2 December 2013

AsianCajuns at Auchinleck House

Cath and I spent seven glorious days together at this Georgian estate, once the family seat of biographer James Boswell (not to shabby, Bozzy!):

Isn’t she lovely? We rented her with a dozen other wonderful friends from The Landmark Trust to spend the week reading, watching movies, taking long walks in the Ayrshire countryside and eating and eating and eating. It was all very Jane Austen, if JA wore skinny jeans and watched Lord of the Ring movies on a projector. She must have left those bits out of her Pemberly descriptions.

I still can’t get over how massive the house is. We had 11 people in our party and were constantly loosing each other. The dinning room was cavernous, the library had squashy couches and the kitchen had an industrial stove. What more could you ask for, really?

Here’s part of the gang eating in the kitchen (yes, even the kitchen is fancy pants ):

And to work off the piles of food and drink, we tramped around the muddy farms surrounding the estate during the day:

And then of course, there was the main event: Thanksgiving dinner!

American readers, we hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving too. Canadian, British, et al readers, we hope you are having a wonderful start to the holiday season. Tell us what you’ve been up to this past week.

—–

Dear Cath,

At this very moment you are flying over the Atlantic somewhere — noooooooo. How did that week go by so quickly? I love that we’ve gotten to be together so much this past year for two people living on opposite sides of a ginormous ocean. But somehow I get even more homesick for you when I see you more?! I don’t like it! ARGH!

I know I should stop moaning because I’ll see you in four weeks (yahoo!!!) but I don’t think I’ll be truly happy until we are living within spitting distance of each other again.

Love you to Auchinleck and beyond!!!

Lar

Category: Edinburgh, Experiences

12 Comments

28 November 2013

Happy Thanksgiving – From Scotland!

Cath

Hope you all are having a wonderful day with friends and family. We’re celebrating the all-American way – a day early. . . in Scotland with friends, lots of food, and no football 🙂 How are you celebrating?

image

Category: General AsianCajuns Info

3 Comments

25 November 2013

Dress Review: Shabby Apple Margaret Dress

Cath

When Shabby Apple offered to send me a dress to review on here I immediately knew I wanted a piece from the Tartans and Tweeds collection. In fact, when this post goes live, I’ll be in Scotland with Lar! How fitting, no?

Shabby Apple Margaret dress • old jacket from Etsy (similar here) • vintage coach bag • Payless heels • old gloves (similar here) • mom’s old hat – she doesn’t realize I have it 😉

The Margaret dress is my official 2013 holiday dress (I don’t know what makes it official). I’ll probably jazz it up a bit for parties with some fancier heels and sparkly accessories like this and this.

The peplum waist is my favorite part because it adds some femininity to the tartan. Speaking of the waist, the dress runs small in the waist. I usually wear XS to S and this S was a snug fit. So if you plan on ordering it, I recommend going up a size.

If you haven’t seen the previous post already, we’re doing a Shabby Apple giveaway! Enter to win this dress. Lar and I think it’s the ultimate holiday dress.

What are your plans for Thanksgiving? Lar and I will be celebrating with friends (Americans and Brits) on Wednesday so we’ll have left overs on Thursday before we leave our rented Scottish manor house on Friday. It’s going to be wonderful and I plan on being completely stuffed while flying back to the states 😉

Category: Cath's Style

13 Comments

25 November 2013

Giveaway: Shabby Apple Dress

Cath

We’ve worked with Shabby Apple before, but for those of you who aren’t familiar with the site, check it out. They have a great selection of ladylike dresses and vintage clothing. For this giveaway, one lucky reader will win this Too Darn Hot dress. It’s perfect for the holidays!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Category: Giveaway

5 Comments

21 November 2013

AsianCajuns Reunion in 1.5 Days!!

Cath

Tomorrow I’ll be on a plane heading to Scotland to see my wonderful sister. Last time we were together was in Italy this past August (see photo above), but it was shortly after Lar’s surgery and we didn’t get a chance to hang out much.

