life lately: part 2

Two weekends ago (the 13th) we found ourselves approaching the city of Charlotte, NC once again.

Dusty and I were desperate to see NEEDTOBREATHE in concert again. It would be concert number 4, with many more to come, I hope!
The first time we saw them was at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. They were touring with Train. It was awesome, and I think it really opened our eyes to how much we love going to concerts together!
The second time was in New York City, at Madison Square Garden. It was one facet of a truly amazing trip, and the concert blew our minds once again. (Taylor Swift was also there, kind of the main event.)
Our third time was here at Liberty University. This may have been the best one, because we sat in the very front row and had priority tickets that allowed us to enter before everyone else. It was a seriously great night, and they were wonderful.

All that being said, we weren't content with just 3. So we set off to numero 4 with high spirits and happy hearts!
Our friends Jon and Emilie graciously allowed us to go to Charlotte with them, and dropped us off at the concert for a few hours.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous.
We couldn't have picked a better day to attend an outdoor/amphitheater concert.
We arrived early and were able to wander around, grab some dinner, and pick up some merchandise!
We got some shirts and pre-ordered their next album, which is due some time in the Fall.

The opening band is called Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors. 

I would seriously recommend them. We especially loved "The Wine We Drink" and "Tennessee". Completely gorgeous. It was the perfect way to start the evening, just as the sun was setting and cool darkness was settling upon the audience. 

The band is centered around a husband and wife, who are adorable and talented and love Jesus.
They were wonderful live and we became instant admirers.
Later on in the show, they joined Needtobreathe for an amazing rendition of "Stand by Me", and Ellie (wife of Drew Holcomb) joined them for the female part in their song "Stones Under Rushing Water".
It was fantastic!

Needtobreathe rocked. They really rocked.

It seems impossible that they could continue being this great, but every time I see them they're even better than before.

Seeing them live is so invigorating -- they're passionate and their music is phenomenal, and all I kept thinking was, "everyone in the world that I know and love should be here right now, in this moment."

I particularly loved one of the new songs they performed, called "Difference Maker". 

It was just really wonderful and really powerful live.

It's a song about the cycle of life, and how the whole process, the God-given process of life, has been going on long before us and will continue long after us.

Sometimes it's easy to get caught up, looking at ourselves and our own two hands, "Look at me...I am the difference maker. I am the only one who speaks to Him, I am the friendliest of friends of God."

Life is but a vision in a window that we're peeking through...

We are all transgressors, we're all sinners, we're all astronauts, so if you're beating death then raise your hand...but shut up if you're not.

These amazing vintage lanterns dropped from the ceiling.

My favorite picture of the night was the very beginning, when they first came out and it was just them and their instruments and the spotlights above them.

Happily enough, they chose to post my picture on their Facebook page to represent the concert that night!
I discovered it later that night, and was overwhelmed with excitement.

After the concert, Jon and Emilie came and picked us up.
We decided to go to a late night cafe, which was a cutesie local spot that fully embraced the theme of funky Parisian!
It's called Amelie's French Bakery.

The line wrapped all the way through the entire cafe! Obviously a much beloved spot.
It was so entertaining looking through all of the elaborate decorations. It had to have taken forever to put it all together!
But it was a fun late night snack.
We had a plate of various treats (including lavender macarons!!) and lavender lemonade.
We took it all out to a back bistro table and talked and enjoyed the desserts.

The next day we went to church, and then went to one of our favorite restaurants, Maggiano's.
We also went there last time we were in Charlotte, and it's still dear to our hearts.
How can you not like a family style Italian restaurant where you get unlimited platters of appetizers and entrees? It's basically a dream come true.

Honestly there was something otherworldly about this peach tea --
It was frothy and cold and unbelievably delicious.
Coupled with the melt-in-your-mouth cookies, it was almost too much to handle.

It took them quite a while to get our second servings out for us, so they came out with this on-the-house platter of goodness!
We were speechless.
Because we had stuffed our faces with it.

That afternoon we packed up our stuff and made the trek back to Lynchburg!
On our way home we stopped by IKEA to run an errand, and grabbed some cinnamon rolls, coffee, chocolate and candy.
Goodness gracious, we had a lot of terrible (delicious) things that day.

It was a lovely weekend getaway, and I really hope we get to take a lot of fun trips to Charlotte and other nearby cities this summer.

When we got home, we had a week full of various joys.

Dusty finished up the soccer season, and I watched his last two games with two other law wives, Victoria and Allison.

We've continued our weekly Starbucks trips, which is a little mini date for us. I love it.
We've started to switch to iced coffee and iced Americanos as the weather warms, which is such a lovely thing!

I took on a little painting project, because I realized we had nothing donning our door for the lovely spring season!

I've also taken on a fitness challenge with my friend from home, Becky.
We are challenging and motivating one another to eat well, work out, and meet our fitness goals.
The beautiful weather has also helped to push along the motivation.

And if the weather's not enough, I made these little guys.

They've done wonders for my confidence.


On a completely unrelated note, we had an oh-so-exciting "ribbon cutting ceremony" for the loading of the first bin for the new library.
We'll be moving who knows when, but at least they're keeping things interesting.
As far as library-related parties are concerned.

 That about sums it up!

These next few weeks we'll be in full-on finals mode.
We are going to see Tarzan at the Liberty Theater this weekend, which I'm really excited about.
It should be a tiring but rewarding few weeks, and then we'll be home free for happy summertime!

In love,
Cait

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