Category Archives: Miscellaneous

13 June 2012

Ethically-Made Shoes Worth It?

Since having my ethical clothing awakening six months back, I’ve been on the hunt for humanely-made shoes. It’s been a lot easier to be ethical with my clothing choices. I rarely shop now, and when I do, I thrift. But I was stuck when it came to shoes. Especially if I wanted a specific type of shoe. Looking for the perfect black boot is hard enough without thinking about who or what went into the making of them. Consciousness can be so pesky (don’t tell the Dalai Lama I said so).


H&M fedora • vintage dress via Ramona West • Maians shoes

For the summer (this is me being optimistic about Scottish weather), I wanted a pair of canvas lace-ups. After much googling I found these Spanish plimsolls by a brand called Maians. Each pair is handmade using regionally sourced material and environmentally friendly vulcanized rubber. Woohoo! And I found them on sale (30%) at Shopbop. Woohoo again!

The major downside? They aren’t cheap. Even on sale they are $72.80. You can find a pair of faux Keds or cheapie plimsolls here at H&M for about $10. That’s a whole lotta moola you could save. I know shopping ethically costs more, and I usually think it’s totally worth it (paying someone a living wage — yup 100% worth it), but do these zapatos really have to be $100 to be ethical? Me thinks, non. I could be wrong. Maybe I don’t know how much it costs to have a job and live in Barcelona. A living wage there is probably not cheap, and much harder now that Spain is being battered by the recession.

So, as you can see, I’m still hemming-and-hawing my way through all my ethical dilemmas. Do you guys have any great sources for ethically-made shoes?

p.s. Maians is not a sponsor. These are 100% my own thoughts/words/opinions/dilemmas.

—-

Dear Cath,

Whatchu think? I got these because I really wanted some easy-breasy shoes for my summer travels (to climes much more sunny and warm). The other snafu is that they will need some breaking in. They aren’t lined on the inside (again, makes you wonder about the price) and the vulcanize rubber rubs my toes where it meets the canvas.

Miss you muchoooo!!!

xoxoxox,

Lar

Category: Lar's Style
11 Comments
12 June 2012

Summertime Layers

Do you remember when Lar wrote about Year Round Layers not too long ago? She made the point that it doesn’t really get warm enough in Edinburgh to not wear layers. The same can’t be said for Atlanta. It gets so hot here that you don’t feel like moving. So while Lar is still shivering every time she ventures outside, I’m sweating non-stop in shorts and a tank. . . unless I’m in the office. I’m cold in my office year round so even when it’s 85+ degrees outside, I still wear outfits like this:

The Webster at Target cardigan • Michael Stars t-shirt • Forever 21 pants • Madewell shoes • thrifted necklace • Michele watch

It seems so counter-intuitive to wear a sweater to work in the middle of the Georgian summer, but the A/C is cranked up so high at the office that I have to pile on the layers – I even wore a scarf today!

I know, I know, first world problems. This is just a long way of explaining why I’m wearing a cardigan in the middle of the summer.

Speaking of summer, anyone going to the Decatur Beach Party this Friday?!

_______

Dear Lar,

I’m so excited that you bought us tickets to go to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in August – now I just have to make sure to buy my plane ticket ;). What does one wear to the Tattoo? Too bad we don’t have kilts we can wear. We should have our own AsianCajuns tartan – use the colors from our blog and logo! Not at bad idea, no?

Red beans and ricely yours,

Cath xoxo

 

Category: Cath's Style
21 Comments
11 June 2012

Happy Sunny Monday!

This post is actually all lies. I’m a little disgruntled about it being the beginning of the week, and I’m sure it’s sunny in some part of the world, but not here (these photos are from two weeks ago). This post should really be entitled “Eh, it’s Monday. And it’s cloudy. Again.”

The weather forecast for this week (which was just like last week’s) predicts low fifties (11°C) and cloudy. Every. Single. Day.  And cloudy here doesn’t mean a sprinkling of clouds with some blue sky. Nope. We’re talking solid gray wall of visible liquid droplets.


Thrifted tee and skinny pants/trousers • Primark glitter belt • old Frye boots • Gorjana necklace

We haven’t had a properly sunny day (i.e. more than 4 hours of consistent sunniness) in a week. I’m so used to the clouds and gray light that looking at these photos hurts my eyeballs a little bit.

Living in Edinburgh in the spring (the rainy season — well, the rainier season) is kind of like living underground. When you come out from your dirt tunnel (a.k.a. the clouds part), everything looks extra bright and your little mole eyes go blink, blink, wince, blink before you realize this brightness is a natural occurrence. And then you have a nice romp in a daisy-strewn field.

—-

Dear Cath,

Sorry for the grumbliness! I think it partly has to do with not talking to you yesterday. I mean, I know we talked Saturday, but that feels too far away. Now I feel like I’ve woken up on the wrong side of the bed because I didn’t get my daily dose of Cath skyping yesterday. Harumph.

What did you do yesterday? Is it sunny there today in Decatur? I do not miss the giant bugs (cockroaches. shudder) or the terrible humidity and smog, but on days like today I just imagine how warm and sunny Georgia is.

