Dear Cath,

So you are in Denver right now. That’s an extra two time zones further away – harumph. You have the Rockies, I have the Pentland Hills… it’s just not right.

I think the constant cold rain is making me grumbly. I’ll snap myself out of it by telling you about more of my artsy decorating attempts!

In our previous rented apartments it’s always been a challenge because you can only do so much, especially when landlords made painting verboten. It’s even harder when your flat/apartment comes with furniture. Here in our Edinburgh flat, I can’t paint the walls or the purple couch. Instead I cover the walls in tissue paper creations and style my book shelves! Extreme decorating this is not!

Covering all those books for my wedding really stuck with me. I’ve been hoarding recycling any large white newsprint I get to wrap all our thrift store books.

I don’t think you can get girlier book shelves, but I still like them. Hopefully Matt doesn’t mind. Doesn’t every man want a copy of Marie Antoinette’s dinner menu on display? Ask Troy if he feels you’ve been neglectful in this matter.

More wedding craft holdovers: tissue paper flower poufs! They are so good at adding color and making you think there is imminent partying about to happen.

I wanted to keep the palette in the bedroom pretty neutral so that Matt’s eyes can get a rest from the neon and pink everywhere else. I was looking for the perfect shade of antique-y tissue paper and that’s when it hit me: old sewing patterns! So I scooped some up (50p per used pattern packet) at the local charity shop and snipped them into flower poufs!

Here comes the neon! I’m slowly covering the walls in the main room with painted scraps, sketches and photos:

I made the confetti garland out of blue tissue paper and cut-up H&M bags: this season they are this pretty translucent aqua.

I’m still working on sketching notable Edinburghers. I only have Sir Arthur done. Next up? Robert Louis Stevenson. I like his lanky hair.

P.S. The “Best Mustache” prize actually goes to Matteo, but I’ll let Arthur think he’s got it.

I hope you are having fun, Cath! Miss you so much!

xoxoxx,

Lar

Like I told you, I think the best way to celebrate Matteo’s birthday is with some good food — especially food he doesn’t usually get to eat. So Friday night we went to Vietnam House for pho. I made him wear his birthday badge all day. Nobody noticed except for the masseuse who said “do you work for Salvation Army?”

Look at this feast, Kitcath! I haven’t had pho since leaving Atlanta and this was soooo wonderful! I actually preferred my vegetarian version to Matt’s beef broth. I could eat this every day.

I’m sure you are sick of my complaining about the cold and the rain, and it seems phoney too seeing as I only show photos like this on the blog:

When it is sunny, it is so beautiful, but still so cold and so windy. My brain gets confused because in Maryland and Georgia when you see cherry blossoms it means the cold days are banished until next winter. Not so here. These are tenacious cherries. They’ve been blossoming for about three weeks and weathered the hail, snow and intense wind gusts.

I am far less tenacious. I thought I would sneak a pair of sandals on my feet (the toes haven’t been out of woolie socks since September 21 when we left Atlanta), but I switched into my Frye boots before we ventured down to Thistle Street. I’m not sure if I can do cold feet and slip around in stilettos on cobblestone.

Primark blouse (bought in December before ethical guilt awakening) • thrifted Zara skinnies • Luxury Rebel shoes

Don’t you like this coral and cargo green together?

And zips on the side of these skinnies! I haven’t been to Zara in a while because they aren’t particularly ethical (not even making an attempt like H&M), so I’m glad I found these at a charity shop.

The more research I do on ethical shopping, the easier it seems to find clothes, but the harder it is to find reasonably priced, ethical foot wear. So the two shoes I’ve bought since being in Scotland are not in any way ethical. Cri de Coeur is the best option I’ve found so far, but it doesn’t work if you are looking for a specific kind of shoe. Like I told you, after watching Audrey Tautou in Delicacy I really wanted a pair of ballerinas with a short heel. And I found them, but they aren’t ethical (they came with me to a picnic on Saturday):

Saturday evening we went here for dinner (so fancy pancy). I don’t know whose bike that is. Maybe it’s always there to give Saint Honoré some street cred:

We were very un-vegetarian. Matt had paté and a meat pie. I had sardines and then salmon:

And then this for dessert!

