Merry/Happy

Our Christmas summed up in a few photos:

Woke up late Christmas morning and had a Merry Christmas with just the two of us. 

If we are this messy with two people, what will it be like when we have kids?! Yikes. Thomas had to go to work out for a couple of hours before the team left for Buffalo. Then we got to go to Watertown, NY to see his family for a couple of days. Oh, the joys of the practice squad!

  A warm welcome upon our arrival in Watertown.

We were pretty hungry from our long drive.....

I had to show everyone my bowling skills. 

The annual Austin Rock Paper Scissors tournament was a blast as always. I came in 3rd place. AND I beat Thomas. Did I mention that I beat Thomas? But I didn't beat Cheri, even though my game face is just as good as her's. 

We burned off Christmas dinner by sledding. In an area marked off by yellow caution tape. 

This is what happens when you add 2 brothers who get crazy when they are together+yellow caution tape+icy stairs in a park. 

Gift Wrapping Ideas

This may be a little late for some of you, but if you're like me, you haven't even begun to think about wrapping gifts. One of my bible study leaders happens to be one of the craftiest, cutest people around, and she wrapped each of our gifts differently so we could get gift ideas last week!

That is Betsy in the photo. How cute is she?! This gift is birthday themed, but you could easily do this with Christmas candies. She just glued the candies to the paper and got pixie stix and stuck them into the top! Kids will love this. Thomas probably would too.

Here are the rest of the gifts. I'll highlight my favorites: the orange bag 3rd from left is just a colored lunch bag, holes punched in the top, ribbon wound through, and fake berries stuck into the ribbon! The black and white checkered one in the middle is.....drum roll please......a hand towel! You could also just use a large cloth dinner napkin, place the gift in the middle and tie a pretty bow around the top. And then my personal favorite is the one on the far right that says "coal." I can't remember where Betsy got the baggie but I think she said Michael's or Party City. Also on that far right end is an adorable Chinese box, which you can buy in bulk somewhere like Michael's. 

And speaking of bible study, I am sad our wives study has wrapped up because of the Christmas season and football season nearly being over. I have been deeply grateful for how they brought me up into their group so quickly and love me well! Look how sweet they all are:

At our last study, we baked Almond Puff Pastries. Stacia and I were wowing everyone with our incredible Almond Puff Pastry skills. Here we are with our other bible study leader, Virginia, who has amazing baking abilities. I am so thankful for this group of women! 

Another Chilly Win

This past weekend Thomas' dad and brother came up for the game against Green Bay, and this time Thomas and I were prepared for the cold. I wore THREE pairs of pants and my mother-in-law sent the most fantastic hand and foot warmers that STICK to your clothing! We probably over prepared Tom and Josh, but we were all toasty at the game and had so much fun.

The three men sat together and I sat a couple rows away with some other player wives. The best part of the game was when Thomas' fellow lineman Dan Connolly, ran a kickoff back for 71 yards and broke an NFL record for longest run by a lineman. I happened to be sitting with his sweet wife Lori, and she probably has bruises this morning from how hard I was beating her on the back and screaming in her ear the entire time Dan was trucking down the field. That alone made this one of our most exciting games to date. Add to that the fact that we've figured out the cold weather gear, and we're loving New England more and more every day.

Yes, I did....

Today, I made pie crusts using a Magic Bullet in place of a food processor and a can of cooking spray in place of a rolling pin. The Magic Bullet actually ended up working well, I just had to put the flour and butter in in stages. But I do feel a little lonely part of my soul missing my food processor in moments like this. The can of cooking spray may have actually worked better than a rolling pin. But the jury is out on that one.

And in other exciting news, a friend of mine from church camp  just moved from Boston to Colorado. While we are sad she has moved from Boston, we are NOT sad about the fact that she generously gave us some fun new furniture! She gave us an awesome coffee table that really is the perfect size for our living room, a lamp, another side table with storage, and last but not least, a microwave. I didn't bring our microwave and we've been doing without for awhile now, and it has been driving Thomas crazy. I haven't minded but Thomas nearly kissed the microwave and rearranged our refrigerator/stove to make room for the microwave. I am most excited about the coffee table!

