Hello dearest AsianCajuns readers! Did you think Lar and I had totally fallen off the face of the earth blogosphere? My deepest apologies! Our lack of blogging was due to a mix of post wedding craziness (who knew that existed?!), settling Lar in her new house, friends in town, going out of town, and lots of work, work, work, work. Things are quieting down now, which is good because I’ve been going through blogging withdrawal. It feels good to be back, reading your blogs and comments.

Now on to the point of this post. I’ve entered my little studio apartment in Apartment Therapy’s Small/Cool contest! It might not sound that exciting, but I’m a bit obsessed with Apartment Therapy and follow the Small/Cool contest closely every year. So even just seeing my studio on the Apartment Therapy website makes me over-the-top giddy. You can see my full entry here.

Entries have to include five photographs of the apartment/condo and a floor plan. Lar helped me clean and style my apartment for the amazing photos that Troy took. Of course we took a lot more than five photos, so I’m including some of the images that didn’t make it into my entry – like the close up photo of Jacques Rock Star (a prezie from Lar 13 years ago) above.

I ended up not including any photos of my closet or bathroom in my entry, which was probably for the best because
1.) no matter how much I reorganize my closet, it still looks messy and chaotic
2.) my bathroom is so tiny that it’s pretty much impossible to get a good photo of it. Troy was precariously perched on the tub when he took this one:

If I had planned on living in my studio for longer than a year, I’m moving out in a month, I would have painted the closet a dark, dusty blue/gray. Instead I kept the ugly, masking tape yellow that was painted on all the walls by the property management company right before I moved in:

I wanted to include this photo of the kitchen in the entry, but finally decided to use another one that looked less cluttered. Unfortunately none of my entry photos really show off my love of books – you can see a sliver of my bookcases the photo on the left:

And of course I still have my invisible bookshelves and jewelry board that I’ve had in my last 3 apartments – I wrote about them here in 2007.

And because I want to brag a little bit more about Lar’s styling skills, here’s what my couch area looked like before setting up the space for the photo:

Here’s what it looks like after Lar works her magic:

So thank you soooo much Lar and Troy – I would never have entered without help from both of you!

And thank you to any of you lovely readers who vote for me on Apartment Therapy. The apartment with the most favorites wins – here’s hoping!

I stumbled upon an amazing tent sale in Decatur this weekend that was filled with super-discounted Crate & Barrel items. I missed the opening rush, but still walked away 3 great finds –  two lavender-colored quilted pillow shams and a purple throw pillow. It wasn’t until I brought my items home that I realized how many purple items I have collected over the years.

These were just the handful of purple things that were in my living room/bedroom:

I honestly didn’t realize how much I liked purple until today – and it’s not just a particular type of purple (as you can see in the photo above), it’s every shade of the hue. So, that got me thinking about fashion and how each season has a handful of “it” colors – and how it’s rarely ever purple. Why is that? Is it too witchy? Too old fashion? No one wore a purple dress to the Golden Globes. Pantone has never chosen it as the Color of the Year. And Prince was really the last one to really rock the color – or at least give it its own song.

So in defense of the color, I pulled together some of my favorite purple fashion photos just to prove to myself that I’m not alone in my love for it.

I love the jewel tone purples Emma Watson wears in this editorial. It almost makes me want to get a subscription again to Teen Vogue.

{Teen Vogue}

{Teen Vogue}

More of a grayish purple, Tim Walker did a brilliant job mirroring the Mulberry outfits with purple hydrangeas:

{The Women’s Room}

I absolutely love it when there’s a little hint of purple in an outfit – probably explains why I own 4 purple scarves.

{The Sart}

I think lavender is flattering on everyone. I’m on the lookout for a sweater just like this one.

{Miss Moss: Colour Comparisons}

Lar and I use to read John Bellair books when we were young and I remember one of his characters, Mrs. Zimmerman, had a whole house decorated in purple. She’s an old, eccentric character and I’m a little worried that I’ll become Mrs. Zimmerman. I might start making a conscious effort to start buying more gray things. . . I’ll keep you posted.

Most of the ice from last week is finally starting to melt and it seemed like everyone was out and about today. It was even warm enough for me to wear my coat unbuttoned. Of course that didn’t stop me from wearing my cozy faux fur scarf.

Lar and I met up for coffee to discuss wedding details. I’m her unofficial wedding planner/maid of honor. Considering that Lar wants an itty-bitty, teeny-tiny, step-above-a-courthouse-wedding, I think I can handle the job. I’ve already made a spreadsheet! I’ll let Lar tell you the details as we figure it all out.

I’ve been wearing my new knit hat from Squash Blossom Boutique all weekend. It was 50% off, so I felt like I could get it even though I’m trying to save up for a decent bridesmaid dress.

Outfit details: Blank jeans, Nine West booties, H&M faux fur scarf, American Apparel shirt, Tuelle coat. The cute wooden telephone pin is a Christmas gift that my friends got me Young Blood Gallery. I love it.

I’m so happy that tomorrow is a holiday. I’ll have to spend most of the day working, but at least I’ll be able to sleep in. I hope you all get the day off too!

How was everyone’s Christmas? Lar and I had a great week. Spending the holiday on Tybee Island with family and friends is pretty much as good as it gets – delicious home cooked meals, great company, daily frolicing on the beach and three crazy dogs running around non-stop.

Lar and the rest of the gang are still in Tybee. Troy and I only stayed for a few days because we both had to get back to work this week, hurumph. We took a couple of photos at the beach on our last day. It was cold and windy, but Wheatie didn’t seem to mind.

I’ll leave you with this pic of my Simply Bags bag because I love how it fit right into the scenery at Tybee (you can see Lar’s Simply Bags bag being attacked by alligators here). Is it weird that it makes me giddy when my bags match my vacation?

Once Lar gets back to Atlanta with her camera, we’ll have a lot more fun photos to show off from the trip and some super exciting news that I won’t give away, but here’s a hint, it rhymes with schmen-schmagment.