I just realized that almost all of my outfit shots for the past few months have included these cobalt jeans. I either:

a.) really like them
b.) haven’t bought a new pair of pants in months (maybe a year?)
c.) am stuck in a fashion rut
d.) all of the above

If you chose D, you’re right! Option C might be a bit of a stretch (they aren’t yoga pants after all), but they’re more comfortable than most jeans. So there you have it, I need new pants. At least my consistency has proven how versatile these ankle jeans are. I’ve paired them with navy and white stripes, leopard print and chambray. In the following photos, I’m wearing them with shades of blue and black and white accents:

J.Crew jacket • Club Monaco blouse • necklace from Shopbop a few years ago • Target belt • J.Crew Outlet jeans • Office loafers • Saddleback Leather bag

I wore this outfit at the Coco Rae Madewell event on Saturday. These photos were taken before the event, so my nails aren’t painted with the new AsianCajuns Double Mint polish (seen here).  Speaking of which, you can now order AsianCajuns Double Mint online! I purchased a few bottles this weekend to send to Lar so she can paint her finger nails a cheery, spring color (something that’s very much needed in a cold, gray location like Edinburgh).

Money is tight, so if I’m going to buy new pants it has to be on the cheap. Here are a couple feasible options:

• Ponte Knit Skinnies (in Cobalt of course) – $17.80
• Brightly colored skinny jeans – $22
• Easy Tuck Tapered Pants – $19.90
• Peg pants – $30.52
• Grey Snake Print Skinny Pants – $25.60

Do you know of any other cheap, online stores? If so, send them my way. I need to get out of my cobalt jean rut obsession!

* I realize that our British readers might have a little chuckle at this title. Just know that I’m talking about trousers – not pants! I don’t ever want to say never, but it’s pretty unlikely that I’ll ever have a blog post titled, “I Need New Underwear.”

____________

Dearest Lar,

I think it’s so funny that you’ve been living in the UK for over a year and already think “pants” means underwear. “Trousers” sound way too formal. What do you call yoga pants? Yoga trousers?

I’m putting together a package for you with mom and I’ll make sure to include a bottle of AsianCajuns Double Mint. Is there anything else that you would like me to include? Burt’s Bees lip balm? Corn tortillas? American mags? Just let me know!

Always thinking of you,

Cath
xoxo

Happy belated St. Patrick’s Day! Did you celebrate? Troy played at a local pub and then we stuffed ourselves with corned beef and cabbage. Instead of showing you pics of me wearing green and slobbering over corned beef, I figured I’d blog about some things that I’m loving at the moment:

1.) I got these Crate and Barrel bookends at the Atlanta Hospital Hospitality House Bargainanza on Saturday for $6.

2.) A few beauty items I’ve been using nonstop: Eos lip balm in Sweet Mint (it’s 95% organic and paraben-free), Revlon Lip Butter in Peach Parfait, and L’Oreal BB Cream – it works just as well as more expensive primers.

3.) If you follow AsianCajuns on Facebook, you would know that I was debating about getting this pouch on Mikkat Market. Troy surprised me the other day by ordering it for me 🙂

4.) At $28, this BKR bottle was a big splurge for me, but I use it everyday and love it. It’s glass – so there’s no worries about BPAs and it’s diswasher safe. Also, it says, “It’d be really great if you had your shit together a little more” right next to a giant heart. What’s not to love?

5.) I bought this wooden try from the same charity sale as the Crate and Barrel bookends – it was only $2! I’ve placed it by my front door so I can drop my phone and keys (and AsianCajuns name necklace) in there as soon as I walk inside.

So there you have it, some consumerism on the cheap!

I hope you all are having a great Monday!

__________________

Dearest Lar,

I never thought to ask you yesterday while we were skyping, but I assume St. Patrick’s Day isn’t celebrated in Scotland. Is that right? Do the local pubs have a run on Guinness?  Probably not!

I was at a restaurant on Saturday and there was a woman wearing an Edinburgh Castle shirt at the table near us. I wanted to run up to her and say, “My sister lives very close to the castle!” But I thought better of it, which is probably for the best.

Have fun in Munich. I can’t wait to hear all about it!

xoxo, Cath

This is the pic of Cath that’s in the latest Redbook. Taken by the oh-so-talented Cameron of Atlanta Street fashion, Cath is featured with a number of other lovely ladies from around the world who show you how to rock blue jeans (jeans that are blue?). See the rest of them here.

——

Dear Cath,

1) This makes me miss you like whoa.

2) I love how Redbook features a diverse range of street stylers — not just fashionistas/modelistas. There needs to be more of that on the intertubes and in mags.

3) Must get me a pair of cobalt jeans — and a Wheatie.