Muchos kisses!

Love,

Lar

Category: Lar's Style
6 Comments
8 June 2012

TGIF Link Love

Photo Credit

• For your daily dose of cuteness: Hamlet the mini pig going down stairs!

• Can’t wait to see this documentary on punk pioneers E.S.G. (locally made. in Decatur, GA by our super talented friends!)

• Want to dress like you live in Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom? Check out Etsy seller Isabel Knowles: wonderful designs and it’s ethical fashion!

• The blog we go to when we need inspiration to clean and organize our homes.

• Cath will be attending the Style Bloggers of Color conference this weekend in downtown Atlanta.

• Shopbop sells Kate Mid’s ISSA wrap dress in red (the one she wore for the famous engagement announcement).

• A great beach waves hair how-to.

Category: General AsianCajuns Info
2 Comments
7 June 2012

Hangout With Us Tonight!

For those of you who don’t follow us on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Instagram or who haven’t read this blog in the past week, you might not know that we’ll be hosting a Google+ Hangout tonight at 6 p.m. EST. Tonight! Lar will be teaching a tutorial on how to make tissue paper tassels and I’ll be there to look pretty – ha! For details, scroll down past the outfit pics.

Notice how I’ve been wearing my hair up in a bun a lot lately? It’s my I-don’t-feel-like-washing-my-hair-so-I’ll-pull-it-back-in-a-bun look. Perfect second day hairstyle. It reminds me of my ballet days when I had to put my hair in a bun everyday. I did it so often that I started getting a bald spot at the hairline – it was so attractive!

Dress from Squash Blossom Boutique • Urban Outfitters linen trench crop jacket • H&M Belt • Madewell heels • Clare Vivier purse

I wore this outfit out to dinner last week. I know sideways asymmetrical skirts aren’t as popular as the high-hem-in-the-front-low-hem-in-the-back skirts, but I love the edginess it creates in the outfit.

Yes, my nails clashed with my purse, but somehow it worked – or at least it looks like it worked in the photo.

Now, for the details on the Google+ Hangout tonight:

At 6 p.m. EST, Lar will be leading a tutorial on how to make those cute tissue paper tassels she made for her flat in Scotland. Up to 8  readers can “hangout” with us and watch or follow along with the tutorial. If you aren’t in the first 8 or are busy at 6 p.m. tomorrow, you can watch the video later on YouTube or our blog.

For those of you who are new to Google+, here’s some basics:

  • Create a Google+ account
  • Circle up with AsianCajuns on Google+
  • Test out the Hangout function to make sure your camera and audio are working – it works best in Google Chrome of course!
  • A little before 6 p.m. tonight, you’ll receive a notice from us that you’ve been invited to a Hangout. Click on the notification box in the top right-hand corner to start Hanging out with us!

I hope you can join us. If you do, you might get a chance to see Lar do something like this:

______

Dear Lar,

I can’t wait for our Hangout tonight! I feel so high-tech doing something like this!

You’ve been posting such amazing photos of food, that I finally broke down and went to Miso tonight with some friends from school. I’ve been trying to be disciplined about going out to eat and saving for my ticket to come see you, but sometimes I just get a craving for food that I can’t even come close to cooking myself.

I’m currently watching Persausion as I blog – click here for Instagram evidence. Isn’t it such a great film? You need your own copy on DVD in Scotland!

Can’t wait to “see” you at our Hangout!

xoxo, Cath

Category: Cath's Style
9 Comments
6 June 2012

I Found Christian Louboutin Boots Next To a Dumpster!!!

Seriously. Next to a dumpster just a few doors from my flat. Just sitting there in all their red-soled glory, slumped against a giant trash can. And. they fit perfectly. I take this moment to humbly genuflect to the shoe gods (or dumpster gods? or just karma, the universe, gods, god? I thank you all.).


Outfit dets: Primark peacoat • Madewell scarf and skinnies • Christian Louboutin boots via the-dumpster-in-front-of-my-house

That Matt and I just happened to be walking past the dumpster at that time of the day (they weren’t there an hour prior, when we had left the house), and that it had not rained and turned the boots into mush still boggles my mind. And on top of all that, why would someone ever throw away a pair of $1500 boots? Turns out there was a broken zipper and some scuffed up soles, but otherwise they are shipshape and the leather feels like buttah!

After I snatched them up (glancing furtively left and right), gave them a sniff, shook them upside down, tried them on, and took these photos, I scurried to our shoe repair shop around the corner. In a week I’ll have resoled (just the front scuffed bits) and re-zippered Christian Louboutin stiletto boots. I might be $100 poorer for the repairs, but I’ll be a pair of Christian Louboutin’s richer (I’ve never had or thought I’d have Louboutin’s in my closet). Totally worth it don’t you think?

I do think this beats my $1.60 Bottega Veneta purse find at Good Will.

—–

Dear Cath,

I’m still kind of reeling from the shock of finding these black beauties. I will take gobs more photos once I get them back next week.

