I’ve been wanting to get my hands on a peplum dress for a while – like this gorgeous Alice + Olivia blue version. At the same time I’ve been trying not to spend any money so I can save up for my plane ticket to go see Lar in August. Enter my mom to the rescue! She found this super cute, French-inspired, peplum top with belt at Marshalls. Not too shabby, non?

Top with belt from Marshalls • Spotted Moth skirt • Dolce Vita heels • Muji watch

The best thing about this outfit is the comfort level. The top and skirt are made out of jersey-like materials and the cuts are conservative enough to be work appropriate. If I could wear this outfit everyday I would.

Love the zipper detail in the back – totally unnecessary but adds a little je nais se quoi. Okay, I need to wrap this post up before I write any more cheesy, overly-used, Americanized French sayings.

Hope you all have a happy pre-Friday!

_________

Dearest Lar,

I’m going to hold out one more week before buying my ticket because I’ve been told that the prices might drop a bit more. I really hope so!

I hope the weather is a little warmer by the time I come to visit since all of my winter clothes are packed up. I don’t think shorts and tanks are going to work well in Edinburgh.

Skype date on Saturday?

Love, cath

When Lar moved to Scotland last September she knew it would be fruitless to pack her summer clothes so she left all of them for me. I considered it a kind of consolation prize for Lar moving so far away. Our styles are different enough where I didn’t think I’d really wear her clothes too often. Oh boy, was I wrong! Maybe I miss her so much or maybe I’ve become less focused on my personal style or maybe it’s because Lar has always had better clothes than me, but everyday I end up wearing at least one of the items she left me.

It wasn’t until I asked Troy to take these outfit photos last weekend that I realized everything but my shorts were Lar’s:

Forever 21 lace tunic (formerly Lar’s) • Blank denim shorts (mine!) • J.Crew necklace (formerly Lar’s) • Unleashed espadrilles from Shopbop (formerly Lar’s) • Wheatie the Golden Doodle (mine/Troy’s)

Come to think of it, I should have taken these photos with Toby and not Wheatie since Toby was also Lar’s. Unfortunately Toby isn’t as good as Wheatie at being off leash so I left him in the house when taking these photos. . . he was not happy.

It’s become a running joke at my office that whenever I wear something that people really like, it’s almost always a hand-me-down from Lar. It doesn’t surprise me since most of my original wardrobe consists of black, gray and dark gray items.

______

Dear Lar,

Have I ever really thanked you for all the clothes and your dog? While they don’t come close to replacing the fact that you live so far away, it has soften the blow of being separated a teeny tiny bit – especially having Tobs. As I write this he’s whining and pacing around the house, not because he’s nervous, but because he wants food or wants to get on the couch or wants to eat food on the couch.

I’m already a quarter done with my summer semester, which means I’m a quarter closer to coming to see you! Okay, that doesn’t really make sense, but it sounds less daunting than 5.5 more weeks of statistics before my trip to Edinburgh.

Love and miss you as always, Cath

Just a quick post for Thursday – or pre-Friday as my friend Ali optimistically calls it.

I haven’t been as dedicated as Lar with the whole ethical-shopping thing, but since I’ve been trying to save up for my next trip to Scotland, I’ve be inadvertently more ethical.

For example? Everything I’m wearing in the photo below is at least a year old except for my phone. Not sure why I didn’t just put the phone down for these photos. . . hmmmmmm. . .

H&M blouse • American Apparel tank • Limited skirt • Dolce Vita shoes • AsianCajuns Name Neckalce

I try to wear my name necklace every chance I get since I know Lar wears her’s a lot in Scotland. As cheesy as it sounds it somehow makes me feel closer to my twinie.

______

Dear Lar,

So I may not be quite as ethical as you in the shopping department, but at least I’m trying to be more conscious about what I’m buying or not buying! And I did buy another pair of TOMs not too long ago.That’s ethical, no?

How often do you wear your name necklace? Sometimes I think it’s too informal for work, but that doesn’t usually stop me!

Oh! And I finally saw Moonrise Kingdom! Loved it. Isn’t the set design amazing?!

Can’t wait for our Skype chat this weekend.

xoxo, Cath

Do you remember when Lar wrote about Year Round Layers not too long ago? She made the point that it doesn’t really get warm enough in Edinburgh to not wear layers. The same can’t be said for Atlanta. It gets so hot here that you don’t feel like moving. So while Lar is still shivering every time she ventures outside, I’m sweating non-stop in shorts and a tank. . . unless I’m in the office. I’m cold in my office year round so even when it’s 85+ degrees outside, I still wear outfits like this:

The Webster at Target cardigan • Michael Stars t-shirt • Forever 21 pants • Madewell shoes • thrifted necklace • Michele watch

It seems so counter-intuitive to wear a sweater to work in the middle of the Georgian summer, but the A/C is cranked up so high at the office that I have to pile on the layers – I even wore a scarf today!

I know, I know, first world problems. This is just a long way of explaining why I’m wearing a cardigan in the middle of the summer.