These next six days are going to be filled with so much sister time/AsianCajuns amazingness and I can’t wait to share the pictures with you all. We won’t have much internet access, but don’t worry, I’ve already scheduled a couple of posts ahead of time – including a giveaway.

I also plan on stealing my brother-in-law’s cell phone during my trip so I can update my Instagram daily while in Scotland.

Category: General AsianCajuns Info

4 Comments

18 November 2013

Lar’s Four Simple Goals

Lar

Making goals or resolutions can be a bit daunting, can’t it? I think goals can be great motivators, but there’s also a heavy shovel-full of guilt that can tag along with any unfulfilled to-dos that I think is worth avoiding because guilt is the opposite of good-for-the-soulness. And if you are making goals they should make your toes wiggle with glee and excitement at new possibilities for growth and not feel like one more thing on your list of a million should-dos.

When Cath mentioned doing her four simple goals last week, I did hem and haw a bit about doing it with her but I love the fact that these are mini and bit-sized which equals more toe-wiggling potential. These smaller, short-term goals seem much less daunting and onerous. So without further ado, here they are:

1. Random acts of kindness
As much time as I spend shopping for gifts for other people during the holidays, I feel like I end up thinking a lot about myself and what I want. To pull myself out of the me-me-me trap I’ll replace the wish list in my head with things that I can do for other people, not just the ones I’m buying gifts for but strangers too.

2. Work toward staying calm during the holiday madness
Like most people, I tend to get a little overwhelmed during the holidays: keeping track of who to buy gifts for, making sure I have the appropriate outfit for an office Christmas ‘do, coordinating and scheduling travel plans. I think the way to tackle this would be to stay mindful. Being mindful is tricky during the calmest moments, so I’ll need a bit of help. This article seems like a good start.

3. Move mah body!
I’ve never been good at consistently exercising so I’m going to keep this almost ridiculously easy goal-wise. Yoga once a week for an hour. I know that sounds like a weeny goal, but it’s more than I do now! We don’t own a car here in Edinburgh so I do walk a fair bit throughout the week, but I know that doesn’t cut the mustard or really work-out my muscly bits.

4. Draw/Sketch
I’ve been saying that I’ll draw more and I never do. So again, teeny baby steps, but it’s a start: one hour a week. For some accountability: I have to show what I’ve done to someone else, either my husbando or Cath via skype.

As Cath said, we’ll check back in with you guys and let you know how we did with our four simple goals. And I’m going to be sneaky and tack one more on.

5. Sneaky #5: No guilt
Even if my four goals don’t quite work out the way I expect them to, I’m not allowed to feel guilty about it. I think that would be the worst take-away from this goal-making, don’t you? I want my list-of-four to be gentle reminders and not strict task-masters with wagging fingers and stern looks.

Now what do you guys have to say about this goal-making? MichelleK, Mia and Diane at Snapshot Fashion shared some great goals on Cath’s post in the comments. Anybody else want to share?

p.s. There’s no little note to Cath this week because SHE’S COMING TO SCOTLAND ON SATURDAY!!! Matt and I are spending Thanksgiving together in a grand ole house Downton Abbey style like we did last year and this time I’ve got my twinie with me. Hope you guys have something equally as awesome to look forward to this week!

xx, Lar

Photocredits: DesignLoveFest and Pinterest

Category: Lar's Style

10 Comments

15 November 2013

Four Simple Goals (Before 2014)

Cath

I stumbled upon A Beautiful Mess’ Four Simple Goals post and wanted to take a stab at it. I love the idea of having action-oriented, simple goals before the new year instead of huge, impossibly impossible new years resolutions.

My goals are pretty self-explanatory, but I’ll add a bit more thought to them:

1. Make something pretty and fun for the home. Lar and I were big crafters when we were younger and I think my inner crafter is coming back. I recently made a felt flower wreath for my front door and I want to find a good holiday craft for the next month. Drop me a line if you have a great holiday project in mind!

2. Don’t shop for myself when I’m shopping for gifts this season. This one is the hardest for me. Even if I don’t have a ton of money to spend I’ll still be tempted to buy myself a little something. I’m the worst at this when I’m shopping for Lar. It usually goes a little something like, “Ooohhh, Lar would love this. I love this. I’ll get one each!” I’m determined to not let this happen this year.

