cheers to the barristers

I like feeling fancy.

In college, we had this great yearly ball called Yule. Each December it was held in one of the Disneyland resort's ballrooms, and allowed all of us students to dress up, eat a fancy dinner and Mickey Mouse themed desserts, and be entertained. Usually the entertainment was in the form of a comedian group, and a photo booth. In any case, I went every year and it was always a blast. We usually had Disneyland passes, so we could spend the rest of our evening in Disneyland in our fancy dresses, or just stop in to buy a churro.

These outings were always a lot of fun.

I looked forward to them every year!

Junior year, we decided to go a little crazy. People actually thought we were serious about all of this, but obviously, we didn't care a ton about what other people thought. Dusty had been dying to wear his ridiculous thrift-store found Pink Tux (it's capitalized because it has its own personality), so we decided to have a joke-night Yule, where we went all out, in the most ridiculous way possible.

Feast your eyes!

One of the best nights, ever. We had so much fun, and so many people were staring...
It really put us on the map.


All of that to say, we had our first fancy opportunity in law school two weeks ago!
The Barrister's Ball.
How lovely! A new chance to dress up, eat fancy dinner, and hear a law-related speaker speak.
Okay, so it's not quite the same, but we still felt fancy and rather grown-up. Plus all of our friends were there!

The ballroom was right over the football field!

Everything was decorated so nicely, it felt like a wedding!
They had a candy bar as well, which I visited a little too often.
I'm still munching away on all the mints I took from there; I can't help it, they're my favorite, and they practically melt in your mouth!

The beginning of the evening was leisurely and fun, with lots of picture-taking and candy eating. Just the way a formal should be!

The best part was just soaking up the fancy.
The food was pretty good, but the rolls and the coffee were top notch. They just didn't bring enough of them! I'm not really a one-cup-of-coffee kind of gal. :)

My bag of mints. Yum!
(Dusty judged me for taking all of these).

The speaker was actually really good. I was afraid it was going to be all law-related jargon, and I would have to drink lots of coffee to combat the dozing. But since they only brought me one cup of coffee, I was sure I was doomed! But truthfully, the speaker was interesting and really funny. A great man. If only I could remember his name!

The event lasted a good 4-ish hours. Silliness started to kick in around 10 o'clock, as it often does.

Such a fun night!
Dusty and I enjoyed being all about the bows; he wore his luscious bow tie that he was able to borrow for free from a new store that's opening up a bridal section soon! And I had my dress, with all the little bow details.

We said adios to our friends, and headed home.
Dusty (or rather, one of Dusty's friends) plucked a rose from one of the bouquets, so Dusty gave it to me to wear in my hair.
It was a romantic evening, a silly evening, and an overall fancy evening. I just love being fancy!

Formal occasions like this one are fewer and far between as we get older. No more proms, or school formals...so now, it's just up to us to create fancy atmospheres for ourselves, to keep things fresh.
So that's what I plan to do.
I think next I'll have a cheese party. Fancy cheese, of course.

Until next time!
In love,
Cait

medieval civilizations

I have two stories from college that I hold particularly dear to me.
I'm not really sure why, but for some reason, whenever I think about them, I a.) get really stressed out and b.) laugh to myself.

The first is the titled Medieval Civilizations story.

Medieval Times or Bust

My senior year of college, I realized that I needed another 3 History credits; and because of the upper division requirements, it needed to be an upper division History class.
With Dusty's help, I scrolled through the options, and landed on Medieval Civilizations. It fit in perfectly with my schedule, and was one out of only a few that did. Sounds interesting, right? Learning about ancient Rome maybe, daydreaming about days long gone by.

WRONG.

This class was a nightmare.
And here's why.

The professor was a cheery mix between Robin Williams and a Hobbit. He was short, hairy, and had a huge smile. He was SO EXCITED about medieval times.
(Just go ahead and try speaking in a broad grin for an hour and a half. See how you like it. Better yet, see how your friends like it.)

I could tell immediately that I had made a huge mistake.

I did not understand this class. I should have known how bad it would be, when every single person in the class raised their hand as a History major. He looked at me like I was an alien.
It seriously went so over my head, and the weird thing was, I was really trying to understand. Knowledge has never bested me in such a horrible way.

I took rigorous notes, always brought a soda to class so I wouldn't fall asleep, and always sat in front. He spoke so fast, and so happily, that I just got lost somewhere in all his arm hair. It was hopeless.
(I actually started sitting in the second desk from the front, because the guy in the front picked at his scabs and smelled really bad. Sitting behind him wasn't much of an improvement.)

