Last week Cathy hosted an event at the Buckhead W. I was super classy and immediately made a beeline for the bar (the specialty drink was some type of pineapple mojito) and then plopped down to get my nails done by one of the Bliss Spa ladies. Maybe it was the mojito or the party’s summery theme (Sunglasses at Night), but I decided to throw caution to the wind and get my nails painted bright yellow. Not sure what expression I was going for in that bottom photo. . .

Last weekend Troy and I walked over to Sun in My Belly for brunch. Remember how delicious the honey glazed bacon is? Would you still order it even though you’re not eating as much meat anymore? I thought I was being so discipline by ordering the fruit and granola, but right when the waiter was about to walk away, I blurted out, “And a side of honey glazed bacon!!!!!” Here’s me in my post-bacon-feast glow:

Tunic from Squash Blossom, Blank Denim shorts, Claire Vivier bag and an old pair of Birkenstocks.

For the past two months, Troy and I have become obsessed with Mezcalitos in Oakhurst. Even though we’ve lived within walking distance of the place for the past two years, we only recently went there for the first time and now we’re hooked. The margaritas are delicious – no fake mix stuff – and the veggie tacos are really filling. We usually sit outside and I always think about how you can’t even picnic in Edinburgh without wearing five layers under a windbreaker. As cheesy as it sounds, I wish I could bottle up the warmth here and send it your way.

For the past few weeks, Starbucks has been celebrating Frappuccino Happy Hour with half price fraps between 3-5 p.m. Each day there’s been a different photo contest theme and on Day 6 the theme was Twins. TWINS! If only you still worked in Decatur, I would have made you meet me at Starbucks so we could have taken a photo together. Instead I took this one:

Yep. Took a photo with my phone, put it on my computer and then took another one. This is the kind of hard work I have to do when my twinie isn’t around! Anywho, Starbucks posts the top ten photos each day on their Frappuccino FB page and mine was one of the top ten for Day 6!

On to other exciting news: I finished painting the chevron stripes on the wall in my closet! I know I already sent you some pics, but here are the before-ish, during and after images:

I’m really pleased with the result and now I’m itching to cover all other surfaces in chevron stripes. If only I could paint our deck! It was a bit time consuming, but this post really helped as did listening to him on repeat while I worked.

And last, but not least, a quick Toby update. It looks like he and Wheatie are totally best buds now. They each have their own beds, but always decide to share one at night (please ignore the giant dirty laundry pile in the background):

I’ll be heading to Denver for a few days so we might not be able to chat on Skype – not sure what the internet situation will be like. Nevertheless, I’ll bring my laptop in the hopes I will be able to Skype you and write a post.

xoxo, Cath

Like I told you, I think the best way to celebrate Matteo’s birthday is with some good food — especially food he doesn’t usually get to eat. So Friday night we went to Vietnam House for pho. I made him wear his birthday badge all day. Nobody noticed except for the masseuse who said “do you work for Salvation Army?”

Look at this feast, Kitcath! I haven’t had pho since leaving Atlanta and this was soooo wonderful! I actually preferred my vegetarian version to Matt’s beef broth. I could eat this every day.

I’m sure you are sick of my complaining about the cold and the rain, and it seems phoney too seeing as I only show photos like this on the blog:

When it is sunny, it is so beautiful, but still so cold and so windy. My brain gets confused because in Maryland and Georgia when you see cherry blossoms it means the cold days are banished until next winter. Not so here. These are tenacious cherries. They’ve been blossoming for about three weeks and weathered the hail, snow and intense wind gusts.

I am far less tenacious. I thought I would sneak a pair of sandals on my feet (the toes haven’t been out of woolie socks since September 21 when we left Atlanta), but I switched into my Frye boots before we ventured down to Thistle Street. I’m not sure if I can do cold feet and slip around in stilettos on cobblestone.

Primark blouse (bought in December before ethical guilt awakening) • thrifted Zara skinnies • Luxury Rebel shoes

Don’t you like this coral and cargo green together?

And zips on the side of these skinnies! I haven’t been to Zara in a while because they aren’t particularly ethical (not even making an attempt like H&M), so I’m glad I found these at a charity shop.

