Bitten, really?

That's right. Sarah Jessica has joined the ranks of celebrity fashion labels with her own clothing line called Bitten. Debuting June 7, Bitten will be sold exclusively at Steve & Berry's (apparently it's a department store in New England or something similar, so we Atlantans are out of luck). Or are we? For SJP and Sex and the City fans the clothing line will be a disappointment because it's more Gap-like than Carrie Bradshaw-esque. I'm a bit confused myself. The blandness of the clothes seem nothing like Parker's style. Nevertheless, there is one major redeeming factor: every single item of clothing is under $20. Old Navy can't even compete with that! So enjoy the mostly-guilt-free shopping, you New Englanders!


CL

I Want It!

I know the end of spring/beginning of summer is no time to start thinking about scarves, but I've fallen completely head over heels in like with this Balenciaga scarf (RTW Fall 07 collection). It has layers, a mix of materials, medallions and a very nice ethnic-blend thing going on. I have no idea how much the scarf costs, but I can assure you it's no where near my salary range - in fact it's probably twice my monthly rent. I am, however, not downtrodden at all. In fact, I have the whole summer to figure out how to make something similar. A quick trip to Urban Outfitters, Hancock Fabrics and Last Chance Thrift (and a few frustrating hours with a needle and thread) should do the trick!
CL

Outfit: Back to the Real World

After running around all weekend in scrubby clothes while working at the festival, I felt today was as good as any day to start dressing like an adult. I think I succeeded somewhat with a cotton tunic from Gap and American Apparel leggings. I also got the chance to wear my recent festival purchases. I'm usually not much of a jewelry person, but it's fun to wear something made by a local artist/friend.

CL

Festival Purchases

• One cup by local ATL artist, Polly the Potter (it came with a complimentary Bloody Mary)
• Silver bracelet by Dolores Fawkes
• natural stone ring by Ann Finley
• "Frankie" by John Ha
  

During the ArtWalk on Friday, Lauren bought a saintly trucker's hat:
CL

Fun Times at the Festival

As you can tell from the photos below, things can get pretty serious at the festival. Getting in trouble with the local police is great fun.

Lauren gets handcuffed for loitering in front of the Vinson Gallery.

Local artist, Ruth Franklin, tries to lend a helping hand...

Taking a couple of drink breaks...

....at the Brick Store Pub...

...Taqueria....

...and The Angel on West Ponce.

CL

Doors of Decatur

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Doors of Decatur were great this year. The auction took place on Saturday evening. Our friend Clay (pictured below in the red shirt-not sure who the kid in the gray shirt is) was a great and hilarious auctioneer. One of the doors even went for $600!


CL

Decatur Arts Festival

I've worked a total of 35 hours, Friday through Sunday, at the festival. Putting on an arts fest is hard work. There's the set-up on Friday, organizing 140 artists, checking in volunteers, adding umbrella bubbles to give the festival some atmosphere (see photo in the upper left-hand corner below), setting out signs, organizing the information booths and making sure everything is secure. Let me tell you, it's no walk in the park!


Once the festival began on Saturday, things eased up a little and I got a chance to walk around and enjoy the activities. Luck was on our side because we had great weather all weekend - sunny, breezy with a high of 85 degrees (that's pretty cool for Atlanta in May). The live music was great and a number of the artists had record-breaking sales.
One of my favorite artists at the festival is John Ha. He's a Chinese, Vietnamese painter from Brooklyn. The pictures below don't really do justice to his vibrant and energetic work, which is a bit more edgy than other artists in the show. Lauren bought a print by Ha (I'm holding it in the bottom picture, standing next to the artist). The print is part of Ha's Gold Fish Egg series. The fish (this one's name is Frankie) is still in his egg, hence the rounded background and Frankie's large eyes. Pretty darn great in an asian-inspired, Jackson Pollack-y kind of way.

I wouldn't be able to survive the festival without the support of my friends:
CL

Calm before the (Decatur Arts Festival) Storm

For those of you who don't know, my very talented sis is one of the organizers of the Decatur Arts Festival. (Short plug to follow):
This Weekend Only! Don't Miss it!
Art Work Galore! Funnel Cake! Live Music! Beer!
Saturday, May 26 • 10 am-6 pm
Sunday, May 25 • 12 am-6 pm
Cath could have done that much better, but unfortunately you have to hear it from me. She is attempting to conserve every last bit of energy tonight in preparation for 12 hr. work days, 3 days straight, this coming weekend. So while she assembles tents/booths, soothes artistic temperments, and shouts into a walkie talkie, I will update you with the going-ons of the festival. She has warned me that Friday night and Saturday morning will be the most stressful, but at the moment she looks quite calm (see below).
Happy Decatur Arts Festival Weekend!

