, hipster-ish neopolitan style pizza place. Think gray walls, lots of subway tile, blown up photos of Italy and gorgeous fresh flowers. . . oh and the pizza is yummy.
• Abo’s Pizza: What this pizza chain lacks in decor, it makes up for with its perfectly, thin-crust pizza.
• Jack n Grill: Largest. Most delicious. Breakfast burrito. Ever.

Marc by Marc Jacobs sunglass • H&M faux fur stole • Etsy jacket (unfortunately the Etsy shop no longer exists) • Derek Lam for Kohls dress • Frye boots

The wedding was at Red Rocks, an amazing outdoor concert venue. All of the Denver natives at the wedding were fine in one layer of clothing, but I had to bundle up. I switched into heels for the indoor reception and totally forgot to take a full outfit photo of my Derek Lam dress – fashion blogger fail!

 Penfield shirt • Gap jean • Longchamp bag • TOMs flats

I packed pretty light for the trip: 2 pairs of jeans, 3 v-necks, 1 button-up, 1 dress, 1 pair of boots (I wore on the plane), 1 pair of TOMs, 1 pair of heels, 1 fur stole, and 1 light-weight coat.

We’ve lucked out that for the past two years we’ve had a good excuse to travel to Denver. I hope it won’t be long before we visit again!

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Dearest Lar,

I’m a little envious that you and Matt were in France the same time we were in Colorado, but that jealousy is lessened by the fact that Denver is such a great city. I think if you had been my travel partner, I would have done less eating and more shopping. There were tons of items at Starlet that you would have loved. When it started snowing on the last day of our trip, I would start to complain and then remember that you’ve been dealing with the same type weather for six months. At least the next trip we’re all go on will be sunny, beautiful Italy!

Love you! xoxo, Cath

Hello lovelies! First things first, thank you for your feedback from the last post. Just because we’ll be posting once a week doesn’t mean we’ll be any less dedicated to AsianCajuns. In fact, you’ll be seeing us more on other outlets like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And keep in mind, we’re just testing things out and feedback is always welcome!

So, I haven’t had a lot of free time this spring and feel like I’ve spent the past few weeks either working or studying. But looking back through my photos on my iPhone and point and shoot, I realized that I haven’t been as deprived of breaks and fun things as I made myself to believe.

For example? I’ve been to two Hawks games in the past three weeks, which is a record for me considering I’d never been to a NBA game before.
 

Lar and I aren’t sporty people (we always hated gym class), but watching a basketball game live is so much fun! Plus, all of those sport/Olympics-inspired Vogue editorials, like the one below, have warmed me up to sports a bit.

I was in Mingei, one of my favorite local boutiques, the other day and fell in love with these pom pom necklaces from Thailand. I ended up getting the mauve colored one all the way to the right. It reminds me of this summery JADEtribe straw tote.

Last Monday I took a few hours off of work to go to K. Logan Hair Salon and get a gloss treatment and blow-out. I’m totally in love with the glossiness. It lasts for a few weeks and I feel like a Pantene commercial model. See my front curly-dos? Akia, the salon owner, created those with a hair straightener. Amazing, no? She said she’ll be hosting a class soon on how to create those curls yourself so I’ll let you know as soon as a date is set – for you local readers.

On Saturday, I hung out with some friends and listened to Troy play in downtown Decatur for Sidewalk Saturdays. Doesn’t he look so dashing? I have a couple of Vine videos of his songs so if you have an iPhone, follow me at AsianCajuns.

Nothing beats a work-break like hot, gooey chocolate chip cookies sprinkled with sea salt (the ones above are from Victory in Decatur). Kind of wishing I had a whole plateful of those in front of me right now!

After compiling this post I’m thinking I should get the Refinery 29 tote. What do you think? Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Let me know what you’ve been up to!

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Dear Lar,

I hope you have a little more free time now that your stressful work week is in the past. You know how we were chatting about the Brit’s obsession with tea and cake? I was thinking you should start an herbal tea and gluten-free cake club in Edinburgh! I know it sounds a bit silly, but I’m sure you’re not the only one eating gluten free in Auld Reekie. Just a thought

Here’s another random thought, Before Midnight is coming out this summer and the trailer is finally here! What do you think? I can’t wait to see it, but I also would rather just wait and see it with you. If you were in town we could have a Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight day and watch all three in a row. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

Hope you have a stress-free week and can treat yourself to some gluten-free yummies!

xoxo, Cath

I headed over to my nearby Kohl’s after work last Friday to check out the newly released Derek Lam collab. I’d been looking forward to this collaboration for a while since I’ve always loved the clean lines and Americanness of Lam’s designs (you can see his Fall Ready to Wear collection here). While I still think the ongoing Simply Vera line is still Kohl’s strongest designer collab, I loved the colors and easy fits of the Derek Lam DesigNation collection.

I first tried on the striped drop-waist dress because I’m always on the hunt for machine washable, jersey dresses that look pulled together enough to wear to work. The fit was a little tight on the bottom half, but that’s probably more due to my shape than the cut – at least it looks more relaxed on the model online. If I had had more time, I would have tried a larger size. I might go back and try it out when the prices have even been cut down more.

I tried on two of the pants that were at the store, the pleated crepe crop pants and the crop pants in Nightshade. I loved the fit of the pleated crop pants and almost brought them home with me, but I only had enough money for one item. The colorful crop pants didn’t fit nearly as well and actually hit below my ankle (I’m 5’3″ on a good day) so they looked more like high-water pants than cropped pants.

What did I end up buying? This bubble-hem dress in St. Teresa Atlantic:

I love how comfortable this dress is. I’ll be able to wear it to work if I belt it and pair it with a blazer and pumps and I can dress it down in the summer with flat, strappy sandals. The main reason I decided on the dress instead of the crepe pants was because I’ll be able to wear it to the two weddings that I have to go to this spring (expect a future blog post on that).

A lot of the pieces that I wanted to try on, like this chambray jacket and this tank, weren’t at the store. If the prices drop even more, I might save up some money and purchase those items online even if I can’t try them on.

Have you checked out the line yet? What are your thoughts? I’ll be keeping an eye on the collection online since Kohl’s usually has great sales.

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Dearest Lar,

Too bad the Rhianna’s collaboration with River Island isn’t as cheap as the Kohl’s and Target collections! I know you said you weren’t crazy about the Rhianna line, but I bet you’d like the Derek Lam collaboration. There’s a mesh top and skirt in the collection online that I could totally see you wearing. Let me know if you want anything and I’ll ship it to you – something tells me Kohl’s doesn’t ship internationally.

I hope your week ends up being less stressful than you anticipate. Can’t wait to Skype you again next weekend!

xoxo, Cath