Auld Lang Syne

Image: Google Life archive

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne

Poem excerpt: Rabbie Burns

Happy 2009 Everyone!

CL & LL

End of the Year Outfits

With our penultimate post of the year, we wanted to thank all of you for reading! It's been a heck of a year for the AsianCajuns- what with meeting all of you lovely blog readers and writers from all over the world and our neck of the woods! We hope that you've enjoyed reading as much as we have posting and being inspired by your blogs in turn.

Below: one of my all time favorite photos of Cath (taken this weekend... once we were on the mend).

Scarf: Cut-it-Out, Jacket: H&M, Tee and Skirt: AA, Boots: Thrifted

Lar dressed for the balmy Georgia winter. 50ºF is cold, right?

Everything H&M, except for the hat which is old Ann Taylor.

New booties for battling the elements ("elements" being a light rain in Georgia).


LL

A Brief Christmas Roundup

We received a number of great gifts this Christmas. Below are just two of them.

Lauren bought me this Pantone mug from Heliotrope. I bet I just made all you graphic designers out there swoon - unless, of course, 3272 C is not to your liking.


The lovely ladies of Jac, a local Atlanta boutique we adore (we've been following their blog since the beginning), sent us these reusable shopping bags. I've been wanting some of these for a while. I love how they come in little small pouches so I can keep them in my purse and never have to use another plastic bag again. So, thank you dearest Jac!

The front of the card says "I'll be home for Christmas (And in therapy the day after)." Makes me smile every time I see it.

CL

We Salute You, Victoria

Thanks for all the well wishes, lovely readers! Unfortunately, the AsianCajun household was struck by the flu Christmas Day, so we've been lying low and trying to recoup. We're sorry if we missed you all at the party last night. Tessa, we'll have to meet soon!


Below: what I look like when I'm sick (with a few adornments added by Cath- thanks, C)


Cath was inspired by the very chic Victoria Beckham's new video for her clothing line. Even if you aren't a VB fan, you'll love this. We promise! It's like Audrey Hepburn playing hide-and-seek in her Paris apartment.


LL

We Heart Epidemik Coalition

A couple of weeks ago Lar and I met up with Larry and Georgios of Epidemik Coalition to pick their brains about portfolio schools and how they started their own creative agency. Check out their work here. Needless to say, we were impressed and have been following thier blog for some time. And we were doubly impressed with their good taste when Larry asked to interview us for Epidemik's site. Ha! Just kidding - except for the interview bit. That's true. Read it here.



So thanks Larry and Georgios! We'll see you on New Years Eve!

CL

Happy Holidays!

Hope you all are enjoying delicious food, quality family time and plenty of gifts under the tree/ near the menorah, etc.


Chalkboard from Ikea. Artwork by our mom.


Close up of the santa lights around the chalkboard (from Big Lots).

Love,

The AsianCajuns

1st Annual Unwrapped: Atlanta Web Party

Some of our loyal readers might have noticed the Unwrapped ATL Web Party thumbnail in the upper right-hand corner of our blog. Here's what it's all about:

Tessa, author of Drive a Faster Car, is hosting anti-holiday party at Vinyl this Friday and we're one of the media sponsors. The first ever AsianCajun sponsorship - woohoo! Hope all of you local bloggers can come join us!



The details:

The Last Big Event of 2008! (besides New Years Eve, of course)

We know what you're thinking. It's the day after Christmas and you are sick of the holidays. Unwrapped is your chance to let loose from the family and drink, mingle, network, dance with others in Atlanta you may have seen around the internet. Bloggers, designers, developers, and Facebook addicts alike are all invited.

Half of all proceeds are going to One Laptop Per Child to help create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning.

Friday, December 26

8pm - 2am

Vinyl @ CW Music Complex

1374 W Peachtree Street

Atlanta, GA 30309

See you there!

Christmas in Our Appartment

After a busy week I've finally gotten around to posting photos of some of our Christmas decor as promised. Since the post from Monday, there's been an addition to the tree. The cute little felted gnome (we've named him Klausy) is actually a boiled egg warmer, but we think he makes a very nice tree topper.



