Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Bits n Bobs

One of the best things to eat in this world: the cinnamon rolls at Ducks Cosmic Kitchen. Locals, go eat one this weekend and you will never stop dreaming of these. Non-locals, I swear it’s worth the plane/car/train ride.


Last weekend at Scott’s Antiques: F21 tunic, Deux Lux purse, necklace from Mingei, sandals from Italy, and my new down pillow.

Great “Porking” signage for the Art-B-Que.

I’m doing a little light hiking in southern Tennessee this weekend, and wish to gawd it was practical to look like a Rag and Bone girl rather than a North Face girl.

Happy End of the Week! (A little sneak peak of a give-away contest to come next week from Shabby Apple. Stay tuned!)

Mean Reds: Crop Tops at Work

I’m standing in Cath’s teeny little kitchen (isn’t it so cute?). She’s painting her (also teeny) dining room and living space this week, so there will be more sneak-peaks of her apartment in the not too distant future. All of these photos were shot with Cath’s new Evo: fancy phone, not so fancy photos.


Top and skirt are AA, shoes are from Payless.

I used to despise crop-tops. I’m not sure why. I don’t hate bare stomachs of any shape or size (outside of the work place and in really warm climates). Just something about them irks me – usually. But I bought this American Apparel crop-top a while back because I thought “Holly Golightly would wear this.” I’m not sure if she actually would, but we won’t let Truman Capote know (hell, he wanted Marilyn Monroe to play Holly and not Audrey- what does he know about his own characters). Anyways, who wouldn’t like this? It’s got zips on the shoulders (the shoulders!) and is more structured than your average crop top – it’s made with a heavier gauged jersey.

While I was at work, I had the skirt hiked up so high you couldn’t see any skin, but it affords just the right amount of ventilation for our Hotlanta humidity- without resorting to anything too scandalous. For the photos, I slid the skirt down just a tad (to my waist instead of my rib cage) just so you could see that the top and the bottom are separate pieces.

I can’t find the zip crop top online, but a looser crop top would work in more informal offices. Would you wear the crop top/high-waisted pencil skirt combo to work?

If crop tops still make you gag (apologies!), here is some distraction: these guys (above) live on Cath’s teeny stove. They are salt and pepper shaker beefeaters we picked up on our first trip to London many moons ago, but we’ve been told they look more like radioactive snowmen. They don’t wear crop tops. Neon green collars, yes. Crop tops, never.

A Few Weekend Suggestions: Art, Barbecue, and Gaga

• Watch Lady Gaga’s latest video directed by Steven Klein, and tell us what you think. It’s my favorite gaga so far, but not everyone agrees. This and this are two interesting interpretations of the vid.


• Locals: 1)hit up the American Apparel Flea Market (prices start at $1) at Atlantic Station; 2) eat barbecue and buy art (delicious!) at the annual Art-B-Que in Avondale; 3) visit world-famous Scott’s Antique market, make like Eddie Ross and score some great deals.

• Drool over some gorgeous set design by Shona Heath.

 

Produced, designed, written, styled and directed by Brian Patrick Flynn with photography by Sarah Dorio

• The AsianCajuns would like to be Decor Demon’s interns. We hope he’s hiring. Check out his stunning stuff here.

Happy Weekend, Everyone! Tell us what you’re up to!

Classic Stripes

Hello dear readers! Apologies for being away from AsianCajuns for so long. Immediately after moving I had to go out of town for work and am still unpacking and organizing. I’m so lucky to have a wonderful twin sister that picks up the slack when I’m buried under boxes and furniture.

Outfit: Bf’s aviators, shirt from Limited Too (13 years ago!!!), American Apparel skirt, H&M belt and Dolce Vita shoes.

I have yet to unpack all of my accessories so my outfits have been a little bland as of late. The photo above was taken before the move when I still knew where my sunglasses and belts were. The shirt is from middle school (it was not as fitted back then), but I can’t seem to part with it because it’s so classic.

Picasso and Hepburn were fans of the black and white stripes:

Same goes for Audrey Tautou as Chanel (navy and white is equally as timeless):

As much as I love my 13-year-old Limited Too version, I’d like a black and white piece that’s a little less fitted. I love this Rebecca Minkoff shirt. It would look great tucked into a black pencil skirt for work or un-tucked with black shorts and a boater hat for the weekend.

It’s a little too warm in Atlanta to justify buying a sweater, but I love the boyfriend cut of this Vince sweater. I’m really tempted to buy the Gemma dress because it has a pocket in it – I love pockets in dresses!

Come to think of it, I’m going hold off on buying anymore clothes for a while. I need to find room for the clothes I do have. The “walk-in” closet in my apartment is more like an entryway into the bathroom. I think I’ll have to store my shoes under my couch – eesh!

