Category Archives: Lar’s Style

4 December 2012

A 2012 Ethical Check-In

I Bought Less
I’ve been struggling with my ethical fashion dilemmas all of 2012 (I wrote about it here, here, here, here and here: so much angst!). I haven’t been anti-consumerist, but when I shop I’ve tried to be much more conscientious about what and how much I buy. Roughly 60% of my 2012 purchases have been at charity shops.

I Stayed Away From Most Fast Fashion Meccas
I’ve stopped going to many of the high street stores that promote fast fashion (Topshop, Urban Outfitters, Zara). I still go to H&M because they’ve done the most ground work trying to create better work environments and pushing a more conscious clothing line — and sometimes you need a black blazer in a red hot hurry and you come up empty when thrifting. But I never go in and just buy things because they look fun and sparkly (not that it isn’t tempting, but I try to block out the “buy me, buy me, I’m shiny” voices). I plan out what I need and why I need it — and usually make space for it in my (very teeny) wardrobe (that I share with Matteo) by giving something else away to the charity shops.

I Stalked Ethical Sources Online and Still Didn’t Buy Much
I’ve tried to consistently shop ethical sources on line, but they are usually out of my budget or I can’t find exactly what I’m looking for even if the ethics and the price are right. People Tree* are one of my favorite online ethical shops to browse, but I only have one piece by them: this lovely madras shirt in this post. I love it to bits: hand-woven and hand-sewn — it’s one of the best-made and best-fitting items in  my closet. It’s also one of the most expensive shirts I’ve ever bought. Originally it was £65/$105, though I bought it on sale at £35/$56. That’s about ten times more than I pay for my charity-shop duds, and I know that’s out of a lot of people’s price range. But I was able to swing that because 1) it was on sale and 2) I’ve been spending a whole lot less money on clothes by shopping at charity shops and cutting down my shopping habit in general.

What About You, Lovely Readers?
Have you guys made an effort to curb your consumerism? I’m in no way critical or judging you if you haven’t. I really do think just keeping a dialog going really helps. There isn’t an easy and fast solution to these problems, but discussing them makes them less daunting, doesn’t it?

*People Tree is not a sponsor, and even though I can’t afford to buy all my clothing from them — I wish I could! They are the bees knees when it comes to ethical, more affordable clothing.

—–

Dear Cath,

Hope your exam is going well (sending good luck vibes at this very moment!)! I really can’t wait until next Friday — already I feel like jumping around every time I think about touching down in the ATL!!! Either these next 10 days are going to be the longest days ever — or they will just fly by.

SEE YOU SOOOON!

xoxoxox,

Lar

Category: Lar's Style
13 Comments
2 December 2012

Prohibition Party

Matt and I are counting down the days until we are back in the states for the holidays (12 DAYS!!!). As excited as we are to be back home, we dislike the idea of missing the holiday high jinx on this side of the pond, so we are trying to cram in some Edinburgh festivities before we take off: German Christmas marketing (glüwein!), St. Andrew’s Day fireworks, mince pies. and prohibition parties!

Prohibition themed parties aren’t particularly Scottish (obvs), but they are a lovely excuse for drinking delicious cocktails and putting on fancy dress (Americanos, “fancy dress” means “costumes” in British speak — I used to think that it meant “ballgowns and coat tails”). Our hostess with the mostest (see her pouring “tea” in her fox stole in the photos above), served us Earl Gray gin and tonics and mulled wine. in teetotaler teacups.

p.s. I’m quite proud because I picked up my fancy dress outfit for a mere £15 at the local charity shops: shoes, dress, and two necklaces for $24 = more money for gin tea!

—–

Dear Cath,

I don’t think we’ve ever done 1920s costumes before, have we? I really feel like that era was very unfriendly to short people: drop waist lines and yards of fabric. It totally makes up for it with the sparkle, glamor and general bright young thing-iness of it all though, doesn’t it?

12 days. I can’t get my head around that. Probably by the time you read this it will 11! Then 10. then single digits! Eeeeeek! So excited!!!!

xoxoxox,

Lar

p.s. I’m wearing Meme’s pearl choker — remember that one? The shiny “pearly” bits are wearing off, but I love it still.

 

Category: Lar's Style
13 Comments
14 November 2012

Dr. Lee-Crane, I Presume?