I wish you could have been with me when I took them to the shoe repair shop. The very nice (and very Scottish) cobbler was not “familiar with shoe maker’s mark” (dude! red sole!) so me saying “these are Christian Louboutin’s I found by the dumpster!!!” did not impress him a bit. But when I told him that the boots were originally £800, he literally clutched his counter and doubled-over while gasping. Yeah! That’s the reaction I was looking for!

I hope you are having a lovely week and that the universe leaves at least a pair of Choos by your trash bins!

Love,

Lar

Category: Edinburgh, Lar's Style
31 Comments
5 June 2012

Getting Crafty in Atlanta

I had a glorious weekend that was equal parts productive and fun. The productive part? My friend and I had a joint yard sale where I got rid of half my bag collection – I really only need five black purses, not ten – and other odds and ends. The fun part? The Atlanta Indie Craft Experience on Sunday:

H&M jumper • Lar’s Bottega Veneta purse • shoes from Shopbop

I.C.E. Atlanta is like a giant Etsy festival – talented crafters as far as the eye can see. This year it was held at Ambient Plus Studio and the Good Food Truck was parked outside so I was able to get my hands on an Island Cone: spicy tamarind cone filled with cold Jamaican jerk sweet potato salad, coconut rice and topped with mango sour cream. Soooo good.

So it was great weekend followed by my first day back at school, ugh. At least there are two huge events to look forward to this week. Lar and I are hosting a Google hangout on Thursday at 6 p.m., so make sure to follow AsianCajuns on Google+ and we’ll give more details soon. The second event is the Style Bloggers of Color Conference/Mattiepalooza this weekend. I can’t wait to see my fellow Atlanta fashion bloggers – they all prove this wrong!

________

Dear Lar,

I wish you could have explored the Indie Craft Experience with me and Alison. You would have been inspired by all the creativity in the room. I bought you a little gift that I’ll be sending you as part of a little birthday package.

It was actually in the 60s on Saturday morning when I was working at the yard sale and I was cold! I think my skin is way too thin for Scottish weather. When I’m come in August, you’ll be the one wearing shorts and I’ll be the one wearing fleece-lined pants and a winter coat.

love you! xoxo, Cath

Category: Cath's Style, Decatur/Atlanta
9 Comments
4 June 2012

The Diamond Jubilee

Photo via The Telegraph

Yesterday Matt and I had some friends over to pretend like 1776 never happened! We watched three hours of the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant. For the occasion, we decorated the flat with union jacks, ate coronation chicken, and gobbled up the strawberries and scones made by our friend (a real British subject no less!).

I have to say, three hours of watching people on boats, watching people on shore, watching the people on boats, wasn’t the most exciting thing to see (although the BBC kept reassuring us that “we had to be there to feel the enthusiasm” and that it was “fantastic” and “exciting”). But getting to drink some pims cup and gin and tonics with friends while practicing the queen’s wave was indeed pretty fantastic.

Did you guys watch any highlights? Just in case any of you missed it, the queen did stand the entire 3 hour journey down the Thames, in the cold and the rain, totally ignoring the plush, velvety throne chairs right in front of her: stiff upper lip at its best!

—–

Dear Cath,

I’m sorry you didn’t get to see much of it (or maybe that was time better spent?). I love watching all the pomp and circumstance, but I do think it’s funny that these people get fancy boats, and clothes and palaces just because of who they are. At one point the Beeb said how fantastically democratic the pageant was — they must have meant that other kind of democratic.

Still it’s great fun to pretend to be Britishy for a moment, and I did think Catherine Middleton’s Alexander McQueen looked lovely.

Wish we could have clinked g&t glasses yesterday!

xoxoxoxoxxo,

Lar

Category: Edinburgh
11 Comments
1 June 2012

TGIF Link Love!

Shopbop’s Independent Spirit editorial vs. AsianCajuns November 2010

• Need some weekend tunes? Try Charles Bradley and the new (and most awesomest yet) Scissor Sister album Magic Hour.

• Going to Savannah, GA any time soon? Here’s a list of the top five restaurants you must try.

• Color-coordinating your book spines? Edison light bulbs? Drinks cart? Are you over-propping your home (NYtimes)? I’m certainly not [cough, cough] guilty of that (pay no attention to the paper-covered books).

• Atlantans, need to know where to go on Buford Highway? Check out Spatial Drift’s awesome eating adventures for tips.

• Are you guys on Google+? If so, let us know. We want to add you!

• Want to start thrifting, but don’t know where to start or aren’t quite convinced about wearing other people’s clothes? Read Eli’s tips and tricks to finding exactly what she wants when she hits the thrift stores.

• For those of you Atlanta bloggers who weren’t able to make it to the ATL Style Bloggers event at Fab’rik, you can catch up on the live tweets from the event here.

• The Atlanta Indie Craft Experience Summer Market is this weekend. See you all there!

• Last but not least, something to warm your cockles (that’s not what it sounds like): Sundays with Beatrice.

Category: General AsianCajuns Info
16 Comments