october backlogs: needtomeet needtobreathe

In early October I decided to participate in a crazy contest that would allow both Dusty and I to go to Richmond with 2 free tickets AND a meet and greet for my favorite band, Needtobreathe. 

I wasn't sure if I could win -- but shortly after I began, I became crazed with the possibilities. 

It wasn't a hard contest -- all I had to do was scroll through their pictures, listen to their music, etc. from this contest site in order to accrue points, and share the content so that others could do the same. Whenever someone clicked on my link, I would get triple the points!

The best part was it actually showed my placement in the contest. I started out in like 300th place, then slowly began climbing the ladder...thus, my crazed obsession.

I became that person, the one that mass-messaged people I haven't talked to in years, that posted multiple times a day, that even texted and begged.

The last day of the contest, I'm pretty sure I was milliseconds away from cardiac arrest.
I had been going back and forth from 1st to 2nd place, and as the time whittled down to the last 60 seconds, it took everything in me not to scream for that full minute in the middle of my tiny office in interlibrary loan.
But then:

I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT.

I could hardly wait, but eventually October 12 did come and we were on our way to Richmond for the concert!

We had been to Richmond before, and had a really great time. It's a really cool city!

(I went for the Color Run there, and then Dusty and I went there over the 4th of July). 

We decided to head down that afternoon, to get settled into our hotel before we went to the downtown venue, The Canal Club.
The concert didn't start until around 8, but we wanted to be there at 6 so we could be in line for the Meet & Greet beforehand.

It started to rain a little bit while we were outside, so they slowly started letting in the VIP people (and yeah, I was totally on the VIP list, yo!). Once we were inside, I felt so incredibly cool.

The venue was low-ceilinged, dark, wooden, cozy. It was the kind of venue that made it feel like you were part of an elite secret club. The stage was tiny, and there was a little bar area in the back and a few booths and tables up against the wall.

They already had the band merchandise tables set up, so once they finally started the line and the band came out (OMG, Dusty, there they are, I think I'm gonna pee my pants) Dusty ran over and grabbed a poster so we could have something for them to sign. 

I honestly I had no idea what to say to them. I didn't wanna be creepy, I didn't wanna be a superfan, so I just settled for shaking each of their hands, saying their names out loud, smiling like an idiot, telling them we loved their music and that this would be our 5th concert, and that we were so excited for it. 

We totally fit in, amiright?

I felt really hesitant walking away from them and letting the line continue. I tried to think of anything else to say, but made myself shuffle my feet away. Keep cool. 

The meet and greet continued, and Dusty and I went and plopped down at one of the tables. We hadn't eaten yet, so Dusty and I went and ordered some chicken fingers, fries and sodas while we waited. It was so quiet, because there weren't that many people inside yet. It was amazing.

creepin'.

As soon as the band went backstage, people started crowding around the front of the stage in anticipation of the non-VIP peeps pouring in. We brought the rest of our food and joined them at the front, and let me tell you, it was a good decision. Because people were intense about their places in the crowd. Once we were settled there, there was no going back. People filled in on all sides, and we were trapped. No bathroom, no refills, no cutting. 

At one point a guy tried to creep through from the side, claiming he had a friend on the other side, and halfway through he just turned around and left.

He was full-on harrassed by the girls behind us (who I decided I would easily become best friends with), and after their pestering and incriminating questions, it was clear there was no friend, he was just trying to get in the front without waiting like the rest of us did.

The first band was Ivan & Alyosha, and they were absolutely incredible live. We had never heard of them before, but their harmonies were stunning. They did their entire set acoustically, because their drummer couldn't make it to this concert. I forget why. 

But we were so excited to have a new band to love!

(Take a look at their acoustic versions of Fathers Be Kind, Don't Want to Die Anymore, and Running For Cover -- it'll give you a tiny taste of what they sounded like live!)

We were able to meet them after the show, and they were so nice! We chatted for a while, asking them about tour life, and they signed their CD for us.
That's one of the bonuses of such an intimate venue, for sure. Being able to hang with the bands, stay until midnight, eat and drink and be merry.
The place was packed, though, to be sure. Needtobreathe wanted to do these small venues for an intimate tour, paying homage to their humble beginnings and hitting the spots that meant a lot to them when they first started. While a lot of people were bummed because it limited their tour range and the number of tickets that could be sold at each event, it was such an incredible experience and I'm so glad they did it. The music was literally living inside of us, strumming our heartstrings and pulsing inside our veins.
It was absolutely the most incredible concert experience of my life.

