The Little Black Dress, 365 Ways

Did you guys hear about this on Daily Candy today? If so, we're sorry for the repetition, but if not, do read on.

Sheena Matheiken is wearing the same dress/uniform for the rest of the year: a classic A-line, little black dress. But not only is she styling them and accessorizing her seven black dresses in a different way every day using donated or thrifted goods, she is doing it for a great cause.

Every day she donates $1 to the Akanksha Foundation, devoted to bringing education to children living in slums. One year of styling from Sheena matches the amount the Indian government spends on a child's schooling (about $360).

You can donate money to Akanksha Foundation or you can donate your own accessories and designs directly to Sheena's daily outfits. Fashionistas out there, does that not sounds like a brilliant thing to do? Cath and I hope to get in touch with her to style one of her outfits.

If you aren't the philanthropic type- just visit The Uniform Project to check out Sheena's creativity with a scarf and socks. A very creative do-gooder fashionista. Inspiration indeed.

To find out more, visit The Uniform Project site here.

Twins: A Leeettle Creepy

I stumbled onto this artist (Lessa Leva) while doing my daily design inspiration search (sitting in front of my Mac all day leads to a wee bit of boredom/procrastination).

I think if Cath and I ever wanted a Siamese portrait of ourselves, we would go with something like this. I agree that it's a little creepy, but I think Lessa Leva (and Mary Kate and Ashley) make celebrity a little more intriguing and less airbrushed. Go check out her shop. I think one of these needs to end up on my wall.

LL

AsianCajun Birthday Time!

Lar and I are turning 26 today - that's a quarter of a century plus one year. And it's that "plus one year" that makes me think I can get away with adding some photoshopped cheesiness to a photo:


Nate took this photo of us on the pier in Charleston last weekend. Lar is wearing a navy blue maxi dress from Walmart ($15!). I'm wearing a hat from Tarjay, Alternative Apparel t-shirt, Cassius sunnies and an AA skirt.

Hope you all have a happy July 1 (my favorite day of the year/Canada Day/start of the fiscal year for many businesses)!

Edit 9:10 am: Thank you for all the sweet, sweet birthday wishes! You guys make this blogging thing so much fun- thanks for making our day/years!

And the Winner is. . .

Drum roll please. . .



Congratulations Ariel! You are the lucky winner of a gorgeous June Shin necklace!


A couple of happy coincidences about this winner:
1.) She's a friend that we've actually met in person (as opposed to all our blog friends who we also love) because she lives right by us.
2.) As noted in her comment, she has the same EXACT birthday as us (day, month and year). So it is quite possible that she is our long lost triplet.

Thank you to everyone who entered. We had so much fun reading all of your dream birthdays and aren't a bit surprised that our readers are so imaginative. And don't forget, through tomorrow you can still get 10% off at June's Etsy shop if you left a comment in the original contest post.

CL

Into the Wild (2 minutes from downtown)

We made it to Charleston yesterday afternoon to hang with our dearest friend Nate.

While I decided to take a nap, Lar and Nate took a quick trip over to Nature Island. Charleston is made up of a number of islands and places called islands that aren't really islands. It's all very confusing, but beautiful. 

Lar doing a little dance under some palm frawns.

Nate at home in the wild.

Greetings from Nature Island!

More Charleston photos on the way. . . we're heading off to the beach today.

CL

Greetings from Charleston!

Cath and I are taking a long weekend up to Charleston, and we're bringing you with us! We'll both bring our mac babies and set them up on the beach and blog from under a palm tree. See you on the other side of our five hour car ride- woohoo!

Happy Friday!

xoxo,

Cath and Lar (aka The AsianCajuns)

p.s. We'll be back Sunday and post the June Shin contest winner. We've loved reading all your birthday wishes.

p.p.s. Locals, make it out to Eviva this weekend for the closing sale if you can. Cath just got a pair of Seychelles for $60, and I got a pair of Frye's (ooo lalalaaaa) for $109 (over 50% off). Go, make good.

