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

easter baskets

Growing up, Easter was always something I looked forward to.
I could count on having a pretty new Easter dress for the very special church services, as well as a basket full of goodies at the foot of my bed.
I still have some of my favorite little stuffed animals and other treats that my parents got for me for Easter morning. I specifically remember a giant cream-colored stuffed bunny that my parents got me from Disneyland, and gave to me on an Easter morning when they couldn't be there with us and we were staying at my grandma's house for the Easter weekend. I loved that soft rabbit to pieces.
Another year, my dad got my little brother and I life-sized stuffed rabbit people. And not life-sized as in child-sized; life-sized as in DAD-sized. They were huge! Mine was a girl, in a lovely floral dress. It took up my entire bed, and I loved it.
Another traditional Easter basket finding was mini perfume. My mom almost always made sure to tuck in a collection of mini perfume bottles for Easter or Valentine's Day.

This is not my actual collection, although it could be! I have a lot of the same :)

The funny thing is, I don't think I ever actually used them. I just loved the way they looked and smelled, and I would tuck them safely onto a special shelf to look at, and feel fancy (my desire to be fancy started early in life).

All that being said, this year was our first Easter spent away from our families. It was a little harder than I was expecting it to be. While we were married last year as well, we were able to drive home from school and spend Easter with both of our families.
The weeks leading up to Easter, I consistently referenced the fact that I absolutely had to wake up to an Easter basket on my bed. Dusty would just roll his eyes. I knew the seed had most likely been planted around the 40th time I mentioned it.

Little did he know, I had started collecting Easter basket goodies about two weeks before Easter.
One thing that's very important to realize in this deception is that Dusty checks the status of our money quite often; he pays the bills, he manages the accounts, etc. etc. We have a joint checking account, and he has the credit card, so for me to be able to purchase something without him noticing is absolutely impossible.

The first thing I bought was at the farmer's market. My friend Allison graciously lent me the $5 in cash to pay for it, so there would be no paper trail ;)
It was a giant homemade white chocolate Oreo bar, in the shape of an ornate Easter egg. Yum!

Then, I asked Dusty if I could buy something for him for his birthday online. I spent about $30 to get him a few movies; one of which was The Muppets, (super cute, if you haven't seen it, you should!) which was going in the basket. I also got him some other movies to give him on his actual birthday, to throw him off guard!

I also went to JoAnn's, to get some fabric that I needed for some custom Etsy orders. While I was there, I picked up some Easter eggs and candy.
The last thing I did was go to the grocery store. This is where it got tricky! We had a gift card with about $20 left on it. I did our regular grocery shopping, and also got him a bunch of candy, including Cadbury eggs which he'd never had before!! I also got him a $5 movie there, so he would think the movies I gave him would  add up to the $30 I had spent on amazon. (Dragonheart, which he'd never seen (!!!! click on the link to listen to the theme song, and cry at your desk) and all 3 Underworld movies).

{This is totally off topic, but I had a dream the other night that I was flying, over a beautiful landscape, while the Dragonheart theme song played. It was very moving.}

I also grabbed some strawberry milk and Little Debbie's Oatmeal Creme Pies, to aid in my deception.
I used the gift card, so the total leftover amount on our card would equal a regular grocery amount.
Sigh.

So then, when I got home, I peeped in the door and told Dusty to close his eyes. I ran upstairs to "put my JoAnn's stuff in the craft room" (and shove the Easter stuff under the bed), and told him I had a surprise for him. That's when I whipped out the strawberry milk and Oatmeal Creme Pies, to totally wipe any suspicion from his brain.
I put the Easter basket together while he was at school late one night, and had it all ready to go, in a crevice between our suitcases under the bed.

The funny thing about all of this, is we both already knew we were going to "surprise" each other with Easter baskets. I mean, really.

Easter Morning

I set my alarm for really early, to set Dusty's Easter basket at the foot of his bed.
Once that was accomplished, I crawled back into bed and went back to sleep.

I awoke about an hour later, and Dusty was gone, and his basket remained, untouched. I tried to listen to see if he was downstairs somewhere, but I didn't know where he was. I thought maybe he really hadn't gotten me an Easter basket, and was making me coffee or something to make up for it.
He finally came back up, and I sat up and wished him a happy Easter. He plopped down on the bed, smiling at his basket. He said, "Sorry, I had to go the bathroom." He then bent down by his side of the bed, and said, "OR, I was getting YOUR Easter basket!". He pulled my basket onto the bed, and it was fantastic. Cotton candy, WAR HEADS! Yes, sir. But the best part were MINI Cadbury eggs. Oh my goodness. How many times have I stated that I love myself a good Cadbury egg on Eater, but one is more than enough; they're SO sweet and gooey, that it's almost too much. How perfect are the minis! One little bite, and it's all the Cadbury I need. (I can't really explain why I ate like 6 that morning).

Dusty was still bursting with hardly contained glee, so he finally said, "Now, now, now, look out the window! I'm pretty sure the Easter bunny came by here..."

I was really confused. Santa came by, but the Easter bunny...I wasn't really sure he existed.

Dusty, I mean the Easter bunny, had littered the ENTIRE front grass with Easter eggs.

Some were even hidden in the bushes!

I had a basket full :)

It was so fun, and SO silly. It just kind of reiterated the fact that we're both really weird, and that we both really enjoy that about ourselves.

Speaking of weird, bear with me as I share some kitten-related pictures.

Alright. Moving on.

We then got ready for church, and were very lovely in our pastels :)

We decided we wanted to try out our own funky little Easter tradition, so we went out to all-you-can-eat Sushi after church. :)
It was a fun, spur-of-the-moment decision.

While I wouldn't call this the best sushi on the East Coast, I'm not sure there is a "best" on the East Coast, of anything sushi related.
But we had a really good time :) I look forward to many more sushi-filled Easters in the future!

My dress is from our J. Crew Outlet,
and the sunglasses are Ruche!

Our house was warm and candy-filled, and still is...candy-filled, that is. It's been a chocolatey week, that's for sure! I've also been taking a lot of naps. Sugar comas?

We're loving our new chair in the living room, and so is Luna. :)
More cat pictures to come...but only because she just happened to be in the shot :)

Our happy living room! :)
I also used the leftover Easter basket stuffing to put inside the bases of some of my vases.
I actually really like the way it looks :) very Spring-y and fun!

We spend way more time in our living room now. There's something cozy and home-y, feeling like the room is finally complete.
Well...almost. I've gotta figure out a slip-cover concept for this new chair of ours....

Anywho! Happy Easter, and happy Spring to you all.
Until next time :)

In love,
Cait