The one downside, I will say, is that they wouldn't let us bring our camera in. Which is such a huge bummer, especially when we were so close and could have gotten some incredible shots. 
Having our iPhones as our only tools for capturing the night was disappointing, but I think it also allowed us to focus a bit more on the music.

They did a song called Oh Carolina from their new album, which is supposed to come out in April! I was pretty excited about it, because I had just bought a shirt with Oh Carolina on it at the merchandise table right before the concert.

One of our favorite parts was when they told us that they had met some fans on the street earlier that day that were coming to this concert, and they asked them to play something from their first album. 

Bear apologized ahead of time, in case he forgot the words, because they hadn't played it in years!

They played Haley, which prompted the girls behind us to freak out (apparently the leader of their pack was named Haley and this was her favorite song ever in the world). 

I love when they play their more acoustic songs, because they're so dang good at it. The last few concerts we've seen, they finish the night with an a cappella bit, and it's my absolute favorite part of the evening. 

At another concert last year (in Charlotte, NC) they did Difference Maker, which is another song from their new album.

It's one of my all-time favorites - I personally think it supersedes their typical style in a way that's really unexpected. It's beautiful - it gave me goosebumps the first time I heard it live, and it still does!

This time they did a fun acoustic/a cappella version of their song Something Beautiful, which was really cool.

Overall it was the best, and we had such an incredible time. It's really hard to explain something like that, but Dusty and I just kept squeezing each other's hands and mouthing this is so amazing throughout the evening.
Once they finished their last song and left the stage, it was such a sad feeling! Even after 3+ hours of music, I wanted more. More more more. We were high on life.

We left the venue really late, I think around 12, but we were wide awake.
Once we got close to our hotel and remembered the Denny's right next door, Dusty pulled right into 24-hour restaurant without even asking me - we both knew it had to be done. We had to debrief. We had to eat breakfast food. We had to just drink it all in, and by "it" I mean the music and a crappy cup of coffee.

I won't gush too much about Dusty, even though he's totally gush-worthy, but it's trips and experiences like this that make me so happy I married him. Being able to share my favorite band with him, being able to know each other so well it's kind of creepy. When I'm old and grey I'll be able to point to that night and say, oh man, remember that feeling? Remember that place? Remember?
And unless we're both senile, he'll say yes, it was one of the best. 
Couples who have fun together stay together.

The next morning, we decided to yelp out a place to go to Sunday brunch. We chose the Continental, and it was amazing! Their bananas foster waffles were out of this world, and their special of the day was a breakfast mash of potatoes, brisket, jalapenos, bell peppers, sunny-side up eggs...we ate ourselves into tastebud heaven before heading back out into the rain to drive back to Lynchburg.

We listened to Ivan & Alyosha all the way home, and thanked the Lord for such a beautiful weekend.

summer highlights, part 1

Summer treize has been one doozy of a summer.
("Treize" being 13 in French. Not because we're snooty but because we needed something short, like summer twelve, and "summer thirteen" just wasn't working for me.)
It will probably live on in history as one of my favorite summers, even though that might be what I say about every summer until I'm too old to remember summers at all.

Last summer, the infamous "summer tweeeeeelve" which I've spoken of often was really great. And it was great because it was mostly just the two of us.
Dusty spent the summer taking classes for his MBA, so he studied on campus while I worked and we basically spent all our time together. It was a wonderful summer for our relationship, and I think we'll always remember it as a very precious time for us.
This summer, however, was great because of friends. We spent so much time with our friends! Some weeks it was every single day. It was actually really hard to start the semester again, because we were used to seeing them so often! Studying? What? Who needs it!

The official days of summer are June 21 to September 21, so here are many snapshots and memories from those precious three months.
The official highlight reel of our summer days.

Volleyball

I'm not sure there's a single word that better defines our summer than volleyball.

Maybe "games" in general (more on that later), but starting in May, we pretty much played volleyball every possible chance we had. 

We developed teams: Team Moriarty (me, Colin, and Jon) and Team Minion (Dusty, Victoria and Emilie). 

We had kind of binge-watched the BBC version of Sherlock, so Moriarty was the obvious choice for a killer team name. Minion was due to the release of Despicable Me 2, and because, well, the minions are the best part of that. And I think Dusty might be part minion.

Just for the official record and so that no one can ever claim it was never written, Team Moriarty were the victors extraordinaire.