Walk Like A Man*

New York Times

For Father's Day, Cath and I took our dad to see The Jersey Boys. I had no idea who they were. I assumed it was an old musical group from the days of yore that my dad had enjoyed. Turns out (pardon my ignorance on current popular musicals) The Jersey Boys is a musical based on the lives of a band from the days when my dad was a swinging bachelor.

Me (in a dress from Walmart- the devil, I know) and my very dapper dad.

The Four Seasons (Frankie Valli and his falsetto voice singing "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Walk like a Man," and "Oh What a Night" should ring a bell- for me it was a very distant, quiet bell- more of a tinkle), Jersey Boys was a full on biopic of all the music my mom avoided when she was a swinging bachelorette. Whilst my dad listened to Frankie Valli and Olivia Newton John, my mom dated jazz musicians and liked George Harrison.

I have to say, using my parents' musical inclinations as an indication, I'm much more my mother's daughter. That said, I would probably swoon just a little bit (okay, a lot bit) if a man sang "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You"- even in a falsetto. But then again, that would be easily trounced by "Lay Lady Lay" in any sort of voice- and neither of my parents liked Dylan. Yeah, I know.

George from Salon.com and Franki from Entertainment Weekly.

What song would make you weak-kneed if your significant other could croon?

LL

*Has there ever been a less masculine sounding song? Didn't help that the Jersey Boys did a feminine little hop while singing the song. According to my dad, the real Four Seasons would never have done that.

Eviva Closeout Sale

Our favorite shoe store, Eviva, is closing its doors this weekend. Lar and I have both bought our favorite pair of shoes there:


Lauren's Frye boots and my Dolce Vita heels.

We're bummed, but we wanted to make sure our local readers knew about Eviva's closeout sale starting tomorrow and ending on Saturday. All merchandise including display tables, shelves and props will be for sale. We'll be stopping by for a last Jeffrey Campbell/Frye/Dolce Vita hurrah. Hope to see you there!

CL

Shoe Jewelry

Our loyal readers will know that we're big fans of Moxsie.com - and that's not just because they sent us some fantastic items. The site is a great source for undiscovered independent designers and it's constantly being updated. Litter is one of the newer jewelry brands on Moxsie that Lar and I just fell in love with. The line has a number of Erin Wasson-worthy body chains and bracelets, but my absolute favorite are the shoe jewelry pieces:

I'm desperately wanting a pair! Just imagine all the different types of shoes you can add these to. Mary Janes, pumps, boots, some strapy heels... Bah! Payday cannot not come any sooner.

Or maybe I should be fiscally responsible and do some diy-ing a la Lauren style. Remember how she added chains to her boots? They looked fantastic and cost about an eighth of Litter version.



But then again, isn't it important to support independent designers?

Decisions, decisions...

CL

Those Boots

Photo courtesy of Rennio Maifredi

So the other day I rode on the back of my bf's bike for the first time. I thought I was doing good with my pleather jacket and cut off shorts and clunky boots. Said clunky boots hit about mid calf. I burned the *&^% out of the back of my leg. To hell with the cut-offs and boots. I need to get these (in my dream world where I can afford Rick Owen boots).

LL

ps- Don't forget to enter the June Shin contest below. We'll draw the names Wednesday.

Win this Necklace (and other June Shin goodies)!

Seasoned readers will know that we've been June Shin fans for a long time, so we are super excited to offer you all a chance to win this gorgeous, delicate necklace (valued at $52) from her Etsy site.

How to do I enter?
Just leave a comment and tell us what your ideal birthday party would be and leave us some way to get in contact with you. And you're entered! Just like that.

What if I don't win?
June has currently marked down all items by 35% until June 21st. But if you can't shop over the weekend, you still get 10% all of June's gorgeous wares at her Etsy shop from June 22-30 just by leaving us a comment. Everyone's a winner!  Hop to it, shoppers!!

