Thank you to everyone who entered the Shabby Apple Dress give away. I used Random.org to choose a winner and the lucky lady is. . .

Congrats Calli! Below is the dress she mentioned in her entry, the Frabuous dress:

Calli, shoot me an email asiancajuns (at) gmail (dot) com and I’ll get you set up with our Shabby Apple contact. Congrats again!

Hello dear readers! Thanks for entering our Feiyue contest.

The winner is Parker Cross! Here’s the proof:

Congratulations, ParkerCross! I’ll email you the details soon. I hope you enjoy your new pair of Feiyues!

To everyone else, don’t worry! We have another contest coming next week. Stay tuned.

I know a lot of you well-traveled readers know about Airbnb already, but isn’t it fantastic? Cath used it last year when she went to L.A. for vacay. Matt and I used it when we first got to Scotland — we needed a temporary home for two weeks and a hotel was too pricey. And we turned to Airbnb for our recent trip to gorgeous lovely Paris.

Airbnb works two ways: you either rent an entire flat/apartment/house from someone or you rent a room and stay with your host. I know both of those options can sound sketchy. Staying in someone’s house, with their things? Or with them? Strangers?! Airbnb is based on trust, testimonials and reviews. And so far the system has worked really well. I know it might still sound sketchy, but that’s why I wanted to mention it here, and to show you some pics of the flat we stayed at in Paris.

(Those are linen sheets on the beds — ooo lala indeed!):

Don’t you love this chair I’m sitting on? I wanted to take it back with me, but it didn’t fit in my carry-on:

All our Airbnb hosts have always been super-informative about where to eat, how to get around, and provided us with clean and beautiful places to stay. Mark, our Paris host, left us with maps and detailed information on how to get to the grocery stores and use the washing machine. On top of that, his flat was just as beautiful as the photos we saw online (the photos in this post with the airbnb watermark are Mark’s) and Mark himself was such a sweet guy — we can’t wait to go back and stay at his flat again!

He even had fancy diptyque room spray in all the rooms:

There was a gorgeous back patio that looks like this in the summer (it was too chilly to use in December):

But still beautiful, with herbs in pots and lanterns with candles:

Cath blended right in:

Have you guys ever used Airbnb? We’re thinking about trying it for London, but they are a bit pricier there (i.e. the same cost as a hotel). Tell us your stories too!

p.s. Thanks you guys for all the encouragement about our new “diet” plans and all the helpful tips! I’ll let you know how we’re feeling in a few weeks time.

—-

Dear Kitcath,

Doesn’t it feel like we were in Paris together months ago? It’s been just about a month now- booo, too long!

I hope you have a really awesomely relaxed weekend — you so deserve it after the crazy, busy, stressful week you’ve had.

Oh, I’m still on my CSD cleanse even with this cold, but I’m doing more raw rather than cooked veggies. Something about uncooked spinach going down a sore throat makes the soul go cold, doesn’t it?

Love you!

Lar

p.s. I added this photo to our About page:

I apologize for things being a bit quiet around here these last couple of days. Cath and I have been making some changes that are taking some getting used to. We are trying to exercise more and go vegetarian/vegan.

Vegan?! This from a girl who dreamed in high school of becoming a pastry chef and marrying Jacques Torres (just to eat his chocolate and sugar sculptures — sorry, Jacques!). You know Cath and I love food — all food! Even the kind with cute faces — we just kind of liked to forget where our delicious maple syruped bacon comes from because it tastes soooo gooood.

In fact I’m stepping it up a notch and going vegan (mainly raw- gak!) and gluten-free and sugar-free for the next little while. I know that sounds fairly crazy. I mean once you cut out gluten, sugar, alcohol, caffeine, meat, cheese, milk, butter… heat! what and how do you eat? And more pointedly, what the hell do you live for?

(Arugula and quinoa, you sooo don’t taste like mac and cheese):

I’m not a big fan of diets (especially this one!), but I’m not doing this to loose weight and I think that’s why I might stick to it. The much more convincing reason to eat veggies, veggies, and then more veggies is to ease some chronic health problems and pain. I’ve always had a rummy tummy and on top of that I have some tremendous endometriosis pain. Will lettuce and tofu “cure” me? Maybe not. But pills don’t work, so I’m willing to -gulp- cut out croissants and cookies for a while to see how I feel.

(breakfast of champions who dream of buttery crumpets: juiced cucumber, celery, kale, romaine, and apple):

It really helps I’m not doing this alone. My mustachioed man and twinsie are following similar plans. I got the omph and encouragement to try this wacky (but very healthy — full of nutrients even though it doesn’t sound like it) diet by reading Kris Carr’s Crazy, Sexy Diet. She is my new guru. Haven’t heard of her? Check out her fabuloso blog.

(there are 14 cucumbers hiding under this stash – I kid not… we only have four left in our fridge):

We don’t usual talk about health foods and diets here on AsianCajuns, but all this stuffs (veggies, being kinder to the planet, curing my ails) have been on the forefront of my mind for a long while. Are any of you guys vegan or have tried cutting out foods for allergies or inflammation? Do you think Cath and I are nutso for giving up such delicious things even for a short while? (Erm, I kinda do!).

Kisses and Kale (and broccoli and spinach and cucumbers and carrots and..),

Lar

Oh! And I found this video of me, showing you how I feel about 98% of the time:

—-

Dear Kitcath,

So glad you are doing this with me! You would be so proud, I haven’t had a cookie/biscuit in three days. Three days! I definitely have the non-cookie grumpies though!

Love you!