I got a C+ on my first paper. It was a one page paper. I was baffled. I was an English major, wasn't I? Shouldn't the paper portion be the easiest part? Again, it was a one page paper. 
Dusty and I were married at this point, and I would come back to the apartment just angry and frustrated about this class. I had resigned to failure. It was my last semester of college, and I couldn't do it. I just didn't have the strength.
Through Dusty's encouragement, I worked towards building up my will to pass the class. The next paper was coming up, and it was all about Charlemagne. I was going to ace that paper.

I wrote the entire thing 3 days before it was due. If you know me at all, you should know that procrastination is my best friend, and I have NEVER finished an assignment early before. But this was going to be my turning point.
In the class before the paper was due, my professor started going over the paper's subject matter. Slowly but surely, I came to the horrifying realization that I had done the paper ALL wrong. My face was burning red, as if he could somehow tell that I had written a crappy paper 3 days early. I had gone in the opposite direction, and this was when I knew that I had to take desperate measures. I had to talk to him.

After class, I went up to him, introducing myself as the English major who did terribly on the first paper. He smiled knowingly, explaining to me that English fluff had no place in a History paper, and that it was all about facts and substance. I told him that I was desperate to do fantastically on this next paper, and I told him that I had already written it, but that I honestly thought I had gone in the wrong direction.

This is where it gets good.

Apparently, he doesn't usually get after-class student inquiries. Or something. Regardless of the reasoning, he was ecstatic that I was interested, and wanted to hear more, after spending an hour and a half lecture with him.
He jumped, nay, he hopped, into the air, and sat onto the desk, indian style.
I can't...I can't stress this moment enough. Picture it.
We're alone, I'm standing with my books in my arms, and all of a sudden, before my very eyes...

In one, swift, hobbit-like motion, he glides into the air, sweeping his legs under him into an indian-style plop.
He was SO EXCITED about medieval times.
Lord, if only someone else could have seen this.

I aced that next paper.
When I got that A, I came to the conclusion that when he hopped onto that table, he must have sprinkled some of his magic fairy dust onto me. What a strange, odd little man. But I managed a B in that class, and I owe it all to the hairy acrobatic man who used my desk as a chair.

Dusty posted that paper to the fridge, as proof that I could do anything I set my mind to. It was my key inspiration for finishing out strong, for my last semester of college. He would often point to it, to rejuvenate my spirit.


Artsy Fartsy

The second story has to do with my Art minor. (I was an English major/Art minor).
I have always been a pretty good student, getting good grades and being liked by most (if not all) of my teachers.
(There was one teacher in college that I always feared just a little bit, and I could never tell if he liked me...but he was my Ceramics professor, so maybe all the clay-dust in his lungs was getting to him...or perhaps he didn't like that I always wore heels to class because it was on choir days, and he didn't approve of me sitting at the throwing wheel in a skirt. Or maybe I was just confused about his odd angry-looking stares, and they were really just looks of confusion, admiration and approval from a grumpy-eyebrowed man.)

My favorite Art classes by far were my Art History ones. I would love to just take Art History for the rest of my life. I found it so fascinating, and that's saying something, since I've never had a particular fancy for History in general. (see above story.)
Maybe it was my teacher. Art teachers tend to be good-hearted, albeit spacey, and this one was no exception. She wore a lot of black, with eccentric jewelry, and often commented on a guy in my class, about how he reminded her of the student that brought a gun to class at her other school.
Cheery.

We studied ancient Art, from Rome to Greece to Egypt and beyond...it was bliss.
Anywho, the time for our final exam came. It was my junior year, and I had faithfully prepared for my exam. It was my favorite class of that semester, and I was ready to totally ace the final. One of the portions required us to memorize the name of the art piece, the time period, and the location. There would be 25 slides that we'd have to name; a lot of memorization, and I had done it all.

I sat down happily, lining up my paper and pencils.
That's when the guy (who reminds my teacher of the almost-teacher-killer from her last school) looked at me and said, "So how do you think you did on the essay?"

I blinked.

The essay? Essay. ESSAY!
The mind works in mysterious, furious ways when you reach the point of perfect panic.
I'm sweating just writing this.
OF COURSE. Every test for this class included an at-home essay, due at the beginning of the exam.
I had arrived a few minutes early, so just as my palms were beginning to sweat and the guy next to me started to think I may have entered a catatonic state, my professor walked in. I thought of a plan.

"Professor? Silly me, I have forgotten the oh-so-important essay which you assigned. I just know it must be sitting on my desk; may I bring it to you after the exam?"

I probably said something much less elegant, but I honestly didn't even know what I was saying at that point. My plan was to write my essay as quickly as I could after I finished the test, and bring it to her before she left for the day.
"Oh, no, absolutely not!" she answered. My heart was falling out of my butt. "I have to turn your grades in as soon as this test is over, and head back to San Diego. The deadline is too tight. How far away do you live?"
My head was spinning. "Across campus," I mumbled.
She looked at her watch. "Well, the exam is set to begin in 3 minutes, so run back and get it and come back. I'll have to still start on time, but hopefully you can catch up before the exam time is over."