We kept track of how many games each team won night to night, and we pretty much destroyed those minions. 

The bottom line is, this place became a kind of haven for us.

9 times out of 10 there was no one else there, since campus can sometimes seem like a ghost town in the summers (which is wonderful). 

The summer was an oddly cold summer, so with the exception of a few humid/hot days, we always had an amazing breeze and gorgeous sunsets. It was perfection.

We'd sometimes go out for snow cones afterwards, or out to eat, like to La Carreta for a much-needed salsa fix.
I think if I had to choose the one thing I miss the most from summer time is playing volleyball.
We actually played a week or two ago, but our toes were frozen in the sand and the courts were packed with undergrad. Which means screaming and very strange behavior.

One night, right at the beginning of the semester, we decided to go and play on the most crowded courts, and ended up playing against a group of undergrad guys. It was when the summer volleyball spell was broken, I think.
It was pretty much drizzling the entire evening, and we ended up playing like 20 games. That's a huge exaggeration, but it's what it felt like. I was in a horrible mood, because we hadn't eaten dinner and I was so ready to go. We were planning on all going out to eat afterward, and after each game we played I expected to go, but then we kept playing more games.
I was about to lose my cool. I hadn't ever lost my cool around this set of friends, so Dusty was trying really hard to keep my attitude light and happy, and to encourage me to go with the flow. Usually I go with the flow like nobody's business, but this was an especially trying circumstance.
It was raining, I was wet, I was wearing Dusty's hoodie over my head to keep the raindrops out of my eyes. One of the undergrad guys on the other team kept winking at me. At one point when we were across from each other, he stuck his hand through the net and wiggled his fingers, "Helloooo again!"
Our guys had taken their wedding rings off so they wouldn't fall off in the sand during the games, so they were just laughing about it.

Things were weird and I was hangry.
After one of the last games, Dusty turned to me and said, "One more? Is that okay?"
I had tried before to say I wanted to leave, that I was done like 3 games ago. So I gritted my teeth and smiled really, really big. "Perfect! Yes. Let's just play all night. Let's just play all the games."
It was the snarkiest of snark. I later apologized to our friends, saying I was mostly joking, and of course I wouldn't make them stop playing just because I was ready to go...but it has since become one of the most quoted incidences of our friendship. Whenever things are getting tense, "let's just play all the games!"
I kind of love it, because the cat's out of the bag: I'm a snarky son of a gun.
And even so, they're still our friends.

 Fourth of July

We were so American this year.
We wore red and blue, went to Starbucks, ate barbecue for lunch, made an all-American meal with homemade ice cream for dinner, watched the fireworks together, and then spent the weekend at an amusement park.

We celebrated the fourth by eating Dickey's for lunch, obvious choice, and then that night we headed home and whipped up a dinner of cheeseburgers with bacon and avocado (something we made many times over the summer), corn on the cob, chips, soda, and homemade mint oreo ice cream.

Later that night, we drove over near the baseball field where the fireworks show would be and found a parking spot in a side neighborhood to try and avoid horrible traffic and big crowds. We sat in our car, listening to country music with the windows down and the sunroof open (like I said, we were really American this year). It was a beautiful night, and we just sat, whispering, looking at the stars in the dark.

Once the fireworks started we got out and walked down the street to get a better view, and it was so fun just to stand there and watch them, almost alone. There were a few people standing in front of their houses (both awesome and probably really annoying to live there at this time of year), but for the most part we found the perfect little place to watch the show.

That week was extra special because the chancellor of the university decided to give all faculty and staff an extra paid day off for July 5th, since the 4th was a Thursday! Which meant we had an extra long weekend to enjoy.

So we decided to head to Richmond! There's something really special about taking a weekend away.

We pricelined an amazing hotel with this great view of downtown, and they even gave us each a soft chocolate chip cookie upon our arrival and check-in.

If that isn't good business, I dunno what is.

We walked around downtown, taking pictures and visiting some of the places I got to go when I went to Richmond for the color run last year. It was Dusty's first time, so I had fun showing him spots like The Urban Farmhouse.

That evening we went shopping, and did crazy things like eat dinner in a movie theater.

Alcohol was an item on the menu, and one lady took advantage of that big time, and had to be escorted out of our showing of The Heat. She had to be heavily helped by her husband(?) and the theater employee, but it was rather hysterical. As she was leaving, Sandra Bullock's character in the movie said something, like "No way!" and the lady turned to us and said, "No way!" in imitation. Very loudly. 