The more research I do on ethical shopping, the easier it seems to find clothes, but the harder it is to find reasonably priced, ethical foot wear. So the two shoes I’ve bought since being in Scotland are not in any way ethical. Cri de Coeur is the best option I’ve found so far, but it doesn’t work if you are looking for a specific kind of shoe. Like I told you, after watching Audrey Tautou in Delicacy I really wanted a pair of ballerinas with a short heel. And I found them, but they aren’t ethical (they came with me to a picnic on Saturday):

Saturday evening we went here for dinner (so fancy pancy). I don’t know whose bike that is. Maybe it’s always there to give Saint Honoré some street cred:

We were very un-vegetarian. Matt had paté and a meat pie. I had sardines and then salmon:

And then this for dessert!

Dark chocolate tart with lemon sorbet on top (aka Matt’s birthday cake, of which I ate half most).

And at the end of our three courses, we got coffee (which I haven’t had since December!) and they served it with their house Scottish tablet. I love that even though everything was so Frenchie, at the end they leave you with a bit of local sweetness.

Okay, so this still isn’t as satisfying as sitting next to you and telling you these things and showing you photos on my camera. But I guess it will have to do? Can you imagine if we had studied abroad apart? I would have been home faster than you can say twin power.

Miss you so, so, so much.

Love,

Lar

p.s. I am still trying to figure out how to cook with this and like it. Hopefully this week’s veg box won’t have one. I haven’t used last week’s and it’s making our pantry smell like celery — why can’t it smell like chocolate cake instead:

Isn’t this a fantastic castle? It’s so castley! It’s exactly the sort of thing I would draw when I was young and went through a castle-drawing phase: turret, crenelation, crenelation, crenelation, turret.

And castles of this sort are just one of the many many many reasons I love Scotland. When Cath and I were students here we bought Historic Scotland passes and would spend every weekend hopping on trains to as many castles as we could manage within a days’ journey of Edinburgh.

This particular castle, Craigmillar, is just a hop, skip and a jump from the city center of Edinburgh. From Craigmillar’s battlements you can actually see Edinburgh Castle’s battlements. This was the castle that royals (such as Mary Queen of Scots) would go to for some down-time; away from the hullabaloo that was medieval Edinburgh. It was the Hamptons to their Manhattan penthouses — except, you know, draftier and … stoney-er.

From the top of the castle you get these gorgeous views of the Firth of Forth (a rather large bay-like body of water that flows into the North Sea).

Below, I’m keeping a look-out for parties of marauding English — the most intimidating door-keeper this castle has ever seen:

Mettle necklace • H&M jacket and tank (organic cotton range) • AE belt • thrifted Coach bag and Reiss coat • Madewell skinnies • Frye boots

The great thing about these castles is that it’s not like in the States where most of the ruin would be cordoned off (do we have ruins in the States?). You can climb all over them: sneaking down spiral stairways and squeezing through secret passage ways.

Lead-paned windows! I live for this stuff!

Here’s a photograph to show you how close we are to Edinburgh — spitting distance really:

I took about a million and a half photographs because it was so sunny and so wonderfully castley, but I don’t want to bore you guys with too much stone. I hope this is just a glimpse to get you thinking “Scotland… I need to go to there” (ignore the fact that this has been one of their rainiest Springs for an already rainy country. It becomes sunny whenever you visit a castle.).

So what do you say? You wanna come castling with us?

—–

Dear Cath,

As much as we love Edinburgh, I really think one reason we fell in love with this country is the train trips we took to all those castles. The only downside to Craigmillar is that it’s not one of those castles with a giftshop and tea room. Remember those? A bit of Scottish tablet, some tea, and then searching through their tea towel collection. Crazy, wild college kids that we were

I sooooo wish you were here to go castling with us! I think Matt likes them, but he grew up going to crusader castles all over the middle east and thinks Scotland’s castles are newbies. Who knew I married such a hoity-toity castler?

I hope you guys have some fun plans for the weekend! Our only big plan is going to eat at this fancy pants place.

LOVE,

Lar

I wore my “London” dress out on a date night (you can tell it’s a date night because I bothered to put on lipstick). Troy and I went to Cakes and Ale for dinner (note to the locals: get the trout for two, you won’t be disappointed!) and then Colbeh Persian Kitchen and Bar for after-dinner drinks and then to Steinbeck’s for post-after-dinner drinks. I know, we’re gluttons! But we don’t do it every night week.

That’s my arm party in the photo below. I’m a little late on the trend and only did a tame version at that with three pieces. The watch is so old that it doesn’t even work with a new battery. When I brought it to a jewelry store to get the battery changed, the sales clerk said it wasn’t even worth repairing. Harumph! I still like it because it’s my only piece of silver and gold jewelry so I still wear it all the time. You should see the looks I get when people ask me for the time and I have to scrounge around in my purse for my phone while wearing a watch.