People Tree (super-ethical yahoo!) plaid shirt • thrifted vest • old Primark belt • old Next skinnies • old Mango booties • (Matt’s) glasses are Warby Parker • Lab coat, calculator, beaker, and purple gloves via Matt’s lab

I never had a thing for science until marrying Matt. Now I find myself occasionally trying to muddle through the short articles in copies of Nature (how do I live in a household with a subscription to a major science journal but not Vogue?), going to lectures on epigenetics, and wishing I had taken more science classes in undergrad. My comfort zone used to be purely art and design related subjects. I think that whole opposites attract thing has more truth and merit than I originally gave it credit. Thank you, Dr. Crane, for letting me ride on your lab-coat tails.

——

Dear Cath,

Shoot, shoot, shoot! I forgot you have a work retreat the rest of the week! No skype! GAHHH!!! We must skype at least three times this weekend (with video)! Because next week we have NO wifis in the Landmark Trust house we are staying in. Too, too long without Kitcath contact.

Don’t you like those non-latex purple gloves in the photos? So much better than the white powdery things which don’t go with any outfit (ba-hahaha!).

Miss you so very much!!! 30 days — that’s it! 30!!!

xoxoxox,

Lar

Category: Lar's Style
12 Comments
28 October 2012

Hey Girl, Ryan Gosling Would Eat Here

I have a stressful week coming up and I might be getting a little grumpy about it. Don’t you hate how the grumps sneak up on you on Sunday evenings? You’re having a perfectly lovely weekend and then *Bam!* you turn into Cranky Pants MacGee for — what you think — is no reason. Then you do a few deep breaths in an attempt to harness your inner zen master because you are starting to feel bad at the crankiness seeping out of your pores and onto innocent bystanders (sorry, Matteo!). And because of said Buddha Breathing, you realize the crankiness is stemming from the anxiety you feel about stressful thing X that is happening this week. And somehow that doesn’t make you feel better because X must be done and there’s no wiggling out of it. Gahhh. Sometimes I hate being a grown-up.

So instead of being zen, I’m going to stare at pictures of chocolate cake, kiss my husbando (instead of throwing a tantrum) and revisit the Feminist Ryan Gosling tumblr.

Hope you guys are Sunday/Monday grumps free, but if you aren’t, I strongly recommend that winning triumvirate of chocolate cake, kisses (to yourself works too — maybe even better than unsuspecting husbands), and a heavy dose of feminist menfolk. To be taken twice daily, or until cranky symptoms subside.

—-

Dear Cath,

Don’t you love that sign in the door at The Forest Café in Edinburgh? I don’t think it was open yet when you were here in August, but next time we’ll make sure it’s on the to-do list. It’s a very low-key, vegetarian, artsy mecca run by very nice volunteers (who also are low-key, vegetarian, and artsy).

And I can NOT believe you got to meet the Beekman Boys this weekend! I was pretty sure we would be best friends if we ever met: taking trips up to their gorgeous farmhouse for pumpkin and beetroot soup and goat petting.

Much loves and a little something for your Monday/Tuesday mornings!


Via Feminist Ryan Gosling

xoxoxx,

Lar

Category: Edinburgh, Lar's Style
2 Comments
22 October 2012

This Farmers Market Has A Castle

I mentioned last week that Matt and I are going to stop taking this living-abroad thing for granted, and soak in all the touristy wonders of Edinburgh until our fingers are pruney. So last week was Roslin, this week is the Edinburgh Farmers Market. You might think ho-hum, Lar, we have organic arugula and overpriced broccoli sprouts too. But do you have a castle looming over your tasty veg and gluten-free-dairy-free muffins?

To impress (or annoy?) people with Edinburgh’s beauty, you can pretty much respond with that question to any statement of fact about other places:

You: Of course, we also have H&M (and Starbucks, and Topshop)!

Me: But is it in the shadow of a large medieval fortress?

You: We also have pretty parks and outdoor cafés.

Me: But is it right next to the dramatic looming cliffs of history?!

You: We have beautiful warm weather and it’s sunny more than 10% of the year!

Me: Touché, my friend, touché.

—–

Dear Cath,

I’m so glad we got to skype yesterday! I feel like I haven’t skype-seen you in forever. Did you guys have fun at the concert?

Do you see those muffins in the pictures? They are made by two ladies who own a company called Organically Yours. The coconut muffins are sooo good and they make deeelicious gluten-free and dairy-free cookies too! Now every Saturday morning I wake up and ask Matteo if we can go get gluten-free muffins — that always has him not leaping out of bed at 8 am on Saturday.

