A Much Needed Update

I can't believe it is already October and I have not posted here for months.  Ridiculous.  This summer flew by, and before I knew it, I was meeting my new students at Meet the Teacher Night!  I don't think I've stopped going since then.  Lesson planning, paperworking and figuring out how to make my classroom run smoothly has been running through my mind.  I am loving my job as a 4th grade teacher and still can't believe that I have my own classroom.  Wow, what a huge blessing!

My favorite part of posting - an update through pictures!

Neal & Kristen's wedding (from May).  One of the prettiest gowns I've ever seen - loved it!

Mr. & Mrs. Paulk :)

For the majority of the summer, I spent time perusing Pinterest and crafting.  My crafting time has dwindled but I am looking forward to Christmas break to pick it back up.  When we moved to Spring, I knew I wanted to make our apartment feel like a house, so I had to add some home-y touches.

P for Paulk

The BEST tip I have ever seen on Pinterest.  Hanging pictures on the wall can be a pain.  Trying to make it straight and even, for me, can take so much time.  So, an awesome tip I found - put down wrapping paper (I used the kind that has gridlines on it), arrange the pictures how I wanted and then traced the pictures on to the paper.  Then, I got painters tape, placed it on the back of the frames to find the place where the nails will go to hang the pictures - mark accordingly.

Then, put the wrapping paper on the wall and place the hooks/nails and THEN hang up the pictures.... 

The final result!  Much easier than trying to measure on the wall.

One of my favorite parts of our new home - the Baker's Rack.  Full of spices, kitchen tools and dishes.  Love.  Unfortunately, I have not had enough time to cook or bake as much as I would like...Since Fall is officially here - I have big plans to make something pumpkin-y related in the near future....

We have a built in book shelf in our home that is filled with memories from our wedding. Love this wedding shadow box that holds the cake topper and program 

One of my favorite pictures - and the Willow Tree Angels.

Another project not yet complete - my burlap wreath.  I have every intention of finishing it soon - before the end of Fall.

The newest member of our little family - Gibson Paulk!

He is the sweet Golden Retriever that we rescued from an organization in Houston.  He has turned out to be such an amazing and fun dog.  He loves to cuddle, his tennis ball and being everybody's best friend. He has been a good addition to our family.

Mamacita & I on my 26th birthday.  We had brunch at Black Walnut - amazing!

One of the best homemade Red Velvet Cakes I've ever had - Kimberly made it for my birthday :)

Sweet friends celebrating my birthday.

Sweet baby Audrey - the first time meeting our niece.

Brett has taken up a new hobby - bike riding.  While he is off enjoying this Saturday morning riding around The Woodlands,  I am sipping on some coffee and looking forward to relaxing today and taking Gibson out for a walk later.  Planning on posting again soon and not letting school rule my life!

Ch- Ch- Ch- Changes

More exciting firsts are happening for this Paulk Twosome.  We just (2 weeks ago) moved into our first home together.  When we got married, I moved into Brett's bachelor pad and while it was great while it lasted, I am thankful to move into a home together and create our own place together.  We are combining both of our styles & ideas to decorate our place.  We moved to a two bedroom apartment in Spring, TX.  With a garage attached to our place, it feels more like a townhouse or condo.  It's not as cramped as an apartment - maybe because our square footage increased with this move.  It has been so nice to have more room to cook in the kitchen (loving the extra counter space), room for two couches + Brett's recliner in our living room, and an extra bedroom for guests to come visit.  Loving it.


Why did we move?  Because we were immensely blessed by BOTH of us getting NEW jobs! That's right - Both Mr. Paulk & myself are newly employed - another first for us - new jobs for our new life together.  Through lots of prayer, hard work, and tears (from me of course) we have both landed on new, exciting and more appealing career paths.  Brett is now a Life Insurance Agent in Houston and I'm a 4th grade teacher!!


After finding out in May that Brett got the job, we knew we needed to decide on an area and find a place to live soon.  Since, I still had not heard from any job leads, I was planning on subbing in the districts around our area.  We like the north Houston area, and settled on an apartment in Spring.  Getting an apartment turned out to be a blessing in a disguise, now we can check out the area and figure out where we want to settle down and buy a house in the near future.  After one long Saturday, we finally found the right fit for us.  Signed on the dotted line and headed back to Garland to start packing up.  Five days later, I got a phone call from the principal, offering me a 4th grade position!!! It was surreal, and absolutely some of the best news I have ever received.  After a year and a half of school work, student teaching, and substitute teaching, I had reached my goal of becoming a teacher.  It has made this move so much easier, knowing that we will both be working and bringing in income for our family.  Now, the fun part has started - stockpiling school supplies for my classroom.  There is a section in our guest bedroom devoted to the books, supplies, and posters I've come across to get my classroom started.  I also have a basket full of books to read this summer to prepare me for 4th grade.   