I love any dress with pockets – and I mean it. If a potato sack had pockets, I’d belt it and wear it everyday. Not only does this dress have pockets, it has zips!

And if zippered pockets weren’t enough to delight me, the waistband is elastic! I might as well be wearing yoga pants – perfect for big meals and, uh, some light drinking.

Outfit details: Spitalfields Market dress, Mettle necklace, Madewell shoes, BCBG OMG bracelet, Ann Klein watch, Shashi bracelet.

___________

Dearest Lar,

Thank you again and again for my lurvly dress! I got so many compliments on it – even one compliment where a guy said “I like how it’s kind of sheer, but covered up!” Sheer?! I freaked out a bit – and was a little creeped out – but Troy assured me that it’s a perfectly opaque dress.

Are you going out for high tea this weekend? I am! Troy, mom, dad and I are going to try out Cozee Teas, a new teashop in Decatur. I’ll report back, but am not going to hold my breath for real clotted cream!

love, cath

So what do you do? You throw on your favorite scarf, cross your fingers, and head out into the belly of the city:

Sly Pete Scarf from Etsy (check out Laura’s fantastic style blog here) • Primark coat • Vintage Coach bag • Madewell skinnies • Hunter boots (on sale!)

I still haven’t gotten over the thrill of sitting on the second level of a double-decker bus (even though it makes me slightly queasy on longer rides). You can see so much of the beautiful city from up there. I always want the bus rides to last forever — I don’t think I’ll ever live in another city where I’ll wish that to be the case:

Book shops and newstands in abundance — two of my favorite things:

We have some friends here who are members of a club (can you guess which club from the subtle clues I left in the photo below?). They invited us to said club for lunch. I felt very Wooster-at-the-Drones-club, except when I was taking covert photos. Real club members don’t do that. Thanks for the invite, S&J!

Post “clubbing” we had to refortify with a slice of cake (and tea):

Then we hopped on another bus and went to a castle! I love castling. I have a whole post dedicated to going to this castle, so I hope you guys like castling too (yes, it’s a verb! — according to me):

Then back home for another delicious bowl of kedgeree (aka British fried rice):

Which we ate while watching the sun set in our apartment around 8:30 pm (the sun now rises at about 5 am — oi, my eyes)!

So the weather here isn’t easy, but who doesn’t like a good challenge? Especially when you have very long spring days, castles, tea, kedgeree, books and leather-arm-chaired clubs to assuage any malcontent at a snowy May.

—–

Dear Cath,

Click on that Drones club link above — it’s Hugh Laurie singing “47 Ginger-Haired Sailors.” I wish he sang in “House” — it would almost cancel out the hypochondria response I have to every episode.

I can’t wait to post the photos of Craigmillar Castle too! I think the day we went (8 years ago!) it was rainy and we didn’t stay long. I remember our trip to Linlithgow’s castle better. But Craigmillar has plenty of twisty staircases and hidden hallways to remind me why we did so much castling as students.

I hope you are having a good week so far! I misssss you!!!

Love,

Lar

Neiman’s style guru, below left, told us all about the upcoming trends. He had a much more official sounding title than style guru, but I’ve totally forgotten his name and title. Either way, he knows his stuff. Here he is showing off the model’s Valentino bow clutch – oooohhhhh:

One of the major trends this season? Hot pink – which Kristen from Lily Kai (below right) embodied with her double breasted blazer and orange dress:

While the peach-colored, quilted Channel bag wasn’t my cup of tea, everyone else was dying to pet the thing – leather like butter!

Apparently maxi skirts and dresses are around for a little bit longer. I usually shy away from them since I have to get all maxi items hemmed. I loved the flow and pattern of the orange maxi skirt – wonder if Neimans sells a version that’s about 2 feet shorter. . .

All the Helmet Lang pieces were my absolute favorite – drape-y, timeless, elegant. This white, grey and yellow number draped so beautifully. If I had all the money in the world I wear nothing but Helmet Lang.

Another Helmet Lang top:

The preview ended with this amazing Alice and Olivia dress. It made me wish I had a special occasion coming up where I could wear it.

Check out the back:

And just a little extra, I snapped a photo of these sparkly Sam Edelman heels. I’ve been looking all over for the perfect d’orsay pumps and I think these might be it – just need to save up a few paychecks for them!