3. Streamline my style. I talked a little bit about this in a previous post. I’m clearly drawn to grays and blacks, and want to stop being so tempted by the latest trends. I don’t usually buy a lot of clothes in December since I spend most of my money on gifts and other holiday stuff. Nevertheless, if I do happen to be shopping for clothes, I’ll make sure to stick to a strict shopping list.

4. Make oatmeal or green juice every morning. Earlier this year I was on a roll with my morning green juices and smoothies, but at some point I just got out of the habit. As a result I’ve early been eating less healthy breakfasts and/or spending too much money at my local Starbucks. For the next few weeks before the new year, I want to make an extra effort to prepare green smoothies for my weekday mornings. I’ve frozen some pre-made smoothie packs (spinach, lettuce, celery, banana, pear) so it’ll be easier to make each day.

What are your four simple goals? Lar will post her’s next week. Let us know if you post yours on your blog – or if you don’t have a blog, write your goals in the comments section.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Category: General AsianCajuns Info, Uncategorized

14 Comments

11 November 2013

My Corolla Trip to Blue Ridge, GA

Cath

Last weekend Southeast Toyota Distributors gave me a 2014 Corolla to drive up to Blue Ridge, GA for two nights. I had been wanting to do a mini fall getaway with Troy this season, so it was perfect timing. Blue Ridge is only about two hours north of Atlanta and is especially beautiful this time of year with the leaves changing color.

This was basically my outfit for the two days we spent wandering around the north Georgia mountains:

Fantas Eyes sunglasses • J. Crew jacket • So Worth Loving tee • black pashmina (similar here) • Gap jeans • Jeffrey Campbell boots • Fjällräven backpack

The Jeffrey Campbell boots are my new pair of boots for the year. I love how simple they are and the slit down the sides are unexpected. You’ll probably be seeing them a lot on this blog 🙂

Downtown Blue Ridge has really grown and evolved in the past five years. Not too long ago it was just another sleepy, north Georgia town. Today it has a number of fine dining restaurants and shops along its main street. During this time of year it’s packed with tourist like me and Troy.

Even though the downtown is growing fast, there aren’t really enough restaurants for all of the tourists. So, if you take a trip up to Blue Ridge during the fall, make reservations at the nicer restaurants a week ahead of time.

I didn’t make any reservations ahead of time, so Troy and I missed out on Harvest on Main, the most popular Blue Ridge restaurant. Nevertheless, we did have excellent meals at Black Sheep, Joe’s BBQ, and Blue Ridge Brewery. Joe’s BBQ was my favorite. It’s so small and so popular that the restaurant usually runs out of food by the afternoon.

We stayed at the Aska Lodge Bed and Breakfast and loved it. It’s only a five minute drive from downtown Blue Ridge and has that perfect lodge/cabin feel that you want in the mountains. There are only four rooms (each with a bathroom ensuite) so it’s really intimate and cozy. Troy and I loved the owners, Janet and Ric, and really enjoyed eating breakfast with the other guests. My favorite part was the communal snack area, which included homemade cookies.

Our room had its own private section on the upstairs porch. It was perfect for reading with a cup of hot cocoa and for applying makeup 😉 I also took full advantage of the fake fireplace/heater next to our bed.

In addition to spending a few hours exploring downtown, there are a number of other things you can do in the Blue Ridge area.

We spent a morning at Mercier Orchards, which has been around since 1943. The place is huge! There’s a market, gift shop, deli, and bakery.

It’s a little too late in the season to pick your own apples, so Troy and I just ended up buying half a bushel of Black Arkansas apples (recommended by Ric from our B&B), and then had a mid-morning snack that included an apple dumpling and the amazingly, delicious fried apple pie.

