Hope you all are having a wonderful day with friends and family. We’re celebrating the all-American way – a day early. . . in Scotland with friends, lots of food, and no football 🙂 How are you celebrating?
28 November 2013
All posts by Cath
25 November 2013
Dress Review: Shabby Apple Margaret Dress
When Shabby Apple offered to send me a dress to review on here I immediately knew I wanted a piece from the Tartans and Tweeds collection. In fact, when this post goes live, I’ll be in Scotland with Lar! How fitting, no?
 Shabby Apple Margaret dress • old jacket from Etsy (similar here) • vintage coach bag • Payless heels • old gloves (similar here) • mom’s old hat – she doesn’t realize I have it 😉
The Margaret dress is my official 2013 holiday dress (I don’t know what makes it official). I’ll probably jazz it up a bit for parties with some fancier heels and sparkly accessories like this and this.
The peplum waist is my favorite part because it adds some femininity to the tartan. Speaking of the waist, the dress runs small in the waist. I usually wear XS to S and this S was a snug fit. So if you plan on ordering it, I recommend going up a size.
If you haven’t seen the previous post already, we’re doing a Shabby Apple giveaway! Enter to win this dress. Lar and I think it’s the ultimate holiday dress.
What are your plans for Thanksgiving? Lar and I will be celebrating with friends (Americans and Brits) on Wednesday so we’ll have left overs on Thursday before we leave our rented Scottish manor house on Friday. It’s going to be wonderful and I plan on being completely stuffed while flying back to the states 😉
25 November 2013
Giveaway: Shabby Apple Dress
We’ve worked with Shabby Apple before, but for those of you who aren’t familiar with the site, check it out. They have a great selection of ladylike dresses and vintage clothing. For this giveaway, one lucky reader will win this Too Darn Hot dress. It’s perfect for the holidays!
21 November 2013
AsianCajuns Reunion in 1.5 Days!!
Tomorrow I’ll be on a plane heading to Scotland to see my wonderful sister. Last time we were together was in Italy this past August (see photo above), but it was shortly after Lar’s surgery and we didn’t get a chance to hang out much.
These next six days are going to be filled with so much sister time/AsianCajuns amazingness and I can’t wait to share the pictures with you all. We won’t have much internet access, but don’t worry, I’ve already scheduled a couple of posts ahead of time – including a giveaway.
I also plan on stealing my brother-in-law’s cell phone during my trip so I can update my Instagram daily while in Scotland.
15 November 2013
Four Simple Goals (Before 2014)
I stumbled upon A Beautiful Mess’ Four Simple Goals post and wanted to take a stab at it. I love the idea of having action-oriented, simple goals before the new year instead of huge, impossibly impossible new years resolutions.
My goals are pretty self-explanatory, but I’ll add a bit more thought to them:
1. Make something pretty and fun for the home. Lar and I were big crafters when we were younger and I think my inner crafter is coming back. I recently made a felt flower wreath for my front door and I want to find a good holiday craft for the next month. Drop me a line if you have a great holiday project in mind!
2. Don’t shop for myself when I’m shopping for gifts this season. This one is the hardest for me. Even if I don’t have a ton of money to spend I’ll still be tempted to buy myself a little something. I’m the worst at this when I’m shopping for Lar. It usually goes a little something like, “Ooohhh, Lar would love this. I love this. I’ll get one each!” I’m determined to not let this happen this year.
3. Streamline my style. I talked a little bit about this in a previous post. I’m clearly drawn to grays and blacks, and want to stop being so tempted by the latest trends. I don’t usually buy a lot of clothes in December since I spend most of my money on gifts and other holiday stuff. Nevertheless, if I do happen to be shopping for clothes, I’ll make sure to stick to a strict shopping list.
4. Make oatmeal or green juice every morning. Earlier this year I was on a roll with my morning green juices and smoothies, but at some point I just got out of the habit. As a result I’ve early been eating less healthy breakfasts and/or spending too much money at my local Starbucks. For the next few weeks before the new year, I want to make an extra effort to prepare green smoothies for my weekday mornings. I’ve frozen some pre-made smoothie packs (spinach, lettuce, celery, banana, pear) so it’ll be easier to make each day.
