Category Archives: Miscellaneous

27 June 2012

A Brief Interlude

Before I get on with more Oxford photos (thanks for all the sweet comments on my first Oxford post!) I wanted to share with you a little something I’ve been doing. I feel reticent about sharing too much personal stuff on this blog because I’m always worried I’ll bore the socks off you while also sounding too naval-gaze-y. So with those impending threats in mind, let me share away!

I’ve been a graphic designer since graduating college, but I’ve been itching to spend less time on my computer and more time creating with my hands. I found this wonderful course to give me a jump start into the world of scenic design and live performance with a vague idea that one day I could work on shoots like this if I learn more about 3D design.

So on Monday I started at Scenehouse and all-things-set-design have been commandeering all my brain power since. Potentially switching careers is incredibly frightening, especially because I’m not sure if this will lead anywhere or just give me a great deal of respect for all the people who make a stage production happen.

Anywhoodle, that’s all. Just needed to share seeing as I can’t think of anything else but props and model-making at the moment. I promise to return to regularly scheduled programming next post!

—-

Dear Cath,

This no-skyping thing during the day is so hard! It’s so weird not to have chatted to you for two whole days straight. I don’t like it! Our studio at Scenehouse doesn’t have wifi, so even though I have my computer with me most days, I haven’t been online.

Right now you are in class, so I hope it’s going well! I know your midterm is looming. I hope the trappists monks gave you so meditative inspiration last weekend, so you feel less stressed about next week’s test.

Miss you oodles of caboodles,

Lar

Category: Edinburgh, Lar's Style
13 Comments
26 June 2012

A Trip to a Monastery

For years I’ve been reading about a Trappist monastery located just outside of Atlanta. It always fascinated me since Trappist monks sound so exotic and medieval to me. Prior to my visit, I thought Trappist monks were only in Western Europe and made delicious, Belgium-style beer. I know, my religious education is clearly limited and pretty shallow. So this weekend I decided to broaden my horizons a bit and visit the Monastery of the Holy Spirit.

Luckily for me, the Monastery of the Holy Spirit has a brand new Monastic Heritage Center/Visitors Center, which provides a kind of Trappist/Monasticism 101 course. You can watch a 20 minute video on the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (i.e. Trappists) and how this particular monastery was originally founded in Kentucky and later moved to the Atlanta area in the 1940s – the first native-born Trappist foundation in the U.S.!

It’s been so hot in Atlanta that I was going to just wear a summer dress for the trip, but something about bare shoulders in a church/abbey/place of worship just didn’t seem right. So I wore a sheer-ish button-up on top and sweated non-stop throughout the day. Summer layering doesn’t really work in the Georgia heat.

H&M top • dress from Rockit Boutique • Birkenstocks • Claire Vivier purse from Shopbop • AsianCajuns name necklace

After visiting the Heritage Center, which includes an impressive bonsai garden, a visit to the barn – the original location of the monastery – and a gift shop, I cooled off at the Abbey Cafe – complete with free wifi, French sodas and fruit cake made by the monks of the monastery.

There was monk at the gifts shop that was such a good salesman that I ended up walking away with two jars of apple pie filling and a pound of honey. I don’t even bake.

So, despite the 100 degree weather, my general lack of religiosity and currently being in possession of an overabundance of pie filling, my “sojourn” (Lar’s words) to the Monastery of the Holy Spirit was one of the best day trips that I’ve gone on in a long time. If you’re in the Atlanta area, I highly recommend a visit. The monks are incredibly welcoming and are open to people of all faiths. Let me know if you go. I’d love to hear your impression of the place.

________

Dearest Lar,

So a trip to Conyers, GA is no comparison to a weekend in Oxford. You know, for a brief second while reading your Oxford post I actually thought I had been to Oxford before just because we’ve watched Brideshead Revisited so much. Isn’t that awful? Not only am I not educated in religion, I make up places that I’ve been to based on the film-version of books I’ve seen. Philistine? Indeed!