I mentally vomited, and then ran faster than I have ever ran. Darn you, back-less shoes!! I developed instantaneous shin-splints, and kept running.
I burst into my apartment, and thank the Lord my roommates were there. 1.) because I'm really glad they got to witness this absolute melt-down, and 2.) because one of my roommates was able to set up her laptop to her printer which saved me time, and about 10 cents.

I kid you not, I blurted out that paper from who-knows-where in 5 minutes. And maybe like 27 seconds. It was just over 1 page long, which was the requirement (1-2 pages). It was a compare/contrast essay on two pieces of art from two different eras.
I printed it out, screamed a bunch of nonsense I'm sure, and slammed the door on my way out.
God bless my roommates.

I arrived back in class 12 1/2 minutes from the time I left. I was less than 10 minutes late, and had only missed the first 2 slides, which she graciously went back to for me while the rest of the class was doing the short answer/multiple choice questions.
I got an A on the final, with full points on the essay.

What. In. The. World.
Proudest moment of my life.


Oh, college.
In love,
Cait

a birthday visit!

I love birthdays.

Even when they're not my own, I still really, really enjoy them.

My mom came to visit me!!! And she came to visit during her birthday, which was a real treat.
There was a lot going on around here, and we took many naps, ate yummy food and got to do some really great things! Including seeing Dusty in his Moot Court Tournament (WOOT!) and going to the Hunger Games premier with a bunch of our friends.

What a stud!
Dusty had his first moot court experiences that week, starting on Tuesday and Thursday, and going until Friday because he was just TOO GOOD.
He kept making it through to the next round!
Mom and I got to sit in and watch him...not gonna lie, my palms were sweating on his behalf! He did an incredible job. The girl he was going against was also stellar (she ended up making it to the final round!)
I was so impressed, despite a lot of the language going right over my head. Such an intimidating scenario!
Out of the 90 people in his class, Dusty made it to the top 8. I seriously could NOT be more proud!
He had been sure his round on Friday that he would be done; he was disappointed that he had stumbled on one of the questions, and knew that he wouldn't proceed.
I think he was genuinely surprised when his name was called and slotted into the top 8...but I wasn't. :)

His last moot court session was set to end JUST before our showing of the Hunger Games. So while he and our other friend Chris stayed back at the law school to prepare for the next round, the rest of us headed over for a pre-Hunger Games feast!

"Peeta" Bread (pun intended)

Mellark Family Cupcakes
(with goat cheese frosting!)

Nightlock, Berry Salad

Rue's Harvest, broccoli salad

The Hob counter, coleslaw and baked beans

The Sponsors/Cornucopia cheese platter

The Capitol Spuds:
 filling baked potatoes with fresh sour cream, bacon and cheese

The Katniss Kill...pulled pork!

We set up all the food at Chris and Heather's house, and had a blast eating and talking excitedly about the movie. Most of us had read the books (including mom, as I had given her the assignment of reading them before she came). 

After dinner, half of us split up to head to the theatre and get in line, while a few of us went to the law school to leave a car there for our boys that were hard at work! They met us there right on time, and we got to all enjoy the movie together.

P is for PEETA!
(this Peeta letter necklace is now hanging on my lamp in our room)

Such a fun night! We went to Bloop (our favorite frozen yogurt spot) afterwards, and then headed home for a good night's sleep.

Saturday was farmer's market day in downtown Lynchburg, so the three of us headed down there to shop for some fresh fruit and veggies for our new juicer!! That's right. We are now the juicing kind. :)
Mom and Dusty had never been down to the farmer's market (they have it every Saturday) so it was really fun showing them around. We got a lot of great stuff, including some fresh homemade butter and some chocolate covered strawberries, which were absolutely delicious! I would highly recommend them, for any of you local folks.

We also tried an all-new (to us) Mexican food restaurant downtown that ended up being pretty delicious!
El Mariachi offered a very nice waiter, and some MUCH better salsa than the first place we tried. Bottom line, is that every time I eat Mexican food here, it's like...drinking decaf coffee when you need a caffeine fix. BUT, at least I feel somewhat better after eating it.
El Mariachi is the best we've tried so far.

That night we got to go to another birthday party for some Lynchburg friends that we actually knew from Arizona! Mom hadn't seen Susan in a long while, since her move to Indiana...so it was a blast to see them hang out together, and be just as silly as always.