Dark chocolate tart with lemon sorbet on top (aka Matt’s birthday cake, of which I ate half most).

And at the end of our three courses, we got coffee (which I haven’t had since December!) and they served it with their house Scottish tablet. I love that even though everything was so Frenchie, at the end they leave you with a bit of local sweetness.

Okay, so this still isn’t as satisfying as sitting next to you and telling you these things and showing you photos on my camera. But I guess it will have to do? Can you imagine if we had studied abroad apart? I would have been home faster than you can say twin power.

Miss you so, so, so much.

Love,

Lar

p.s. I am still trying to figure out how to cook with this and like it. Hopefully this week’s veg box won’t have one. I haven’t used last week’s and it’s making our pantry smell like celery — why can’t it smell like chocolate cake instead:

Isn’t this a fantastic castle? It’s so castley! It’s exactly the sort of thing I would draw when I was young and went through a castle-drawing phase: turret, crenelation, crenelation, crenelation, turret.

And castles of this sort are just one of the many many many reasons I love Scotland. When Cath and I were students here we bought Historic Scotland passes and would spend every weekend hopping on trains to as many castles as we could manage within a days’ journey of Edinburgh.

This particular castle, Craigmillar, is just a hop, skip and a jump from the city center of Edinburgh. From Craigmillar’s battlements you can actually see Edinburgh Castle’s battlements. This was the castle that royals (such as Mary Queen of Scots) would go to for some down-time; away from the hullabaloo that was medieval Edinburgh. It was the Hamptons to their Manhattan penthouses — except, you know, draftier and … stoney-er.

From the top of the castle you get these gorgeous views of the Firth of Forth (a rather large bay-like body of water that flows into the North Sea).

Below, I’m keeping a look-out for parties of marauding English — the most intimidating door-keeper this castle has ever seen:

Mettle necklace • H&M jacket and tank (organic cotton range) • AE belt • thrifted Coach bag and Reiss coat • Madewell skinnies • Frye boots

The great thing about these castles is that it’s not like in the States where most of the ruin would be cordoned off (do we have ruins in the States?). You can climb all over them: sneaking down spiral stairways and squeezing through secret passage ways.

Lead-paned windows! I live for this stuff!

Here’s a photograph to show you how close we are to Edinburgh — spitting distance really:

I took about a million and a half photographs because it was so sunny and so wonderfully castley, but I don’t want to bore you guys with too much stone. I hope this is just a glimpse to get you thinking “Scotland… I need to go to there” (ignore the fact that this has been one of their rainiest Springs for an already rainy country. It becomes sunny whenever you visit a castle.).

So what do you say? You wanna come castling with us?

—–

Dear Cath,

As much as we love Edinburgh, I really think one reason we fell in love with this country is the train trips we took to all those castles. The only downside to Craigmillar is that it’s not one of those castles with a giftshop and tea room. Remember those? A bit of Scottish tablet, some tea, and then searching through their tea towel collection. Crazy, wild college kids that we were

I sooooo wish you were here to go castling with us! I think Matt likes them, but he grew up going to crusader castles all over the middle east and thinks Scotland’s castles are newbies. Who knew I married such a hoity-toity castler?

I hope you guys have some fun plans for the weekend! Our only big plan is going to eat at this fancy pants place.

LOVE,

Lar

So what do you do? You throw on your favorite scarf, cross your fingers, and head out into the belly of the city:

Sly Pete Scarf from Etsy (check out Laura’s fantastic style blog here) • Primark coat • Vintage Coach bag • Madewell skinnies • Hunter boots (on sale!)