Gluten-free Cookiesly Yours,

Lar

 

Category: Edinburgh, Lar's Style
10 Comments
10 October 2012

Our New Hood in Edinburgh

Here we are in our new alley way hood: Fountainbridge! Upon our return from sunny Greece, we were confronted with stuffing our worldly belongings in boxes and moving out of our lovely flat . and then unpacking and living like this:

Fountainbridge is not as hoity toity as our old neighborhood of Bruntsfield, and our new flat is much teenier and has roughly 105% less charm than our old place. But what it doesn’t have in wood floors and fancy plasterwork, it makes up for in. HEAT! We are so roasty toasty in our new hobbit hole (fewer windows, shorter ceilings) that we are giddy with warmth-induced ebullience! I might even sell my radiator-toasted sweat pants of last winter.

There are a few downsides to this flat apart from the peeling ceiling paint and dung-colored carpet (when I said “less charm” I really meant “none”). The worst offender is the extremely large street lamp attached to our building situated right over our bedroom window. I can read in bed at night without turning any lights on:

Ignore my grumblings though — I love a new place to explore! (Sidenote: Edinburgh is so teeny, this neighborhood abuts our old hood which is a ten minute walk away, so by “explore” I mainly mean “eat at new restaurants.”).

Fountainbridge Fun Facts:

1) Sean Connery was born here (I’m not a fan of his misogynistic leanings, but heyho).

2) The first Wellington boot was made in a Fountainbridge factory (and who is not a fan of wellies?).

3) One of Edinburgh’s meat markets used to be here. It’s now the entrance to the financial district:

And there really is goodness in abundance even if we are sleeping under an interrogation lamp:

We’ve already found our favorite local pub: Lock 25. The food is cheap, but delicious and the bar tender is a lovely man with a red beard:

Speaking of delicious foods, our favorite pho place (Vietnam House) is now 10 minutes closer — perfect for late night take-aways (post Ikea furniture making sessions):

And we are a 8 minute walk away from the heart of the city:

Not too shabby, eh? If you guys are interested to see photos of the charmless flat, do let me know. We are crossing our fingers that the letting agency is going to repaint because the current “decor” is “grease spot” in the kitchen and “large scuffs” in the hallway. Hopefully all to be remedied soon.

—-

Dear Cath,

What do you think of Fountainbridge? I think the neighborhood was “gentrified” in 2009, so it makes sense we avoided it in 2004. The meat market arch hadn’t been refurbished and there weren’t fancy office buildings and new student flats. It’s equivalent to West Side in Atlanta except closer to Tech and further from Star Provisions, if that makes sense. Post “this used to be an empty lot/slums” and pre “now we have overpriced bakeries here.”

Also, let me say it again, I loved your photos from the previous post — you look so beautiful in all the Club Monaco duds and Troy’s directions really worked — who doesn’t want to be that mannequin.

I miss you so very, very much and am staying distracted with flat beautifying so as not to think about it.

Love and Grease Spots,

Lar

Category: Edinburgh, Lar's Style
7 Comments
3 October 2012

No Cars, Just Donkeys

Last week I posted pretty magazine-y photos of my trip to Greece because I didn’t want to muck them up with my usual verboseness. So all that pent-up wordiness and writing-on-photos exploded into this post (rubs hands with glee!):

Cath and I grew up going to Ocean City, Maryland and Amish country Pennsylvania for our family vacations. Exotic it was not. Hearing about other people’s far-flung traveling escapades seemed an extremely distant pipe dream, something done by fancy folk. So I’m still a bit in awe that this move to Scotland has had the wonderful advantage of getting to fling myself further (Istanbul and Greece in two months) without my bank account shriveling up and dying. This totally makes the living too far from family worth it (almost).

Anywhoodles, back to Hydra and donkeys! We chose this lovely isle to visit because we read it had no automobiles, just donkeys and hilly foot paths. We wanted to get away from noisy, night-clubby islands (cuz we oldies at heart), so donkeys and quiet pebble peaches sounded perfect.