Nevertheless, I was really impressed by the monastery. I’d love to go back and visit when you’re in town. Of course it’s nothing compared to the impressive architecture of Oxford, but I suppose simplicity is the whole point of the monastic way of life.

I can’t wait to hear how your first day of class went! Hope you’re currently in a deep sleep – it’s 5:02 a.m. in Scotland as I write this.

Sweet dreams! xoxo, Cath

Category: Cath's Style, Decatur/Atlanta
8 Comments
24 June 2012

24 Hours in Oxford

I just got back to Edinburgh from Oxford via a very long train ride (oi, I feel creaky!). Matt is down there for a conference and I thought I’d tag along for the weekend bit because who doesn’t want to see awesome old buildings in the rain? (Yes, we do indeedy have those things in abundance in Edinburgh as well — apparently I have a thing for damp stone).

So here are just some quick pics. I might foist some more on you in my next post because my second 12 hours in Oxford were beautiful and sunny, but these are here just to wet your appetite (and remind you of the trade-off for beautiful places in the UK: the crap the weather).

I originally thought of starting this post like this:

“Oxford, in those days, was still a city of aquatint. In her spacious and quiet streets men walked and spoke as they had done in Newman’s day; her autumnal mists, her grey springtime, and the rare glory of her summer days – such as that day – when the chestnut was in flower and the bells rang out high and clear over her gables and cupolas, exhaled the soft airs of centuries of youth. It was this cloistral hush which gave our laughter its resonance, and carried it still, joyously, over the intervening clamour.”

Because who doesn’t love an Evelyn Waugh quote? And because all my views about Oxford before actually seeing it in person have been formed by watching the Jeremy Irons version of “Brideshead Revisited.”

But I was worried starting with a hoity toity literary quote about my brief sojourn to Oxford might sound a touch pretentious — especially because I’ve only read Brideshead Revisited once and seen the tv series multiple times (the book is wonderful — but the tv series is just so pretty what with the stone and the champagne and Castle Howard). I don’t even remember the Oxford bits in the book.

More to come . sans hoity toity quoting.

—–

Dear Cath,

So glad we could catch up quickly on skype. This week will be crazy busy for both of us, and getting to see you briefly on skype (even in my sleep-deprived state) is better than not seeing you at all. I wish I could take you to Oxford next time you are here (fancy a 6 hour train ride?) — and I would make it be sunny so we could eat strawberries and drink champagne on one of the quads (which they keep gated against us hoi polloi — but we’d sneak in some how).

I’ll write to you all about what I learn my first day in my course tomorrow. Fingers crossed for me! I’ll have mine crossed for you and your impending mid-term!

xoxoxox,
Lar

p.s. Forever and always missing you!

 

Category: Edinburgh, Lar's Style
10 Comments
22 June 2012

TGIF Link Love

Joanne Woodward and husband Paul Newman, source unknown

• Beautiful and inexpensive rings on Etsy. Pale pink and gold or black-dipped?

• Our cousin’s wedding that we went to last September was just on 1001 Layer Cake this week! Congrats, Genn and Pastor!

• Delicious recipes, beautiful food photography, and most of this food just happens to be gluten-free and vegetarian – woohoo!

• Have you ever swooned over Acne’s designs only to choke on the prices? Here’s a DIY for the Acne Scully denim skirt.

• Are you a herbivore, carnivore, omnivore or an omnomnomnivore?

• The perfect two-tone summer dress.

• For all you dim sum fans out there.

Category: TGIF Link Love
2 Comments
21 June 2012

Jumping on the Peplum Bandwagon

I’ve been wanting to get my hands on a peplum dress for a while – like this gorgeous Alice + Olivia blue version. At the same time I’ve been trying not to spend any money so I can save up for my plane ticket to go see Lar in August. Enter my mom to the rescue! She found this super cute, French-inspired, peplum top with belt at Marshalls. Not too shabby, non?

Top with belt from Marshalls • Spotted Moth skirt • Dolce Vita heels • Muji watch

The best thing about this outfit is the comfort level. The top and skirt are made out of jersey-like materials and the cuts are conservative enough to be work appropriate. If I could wear this outfit everyday I would.