Clink Clink: Mint Julep Wednesday

Refreshing, tasty, minty, mmmmm.....I had a craving yesterday. What else to do on a hot evening in ATL but sit on your screened porch and sip mint juleps while a fan circles drowsily overhead? Well, we have no porch (and our balcony is a mere one foot deep) nor sleepy fans, but we do have monogrammed mint julep cups, 8 in fact! (College graduation gift from mum). So 2 cups of sugar, lots of ice, sprigs of mint, and half a bottle of whiskey later, we had 2 chilly cups of the stuff! mmmmmm.... refreshing, tasty, minty...
LL

We're Hapa(s): The Hapa Project

ha•pa (hä’pä) adj. 1. Slang. of mixed racial heritage with partial roots in Asian and/or Pacific Islander ancestry. n. 2. Slang. a person of such ancestry. [der./Hawaiian: hapa haole. (half white)]

We've always been very happy to be a melting-pot of ethnicities and cultures (see blog's title), but we don't ever go around telling people we're AsianCajun or CajunAsian. Sure it's part of our identity, but we kinda just liked how those two words rhymed. I don't think we ever think of it as a label. For that matter, we don't think about it until someone asks "what are you?" And that, my friends, is the idea behind The Hapa Project: a chance for multi-racial people to answer that question however they want.
Being multi-racial often makes people curious when they first meet you because you do look like a mix of things and they can't quite figure it out. I understand this curiousity and it usually has no (or very little) racist overtones. Still, I do sometimes wonder what it's like to look "all-american" and never encounter that slight tilt of the head and squint of the eyes as someone tries to assess why you look kind of hispanic, or maybe Philipino, or Italian, or Russian (?), or Indian, 1/16th cherokee, or....

Jewelry Sale

Every spring and fall the DeKalb Rape Crisis Center holds a jewelry sale on the bandstand in Decatur. 100% of the proceeds go towards the center and the jewelry, purses, ties and scarfs are donated throughout the year by local Decaturites solely for the purpose of this great fund raiser.

Somehow, I always manage to miss the sale because I'm working, but today I was in luck. On my way to lunch at Sweet Melissa's I stumbled across the sale packed with fellow avid jewelry bargain hunters. The best thing about this bi-annual sale is that if you buy something that you absolutely hate in two months, then you can donate it back to the center for the next jewelry sale.

The first thing items that caught my eye were the leather purses. The pile at this jewelry sale completely trumps the "baggage" department in the Avondale Salvation Army. One of the volunteers told me that there was a real Louis Vuitton purse in the pile this morning. Imagine purchasing a $2,000 purse for $3. All jewelry is $1-3, purses are $3 and scarfs are $2.

I managed to find a few things. (Take note of my post-shopping glow)

I ended up purchasing one green clutch, a chunky "gold" bracelet and a blue and white silk scarf.

Shopping and donating to charity - not a bad way to spend a lunch break.

C.L.

Sawicki's

Sawicki's Seafood, Meats and More just opened up about two weeks ago in Decatur on Ponce de Leon Ave. Owner Lynne Sawicki was one of the founders of the popular gourmet market, Star Provisions on Howell Mill, so it's no surprise that Sawicki's is stocked with the highest quality seafoods and meats. You can purchase veal, fresh sausage, local pork, beef-Kobe, game birds, caviar, crab meat and anything else your little carnivore heart desires. It's a true butcher shop with a hint of YUPPIE-ness to it.

Given that my budget for buying meat is more appropriate for Super Giant than Sawicki's I decided to spend my hard earned cash on one of the many delux (yet reasonably priced) sandwiches on the Sawicki lunch menu. I highly recommend the tuna panini with kettle chips and a root beer. Then, for dessert you really can't go wrong with the homemade cupcakes. I tried the lemon poppyseed cupcake with fresh strawberry butter icing.

All in all it was a very satisfying experience and even if I can't afford the meat, I'll keep coming back for those cupcakes.

Eating lunch and people-watching at the Sawicki counter.