I still haven’t gotten over the thrill of sitting on the second level of a double-decker bus (even though it makes me slightly queasy on longer rides). You can see so much of the beautiful city from up there. I always want the bus rides to last forever — I don’t think I’ll ever live in another city where I’ll wish that to be the case:

Book shops and newstands in abundance — two of my favorite things:

We have some friends here who are members of a club (can you guess which club from the subtle clues I left in the photo below?). They invited us to said club for lunch. I felt very Wooster-at-the-Drones-club, except when I was taking covert photos. Real club members don’t do that. Thanks for the invite, S&J!

Post “clubbing” we had to refortify with a slice of cake (and tea):

Then we hopped on another bus and went to a castle! I love castling. I have a whole post dedicated to going to this castle, so I hope you guys like castling too (yes, it’s a verb! — according to me):

Then back home for another delicious bowl of kedgeree (aka British fried rice):

Which we ate while watching the sun set in our apartment around 8:30 pm (the sun now rises at about 5 am — oi, my eyes)!

So the weather here isn’t easy, but who doesn’t like a good challenge? Especially when you have very long spring days, castles, tea, kedgeree, books and leather-arm-chaired clubs to assuage any malcontent at a snowy May.

—–

Dear Cath,

Click on that Drones club link above — it’s Hugh Laurie singing “47 Ginger-Haired Sailors.” I wish he sang in “House” — it would almost cancel out the hypochondria response I have to every episode.

I can’t wait to post the photos of Craigmillar Castle too! I think the day we went (8 years ago!) it was rainy and we didn’t stay long. I remember our trip to Linlithgow’s castle better. But Craigmillar has plenty of twisty staircases and hidden hallways to remind me why we did so much castling as students.

I hope you are having a good week so far! I misssss you!!!

Love,

Lar

It is a beautiful city no matter the weather (good thing too), but when the sun comes out I swear it is sunnier and brighter than any place I’ve ever been. It’s kind of like when Dorothy steps out of her black and white Kansas farmhouse into the technicolored land of Oz. Birds gustily burst into song, rainbows spring out of emerald green hills, and all of Edinburgh breathes a happy sigh.

Here’s the thing though. Just because it’s sunny and the birds and rainbows are doing their thing, it doesn’t mean it is warm. Warm-ish, maybe, but not warm (unless you are one of those people that says a windy 47°F is warm). But as any Scottish person worth their salt will tell you, it’s no reason not do a little sun worshiping. So I grabbed the mustached husbando and headed out doors.

First stop, Princes Street Gardens for quick outfit shooting:

The good: necklace from Kenya (thank you, Pam!) • vintage Coach purse
The could-be-better-ethically-speaking-but-none-of-it’s-new: Primark coat and tank • Uniqlo sweater • Madewell jeans • Frye boots

Ice cream is popular here. . . all year round. 47 degrees and windy, and Scots stand outside with ice cream running down their cones. Scots are made of stronger stuff than I (I opted for a chocolate brownie instead, life being full of hard choices):

Next up, wedding watching! We (being wanna-be Scots people) were sitting at an outdoor cafe (with our coats on) when this wedding parade strolled by to some very merry bag piping. Any given Saturday you will come across a wedding party waltzing after their bag piper — lovely!

P.S. I in no way enhanced any of these sunny photos in photoshop. Those vivid greens really exist here when the sun bothers to show up. Nutso, isn’t it?

And if you get nippy from trying to be a true Scots, just duck into your local café for tea and cake (tea and cake or death, tea and cake or death!).

There are some lovely views from cafe below the National Gallery, and such good cake… nom!

Now you’ve got the feeling back in your hands whilst holding your mug of tea and gobbling your cake, head back outside for some more lolling about in the grass — preferably in the shade of a large castle:

End your day outside as the sun sets (which is around 8 pm now — thank you nearly-Artic-circle latitude!), sniffing cherry blossoms and looking at church murals with wonderful morals:

Once home, inspect possible (I say, very slightly possible) evidence of a rosy glow (wouldn’t go so far to say “tan”) from the sun.

So who’s ready for a little sunbathing in Scotland?