Love the zipper detail in the back – totally unnecessary but adds a little je nais se quoi. Okay, I need to wrap this post up before I write any more cheesy, overly-used, Americanized French sayings.

Hope you all have a happy pre-Friday!

_________

Dearest Lar,

I’m going to hold out one more week before buying my ticket because I’ve been told that the prices might drop a bit more. I really hope so!

I hope the weather is a little warmer by the time I come to visit since all of my winter clothes are packed up. I don’t think shorts and tanks are going to work well in Edinburgh.

Skype date on Saturday?

Love, cath

 

Category: Cath's Style
19 Comments
20 June 2012

Sweater Weather

I’m beginning to resign myself to the weather. When I bought this sweater in London back in February, I imagined pairing it with shorts and a tank or bralette underneath. I even thought “oh how nice to think of layers in the summer — couldn’t get away with a summer sweater in Atlanta!” Summer layers is right! But instead of shorts and a tank, it’s almost July and I’m still wearing thick jeggings and long-sleeved shirts! HARUMPH! Oh wait, I said I was resigned — SIGH, then.


Sweater from Spitalfields Market • Primark shirt • Madewell jeggings • Mango booties (a few years old) • AsianCajuns name necklace

I hope you guys are having a wonderful week! Cath and I are getting uber excited because we’ll be seeing each other soon! Cath is coming over to Edinburgh in early August. I haven’t seen her (in person) since December 29th. That’s by far the longest we’ve ever been apart and it has been really not fun (uber understatement).

Do you guys have fun plans for the summer too? I keep forgetting to ask seeing as it still sometimes feels like late winter here, but it’s almost July! Holy Schmoly!

——

Dear Cath,

It’s so funny that you keep mentioning how my clothes are more colorful than yours. Here in Edinburgh I wear mainly black and denim. You would be so disappointed if I gave you my clothes from here. The sweater in this post is one of my more colorful items. I’m going to try to wear less black during the “summer” — if we get one.

Can’t wait to seeeeee youuu!!!! And congrats to being a quarter of the way done with school! Yipppeee!

xoxoxox,

Lar

Category: Lar's Style
6 Comments
19 June 2012

Wearing Lar’s Old Clothes

When Lar moved to Scotland last September she knew it would be fruitless to pack her summer clothes so she left all of them for me. I considered it a kind of consolation prize for Lar moving so far away. Our styles are different enough where I didn’t think I’d really wear her clothes too often. Oh boy, was I wrong! Maybe I miss her so much or maybe I’ve become less focused on my personal style or maybe it’s because Lar has always had better clothes than me, but everyday I end up wearing at least one of the items she left me.

It wasn’t until I asked Troy to take these outfit photos last weekend that I realized everything but my shorts were Lar’s:

Forever 21 lace tunic (formerly Lar’s) • Blank denim shorts (mine!) • J.Crew necklace (formerly Lar’s) • Unleashed espadrilles from Shopbop (formerly Lar’s) • Wheatie the Golden Doodle (mine/Troy’s)

Come to think of it, I should have taken these photos with Toby and not Wheatie since Toby was also Lar’s. Unfortunately Toby isn’t as good as Wheatie at being off leash so I left him in the house when taking these photos. . . he was not happy.

It’s become a running joke at my office that whenever I wear something that people really like, it’s almost always a hand-me-down from Lar. It doesn’t surprise me since most of my original wardrobe consists of black, gray and dark gray items.

______

Dear Lar,

Have I ever really thanked you for all the clothes and your dog? While they don’t come close to replacing the fact that you live so far away, it has soften the blow of being separated a teeny tiny bit – especially having Tobs. As I write this he’s whining and pacing around the house, not because he’s nervous, but because he wants food or wants to get on the couch or wants to eat food on the couch.

I’m already a quarter done with my summer semester, which means I’m a quarter closer to coming to see you! Okay, that doesn’t really make sense, but it sounds less daunting than 5.5 more weeks of statistics before my trip to Edinburgh.