Lar

I feel bashful sometimes sharing travel photos. It feels a bit like going “oooo look at me, I was in [name of gorgeous locale here] for the holidays, nanny-nanny-booboo!” So I promise not to inundate you guys with post after post of what we did in Paris and try to exclude images that you might be sick of: Marie-Antoinette inspired macaroons anyone?

So here are some un-postcard shots of what we saw:

We stayed a bit north of all the touristy sites, so most of our days included a lot of metro rides. This is the metro on an empty-ish day:

Lots of cute pups all around, most begging for a bit of croissant (can’t blame them):

Site-seeing (at Sacré Coeur):

This is what Cath site-saw:

Many breaks for espressos and hot chocolates:

An empty hall in the Louvre:

The same hallway peopled:

Sisters standing in front of sisters:

A fluffy pink Christmas tree in the Repetto store window:

Catching a glimpse of Mr. Karl Lagerfield, or rather Mr. Lagerfield as a doll multiplied, set in the window he designed for Printemps:

Another Printemps/Lagerfield window (see them all here):

Puppies invited in for dinner at our local restaurant:

Fluffy clouds of pink meringue:

Sitting with friends inside works of art at the Pompidou:

Another hot chocolate and croissant break:

The best part of all, getting to see Kitcath again!

—–

Dear Kitcath,

Doesn’t this all already feel like it happened ages ago? When I think back on Paris I mostly think of our flat there and riding on over-stuffed metro cars.

I really hope you can make it back across the pond this summer! I promise not to make the weather so cold and windy if you do!

Love,

Lar

Dear AsianCajuns Readers,

Thanks for sticking with us throughout all of our crazy changes this year!

What do you all have planned for tonight?

I’ll be ringing in the new year with black eyed peas (a southern tradition) and cava (er, my own tradition), and Lar will be celebrating Hogmanay in Edinburgh with a torchlight procession down the Royal Mile – I’m so jealous!

See you all in 2012!

XOXO,

Cath and Lar

__________

Dearest Lar,

I cried like a bumbling idiot in the taxi on the way to the Edinburgh airport. I’m determined to start saving up starting now so I can come back and see you in the summer. It’s just not natural to have twins be apart from each other for so long.

I’ll try to skype you at 7 p.m. my time (midnight your time) to wish you a happy new year!

love, cath

Our lovely friend (and talented jeweler) June Shin put this on our radar. This week visit this auction site, place a bid, and not only might you get a gorgeous piece of art, you’ll also get to donate 100% of the proceeds to a charity. Best way to holiday shop ever! Let us know if you guys get anything. Here’s the link to their site:

artistcharityauction.blogspot.com

Hello Lovely Readers!


So we have a few kinks to work out with our new look, so excuse us while we get through the next few hours of tweaks. In the meantime, I’ll be adding some actual proper content from Scotland (finally!).
Miss you all mucho!
And a big hearty thank you to our amazing Code Monkey Chris!

xoxo,
Lar

For the next few days, we’ll be at the Decatur Book Festival (see our post below), but we wanted to leave you with a little somethin somethin in case you have a spare minute this long weekend (happy Labor Day!).

Now even if you aren’t a fashion fan, I think you will still love this video that Lanvin shot for their Fall 2011 campaign (that’s the delightful and talented designer Mr. Alber Elbas making an appearance at the end):

Pretty awesome, non? Cath and I are in love with Mr. Elbas (“he” makes an appearance in our video too!), so we had to do a tribute no matter how embarrassing.

Disclaimer: we might have taken a few liberties with the choreography; that might or might not be the real Alber; we in no way think we look anything like the tall and willowy Karen Elson and Rachel Zimmerman or those lovely boys in hats; music is I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) by Pitbull).

Hope you guys have a wonderful, wonderful weekend!

xoxo,

Cath and Lar

Matt and I bought our tickets for our big move to Scotland – flying out of the ATL Sept. 21. That gives me just over a month to 1) finish the kitchen remodel 2) get rid of, or pack away, most of my belongings and, most importantly, 3) spend time with all the people I love. So I’ve been trying to work on #3 as much as I can: see this post’s pics for confirmation. 

On Lar/moi (left): thrifted dress worn as top via Ramona West • AE shorts • Duex Lux purse • Unleashed espadrilles • Target sunnies
On Cath (right): Top is Son of John • UO shorts • Madewell shoes • thrifted Longchamp purse • freebie sunnies from college orientation
Twinsie photos by Troy Cono 

I have a little confession to make about my short hair-cut. I don’t like it. Not how it looks or the way it was cut (lurve my stylist). I just can’t control the natural body/wave of my hair at this length. You can see in these photos that I’ve beaten it into submission with a hot iron and a hair pouf, but I hate high-maintenance hair. That said, Cath makes it look gorgeous (see below), don’t you think? She just washed it and let it air dry and it has perfect Alexa Chung waves. Shouldn’t our hair act the same? I mean we do share the same DNA and whatnot – come on, Lar hairs, make like Cath hairs and stop freaking the &^%$ out!

The above image is a close up of the fabric of my dress-worn-as-a-top. I looove the marbly paper pattern and the gold with the pops of color.

Just let me know if you are getting sick of photos of our AsianCajuns necklaces Cath got us for our birthday – I just loves them. Who knew it was so easy and painless to brand yourself.

‘Scuse these last two images, they are a bit random and for a selfish purpose. Even though I still have a month left in Atlanta, I’m already getting nostalgic for all things Southern. I want to remember summer flowers and the Georgia evening sun when I’m living by sun-lamp in cloudy ole Scotland. This first photo is from a yard in Oakhurst, a neighborhood in Decatur. The second photo is an image of my backyard, looking out of my bedroom window (cue premature nostalgic sigh).

So let the countdown begin. One more month of twinsie togetherness (cue massive and absolutely warranted sigh).