Our Paulson Blog is Up and Running!

It looks like I had a little glitch with my last post on our new blog site. 

I just posted a wedding update here on our Personally, the Paulsons page.  Apparently they were expecting "Shady" to be there with Adam at our Rehearsal Dinner!

Happy Monday.  See you over at Personally, the Paulsons!

New Day, New Blog--it really works now

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday!

And Happy Blogging!

Come find us over at Personally, the Paulsons 

{Sorry, the link should work now!}

It's a year we have much to be thankful for...new beginnings, new lessons and a new life together.  We're celebrating my 25th birthday all week long, and I thought today would be a great day to debut our new little corner of the blogosphere.

I've got the same posts, just a different name and address, so be sure to update your GoogleReader or Bookmark!

Love,
Shay Paulson :-)

Baylor Homecoming, Bella Style

Baylor Homecoming was a highlight of the Fall, as usual.  It was my quickest one yet, but I still got there.  Twenty-two years and counting!  I rode down with my parents Friday afternoon, and if you know them, you know that Miss Bella came along, too!

{Bella does Baylor}

{Cute parents and pup}

{Bella and the Bear}

I hopped around from various activities on Friday night.  I've never done that, and it was quite nice.  I was feeling pretty un-focused as I'd just had a crazy week at work on top of moving, so it was nice to go wherever my little heart desired.  

I stopped in at Pigskin to see the Deltas perform,

then over to hear my old BRH choir sing for a bit at Singspiration 

and then to the bonfire!

{Green and Gold fireworks!}

I met up with Amanda and Megan and their hubbies, and we had a great time catching up.  The fire was HUGE and quite warm.  We stopped for Starbucks first while waiting for everything to get under way.  Of course now that we're gone, they put one in the library on campus.  Maybe I would've gone more...

Probably not.  :-)

{Annual Dad/Daughter bonfire pic}

{Cuzzies.}

Saturday morning, we made it for the end of the parade, just in time to see our peeps.  (The floats are really cool, but I was just focused on friends this year, especially!)

{Me and Lyndsy}

I wonder if some day we will look back at this and question why we wore such large sunglasses.  But I know it is because we are so in style.  Duh.

{Bella and Dad are Baylor-ed out in BU jackets and hankies}

{Papa, me and Bella}

Papa and Jonita came down to see Anna in Pigskin.  They stopped by First Baptist's gym to say hello before heading to the 2 p.m. show.  They made it earlier since the game ended up being on TV later that night.  

{Laura, Papa, Me, Mom & Bella}

Nearly a complete family photo.  (Yes, T-roy still comes home for BU Homecoming.  Love it.)  Adam was working part of the weekend, and I was there for such a short time, it would've been a lot of driving for not a lot of Baylor-ing.  So next year, we have already requested time off that weekend!  Woohoo!

{BSB friends--me, Allison and Madeleine, Rebecca and Leah}

It was a quick weekend, but lots of fun.  I'm so thankful for yet another year of memories and time to catch up with friends!

Our nest :: And why we call it Narnia

I've been more than a little hesitant to post a photo of our house.  Why, you ask?  Well, because the front looked very much like this:

 

In fact, it did look like this up until a few days ago.  Adam and I went on a date night to Macaroni Grill, where we wrote on the table and prioritized all our many projects we'd like to get accomplished around the house.  He was quite surprised that at the top of my list was the yard!  (Good thing we talked about it, right??) 

We've had quite a few friends come to visit, and the question we often receive is, "How do we get to the front door?"  We call it Narnia because it was like a forest you had to get through in order to find it.  I'd been waiting on a little name for our house, and I think that just fits perfectly.  :-)

After FOURTEEN bags of leaves and a pile of brush like this...

We've ended up with this as our final product--just in time to put Christmas lights out front!  We worked together three hours on Sunday afternoon, and then Adam worked yesterday for a couple more, and I went out to help bag even more leaves for about an hour.  So between the two of us, we worked about 10 hours on the yard!  It was fun to do together, and I think too, it helps to have such a visible change for all of our work.  We can now see our front door and step out on our porch and see up and down the street.  We love it!

Life this week

I went to Arizona this week for training at work. I don't really like to travel alone for trips like this. Although we were meeting other March of Dimes staff from all over the country, I tried my darndest to not go alone. And it worked!

I'm so glad my Mom got to come with. me. We arrived Monday afternoon to the resort and walked to little shops and an outdoor lunch. We dined on fish tacos and enjoyed the sunshine.

Then we headed to get a massage, and it was one of the best that either of us had ever had. It was so good, that I fell asleep at the end, and my body didn't hurt for the first time in about three weeks. A.maz.ing.

I sat allll day long from 8-5 Tuesday and Wednesday. At night we would go walk around and eat. Mom had lots of projects to do on her computer, so she worked away while I was busy. It was so nice to come back to the room and have her there!

