right through the very heart of it!

New York, New York!!

As I told you all earlier, Dusty organized a rather extravagant trip for us for my birthday. The trip actually took place a month and a half later, the weekend before Thanksgiving. The trip consisted of these extraordinary components:

1. Lauren, one of my best friends from college! We would be meeting her in Connecticut.

2. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying on broadway, starring Daniel Radcliffe!

3. (A VERY last minute addition) Taylor Swift and NeedtoBreathe, at Madison Square Garden.

4. Miscellaneous and magical traveling adventures, including a tour of Greenwich, CT where Lauren had been living!

I can't quite explain my excitement. We love the Harry Potter series, which has become inseparable from Daniel Radcliffe as he is, now, the face of Harry Potter. And neither of us had seen Lauren since April, and NeedtoBreathe is my all-time favorite band, and New York is so fun, and Connecticut is beautiful, and the list could go on and on.

There was SO MUCH GREATNESS.

Too much, in fact, to document it all. So we're gonna hit the highlights. (but be prepared, there are a lot of highlights).

CONNECTICUT the wich of green.

We met Lauren at her church in Greenwich. It was a darling, friendly community of God-loving Baptists. :) It was wonderful to see where she had been encouraged and spiritually driven during her stay there. We got to see her in action, singing with the worship team. We also got to meet some of her dearest friends from her time in CT. It was such a gorgeous day!



We were also able to spend some time downtown on Greenwich avenue, which was really quaint (and very high-end!) and had some great shops and restaurants. Diane's Books was one of those quaint places.





Another super fun place was called Sweet Teez candy shop. We got some sour patch kids and swedish fish, as well as some AMAZING lavender ice cream.



We also got to go into a Tory Burch store (fancy!) and help Lauren pick out a few things, as she had gotten a wallet as a thank you/going away gift that she wanted to exchange. They gave Dusty an iPad to play with (what happens when high-end companies have a lot of bored men coming into the stores with their wives).

I think Two's Company was my favorite store we visited. Lauren had told me about it before, and it was really fun to be able to look around and see it in person! It was so beautiful. I wanted everything in there.





So, we set our eyes on their vast ornament collection, and decided to get a souvenir ornament from Two's Company!



We had a great amount of fun walking around Greenwich Ave. It was such a beautiful day, and there were so many little shops and places to see.



Lastly, Lauren took us out to the Greenwich coast. We had gotten Starbucks, and had a great time walking down along the sand, and taking silly pictures.

THE CITY!

How to Succeed in business without really trying.

The show was incredible. It's one of the wittiest and most entertaining shows I've ever seen. Dusty and I actually saw Vanguard perform this show when we visited there on choir tour in High School, so it was really fun to be reminded of why we loved it! Daniel Radcliffe actually did an amazing job. I was totally starstruck; being in the same room as Harry Potter was WEIRD!







I smile just thinking about it, because I'm pretty sure I didn't stop smiling the entire time. I think a few squeals came out without my conscious permission. It was SO much fun! I would highly recommend it. :)

TAYLOR SWIFT and NEEDTOBREATHE!!

We bought our tickets 3 days before the concert. Needless to say, our spirits were high -- and so were our seats! We were the very LAST seats, as high as you could go. We sat up against the stadium wall. But we were happy campers.



On a side note, I have a t shirt for every concert Dusty and I have been together since getting engaged.



NeedtoBreathe was fantastic. Their new CD is my favorite yet -- they keep getting better and better. If you haven't heard them yet, here are some top songs that you should start with! (from newest CD to oldest CD).

1. Wanted Man

2. The Reckoning

3. A Place Only You Can Go

4. Won't Turn Back

5. Something Beautiful

6. The Garden

7. More Time

8. Don't Leave Just Yet

It was so exciting to hear them live. We had seen them once before for my birthday last year, when they were touring with Train. It was an amazing concert, but it was outdoors, and traffic was so bad that we missed the first part of them playing. It's my goal to meet them one day. I love their music, and it was SO fun to see them again. The best news we got (as we drove back to Lynchburg from New York) was that they'll be coming to play at Liberty in April!!!

Now for Taylor...



The noise alone was mind-blowing -- I suppose that's what happens when you're surrounded by thousands of pre-teen girls. It was AMAZING. And a little ear-splitting. But we had such a blast! She had such a great show put together.



Our guest star was Johnny Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls! They played Iris together, which was incredible.







