life lately

clockwise, l to r: pedicure // in honor of st. patrick's day // sunday snow
// saturday night at Baine's // silly friends // it snowed a lot // Allison and I
// spending time at White Hart // weekend breakfast hash

I've done a few "life lately" type posts, trying to catch up on all the fun little details that I often miss in my routine blogging.
I've been on a blogging roll this week, both here and at Voguish at Best.
I've been trying to really get into the swing of blogging multiple times a week, and it seems these past few weeks have flown by without giving me the proper chance to document them!

I mostly blame our trip.
Trying to go through all of those pictures and post those long, photo-heavy posts has been daunting.
And I'm sure I'll finish them...eventually...but in the meantime, our Lynchburg lives have been moving steadily forward.

My last post before we left for London was a food post about a great new pizza spot, Arosto.

After we got back from our trip, we had to drive 3 1/2 hours back to Lynchburg from Washington D.C., and resume work and school the very next day.
Luckily our flight got in late Sunday afternoon, so we had some time to get home and get in bed at a decent hour.
Surprisingly, it was way easier coming home than going there!
It was definitely a drowzy week, but we had no trouble going to bed each evening!

That first week back was rather uneventful, save for a much-needed lunchtime pedicure date with Allison!
I tried to make up for missing St. Patrick's Day this year by wearing green a lot (we were coming home from our trip on the 17th) but really missed having our super spectacular St. Patrick's Day party like last year.
Luckily we were able to have some fun friend time over the weekend, when we went down to Appomattox to see a folk concert (by Kinfolk again!) at Baine's Coffee Shop. It was packed with a lot of friends from the law school, all there to enjoy the music.

clockwise, l to r: amazing stuffed bell peppers // more time at white hart // kitten cuddles // coffee morning // sunset at Dusty's soccer game // breakfast while watching the breakfast club //
Caitlin the irish dancer, a sticker doll from Baine's // putting the bell peppers in the oven // feeling blue // Dusty and mango Arizona iced tea, yum!

One of my favorite things that next weekend was watching The Breakfast Club for the first time.

We went over to Greg and Allison's with donuts and turkey bacon, ready to watch this iconic 80's movie...ready for our lives to be changed forever.

It actually led to a very funny conversation between Dusty and I about why our parents must have guarded us from watching certain things when we were younger. Who'd have ever thought there was a really good reason for that? :)

But all in all, a totally great, classic 80's flick. It was a fun night!

clockwise, l to r: Dusty's easter basket // Easter morning // at lunch // Easter sushi // cadbury egg
// Wasabi, our favorite sushi // our Sunday best // at church

Our Easter was really lovely.
We kept it really light and casual...I made us breakfast that morning, while we went through our Easter baskets. Then we went to church in our best Easter wear.

I thought my card art was pretty clever. Dustbunny.

After church, we went out to our favorite sushi place for lunch!
We kind of decided on Easter last year that sushi would be our little Easter tradition.
That may change once there are little Schanakers running around, but for now, we're all for it!

That afternoon, we were in 100% cuddle/sugar high mode.

We also had the most hilarious chat with one of my best friends, Britany.
She may hate me for these pictures, but I'm way too far away for her to do anything about it.

My favorite is that she looks like a floating head in the midst of pitch blackness.
The phone kept freezing, so we'd lose each other for a bit, and we'd try and freeze in the most absurd expressions so when the phone started working again it would be instant hilarity.
Reason #3487 why we're friends.

clockwise, l to r: leaving for Chicago // cute little book // birthday outfit (in Dusty's honor) //
Barrister's Ball // breakfast at IHOP // lazy Saturday // bad cats // sneaky
// spring in Lynchburg // birthday bed

Really early on April 2nd, Dusty left for the National Mediation Tournament in Chicago!
They didn't end up winning nationals, but we were all so proud (it was the first team ever from Liberty to go to nationals!) and it was a really amazing trip for Dusty.
He was gone all week, including most of his birthday, which was kind of sad for me.
But I cleaned the house and decorated the room with gifts, and we went to our Barrister's Ball that night.
We did mini birthday outings the rest of the weekend, too!

(side note: 14,000 things to be happy about is the cutest book ever. My favorite was "yummy-to-lick envelopes" and the list of the entire cast of Winnie the Pooh. "Tigger", "Piglet", "Christopher Robin"... Also, on a sad note, the girls pulled down the entire tablecloth and shattered our coin jar...so much for Paradise Falls!)

Dusty's birthday card...all these cute pairs on the front,
then it says "you and me" in the middle, with "some things go so well together."
I then noticed as I was writing in it that is says "you and chocolate sauce" on the bottom! HA!

We had a fun birthday breakfast at IHOP, which was free since he got two free birthday emails!

We were pretty happy campers.

That night we went fancy and went out to Isabella's, our absolute favorite Italian restaurant here!

It had been way too long since we'd been there. The first time we went was on Valentine's Day, 2012.

And it had been that long since we had had the amazing mocha latte cheesecake...