I realllllly want that necklace. What else can I do?
Join June's Facebook Fan page and you will be entered twice into the drawing! Schnazzy, right? And who isn't a fan of these beautiful baubles?

When do I find out if I've won?

Cath and I will close the contest on Wednesday, June 24 in the evening, and announce the winner on Thursday, June 25.

Below is a photo of the lovely Cath and the generous June (Happy Birthday, June)!




The red flower necklace is what's up for grabs for the contest, but we are equally smitten with nearly everything in June's store. Here are two more of our choices below:






Good luck, everyone! (Gents, don't feel left out. We guarantee your lady friends will love this stuff- you can't go wrong with anything any the store).

We hope you all have fantastic weekends! Summer is here!

Birthday, oops I mean, Canada Day Prezies!

Vivienne Westwood armour ring....oooooo "Tis but a scratch, a mere flesh wound!"

So in about two weeks or so there's this fantastic holiday called Canada Day. We think our northern neighbors are delightful, but we celebrate it for much more selfish reasons. Stuffing our faces with ice cream cake is usually a part of it... and leaving subtle hints about things we really, really like is another.

ps- Speaking of fabulous jewelry...check back this afternoon and all weekend for an awesome June Shin give-away contest we'll have on our blog ;) A little Happy Weekend/TGIF/Birthday Love gift to our awesome readers!

LL

Local Love

Do you guys remember this rad bag? I've been carrying it around everywhere this spring/summer. And now it's 15% off at Mingei! Go get yourself one- you won't be sorry!

For those of you in the Atlanta area, head on over to Mingei World Arts and Taste in Decatur for some sweet discounts this weekend. Here are the details:

Through the close of business on Sunday, the right password will get you 15% off on your purchase at Mingei World Arts and/or Taste on Church Street. Need to finish your Father’s Day shopping? Have a wedding gift to buy? Come visit one of these two businesses and give us the secret Asian Cajun password as you check out. Your password is “Lee Squared”. We are contacting other bloggers with other passwords, so show your Asian Cajun spirit and let the Lee sisters help you save a little over the next few days. It will be interesting to see which blog readers come in!

Fellow local bloggers at Decatur Metro and In Decatur are also participating in this. We hope you join in on the fun!

City Twin

Cath and I are identical twins, but on most days we are absolutely convinced we look nothing a like. She has bangs and wears her hair straight, I let mine go wavy (ie I don't wake up early enough in the morning) and bangs lasted three minutes on me before I decided I had to pin them back. Our noses are different, she has more Chinese, I have more Cajun. Cath also works for our local city government, so her work wear is a bit more grown-up and elegant than mine.

Despite these "notable" differences, people still often confuse us. We really don't mind at all. Our baffled looks are a result of us forgetting we look alike to people.

Because Cath has a more public job than I do, I often have to tell disappointed retailers that "I'm not the City twin" and I have little sway with the upper branches of government. Crestfallen that their grievances were wasted on a powerless twin, I try to assuage them with graphic design babble. It's difficult to distract people with a game of "What's Your Favorite Font?!"



All of this twin blather is to say, I absolutely love Cath's entire look in these photos: the wrap/grecian dress, nude pumps from Eviva, and her dainty jewelry. It's what I want to look like when I grow up.

LL

Take Us to Toddland

I can't even remember how I found Toddland. I think it was linked on some blog that was linked on a shop site that was mentioned on Daily Candy. . . or something. Anyways, how I found Toddland is not important. I'm just glad I found it because it. is. brilliant.

Toddland is a clothing site, but its hilarious writing, vintage photos and overall style keeps me coming back to it. Unfortunately they only sell menswear, but I'm seriously thinking about purchasing the conchord worksuit and getting it altered to fit. Here are a few other items Toddland has to offer:


And here's example of the writing that made me laugh out loud when I first read it:


Seriously, if you like this site even half as much as I do, then you're my kind of person.

Update: Thank you Toddland for returning the love!

CL