_______________________

Dear Lar,

Going to fashion and blogger events always makes me miss you even more. Everyone was so sweet and asked after you. Maybe when you come back to visit in December we can go to an event together – that’s only like, what, 8 months away!

xoxo, Cath

Here are the details:

I’ll be out of town for the event (hence the jealousy), but the first 25 AsianCajuns readers that enter the code ASIANCAJUNS at checkout will get in for free and receive a sassy tote.

Attendees will get to shop summer and spring fashions up to 80% off, sip on cocktails and get their hands on some VIP swag. Oh, I wish I could go!

If you are one of the first 25 to use the code, make sure to take pictures at the event and send them to me so I can live vicariously through you.

Best of luck!

P.S.: To our non-Atlanta readers, I promise we’ll have a giveaway soon that won’t just be limited to the southern United States.

It is a beautiful city no matter the weather (good thing too), but when the sun comes out I swear it is sunnier and brighter than any place I’ve ever been. It’s kind of like when Dorothy steps out of her black and white Kansas farmhouse into the technicolored land of Oz. Birds gustily burst into song, rainbows spring out of emerald green hills, and all of Edinburgh breathes a happy sigh.

Here’s the thing though. Just because it’s sunny and the birds and rainbows are doing their thing, it doesn’t mean it is warm. Warm-ish, maybe, but not warm (unless you are one of those people that says a windy 47°F is warm). But as any Scottish person worth their salt will tell you, it’s no reason not do a little sun worshiping. So I grabbed the mustached husbando and headed out doors.

First stop, Princes Street Gardens for quick outfit shooting:

The good: necklace from Kenya (thank you, Pam!) • vintage Coach purse
The could-be-better-ethically-speaking-but-none-of-it’s-new: Primark coat and tank • Uniqlo sweater • Madewell jeans • Frye boots

Ice cream is popular here. . . all year round. 47 degrees and windy, and Scots stand outside with ice cream running down their cones. Scots are made of stronger stuff than I (I opted for a chocolate brownie instead, life being full of hard choices):

Next up, wedding watching! We (being wanna-be Scots people) were sitting at an outdoor cafe (with our coats on) when this wedding parade strolled by to some very merry bag piping. Any given Saturday you will come across a wedding party waltzing after their bag piper — lovely!

P.S. I in no way enhanced any of these sunny photos in photoshop. Those vivid greens really exist here when the sun bothers to show up. Nutso, isn’t it?

And if you get nippy from trying to be a true Scots, just duck into your local café for tea and cake (tea and cake or death, tea and cake or death!).

There are some lovely views from cafe below the National Gallery, and such good cake… nom!

Now you’ve got the feeling back in your hands whilst holding your mug of tea and gobbling your cake, head back outside for some more lolling about in the grass — preferably in the shade of a large castle:

End your day outside as the sun sets (which is around 8 pm now — thank you nearly-Artic-circle latitude!), sniffing cherry blossoms and looking at church murals with wonderful morals:

Once home, inspect possible (I say, very slightly possible) evidence of a rosy glow (wouldn’t go so far to say “tan”) from the sun.

So who’s ready for a little sunbathing in Scotland?

—–

Dear Cath,

Do you remember when we were studying here how everyone would crowd the Meadows once it hit 60 degrees? We only had one spell like that so far, but I’m crossing my fingers that May will be at least a touch warmer than April — jacket weather instead of coat weather.

I would give anything to meet you here on the next sunny day. How does tomorrow sound?

Love,

Lar

About a month ago I was asked to be a judge at the Simon Fashion Bow Wow – a fashion show featuring designs by students at Bauder College, worn by local media folks, walking down the runway with adoptable dogs from the Atlanta Humane Society in the middle of Lenox Mall owned by Simon. Got all that? No worries if you didn’t, just scroll and look at the photos to get a better idea of what the event was about.

Here I am with the other two judges. That’s Jennifer Franklin to my right and Deena Poythress to my left:

Simon Fashion Bow Wow has a special place in my heart since we got my parent’s dog, Boo Radley, at the Atlanta Human Society.

The following photos were taken by the talented Kate Awtrey.

I loved the red details on this color block dress:

Emily Foley looked so chic in this Marie Antoinette-inspired poof dress:

I’m a sucker for anything that’s cut on a bias – and purple!

Would you judge me if I told you that I would totally dress up my dog in this striped shirt and beret if I had this dress? You would? Well, I don’t blame you, but that wouldn’t stop me from doing it.

