Festival International

Festival International in Lafayette, Louisiana ended yesterday after four wonderful days of music and entertainment. This festival was recently voted the world's best free music festival, and has been going on right here in Cajun country since 1986. Below I have pictured some of the beautiful and stylish looks seen walking the streets of downtown Lafayette over the last few days.

"The truth is that existence wants your life to become a festival...because when you are unhappy, you also throw unhappiness all around."

--Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Indian spiritual leader

**On me, as seen in picture number three: sheer lace crop top - Forever 21, high waisted shorts - vintage Lawman, bag- really old Old Navy, oyster necklace - Automatic Doll Rootwork necklace, sandals - Kino of Key West, flower bobby pins - Automatic Doll.

The Road to the Sea

My photos are arranged a little backward technically, since this post is called "the road to the sea," but I love the tugboat and shrimp boat photos so much, they had to go first! Nonetheless, on the way to Cypremort Point, we did stop off to explore a neat old abandoned house, and walk around a beautiful 104 year old plantation general store.

I love south Louisiana!

Of Festivals and Fairies

Flower crowns are all over this Spring. These are some of the styles that will will be seen at Lafayette's Festival International this week.

"of all the creatures of mythology, fairies are the most beautiful, the most numerous, the most memorable."

--Andrew Lang

** I am wearing a Forever 21 top, Victoria Secret bra, unknown belt, Automatic Doll skirt, and Automatic Doll flower crowns.

Summer's Blood is the Blackberry

One of my favorite times of the year in Louisiana is Spring because it's blackberry season! For about two or three weeks, depending on how hot, cold, rainy, or dry it is in April, locals who know their own secret blackberry picking spots will be up to their elbows in the deliciously sweet, impossibly juicy berry. We have our spot, and we're not telling! Below, see how I paired this season's tasty harvest with the latest Automatic Doll jewelry designs...

Mmmmmmm!!!! Then you bake a pie! I start with about 4 cups of berries with one part sugar and two parts Splenda (equaling 3/4 cup total), add a few tablespoons of heated / melted strawberry jam, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 3 tablespoons flour, and mix - finally topping with a tablespoon of lemon juice before covering it up with a homemade pie crust. Bake at 425 degrees for 30-40 minutes! Time to eat!

"They open to the sun, but not the birds, 'cause snakes down in there and the birds know it, so they just grow - fat and sweet - with nobody to bother 'em 'cept me because don't nobody go in that piece of water but me and ain't too many legs willing to glide down that bank to get them...They whipped me, I'm telling you. Tore me up. But I filled two buckets anyhow...Those blackberries tasted so good and happy that to eat them was like being in church. Just one of the berries and you felt anointed."

--from Toni Morrison's Beloved 

*Blog title is inspired by A Seamus Heaney poem called "Blackberry Picking"

**I am wearing and displaying necklaces from Automatic Doll. The vintage Levi's and fox tail can also be found at Automatic Doll.

American Blues

I am in love with these vintage high-waisted jeans I picked up today at the Goodwill. They are perfectly tapered just above the ankle, giving them a perfect little 1960s cut, yet they blend beautifully with the late 80s and early 90s with their light colored wash. These are going to be adorable for Spring and Summer!

"Blue jeans are the most beautiful things since the gondola."

                                                                

                                                                                                                                                        -- Diana Vreeland   

* Blog title comes from a 1948 collection of one-act plays by Tennessee Williams entitled American Blues.

** I am wearing vintage LizWear high-waist jeans, a white Old Navy tank, a woven Panama Jack hat, and nude BCBG Girls stilettos.

Candles to the Sun

These are photos of my latest handmade flower crowns. These are going to look gorgeous at Festival International this month! 

"While the tall palm against this quiet sky

Her branches waves,

and the soft river laves

The green and flower-crowned banks it wanders by,

While in this golden sun

The burnished rifle gleameth with strange light,

And sword and spear

Rest harmless here

Yet flash with startling radiance on the sight..."

--excerpt from "Osceola" by Lucy Hooper, 1842

**The title of this blog post comes from a 1936 Tennessee Williams play.

** I am wearing a dress by London Times and three different Automatic Doll flower crowns.

I Like Mine with Lettuce and Tomato...

Luke and I have been doing a bunch of fun things in Lafayette lately in order to create strong memories of the city in which we met nearly three years ago when I first moved here. We are moving to my hometown of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in June, and we are making an attempt to do all of the things we love or have never done here in Cajun Country before we go. This was my first time eating at Judice Inn - a hamburger joint open since 1947. How have I missed this place?

The yummiest cheeseburger in Cajun Country! I wanna go back! 

Every meal should be finished with an ice cream cone this size!

xox

Jessica

Summer and Spice

Yesterday I had the pleasure of partaking in a crawfish boil at Cochon, a restaurant in Lafayette, Louisiana, owned by James Beard Award winning chef Donald Link. I currently work at Cochon part time and this particular crawfish boil was hosted by Link's cousin Billy Link who owns a crawfish farm in Crowley, Louisiana. This afternoon (and late evening...) of fun, food, and friends was especially for Cochon employees and their friends. I am so proud to be part of the Cochon family! Thank you Billy!

Mudbugs while they're still alive

Billy and Duane

Bags of the delicious crustaceans

Chef Donald Link with my husband Luke

"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?"

--Walker Percy, major Louisiana author

On me: teal dress by fire, oyster shell bracelet by Automatic Doll.

On Luke: shirt and shorts by Calvin Klein.