27 May 2013

Happy Memorial Day!

Alright, I know what you’re thinking, Memorial Day is about much more than getting to wear white shoes and you’re right. Who came up with that silly fashion rule anyways?

Today is a day to remember the men and women who have died serving the county – and for some reason we Americans celebrate the day by grilling out by the pool. . . go figure. Lar tells me it’s a bank holiday in the UK, but most people go to work.

Anywhoodles, since it is a holiday, we’ll have a full post up tomorrow – it’ll even include video! Also, don’t forget to enter our giveaway with These Odds.

Enjoy the sunshine and your day off work!

Category: Uncategorized

2 Comments

24 May 2013

AsianCajuns + These Odds Giveaway

Cath

Update 5/29/13: This contest has been closed, thanks for entering!

Happy Friday!

I love finding new places to shop online, don’t you? A few weeks ago the owner of TheseOdds.com, an online thrift store based in Atlanta, emailed me about her site. I loved the clothes and concept so much that I immediately asked if we could do a giveaway.

One lucky reader will win a $10-off code for TheseOdds.com. $10 doesn’t sound like much until you see the site’s wonderfully reasonable prices.

How do you enter to win? All you have to do visit TheseOdds.com and leave a comment on this post about your favorite item on the site. My favorite piece? This Asian Inspired Dress – and it’s already sold out, dang it! I also have my eye on the Tanned Flowy Blouse. . . don’t blame me if it’s sold out soon!

The giveaway closes next Wednesday and is open to international readers too – woohoo! I can’t wait to read about which pieces you love.

I hope you all have a happy weekend!

______________

Dear Lar,

Wouldn’t the dress in the photo above be perfect to wear for the pop up tonight?! Can you tell that I still really wish I could come with you?

What other fun plans do you have for the weekend? The Decatur Arts Festival is Saturday and Sunday, so I’ll definitely be stopping by at some point. Do you remember when we did this post on the festival six years ago? It seems like so long ago! Also, why did we use such small photos in our post? Sheesh! AsianCajuns has come a long way!

Can’t wait to Skype you this weekend!

xoxo, Cath

Category: Decatur/Atlanta

6 Comments

21 May 2013

Edinburgh Pop-up Shop

Lar

Ziggy Sawdust + Paper Aeroplane: First Birthday Pop-up Shop! from Fiona Purves on Vimeo.

I am so very inspired by these two lovely ladies. Fiona (aka Paper Airplanes) makes beautiful, handmade stationery and Amy (Ziggy Sawdust) rehabs furniture into wonderful retro pieces. And these two creative entrepeneurs happen to have a pop-up shop this weekend in Edinburgh: May 25-29 at Whitespace, 11 Gayfield Square.

I know a lot of you guys aren’t Edinburgh-based, but Cath and I love highlighting independent creatives who are charting their own course and making beautiful things. I wish you guys could join me this weekend. Local Edinburgh readers, let me know if you’re going!

——

Dear Cath,

I know you really, really want to go to this. Where is our windfall of money when you need it? I’ll take lots of pics and send them your way and buy some bits and bobs to send back to you — or give you when I see you in August.

So glad we got to skype today — it’s not enough, but I guess I should be grateful that we don’t just have to rely on payphones and calling cards (remember good ole Spain or our first trip to Italy?).

Hope that you have a wonderful week! Miss you ooooodles as always. I’ve now come to accept the fact that being apart won’t get easier. Boo to infinity.

Love,

Lar

Category: Edinburgh

4 Comments

13 May 2013

I Won a Phillip Lim Bag!

Cath

Apart from a purple iMac in high school, this bag is by far the nicest thing I’ve ever won – ever! If you follow AsianCajuns on Twitter, Vine or Instagram – or if you’ve seen me this past week at all – you probably already know about this. Seriously, ever since this beautiful bag was shipped to my house, it hasn’t left my sight and if anyone comments on it, I blurt out, “It’saPhillipLimbag! Iwonit!!!!!” It’s buttery soft and super versatile.

New York & Co cardi • Michael Stars shirt • J Brand pants • Mia clogs • 3.1 Phillip Lim bag

Marc by Marc Jacobs sunnies • Target blazer • H&M V-neck • necklace from Sq/Ft • The Limited skirt • TOMs wedges

Fab’rik cardi • American Apparel V-neck • necklace from Mingei World Arts • The Limited skirt • heels from Kohl’s

H&M jacket • Forever21 top • Club Monaco skirt • Mettle necklace • BCBG heels

So how did I get so lucky? I took part in a Keep.com contest a few weeks ago where I created a spring inspiration board around the Phillip Lim bag. I entitled it Spring is Bright! and posted everything that I would purchase for the spring if I had all the money in the world. The board is all about neutrals with pops of color. See the whole board here. Are you on Keep? If so, follow me and I’ll follow you back! If not, get on it already!

If you do happen to have all the money in the world, or at least $750 to spend on a bag, you can purchase it here on Shopbop.com.

I feel like now that I have a Phillip Lim bag, the designer and I are basically on a first name basis 🙂 And yes, I have a cellphone charm!

On an unrelated note, I spent Friday evening on a Google hangout hosted by Snapshop Fashion and Seven Autumn Leaves – it was so much fun! You can watch the hangout here.

Also, check out Pocket of Presh’s coverage on last week’s Rent the Runway event at the W in Buckhead that I attended. It was so great to see so many Atlanta style bloggers!

Have you ever used Rent the Runway? I’m thinking about renting a dress for an upcoming wedding. I’ll keep you all posted!

_____________________

Dearest Lar,

I wish you could see my new bag in person! My only complaint? It’s so large that now I have an excuse to put everything but the kitchen sink in my purse. The other day it got so heavy that it left a giant indentation on my arm! I know, I know, first world problems.

I’m so glad we got to Skype twice this weekend. It always makes my day so much better when I get to “see” you!

xoxo, Cath

Category: Cath's Style

18 Comments

6 May 2013

Bordelais-hee-hooooo!

Lar

bordeaux-la-belle-epoque

Phew! Did you make it this far? ‘Scuse the epic photo post — I really wanted you to get a sense of Bordeaux via a pinterest-y vibe.

So the thing that (almost) makes up for missing friends and family back in the states is getting to jet around Europe on weekends. That makes us sound faincy and wealthy but we are neither of those things. Instead of spending money on our home, or clothes, or gadgets, we save for travel.

Matt and I went to Bordeaux a few weekends ago not because we know anything about wine or speak any French, but because we found really cheap flights direct from Edinburgh. And if you dangle a croissant in front of me, I will go wherever it goes. It sealed the deal when I went on Airbnb and found this place that used to be an old store-front for a mere £40 per night. Go to France and play out my dreams of being Juliette Binoche in Chocolat — don’t mind if I do!

I didn’t end up selling chocolate (just eating it), but our store-front flat was charming and walking distance to all things Bordelais.

For those of you curious, there isn’t really that much to see in the city of Bordeaux — especially if you aren’t swayed by the siren song of Chateau wine tours (it sounds like this: winnnnneeeeee. gurgle, gurgle, gurgle). But it is a gorgeous place: lots of mansard roofs and boulangeries and cobblestones. It’s Paris on a teeny scale and without the Eiffel Tower. And to us sun-starved Scots it was a dreamy fairy-tale land where the wind is but a breeze and you can actually feel the sun on your skin — oh and eat strawberries that were picked locally! Ooo. La. Laaaaa.

—–

Dear Cath,

So sorry to be so MIA this weekend. I feel like we haven’t talked in forever when we don’t have our weekly skype dates. I was completely useless and broken yesterday with the endometriosis clobbering me. I’m really going to try to stick on this crazy healthy diet, but I’m more than a little discouraged that this past month of being so good didn’t seem to allay any of the pain.

Speaking of all things healthy: Juice queen! So this is day five, right? How do you feel? I can’t imagine juicing for one day let alone 5 or 30! Inspirational is what you are.

It’s so strange to me that for 18 years we had almost the same experiences to match our genetic make-up and now all the sudden you’re in Denver the same weekend I’m in Bordeaux. Does that strike you as weird? It seems wrong — like part of me didn’t get the message that we were supposed to be eating croissants and not hiking around snowy mountains.

Miss you so, so much and lets talk soon okay?

Love you!

Lar

Category: Experiences

14 Comments

29 April 2013

A Short Trip to Denver

Cath

Troy and I flew out to Denver for a few nights last week for his cousin’s wedding. It was nice to take a mini vacation and get away from work and school for a little bit.

It’s all about the outdoors in Denver, but being a self-proclaimed city girl I love grabbing a map and exploring downtowns. We spent a long day in Boulder and the other three days bouncing around Denver.Usually before I visit a city I read up on it and make notes on all the places I want to go. I’m a planner. Troy is the complete opposite – he’ll talk to anyone and everyone. So, this trip, we got a lot of great tips from the locals. Combined, our different travel techniques usually make for an awesome vacation.

Below are some of our vacation highlights (note that we don’t have any photos from our last day in Denver because it snowed all day – not a highlight).

I love all of the independent shops in Atlanta, so that’s exactly what I look for when I travel to other cities. The candy and soda shop we visited was on Pearl Street in Boulder. Troy and I agreed that the next time we go out to Colorado, we want to spend a few nights in Boulder. It has a college town vibe, but it’s bigger than Athens, GA and a bit more polished. The other two shops in the photos were in the Highland neighborhood of Denver: Starlet and The Perfect Petal.

For this trip we left Toby with my parents and Wheatie with our friends, Alison and Greg (thank you guys!). We always miss our dogs so much that whenever we’re on a trip, we will run up to any dog we see on the street and pet it – not the smartest thing to do. Luckily Denver and Boulder are filled with dog lovers and dog owners. The owner of the pup in the first photo was giving out treats to strangers to help socialize her dog – he loved ~~the treats we gave him~~ us!

About 85% of all our trips – no matter where we go – are focused on food. Whether it’s eating delicious food, talking about food, planning out where we’re going to get our next meal, our main focus is food. Food, food, food, food, food. We love food, we love alcohol and we love food and alcohol together. How are we not both 400 pounds? Well, we try to cut back on eating when we’re not traveling – more on that in a few weeks (read: I’m going on a juice cleanse soon). From top to bottom, the food photos are from Oak at Fourteenth (our absolute favorite restaurant in Boulder), Uncle (Denver’s version of Momofuku) and True Food Kitchen (delicious, low-inflammatory food).

Other restaurants that we visited:

Colt and Gray: Troy and I stumbled upon this restaurant last year and have been dreaming about our drinks and meal there ever since. This year, we landed in Denver at 8 p.m. and were sitting at the Colt and Gray bar by 9:30 p.m. The bartender, Kevin, is fantastic and was the one who told us to try Oak at Fourteenth in Boulder.
Pizzeria Locale: a sophisticated, hipster-ish neopolitan style pizza place. Think gray walls, lots of subway tile, blown up photos of Italy and gorgeous fresh flowers. . . oh and the pizza is yummy.
Abo’s Pizza: What this pizza chain lacks in decor, it makes up for with its perfectly, thin-crust pizza.
Jack n Grill: Largest. Most delicious. Breakfast burrito. Ever.

Marc by Marc Jacobs sunglass • H&M faux fur stole • Etsy jacket (unfortunately the Etsy shop no longer exists) • Derek Lam for Kohls dress • Frye boots

The wedding was at Red Rocks, an amazing outdoor concert venue. All of the Denver natives at the wedding were fine in one layer of clothing, but I had to bundle up. I switched into heels for the indoor reception and totally forgot to take a full outfit photo of my Derek Lam dress – fashion blogger fail!

Penfield shirt • Gap jean • Longchamp bag • TOMs flats

I packed pretty light for the trip: 2 pairs of jeans, 3 v-necks, 1 button-up, 1 dress, 1 pair of boots (I wore on the plane), 1 pair of TOMs, 1 pair of heels, 1 fur stole, and 1 light-weight coat.

We’ve lucked out that for the past two years we’ve had a good excuse to travel to Denver. I hope it won’t be long before we visit again!

________________________________
Dearest Lar,

I’m a little envious that you and Matt were in France the same time we were in Colorado, but that jealousy is lessened by the fact that Denver is such a great city. I think if you had been my travel partner, I would have done less eating and more shopping. There were tons of items at Starlet that you would have loved. When it started snowing on the last day of our trip, I would start to complain and then remember that you’ve been dealing with the same type weather for six months. At least the next trip we’re all go on will be sunny, beautiful Italy!

Love you! xoxo, Cath

Category: Cath's Style, Experiences

17 Comments

22 April 2013

Temporary Nesting

Lar

Apart from missing family and friends, the hardest thing about living overseas is not being able to roost. I’ve always wanted to be one of those people that can live years out of a suitcase: nomadic and unattached to material possessions. But I’m a certified homebody. Ironically I haven’t had a place to put down roots in a long while. I’ve lived in a different flat or house every year for the past 10 years — two different flats in Edinburgh in 19 months — and it makes me antsy. The only way to combat that ruffled feather feeling is by nesting — no matter how temporary.

