Hello Ladies and Gents!

I thought I would follow up Cath’s post with a little more about our visit to Shakespeare and Co. We meant to go last time we were in Paris about eight years ago and were so crestfallen when we didn’t make it. This time around we had a bit of a bother finding it, even though it’s almost visible from Notre Dame – we seemed to prefer a circuitous route when “finding” things in Paris. We made up for our grumpiness of stumbling around the same block for an hour by spending a good 2-3 hours in this wonderful place of books, beds, and old furniture.

A Brief History:
American George Whitman went to Paris to study at the Sorbonne on the GI Bill after WWII. While studying, he grew a large collection of English books and he used his apartment as an informal book store and library. In 1951 he opened Shakespeare and Co. in Paris’ Latin Quarter, just on the banks of the Seine. It became and still is, in my mind, the ultimate bohemian book store. Frequented by the Beat poets/writers and the likes of Henry Miller, Anais Nin, and Richard Wright. George passed away this December, but the store is now run by his daughter.

The shop window, with flowers left by George Whitman’s mourners.

But this place isn’t just a twee little book shop, snuggled next to cafes. If you are a working writer and wish to stay (for free!) to do a bit a writing, there are a number of beds tucked next to the packed shelves (I didn’t take any photos because cameras were prohibited in the upstairs rooms). There’s also a little writing nook with a typewriter on a desk, replete with fairy lights and notes stuck all around from fellow travelers and writers. Mr. Whitman strongly believed and followed Yeats verses, “Be not inhospitable to strangers / Lest they be angels in disguise.”

One of the many hand-drawn signs in the store.

Cath caught mid-browsing.

I thought I would throw in this outfit pic below because it’s what I wore when we went to Shakespeare and Co. Troy and I acted as the camera crew on most of our outings in Paris, so I don’t have a ton of photos of myself on our adventures. This was taken in our flat before we sent off:

Outfit details: thrifted shirt and necklace from Armstrongs, Edinburgh • Belt and jeans from Madewell • CK leg warmers • Hunter Boots wedge lace-up wellies (the laces are in the back)

Our lovely friend (and talented jeweler) June Shin put this on our radar. This week visit this auction site, place a bid, and not only might you get a gorgeous piece of art, you’ll also get to donate 100% of the proceeds to a charity. Best way to holiday shop ever! Let us know if you guys get anything. Here’s the link to their site:

artistcharityauction.blogspot.com

Hello all! Look at what Lar wore around her head the other day when we took our parents out for dim sum – a schnazzy headband! What you can’t tell from the photo is that Lar’s headband is homemade. Impressed? I was too. She bought some stretchy neon fabric at Hancock Fabrics, made a few cuts, did a few twists and tucks and voila! I’m in love with it.

Yum, yum, dim sum! Our favorite isn’t even pictured here. Anyone else out there love steamed cha siu baos – also know as steamed bbq pork buns?

Lar’s outfit details: homemade headband, Gap tank (word on the street is that this tank sold out super fast in stores and there’s only XL sizes left online), FCUK for Sears skirt and Jeffrey Campbell shoes.

My outfit details: H&M sweater worn over a dress from Rockit Boutique, Vivid Boutique bag and Nine West sandals. I would normally not advise anyone to wear a sweater during the summer in Atlanta, but a lightweight sweater is perfect for the indoor AC temps.

The photo above is a kind of behind the blog scenes view. Although we consider AsianCajuns to be a lifestyle/fashion blog, we spend a good portion of our picture-taking focusing on food. I also like how the photo shows off the, uh, inviting ambiance of Oriental Pearl with bright red walls, a pretty clear view into the kitchen and one of the many LCD TVs hanging all around the restaurant allowing you to stay up to date on your Asian news or soap operas while you eat.

But enough talk about food! Lar, Matt, Troy and I are heading up to Ocean City, Maryland tomorrow for a much needed vacation. Why are we going to a beach all the way up in Maryland – especially one that could compete with the Jersey Shore in tackiness? Because our extended family owns a condo up there and we get to stay for free! Plus, the condo’s retro decor alone is worth the 12 hour drive:

To see more photos of the condo, check out the photos that Troy took of the place last year here.

We’ll be bringing our laptops with us and have every intention of blogging. However, if you don’t hear from us for a week, just know that we’re thinking fondly of all of you as we sit on the beach, sipping margaritas.

New York (and Milan and Paris and London) may have Scott Schuman, but we have C of Atlanta Street Fashion. We had the pleasure of meeting him for drinks at Leon’s this past Saturday and then doing a mini-street style photoshoot on the square in downtown Decatur. You can see our full ATL sartorialist photos here.

Local fashionistas, keep a look out for this dapper man around town, and let us know if you are featured on his blog!

Whilst imbibing and noshing at Leon’s, we thought we would capture our rather professional looking nails. Cath and I are both trying to budget and save, so we haven’t had a real manicure in a while. Instead we picked up some of those Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail strips. And they make it look like I can actually do my nails! They are so easy to use! I’m usually a mess with nail polish (I never take close ups of my hands for that reason ), but these make me look like I’m a pro – or I at least paid a pro to do it.

Oh and just in case you were wondering, Sally Hansen is not a sponsor or paid us to review their product. We’re just mentioning them here because I’m pleased as punch that I can have nice looking nails for over a week without paying $15-$20. Have you guys tried them yet?