What are your four simple goals? Lar will post her’s next week. Let us know if you post yours on your blog – or if you don’t have a blog, write your goals in the comments section.
Have a wonderful weekend!
11 November 2013
My Corolla Trip to Blue Ridge, GA
Last weekend Southeast Toyota Distributors gave me a 2014 Corolla to drive up to Blue Ridge, GA for two nights. I had been wanting to do a mini fall getaway with Troy this season, so it was perfect timing. Blue Ridge is only about two hours north of Atlanta and is especially beautiful this time of year with the leaves changing color.
This was basically my outfit for the two days we spent wandering around the north Georgia mountains:
Fantas Eyes sunglasses • J. Crew jacket • So Worth Loving tee • black pashmina (similar here) • Gap jeans • Jeffrey Campbell boots • Fjällräven backpack
The Jeffrey Campbell boots are my new pair of boots for the year. I love how simple they are and the slit down the sides are unexpected. You’ll probably be seeing them a lot on this blog 🙂
Downtown Blue Ridge has really grown and evolved in the past five years. Not too long ago it was just another sleepy, north Georgia town. Today it has a number of fine dining restaurants and shops along its main street. During this time of year it’s packed with tourist like me and Troy.
Even though the downtown is growing fast, there aren’t really enough restaurants for all of the tourists. So, if you take a trip up to Blue Ridge during the fall, Â make reservations at the nicer restaurants a week ahead of time.
I didn’t make any reservations ahead of time, so Troy and I missed out on Harvest on Main, the most popular Blue Ridge restaurant. Nevertheless, we did have excellent meals at Black Sheep, Joe’s BBQ, and Blue Ridge Brewery. Joe’s BBQ was my favorite. It’s so small and so popular that the restaurant usually runs out of food by the afternoon.
We stayed at the Aska Lodge Bed and Breakfast and loved it. It’s only a five minute drive from downtown Blue Ridge and has that perfect lodge/cabin feel that you want in the mountains. There are only four rooms (each with a bathroom ensuite) so it’s really intimate and cozy. Troy and I loved the owners, Janet and Ric, and really enjoyed eating breakfast with the other guests. My favorite part was the communal snack area, which included homemade cookies.
Our room had its own private section on the upstairs porch. It was perfect for reading with a cup of hot cocoa and for applying makeup 😉 I also took full advantage of the fake fireplace/heater next to our bed.
In addition to spending a few hours exploring downtown, there are a number of other things you can do in the Blue Ridge area.
We spent a morning at Mercier Orchards, which has been around since 1943. The place is huge! There’s a market, gift shop, deli, and bakery.
It’s a little too late in the season to pick your own apples, so Troy and I just ended up buying half a bushel of Black Arkansas apples (recommended by Ric from our B&B), and then had a mid-morning snack that included an apple dumpling and the amazingly, delicious fried apple pie.
Blue Ridge isn’t far from the start of the Appalachian Trail so there are tons of outdoorsy things to do if you’re staying in that area. It’s also close to Amicalola Falls, the tallest cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi River. With so much beauty and so many trail options in the area you would think Troy and I spent a good part of our trip hiking. Well, we’re not outdoorsy types, so we chose the shortest and closest (and I think best-named) trail to our B&B: Fall Branch Falls.
I really don’t think it gets more perfect than beautiful scenery, an awesome place to stay, a sweet ride, local BBQ, and drinking hot cocoa on the porch on a chilly morning. Even though the trip was only two days, it’s one of our favorites we’ve taken. Troy and I already want to bring all of our friends on a Blue Ridge road trip next month.
I’ll leave you with this last photo from Mercier Orchards. Happy fall!
___________________________
Dearest Lar,
Troy and I spent the whole weekend talking about how beautiful Blue Ridge is. . . and then I saw your photos from Perthshire. Whoa! Blue Ridge is beautiful, but Perthshire is like magical unicorn beautiful.
I think you and Matt would really like Blue Ridge. It would be so fun to do a couples trip up there some day. It also made it really fun to drive a new, fancy car. I’ve never driven a car that has a backup camera and a touch screen audio system – exactly what you’d need for a road trip. Makes you kind of miss America, doesn’t it?