The flat we live in now is a teeny, inexpensive, brown-carpeted student flat right in the middle of town (our old flat was a bit more grown-up, but too cold). We rarely buy things for our temporary home because we save our extra cash for travel (as you read this, Matt and I are wondering around Bordeaux). But bare walls make my skin itch. So I made a few bits and bobs for the walls, covered my books (for the third time: here’s the first time and second time) and bought an azalea topiary that I hope I don’t kill.

Total budget for temporary nesting? Under $100. Here are the bits and bobs I use to cover up my naked walls:

The Lay of the Land

Now this next bit is mainly for Cath and might bore the socks of you guys. Ever since we were tots, Cath and I loved looking at floor plans. When we were old enough, we used to buy those magazines/books that had nothing but floor plans after floor plans in them. Isn’t that what all cool 13 year olds do?

And it wasn’t just voyeuristic floor plan ogling, whenever we stayed some place new (a B&B or friend’s house) Cath and I would record our new spaces by sketching up the floor plan. I think it was another way that we handled being away from our nests — a way of feeling in control of a new environment. Seriously, we are the poster girls for homebodies.

So this is a quick sketch for Cath to feel like she knows what I’m about day-in and day-out in Edinburgh — or at least get a sense of the space I inhabit thousands of miles away:

It’s not NYC or Hong Kong teeny, but it’s quite small for this city of Victorian proportioned tenements.

So tell me, are you guys nesters? Have you ever been nomadic and craved more roots, or vice versa?

—-

Dear Cath,

I can’t believe that we are even further apart this weekend. Denver and Bordeaux are roughly 5,000 (FIVE THOUSAND?!) miles apart. I can totally tell too — there’s more of a tug. No me gusta. I will drown my sorrows in wine — oh wait, I’m not drinking. Gah! Croissants? Nope those are not gluten free. I’ll just have to make do feeding my eyeballs with French architecture and pretend you are looking at somewhere similar? Bordeaux and Denver are a lot alike — said nobody ever. Wah wah.

Probably by the time you read this, we’ll be wrapping up our last evening in Bordeaux and you’ll be wrapping up your wedding weekend. I hope you and Troy are having a wonderful time. Tell me all about it.

Love and Wine-fumed kisses,

Lar

Category: Lar's Style

16 Comments

15 April 2013

In Between Workdays

Cath

Hello lovelies! First things first, thank you for your feedback from the last post. Just because we’ll be posting once a week doesn’t mean we’ll be any less dedicated to AsianCajuns. In fact, you’ll be seeing us more on other outlets like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And keep in mind, we’re just testing things out and feedback is always welcome!

So, I haven’t had a lot of free time this spring and feel like I’ve spent the past few weeks either working or studying. But looking back through my photos on my iPhone and point and shoot, I realized that I haven’t been as deprived of breaks and fun things as I made myself to believe.

For example? I’ve been to two Hawks games in the past three weeks, which is a record for me considering I’d never been to a NBA game before.
Hawks_game

Lar and I aren’t sporty people (we always hated gym class), but watching a basketball game live is so much fun! Plus, all of those sport/Olympics-inspired Vogue editorials, like the one below, have warmed me up to sports a bit.

I was in Mingei, one of my favorite local boutiques, the other day and fell in love with these pom pom necklaces from Thailand. I ended up getting the mauve colored one all the way to the right. It reminds me of this summery JADEtribe straw tote.

Last Monday I took a few hours off of work to go to K. Logan Hair Salon and get a gloss treatment and blow-out. I’m totally in love with the glossiness. It lasts for a few weeks and I feel like a Pantene commercial model. See my front curly-dos? Akia, the salon owner, created those with a hair straightener. Amazing, no? She said she’ll be hosting a class soon on how to create those curls yourself so I’ll let you know as soon as a date is set – for you local readers.

On Saturday, I hung out with some friends and listened to Troy play in downtown Decatur for Sidewalk Saturdays. Doesn’t he look so dashing? I have a couple of Vine videos of his songs so if you have an iPhone, follow me at AsianCajuns.

Nothing beats a work-break like hot, gooey chocolate chip cookies sprinkled with sea salt (the ones above are from Victory in Decatur). Kind of wishing I had a whole plateful of those in front of me right now!

After compiling this post I’m thinking I should get the Refinery 29 tote. What do you think? Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Let me know what you’ve been up to!