After we found out our good news, we had to celebrate...

Brett took me to The Melting Pot in Addison for a late night dinner consisting of Fiesta Cheese fondue, Snickers infused chocolate fondue and wine.  It was a fun reason to get dressed up and celebrate how blessed we feel.

Now we are finally getting settled in and all of the boxes are unpacked and stored away.  Our guestroom is (almost) set up and ready for visitors!

Kimberly & Brandon get hitched!

A few weeks ago one of my best friends, Kimberly, got married on Lake Travis to Brandon.  Brett & I drove down for the rehearsal dinner at The Oasis.  We are fortunate enough to have a family friend who has a lake house in the area - so it worked out perfect for a weekend getaway.  Also the place we got engaged, so it was special being back there. 

Friday we spent the day getting ready for Kimberly's big day.  I swear she looked like a Barbie doll - so pretty!

Her pretty bouquet.

Right before the walk down the aisle.

As a bridesmaid, I usually get a little nervous right before walking down the aisle.  Thoughts like: What if I trip?  Remember to SMILE, even if you feel awkward.  Don't walk too fast.  Walk to the right spot.  In my defense, I did not get my dress hemmed, it was borderline right where it should be before it's too long, so my fears of tripping on my dress were not too irrational.  It's always nice to have a familiar face to zone in on before you walk down to give you that extra boost of confidence - unfortunately Brett had another wedding in Austin to attend, so I had to find another friend to smile at.  I saw two friends to lock eyes with before I ventured up the steps and down the aisle.  When I made it to my spot, I turned and looked at the guests...and to my surprise, guess who was there?! MY HUSBAND!!!  I could not believe it...I was elated! He had skipped the other wedding so he could be there instead...sweetest husband ever, hands down.

The ceremony overlooked the hill country, followed by the reception on the patio - beautiful.  It was Tuscany-esque and the perfect weather throughout the night. 

We thought we were on the Titanic. 

Our High School Dance Pose.

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Pye!

Sunset Picture

Katelyn, Abby, Danielle & Julie at the Wedding

With the Bride

Such a beautiful & fun wedding!

We turned the weekend into a relaxing mini getaway at the lake house.  The men played golf on Saturday and the girls relaxed in the water and got some much needed sun.  It was tough to leave and come back - Hard life at the lake, but someone's gotta do it!  Wish we could do it more often!

Update Through Pictures

Once our new camera arrived, we started taking many candid photos.  Of course, we still have not had time to sit down and figure out how to work the camera in the manual setting (this summer I plan on tackling that project!) All of the pictures from the past few weeks are still in the automatic setting, but I am still pretty impressed with how they look.  This morning I downloaded the program that came with the Canon camera - and the CD had 7ish different programs to look at - a little overwhelming!  

The first few pictures taken by Brett of me and Holly

Sweet kisses - love that smile on hubby's face :)

Sweet Holly!

Sweet Hubby!

We have not figured out how to capture objects in motion without the blur.  I believe Pioneer Woman wrote a blog post about this issue - putting it on the list of things to research this summer.

My model Holly who was more interested in the squirrels outside than posing.

Ever since our honeymoon when I was introduced to Crepes, I have craved them!  We have made them twice since we have been back - and they are delicious.  I think our Crepes need to be a little bit thinner - but they are delicious none the less!  We fill ours with strawberries, blueberries, oats and chocolate (of course!)  One morning, I had some mascarpone cheese left over and whipped up a sweet little concoction to fill the crepes with - oh my - it was amazing!

Brett the Crepe Chef

Another random pic of Holly the model

I figured out how to take "Creative" photos in the Automatic setting - one of the choices is the Portrait/close up setting.  Holly felt like she was overworked and underpaid, so I had to find some different models who were willing to work under such oppressive conditions.

Look who came running back...

Just hanging out at Mom's on a Saturday afternoon.

The latest temptation in the Paulk Household.  One of Brett's favorite things (ice cream) and mine (red velvet cake) COMBINED!  There are no words to describe how indulgently good this dessert is.

I'm still loving my KitchenAid mixer - I am quite the baker!  Mom requested the Cookies & Cream Cake - recipe can be found at Annie's Eats - this is my new favorite cooking blog.  Some of the best looking desserts I have ever seen.

Brett the photographer snappin a few pics!

Two layers of chocolate and cookies n cream - can't go wrong my friends.

The finished project.  Please ignore my sad little flowers in the background.  They were in need of some TLC.  Brett got them for me for Teacher's Appreciation Week - so sweet.

Happy Mother's Day!

Just hangin out.

Best cake ever.