Will the Real Summer Lovin' Please Stand Up

This marks the second week of freedom from law school.

Except that it doesn't, because the hubby is taking a horrible intensive, which ends Friday.

So this Friday, we will be able to celebrate all over again that the beginning of (the true) Summer is upon us!!

But that doesn't mean we haven't had some fun this weekend. :)

Friday was an adorable birthday party for a sweet little boy we know named William. His party was straight out of a magazine, which is a tribute to his creative and food-tastic mother, Stephanie.

It was manly and mustache themed :)

"You really tickled our whiskers --
please help yourself to
'the stash'!"

"Man"wiches.

"Wet Your Whiskers".

The photo booth area.

Socializing.

Stephanie (and her husband Josh) really outdid themselves. The menu consisted of delicious mini sandwiches (including a dark bread/brie combo that was melt-in-your-mouth), fruit salad, pasta salad, fruit cones (ice cream cones stuffed with delicious fresh fruit), salt and cracked pepper chips, and individually-cupped veggies and dip. The drinks included water, bottled root beer and minty lemonade.
The sweet treats were some of the best -- chocolate or peanut butter mustaches (see below), animal crackers, gumballs, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate dipped pretzel sticks with sprinkles, and lemon vanilla cake/cupcakes.

Needless to say, we were completely stuffed. But that didn't stop us from filling a few bags to-go!

It was an absolutely gorgeous day. The weather has been top notch for the last few days. Lynchburg had a week or so of really vicious mood swings, going from sunny and hot to windy and rainy. But now that perfection has struck, we can only hope that it will last!

When it came time for cake, we just let the babies take charge. And boy, did they take charge!

CAKE!

"Victory!"

Happy birthday, William. :)

The rest of the evening, we took photo-booth pictures, and played some cornhole. Some healthy competition was going one. :)

We somehow always end up being girls vs. guys...

Aidan really wanted in on it :)

The rest of us just watched, and were on baby-watching duty.
I don't think Dusty minded very much :)

Cuties.


I spent some time with the adorable Pierre, who was very French indeed, down to the cute little puppy bandana.

We discovered Pierre's love of tissue paper.

"J'aime ma famille.
Accessoires tissus et papier sont en haut de ma liste comme bien,
parce que je suis celui qui suis."

The rest of the our weekend went by in a blur.
Saturday consisted of Luna and I in various positions of relaxation.

From this:

To this:

 To this:

And finally, to this:

Eventually we just gave in and told each other "i love you" and went on to other productive activities.
Like this.

Sunday was a haze of movies and coffee.
And a lotta this:

 

My first official craft fair is coming up this weekend, so I've been a busy little bee building up enough inventory for it. I have around 30 pairs of earrings that I finished up this weekend, among other accessories :) I can't wait!
If you're local, come by! It's at Yellow Branch Baptist Church in Rustburg, from 8am to 5pm this Saturday, May 26th.

My crafting movie marathon consisted of:
1. Ever After
2. The Holiday
3. Cast Away
4. Countless episodes of How I Met Your Mother, season 3.

It was a beautiful day outside, so I made sure to have my blinds open. :)


On another note, the hubby and I are doing our own version of a juice cleanse for the next week or two. Wish us luck as we have our fruity oatmeal in the morning, and fresh juice throughout the day. We managed to muster up the courage to visit our resident fitness center (no air-conditioning, which is hopefully just temporary), and plan to make that a regular habit.

AND we found a PARK in our complex!! Who knew!

 I think that's all for my musings and updates. So for now, I'll leave you with this nugget of truth and warning:

If you ever go to a J. Crew (or "insert fancy brand name store here") warehouse sale, wear flip-flops, a tank top, and skinny jeans or shorts. And don't bring your husband.

You have been forewarned.

G'day mate!

