The First Year Highlights

As the anniversary of our wedding approaches,  I have thought about the moments that stand out in my mind as highlights of our first year as newlyweds.  How long are you officially newlyweds by the way?  Anyways, here is my recap of the Best of the First Year as Husband & Wife 


*Brett getting a new job - after a season of prayer for direction and opening of doors, Brett landed a new job at NYL which in turn, led to the next highlight of the year:

*Starting a new journey and moving to a new city - With the upcoming job change, we needed to find a place to live.  After a Saturday spent of apartment shopping, we finally decided on a 2 bedroom in the Spring.  Whenever I officially moved into Brett's apartment in Garland, it was wonderful, but it felt like I was moving into his apartment (even though I did my best to add my feminine touches).  It was fun to pick out our first home together...a place we could move into together and start the new chapter.

*One of the reasons we chose the apartment in Spring was because of the closeness to the highway.  We were still unsure of where I was going to be working and were planning on me subbing wherever until I found a job.  Fortunately, some more prayers were answered a short time after we had our apartment.  I received a phone call that I got the teaching job in Magnolia.  As soon as I called Brett, I could barely tell him the good news because the tears were flowing!

*Sharing my life with a man who is a follower of Christ - hallelujah!  Life isn't perfect..but it sure makes it easier to know we have the same foundation of beliefs and we are both striving to love each other like Christ.  Although church shopping was a pain, I'm glad we found Faith Bible Church.  Joining a small group has also led us to other believers and I am looking forward to see what God has planned for us. 

*After months of fighting it, I finally gave in and agreed to getting a dog.  Not a puppy, but a dog that was already (hopefully) trained.  Boy, did we luck out!! Gibson has been a wonderful addition to our little family. I cannot imagine us not having him, he is such a good companion.

*This first year of teaching has been challenging and exhausting.  I am so lucky to have a husband who understands the demands/pressures of my job and 100% stepped up at home to help me feel more relaxed.  So many meals have been cooked for me this past year.  So many times has he cleaned the kitchen when I could barely keep my eyes open or I was lesson planning and getting ready for the next day.  It is so nice to come home to a clean house & a thoughtful hubby.

*And the most recent highlight...signing the papers for our first house to be built :)  Expected move in date - June 2013 - on to the next exciting chapter of our life together as husband and wife.

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!

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.

Life Lately

Does life ever slow down?  The days are never long enough & the time spent with family & friends is always too short.  Here's what has been going on lately -


1.  Christmas!  How in the world I did not take a single picture is beyond me (and actually not acceptable at all).  We spent the weekend down in Baytown with the Paulk family - all the brothers were in town.  Some of my favorite memories are: playing ping pong with the boys (and holding my own!), looking through old pictures of Brett with the family, and Christmas dinner (steak & shrimp!)


2. NYE - This New Year's Eve was absolutely perfect - low key and relaxing.  Maybe I'm just getting old?  Dinner with good friends, Andrew & Amy followed by watching the Countdown show and playing Buzzword (fun game that makes ya think!)

3. Subbing.  I have already taken 2 sub jobs (added a few more to the calendar today too!)  My first sub job was in a Kindergarten classroom and it was great!  I was a little nervous, but it turned out great - I would much rather have kids who want to tell you what they about what their little sister got for Christmas than 12 year olds who will back talk and push the limit.  My second sub job was with my 2nd grade kiddos from last semester - it felt so great being back!  


4. Bridal Portraits - This was a fun day.  It was so great getting all dressed up and putting on my WEDDING DRESS!  Wow! Can't believe it that it is so so close.  I took my pictures out at our venue, and I think we got some good ones, including one on top of a hay bale.  I also created my own bouquet - this DIY thing is a lot more fun than I imagined it would be - it fits me.  Amy had sent me a video on how to create your own rose bouquet - and wa - la! Look at what I created from 2 dozen lavender & cream roses ($8.99/a dozen) from Central Market.