—–

Dear Cath,

Do you remember when we were studying here how everyone would crowd the Meadows once it hit 60 degrees? We only had one spell like that so far, but I’m crossing my fingers that May will be at least a touch warmer than April — jacket weather instead of coat weather.

I would give anything to meet you here on the next sunny day. How does tomorrow sound?

Love,

Lar

The Good: Mettle necklace • H&M Conscious Collection tank
The Eh: Blank cords • Hunter boots • Fast Fashion sweater

Ever since my ethical fashion awakening a few months back, I haven’t bought very much. I’ve picked up a few things at thrift stores, but I want to learn to shop less and shop better (thereby chipping away  at the fast fashion industry and my own voracious inner consumerism monster).

That sounds all very noble and good, doesn’t it? Well the second I heard about H&M revealing their Conscious Collection, I felt the consumerism monster rub his hands together with glee. He and I had visions of vegan bags, recycled metal bangles, and pretty spring dresses doing a guilt-free conga line in my head. Da da da da dah… DAH!

But once I was faced with an array of green-tagged items, I took it a little slower and remembered that I should just buy what I really like and think I will use. If a main tenant of being more ethical and sustainable is buying less, than the conga line needs to stay a fun, fluffy dream.

If you do go to tackle your own ethical demons at H&M, make sure to look for the green tags and the pink-threaded label. They have their conscious collection mixed in with their regular duds, and it took me a bit of “Crap! That dress isn’t actually made of organic cotton” to realize that just because it’s in the “Conscious Collection” display does not mean it’s conscious — a bit tricksy if you ask me.

If you want to know what they mean by “conscious” here are a few quick bullets about the collection:

• H&M is the number one user of organic cotton world wide

• They aim to make all of their clothing from organic, sustainable cotton by 2020

• They work with Unicef to protect children’s rights

• 72% of managerial positions are held by females

• They have skilled workers programs set up in Bangladesh

• In 2011 they donated 2.3 million garments to charities

I’m really impressed by how much information (i.e. transparency) H&M have on their website about their different efforts to be a better company. Most brands will give you, if you’re lucky, their usual “we carefully inspect our suppliers and make sure they are following their country’s workers’ rights guidelines” answer, which means diddly-squat.

To read more about all their initiatives here are some links:

• H&M Conscious Collection

• H&M charity work

• H&M cotton sustainability

• How H&M are actually improving workers’ conditions

• On most of these pages there is also a link in the sidebar to their 2011 Concious Actions Sustainability Report 2011. I’m making my way through this 89 page pdf today.

I just think this is so exciting! When a mega-huge fast fashion company is working its way toward sustainability, others (i.e. the rest) can’t be far behind. As consumers, if we keep pushing for more ethically and sustainably produced fashion, we will get it! By buying less and buying only “conscious” labels, you really do make a difference. Pretty fantabulouso, me thinks!

Oh and just in case you’re wondering, H&M is not and has never been a sponsor. I wasn’t invited to the Conscious Collection preview or fancy opening. I found out about their collection through bloggers that were invited to said shindigs. So this is unbiased blathering on my part.

Okay and now to let your ethically-focused minds have a rest, I leave you with another cute photo of our neighbor’s puppy:

——

Dear Cath,

Good luck on your exam today! I will be thinking happy and very statiscally thoughts for you this afternoon/evening.

Miss you ooooodles and ooodles. Wish I could go H&M conscious shopping with you.

Love,

Lar

I realized my past couple of posts have been sooo wordy and thinky and angsty (ethical shopping! eating healthy! buying local!), that you guys might appreciate a little break from all that – heck! I would!

So this is just a little bit of fun and fluff, and things that happen when I’m not tormented about where to buy vegan make-up, shoes sewn by people earning a liveable wage, and where my sweet potatoes are grown.