________________

Dear Lar,

I hope you have a little more free time now that your stressful work week is in the past. You know how we were chatting about the Brit’s obsession with tea and cake? I was thinking you should start an herbal tea and gluten-free cake club in Edinburgh! I know it sounds a bit silly, but I’m sure you’re not the only one eating gluten free in Auld Reekie. Just a thought 😉

Here’s another random thought, Before Midnight is coming out this summer and the trailer is finally here! What do you think? I can’t wait to see it, but I also would rather just wait and see it with you. If you were in town we could have a Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight day and watch all three in a row. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

Hope you have a stress-free week and can treat yourself to some gluten-free yummies!

xoxo, Cath

Category: Cath's Style, Decatur/Atlanta

10 Comments

12 April 2013

We’re Gonna Try Something New

Lar

April 26 is our AsianCajuns 5th birthday — yahoo! So what better time to shake things up?

If you guys are like us, you are reading fewer blogs and blog posts (we still love them though!) and spending more time on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. When we do go to our favorite blogs, it’s with less regularity. Instead of checking in daily, we visit less frequently but stick around longer to catch up on posts. Are you guys the same?

Anywhoddles, that got us thinking. We’d like to use our wee corner of the internet here on AsianCajuns to write well-crafted posts once a week — still about whatever strikes our fancy (you know the usual: twin stuffs, a bit of fashion, a good dose of travel and out-and-aboutness). In between posting, we’ll be sticking our link love on Facebook throughout the week, updating our Pinterest boards regularly, and Cath will be instagramming and tweeting away (I needs to get me an iphone!).

We want AsianCajuns here for when you want to sink your teeth into something meatier (more than 140 characters and not just photos of what we’re eating and buying). We’ll keep the snippity snacks on our social media sites and the main meal here.

Thank you guys for coming along with us these past five years: evolving with us and giving us a wonderful community online and in the real worlds. We hope you like these wee tweaks we’re making and continue to enjoy whichever bits of AsianCajuns you choose to visit with us.

xoxox,

Lar (and Cath)

Category: General AsianCajuns Info

13 Comments

8 April 2013

Derek Lam for DesigNation at Kohl’s

Cath

I headed over to my nearby Kohl’s after work last Friday to check out the newly released Derek Lam collab. I’d been looking forward to this collaboration for a while since I’ve always loved the clean lines and Americanness of Lam’s designs (you can see his Fall Ready to Wear collection here). While I still think the ongoing Simply Vera line is still Kohl’s strongest designer collab, I loved the colors and easy fits of the Derek Lam DesigNation collection.

Derek Lam for Kohls

I first tried on the striped drop-waist dress because I’m always on the hunt for machine washable, jersey dresses that look pulled together enough to wear to work. The fit was a little tight on the bottom half, but that’s probably more due to my shape than the cut – at least it looks more relaxed on the model online. If I had had more time, I would have tried a larger size. I might go back and try it out when the prices have even been cut down more.

I tried on two of the pants that were at the store, the pleated crepe crop pants and the crop pants in Nightshade. I loved the fit of the pleated crop pants and almost brought them home with me, but I only had enough money for one item. The colorful crop pants didn’t fit nearly as well and actually hit below my ankle (I’m 5’3″ on a good day) so they looked more like high-water pants than cropped pants.

What did I end up buying? This bubble-hem dress in St. Teresa Atlantic:

I love how comfortable this dress is. I’ll be able to wear it to work if I belt it and pair it with a blazer and pumps and I can dress it down in the summer with flat, strappy sandals. The main reason I decided on the dress instead of the crepe pants was because I’ll be able to wear it to the two weddings that I have to go to this spring (expect a future blog post on that).

A lot of the pieces that I wanted to try on, like this chambray jacket and this tank, weren’t at the store. If the prices drop even more, I might save up some money and purchase those items online even if I can’t try them on.

Have you checked out the line yet? What are your thoughts? I’ll be keeping an eye on the collection online since Kohl’s usually has great sales.

______________________________

Dearest Lar,

Too bad the Rhianna’s collaboration with River Island isn’t as cheap as the Kohl’s and Target collections! I know you said you weren’t crazy about the Rhianna line, but I bet you’d like the Derek Lam collaboration. There’s a mesh top and skirt in the collection online that I could totally see you wearing. Let me know if you want anything and I’ll ship it to you – something tells me Kohl’s doesn’t ship internationally.

I hope your week ends up being less stressful than you anticipate. Can’t wait to Skype you again next weekend!

xoxo, Cath

Category: Cath's Style

10 Comments