It was pretty incredible. She did a great job, and we all had so much fun! The voices of so many people singing along was record breaking, I'm sure. It was definitely worth it, bad seats and all. It was quite the enchanting evening.

FOOD the most important overview of all.

We had so much good food, in both NY and Greenwich. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

In Connecticut: (Lauren was able to take us to some of her favorite places!)


Pizza Factory!



My Favorite Place! (this title created a maze of confusion, as she was trying to decide where she wanted to take us.)

Lauren: I could take you guys to this really great place, that I love. Or I could take you to My Favorite Place, they were featured on the food network channel! Oh, or there's this other place that I've gone to a lot, they have really great sandwiches and stuff.
Me: Well...why wouldn't you take us to your favorite place? Let's go there!
Lauren: They're all good though, I dunno if I have a favorite. Should we go to My Favorite Place?
Me: Yes! Which place is your favorite?
Lauren: I dunno. But My Favorite Place is pretty good, let's just go there, you guys will like it.
Me: (extremely confused expression as we get into the car).

Everything fell into place when we pulled up.

New York City!

The opportunities for food in NY are pretty insane. We went for the standard, must-haves.

HOT DOGS!  ...it was a big deal.

McGee's Pub! (the pub that MacLaren's is based on, from How I Met Your Mother!)

This was pretty exciting, as Dusty and I have declared HIMYM to be the best show since Friends.

The Shake Shack!

This was a pretty fun night, as after the Taylor Swift concert we got in contact with our friend Kenton from college who was now a photographer in New York! We figured out a place to meet, and ended up at the Shake Shack, near Times Square.



In case you're wondering, there is another Shake Shack in New York, that is featured in the movie Something Borrowed. So we were excited just for that, too. :) tourists to the core.

We had the BEST time. It was the perfect trip. We had some other miscellaneous stories...

The Worst Starbucks in the World.

We got Starbucks before heading back into Connecticut one night, and they were DISGUSTING. Awful. Horrid.

So Dusty (being the man that I married, a.k.a awesome) risked missing the train to run back and tell them that they were awful, and that we needed new ones.

Meanwhile, Lauren and I waited anxiously in Grand Central, and we began to bond with the foreign train lady who worked at that gate. We began to go into all of the flaws of men, and she tells us that she packed up one night and left her husband without a word. I can't tell you how hilarious this encounter was. When Dusty got back (with minutes to spare), she hugged us goodbye, and we parted as friends.

Oh -- and the coffees he brought back? Just as bad.

The Magic

At one point, as we were getting ready to cross the street, Rufus Wainwright came next to us. He was on the phone, and I don't even have a picture or an autograph to show for it -- but he was there, within reaching distance. I was SO EXCITED. I freaked out a little bit. It was a good moment. And I feel even more excited about it, because no one but me knows with absolute certainty that it was him -- and I didn't bother him, either. Just admired from afar.

So, that was the trip.

We got back to our hotel in Connecticut around 3am, after the concert. We were so exhausted. We were leaving to take Lauren to the airport at around 4:30am....so I slept for about an hour or so, while Lauren got ready to go. It was the most insane night ever. Less sleep than I even had in college!

But again, worth it.

After taking Lauren to the airport, I couldn't drive another foot. I was going to die. So, we pulled over in a Wal-Mart parking lot and slept for three hours. Not exactly the most refreshing of naps, but it did the trick! We went through a Dunkin' Donuts drive thru, and made our way back to Lynchburg. Sigh.

It rained the whole time -- and we just talked about what an amazing experience we just had. :)

In love,

Cait

our first thanksgiving.

"For the beauty of the earth

For the glory of the skies,

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies."

...Our first Thanksgiving was wonderful. The loneliness that had begun to set in leading up to a holiday season without our families was slowly replaced by an excitement and gratefulness that we were able to spend it in someone's home, with people that we have begun to love.

We took a few pictures on our back porch around sunset, because it was such a beautiful day! (Wearing a long sleeved button-up shirt makes me do a double-take, cause I look WAY more like my mom! :))

The night before, we had apple cider floats. I decided I wanted some kind of tradition to create for "Thanksgiving Eve" -- although we swiftly decided that apple cider floats should be a general cold-weather tradition, because they were SO delicious.

(No recipe needed - hot apple cider packet + hot water + vanilla ice cream!)

On Thanksgiving morning, it felt great to not have to work. I was able to dedicate my day to cooking!