We did a bit of Christmas shopping at the Scotadale Fashion mall, and I educated mom on the ways of Kona Grill. Yum!

After a half day of the training on Thursday, we headed back home. We had such a good time laughing and talking and hanging out together.

I came home and was welcomed by my sweet husband! He had gotten all the stuff to make steak sandwiches for dinner and was quite excited about it. I, however, had no clue what a steak sandwich was. (I was envisioning the Chick-fil-a chicken sandwich on a bun but with steak instead.) Thank goodness I was wrong!

Behold the steak sandwich, complete with toasted bread, melted provolone cheese, and sautéed green peppers and onions. Delicious. 

I am glad to be home and am looking forward to only a one-day workweek next week! Happy Friday!

November Cooking Club

 

{Molly, Me, Lyndsy, Claire, Kate, (Ashley) Baronet, and Kelley}

 Cooking Club always makes me so happy.  

It's an excuse to hang out with lots of girlfriends that I don't always see on a regular basis.  

It's an excuse to try a new recipe.

It's an excuse to fix my hair and find a cute outfit after a long day at work.  

I made Southern Living's Butter Muffins, which only called for three ingredients--my kind of recipe!  Can I just say that I LOVE Southern Living.  So much to look at.  So many ideas.  So Southern.

Kelley and Baronet hosted us at their cozy and beautiful a-p-t for Holiday foods.  We had pork tenderloin, potato casserole, green bean casserole, a yummy appetizer dip and cider and brownies for dessert.  It was such a fun evening!

Next month we're having mug 'n muffin at our new house.  Brunch in our jammers.  Can't wait!

Wedding Weekend: Adam's wedding gift to me

I have to an entirely separate post for the wedding gift he built with his own two hands.

One of the (many) things I appreciate about Adam is that he may not be able to completely relate to my love of Baylor, but he does a great job of trying to understand this part of me.  

He wears Baylor shirts.

He takes me to visit Amanda & Joey in Waco & get a tour of campus.

And...he builds me a Baylor bench, with handmade lettering and green and gold paint.  

We walked out of the church after the rehearsal and this was sitting out there.  

So happy!

Love those dimples.

This bench has found a home inside our house, because it just makes me smile to walk by it and see it, and think about all the work that went into it.  I love it for many reasons, mostly the thought Adam put behind it.  But I also like it because it's similar to the green and gold swings that hang around campus, but it has it's own twist.  If you know me well, you know that I don't like to do something just because it's exactly the same.  This has a Shay-and-Adam spin on it, and I love it.

Wedding Weekend: Rehearsal

I finally have a few moments to devote to the blog that's been oh-so-neglected.  I have a zillion photos from Friday's rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  I'll try to pick the highlights.  I think most people that read this blog are in the pics, so at least a few people will enjoy it!  I had a hard time picking.  :-)

{Sarah and SMoo with the bow bouquet}

David & Norene

 

Sisters

This is one of my favorite parts of our sanctuary.  The baptistry is right in front of it (you can't see it), but I think it's such a great verse from Revelation that applies to new life in Christ and a new life two people build together.  

Some of my girls!

Ms. Teresa was the wedding coordinator, and also my Sunday School teacher when I was little.  It was so neat to have her be a part of this with us.  She's great at (nicely) keeping everyone on task.

Pops came this weekend, and had help from Tammy.  She went everywhere with him and made it possible for him to come visit.  I loved having them there.

Vicki B. from BSB was our pianist.  She was so instrumental (ha!) in coordinating all the music.  She worked with our soloists (Chris & Diane), the strings and brass groups to make everything seamless.  We had A LOT of music, which is one of my favorite parts to remember from our wedding day.  

Troy's girl, Sarah, came down with him for her first wedding...ever.  Pretty amazing!

I love this pic.  Sharon (in red) is my Aunt Jenny's daughter, and that's her husband, Whit.  They are good buds with Papa & Jonita.

Shay Sandwich

I think I'm trying to explain to Adam what the heck is going on.  He looks a little unnerved!

Adam's college pastor came down from Wisconsin.  We loved having Nate & his wife, Amanda, there with us.  

Several of our groomsmen were firemen and had to work that night.  Papa was one of the stand-ins for us.  He and Anna look so cute up there.

The boys are here!

My girls all lined up and ready to walk down the aisle.

Love this pic of me and my Daddy.

House party friends--Katelyn, Lyndsy, Gentry & Natalie

Feather sign-in pens became props.

Love the smile on Adam's face as my dad and I are walking down the aisle

All smiles!

Quiet boys...

We're married!  Just kidding...almost there.

Troy's job included holding the boys for the few minutes they stayed on stage.  He literally held them with a vice-like grip.  They did so well on our wedding day, though...they just had to get their wiggles out.

Here we go!

Papa with his youngest grandkids.

Looking back at all these makes me so happy.  I loved having everyone I loved in one room.  Sheesh.  That's gotta be one of the best things ever.  

Stay tuned for more pics from the weekend...