Spring in Edinburgh! (So what it’s still only highs of 48 degrees when there’s blue sky and tenacious flowers):

It’s a gorgeous city, Edinburgh (view looking north over the Firth of Forth — a firth is like a bay and disappointingly not named after Colin):

Tea, and I don’t mean the drink. I mean mounds of clotted cream and scones, and salmon and cucumber sandwiches:

Here’s a close up for you:

Obviously scones and butter are the opposite of my vegan, gluten-free diet, but I have a hard time saying no to clotted cream. I mean, I can’t refuse a cultural experience, which is definitely what clotted cream is. Have you guys had it before? As far as dairy products go in the game of Britain vs. the States, Britain wins by a landslide.

Hope you guys had a wonderful weekend with bits of fluff!

—-

Dear Cath,

I hope you have a great week! For some reason it makes me sad that you are going to Orlando because that’s even further away than Atlanta! Next time you should have a conference in Edinburgh, okay? I’ll even take Toronto because the flight is much shorter (they go over the pole).

How did the rest of your paper writing go?

We need to start our August count down

Love you!

Lar

To rectify this (and stop the head twinging – ouch!) I got in touch with our affiliate sponsor Shopbop, and asked if they could send us a list of their eco-friendly lines. They have a handy list of designers on their site, but no page that groups all of the eco labels together and explains exactly how eco/ethical they are. So here’s a handy list and explanation for ya:

Cleobella: A California-based brand that was inspired by a year of travel to foreign lands. All of their bags are handmade in Indonesia and Bali by local artisans and many of the materials are recycled. Their website also says that their leftover fabrics and leathers are given to charities that support local Balinese villages. They mention Care on their site under “Philanthropy” — woohoo!– but they don’t specifically mention how this is connected to their business. A percent of their profits perhaps? For more info on Cleobella, click here.

Kora: Oooh I like these guys. They use locally-sourced and recycled materials from around Africa (Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana) and the pieces are made by local artisans living in developing communities. Kora’s philosophy is “trade not aid” — providing sustainable economic growth to these communities — so cool! “Kora” means “work” in Kinyarwanda. To find out more, click here.

A Peace Treaty: an ethically-produced collection of jewelry and scarves started by a Pakistani Muslim and a Libyan Jew (I thought the name was a bit cheesy until I read that). They work in a different region of the world each season to provide fair-trade work to out-of-work artisans and disabled and widowed women. On their site they say that each jewelry or scarf collection resuscitates ancient handmade textile and metalsmithing techniques that are at risk of extinction. To read more, click here.

Lizzie Fortunato Jewels: designed and operated by twins, so you know it has to be good (wink, wink — I’m so subtle!). They use reclaimed and found materials for many of their pieces. I love these beautiful and simple designs. They have gorgeous, larger statement necklaces as well, but they go a bit beyond our price range. I’d like to know more about where they make their pieces and who makes them, but I’ll have a hunt around their blog and see if I can find out more.

Alkemie Jewelry: talons and skulls, ooo lala! These guys can claim that 100% of their designs are made of reclaimed materials and everything is made by hand in downtown L.A. I really love when companies are truly trying to follow what they say is important: sustainability and caring for their employees and the environment. I feel like a lot of supposedly eco-friendly brands I read about just scratch the surface and ride the green wave. Read more about Alkemie’s philosophy and story here.

Chinti and Parker: clothes! A British company that is carbon neutral and they state on their site that they are the opposite of fast fashion – woohoo! The downside is I know they are a bit pricey — boohoo. But they do a great job of explaining exactly how they stay eco/ethically friendly on their site (click here): almost all of their items are made in the EU, they want to make pieces that stand the test of time (less buying), their packaging is fair trade, all of their materials but the bamboo jersey is 100% organic, and they continue to try to come up with ways to be even more ethical and environmentally friendly. Let the saving begin!