The next day we were stifled by the heat, but cared less than usual because we were at a theme park!

King's Dominion was so much fun. We had a blast riding rides, eating Panda Express for the first time in eons, playing arcade games and winning cheap little prizes, riding the high swings, riding the most horrific roller coaster of my life (I blacked out a little, swore off roller coasters for life...Dusty rode it twice), and eating dippin' dots!

That night, after we showered and changed, we went to this amazing restaurant on the water called The Boathouse. It has a gorgeous view of the Richmond skyline at night, and is just a really cool structure all around. We experienced our first whole lobster for dinner. Can't say I'm a huge fan, because he kept staring at me and I felt very guilty for his death.
But the heath bar pizookie and french press coffee afterward helped ease my conscience.

Food

Every season has its flavors, but this summer was especially tasty!

Maybe it was because of all the summer friend-time, which often includes sharing meals together, but I think there are several places/occasions/foods that will always bring me back to summer treize.

Grilling: Since it was such a weird/cold summer, and it rained a lot, we didn't get to do as much grilling as we would have liked. But, I mentioned earlier that we did manage to make a lot of hamburgers, (and if I'm being honest, we actually grilled in the rain once. Desperate times call for desperate measures). For a few weeks we were addicted to cheeseburgers with bacon and avocado.
Then something amazing happened, and I discovered this masterpiece of grilling cuisine: fresh grilled bacon-wrapped peach, with a dollop of bleu cheese. Holy momma. 
I don't care what your initial reaction is to that description, because the reality is a warm, juicy, salty sweet concoction that will have you begging for mercy.

Bread & Wine: I always love book club, but this summer we decided to take a month and read Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist, which is a rather personal blog/diary kind of book while also being a book of recipes. We got together and shared our thoughts, and cooked different recipes from the book. It was amazing. My favorites were definitely the bacon-wrapped, goat cheese stuffed dates. Yum. 

Downtown: This entry has several parts to it. The farmer's market, Market at Main, and White Hart/lavender lattes. I love downtown, and could probably spend every single weekend there.

The farmer's market has always been one of my favorite things downtown, and I try to go every Saturday, if we're in town. This summer we added buying local eggs and local honey to our list, and we've been loving it. It's probably just in my imagination that local honey is the answer to all my problems, but we have it every morning in our tea and when we ran out Dusty sighed, "Well do we have any nasty store bought stuff left?"

Call us hippy, cause it happened.

Speaking of favorite things downtown, White Hart opened back up. Yes. It happened.

But before even that happened, I discovered that the previous owners of White Hart had a little coffee shop in the lobby of a downtown bank, and found my lavender latte was alive and well. It was a beautiful discovery, and was made even more exciting by the news that White Hart itself would reopen at the end of the summer!

Sad update: White Hart is open but is no longer my favorite place.

They have removed my window seats, and most of what made White Hart the love of my life.

I've been a few times since it reopened, to get the lavender latte, but part of me feels the tragedy of losing it all over again.

I even tried reaching out to the new owner to ask about the changes, and to see if they planned on bringing back more decorations and more specifically, comfier chairs. The entire shop has been filled with flimsy wooden chairs, and there's not a couch, cushion or comfy chair in sight. 

His response was short and to the point: sorry to disappoint you, but no, we will not be bringing those back. They're too expensive to upkeep.

So, I mourn.

But to say the tragedy is heavy on my soul would be a lie. Probably because when it originally closed I was really sad, but eventually made my peace with it. We have happily found other places to rejuvenate us, and even though I will always fondly remember the glory days of White Hart, I am happy to find love elsewhere!

One of the spots downtown that we discovered in the middle of summer is called Market at Main.

I had heard about it several times, including during restaurant week last summer, but we never got around to trying it. 

The first time I went was for book club, because White Hart had closed down and we were trying different places to meet. It's this big open restaurant, kind of with a general store feel and a big open kitchen with a long bar. Rumor has it it was a pharmacy before it was a restaurant, and several other things before that. It's a pretty cool place. I had their sweet potato pancakes, and knew it was gonna be a new favorite.

A few weeks later Dusty and I went right after the farmer's market for a little breakfast date. We sat at the bar, and shared pancakes, and decided it was a keeper.

Little did we know it would become one of the biggest staples of our summer! And of our last year of law school in general. We started going nearly every Saturday morning for brunch with our friends Colin and Victoria. It became one of the things I looked most forward to at the end of each week.