Hope you are having a great week, lovelies! Stay tuned, we’ll have a lulus.com giveaway before the weekend hits!

xoxo,

Lar

Have you guys met Mae yet (see her blog Thereafterish if you haven’t)? Cath and I were over-the-moon when she wrote us a few months back to let us know she would be in Decatur for a wedding – all the way from Detroit.

We only had a few hours for our fashion blogger meet up last Saturday, so we decided to take Mae on a mini whirlwind tour of Decatur. Check out her amazing post on the afternoon here.

First stop: Leon’s for some delicious food and drinks.

Next stop: Squash Blossom Boutique – one of our favorite shops ever. Mae and I fell in love with Puma, the store mascot.

Habitat for Humanity installed seven playhouses on the square for the week and we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take blogger outfit shots. Below Lar is the photog and Mae is the gorgeous street style model. If only Tommy Ton was in Decatur that day!

I loved Mae’s Dolce Vita wedges – the back zips have tassels! My Aldo shoes (in the background) are some of my most comfortable summer heeled sandals that I own. I really think a girl can never have too many nude heels, so I’m adding Mae’s wedges to my wish list.

A close-up of an amazing gift from Lar: a buttery leather, orange Clare Vivier clutch. It’s my new all-time favorite accessory. I can actually fit my cell, wallet, coin purse, lip gloss and a notebook in it without a struggle.

Mae and Lar tried to get a few outfit pictures of me standing in front of the Mondrian-ish house, but the crazy running, screaming kids totally freaked me out. I think I was born without a maternal gene – eesh.

I built my outfit around my new clutch: Michael Stars sunglasses, thrifted silk top, American Apparel shorts and a Nixon watch from Worthmore Jewelers.

I loved Lar’s outfit – and hair! She pulled her hair up in a high, half ponytail and wore white sunnies from Rockit Boutique. The dress is from Creature Comforts (I bought it for her when I was out in LA last summer), American Apparel skirt, and Jeffrey Campbell shoes.

Our last stop was Rockit Boutique where we ran into another fashion blogger.

It was a perfect fashion blogger day.

The absolute best thing about writing this blog is the amount of wonderful people we’ve met because of it and our day with Mae completely encapsulated that. Thanks for visiting Mae, come back soon!

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!

In the spirit of consumerism the season, Lar and I thought we’d post a list of our favorite online shops:

• The Cookie Studio
• Heliotrope
• June Shin
• Moxsie
• NOVICA
• Ramona West
• Shopbop
• Warby Parker

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a great one that involved lots of delicious food and lots of dish washing!

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.

Och! I’m already homesick* for the place, but it’s nice to be back in the land of wifi. (Thanks for keeping up AC while I was gone, Kitcath!) I missed you guys too! I’ll be back in the land of commenting once my jet lag wears off. I’m most definitely still on British time.

I’m sure you guys don’t want to browse through tons of look-at-my-beautiful-vacation-photos photos, so I’ll keep this short and sweet. In the next post, I’ll show you what I actually wore whilst hiking the damp hills of Scotland (the above photo with H&M scarf and Madewell jacket is utterly misleading). Brands like (gulp) Northface and (shiver) Columbia were de rigueur for me. Be afraid… very afraid.

For now, I’ll leave you with the rosy view of my trip:

* Cath and I spent six months in Edinburgh studying in 2004. Since then, we’ve been deeply in love with Scotland. We can’t explain our choice. We know she has a bad reputation (cold, rainy, a bit moody even), but she is The One for us. If we could move there, we would at the drop of a tartan cap. Sadly, we’ve had to make due with a long distant relationship since 2004 until my brief fling these past 11 days. Cath will hopefully reunite with her next year. P.S. For all our mixed blood, we don’t have a drop of Scottish in us, so our love doesn’t come from kin (or clan). Go figure. It must be the kilts.

As I’m writing this Lar and her bf are flying across the Atlantic to Scotland – my favorite place on earth. They’ll be meeting up with friends and staying in a cottage on the west coast north of Glasgow and finishing their trip in Edinburgh. Not only am I insanely jealous, I also already miss Lar like crazy.

To distract myself I’ve decided to focus on some fun stuff.

1.) AsianCajun playlist on Songza!
Songza is like Pandora and every social media site all rolled into one. You can create a playlist and then friends can add their own songs to it.  Listen to the AsianCajuns Songza Playlist and add your favorites to our hodge podge of songs. I’m obsessed with this site and listen to it at work all the time now.

2.) New Ann Taylor Concept Store in Atlanta
In honor of the store opening, our Atlanta readers will receive a 20% discount at the new Lenox mall store when they say “There’s a new Ann in town” at checkout. The deal ends on Sept. 5. Make sure you get over there – I’ll be visiting tomorrow!

3.) Atlanta Bocce Ball!
The inaugural season of the Atlanta Bocce League starts Sept. 15 and continues every Wednesday night at Piedmont Park. It’s a co-ed league with league bars and drink specials every week. On top of all that, Whynatte and Esperanza, two of our favorite local companies, are league partners.

4.)Imogene + Willie
I’m trying to figure out when I can make a special trip to Nashville just to check out Imogene + Willie. The store sells the designers’ premium denim (they suggest washing denim in the tub or a creek) and other lovely Americana items, like vintage cowboy boots, in a beautifully retro-fitted gas station. I love the videos on their website including this one: