The New AsianCajuns!

Hi Wonderful Readers!

AsianCajuns has moved to:

www.asiancajuns.com

www.asiancajuns.com

www.asiancajuns.com

Woohoo! This is the beginning of the changes we alluded to before. 

607 blog posts, 27 months, and 121 followers (we love you guys!) later... we decided to change it up. We're hoping to make a better blog for you guys and for us. We hope to inspire a little more and edit better (our design, our fashion, our content). We'd love to hear your imput on our new "digs" and let us know if you have any recommendations.

Let us know if you aren't linked on our new site, and if you would like to link us back you can find us here.

As always, thanks for reading and following us. We're excited to see you guys at our new home, www.asiancajuns.com!

LL

Our Weekend Recommendation:

Metromix 1 Year Anniversary Party hosted by our favorites, Esperanza and Whynatte.

This weekend is shaping up to be a busy one. Here's what I have on the sched:

• Our Lady Peace concert
• Sir Paul McCartney concert
• The party to end all parties (see above image)
• Revamping AsianCajuns (see previous post)

Pretty exciting stuff, no? So you local Atlantans in for Saturday night? (I'm looking at you Hippie Frou Frou!)

Buy your tickets here and we'll see you there!

Stay Tuned...

For ch-ch-changes!

We have some fun plans ahead for AsianCajuns in the coming weeks. Our blogging might be a bit spotty while we pull it together, but we promise it will be worth the wait!

LL

Hoot Hoot

Mr. Hoot in his natural habitat.

He obviously is most at home in my faux-fur blanket, but from time to time I slip him on my finger.

Don't you love him? I got him at one of our favorite local boutiques in Decatur, Heliotrope. He's cute and sweet and only $18.00. He's worth every penny.

Get him online here.

LL

Blog Hopping

Just a quick FYI. Check out the guest post I did on our lovely friend Ashley's blog Hiking in Stilettos. Here's a preview:


Photo courtesy of Band of Outsiders.

CL

Of Books and Bags

Sorry for the somewhat pretentious title. I couldn't help myself because this post is about books and bags. Actually, it's about the Decatur Book Festival and tote bags made out of old Book Festival street banners.

The 2009 Decatur Book Festival isn't until Labor Day weekend, but things are gearing up for it. You can check out the author line up and event details here: www.decaturbookfestival.com. If you like books and reading and/or funnel cake, this is the festival for you. So mark your calendars.

Back to the bags. Lauren and I not only love tote bags, we also love any accessory that has a little bit of a past (recycle, reuse, woohoo!) and helps others at the same time. This is why we love Toms Shoes and why we love these Decatur Book Festival totes. Not only are they recycled street banners for previous book festivals, they're made by a Colombian refugee who just recently moved to Atlanta.

So, what starts out as this:

Photo courtsey of Lenz Marketing

Turns into this:

Pretty cool, no?

Stay tuned to the Book Festival website for details about how to get your hands on these highly covetable totes. In the meantime, check out this article in the AJC today about the project. It'll make you feel more socially conscious just reading it!

CL

Attention Locals! Boutique Warehouse Sale This Weekend in Decatur

Lar and I are going home to Maryland for a few days so we'll miss this (boo!), but all you locals can attend and make me jealous about the bargains you will find. The sale is right in downtown Decatur so you can be green and take MARTA - woohoo!

CL

Lar: Napoleon Complex

Dress is Old Navy, belt is thrifted, non-Napoleonic hat is Minnetonka, shoes are Frye via Jac.

The story in our family goes that our Cajun ancestors are actually deserters of Napoleon's army. When Boney left his army to wither in the Egyptian desert, our great-great-great-etc. grandfather high-tailed it to The "New" World and settled in an only slightly more hospitable place off the Gulf of Mexico.

I felt concern at first that this tyrant looks a bit like a cross-dresser in the left-hand photo, but considering the fate he left our dear old descendent (and so many others), that feeling is brief and fleeting. And really, I think Josephine would have envied those earrings...

The Napoleon Complex describes an alleged type of inferiority complex which is said to affect some people, especially men, who are short in stature (thank you wikipedia).

On a good day Cath and I can boast a solid 5' 3." However we rarely feel the urge to spark revolutions or crown ourselves emperors. Our "complex" manifests itself solely (harhar) in frequent purchase of tall shoes; preferably tall, nude colored shoes (see Frye sandals in above photos). I love my black platforms, but nothing makes me look more like 5'7 to 5'8 than towers that match the color of my legs.

All that said, Cath and I do not bemoan our stature. Being petite (just like being very tall) has its advantages. But on those days that I want to feel a little like a mini-despot, a strong heel is just the thing. Once I start brandishing a bayonet and wearing fifteen pounds of gold encircled upon my head, feel free to pry those heels off.