Oh, the Overhead Bin

I just love the overhead bins on an airplane. I love how they make me feel all hot and sweaty and nervous and I start to feel a rush of adrenaline as my seat looms ahead and my carry on looks massive and like it will never, ever, ever fit into that small rectangle of a space.

I got to experience this joy on Friday morning as I flew to my parent's house for the weekend. I am adamant about flying with only a carry-on and taking only the bare necessities. But this trip I was cramming a few Christmas presents into the suitcase so that I wouldn't have to pay shipping on gifts for my family. The siblings in my family have a rotation system on who gives to who each year {I highly recommend this system} and we are scheduled to give to my brother Daniel and his wife Kelly. Thomas and I decided that their boys absolutely need one of these inflatable deer from Bass Pro Shops.

Sorry for the poor photo quality, it was all I could find on the Internet, and a visual was necessary. Thomas also wanted to buy the inflatable bear target, but I drew the line with the life-size deer. Thankfully this thing came boxed up nicely, and I fit it right into the top of my carry-on with a little room to spare....or so I thought. Once I boarded and lifted my suitcase into the overhead bin, the inflatable deer in its box was definitely keeping my suitcase from entering the bin. I had to unzip my suitcase, take the deer out, shove the suitcase back into the overhead bin, and walk all the way back to my seat with a box under my arm that said "inflatable 3-D deer target," and my seat was REALLY far away because the plane was so full. 

Thankfully the kid wearing a PETA shirt that was next to me on my return flight wasn't around to see that we are teaching small children to how to shoot animals. 

Speaking of my return flight, I managed to shove a dozen of these into my suitcase:

If you live within a 200 mile radius of York, SC, you should go to Windy Hill Apple Orchard and purchase these nuggets of deliciousness, aka apple cider donuts. Put them in the toaster for a couple of minutes and experience pure heaven. I couldn't figure out a way to bring Chick Fil A back to Thomas, so I did what any thoughtful wife would do and fit donuts into my suitcase. Thankfully my return flight was also full, so they asked me to check my bag at the gate. I graciously complied and breathed a sigh of relief as I knew those donuts were going to keep my bag from going into the overhead bin. 

I also got to meet my sweet new nephew, Miles. Please look at his wonderful cheeks!

And these two goons have a new game they play called "punching" that they adapted after watching Karate Kid. Living with Thomas for a month also contributed to their game, which includes kicking and wrestling and saying "nice move!" Please note Evans' retro Clemson sweatshirt that HIS father wore when he was that size. I'm thankful my mother saves clothes like this so that we can relive the old memories!

Chocolate Nut Bark

I just made this and had to share the recipe with you all ASAP! I don't know if I can control myself around this stuff. But hey, dark chocolate {antioxidants} plus nuts{good fats} equals healthy, right?

Okay, so this is just about as easy as it gets, but it looks impressive if you ask me. You could easily make this and put it into clear baggies with a red ribbon and wah-lah, great Christmas gift!

I got the recipe from Real Simple but I tweaked it a little bit:

12 oz chopped dark chocolate, I used 70% dark but you really could just chop any chocolate you like

2 1/2 c mixed nuts, I used peanuts, almonds, and soy nuts because that is what I had on hand

1 tsp. sea salt {recipe didn't call for this but I like the salty/sweet mixture}

1. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over {but not in} a pot of simmering water. Or if you have a double-boiler, use that. 

2. Line parchment paper or aluminum foil over a cookie sheet. Pour melted chocolate evenly over the sheet. Sprinkle with nuts, gently pressing the nuts into the chocolate with the back of a spoon or spatula. Sprinkle evenly with salt. Place cookie sheet in freezer for 30 minutes. 

3. Break into pieces and wrap up immediately before you eat it all. 

O Christmas Tree...Griswold Style

We got our tree yesterday.

Notice I didn't put any exclamation points at the end of that. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas trees, and our house seems so much merrier/brighter with it shining in front of the window.