In love,
Cait

comfort food

I love the concept of comfort food.
Comfort food is completely tailored to each individual, and has everything to do with how and where they grew up.
It can range from french fries to fried chicken, from potato soup to mac and cheese.
Or if you're fancy, maybe it's shrimp or lobster or steak.
For me, my comfort food is Top Ramen. I know, go ahead and groan, go ahead and talk about the high levels of sodium and the potentially indigestible properties of the pre-packaged pasta delights. I don't care.
I was in a car crash last night, and the first thing I did was go home and curl up on the couch and eat a bowl of chicken Top Ramen with Tabasco sauce. (It's okay, you can groan again). Then I fell asleep to re-runs of How I Met Your Mother, because I was so comforted.

When you're functioning on leftovers and cheap foods, it's amazing the kind of cheap and easy throw-together meals you can create. Like crackers and spray-cheese, they get the job done.

Like
Cabbage Salad:

Why it's comforting: soy sauce and vinegar, and the delightful crunch.


For non-cabbage lovers, this will be a no-go. Because if you haven't noticed, it's a salad made completely of raw cabbage.
(Although I think this may be very tasty eaten hot, with fried or steamed cabbage, as well).


Ingredients:
Cabbage
Carrots
Mango
Lime
Soy Sauce
Red Wine Vinegar
Pepper

Directions: 
Chop up everything until your bowl is full, and sprinkle with lime, soy sauce and red wine vinegar.
Dash with fresh ground black pepper.
Voila!

This satisfied all of my cravings, while being extremely low calorie, which is very odd for "comfort food". It had the salty sourness of soy sauce and lime, as well as the delightful sweetness of mango and the pleasant crunch of cabbage and carrots. The perfect raw salad.


You could also go for the
Tilapia Sloppy Joe


Now don't gross out on me. I promise, it was good. I had two of them, they were so yummy!
My pictures are on my laptop at home, so maybe I'll add those later. But just trust me on this.


My original plan was to make tilapia patties, because I was craving a burger/fish taco. Sometimes cravings get mixed up in transit.
But I didn't have any eggs, so I knew it would be difficult to make a patty mix that would stay together. So I improvised.


Ingredients:
2 tilapia filets
1/2 fresh chopped tomato
Bread crumbs/crushed potato chips (I'm so creative/unhealthy)
Olive Oil
Garlic Salt
Fresh ground pepper
Crushed Red Pepper flakes
Chili Powder
Whole wheat hamburger/sandwich buns (I'm back in the healthy zone)

Directions:
Finely chop your tilapia filets (this might be easier if you cook them a little bit in the skillet first). Toss together with your chopped tomatoes, bread crumbs and a little bit of oil.
Sprinkle as desired with garlic salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and chili powder. (For me, the spicier the better!).
Throw into your skillet with some more olive oil, and fry them until thoroughly cooked. Scoop the mixture onto the bun, add ketchup, and consume.

The result is a crumbly, deliciously comforting "Sloppy Tilapi". I don't regret it, no matter what people may say.

These are my musings for the day. Sometimes, comfort food is what ya need for dinner.
Be creative, but don't feel bad if Top Ramen is on tonight's menu. Oh, and Taco Bell. Don't let anyone judge you for Taco Bell.

In love,
Cait

take a breath

Cause we all NEEDTOBREATHE.

Last year, I posted about the amazing opportunity we had to see Taylor Swift and Needtobreathe in New York City, at Madison Square Garden. It was an extremely memorable trip, one that we look back on regularly.
At the end of that trip, we realized that Needtobreathe (my favorite band) would also be playing at Liberty University in April!
(If you're just joining us, my husband is attending law school at Liberty and I work in the library there).
Liberty was a stop on their Reckoning tour. The Reckoning is their newest and (in my opinion) best album yet. We started counting down the days to the concert, and joined "The Insiders", which is their specially named fan club. We also were the first to buy tickets and sign up for Priority Access. We were tickets 1 and 2. :)

Priority Access allowed us to enter before the masses, to choose our seats ahead of everyone else! Only a select few were awarded this honor, and we were the first ones to walk in with our floor tickets and claim the front row.