I’m really a horrible judge because I wanted every design to win (the winning student received a $250 Simon Mall giftcard).

Below is the winning dress with the designer carrying a dog in a matching ruffle collar:

Gah! So cute!

Needless to say, I had a wonderful time and will happily volunteer to judge any future shows featuring ridiculously cute dogs and incredibly talented students.

I realize now that I didn’t take any photos of my outfit that evening (fashion blogger fail). For those of you who are curious, I wore my cropped black pants from Ann Taylor, BB Dakota sleeveless white Reeder top, Mettle necklace, a long black cardi and my nude Vera Wang for Kohl’s pumps. You can kind of see my outfit better in one of the photos in the Tastemaker Magazine article.

______________

Dearest Lar,

I wish you could have seen all the dogs in the show. Most of them were too overwhelmed by the crowds so they had to be carried out instead of walked. One of the dogs was a puppy and he slept through the whole thing!

I wish you could have a dog in Scotland. You know how we were talking today about how cold you always are in your flat? Well, you would be so much warmer with a dog sitting by you. Toby is pressed up against me as I type this and my whole right side is overheated. Of course it helps that it’s like 80 degrees outside.

You and Matt should come back to Atlanta for a week just to get warm again (hint, hint). Are you guys still using your hot water bottles? It seems so wrong to ask that since it’s practically May.

I’ll be sending you warming, sunshine-y thoughts this week!

xoxo, cath

The Good: Mettle necklace • H&M Conscious Collection tank
The Eh: Blank cords • Hunter boots • Fast Fashion sweater

Ever since my ethical fashion awakening a few months back, I haven’t bought very much. I’ve picked up a few things at thrift stores, but I want to learn to shop less and shop better (thereby chipping away  at the fast fashion industry and my own voracious inner consumerism monster).

That sounds all very noble and good, doesn’t it? Well the second I heard about H&M revealing their Conscious Collection, I felt the consumerism monster rub his hands together with glee. He and I had visions of vegan bags, recycled metal bangles, and pretty spring dresses doing a guilt-free conga line in my head. Da da da da dah… DAH!

But once I was faced with an array of green-tagged items, I took it a little slower and remembered that I should just buy what I really like and think I will use. If a main tenant of being more ethical and sustainable is buying less, than the conga line needs to stay a fun, fluffy dream.

If you do go to tackle your own ethical demons at H&M, make sure to look for the green tags and the pink-threaded label. They have their conscious collection mixed in with their regular duds, and it took me a bit of “Crap! That dress isn’t actually made of organic cotton” to realize that just because it’s in the “Conscious Collection” display does not mean it’s conscious — a bit tricksy if you ask me.

If you want to know what they mean by “conscious” here are a few quick bullets about the collection:

• H&M is the number one user of organic cotton world wide

• They aim to make all of their clothing from organic, sustainable cotton by 2020

• They work with Unicef to protect children’s rights

• 72% of managerial positions are held by females

• They have skilled workers programs set up in Bangladesh

• In 2011 they donated 2.3 million garments to charities

I’m really impressed by how much information (i.e. transparency) H&M have on their website about their different efforts to be a better company. Most brands will give you, if you’re lucky, their usual “we carefully inspect our suppliers and make sure they are following their country’s workers’ rights guidelines” answer, which means diddly-squat.

To read more about all their initiatives here are some links:

• H&M Conscious Collection

• H&M charity work

• H&M cotton sustainability

• How H&M are actually improving workers’ conditions

• On most of these pages there is also a link in the sidebar to their 2011 Concious Actions Sustainability Report 2011. I’m making my way through this 89 page pdf today.

I just think this is so exciting! When a mega-huge fast fashion company is working its way toward sustainability, others (i.e. the rest) can’t be far behind. As consumers, if we keep pushing for more ethically and sustainably produced fashion, we will get it! By buying less and buying only “conscious” labels, you really do make a difference. Pretty fantabulouso, me thinks!

Oh and just in case you’re wondering, H&M is not and has never been a sponsor. I wasn’t invited to the Conscious Collection preview or fancy opening. I found out about their collection through bloggers that were invited to said shindigs. So this is unbiased blathering on my part.

Okay and now to let your ethically-focused minds have a rest, I leave you with another cute photo of our neighbor’s puppy:

——

Dear Cath,

Good luck on your exam today! I will be thinking happy and very statiscally thoughts for you this afternoon/evening.

Miss you ooooodles and ooodles. Wish I could go H&M conscious shopping with you.

Love,

Lar