Well, we did eat real dinner, first.

But the dessert is really all that matters!

clockwise, l to r: lunch at Milan // plate at Milan, yum! // B is for Brooklyn // Potato, Sausage, Apple casserole // Caitlin the Irish dancer // Dusty with his birthday ice cream
// Life Group // Lavender Honey Ice Cream

clockwise, l to r: our spring-full apartment complex // sushi boats with Colin and Victoria
// new book necklace from the Vintage Market // Stephanie, Allison and I at Allison's Shower

The following week was great.
It was my boss's birthday, so we got to go to my favorite Indian place (okay, the only Indian place I've been to) in Lynchburg, called Milan.
Dusty doesn't care for it, so the only way I can really get my fix is when there's a special occasion at work. It's the go-to place for my coworkers, and I love it!

I also made a really good Roasted Sausage/Potato/Apple dinner thanks to my sister-in-law. It's basically Fall in a glass dish, but is pretty much awesome year round.

I made honey lavender ice cream, we had our life group on the grass because the weather was so beautiful, I got started on decorations for Allison's shower (including a big letter B for Brooklyn!), and we went and watched New Girl with Greg and Allison and had an impromptu birthday time for Dusty. Ice cream, oreos, and candles, oh my!
We have such great friends.

Speaking of great friends, we went on a double date to Wasabi with our friends Victoria and Colin (can you tell we love sushi?) and we each got our sushi on a boat. 
We also had our favorite waitress there. She's so spunky and is always cracking jokes, every time she talks to you it feels like you've been friends for years. We've had her once before, and so had Colin and Victoria, and she remembered all of us.
We felt so fancy, and had an awesome night out. We're so excited because we just found out they'll officially be staying here over the summer, too, so we'll for sure be having lots of summer fun together!

This past weekend we had an amazing mini trip to Charlotte, NC (our last trip there was one of our favorite summer weekends!) where we got to see Needtobreathe in concert again and spend some time with our friends Jon and Emilie!
That, as well as this past week, will have to be a "life lately: part 2" for another day. :)

Have a great weekend!!

In love,
Cait

coffee shops

I feel like even coffee-haters love coffee shops.
There's something really delightful about the coffee shop atmosphere.
It's imaginative, acoustic, mellow, warm, and smells amazing.

(Also, a lot of coffee haters still love the smell of coffee. Explain that.)

To love Starbucks is a given. It's the classic go-to.
But every once in a while, there's a coffee shop that was made for you. A real local treasure, the kind of place you could snuggle up into all day long and be perfectly, incandescently happy.
A place like Central Perk from Friends. 
In moments like those, in places like that, you could actually imagine that you're living the romantic life.

Yes, I am going to go and be a painter in Paris.
Yes, I'm going to teach art history in Italy.
Yes, I'm going to travel the world with nothing but my love, my backpack, and my sketchbook.

That's why coffee shops are so powerful, so necessary for the soul that is ever-hungering for romance and adventure and delight.
Also, coffee shops are powerful because they have coffee.

One of the best parts about moving here for Dusty's law school is that this community of people really cares about us. I was able to get plugged into the "Law Wives", which has been an amazing group of support, but has also been the source of most of my closest friendships.
Another great part about moving here has been the opportunity of exploration in our new home town!
So many rocks unturned, so many restaurants untried.

On the first of this month, we had a Law Wife trip over to Appomattox!
One of the new wives, Jessica, works at a coffee shop on Main Street, called Baine's Books and Coffee.

Photo from: Mid-East-Music.com

It's kind of magical.

Several of us carpooled and went down there together, and had such a fun night.
Every Thursday is open mic night, so there was a gathering of people there to sing and play their instruments for the whole place.
It's definitely a folksy, blue grass vibe, and it was the most fantastic mixture of people and styles.

This band was "Kinfolk", which is a local folk band featuring one of our law wives, Lisa Vogel!
It was really fun seeing them perform!

At one point, a lady went up there and played some indescribable Elven instrument (Kanun? Autoharp?) and began to yodel.
How often can you say you saw an elf yodel?

As unique as it all was, it was so wonderful to be a part of this entirely different world of people and music.
It was such a warm and cozy night, surrounded by friends, food and amazing coffee!

They make their own whip cream for their coffee, and it was divine.

I loved seeing/hearing our friends perform!
Our friend Caroline sang and played her guitar, and even joined Kinfolk on the banjo later on!

Jessica played the piano and sang - some of my favorites, like Fields of Gold by Sting. She was absolutely amazing! She finished her set with a song she composed herself, which was stunning.
(Check out her page, here, and listen to some of her compositions!)

One of the best parts of Baine's is that it shelves so much of the innate history of Appomattox.
There are rows and rows of books on the Civil War and the American South, but they also dedicate a lot of space for other genres as well.
They house books, music, film, pottery, art, musical instruments and more.

You can tell when you walk in that you're entering into a community.

 I hope to go back soon!

 If you ever find yourself in Appomattox, don't forget to spend some time on Main Street :)

In love,
Cait