The garland and lights are from Big Lots. No one can accuse us of not being frugal this season!


It took me over an hour to polish all the silver pieces (most of them thrift store finds) on top of the shelf.


Our mini pink Christmas tree and pink roses from Trader Joe's.


For some more Christmas decor inspiration, visit our fellow fashion bloggers at Hiking in Stilettos and We Wear Things.

CL

Merry (Almost) Christmas!

Dearest AsianCajun Readers,

We apologize for the slight blogging hiatus. We're just trying to catch up on gift giving/getting, Christmas-y events, seeing friends and family...
We love all the lovely, wonderful comments- thank you, thank you!
After this weekend, the holiday season will slow down just in time for Christmas, and we'll be back to blogging in good fashion.
Hope you have a marvelous weekend!!!

Love,
The AsianCajuns

The AsianCajun husbands in 1962? (Cath, red socks or tattoo?) Perhaps no, but it sure is fun to come up with captions to these awesome retro Christmas photos from A Journey Through Junkland.

LL

Christmas Comes Early to the AsianCajuns

First off, thank you, thank you, thank you to the lovely Issa at We Wear Things. My first present of the season is... drum roll please...


(I love Issa's panda drawings on the envelop- too cute! Great things come in panda-covered packages.)

...This gorgeous bubble skirt made by the oh-so-chic Issa. Want one? You can get one here at her lovely etsy shop.


(This photo reminds me of that line in The Philadelphia Story when Dinah [sister to Katherine Hepburn's Tracie] says "It isn't the skirt that goes up in the back, mother. It's me that does." Skirt: Issa, dress [used as shirt and bum cover]: AA, boots: tarjay, earrings: June Shin)

And as a sweet little extra prezi, Issa included this handmade cutey (I'm jealous of his lashes). He's already found a comfortable home on our aluminum tree:



We hope the rest of you are being equally showered with lovely gifts! We apologize if we've been a little slow on the commenting and blogging. We promise once the hectic gift buying/giving, holiday partying and cookie-consuming ebbs, we'll visit all of our wonderful bloggers.

LL

Pie and Other Things

I've been a fan of Pushing Daisies for about a year, but ever since I heard that ABC decided to cancel it after this season, I've been obsessing about it. How can something so good be canceled? I shouldn't be surprised. If it can happen to Arrested Development, it can happen to any great show.


Images courtesy of www.thepiemaker.com

The endless amount of over-the-top set designs and costumes are a great source of inspiration. But the show is much more than just pretty clothes and fancy rooms. The writing and acting is very good. Even though the plot sounds ridiculous, the show somehow pulls it all off without being too sweet or precious.

The main character in the show is a pie-maker and Lauren and I always have a craving for pie after watching an episode. This week has been busy, so after watching an episode we decided to make do with a mini cherry pie from Kroger. Here's what's left of it:


Being busy might be a good excuse for not making a pie from scratch, but it's no excuse for not having all of our Christmas decorations up yet. I'm determined to have everything up by the end of this weekend. I've made a good start this evening - the tree ornaments have actually made it out of the storage box!


Hope you all have a good weekend! If you have some free time make sure to rent/buy/netflix Pushing Daisies.

- CL

Do Good/Look Good: The MODA Christmas Cards

So it's only December 10th today. That still gives us 15 (okay, 14) days to get out those Christmas cards. Oodles of time! Or at least an oodle of time.

Our recommendation? These cards from MODA (Museum of Design Atlanta):



(L to R, Top to Bottom: R Land, Abaigeal Leary, Hannah Snowden, Dave Heimbuch, Wes Sumner, Brandy Gill, Clint Zeagler, Adrianne Kimbell, Georgios Saliaris).

Each is designed by... well... a local Atlanta designer.

And not only do you get to send out pieces of art this year, but a portion of each sale goes to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Pretty terrific, eh?