Woohoo! Lovely list, right? Now I know what you might be thinking if you checked out some of these designers on Shopbop — they aren’t cheap. I do feel the one (fairly major) downside to ethical and eco shopping is the price. I know these designers aren’t as easily attainable as our cheapy loves of yore (F21, Primark, etc.). I do find it frustrating not to be able to scratch my shopping impulse itches any more with just $20 (that’s shoes and a cute blouse at Primark). Instead, I find myself gritting my teeth and having to think “Okay, do you need this? How was this made?” It certainly isn’t as fun, but I swear (even as I grind my teeth down to stubs) it’s much more rewarding.

With that thinking in mind, Cath and I both saved up for necklaces from Mettle via Shopbop. We wanted statement necklaces that were very wearable (no feathers or bright colors – love that, but needed something more versatile if we were going to spend over $100).

What’s really cool about this choker is that it’s made from recycled metal formerly used in bomb shells dropped by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Now that metal is being used by a fair-trade, non-profit skills training project in Cambodia by Mettle. A horrible, dangerous thing now being used in a sustainable way. Thumbs up all around.

I’ll keep plugging away at this ethical “investigation” and I hope it helps you guys if you are interested! I know some of you might be like “hush up, Lar, we wanna just keep shopping for fun!” And believe me I totally understand that. Making this public on our blog is making me stick to it. So even if you are getting tired of these rambles, I still thank you for keeping me on the straight and narrow (let the teeth gritting continue).

—-

Dear Cath,

I want to see pics of your Mettle necklace too! I’ll make sure to take proper photos of mine, and we can do a twinsie post. Isn’t that cool that Chinti and Parker is run by twins? I think that’s why I envy the Olsen twins the most: getting to work together and live in the same city. Maybe we should work toward that, huh?

Miss you so much!

Love,

Lar

Maybe not this particular gate per say, but these hills by Ben Nevis in the Scottish Highlands have seen some famous menfolk. Harry and friends took the Hogwarts train through this terrain, Liam Neeson as Rob Roy bounded away from the English up that hill, and Mel (face painted blue and white) strode about in his skirt kilt here.

So while Cath has been inspiring you with her lovely outfits, I’ve been dressed like this:

Nice, huh? Columbia, North Face, Pata-gucci: brands that I didn’t know existed, or pretended they didn’t exist (down with the black North Face fleece!), until two years ago (the “ugly pants” in this photo debuted on this blog here). Not my favorite clothing (except for my Zissou-inpsired neon pink cap), but so wonderful when one is doing some serious hiking. That’s right. Serious hiking. Two more outdoorsy words that are new to my vocabulary.

You can hike in cuter clothes: lace-up booties, skinny jeans, properly layered and fitted flannels, some sort of felt fedora. But, ladies and gents, when you are scrambling up rain-soaked rocks, stomping through peaty bogs, and attempting to pee (out in the open- gak!) at high altitudes, you do not want to worry about wriggling out of good-butt jeans or slipping off a mountain in lace-up Frye boots.

Now you might ask yourself, so what is the point of not just the ugly attire, but the (serious-to-me) hiking in the first place?!

Firstly, you get to take a train (I love trains!). It is in fact the same route they use in all the Harry Potter movies:

We did not pass Hogwarts, but we did stop at the most remote station in this part of Scotland. The “town” of Corrour is literally made up of the train station and that wee green house you see in the background. No roads, just a train stop. Two buildings surrounded by large rolling hills and mountains for miles and miles:

Secondly, you get to see beautiful things like this: Scotland on a sunny day! We were staying in Fort William which gets the highest level of rain fall… for Scotland! And it was sunny and glorious:

Thirdly, sheep. I love sheep!

Fourthly, friends (and rainbows!). My lovely friend and sistah-in-law Pam is the one who encourages Matt and I to be outdoorsy. If you are of a similar adventuresome spirit as she (or would like to live such a life vicariously, like moi), read all about her life in Kigali, Rwanda on her blog Pam the Nomad.

Fifthly, sun and hills and mountains and tree stumps:

Sixthly, because wherever this guy goes, I go (isn’t that the 80s jingle for My Buddy? Matt doesn’t wear overalls):

Seventhly (not a word?), because you get a rest from me gabbing about ethical clothing (everything I’m wearing in this post is at least two years old except for the hat which I bought in a weakened state to make myself feel better about the rest of my sartorial trappings).