But this is our third tree since we've been married, and there is always drama involved when it comes to us and Christmas trees. Yesterday after we picked it out and shoved it into the back of the mullet truck, I looked at Thomas and said "are you mentally preparing for what is about to happen in the next hour or so?" Because due to past experiences, I knew we should just go ahead and accept that anger was going to come out over the tree for two reasons:

A. putting it into the stand (we had to buy a new one since our other one is in SC)
B. putting the lights on it (also had to buy new)

So this year I decided that we had to document this occasion, because we always laugh about it later but the anger rises high in the heat of the Christmas tree organization moment.

Part 1: putting the screws into the tree stand. Please note all of the belongings of our 4 guests {who were in Boston at the time} piled around us. At this point, I was starting to unleash my anger on our dirty house and began spiraling downward because of all the clutter. Also note that we did not practice our facial expressions. We were that focused and testy.

Part 2: putting the tree into the stand. This was a big focus point for us this year because the past 2 years our tree has fallen over MULTIPLE times throughout the Christmas season. Last year we even tied it to the curtain rod with fishing wire. It pulled the curtains down. 

Part 3: putting the lights on the tree. Every year we argue about HOW the lights should be placed on the tree. Thomas is intense about it and wants the tree to be very, very bright. Therefore, he uses an incredible about of lights and takes about 30 minutes to shove them into every nook and cranny of the tree. This drives me crazy because I am not a perfectionist and just want to get the ordeal over with ASAP. I mentioned to him that I was NOT going to go get more lights for our tree, so he'd better use them sparingly. So he tossed them onto the tree and said "here, we'll just do it your way and throw them on. If we're going to do this thing poorly, just let me know right now so I can accept it."

HA. HA. HA. He's even competitive about putting a darn tree up.

Part 4: I do not have a photo of part 4 but I sure wish I did. Part 4 consisted of one strand of lights not working. These lights were brand new, and like I said, I was NOT taking them back. I wanted the tree over with NOW. So we had to figure these lights out. Thomas took one end and I took the other, and we checked each bulb. Thomas also worked on the fuse for about 15 minutes. Every time we plugged them in, I felt like the Griswald's in this scene from "Christmas Vacation." We finally figured out which bulb it was, but every time you moved the strand, half of the lights went out. It was infuriating and I kept referring to it as a "cruel joke."

Part 5: Proudly does she stand. We had to get creative with the decorations because all of ours are.....you guessed it....in storage. So it is a little sparse but it makes us happy and we had fun admiring it the remainder of the evening. Please notice that I made the bow on top myself, which I am quite proud of. Also notice that I took this photo at 4:30pm, and it was already almost completely dark outside. 

Welcome to New England, right?

Random Post

This is going to be a random post in which I use bullet points to organize the few events I have to write about. Consider yourself warned. Stream of conscious writing will ensue:

-4 boys have been sleeping here the past 2 nights. One of our buddies from Clemson, Neal, who was also in our wedding, was coming to Boston with some of his friends in his current internship. They needed a place to crash, and this is what it looks like for 4 boys to be sleeping in our tiny living room. I've given up on any form of cleanliness. Just imagine the white sleeper sofa pulled out and an air mattress blown up.....

-The temperature is dropping rapidly around here, both outside and inside. We STILL haven't turned our heat on. It actually isn't as cold as you'd think in our apartment because we're on the 3rd floor and we get great sunlight during the day, but wearing layers is necessary. Thomas spends most of his time laughing at me and making fun of the things I wear to keep warm:

As you can see, I have no shame. I am in fact wearing long john's from Old Navy that were $9 and the most comfortable thing you will EVER put on your body. And those slippers are from Restoration Hardware and my dear sweet sister-in-law Nic gave them to me a few Christmases ago. I might as well weld them to my body.
-In order to ward off the cold, I finally invested in a down jacket. I've been procrastinating and all my friends here laugh at me and say it is just a matter of time before I bite the bullet and buy one. I think they are ugly and in no way, shape or form fashionable. But after my miserable time at the Colt's game a few weeks ago, I knew the time had come for me to take the puffy jacket leap of faith. And let me tell you, I haven't taken the thing off for more than a few minutes yet. It feels like a giant hug from your down comforter. Once again, I have no shame and will post a photo Thomas took {on the phone, so excuse the blurries}:

-And in other news, the Pats humiliated the Jets on national TV last night and that has most likely been the highlight of our week. We are now 10-2 and it feels great to be part of a winning team. The other highlight would be that we gave our tickets away and watched the game at a friend's house. Don't get me wrong, if Thomas were playing in that game I would've been sitting in the stands in my puffy jacket in the 18 degree temps. But since he doesn't have to go to games, why would we subject ourselves to that kind of misery when we can sit on a couch in a cozy living room instead?