We can't think of a better way- oh, make that two better ways- to spreed some holiday cheer this season. (My Sessun obsession can wait until next year).

LL

Getting into the (Victorian) Christmas Spirit

We spent most of our weekend in West End Atlanta at our favorite house museum, The Wren's Nest. Saturday we helped decorate the house for Christmas. Don't believe me? Well, here's proof. And here's what we were doing Sunday:



We spent a good bit of our time in the kitchen making sure there was a continuous supply of hot cider, hot chocolate and coffee for the visitors and, uh, taste testing the cake, cookies, mini cheese biscuits and chicken fingers.

Here we are in the kitchen (apologies for our overly-earnest poses - all that eating dulled our desire to pose fashionably). Lauren is pointing out the bust of Mr. Harris himself placed regally atop the fridge. Note: fridge and Christmas dish towels not original to the house. Come to think of it, the whole kitchen is not original to the house.

Outfit details: Lar is wearing a jacket and boots from Tarjay and Cheap Monday jeans. I'm wearing a H&M coat, J.Crew sweater, Blank jeans from Rockit and thrifted boots.

Up next on our to do list: decorate our own apartment for Christmas. Time to bring out our aluminum tree!

CL

Best of ATL Party

Although it might not be evident in the photo below (I look alarmed and Lauren looks confused), we had a lot of fun at Atlanta Magazine's Best of Atlanta reception last night. The best part was getting to hang out with so many other Decaturites outside of Decatur.



For our loyal readers, here's a image of Lar's new H&M fringe dress (mentioned in the previous post) that she wore last night. It's not really form fitting so she added a wide belt, which made it also look less costume-y. I think she looked fantastic!

Outfit details: I know her boots are from Tarjay, but I'll have to get back to you about the belt...

CL

The Fringe Trend

So I know this isn't a new trend, but I can't seem to pull myself away from swingy strings (witness here and here). I love the way fringe moves- on a purse, on boots, on dresses, etc. And what better to wear to your holiday parties? It's as happy and lively as a reindeer jumper or santa aplique sweatshirt... and at times (meaning, always... except perhaps when said jumper is worn by a certain gentleman) sexier.

I've just bought a cheapie fringe shift from H&M, whilst lusting after all below:


Balmain has been fringey for a few seasons now. Above is from Fall RTW 08.


My personal favorite at the moment, Alessandro dell' Aqua... something to do with the combo of belts, boots and fringe (Spr RTW 09).


A bit more avant garde: Ann Demeulmeester sandwiched by Jil Sander (Spr RTW 09).

LL

Family Time

Lar and I flew up to D.C./Maryland for Thanksgiving and have been unable to check up on the blog as frequently as we usually do in Atlanta because 1) we've been spending some quality time with the family and 2) our parents' computer is slow and cranky (it was a struggle just to upload the images below).

So we'll be responding to everyone's comments later on this week, but until then, here are some things that we've been up to for the past few days:

Lar and my dad heading towards the Pentagon to check out the Sept. 11 Memorial. The memorial itself is very impressive, but the website is oddly very unofficial looking: Pentagon Memorial.


The National Building Museum is probably one of my all time favorite buildings in D.C. and the exhibits are always fantastic. It's also located a couple of blocks from Chinatown, D.C. where my dad was born and raised so it has a special place in my heart.


Lar trying on some sunglasses at Cafe Hon in Baltimore (or "Bawlmore" for you natives).


Our parents took us to The Walters Art Museum (also in Baltimore). It has a very impressive collection for being located in a non-international city and puts Atlanta's art museums to shame. Part of the museum is an 1850s mansion known as the Hackerman House. The rooms are so elegant it almost made me wish women could still wear giant hoop skirts - minus the tight corsets and the subjugation of women.


Lar is peering up at the stained glass sunlight at the top of the stairs of the Hackerman House.


So there you have it. Proof that we haven't been sitting on our bums all day eating Thanksgiving leftovers and being too lazy to even scroll around our favorite fashion blogs. I promise we'll be back in real AsianCajun fashion once we get back in town!

CL