Love and miss you as always, Cath

Category: Cath's Style
9 Comments
18 June 2012

Wearing My Louboutins

Happy Monday, lovelies!!! We had a drenching Saturday and Sunday (one headline said we got three months worth of rain in three days- gahhh!), but it’s all blue skies and sunny today. It’s still chilly this morning (it’s been the 40s and low 50s), but I can’t complain when the gray is gone.

I’m sorry to always be giving you my local weather report. Being in Scotland really makes the weather the most important topic of conversation — year round, but especially in the spring/summer. I think it’s because even Scandinavia must have more consistently warmer weather in June (I’m judging this by all the Swedish fashion blogs I read and those ladies are wearing shorts! Luxury!).


Outfit dets: thrifted Wrangler flannel • Blank black cords • Cheap Monday belt • Christian Louboutin boots via the-dumpster-in-front-of-my-house

One nice thing about the chilly weather? I can break out my knee-high dumbster-found Louboutin boots and wear them without breaking a sweat! They are newly zippered and re-soled. They aren’t the most practical shoe whilst living in a city full of cobble-stones, but they are unbelievably comfy for 5-inch stilettos. Seriously. The night I wore them out, Matt and I had to run half a block to catch the bus and that was easy peasy lemon squeezey.

I did almost face-plant later that night on the way to the loo in a crowded restaurant. Nobody would have probably noticed because I grabbed onto the wall somewhat discreetly when my heel slipped, but I let out a “whoaaah—eek” (the squeak at the end is always eight octaves too high for human ears to bear). So on my return journey back to our table, I did that stiff-legged “don’t slip, don’t slip, don’t slip” walk that looks oh-so-awesome when you wear look-at-me-red-soled shoes.

——

Dear Cath,

I can’t believe that I’m going to get to see you in just a little more than five weeks?!!!! EEEEEEkkk!!! Best Birthday prezie ever!!! Speaking of which, how should we celebrate our 29th(s) when you are here?

Hope you have a smarvelous Monday!

xoxoxoxo,

Lar

Category: Lar's Style
11 Comments
14 June 2012

TGIF Link Love

Photo credito

• Laura shows you how to make a floral crown/headband. Frida would be proud.

• The best summer make-up tutorial for all skin tones.

• Sally of Already Pretty style blogger fame is coming out with a book on body image and dressing well! And Stacy of Stacyverb (a local Decaturite!) is one of twelve bloggers featured!

• For those of you who grew up in the early 80s and watched Sesame Street, do you remember counting along to this?

• The cutest bunting ever and you can make it at home right this minute! Designed for the jubilee, but corgi bunting is good year-round.

• Smarvelous, beautiful hair tutorials.

• The perfect beach towel for an art history major.

• Moonrise Kingdom goodies from Criminal Records

Category: TGIF Link Love
6 Comments
14 June 2012

Not Ethical, But Thrifty!

Just a quick post for Thursday – or pre-Friday as my friend Ali optimistically calls it.

I haven’t been as dedicated as Lar with the whole ethical-shopping thing, but since I’ve been trying to save up for my next trip to Scotland, I’ve be inadvertently more ethical.

For example? Everything I’m wearing in the photo below is at least a year old except for my phone. Not sure why I didn’t just put the phone down for these photos. . . hmmmmmm. . .

H&M blouse • American Apparel tank • Limited skirt • Dolce Vita shoes • AsianCajuns Name Neckalce

I try to wear my name necklace every chance I get since I know Lar wears her’s a lot in Scotland. As cheesy as it sounds it somehow makes me feel closer to my twinie.

______

Dear Lar,

So I may not be quite as ethical as you in the shopping department, but at least I’m trying to be more conscious about what I’m buying or not buying! And I did buy another pair of TOMs not too long ago.That’s ethical, no?

How often do you wear your name necklace? Sometimes I think it’s too informal for work, but that doesn’t usually stop me!

Oh! And I finally saw Moonrise Kingdom! Loved it. Isn’t the set design amazing?!

Can’t wait for our Skype chat this weekend.

xoxo, Cath

Category: Cath's Style
17 Comments