Blue Ridge isn’t far from the start of the Appalachian Trail so there are tons of outdoorsy things to do if you’re staying in that area. It’s also close to Amicalola Falls, the tallest cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi River. With so much beauty and so many trail options in the area you would think Troy and I spent a good part of our trip hiking. Well, we’re not outdoorsy types, so we chose the shortest and closest (and I think best-named) trail to our B&B: Fall Branch Falls.

I really don’t think it gets more perfect than beautiful scenery, an awesome place to stay, a sweet ride, local BBQ, and drinking hot cocoa on the porch on a chilly morning. Even though the trip was only two days, it’s one of our favorites we’ve taken. Troy and I already want to bring all of our friends on a Blue Ridge road trip next month.

I’ll leave you with this last photo from Mercier Orchards. Happy fall!

___________________________

Dearest Lar,

Troy and I spent the whole weekend talking about how beautiful Blue Ridge is. . . and then I saw your photos from Perthshire. Whoa! Blue Ridge is beautiful, but Perthshire is like magical unicorn beautiful.

I think you and Matt would really like Blue Ridge. It would be so fun to do a couples trip up there some day. It also made it really fun to drive a new, fancy car. I’ve never driven a car that has a backup camera and a touch screen audio system – exactly what you’d need for a road trip. Makes you kind of miss America, doesn’t it?

Only twelve more days until we see each other again!!!!

xoxo, Cath

Category: Cath's Style, Decatur/Atlanta, Experiences

16 Comments

6 November 2013

Confession: I’m a Romantic

Cath

I don’t usually like to advertise the fact that I’m a romantic at heart. The aversion probably stems from the eye-rolls I get when I say I like romantic comedies (French Kiss, Notting Hill, You’ve Got Mail are just a few favorites) or when I talk about my love of Jane Austen novels and people who don’t get Austen’s writing dismiss it as literary, romantic fluff. Well, enough is enough! I’m owning up to it and proud of it. I’m a romantic!

So when DUO Boots put a call out to bloggers to write about their favorite love story, while also tying in their new line of boots, I thought, “Challenge accepted!”

My favorite love story? Does it get more romantic than Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice?! I think not. And I know I’m not alone since I have so many friends who are as obsessed with the story as much as I am. Also, a Google search of “Pride and Prejudice” brings up 28.9 million results.

Elizabeth and Darcy

It’s my favorite love story because the love between Elizabeth and Darcy is based on respect and kindness. And here’s where I’ll redeem myself for you non-romantics. The respect and kindness doesn’t come from some lovey, dovey courtship, but a whole mess of misunderstandings that stem from – wait for it – pride and prejudice. The story is so good that it’s been rewritten millions of times – Bridget Jones, You’ve Got Mail, and Lost in Austen are just some of the most recent renditions.

Needless to say, Elizabeth Bennet is one of my all-time favorite heroines. My obsession with Pride and Prejudice started in high school and I remember attempting to be more like Elizabeth – confident, smart-witted, optimistic, and able to laugh at herself. I also tried to dress like an updated version of her. It wasn’t as nerdy as it sounds since I was pretty subtle about it. I still remember a fitted, cropped, long-sleeve sweater from Anthropologie that I wore all the time (over a long shirt, thank you very much) because it was reminiscent of something a Jane Austen heroine would wear. Ok, it was bad. How did I even have friends in high school?!

But now I have a chance to redeem myself. Here’s a lovely, current-day outfit that I think is very Elizabeth Bennet – including a pair of DUO boots:

Modcloth Sketched Exhibit Dress • Club Monaco postcard set • Madewell duffle bucket bag • Topshop coat • Gorjana Vine necklace • DUO Flore tall boots

Couldn’t you image Elizabeth Bennet in 2013 walking about the English countryside in a pair of knee-high boots and 3/4 length coat, or writing a postcard to her sister Jane? Trust me, this is much better than my cropped sweater outfit from high school.

Don’t leave me hanging here, dear readers. Are you a romantic? Are you a fan of Pride and Prejudice? If you’re a blogger, you have until Friday to enter DUO’s contest. See the details here and let me know if you enter. I’d love to read about your favorite love story!

