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!

Firsts

During our first year of marriage, I am excited to document all of our "firsts" together.  I love having a reason to celebrate an occasion (especially if it involves a fancy dessert of some sort!) - so I want to be sure to document our first year together and have these memories to cherish and share with the next generation.


First Month

Our first month flew by.  I believe I blogged about it earlier - honeymoon, Abby's wedding, post wedding shower in Baytown and then it was our one month anniversary!  We stayed in and grilled out - glad to relax after a busy month!


First Easter

For Easter weekend, we went to Abilene to see Dallas & Britain and their new house!  We spent Friday evening eating dinner & playing games with Brock, Sarah & Brooks.  Saturday, the boys played golf in the morning and the girls went shopping in the afternoon.  We celebrated Easter at church on Sunday morning with D & B.


First Camera
We decided to use some wedding money to put towards our first digital SLR Camera!  We have taken a few pictures on the auto setting, but have yet to venture into the manual setting and the world of photography.  We bought a "how-to" book on photography tips - and will hopefully be using the camera more soon.  Pictures soon!