When they got a red convertible, we obviously rode downtown in it, roof down and hair flying.

We went with them when my mom was in town, and even got to meet Victoria's parents there for dinner one night. 

Saturdays and brunch double dates wasn't something we planned; it just happened. Which is why it's the best.

Delicia's: Along the same lines of Market at Main, Delicia's became the summer lovin' spot for quick, close-by comfort food. We got tired of trying to find good Mexican food around here, and always being disappointed by the lack of Arizona quality. We're Mexican food snobs, to put it bluntly. 

Delicia's is Latin American food, and is close enough to totally hit the spot, but different enough to where we're not constantly comparing it to anything else. It's really close to our house, too, and Colin and Victoria just live a few minutes away from us. It became a common spot for us to meet up for dinner, and once the weather started to cool down, it became the perfect place to eat dinner out on the patio. 

Wasabi: Though definitely not a summer-only place, since we discovered this great sushi joint earlier this year, it became a summer place when they started offering 1/2 off sushi on Wednesdays! We were so excited. Every time Wednesday rolls around, we have to fight the persistent urge to head over for delicious avocado rolls with our friends.

We usually lose.

Afternoon Dates: I think these started one crazy day when Dusty and I ended up (completely by accident, I'm sure) going to Starbucks and Sonic because we were both in need of an afternoon pick-me-up.

This developed into a ritual of afternoon summer dates, where Dusty would swing by and pick me up and we'd each pick a treat for the day. We will still occasionally do this, on especially hard/tiring days. My treat is usually Starbucks, but it varies. I know by now you must be thinking that we are total gluttons. And you're partially right, except that both of us have actually been losing weight over the past few months... I think life has to be about a balance of sweet treats, little dates, nights out with friends and iron willpower the rest of the time. I think if I was "good" all the time, I wouldn't be nearly as happy as I am now, sharing moments and memories around the table (or in the car) with people I love to be around.

(Which brings me back to Bread & Wine. You should totally read it.)

Another summer thing: valencia orange iced coffee.
Kinda strange, but I can dig it.

Restaurant Week: Gotta love a week dedicated to trying new restaurants at great prices! Even though we only went once or twice this summer, it was still a really fun experience. My favorite was going to The Dahlia with (guess who?) Colin and Victoria, and then driving around the area to admire all of the old money mansions and beautiful properties around there. It was a great night!

Butterbeer: Dusty made the most amazing discovery this summer. He was traveling to Roanoke every day, and at one point he and his carpool stopped by this chocolate shop to get a few things. That's when he saw something magical on the shelf: Flying Cauldron Butterscotch Beer. It's actually just butterscotch cream soda, but the label said it all. This was butterbeer, as in, Harry Potter!

He told me he bought me something, and when he surprised me at work with a bottle of it (and told me later he had a four-pack of the stuff), it was love at first sight, and then utter devotion at first taste. 

On July 31st, in honor of Harry Potter's birthday, we drank chilled butterbeer and watched Sorcerer's Stone. Since then we've also had butterbeer floats, and are very happy indeed.

Fresh Market: This is a late-summer development, but Fresh Market opened up the second week of September and has enchanted us all. Pumpkin spice coffee, gourmet cheeses, the smell of riches and fanciness. I get a little lost in there, even though it's a pretty small specialty store.

We've already had two picnic-style dinners with our friends, consisting of whole roasted chickens (which Victoria carves like a pro), a variety of cheeses, grape tomatoes, chips and salsa, and the like.

Oh and don't forget about my new life passion, the rose lemonade. Call me crazy, but it's what the Lord intended for womankind to drink. (But boys can have some, too).

On opening weekend Dusty and I went and had a sample date, and walked around the store for hours, eating treats and dreaming of our future life as the kinds of people who only buy specialty coffees and crab cakes.

Isabella's: This is our favorite Italian place here in town, and it's always our choice spot for celebration of school-related accomplishments. Dusty especially loves it, so it's always his choice. We went at the end of last semester to celebrate finishing finals, and we went again in August to commence the beginning of 3L year!
Their bruschetta is to die for, and we always split their sausage orecchiette pasta. It's the bomb diggity. 

I think this post has reached its limit of photos and ramblings, so stay tuned for part 2!

One of these days I'll be glad I rambled, so I can think back and remember these favorite details. 

But for you readers, just bear with me as I talk on and on about things you might not care about quite as much as I do. :)