life lately

Top of the morning to ya!

I finally did it.
I convinced Dusty that being a man and carrying an umbrella were completely compatible.
As an early Valentine's Day gift, I got him this ultra-manly black umbrella, with a curved wooden handle.
It's really perfect.
The brand is also called "totes", which I gotta kick out of, because it's one of those obnoxious abbreviations for "totally" that we use really often because it makes us laugh. "Totes def!"
Yeah, that's really obnoxious. But I still giggle.

Otherwise, our week has been lovely.

It's actually warmed up finally, so we're thrilled! We even went and had snow cones yesterday.

One of the things I love about Instagram is that it is a timeline of my daily life.

It's all the "important" things that happen to me in a week.

But not really, because a lot of it is just pictures of my food and my coffee cup and maybe what I'm wearing that day - but all bunched together, it gives a really good impression of what life was like in my last 7 days.

Cutesie little snapshots of my point of view.

Naysayers may think it tricks people into thinking really stupid and mundane things are really interesting, but I take the flip approach - it teaches me to be more attentive to the smaller things I might usually overlook, or not appreciate. 

Because let's face it, pictures are memories. Memories fade and are inaccurate and sometimes are forgotten altogether. Brains are unreliable. 

And while I do think technology has taken over our lives and we sometimes forget that life is happening outside of our touchscreens, having an iPhone has allowed me to capture thousands more fun little moments that are now tucked away in a little treasure box called Instagram. 

And being the sentimental person that I am, I love looking back through our time in Virginia and remembering that little random cafe we went to, or the hilarious thing Luna was doing, or that night we made dinner together and sat watching our favorite show for hours, holding hands in our PJs. 

I suppose I've transferred my pack-ratty nature into pictures, but I'll tell ya, it's a lot easier to store digital files than it is to hold on to every gift, note, letter, and stuffed animal I've ever received. 

Cheers to another great week!
In love,
Cait

only in dreams

I've written before about my weird dreams.
Namely, my nightmares.
Stress dreams, or nightmares about zombies and the like.

Well, in the last year, I've had a few of the most amazing dreams ever. Dreams that have fueled my desire to write books - dreams with major characters (one time the king was Leonardo DiCaprio, which I'm totally okay with) and plot twists, and unique story-lines that I'd like to say were my idea, but really my dream conscience is a lot more brilliant than I am. It can also be creepy, inappropriate, violent and disturbing.
Like many brilliant people, there are some dark sides to my dream-self.

With that in mind, I'm making a sweeping proclamation that I want to write a book this year.
I don't know if it's too late to make it a New Year's resolution, but I'm just going to make it a resolution.

I want a book with my name on it.

Printed on it, like on the front, not written on the inside because I already have lots of those.

Speaking of which, I have no idea what name I would put on my books.
Are pseudonyms still cool? Should I use my maiden name? A classy S. C. Schanaker? Sarah? Caitlin?
It's all pretty confusing but I suppose I should finish a rough draft or two first.

Dusty made a completely valid point: right now, with the job I have and the 0 children, I have the opportunity to make those kind of dreams a reality. Get my feet wet. Write some rough drafts. Send my writing to places. Be creative. Be bold. Be crazy.
So, he's right. This year I'm going to read more, write more, blog more, and Posie more.
And hopefully dream more, because my real self has no ideas.

Dreamily yours,
Cait

snow snow snow

Last Thursday night, we almost died.

If I'm being really honest, we just almost slid into a ditch, and "almost" is kind of an extreme term for the situation, but it was still really scary.

We knew snow was rumored that night, and were really hoping for it!
Almost everyone around school left at 3pm, when the supposed flurries were scheduled to begin. No one wanted to be caught in the snow storm!
In Lynchburg, snow may as well mean Armageddon. People get crazy.

When Dusty came to pick me up, it went from a cloudy/rainy day, to this in a matter of minutes.

It was really intense.
But also really beautiful, really exciting, and really dangerous!

The drive home was precarious, at best. We couldn't see a thing. The inside of the windshield was fogging, so we had the defrost blasting on cold and were constantly wiping down the window to keep it clear.
The snow was falling in huge clumps and clogging up the windshield wipers.