LL

Microeconomics

This might sound a bit shocking coming from a fashion blogger, but sometimes buying clothes just doesn't cut it. Sure I would like the latest dress from Bona Drag or the 80%20 black canvas boots at Moxsie, but that desire is currently being overshadowed by a completely stuffed closet.

So instead of buying a new pair of shoes and another purse this weekend, I decided to do the more economical thing and spiff up some of my reliable standbys. I brought the two items pictured below to my local shoe repair place.

New soles for these black SATC knock-off heels that are outdated, but I wear all the time because they're easy to walk in and go with almost every summer work outfit I own.

I bought this purse at Urban Outfitters last year and had to stop using it this spring because the zipper was totally shot. It wasn't cheap to get the zipper replaced, but it was cheaper than getting a new purse.

On a funny side note, when I went to pick up my purse, the woman who works at the shoe repair place asked if I need the purse cleaned. I tried to explain that the purse was meant to have a grungy look, but I don't think she was convinced.

-CL

Lar: White and Plywood

I love the way this dress zips up the front, but keeps it soft with eyelet ruffles at the bottom (three tiers of ruffles, Tracy Feith, well done!). The shoes are from last summer. I waited in line at the South DeKalb Mall DMV to  get my Georgia license for three hours and figured I "deserved" some new shoes for the wait. I got these at Rainbow for $19.99. They lace up the front and are very comfortable to dance in.

Hope you all are having a lazy delicious Sunday. I plan to eat breakfast, read, eat lunch, read, read and read and read and eat and read. Maybe drink some sweet tea. It's an ambitious plan, but I think I'm up for the challenge.

LL

That Ikea Rug

This is the rug Cath and I settled on at Ikea this past week. We almost got the fluffier beige one and then decided we would dislike anything so blah under our toesies. So this one is wool and a bit scratchy, but isn't that pattern nice? 

We're almost to the point where we can take more photos of our place. We just need to get some art up on the walls and then we'll do a sneak peek a la DesignSponge!

LL

A Salute to Merce Cunningham

photo courtesy of danceheritage.org

Reading about Merce Cunningham's passing earlier this week, Cath and I felt one of those great lights had gone out. As young dancers we dreamed of dancing with anyone as powerfully moving and awe inspiring. 

"You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive. It is not for unsteady souls."

We never got a chance to dance a Cunningham piece, so I have no idea what I'm doing here. I'm pretty sure he would have vetoed the 5 inch stilettos.

Cath and I stuck with dancing from the wee age of three until the "end of our careers" at 18 (pesky college got in the way), but seeing that this man was still moving and pushing dance forward until his 80s proves that he is one of those steady souls.  

Thank you, Mr. Cunningham.

LL

Happy Friday!

Troy, Cath, Lar, Ali, Frances, photo by Dave Kell at Indecatur

Just a quick Friday post, loves! Cath and I did make it out to The Clermont Design Contest last night, but only briefly- I think the rain/monsoon might have scared most people away for the night. We dried off at the Bookhouse Pub afterwards with La Chouffe and peppery grits- yum!

You can read about the design winners on Dave's blog.

Hope you are all having a glorious start to your weekends!

LL

Lar: The Mean Reds

sunnies from UO, scarf from H&M, dress from Rockit in Decatur, shoes are Tarjay

I don't at all look like I have the Mean Reds here in these picks. I grumbled my way through the work day and then delighted in the fact that Cath and I were going rug shopping at Ikea. (Rug shopping is a lot like shopping for pants to me: not much variety, but a necessary part of your apartments wardrobe- and if you cheap out, you can usually tell).

Apparently my Tiffany's cure for the "mean reds" equivalent is a trip to Ikea and a smooch from the bf. More satisfying than diamonds or a sterling silver telephone dialer for sure!

p.s. We hope to see some of you guys at The Clermont Lounge tonight!

LL

Cath: Round Sunnies

sunnies from F21, tunic is Rogan for Target, skirt is Old Navy, shoes are Frye via Jac

So I had this marvelous idea (it only took me 2 + years to get here): Cath and I should post our outfits separately so you guys (dear, lovely readers) can get a better understanding of who wears what, and how our styles differ. I'm not really sure if that is ground-breaking stuff, but let us know what you think.

Before we took a jaunt to Ikea this evening, I caught Cath in her mid-week work gear. That tunic she is wearing as a shirt is one of my most favorite things in her closet. Surprisingly we hardly ever share clothes. The only time we are telepathic is when we are sharing something and we inevitably both want to wear it on the same day. No exaggeration, this happens every single time we decide we will share something in our closets. And we usually can't share shoes because my feet are bigger. Go figure.

LL