What my husband signed me up for

Last week, Thomas spoke to a group of students at Johnson and Wales in Providence. At the end of his talk, there was a little Q&A time. The topic of exam week came up, and Thomas said, "oh I loved exam week in college, I didn't have any football practice and women from church always made baked goods for the students to eat." A girl who goes to our church raised her hand and said "since you go to our church, are you going to make us baked goods?" Thomas quickly replied "oh my wife is a great baker, she makes awesome p-nut butter brownies, pumpkin muffins, coconut cookies and stuff like that, so she'll make you whatever you want." So afterwards Thomas literally took orders from students for all of the above, and then declared to them that he has the ability to make a chocolate pound cake.

What? Who? Thomas Austin? MY husband?

He can make just about anything on the grill and he is extremely competent in the kitchen, but I've never seen him bake anything. 


Well, after I'd made double batches of every baked good imaginable, Thomas began the making of his chocolate pound cake. After he recovered from a mini-panic attack over the fact that Crisco has enough fat grams to make McDonald's squirm, he impressed me with his baking skills. I must say, the cake was to die for. And I don't even like pound cake. The cinnamon and almond extract are the perfect addition. So, he wanted me to share his success and the recipe. And don't skip the egg white step at the end, it really made for a fluffier pound cake!

Best Chocolate Pound Cake Ever

What I found on my phone...

I was deleting messages etc on my phone the other day, and I just couldn't help but share the following photos before I deleted them. I realized the hilarity of A. having these photos on my phone and B. the fact that I risked my life to take a few of them discreetly. So, please enjoy.

Here is my dad at the Pat's game with not one but TWO hats on, and looking a tad unfashionable if I do say so myself. I protested him wearing these in public but he said comfort came first and his head was cold. 

I had to get really close to take this photo at Ikea without the little boy or his dad seeing me. Or any other customers for that matter! But, pretending like you're intently texting with your phone directly in front of your nose works pretty well. Can you see that little kid's crack? The best part is, I saw this duo more than once in Ikea and his crack was showing every.single.time. 

I took this photo at a game. Once again, discreet tactics were utilized in order to fully capture that AMAZING 80's purple and black ONE PIECE jumpsuit. With that expensive Coach purse. And she had on high-heeled booties. Where on earth did she find that purple mess of an outfit?

Last but not least, I saw this truck on the way to work the other morning. Doody Calls. Premier Pet Waste Removal Service. Enough said. 

My Love!

Three years ago on Valentines Day, Thomas proposed to me at sunset in Clemson. I said...........

YES. (duh)

I said yes after I hit him on the side of the head a couple of times saying "are you serious?! are you serious? are you serious?!"

Thomas had prepared a sweet little dinner at my friend Maggie's apartment. There we are blissfully enjoying ourselves. I especially like those bacon bits in the baggie on the table. Nice touch, eh?

Anyway, back to the point. I'm really, really thankful that he asked me that question three years ago, and that I said yes. We were talking today about how in some ways it seems like yesterday, but in some ways it seems forever ago because we've grown so much and so many things have happened in that time span. But oh, what a glorious adventure it is proving to be. We are thankful that "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come!" (Ephesians 5:17) I'll leave you with these wonderful scripture-based words from Chris Tomlin's song "Our God is Greater" that has turned into one of our favorite songs as a couple.

And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?
And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?
What can stand against?

Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome in power
Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome in power
Our God, Our God… 

Hurry hurry to your kitchen

Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Make these cookies right. this. minute.

They are fat free. 

I am not making this up. In fact, I couldn't make that up, even in my wildest dreams. Thomas has dubbed them "inappropriately good" and is convinced they'll be in heaven right next to Krispy Kreme donuts. These cookies are NOT sugar free, but we don't live in a perfect world now do we?

My sister sent me this website yesterday, and I was instantly drooling. Then I stumbled upon THE COOKIE.  (You can use either recipe listed on the site, I used the one that had slightly less sugar.) I happened to have all of the ingredients (there aren't many) and I figured I'd give them a try. I didn't use as many walnuts as they called for (nor did I toast them), I added a handful of chocolate chips, and I just used plain old Hershey's cocoa powder (dark chocolate of course) instead of whatever that fancy name for cocoa powder is that they used.

Drool away my friends, drool away.

My Snowshoes Are Here! My Snowshoes Are Here!

BIG NEWS PEOPLE.

MY SNOWSHOES HAVE ARRIVED. 

    Sorry for the poor photo quality, but Thomas took this on his phone as I was gearing up for the first time, which was hilarious in and of itself. The 'shoes are awesome and amazing and phenominal and it was just SO GREAT TO EXERCISE OUTSIDE WITHOUT FEARING FOR MY LIFE. Last week I went for a long run outside and almost lost my life numerous times. Its not enjoyable to exercise while watching for ice patches, oncoming traffic (you can't get out of folk's way because the snow is in mounds on each side of the road) and then people can't see you running because the snow is taller than I am. 

   So, all that to say, I'll thrilled about my cheap ebay snowshoes. 

What you do when you're snowed in and your husband is immobile

When you're snowed in for yet {another} few days and your husband is immobile, you do what everyone naturally does....you make ganache and dip fruit in it and pair it with some wine and eat every last bite of it together and gaze into each others eyes and say "why don't we eat this every night?" 

And you die laughing for the entire 4 minutes and 34 seconds of this hysterical YouTube video my uncle sent.

Thomas in a wheelchair

Yesterday, we had a big outing to Costco together. It was Thomas' second outing since his surgery. He went to church with me on Sunday but slept through half of the service because his painkillers were knocking him out--I was terrified he was going to start snoring! He dropped his bible 3 times in his sleep and the kids around us thought it was absolutely hysterical.

Anyway, back to Costco. This is the way our conversation went:

Me: Thomas, I'm going to go to Costco today. I've been thinking about it and I think you'd really enjoy going with me. You can ride in the hover-round and eat samples.

Thomas: Yeah, I've already decided I want to go with you. I think it will be good for me to get out, and I'll have fun in the hover-round.

Me (dying laughing in stitches on the couch): Thomas, listen to us. We sound like 90 year olds! Planning our big trip to Costco and using hover-rounds.

So, off we went to Costco. It takes us about 20 minutes to leave the apartment because I have to gather up his pillows, crutches, bottle of water, crackers in case of nausea and pull the car around to the back of the building where the elevator is. Alas, when we arrived at Costco, ALL OF THE HOVER-ROUNDS WERE TAKEN! Thomas stood there looking at the lady working at the front like she'd gone insane. She said "you could use this one right here, but it is broken and um, I don't think it'll carry you." So, we had to revert to the wheelchair. Once Thomas realized the wheelchair is a good arm workout, he got moving and couldn't be stopped. He wheeled himself from sample table to sample table like a race car driver, and old women were jumping to get out of his way.

And just as we were leaving, we saw a very large lady using one of the aforementioned hover-rounds. She had about 45 rolls of toilet paper and 6 packs of Dixie cups in her cart. Thomas was infuriated that the hover-round was being used for such purposes and he even considered ousting her with his crutches. He didn't.