By the time we got to our street, we could see a little bit better but the roads were really slick.

Lucky for us, the road leading to our apartment is dark and treacherous.

As we approached the last turn onto our street, the two cars in front of us began to do a little dance.
A dance called the sliding-on-ice-toward-death. The Slide and Ditch.
As the second car began to slide down the ice toward the ditch on the left, (while I'm screaming "NO! NO! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, what? Whatdowedo, arewegonnadie!? We can't get stuck here!") the preppy passenger jumps out and falls painfully about 6 times, his Target hoodie flapping uselessly, before reaching our car window and warning us boldly, "Hey, that's all ice."
What a hero.

He then continued to run and fall past us, and was never seen again.
Maybe he was an angel.

Anyway, we both started just praying out loud. Really loud, panicky prayers with lots of word repetition. Somehow I don't think God cares as much about creativity in those situations.
Dusty drove the car as far to the right as he could, without going over into the other ditch. We slid a few times going up the hill, but managed not to hit any of the obstacle-course cars that were parked with their hazards on in various locations along the way.
I was very fearful of a pinball game type scenario taking place.
We reached the apartment complex, but knew we couldn't go all the way down the hill to our apartment. It was too steep, and way too dangerous.
We parked on even ground, and walked the rest of the way huddled underneath our umbrella. It had mostly stopped snowing at that point, and everything was quiet and beautiful.

I decided I hate when it's snowing but I love when there's snow. 
Is there a way to arrange that?

The rest of our night consisted of making our favorite pasta sauce recipe (the secret is the splenda!), and pretending we were fancy with some olive oil, balsamic, fresh ground pepper and pesto/butter covered toast.
And now that small salad and apple I had for lunch seems ridiculous. 

We stayed in our pajamas on the couch in front of our space heater, watching TV.

The next morning was bliss.

The University was delayed until 11am, so we enjoyed the beauty all around us while we slowly got ready.

The blizzard the night before was totally worth the snow-covered paradise we got to enjoy the next day!

Oh wait -- it's not Fall? I guess we should take our wreath down...

It took us about 20 minutes to chip away all the stubborn ice from our car. It wasn't a fluffy soft snow...it was very thick and icy, and our car was buried in its igloo embrace.

It's all melted now, although it's in the 20's today and walking outside makes me feel like anything thinner than my thighs is going to break off like peanut brittle.

The forecast is predicting more snow for Friday - and I don't mind one bit!
As long as I can stay inside while it's actually snowing, and then walk around in it in the sunshine.
That's the best.

In love,
Cait

fashion blog: voguish at best!

Hi everyone!

I have some exciting news. I have started a new blog!
Before you all panic and wonder what in the world you will do with your lives, I will still be keeping this blog intact. 
I know, I know. You're welcome.

I have been inspired by a few blogs that I check daily, like Delightfully Tacky and The Caffeinated Closet.
I love these girls and their unique personalities and creative posts.
Their blogs are flawless, centered around beautiful photos and personal style. I love keeping up with them and I look forward to their posts!
I hope to have a similar impact, and really explore this new kind of style diary.

Introducing,

My best friend designed the header for me, I absolutely love it!
Voguish At Best.

Honestly, it took me 3 weeks to come up with a name. Poor Becky (the aforementioned best friend) had to listen to my rants and horrible ideas for days and days, offering her best constructive criticism and finally being the one to find the winner!
I somehow discovered the word "voguish" in my thesaurus word searches, which I thought was perfect. I was getting ready to tell her another pretty bad idea with "voguish" in it, and in saying so, I said, "Cause you know, I'm not really vogue...I'm like...vogue-ish, at best."
And there, in my ramblings, she found the one.
(Thanks, Beckles). 

My first post is up, and I would love for you to go take a peek!

Please subscribe, share, and spread the word. My goal is to have 2-4 outfit posts a week, plus a few other in-between posts.

But keep coming over here for my personal life, if you dare.

Love you all!

Cait

2012: Year in Review

It's still January, so I figure it's still appropriate to do my Year in Review of 2012!

It was one of the best years ever. 

