One lucky reader will get this fabulous Shabby Apple summer dress:

Readers, meet the Shabby Apple Tuileries dress. Gorgeous, non? This is the point where I’d write something impressive in French to stick with the theme, but Lar is the only one out of the two of us who actually took French. So instead, I’ll post another photo of the Tuileries:

To enter the give-away, leave us a comment on this post telling us your favorite item (dress, accessory etc.) on Shabby Apple and why and we’ll randomly pick a winner. Also make sure to leave your email address or a link so we can get in touch with you.

Good luck – and all that!

ps- We’ll choose a winner Friday and post about it Saturday. Comments for this post will close at 11:59 pm on Thursday.

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!

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.

Cath and I just realized that around this time three years ago, we  started AsianCajuns: April 26, 2007 to be exact.

We started AsianCajuns because we wanted a creative outlet that would act as a foil to our 9-5s. We didn’t expect anyone to read it. We had no intention of just writing about fashion (we talked about Edith Wharton and mint juleps). We were inspired by Susie Bubble and Agatha from Style Bytes (two of the three blogs we read at the time). This was before outfit aggregators took off and eveyone started documenting their outfits through fashion blogs.

Looking back on our posts from three years ago we realize we had a bit more variety. We do love fashion and style, but Cath and I agree that the old posts we are less interested in are the ones just about an outfit or a piece of clothing we’ve bought. So, from here on out we’ll try to stick to our varigated roots a little better. That said, we do like seeing how our styles have evolved from our 23 year old selves to now (the shoes are definitely taller):

For those of you that can stand a little more navel-gazing and reflection we’d love to know how long you’ve been reading AsianCajuns and what keeps bringing you back. We would continue AsianCajuns even if our mom was still our only reader, but the wonderful fellow-bloggers we have “met” and local readers we run into have made this experience deeply satisfying. I think most long-term bloggers have felt the desire to throw in the towel at some point (especially when things begin to feel more like a chore and less like a creative outlet). What keeps us going is you guys- so, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you, thank you, thank you!

Cath and I are making plans as we move out of our toddler years. We hope to expand into video, highlight more of the glories of Atlanta/Decatur, and keep the posts varied and inspiring. A redesign is also under way… so stay tuned!

Thank you for three awesome and wonderfully fulfilling years on the internets, readers!

Much Love,

Cath & Lar
The AsianCajuns

Hello, Lovelies (ladies and gents alike)! Apologies for putting the Outfit of the Week up so late- it’ll be Friday here in five hours! As we’ve mentioned ad nauseum in our posts the last couple of days, we’ve been swamped with work and slowly recovering from our weekend of light debauchery.

So in order to keep things light and airy (while keeping our noses to the grindstone), I decided to use one of my favorite, though not particularly fashion forward, movie characters as outfit inspiration. I present Poppy from “Happy-Go-Lucky.”

Have you guys seen this movie? It’s streaming on Netflix, so if you have a wonderful other half that lets you mooch off his/her account- hop to it (thanks, M!!!).

Now, from the title, this movie might sound a little saccharine, but I swear it’s not. And it’s British, and you know how Cath and I feel about all things British.

To sum up Poppy’s look: lots of color, drapy cardis, lots of plastic bangles, necklaces and earrings, boots and lacy hosiery. It’s not particular trendy or stylish, but it totally captures her effervescent personality.

I toned down the color and the drapyness for work and to fit my own style a little better. It’s a subtle version of Poppy, but it reminded me to “stay happy” (again, not as saccharine as it sounds- try with a british accent) while I muddled through a pile of work.

Uniqlo sweater, H&M tee, Hudson skirt, very, very subtle beige fishnets are from River Island, and the boots are Charlotte Ronson.

I’m a big fan of the back of these boots- self-flagellating leather tassels! Seriously, they whip your calves as you walk-not my favorite thing in the whole world, but they seem to like the fishnets.

If you’ve seen “Happy-Go-Lucky” or will see it soon- let me know what you think! It will make your weekend even if you’ve worked yourself to death the rest of the week.

En-Ra-Ha, everyone

Cath jumping for joy in the snow. And being very practical by wearing wellies instead of heels.

Arty things… love arty things.

The bf looking very French- in a manly way.

“Rahhh, you snow! I’ll show you and wear heels! Muahahaha!”

My lovely heels in the snow. These patent H&M boots look very snow proof or at least water proof, don’t they? Not a bit. My feet are now soaked through to my socks and I was outside for all of 10 minutes.

What Daphne Guiness (yes, the heiress of that drink that is a meal itself) says of wearing 7-inch heels in the snow:

Absolutely. If you can permanently shorten your calf muscles and tendons, I’ve done it.

Happy weekend, readers! Hope you’re having a great start to the best love/hate holiday of the year!

MUCH LUV,

Lar

*Cath has just informed me that many, many people in Decatur own Subarus. I think I’m just not a car person (I drive a beat up Chevy). Or maybe a Subaru just doesn’t look like a Sabaru when it’s out of its element (snow!).

It’s always so gutting to hear when a magnificent light goes out.

Photo by the talented Mr. Andy J Scott.

So we’re still getting used to this whole self-promotion thing. First up? Make a Facebook page! And we have! Click the FB icon in the left bar to become a fan. We love to see all your pretty, smily faces peeking out of your thumbnail photos at us.

For those of you new readers that have found us through Facebook, welcome, welcome! We hope you enjoy your stay (and many repeat visits) to AsianCajun land!

I Am Fashion Weak asked us to submit our opinions on the above list. You’ll be able to see our thoughts tomorrow (that’s Monday) on the site. Check it out and let us know if you agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree or just plain disagree.

We spent the last week and weekend with wonderful friends and family doing lovely gubly Christmas things: watching a Christmas Carol at the Shakespeare Tavern, roasting marshmallows at the Decatur bonfire, and making gingerbread houses.

I love desserts more than candy, so if I had been Hansel or Gretel, the witch wouldn’t have lured me with any amount of lollipops. However, had she been wearing Nina Ricci platforms and singing Bad Romance, I would have tottered after her in hopes of these.

Gagaloo, are you home?

Thanks for bearing with us, lovely readers! We’re almost out of the holiday madness, and our postings and comments will be a bit more regular!

We hope you are having a wonderful holiday season too!!!