I’ll be taking photos of my new place once I paint the walls and get the artwork hung. My goal is to have it all done by the end of the month. Here’s hoping!

Chapeau

Hat from Star Provisions, dress is from Ramona West, shoes are from AE (many moons ago), hydrangas from Matt’s garden, sweat courtesy of Southern Humidity.

Isn’t this dress the perfect summer throw-it-on-and-you-can-kinda-look-cute (even in the godforsaken southern humidity)? I think it’s from the 70s. I luuurve the Ramona West online vintage shop: gorgeous, well-priced finds that will ensure you won’t look like everyone else who went shopping at Urban (I do it too!). Oh! And it has pockets.

This hat is made in Africa (they don’t specify where) by free trade crafters. Lovely and guilt-free! I especially love it because it doesn’t have a trendy shape. I bought it at Star Provisions, which is known more for it’s fancy food: sausage and delicious baguettes. and fancy sodas (see below).

Deeelicious blood orange lemonade (tastes like fancy orange soda).

C’est fini.

Hope you all had a delicious Saturday too!

My New Home

I haven’t decorated yet, but I took a few quick shots of my new home:

Outside: New Orleans style patio.

Heavenly bed (that’s a faux fur throw at the foot of my bed that I lurve year round- even in Hotlanta weather).

Mid-century couch and coffee table (these are much more Cath’s style, but they didn’t fit in her apartment. That couch could comfortably sleep Yao Ming). All the artwork is just temporarily propped up until I can do something a little more exciting to the walls.

Me, oh-so-casually-posed, on “my” patio.

Now, how did I land such a gorgeous place 10 minutes from downtown Decatur/25 minutes to the heart of the ATL? It’s. well, it’s. my parents’ house. And to be more accurate, the basement of my parents’ house (hence the yellow-tinged interior shots- I only have one full-sized widow down there).

No matter how pretty/luxurious the place is, it’s no 20-something’s dream to live in their parents’ basement. Before I start collecting comic books and spending my days by the glow of my computer, I plan to save as much as I can. There’s the boring stuff: car up-keep, trips to the dentist, etc., but the fun stuff (travel, travel and more travel) is the real reason I’m here. Backpacking through Central Asia and (fingers-crossed) northern Africa, is not going to pay for itself.

Also, apart from it being a gorgeous place to live and a great place to save, there are plenty of perks: one of them being Mr. Boo Radley (see above).  I also (knock on wood), get along with my ‘rents really well. It helps to have parents who don’t mind you mooching for a few months so that you can run around the world for a little while.

Cath is about 10 minutes away from me, in a really cute little apartment. She’ll share pics once she gets unpacked and she lets me over there with a camera. (Miss you, Kitcath!)

We’re Back!

Thank you all for the sweet comments! Cath and I are safely moved (to our separate apartments), and my pneumonia is slowly but surely ebbing away. Our new branding is still in the works- just a few more tweaks from my code monkey and you’ll see our new site- woohoo!

In the meantime, this has been the AsianCajun world the last two weeks:

We live and die by Scoutmob’s daily local deals (non-locals, Scoutmob is going nationwide- check it out here). Today they featured our favorite jewelry designer June Shin, and she and the witty Scoutmobbers gave a nod to the AsianCajuns. Huzzah!


Saturday: the day of moving. We had six of the most wonderful people help us move- and they got it done in less than seven hours. They even did acrobatics for us (i.e. my bf and friends struggling to take down our long curtains, while I helpfully. take photos):


We’ve been trapped under boxes for the last week, so Cath and I have yet to see the latest S&TC movie. In the meantime we’ve talked about how SJP looks absolutely ravishing in her Halston Heritage– and we wish to gawd we could afford it (and travel to Abu Dhabi).

We’ve been listening to NPR’s The Moth Radio Hour. Our favorite so far? Vogue editor Joan Juliet Buck’s ghost story about her haunted Left Bank palace of an apartment. That’s her below wearing Yves Saint Laurent in the 80s. I’m against smoking, but I kind of want to just so I can keep one hand gloved. Listen to her story here.

This is not super-new news, but we are tres excited that Madewell is finally available on line. Bits and pieces taunted us at Shopbop, but now everything is available without schlepping to the mall. I’m also pleased as punch that they are little more diverse in their model selection. Even though we are supposedly living through an age of salads and melting-pots, the fashion industry (and many others) are still predominantly bland and un-melted.

And last, but not least. the most exciting news for me this past weekend. my bf bought me my first piece of art! As much as I really like shoes and clothes and food, I would give a lot of that up for real art. I am definitely not in the financial position to start collecting- or so I thought (leather platforms and fancy mac & cheese I can afford), but this weekend we stopped by the Decatur Fine Arts Exhibition. I’d been eying this painting for months (I’m the chair person for the show, so I got a little preview), and at $125, my bf swept me off my feet.