Only twelve more days until we see each other again!!!!
xoxo, Cath
6 November 2013
Confession: I’m a Romantic
I don’t usually like to advertise the fact that I’m a romantic at heart. The aversion probably stems from the eye-rolls I get when I say I like romantic comedies (French Kiss, Notting Hill, You’ve Got Mail are just a few favorites) or when I talk about my love of Jane Austen novels and people who don’t get Austen’s writing dismiss it as literary, romantic fluff. Well, enough is enough! I’m owning up to it and proud of it. I’m a romantic!
So when DUO Boots put a call out to bloggers to write about their favorite love story, while also tying in their new line of boots, I thought, “Challenge accepted!”
My favorite love story? Does it get more romantic than Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice?! I think not. And I know I’m not alone since I have so many friends who are as obsessed with the story as much as I am. Also, a Google search of “Pride and Prejudice” brings up 28.9 million results.
It’s my favorite love story because the love between Elizabeth and Darcy is based on respect and kindness. And here’s where I’ll redeem myself for you non-romantics. The respect and kindness doesn’t come from some lovey, dovey courtship, but a whole mess of misunderstandings that stem from – wait for it – pride and prejudice. The story is so good that it’s been rewritten millions of times – Bridget Jones, You’ve Got Mail, and Lost in Austen are just some of the most recent renditions.
Needless to say, Elizabeth Bennet is one of my all-time favorite heroines. My obsession with Pride and Prejudice started in high school and I remember attempting to be more like Elizabeth – confident, smart-witted, optimistic, and able to laugh at herself. Â I also tried to dress like an updated version of her. It wasn’t as nerdy as it sounds since I was pretty subtle about it. I still remember a fitted, cropped, long-sleeve sweater from Anthropologie that I wore all the time (over a long shirt, thank you very much) because it was reminiscent of something a Jane Austen heroine would wear. Â Ok, it was bad. How did I even have friends in high school?!
But now I have a chance to redeem myself. Here’s a lovely, current-day outfit that I think is very Elizabeth Bennet – including a pair of DUO boots:
Modcloth Sketched Exhibit Dress • Club Monaco postcard set • Madewell duffle bucket bag • Topshop coat • Gorjana Vine necklace • DUO Flore tall boots
Couldn’t you image Elizabeth Bennet in 2013 walking about the English countryside in a pair of knee-high boots and 3/4 length coat, or writing a postcard to her sister Jane? Trust me, this is much better than my cropped sweater outfit from high school.
Don’t leave me hanging here, dear readers. Are you a romantic? Are you a fan of Pride and Prejudice? If you’re a blogger, you have until Friday to enter DUO’s contest. See the details here and let me know if you enter. I’d love to read about your favorite love story!
_______________________
Dearest Lar,
Do you remember the sweater from high school? You had your own version of a cropped, long-sleeve sweater. It was cream and had large button snaps. I don’t know how I can remember that and then have no memory of what I wore yesterday.
DUO is based in the UK so maybe you’ve heard about them before. I love these images on their Facebook page that were taken in Edinburgh:
Pretty cool, no? Looking at these photos somehow makes me feel closer to you – and soon I will be! Reunion in Scotland in 14 days!!!
xoxo, Cath
31 October 2013
Happy Halloween!
Hope you all have a wonderful and safe Halloween!
I didn’t get it together enough to figure out a Halloween costume, but I’ll be passing out candy in my neighborhood at my friend’s house tonight. Before then, I’m picking up a 2014 Toyota Corolla for a weekend adventure (follow me on Instagram – or wait for a future blog post – for details) and afterwards I’ll head over to the Brick Store where my friend will be playing a Wes Anderson DJ set – woohoo!
Some links to get into the holiday spirit:
• Love the chalkboard art image in this post? Check out the Lily & Val shop on Etsy.
• Lar dressed up as a good luck cat for a party this past weekend and spent $0 on making her costume!
• Make some delicious Blood-Orange cocktails this evening.
• Loving Google’s Halloween doodle.
• My two favorite Halloween films: Hocus Pocus and It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
• I’ll never get tired of seeing dogs dressed up in costumes.