While we were at the party, there were some storm clouds blooming on the horizon. It ended up including a tornado watch! We saw the storm slowly building up, and before long, the pouring rain began.

We had a very rainy, thundery night!

By the next morning, things were fairly calmed down. No tornado, thank goodness! Although we had planned to all crouch into the downstairs bathroom with Luna, we were much happier with no major weather catastrophes.

Monday was BIRTHDAY!
I woke mom up with some coffee and breakfast, and we had a relaxing day planned. Dusty had class, so we had some girl time!
We did a little shopping at the J. Crew outlet in Wyndhurst, then arrived at our nail appointment.

Red and Mint toes!

I just love getting my nails done. It had been way too long! It's even more fun with mom.

We headed to one of my favorite places for lunch, called Milan. It's where we go out to eat with my boss and coworkers, whenever there's a birthday or any other reason to celebrate. I would have never found it by myself (it's in a somewhat sketchy strip mall), but now I find myself craving it!

Dusty was a really good sport.
I've been trying to get him to try this place for weeks, but he was really turned off by the idea of Indian food. Their lunch is full buffet style, so I convinced him that there would be at least one thing that he could manage to eat.
My personal favorites:

Legit Chai Tea. YUM. I drink gallons of this stuff.

Mango Pudding. Seriously good; real Mango flavor. Delish.

He managed to try pretty much everything :)
That's a face of pure enjoyment. (and fortitude).

It was such a nice lunch! It's a nice and quiet restaurant, and I always find myself extremely relaxed after eating there. It's probably the belly full of Chai that does the trick.


That night, we had reservations at Main St. Eatery.
We had never been before, but had heard it was a charming local place with extremely good, quality food. A little on the pricier side, but perfect for a birthday dinner!
They also had their "March Madness" going on, which offered a buy one, get one free entree! Which was pretty perfect. (and allowed us to all get dessert!)

Super cute downtown, yes?

 Everyone at the restaurant was so nice.
Everyone seemed to know it was mom's birthday! Word spread, and she got many happy birthday wishes from waiters and even from the owner herself.

Bruschetta/Warm Goat Cheese dip

Mom and Dusty both got this mouth-watering entree.

This was the "Steak Frites" (steak with fries) with Rosemary butter. Oh, my my my.

We made sure to save room for dessert, so mom got this little birthday doggie bag!

THE DESSERT TRAY

They wheel out this gargantuan cart full of delectables, and pretty much dare you to say no.

Happy Birthday to mom!!

We enjoyed the delicious dessert, Dusty with his chocolate (of course) me with my hazelnut pie, and mom with her pecan. I got my typical cappuccino to seal the deal, and the evening ended on happy thoughts and full bellies.

It also ended with these weird sugar-coated citrus rinds, which I wouldn't necessarily recommend.

But eh, to each his own.

I'm so glad mom got to come with the beautiful Spring weather, and to see all of the gorgeous blooms!! The trees were sprouted their green before our eyes, and the blossoms came and went in the few days that she was here. It was perfect timing!

We also finished a really cool project in our living room (mom did most all the prep and sewing and...well, she did everything, since I was at work).

Before!

After!

I'll be posting more reformed living room pictures soon, because we also just got a new chair to go in that space between the newly curtained book/dvd shelf, and the couch! Dusty is in love with it. 

It will soon be slip-covered, and our apartment will look more put together than it ever has before :)

I'm lovin' it!

Quick story about the chair...

We found the chair for $20 on a Lynchburg yard sale site, through Facebook. I had been looking for both a comfy chair and a coffee table, so when I spotted the chair (an ugly pink, with some spots on it, but still fluffy, comfy and in great condition! A La-Z-Boy!) I couldn't resist. 

We drove about 15 minutes away to meet the guy, and he was incredibly nice. He helped us try to fit the chair into our car (to no avail), and it was a surprisingly warm day. We then tried to fit it in the trunk, but that also wasn't working. 

He then pulled some old rags from his truck and put them between the chair legs and the bumper so it wouldn't get scratched, and grabbed one of his own bungee cords to secure it. I started feeling really sad that he had done so much work, for only $20. Their original asking price had been $25, so I told him I was going to write him a new check for $25. 

Once we got in the car, Dusty slammed the door, "Caitlin, you just gave that guy $45 bucks!" I stared. "What? Whadya mean?" Dusty sighed. "You had already given him the first one; why didn't you just write the second one for $5??"

It was probably one of the stupidest things I have ever done. I didn't even say, "Go ahead and tear up the first one" or "Let me have the first one back", I just gave him two checks. So, long story short, I was an a panic the rest of the day, hoping the goodness of the man's heart would overlook my incredibly stupidity.

And it did :)

He only cashed the $25 one. Sweet man. 

Happy times!

In love,

Cait