Lauren enjoying her root beer.

C.L.

Sunday in Atlanta

I'm not exactly sure what a perfect Sunday in Atlanta would look like, but today came pretty close. First, brunch at Alon's bakery. The coffee is delicious and the roast beef sandwich made the long lines worth it. Suhel recommends the spicy tuna sandwich and Andrew enjoys washing down his coffee with a whole baguette.


Afterwards, we stopped by Paolo's Gelato. Brunch was very filling, so I got a mini cone of the mint chocolate chip. That's the best dollar I've ever spent. Other recommended gelato flavors are mango and espresso.


To round off the afternoon we played frisbee in the park and tried to enjoy one of the last spring-like days in Atlanta before it turns unbearably hot. They don't call it Hot-lanta for nothing!

C.L.

Doors of Decatur

We spent the morning installing the Doors of Decatur around the Community Bandstand for next week's Decatur Arts Festival. The Doors of Decatur is the community art project portion of the festival. Artists and non-artists paint doors that will be auctioned off on Saturday, May 26. This year there are a total of 30 doors - that's a record! They're all really great. Check out the third image to see some detailed shots or better yet, come down to the square and take a look.

Bandstand on Saturday, May 19 around 10 am

Some members of the Doors of Decatur installation team

A few close-ups of the artwork...

C.L.

Siggelicious is Terrific

One of our favorite blogs is Siggelicious even though we can't understand one damn thing that is posted on there (it's written in Norwegian). The blog is a very cheerful look at some really great Oslo style. It almost makes us wish that we lived in a colder climate, but needing a scarf in the middle of May just seems too absurd.

Exercising in the Movies, Shopping in Atlanta

Movies always seem to inspire me - especially with clothing. Shallow? Maybe. I wouldn't have it any other way. For example, I'm on an exercise kick at the moment; taking classes at Dance 101, lifting weights every other day and working my way up to the full hour of Rodney Yee's Power Yoga DVD. To keep myself motivated, I try to put together some nice, vintage-y exercise outfits (worn with a healthy amount of irony, mind you). Finding good workout wear is pretty easy in Atlanta. Here are some of my favorite sources:


Wish in L5P has some lovely footwear. Things can get pretty pricey here, but the modern, bright interior is well worth the trip.


American Apparel is a great store for comfortable clothing and Atlanta has three locations: Tech, Lenox and L5P. The one in L5P is my favorite because it's so spacious and located right up the street from Arden's Garden.


There is a Y-3 Adidas store in Lenox mall and it's lovely, but expensive. Also, the store has a high turnaround rate, so if you see something you like, you better buy it then and there because the designs never come back.


Deka Athletics just recently opened up on Pharr Rd. I haven't visited the store yet, but I've heard good things. Word on the street is you can find Stella McCartney for Adidas and Christy Turlington's Puma Nuala line.

Where's the Love, Chan Marshall?

It's hard to believe that Chan Marshall, a.k.a. Cat Power, got her start in Atlanta. After the release of her recent album, The Greatest, and becoming the new face of Chanel Jewelry, she is, without a doubt a star. Nevertheless, the last time she performed in Atlanta was last September at Variety Playhouse and, as far as I can tell, she's not returning anytime soon. Where's the love, Chan Cat Marshall Power?

Stockholm Syndrome

The Sartorialist has some great images from Stockholm up on Style.com. The style over there is the exact opposite of Atlanta style. Girls in Atlanta like to stick to the classic jeans, heels and cute top combo - it can be pretty boring, but when it's executed well, a girl can look fabulous. The Stockholm women in the photos below seem a little more fearless about fashion, and as the Sartorialist pointed out, can pull together a sexy look without revealing a lot of skin. Of course it already feels like summer in Atlanta, so black tights are out of the question for the next five months. Nevertheless, I'll be so excited if I see someone wearing a summer Stockholm-like outfit down south sometime this season.

Gallerinas for a Day

What is a perfect way to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon? We're currently hanging out at the Vinson Gallery in Decatur. Owner Shawn Vinson asked us to take charge today while he's out of town. So far only six people have stopped by, but the a/c is working, there's a good jazz CD playing and lots of lovely art to look at, so no complaints here!

A look through the front door

Working hard or hardly working?

Catching up on some reading

Dancing around

Vinson entrance

Gallery headquarters

Charcoal and chair

Works by Ruth Franklin

View from the desk