Speaking of summer, anyone going to the Decatur Beach Party this Friday?!

_______

Dear Lar,

I’m so excited that you bought us tickets to go to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in August – now I just have to make sure to buy my plane ticket ;). What does one wear to the Tattoo? Too bad we don’t have kilts we can wear. We should have our own AsianCajuns tartan – use the colors from our blog and logo! Not at bad idea, no?

Red beans and ricely yours,

Cath xoxo

For those of you who don’t follow us on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Instagram or who haven’t read this blog in the past week, you might not know that we’ll be hosting a Google+ Hangout tonight at 6 p.m. EST. Tonight! Lar will be teaching a tutorial on how to make tissue paper tassels and I’ll be there to look pretty – ha! For details, scroll down past the outfit pics.

Notice how I’ve been wearing my hair up in a bun a lot lately? It’s my I-don’t-feel-like-washing-my-hair-so-I’ll-pull-it-back-in-a-bun look. Perfect second day hairstyle. It reminds me of my ballet days when I had to put my hair in a bun everyday. I did it so often that I started getting a bald spot at the hairline – it was so attractive!

Dress from Squash Blossom Boutique • Urban Outfitters linen trench crop jacket • H&M Belt • Madewell heels • Clare Vivier purse

I wore this outfit out to dinner last week. I know sideways asymmetrical skirts aren’t as popular as the high-hem-in-the-front-low-hem-in-the-back skirts, but I love the edginess it creates in the outfit.

Yes, my nails clashed with my purse, but somehow it worked – or at least it looks like it worked in the photo.

Now, for the details on the Google+ Hangout tonight:

At 6 p.m. EST, Lar will be leading a tutorial on how to make those cute tissue paper tassels she made for her flat in Scotland. Up to 8  readers can “hangout” with us and watch or follow along with the tutorial. If you aren’t in the first 8 or are busy at 6 p.m. tomorrow, you can watch the video later on YouTube or our blog.

For those of you who are new to Google+, here’s some basics:

• Create a Google+ account
• Circle up with AsianCajuns on Google+
• Test out the Hangout function to make sure your camera and audio are working – it works best in Google Chrome of course!
• A little before 6 p.m. tonight, you’ll receive a notice from us that you’ve been invited to a Hangout. Click on the notification box in the top right-hand corner to start Hanging out with us!

I hope you can join us. If you do, you might get a chance to see Lar do something like this:

______

Dear Lar,

I can’t wait for our Hangout tonight! I feel so high-tech doing something like this!

You’ve been posting such amazing photos of food, that I finally broke down and went to Miso tonight with some friends from school. I’ve been trying to be disciplined about going out to eat and saving for my ticket to come see you, but sometimes I just get a craving for food that I can’t even come close to cooking myself.

I’m currently watching Persausion as I blog – click here for Instagram evidence. Isn’t it such a great film? You need your own copy on DVD in Scotland!

Can’t wait to “see” you at our Hangout!

xoxo, Cath

I made fun of Lar for becoming outdoorsy when she moved to Scotland. I mean, look at her hiking pants! Plus, she now has her own pair of walking sticks. Walking Sticks! If that isn’t outdoorsy, I don’t know what is.

But I really need to bite my tongue because when Troy and I went to Denver last week we definitely went hiking – and not just any ol’hiking. We reached 10,000 feet above sea level! Ok, you experienced hikers might have chuckled at that – especially since it was no more than a mile from the parking lot – but that’s HUGE for someone who usually gets out of breath walking to the local Starbucks every morning.

Target scarf • H&M Jacket • Alternative Apparel hoodie • Blank cargoes • old Adidas sneaks

Inspired by Ashley (she’s outdoorsy and fashionable), I tried to be somewhat fashionable when dressing for the hike. I think I only partially succeeded. The good news is that I was relatively comfortable while crunching through the snow in just a hoodie and jacket. I think Troy looked rather dapper for a hiker in his $20 Target rain jacket.

My conclusion? Hiking and being outdoorsy every now and then (like this time Lar and I went camping), isn’t so bad. I might even use Lar’s walking sticks when I visit her in Scotland in August.

_____

Dearest Lar,

Have you used your hiking sticks yet? Any recent excursions to Arthur’s Seat?

It was so bizarre hiking at such a high altitude. I was out of breath before we even started the hike. However, come to think of it, that might have more to do with me being out of shape and less with the altitude.

On a completely unrelated note, do you remember the first time we went to the Atlanta Indie Craft Experience? Our blog was so different back then!

Anywho, the Indie Craft Experience is this weekend and I can’t wait to go:

Photo by Leah and Mark

I’ll make sure to take tons of photos to share with you. I’m on the lookout for some more necklaces (you can never have too many, right?) and a piece of artwork for the bathroom.

There must be some type of I.C.E. equivalent in Edinburgh – especially with the wonderfully Scottish Papa Stour. Let me know if you find anything like it and we’ll add it to the places we’ll visit when I come over in August. Deal?

xoxo, Cath