5. Redecorating - with the official move in date to Brett's apartment looming, it's time to do a little, hmmm, updating the mancave into a more both sex friendly home.  Although the animal heads are still mounted in the living room (one day they will have a home in an office), the subtle feminine touches have slowly crept in.  

Exhibit A:

A Christmas Gift from Brock, Sarah & Brooks - a lovely home decoration that found a new home above the couch.  

Exhibit B:

Adorable decorative window, that has yet to find a home.  Picked this up at Canton First Monday.  Any suggestions on the perfect place?

Exhibit C & D

I was absolutely thrilled to get my dresser in to Brett's apartment.  His dresser was about a fourth of the size of mine, and just would not cut it when it comes to storing both of our clothes.  Even though it does not match Brett's furniture, I don't even care - it will be nice to have some more room.  We carried it up one flight of stairs, and I immediately realized I need to hit the gym - I am a weakling.  This piece is from IKEA, but it is still heavy/I wanted to cry.  Also, after boycotting for several seasons, I hate to admit, I am watching The Bachelor again.  This show is so ridiculous/not real life, but for some reason I'm hooked.  Brett, on the other hand, is watching football in the other room.  Probably for the best!

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

I am officially a certified teacher in Texas!  WOO HOO!!!  It has been quite the journey, and I am glad to say that I can check this one off the list.  A year ago, I decided to take a leap of faith and completely change my career track.  Being a paralegal, while I learned a lot, wasn't exactly fulfilling me.  I wanted that more personal interaction/feel like I'm making a differences as opposed to either (A.) making money for big businesses or (B.) working with attorneys who pursued car wreck cases.  Not my cup of tea.  When I moved back from college, and while I was living in Fort Worth, I started volunteering at The WARM Place a grief support center for kids.  It was a fabulous experience where I was a facilitator and worked with other facilitators (all who have experienced some sort of grief loss) and we worked with kids of different age groups who have lost a parent also.  The reality is that more kids than we want go through some sort of traumatic loss in their life, and don't have the support system they need or the peers they can relate too.  The center is geared to help those kids learn to cope with what they are going through.  When I moved to Dallas, I couldn't just give up facilitating, so I found another grief support center - Journey of Hope.  Same type of place as WARM Place, but this place also caters to taking care of the adults who have also been affected by the loss.  My group is the Middle School Kids.  I hope that I'm making a difference in their life, even if I don't see the results right away - it's a long process.

So, after being in Dallas for a few months, I decided to pursue my alternative teacher certification.  After a few hurdles and a recommendation from a friend who went through the same program, I decided on Region 4, based out of Houston.  I spent the spring semester doing coursework and taking this ridiculously hard content test about grades: early childhood through 6th.  I spent countless Saturday's in front of the computer learning.  It was draining, but worth it.  This past semester, I student taught in a 2nd grade classroom.  I absolutely loved it!  I originally applied for 4th grade, but am so glad I was with these kiddos.  They really surprised me and weren't as baby as I thought they were going to be.  This past Friday was my last day in the class room, the time flew by, and these sweet kiddos got me this present:

It is a starter pack for my own classroom!  They filled it with goodies like: books for my library, highlighters, stickers, note cards, markers, scissors etc!!  I was so surprised and felt so blessed.  Wow, life is good.  I am planning on substitute teaching in the spring while applying everywhere for jobs in the fall.  I know I need to NOT BE ANXIOUS, and trust that God will provide and I will end up where I need to be.  Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself is the Rock eternal.  Isaiah 26:4.

 

Dal Pal's Surprise Birthday Party

A few weeks ago Britain planned Dallas a surprise birthday weekend, which involved the Paulk family traveling to Abilene to surprise him.  Friday night the older Paulk brothers + significant other + baby Brooks showed up and Saturday the Paulk parents showed up for surprise number two.  Britain even had another surprise - a dinner with all of their friends on Saturday night.  Britain, the best secret keeper/party planner ever?  I think so.