-That's all folks. 

Substituting and a Scary Parade

Yesterday I got my second substitute teaching gig here in town, which equals a big PRAISE.THE.LORD. Most days I find ways to busy myself, but Thursday's and Friday's are usually long and boring since Thomas is gone 6:30-5:30. I had 5th graders yesterday and it was quite a hoot. The last time I subbed the first kid to walk in was WEEPING about his new haircut. Literally weeping because he didn't like it and someone made fun of it. I had to lie and tell him he had a great haircut when I really wanted to tell him it looked like his mother placed a bowl on his head, cut around it, and then gave a crooked snip in the front and sent him on his merry way. But I didn't say that.

Anyway, the first kid to walk into class yesterday was also talking about his bad haircut. I thought surely I was dreaming to be having to deal with this again, and at 8am {if you've ever spent any time around me at 8am, you know that encouragement, kindness and patience, much less speaking, aren't things that are dripping off of my tongue.} So this kid is complaining but also telling all of his classmates he isn't THAT worried about his haircut because everyone knows that hair grows half an inch a day. I couldn't let this kid get away with this kind of fallacy. So I pulled out a ruler and Google and proved him wrong.

It always makes me feel better to prove a 5th grader wrong.

However, the point of this post is not to tell you that I am a narcissistic crazy person who needs to belittle 5th graders in order to feel better about myself. It was to tell you the hilarious comments that I got from the 5th graders yesterday. Our conversation went somewhat like this at the beginning of the day:

Me: Hi boys and girls. I'm your sub for the day and my name is Mrs. Austin.
Girl 1: You look like the nicest sub we've ever had.
Me: I am a very nice sub, until you disobey and talk when you aren't supposed to. Then I get mean really fast.
Boy 1: Your name should be Mrs. Awesome instead of Mrs. Austin.
Me, in my thoughts: Watch out for that kid, he is trouble and is probably throwing spit balls when I turn around and telling the other kids I am an ugly witch. He is also going to be a disaster when he starts dating.

Later in the day, after a slew of questions about my Southern accent and why I am living here with my Southern accent, I was cornered and had to tell them that Thomas plays for the Patriots. One little girl said "oh! Does that mean you are Gisele?" Why yes, yes dear girl, I get that all the time. I do resemble Gisele and you will make an A on everything you do today, thankyouverymuch.

And just so I don't have a post with no pictures {this is for you Sarah Kathryn} I thought I'd throw in a couple from the local Christmas parade. There were many things about the parade that were slightly terrifying, including 15 or more local dance studios, Boy Scout troops, and creepy people driving their old cars. Thomas  grabbed as much candy as possible and had a hysterical running commentary. One kid looked straight at him from his float and Thomas said "hey! How about some candy?" And the kid threw him a scrunched up piece of paper. I'm not kidding. And Thomas muttered bad words under his breath about that kid.

Then there was this pirate float. Enough said. Pirates+Christmas=our creepy local parade.

After I took this photo, the guy in the Santa hat gave me a creepy wave and smile. I think he thought I was taking it because I LIKED his float....

People bought things from this man. But not us. 

If you know what this is supposed to be, please enlighten me. 

Thomas with all of his treats. And an ice scraper. Please notice his hair. 