January 

Dusty and I celebrated our one year anniversary in Arizona. We stayed in a fancy resort called The Buttes in Tempe, and had a glorious time. Back in Virginia, I played around with different recipes and made some great meatballs one time - I was stretching my wifely wings and trying to figure out meal-planning and how to cook!

February

I started contemplating the facts of life, and things I had learned since living in Virginia. It was the month of love, as well as the month of football - the superbowl! I got weird and made pancakes out of carrots, it's true. I also tried my hand at card-making, and had a super awesome Valentine's Day date with my husband. I started getting pretty homesick for Arizona, but combated it with more food. It SNOWED and we were beside ourselves with joy, and then it got even better when we had our first snow day! I started getting bored with food and decided to try to reinvent my style, playing around with fashion and discovering Ruche. I didn't stop experimenting though, and kept getting adorable things for our apartment and trying to be crafty. 

 March
We started getting excited for spring, and I tried a rosemary bread recipe that was divine. We played games and spruced up the apartment in bright yellow and green. I did my first outfit post in my first dress from Ruche! We had an amazing spring break trip to Washington D.C. with our friends Chris and Heather. It was the best time! We ate amazing food the whole time, and the weather was gorgeous. We had the BEST St. Patrick's Day Party with all of our new friends. Some key songs started getting stuck in our heads and became our life playlist for quite a while. At the end of the month my mom came for a visit over her birthday weekend - I love birthdays! Spring in Lynchburg is beautiful. We finished the month off with our first Barrister's Ball for the law school! We got all dressed up and had a fancy evening with all our friends.

April
In April I told some funny stories about my college days, but before long it was time to plan Dusty's birthday!  We had a really extravagant weekend at a bed and breakfast, celebrating my wonderful husband. Easter came along, and we had a great day full of Easter baskets and sushi. We also got to go to another NEEDTOBREATHE concert which was unbelievable. And at the end of the month, I was SO excited to be featured in Ruche's Spring DIY Guide.

May 
I started realizing it had been a while since I had posted a recipe, so I tried some weird ones and posted them. As a delightful segue into summer, we had the most perfect day at the 1st birthday party of a little boy named William, and had a sweet weekend with a cuddly kitten and movies and crafting. I was doing a lot more crafting at this point for Posies by Cait, and contemplating participating in some local craft fairs. I got in a car accident due to the horrible Virginia "merge" concept, but was feeling a lot better thanks to my husband's sweetness, a clean house, new clothes and new recipes. I came to some conclusions about why we spend money and what we spend it on. And why we're a little crazy. I shared a little flashback to our love story, when my husband and I first held hands. Our first year of law school was officially over, and we went out to a rather disastrous celebration dinner. But we ended the month out strong with lots of friends, barbecues, snow cones and yelling "summertiiiiiime!"

June
I fell in love with a new show called Best Friends Forever (BFF) that was canceled way too quickly. We went on an incredible weekend trip to Charlotte, NC with our friends Jon and Emilie. We stayed at her parent's beautiful home, ate amazing food, shopped, got called Jimmy Jons, and went to our very first Afternoon Tea. I started having pretty weird dreams, probably induced by late night caffeine and The Walking Dead. We started preparing for our trip to Arizona, because one of my best friends in the world was getting married. The week before we left was full of bliss and fireflies. I had a few more weird dreams and then, it was time to go home! We were home over father's day, which was wonderful because we both have the best dads in the world. We had the perfect week. Then my best friend got married to a really great guy with the last name Seuss! We got horribly stranded at the airport trying to come back to Virginia, thanks to dang U.S. Airways. We made it eventually, but then were struck by a DERECHO storm!

 July 
After the crazy derecho storm, the power was out for over a week! The in-laws came to visit in the middle of it all, which made for a creative twist on our time together. Regardless, we had an amazing time with them. Including the 4th of July and a trip to Washington D.C.! Then, my parents and aunt and cousin came to visit. It was the month of family visits (which we loved!) It was turning out to be the best, most active summer of our lives. So many incredible memories. I got to go to my first library conference for work! I felt official. Then finally, it was time - on July 30th, we prepared to leave for our first cruise together!