Girls Picture

Brit, Doc & Dal

Tuesday's Tidbits

Today, I witnessed the most ridiculous display of road rage on my morning commute.  I was traveling on the George Bush Turnpike, which is normally traffic free - but not this morning.  I was cruising right along at about 20 mph when cars were entering the highway about 3 cars in front of me.  I could see that two cars were having issues getting on - Car 1 had to swerve to get out of the way of Car 2 getting on the highway (Car 1 then swerved into the far left lane, causing two other cars to swerve/slam on their brakes.) Car 1 then swerves back to the middle lane, in front of Car 2.  Man in Car 1 stops in the middle of the highway, parks his car, and runs to the driver side window of Car 2 and pounds on the window and is screaming (profanities, I'm sure), turns around to go back to his car, and then turns back around and starts pounding on the window again! Give me a break.  It just goes to show that you have no idea how crazy people really are.  I will definitely think twice about getting annoyed when people cut me off, or drive to slow or are just not courteous on the road.  I don't want some out of control enraged person stopping on the highway to come beat me up.  Sheesh.

On a better note, tonight Brett & I finished our Merge class.  Eight weeks of intense pre-marital training has come to an end.  Okay, not that intense, but still, a lot of work!  The topics ranged from communication, roles, in-laws, finances, understanding your spouse etc etc.  It was interesting and good points were raised.  Watermark offers a 2 on 2 counseling program where the engaged couple can meet with a mentor couple several times before they get married - we may opt to do that to be able to talk more instead of sharing time with other couples.

I am officially out of my apartment in Addison.  Hallelujah!  I had to deal with a bug issue from May until August.  The bug sprayers came 3 times - and for some reason there were still these inchworms crawling around.  So everyday after work, I would just vacuum them up.  It was sick/annoying, but thank goodness I'm out of that place!  When I moved in, Amy and I painted an accent wall in my living room - the color: wine frost.

Then Friday night, Brett & I painted the wall back to it's drab beige color.  We did touch up tonight because the purple was bleeding through a tad.

  

Brett was so worried I was going to spill paint on him.  I didn't spill any..until I accidentally touched his head with my hand that had paint on it. oops.

Tomorrow is my last day as a paralegal.  Can I get another Hallelujah!? I can't believe that this day has come and I am making the decision to pursue a career that cares & loves for others, will make a difference in a child's life, and give me satisfaction.

Quarter of a Century

Turning 25 this year was so much easier because of my boyfriend, friends & family.  Even though 25 is hardly old in the grand scheme of things...I was still a bit weirded out that I was turning twenty five.  Halfway to thirty.  No longer just out of college.  Reaching this milestone has made me feel even more like an adult.  

My birthday weekend was success.  Friday started off with one of my best friends from college, Kim, and her boyfriend Brandon, coming to visit Brett & I for the weekend.  Our boyfriends are obsessed with  enjoy golf, so they went out to Top Golf for the afternoon.  Kimberly & I stayed inside the a/c all afternoon (I believe we were in the 40th day straight of over 100 temps - sheesh).  We baked homemade chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes for my birthday - and they turned out amazing. 

 Then, more friends started showing up for the birthday festivities.  Of course, we had to take pictures before we went to dinner at Love & War in Texas (a restaurant with cuisines from all over the great state of Texas.)

Brenna, Kim, Me, Danielle

Of course, Brett & I had to take the same birthday pose as my 24th birthday - I think I started a tradition.

 

24th Birthday Picture

 

25th Birthday Picture - we're silly.

Girls at Dinner

The whole birthday crew

Dinner was followed by one of my favorite things - playing games!  It was a little out of control, we played Catchphrase, Smart Ass, Bezzerwizzer, Taboo & Scattegories.  I got my fix for awhile!

 

Sunday, Brett & I went to Fort Worth and had dinner with my mom (I have no idea why we did not take one picture - inexcusable!) at Taverna (the place where Brett & I had our first date).  The weekend was absolutely perfect.  The only unfortunate thing about the day of my birthday - was that it was on a Monday.  I guess getting older really isn't that bad. :)