What do you guys think? She’s by Mary Pousner, and it’s entitled My Sweet Aberration.

I love her expression and the eyes in the sweet potato (or watermelon).

Is that enough babbling for one night? I hope you guys had a wonderful weekend! I feel like summer has really started. What have you guys been up to? What are your summer plans?! Do tell (I have to live semi-vicariously through you all until my pneumonia is all gone- drat you, lungs!).

AsianCajun Update (and a rebrand!)

Hiya Lovely Readers! Huge apologies for being so MIA lately (especially, me). Cath has had to soldier on without me these last two weeks because I’ve been battling pneumonia. I think I’m finally reaching the very end of it- just in time for us to move apartments!

Cath and I live together now, but we’ll actually be going our separate ways for the first time in 7 years! We’ll still live about a five minute drive away from each other, but it’s kind of a big change for both of us.

And speaking of changes. I’ve rebranded AsianCajuns (again!). It’s kind of what I do for a living, and an itch that had to be scratched. So in the coming weeks you’ll see a new logo, new business cards, and. a new website! The logo (see above) is a little more exciting (I over did it with the minimal helvetica-look for the past few years), but the new site will still be streamlined and clean. and hopefully an even better platform from which we can launch all kinds of AsianCajun goodness.

Thank you for your patience, wonderful readers! We’ll come back, guns blazing, come June. In the meantime, we’ll be pushing heavy boxes around and trying not to wheeze too much. Wish us luck- and let us know how you’re doing! We’ll be in touch soon!

(Below is sneak peek at the back of the new AC bizcards- let us know what you think).

Our Childhood Beach Condo

As promised in the previous post, below are a number of photos from the condo Lar and I grew up going to every summer at Ocean City. I love the place. My dad, along with one of sisters and his brother, purchased the place in the 1970s, decorated it and took such good care of it that hardly anything has changed – or needed changing.


The bumper pool table is the first thing you see when you walk in the front door. And yes, that is plaid kitchen wallpaper in the background.


Most of the condo is covered in faux wood paneling and an amazing yellow and white shag carpet.

The sliding glass doors in the living room behind me open up onto a large balcony.


Here’s a closer look at the kitchen wallpaper, the avocado stove and yellow counter tops.


Apologies for not tidying up before taking this photo, but it’s the only one of the living room that shows off the orange arm chairs. The TV isn’t original to the place, but it gets as few channels as its predecessor.

I love this photo of the stereo and box of pastels. When we were young my dad would always tune the radio to the oldies station. I still always think  of the beach condo when I hear Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye and Aaron Neville. The pastels are my mom’s. She always had us doing fun art projects even on vacation.


With only a couple of fuzzy channels on the TV, my bf and I played A LOT of card and board games on the one day it rained during our stay. Although the box seems to be missing, the monopoly game is mostly intact and so old that the houses and hotels are actually made out of wood – not plastic!


The beach condo has always had a hodge podge of sheets for all the beds. There are exactly four different sets of sheets represented on this queen-sized bed – not to mention the retro bedspread!


The guest bathroom is covered in this fantastic floral wallpaper. They just don’t make wallpaper like that anymore.

I think even the designers at Ikea would find the guest bedroom room inspirational. I was so tempted to take the lamp home with me.

My trip to the beach last week was the first time I stayed at the condo in nine years and as close minded as it sounds, it was so nice to see that not much had changed. I’ll be completely heartbroken if the shag carpet, orange arm chairs, bumper pool table, daisy wallpaper and stereo are ever replaced.

Back From the Beach

After four glorious days in Ocean City, MD, I’m back home half a shade darker (I pretty much drown myself in SPF when I’m at the beach so I don’t get much of a tan), a few pounds heavier (drank a lot of Dogfish Head beer, got my fill of Utz potato chips and Tasty Cakes) and am ready for another vacation (there are hundreds of emails in my inbox at work that I have yet to tackle).

Cassius sunglasses, Torn tank and black denim shorts from the U.O. sales rack last summer.

I usually read nothing but trashy mags at the beach, but on this trip I mixed in some more substantial reading like Vogue and Dwell. I like to stick to summer dresses at the beach, but I seemed to have given away almost all of them last year. So my vacation uniform consisted of tanks, shorts, sunglasses and flippy floppies.


Maybe it was the four years he spent in LA or his love for thrift stores, but I think my bf has great beach style. You can’t really tell in this photo, but the thrifted shirt he’s wearing has pastel blue, pink and green threads running throughout it.

After attending a wedding in Baltimore, we vacationed in Ocean City because my family has a condo on 94th Street. Lar and I grew up going to the condo every summer and it’s wonderful. My dad and aunt bought the place about 40 years ago and it’s never been redecorated – shag carpet, faux wood paneling and avocado green appliances. Want to see photos? Just wait for the next post!