August
This month was the best. The peak of our summer mountaintop. We went to Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and finally to Florida for Disney World and Universal Studios. We swam with dolphins, encountered a city of sting rays, soaked up the sun, swam in crystal blue water, and enjoyed every day. Our first day at Disney we spent with our friends, Jon and Emilie! It was a blast. The next day was just us. We had some crazy stories and amazing experiences. We finished out a trip by going to Harry Potter World - it was magical. When we got back, I was excited to find out I was featured on Ruche's blog! Then the next few weeks before school started back up again were a blur. This summer will forever be known as Summer Tweeeeeelve!

 September
I spent a lot of time reminiscing of days gone by. I did a few Flashback Friday posts; the first was about our first apartment together. I found out all the ways to ruin your life by 30. I had some thoughts on habits and junk food (Arby's is dead to me). I flash back again, to a little kitten named Ambrosius. I decided on my top 5 favorite movies. I ran The Color Run with a bunch of girl friends! One last flashback focused on some weird things from my childhood. At the end of the month, we went apple picking with some law school friends and I made my first apple pie. And best of all, we got a new kitten! And I decided to challenge myself to 31 days of wearing dresses: Frocktober.

October

The best of all the months! I started my Frocktober challenge, and realized that I am extremely awkward. The 5th came around, which is my birthday time! I love birthdays, and got so many fun surprises. The biggest of all being the BEST SURPRISE PARTY EVER. Frocktober ended up being a lot of fun. I somehow made it through! Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5. I joined my first book club. I made some BOMB Pumpkin Mac & Cheese. I contemplated purse purchases. We went to the State Fair in North Carolina! (And almost died). We carved pumpkins with friends, and I made chili for a chili cook-off! Then we all went and rooted for our law school husbands to play flag football for the annual Turkey Bowl, and ate all the delicious chili entries. For Halloween, we went to our church's Harvest Festival and dressed as Carl and Ellie from UP. :)

November
It was officially holiday season. It was time to start getting Pumpkin Spice Lattes every day. As the month progressed, I thought about my favorite TV fashion icons. I went to a new coffee shop in a new city with new music, and great people. I decorated hard core for Christmas: Winter Wonderland. I did an outfit post attempting the tights-with-shorts trend. I made delicious Caramel-Filled Apple Cider Cookies for a cookie swap! I did my first blog giveaway for Posies by Cait accessories. I reminisced on how blessed we are to have such fun, energetic and amazing friends here in Virginia, who have awesome theme parties with us. And best of all, we surprised our families by going home to Arizona for Thanksgiving! We were able to meet our new niece, Annabella, and our new nephew, Wyatt, for the first time. It was the best.

December
Cold weather, and lots of Christmas music! We had our annual Law Wives Christmas Tea, which is my favorite event. We somehow survived through finals week, and celebrated Dusty's hard work with a date night and our own little Christmas! We finally found OUR sushi place, which we now eat whenever we get the chance. We spent the most amazing two weeks in Arizona for Christmas and New Year's, soaking up time with family and friends and the gorgeous desert. We got to see our friends from California, Britany and Bryce, who came and visited us while we were home! We went shopping, ate Mexican food, went to parties, enjoyed the amazing weather, laughed a lot, went to Zoo Lights, spent time with loved ones, exchanged gifts and made memories. We had the perfect New Year's Eve. I made some realistic resolutions for 2013, that I can't wait to keep.

I now realize what a blessing this blog has been for me - it has been an evolution of me. It has grown with me, changed with me, been weird with me. It has been the testament to my growth as a person, and to the growth of my hobbies and interests. It has been the love bank of funny stories and sweet moments between Dusty and I. It has been my diary, my friend, a therapeutic device. 

All I can say is, I can't wait to see what 2013 will bring. 2012 was a beautiful year. A year of adventures and unbeatable memories! It was the year of "summer tweeeeeelve!" and so many other silly and awesome moments that will live on forever in our hearts. 

I raise my glass to 2012 - and hang it in my life's hall of fame.

Now, let's give a toast to the New Year and all its mysterious joys. 

In love,

Cait