Also, donkeys are so sweet looking — who doesn’t want a donkey instead of a Civic. And, I’m convinced if they spoke, they’d all sound like Eddie Murphy (“And in the morning, I’m makin’ waffles!”):

Hydra Port is a town of fancy schmancy yachts, but away from the hubbub of the inlet, the dwellings are far from pretentious. The house we rented (called House Elizabeth) is beautiful and rustic — and I mean authentic rustic, not shabby chic-ified. I love me some peeling paint and creeky shutters (especially when they aren’t in cold places. like Edinburgh!). House Elizabeth is set high up on a hill looking down at the harbor:

It even came with it’s own stray kitty cat! Here she is waiting patiently for her dinner at the back door:

Here’s where the rustic living comes into play. Living up on a hill in Hydra means you get zero water pressure, so our showers were bucket baths and the toilet tanks took about an hour to fill after each flush. I washed my hair only three times during my ten day trip (sorry, travel companions!) because it took so long to get my hair wet. I now know it takes approximately five litres of water to shampoo and rinse my hair — I’m sure I use gallons more when I actually take a shower.

Hydra doesn’t actually have any fresh sources of water, and so all drinking water has to be shipped in. The water we used to wash ourselves, our clothes, and the dishes, was chock-a-block full of minerals and left a scummy residue on our clothes, plates, skin and hair (when certain people bothered to wash said hairs.ahem).

Low/no water pressure also makes hand-washing clothes tricky (an already difficult skill in my book):

I was grumbling about how I felt a bit dirty and unsatisfied with my bucket-bathing on the fifth day into our trip, and my lovely and very intelligent sister-in-law said “so you are about as clean as most of the developing world.” Said sis-in-law lives in Rwanda and works in development all around eastern Africa (see her amazing blog here) — so she knows what she’s talking about.  I was like “holyschmoly, you are so right!” I forget how stuck-in-my-bubble I am. I whole-heartedly believe any vacation that gets me away from my sanitized bubble world is a priceless thing — even if I feel unwashed at the same time.

And I really shouldn’t have grumbled at all. Hydra is paradise and our house was also good-quirky. For instance we had a large protuberance of rock in the middle of the living room — let the mini rock climbing begin!

And this is what it looked like on the way up the hill to our house:

Most of the days my intrepid travel companions hiked around the mountainous countryside. I joined them once to go to the highest peak (a little more than 500 m) — you could see for miles and miles around: teeny islands floating in the Aegean:

But the rest of my days were spent on a much more serious task: attempting to make up for my lack of vitamin D in Scotland in 8 days (tough life):

Every evening we would sit out on our patio to eat dinner and watch the twinkly lights come on in town. And when night fell we would name constellations and count the number of shooting stars we saw:

Even without showers, this has to have been one of the best vacations of my life (no offense boardwalk fries and Amish bacon!).

—-

Dear Cath,

Isn’t it beautiful! I feel bad that I keep mentioning the poor water conditions on Hydra because everyone is like “ugh!” But the island is such a paradise, it was totally worth it. The water was so clear that looking in the harbor (even with all those oily boats) you could see right down to the rocks below. And I don’t think I will ever stay in a place again with such breath-taking sunsets.

The last night we were in Hydra there was a storm coming in across the sea. Bolts of lightening frizzled from the clouds to the water and island mountains. I can totally see why this was the world of Zeus and Poseidon.

I missed you so much when we were there. Next time we are having waffles with the donkeys together!

xoxoxoxox,

Lar

Category: Experiences, Lar's Style
11 Comments
28 September 2012

Fashionista Fundraiser for Endometriosis Awareness (Part Two)

Cath and I wanted to thank you again for reading my first endometriosis post on Monday. Your comments have meant the world to me. Not only has my fight with endometriosis been a physical pain, it also leaves me feeling pretty low emotionally for at least a week each month. Getting people to talk about it diminishes it’s ability to frighten me and isolate all of us who share the burden of endo. So thank you and thank you again.

We are continuing our fundraising for Endometriosis Foundation of America through next week. Other lovely ladies in the blogisphere are involved. Check out these fabulosas fashionistas for the cause:
• Diane of Snapshot Fashion
• Maegan of Love Maegan
• Jen of Jennifhsieh

If you’d like to donate to the Endometriosis Foundation of America with us, just click this link HERE.

Speaking of fashionistas and fun facts (unrelated to weighty issues), here is one for you: use what’s on your dinner plates in your outfits. I’m sticking broccoli in my lapels next. Yes? No? I’m thinking organic broccolini might set off a gray blazer nicely. I kid, I kid. mostly. Pad Thai-er-ific:

——

Dear Cath,

I know we think you might also have endo cuz mom had/has it and I have it — sharing the same DNA seems like a bad thing at the moment. But! I’ve been reading! And there are some studies that suggest that epigenetics (gene expressions that can switch things on and off in your DNA — I think. Dr. Matteo, is that right?) might have a role to play in endometriosis. And that means that maybe because of environmental reasons and what have you, you might NOT have endo even though we share the same genes. Isn’t that amazing?! Okay, yes we have the same DNA and grew up in the same environment, but we are different people and so (as proved by epigenetists) that means we won’t always be identical — which I usually hate, but in this case — woohoo!