A Worthwhile Quote

"When we honestly ask ourselves which people in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief or bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face us with the reality of our powerlessness; that is a friend who cares." -Henri Nouwen

Newport, RI

Thomas had a couple of days off due to the win against Detroit last Thursday, so we decided to do more exploring around New England. We keep hearing about Newport, Rhode Island, so we wandered that way yesterday. It was such a neat place and happens to be where the Vanderbilt's (and other millionaires) used to have their summer "cottages," aka there are tons of huge mansions all on one long street. Here is one such "cottage":

The great thing about the mansions is that they're all built along one street that overlooks the ocean, so there is this cool "Cliff Walk" that is a 3 mile walk between the ocean and the mansions. 

 Along parts of the Cliff Walk

You can also tour the inside of these homes, which we hesitated about doing because A. it costs money and B. according to me, "who wants to see all of that crazy early 1900's decor anyway?" Well, thank goodness we listened to Thomas and not Marge, because the house tour was SO WORTH IT! You get to listen to headphones and historians tell you about each room of the house. It was really cool and we were like little kids wearing our headphones and deciding which parts we wanted to listen to etc. Thomas was very insistent about only listening to the same tracks and listening simultaneously. It was all very entertaining and I'm sure other folks on the tour were thinking....who knows what.

We only got to go into the Marble House, but there are so many others that we can't wait to go back and tour.{Side note: the Vanderbilt's dropped $11 of their $70 million on the Marble House. And lived there 3 months out of the year.} Only some of the homes are on the Christmas tour, but we've heard that going to Newport in the summer is unbeatable, and all of the houses are available to tour. So come visit and you too can wear these snazzy headphones and hear about the insane daily life of the Vanderbilt's!

And there were Pilgrims and Indians....

Here are a few photos of our Thanksgiving Extravaganza. Long story short, we cooked dinner with another player's wife for about 12 players when they got home from the Detroit game. And we even dressed as Pilgrims and Indians to round out the Thanksgiving spirit. We had a wonderful time and are thankful for new friends in the area.

Please note the Pilgrim hanging from the door. And the fact that none of these boys wanted their photo taken. They just wanted to see the Jets get hammered. 

Thomas' plate. There are no words to describe the enormity of it.

All of our hard work paid off with little left overs and plenty of full bellies!

Sending Thanksgiving Love {and germs} Your Way

Good thing germs can't be transmitted keyboard to keyboard. Because if they could be, you'd probably be receiving this wretched unknown illness from my couch to yours. Ever since Sunday morning, I have been running high fever on and off and it feels like there is a razor slicing the back of my throat every time I swallow. And I have a swollen lymph node in my neck, so all of that is proving to be a real blast around here. Our apartment got so messy it even bothered Thomas, which is could only be an act of God. I went to the doctor yesterday and he said "hmmm, it could be a virus, it could be the flu, it could be strep, we'll do a strep test." Ten minutes later he came back and said "doesn't look like strep, you can go home!" I sat there with my mouth hanging open, wondering if he was joking. Surely he could tell I was on the verge of death. But I gathered my belongings and drove myself home in the mullet truck and commenced lounging miserably on the couch.

Last night I made Thomas sleep on the pull-out in the living room because I was terrified he would get my awful disease. After all, his body is his livelihood! This morning I woke up and the fever came and went based on my Ibuprofen intake. Around 3pm, I'd had enough of the misery. I called the doctor. No answer. I called 3 more times. Still no answer. I left a message that went something like this: "Hi, my name is Margaret Austin and I was in yesterday with a high fever, sore throat and swollen lymph node. This is the third day of my fever and I simply can't do this for a 4th day. A friend and I are cooking for 12 people on Thanksgiving Day, and I have to get better. So can you please call in an antibiotic of some sort? Please?" A few minutes later a nurse returned my phone call {finally!} and I swear she was chuckling on the other end. But I don't care, because I got an antibiotic and I WILL be well by tomorrow. Or else....I guess I will just keep watching old Marilyn Monroe movies and drinking G2 alternated with water under the watchful eye of my sweet husband.