Once the doors officially opened to everyone else, it began to fill up pretty quickly. There was probably about twenty feet from our front row chairs to the stage, if not more. A group of die-hards began lining up at the foot of the stage, as the non-moshing-mosh pit.

We stayed comfy in our seats, since we knew Ben Rector would be up before Needtobreathe.

Neither Dusty or I had ever heard Ben Rector before, and we were so glad we got the opportunity to hear him for the first time live! He was so great.

Check out this band member's rockin' mustache.

For reference, check out Ben Rector's cover of Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody". This was so much fun live. Everyone was so into it. He has a lot of really fun rhythms to his songs, as well as some great piano and occasionally saxophone and other dance-inspiring instruments.
He also rocked some real slow, more acoustic songs. He has a great voice; he's worth checking out!

Once the intermission came up between Ben Rector and Needtobreathe, the stage floor was pretty packed. So we decided to stand up (since sitting now meant zero visibility to the stage), and make our way into the crowds in front of the stage.
I hadn't been this excited since I ran up to the stage to sneak pictures of Plus One performing at the Dodge Theatre when I was 13.

The lights when out, the screaming began, and the stage backdrop began to light up. It was a giant typewriter keyboard, and they slowly began to light up...

Then the first notes of "Oohs and Aahs" began to play.

This is arguably the best concert I've ever been to. It was incredible; they are so great live, and I loved being able to experience it so close. I love that they're a small town band that has worked hard to get where they are, while still maintaining their faith and integrity.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the evening:

Rock and Roll.

Never underestimate the power of Banjo.

Stellar. Harmonica shot.

This guy (Seth) has long flowing hair that wisps in the slightest breeze,
which was impossible to ignore.

 I first heard Needtobreathe from one of my favorite movie soundtracks: P.S. I Love You.
Their featured song on that album is More Time. Bo and Bear took center stage for this concert to perform this song acoustically, and it was magical. For the first time, this song made sense to me.
Before, I always wondered what the subject matter was. Death, love, family.
Bear prefaced it by talking about what a tough world the music industry can be, and how there are lies and struggles before any triumphs. Thus, the core of the song was unveiled.

Bo and Bear Rinehart, brothers extraordinaire.
One of my favorite moments of the concert.

After the concert was over, the crowd screamed forever and ever for an encore.
The band came back out, and arranged in this formation, to sing their song Slumber.

They then broke off before the end of the song, and turned off all amplifying devices, including their mics and instruments. They bridged the song acoustically, and it was absolutely fantastic. Everyone was dead silent, mesmerized.

They really saved the best for last. Their encore was awesome, and included some of their best stuff, even stuff we hadn't heard before. Ben Rector also came out and joined them for the last little bit.

I have only one complaint from the concert, and that was the guy standing behind us.
I had to keep grabbing Dusty's shoulder to keep from screaming at the guy.
One of our favorite things to say around Liberty is, "Oh, undergrad..." in a very judgmental, holier-than-thou tone. Because you see, something strange happens to you (staring around high school age) where you suddenly can't stand students in your general age group that are below you in any way.
Being here at Liberty, but not actually at Liberty, is a difficult place to be. We don't quite belong, and we feel older, better, and more experienced than the undergrad that swarms every possible surface.

They don't use cross walks, they're loud, they're stupid (too harsh?) and they yell things like "I WANT TO HAVE YOUR BABIES" and prolonged "OHMYGOOOOOOOD"s at concerts.

Needless to say, the concert was perfect, save for that one guy who was about to have my fist in his stomach.
Oh and P.S., we grabbed this solid piece of gold.

They made a record, an actual record. It includes two unreleased songs, "Disaster Road" and "Cops". I'm dying to listen to it, and can't wait to go home in June to play it on my record player.

The hubby and I have decided that our next venture will be to follow them around Europe on their tours. I think it sounds like a smart plan....they're going to be in Dublin, Ireland in July. Any takers? :)

In love,

Cait