Talk to you on skype sooooon! Wish us luck as we schlep our boxes to our new flat this weekend. I’ll take pics of our new (incredibly humble) abode once we have keys!

xoxoxoxoxoxox,

Lar

Category: Endometriosis, Lar's Style
8 Comments
24 September 2012

Fashionista Fundraiser for Endometriosis Awareness

I have endometriosis. Me and roughly 8.5 million other North American women suffer from what can be an incredibly painful condition. It isn’t a terminal disease, but it can cause debilitating pain and infertility. And even with the large number of women who suffer from endo, there is very little known about it and there is no cure.

What is Endometriosis, you ask?

Great question! I had no clue until I did some web MDing after I was diagnosed a year ago. A woman with endometriosis has uterine cells elsewhere in her body other than her uterus. They can be anywhere in the pelvis (by the bladder, intestines, colon, ovaries) or anywhere in the body (the brain, lungs, etc.). These uterine cells act just like uterine cells in your uterus, each month they bleed, but unlike uterine cells in the uterus, they have have no way to escape the body. This can cause a buildup of nodules and cause scaring.

When I first read what was going on in my body I was like “&^%$! No wonder why this hurts so much!” But the interesting thing is some women with endometriosis don’t exhibit any symptoms, and the amount of pain you feel does not correlate to the amount of nodules and scaring you have. A woman with  stage one endometriosis (little scaring) can have tremendous pain, while another woman with stage four (a lot of scaring and adhesions) won’t necessarily exhibit any symptoms and might not find out she has the condition until she is trying to get pregnant.

That’s the other real downer to endo. Apart from the pain, roughly a third of women diagnosed with endometriosis are also infertile. Talk about adding insult to injury.

Why is it important to know about endometriosis?

Roughly 10% of women suffer from it, but very little is known about endometriosis and it’s often misdiagnosed. Even as recently as a few decades ago, women were told their painful symptoms were in their head OR that being in constant pain was just a natural part of being a woman (What the what?!). Not only was that incredibly unhelpful and alienating,  it also prevented any research from happening.

The Endometriosis Foundation of America works to bring awareness to this condition and toward finding a cure. As of now, women can have surgery to remove these painful nodules, but it isn’t a cure. Sometimes the surgery helps, but more often than not, more adhesions develop and women suffering from endometriosis have multiple surgeries throughout their lifetime.

Endometriosis Foundation of America founders: Padma Lakshmi and Susan Sarandon with Bridget Moynahan (photo credit).

Thanks, you guys, for letting me bend your ear about this stuff. It means the world to me if you just gave this post a little read and know a bit more about this pervasive condition. Feel free to click the donate link below to contribute to the Endometriosis Foundation of America if you so choose, but know I’m just as grateful that you took a minute to read this post. Spreading awareness is the first step toward helping us become even more educated about our bodies.

Donate to the Endometriosis Foundation of America:
Click HERE to safely and securely donate through paypal.

And a big thank you to Diane of Snapshot Fashion! Thank you for organizing this fundraiser, Diane and sharing your story with us!

Category: Endometriosis, Lar's Style
24 Comments
19 September 2012

Mini Photo Journal: Greece

I spent 10 days on the beautiful island of Hydra. I wanted you to just get a delicious sunsety taste before I clutter-up my next posts with sketchy arrows and fronts. Isn’t it dreamy?

—–

Dear Cath,

Thank you so much for being such a blogging pro while I was gone away from wifi-land! As wonderful and donkey-filled as Greece was, I couldn’t wait to get back to you (at least digitally) — also, as you’ve heard, showering is so nice!

The worst part about coming home though was when I got on the plane in Athens. I got confused and thought I was flying back to Atlanta. As much as I love Edinburgh, I wanted to cry when I heard the Easy Jet pilot say something over the speaker in a Scottish accent (and you know how much we love those accents). Och, I’m such a baby. But I miss you terribly! Who knew sunny paradises could be so bittersweet.

xoxoxo,

Lar

p.s. These photos don’t reflect it, but I’ve attempted to store up as much vitamin D as possible via a tan. That’s how it works, right?

Category: Experiences, Lar's Style
15 Comments