But wait, there's more. I most likely brought this sickness upon myself. Or at least made it worse than it had to be. I woke up Sunday morning with a low grade fever. But my brother-in-law was in town for the Pats/Colts game, and I simply didn't have time to be sick. I wasn't going to miss church in order to rest for the game, and I wasn't going to miss the game. So I decided to do what any hardheaded person like myself would do, and went to church AND the game. The best part of this is, the temperature at the game was a lovely 27 degrees. Fahrenheit. I honestly didn't feel that bad after church, but about halfway through our tailgating experience  I began to be miserably cold. I thought "wow, I must be a class A wimp. I better stick this out to become a real New Englander." By halftime I was wearing Thomas' massive team issued down jacket, and he was wearing his flimsy fleece. But I was still shivering uncontrollably. By the 4th quarter I was close to tears and Thomas insisted we listen to the rest of the game in the car. By the time we got to the car I was having a major meltdown and feeling like a serious New England loser for not being able to sit through an entire game. By the time we got home, my fever was 101. something. And there it has remained on and off every few hours for the past 2 days. But now I have an antibiotic, and antibiotics solve everything, right?

Here are a few fun photos from the game, pre-Margaret meltdown:

Thomas was giddy with excitement about his first tailgating extravaganza. He bought way more Brats and Italian Sausage than our group would ever eat.

The Hagopian men + Thomas.

I jokingly put Thomas' down jacket on for a photo. Little did I know I'd be shivering uncontrollably in it in a few hours. 

Gotta go, Thomas is telling me to "hydrate or die."

Christmas Gifts

Ok, Christmas is just around the corner. I can admit that, but PEOPLE, doesn't anyone follow the "wait until the day after Thanksgiving to listen to Christmas music and refrain from decorating everything absurdly soon after Halloween" rule anymore?

I, for one, hope to strictly adhere to that rule for the rest of my life. I do not like Thanksgiving to get overlooked. I is the day we are to be thankful for crying out loud, not the day to already obsess over what "stuff" we should give and get over the next month.

Enough about that. I do want to share a few favorite things that I think you should buy for Christmas that will help others at the same time. Sounds like a win-win situation to me!

First of all, please consider supporting our friends Shane and Kristin in their ministry to kids in East St. Louis.  In fact, if you plan on giving us a gift, just tell us that you gave money to Shane and Kristin and we will be tickled pink! You can give them the following amounts of money that go towards really cool gifts for the kids:

-$5: Buys one book for a child 
-$25: Pays for a meal hosted at the Fast's house for local kids
-$35: Buys a coat for one child
-$50: Covers the cost of food for one of their bible studies. {I especially appreciate this one because they feed guys physically first, then feed them spiritually}


You can find out how to give on their website. 

Another cool gift {for the ladies} are these amazing cosmetic bags made by my sweet friend over at We Three Pilgrims.  I have this one and absolutely love it. It holds all of my make up, plus travel shampoo, conditioner, face wash etc.

We also must admit that we like Toms shoes. I cannot believe that I am actually typing that. And by "we" I mean Thomas talked me into liking them. Can you believe that? I used to give my friend Katie quite a hard time for wearing them. I called them all sorts of ugly names. Alas, I was young and ignorant, and have now seen the light. For every pair of shoes you buy, they give a pair to a shoe-less child in another country. You can watch the video here.  I especially like the boots, but haven't bought them yet, so I can't tell you how they fit:

 I also must admit that Tiger Plums Etsy shop makes me want to buy a million things and give them to all of my nieces and nephews! Alas, I would be in debit if I bought all 10 of them something cute from this site. One of the player's wives here introduced me to this site and her baby was wearing the Gobble Gobble Turkey Day is Here onesie. And it was one of the cutest things I've ever seen! I know it may be a little late to buy Thanksgiving Themed onesies, but I am obsessed with this one:



If you liked the book stamp that had Thomas' name on it in my previous post, you can browse them here. They are kinda pricey but you'd think Thomas got a million dollars when my sister gave him his stamp. He even stamped his legs one time in a fit of sheer boredom. He forgot that he'd stamped himself and guys in the locker room were making fun of him later. So don't stamp your leg.

 You can also get one with your address on it! I am wanting one really badly but getting anything printed with my address on it would be foolish. And basically like throwing $45 in the trash. And I don't wanna do that.

In light of these suggestions, please enjoy Thanksgiving FIRST, then crank up the Christmas tunes and tree lights.