We had star fruit for breakfast, which goes way back for me. My dad used to surprise me and get it for me sometimes at the store -- Dusty had never heard of it! I freaked out when I saw it at Kroger, so I bought some :)

We also decided on a few more Thanksgiving day traditions. We put on Friends (our favorite show), and watched two of the Thanksgiving episodes while I got some cooking preparations done.

Dusty then set up the good ol' Nintendo 64 and put in Zelda: Ocarina of Time! It was an instant flashback to watching my older brothers play when we were younger, and I felt closer to home. I just kept smiling, I loved the scenes and sounds of that old game.

It was exciting and nerve-racking, taking on the stuffing portion of Thanksgiving day. I had decided on making two different kinds of stuffing to bring to our potluck style dinner. The law school had provided both a turkey and a honey-baked ham for us all (since we were the official "hosts" of the law school thanksgiving -- anyone who didn't have a place to go for thanksgiving was invited!), which was very generous of them! (And allowed us to have PLENTY of leftovers...which I'll get to later!)

Both of my recipes came from RealSimple magazine. Jalapeno Cheddar, and Apple Cranberry. They were both delicious!!

I felt like such a pro, buying alcohol just to cook with. The great thing about these recipes is that the base recipe is the same -- and the main flavor is what changes. It's worth it to check out all the different kinds on RealSimple's website! Check them out here.

They even have an oyster one -- no thanks! But some of the other ones sound great.

I also took on my mom's recipe for the BEST chocolate pecan pie. My mouth waters just thinking about it. It turned out good -- but you know how it is. Nothing is as good as your mom (or dad) makes it. Not sure why -- all I know is I'll be requesting one for Christmas. :) (okay, mom?)

Oh, and PS -- word of the wise? Don't eat pie crust dough. In the words of Dusty (as he spits it out, disgusted): "Nonono blehh, I thought because it said NOT to eat the dough, like cookie dough does, it'd be okay to eat it and taste good like cookie dough does -- gross!" :)

Our Thanksgiving dinner!

There ended up being 5 other couples there, as well as a single law school student from Dusty's class. It was great to see (some for the first time!) some of the husbands there, and interact with other families. The food was delicious (although I REALLY missed my grandma's green beans and mashed potatoes -- ya never know what you'll miss most when it's not available for your belly!)

We all gathered together and prayed over our food, and our lovely hosts had designated the basement for the festivities. :) they had a few tables set up and decorated!

We had also made little turkey and pilgrim shaped white chocolate candies to put on the tables :) they looked like butter (although no one tried smearing them on any rolls).

After everyone had their fill, we decided to play a game. You never know how games will turn out in a group setting -- particularly when not everyone is very well acquainted. But this was SO great. We had a blast, and everyone was so into it! We decided on Guesstures. We played girls vs. guys -- and while I will confess that the guys ended up winning, the girls were totally ahead the entire time. They sneak attacked us.

It was a wonderful evening. A lot of smiles, laughs, good food (and great dessert!) and many new friends.

Dusty and I were so grateful to have had somewhere to spend our Thanksgiving, and to be able to make such fun memories of our first one together :)

The following days (naturally) consisted of many leftovers. Which was fabulous. Here are a few of my favorite leftover recipes!!

Thanksgiving Leftover Pockets

Yes, that's right. A pilgrim version of hot pockets! (which, if you know Dusty...those pretty much made up his entire High School diet).

Using pizza crust, and our leftover stuffing, turkey, and some added spinach, we created these bad boys. Once rolled up, we spread butter and salt on them, then baked at 350 until golden brown!

We did discover a missing ingredient, however -- cranberry sauce, or a bowl of gravy for dipping, would make these puppies *muah!* perfecto.

Thanksgiving Leftover Tacos

Totally easy to make (as throw-together leftover recipes are) and really colorful!

I first sauteed onions and some little cubed sweet potatoes, then tossed in our leftover ham and some more stuffing.

I tossed it all together, put it in a tortilla, and topped with purple cabbage. (Talk about colorful!)

They were so delicious. The trouble (again) with this recipe is a lack of a moist maker. Salsa didn't quite taste right, so I think (again) cranberry sauce might actually be kind of yummy with this, too :)

This is what experimenting is all about!

Moving back briefly to present time, our countdown is now exactly two weeks until we will be boarding our plane for Arizona. :) and we cannot wait!

I'll be posting about our AMAZING trip to New York in a few days, and once or twice more before we come home. Our apartment has finally been decorated for Christmas (even though our tree probably won't last long, with a tiny grey streak of fur always bolting through it).

In love,

Cait