Miss you like mad!

xoxoxoxx,

Lar

Thrifted top (from Lar) • J.Crew Outlet jeans • Kate Spade bag • new! BC wedges

One of my main new year’s resolutions is to stick to a strict budget so I can save up enough money to see Lar again as soon as possible. For the past couple of months, that’s meant buying very little apart from necessities. I’m not going to lie, it’s been hard. I never thought I was a huge clotheshorse to begin with – especially compared to all the other amazingly prolific fashion bloggers out there – but now I realize I use to spend a fair share of my budget on clothes and accessories. So for the past few months, I’ve only purchased one dress(Prabal Gurung for Target dress) and a handful of jewelry from Forever 21. . . until last week, that is. Sq/Ft, one of my favorite local boutiques, was not only having a sale, they were also offering a deal on Scoutmob!

My inner non-saving, clotheshorse got the best of me and I purchased these black BC wedges. I was in luck though because they were marked down from $80 to $36. Not bad, right? They’re very comfortable and like a spring version of this winter’s ubiquitous wedge sneaker. I’d add a link to them online, but I can’t find them on the BC website. If you live locally and you want to purchase them, Sq/Ft still had quite a few pairs left.

Update: My cousin found the shoes on Amazon.com here. They’re around $70 and there are four colors to choose from. I think the mint version is gorgeous. Thanks for the link, Kelly!

The weather this weekend was gorgeous and definitely warm enough for me to try out my new kicks. Troy and I walked the dogs to the local market and it was marvelous. If I didn’t have so much school work, I would have wanted to go on a picnic and stuffed myself with wine and cheese.

Wheatie would have preferred a picnic too.

Hope you all are having a good Monday!

_________

Dearest Lar,

I wish you could have flown home for this weekend so you could have enjoyed the warm weather! I can’t believe I was frolicking about in 60 degree weather and you had snow this morning in Edinburgh. At least it was the start of daylight savings today so now we’re only four hours apart – woohoo!

Love, Cath

I’ve had a special place in my heart for Skip N’ Whistle ever since they sent me my tacky Christmas sweater t-shirt. They have the most cheeky t-shirt prints and the company is based out of New Orleans (yay Cajuns!). So even though Lar and I don’t usually post on Thursdays, I wanted to let you lovelies know about the Skip N’ Whistle sale going on over at Fab.com for the next two days.

These are just four of the options on sale. I think the pup is my favorite, but the bear one has the perfect mix of sweetness, weirdness and awesomeness rolled into one. Then that cat just looks damn cool and the unicorn shirt randomly reminds me of this Macklemore song. Which one should I get?! Ugh, I don’t know! First world problems abound!

You can see all of Skip ‘N Whistles sweatshirts here. Happy sales shopping!

You know you’re a fashion addict when you wake up at 7:00 am on a Sunday morning to check out a new line at Target and end up spending almost half of your monthly grocery budget on a dress and a pair of shoes (my LearnVest financial planner will be so disappointed!). But it was all worth being able to check out the new Prabal Gurung line with my friend Meredith – and about seven other women waiting for Target to open at 8:00 this morning.

I picked out seven items to try out and wanted to take home almost every piece, but I couldn’t very well spend all of my grocery money so I ended up going home with only my absolutely favorite pieces. I’m hoping some of the items I liked won’t sell out and will eventually go on sale. Wishful thinking, I know!

I loved the sweatshirt in the First Date Print, but figured it wasn’t as versatile as a dress. It would look really cute with black shorts in the spring though. Hmmm.I suppose I could always go back to the store or buy it online.

I was convinced before trying on everything that this was the dress that I was going to purchase. While I really like the shape and design, the jersey dress (a few photos below) won out because it was so comfortable.

I’m really hoping this top and skirt don’t sell out. Both pieces would be perfect for work (worn separate, of course).

I loved the blues of this sweater, but it was slightly too long for me – it’s also pretty think so I wouldn’t buy it for layering over shirts.

So what did I end up with? This drop waist, jersey dress and heels below.

I was so excited about the shoes that I immediately came home and changed my outfit so I could wear them. It’s a little chilly and rainy in Atlanta to be wearing open-toed shoes, but why not?! It’s nice to have a little pop of color in the dead of winter.

Target stripped sweatshirt (old) | H&M belt | J.Crew outlet jeans | Prabal Gurung for Target heels

I’m going to wear my new Prabal Gurung dress to the Polish Me Pretty Party next week. Do you live in the Atlanta area? You should come! For details, check out the previous post.

________

Dearest Lar,

After missing your twin sister, not having a Target in your country should be a top reason to not stay in the UK. Just saying 😉 True you have Primark, Selfridges, Office, etc. but there’s just something so wonderful about Target – and not just the designer collabs. It’s a big box chain store, but it has so many fun items and you can buy your groceries and designer (collaboration) clothes all under one roof. But you know all of that already

So glad we had a Skype date yesterday – I wish we could talk everyday!

xoxo, Cath