Between being momentarily outdoorsy, working from home in my work-out clothes (which I never work out in), and my ethical muddle, I’m finding it hard pressed to remember how to dress with a bit of je nais se quoi. It’s a good thing I have Cath to keep me inspired and remind me that I can look cute at some future date (one perk to being a twin, “ahhh, that’s how I use to look in pencil skirts and heels!”).

Tell me, do you guys own fleece and water-resistant trousers?

—–

Dear Cath,

Do you remember Fort William ever looking so sunny? Isn’t it amazing? I so wish you could have been there with us! I know we aren’t real hikers, but you would have loved the sheep and I would have bought you a matching neon cap — we could have hummed the Life Aquatic sound track as we stumbled around fields.

I do seriously mean it though, when I say you keep me inspired. Now that the weather is trying to be warm in Scotland, I will try to emerge from my layers of sweat pants and woolly socks.

I miss you so much. Why is this not getting easier?

LOVE,

Lar

Me and my fishy face still continue to muddle through my style/fashion dilemmas. Since writing this post and this post, I’ve been turning things over in my mind ad nauseum. And you guys have been brilliant offering your two cents and telling me how you handle buying, shopping and being all-around conscientious consumers. And so it continues! Here’s how I’ve progressed these past few weeks:

When in London I was not at all lured by the siren call of high street stores. Mega-huge Top Shop? Nah. H&M on every corner? I didn’t even see you! I spent most of my money on food and museum fees: feast for the tummy and the eyes. I did manage to buy a few things at Spitalfields Market and at this wonderful thrift store of designer finds called Dress for Less.

Thrifting/shopping vintage. Nothing new there (literally. hardi har har), but it is something I’ve been doing much more now. Most of it is just popping into charity shops to see what’s what and then leave empty handed (still very much trying to buy less even if it is recycled/re-used). I thought I would do the same at this lovely shop, but I found this gorgeous Reiss coat (left). I also tried on this buttery/dreamy Celine bomber (right):

I also found these pretty rings. One for me, one for Cath:

The owner of Dress for Less was so sweet. I’m always kind of weary of designer vintage shops. I’ve met with a fair share of snootiness going to the American equivalents. Dress for Less’ proprietor was just lovely and welcoming (makes sense that’s just been in business for 19 years). Her shop assistant was also the cutest thing this side of the pond — if a bit camera shy:

Now you might be going “Thrifting/schmifting. Thanks for pointing out an obvious way to be an ethical-consumer, Lar!” So here are some actual helpful ethical fashion links to make this muddle less… muddly (p.s. None of these lovelies are sponsors, just so lovely I had to link them):

• Cri de Coeur: vegan-friendly shoes and purses. Check out Jesse.Anne.O to see how she styles her’s.

• Fashion-conscience.com: not super-cheap, but a lot of beautiful, ethically made clothing, accessories and home goods.

• I love Fashion Change’s “Wear this, Not that” where they show you similar yet more ethical versions of things J.Crew, Gap, Urban Outfitters, etc. sell

• The Mother Nature Network has a terrific Eco-Fashionista blog: sample post title, “‘Mad Men’ Style Goes Eco-Friendly”

• You guys have to check on {r}evolution apparel. It makes me want to stop shopping full stop, or at least cut way back and be much more creative. Thanks for the link, Spatial Drift!

• LearnVest Daily made this super-helpful chart that rates major brands (American Eagle, Zara, Asos, TopShop) on their eco and ethical friendliness.

—-

Dear Cath,

Off the to the Highlands today. I hope we can skype video soon. Isn’t that doggie photo the cutest thing ever? I want to blog it up poster-size and frame him

Miss you so much! I promise I won’t climb the whole mountain. Found out Ben Nevis means Terrible Mountain. Trying to tell me something?

LOVE,

Larbar