_______________________

Dearest Lar,

Do you remember the sweater from high school? You had your own version of a cropped, long-sleeve sweater. It was cream and had large button snaps. I don’t know how I can remember that and then have no memory of what I wore yesterday.

DUO is based in the UK so maybe you’ve heard about them before. I love these images on their Facebook page that were taken in Edinburgh:

Pretty cool, no? Looking at these photos somehow makes me feel closer to you – and soon I will be! Reunion in Scotland in 14 days!!!

xoxo, Cath

Category: General AsianCajuns Info

7 Comments

4 November 2013

A Long Weekend in Brigadoon

Lar

Scotland is notorious for its rainy temperament, but even at its most cranky it is one of the best places in the world.

Most of our five days in Perthsire have been cold, windy and rainy, but when the sun shines I swear this place looks like something from the pages of Brothers Grim. This from a girl who was never that interested in fairy tales and who used to think nature was best left alone to the bugs and people who enjoy the sound of water-proof clothes rubbing together.

So be warned: I’m going to bombard you with pictures in this post. I want you guys to get a taste of the magical place that is the Highlands of Scotland. And then come for a visit.

Here’s a few pics of the wee cottage Matt and I stayed in:

One of Scotland’s famous peaks, Schiehallion mountain, covered in snow — this was our view from the front door of our cottage:

This has got to be the Brigadoon bridge. Is that Gene Kelly behind that peat bog?

We drove through Dull, Scotland: sister city (village?) to Boring, Oregon. Cath and I have been fans of the Dull & Boring Facebook page for a few years. Boring, don’t feel left out. Next time I’m in Oregon, you and me have a date!

Matt and I foolishly decided we are now, after two years of living in Scotland, as hardy as Scots. Foolish! Foolish, I tell you! Hiking in the driving sleet and freezing rain is not for us. Don’t let Matt’s triumphant stance with walking sticks fool you:

p.s. Just because something is labeled water-proof (North Face, I’m looking at you) does not mean it’s water-proof in this damp country. We were soaked to the bone in water-proof trousers, jackets and hiking boots after 20 minutes of schlepping up this hill.

Enough griping! Look what happens when the sun does comes out. It’s autumn and the Highlands turn into gold:

One of the highlights of the trip was going to the wee village of Fortingall and ogling the oldest living organism in Europe: a 5,000 year old Yew tree! It was 56 feet in circumference before the Victorians got souvenir-happy and chopped the base to bits. It’s still growing though and mightily impressive:

Another fun “fact” about Fortingall? Many ~~questionable sources~~ claim that Pontius Pilate was born here. Yes, here, this teeny village of Fortingall in the heart Scotland. And, yes, that Pontius Pilate from the Bible. Apparently, Pontius’ dear ole dad was stationed up here with his Roman legion. So maaaaybe? Anywhoodles, I find the Oldest Living Organism Yew Tree way more awe-inspiring than Ponti P.

Speaking of myths v facts, Loch Ness is no where near Perthsire, but we figured these tees would be appreciated near any loch. So we had a mini photo shoot by Loch Tay:

See anything, Matt? Nope, just a questionable shadow and ripple across the loch:

Egads! The Loch Tay Monster is sighted. Lar flees, Matt runs to the rescue:

And one last picture of Brigadoon (aka Dunalastair Estate) because it just looks so unreal:

Hope you guys didn’t get carpal tunnel in your scrolly finger. I promise my next post won’t be so long. But aren’t you Scotophiles now? Come rain or shine, this fairy land won’t disappoint.

—–

Dear Cath,

I can’t wait to see pics from your mountain weekend!!! In some ways, bits of Perthshire look EXACTLY like northern Georgia. There’s more trees than on the west coast of Scotland and the mountains look kind of similar from afar. I’m guessing you guys didn’t need three layers of clothing made out of wool and Gortex to go tramping around the Blue Ridge mountains.

And as nice as long mountain weekends are, I don’t like that we couldn’t skype! Miss you oooodles! We must skype midweek then, okay?

Love you like water loves Scotland,

Lar

Category: Edinburgh, Experiences, Lar's Style

15 Comments