28 October 2013
Local Shopping in Atlanta: Worthmore Jewelers
Once in a while Lar and I sit down and talk about what kind of content we want on AsianCajuns. We frequently circle back to topics like outfits, personal style, and travel, but we always decide we want to include more fun things about the cities we live in. I always enjoy reading blogs that unearth shops and restaurants that I wouldn’t know about as a visitor. Lar has done a great job with posts on FYUL and Falko, but I need to step up my game with Atlanta.
I don’t blame people who write off Atlanta as a giant suburb with an international airport. If you stick to the typically touristy stuff, you don’t get to see what makes this city so great. To get a true feel of Atlanta, you have to explore the inner-city neighborhoods where you’ll discover amazing shops and restaurants. So that’s where AsianCajuns comes in. I want to start including more posts on my favorite spots.
Let’s start with a trip to Worthmore Jewelers!
The Worthmore Jewelers in Decatur (the original store is in Midtown) is less than a three minute walk from my work. I pass by it every time I go to Starbucks and always want to press my nose up against the window and see what’s new.
What sets Worthmore apart from other jewelry stores is its inventory. It has a great mix of price points, styles, and items. I’m not a big jewelry person – at least not the fancy kind – so I usually just write them off as places where you buy engagement rings. But I’ve been going to Worthmore for years because they have unpretentious jewelry you’d want to wear everyday, they have the best selection of watches in town, and the staff is super welcoming and friendly.
Below I’m trying on this amazing Nixon watch. Isn’t it a beaut? It’s already on my Christmas wish list (hint, hint Troy)!
Since I don’t know much about stones and gems I might be a little slow on the morganite trend. Have you heard of it? Apparently it’s part of the emerald family. It’s a little hard to tell in these photos, but the morganite gems are more of a light peach than pink, which I like because it makes it less princess-y – or less J.Lo/Affleck engagement ring-y.
See the delicate necklace in the photos below? Every one of those little beads is a rough cut, black diamond – kinda reminds me of this 😉
There are so many facets on each diamond that the whole necklace sparkles like crazy, but it’s ultimately very understated. I would absolutely put this on my Christmas wish list if I thought someone would plunk down $1700 on a gift for me. Still, a girl can dream, right?
Worthmore carries Nina Nguyen jewelry based out of Colorado, which uses organic stones like geodes and fossilized ammonites.
Other reasons why I love Worthmore:
1.) The store is like a jewelry store and art gallery in one. They’re always having art openings and participate in the bi-annual Decatur ArtWalks (the next one is Nov. 8!).
2.) Did I mention the staff? Harris, Olya and the whole Decatur Worthmore team are wonderful!
3.) Troy brought Wheatie with him when he came to take these photos and the staff loved him. You might be able to have breakfast at Tiffany’s, but can you bring dogs to Tiffany’s? I think not! Actually, you can’t have breakfast there either, so really you should just shop at Worthmore.
Have you ever been to Worthmore before? For you non-Atlantans, what are your favorite local jewelry shops? I can’t wait to hear from you!
____________________
Dearest Lar,
I still can’t believe that I’m going to Scotland next month! Never ever did I think we’d be spending Thanksgiving together this year – best Christmas present EVER!!
My only concern? I don’t think I can handle real cold anymore. Atlanta weather has made me a weakling when it comes to the cold. The other day I was really cold in my house so I checked the thermostat and it was at 68 degrees. That’s just sad! I’ll be permanently wrapped in a fleece blanket the whole time I’m in Scotland.
So I’ll pack lots and lots of layers for next month and just drink lots and lots of tea.
I can’t wait!!! Bring on the cold!
xoxo, Cath
22 October 2013
Lily Rain Give Away: Day and Night Necklace
One lucky reader will win this gorgeous Day and Night necklace from Lily Rain.
Just for fun, below is what I would wear with this necklace. Gold and black is one of my favorite color combinations. I think it’s so elegant and the gold details in this outfit keep it from looking too Coven-ish.
Club Monaco crepe top • Dorothy Perkins wrap skirt • Kate Spade watch • Sole Society t-strap heels
There are multiple ways you can enter to win this necklace, so best of luck!!