Veterans' Day

Today is my first Veterans' Day holiday off of work. In the past, we have had school on Veterans' Day. We always had an assembly that brought me to tears every year. The assembly was to honor veterans, specifically family members and loved ones of students and teachers who had served our country that were able to attend the assembly.

Last year, I proudly invited my grandfather to be an honored guest at the assembly. He served in the U.S. Air Force in the 1940's. This year, I'm thanking my favorite veteran from another state and from home, giving me the time to write about it. This man right here, he is the best. He doesn't think of himself as any sort of hero, but man oh man, he has a passion for the Lord like no other and will always be a hero to me.

Life in Durham

Hubby and I started school back in August. As you may know, there is a lot of newness in our life right now. We each just finished our first quarter of school a couple of weeks ago, and we are already deep into the busy-ness of Q2. Last week was my last full week of teaching before we come back from Thanksgiving break. We had a field trip and Veterans' Day this week, and have a half day next week with assemblies during the day, and then all of a sudden, it's Thanksgiving week. How does that happen? How does time just fly by like that? Wasn't it just August?

August

August was full of things like getting our new house in order. We are renting, so we didn't get to have to paint or anything crazy, but I was definitely in full nest-mode. Target is just around the corner, which is just plain dangerous.

Being in a new place, I had to get all new ID cards. In my first two weeks here, I got a new NC driver's license (that is still hard to get used to), a new teacher's ID through my new school district (or what I like to call my "teacher's discount proof"), and a spouse ID card through the university.  If that wasn't newness enough, I stepped into a brand new school with an empty canvas of a classroom. I will have to do a later post to update on all that has gone on at school and with the setup of my classroom. Starting from scratch in a new classroom definitely has its pros and cons. 

    

      
















And, of course, how could I forget those fun, college theme-parties that kept us out too late. During Orientation, the students throw themed parties for everyone to get to know each other. The first one we went to was a 90's party, and we went as Squints Palledorous and Wendy Peffercorn from The Sandlot, one of my favorite movies. The second one was a nerd party, and we grabbed a couple of my math teacher shirts, our fanny packs, threw on our glasses, and called it a nerd costume.

And at the end of August, we both had our first days of school--the true beginning to this new chapter in our lives. [pictured with our mascot, both the bluedevil and the bulldog]

September

With the month of September, came a bit more normalcy but also more new. We have now been "Food Truck Rodeo" attendees. Not that Houston wasn't, but we now live in a very "foodie" city, which we have been loving! I am still cooking on weeknights, but it has made exploring our new city so fun to try all of the new [and delicious] restaurants! We also have a new football team to cheer for. I'm not going to lie, being in blue was a little weird my first game. I've never cheered for a royal blue team before. I don't hate it, if I'm being honest.

    











I also have this other football team I've been cheering for... hubs is playing on a flag football team. Did I mention he is living the college life right now? No, it is definitely not all play, even if it seems like it. Poor guy works his booty off, and he definitely deserves a little flag football time. Avery LOVES sleeping through watching his games! 

September also brought our first visitor from home. Casey, husband of my good friend Caitlyn at Our Schaefer Stories, was in town for work for one day and came to have dinner with us. We LOVE the Schaefers, and we loved getting to spend time with him, even if for just a couple of hours.

The last thing that September brought was my first trip back to Texas. :) I left on a Friday after school, was picked up at the airport by my mom and sister, and it was non-stop family-time the whole weekend. It was awesome! It was a perfect way to celebrate my birthday a little early.

October

October was an interesting month here, for many reasons. One of those was the weird weather that seemed very familiar. It was anywhere from 38 degrees to 85 degrees on any given day. It also rained about 36 out of the 31 days. Yes, I teach math, and yes, I feel like that's what happened. I have worn my rain boots more in the last month than I have worn rain boots in my life... I think. However, October did bring the fall season. I truly love this season and all that it brings. It brings my favorite clothes; it brings cooler weather; it brings out the most beautiful colors in God's creation; and it brings my favorite holidays. We have family coming to visit for Thanksgiving, and I can hardly stand to wait!

Matt participated in one of Duke University's great traditions--he camped out with more than 800 other graduate students in an attempt to be drawn in a lottery for a season ticket to Duke basketball games this season. Well, he got one! He was thrilled, and he even took me to their pre-season opener. It was our first time in Cameron Stadium. I can't even imagine what it's like for a Duke v. UNC game. Wow-EE!

In the middle of October, we took a second trip to Texas. The trip was planned so that Matt could start recruiting for a summer internship during his fall break. I just tagged along, especially since it was his birthday! I left a day early, knowing that I would have to come back really early to go back to school. I did not have the week off like he did. Being there early gave me time to spend with my mom and sister at the Aggie game. I loved being back in College Station for a day! 

We celebrated Matt's birthday the next day with a lunch at my parents' house with some more family. He has been working so hard all semester, I was hoping he could just relax for a few days. It never ceases to amaze me how driven and motivated he is.

November has already been a great month, and I think the rain may have actually stopped for a while. We have so much that we are looking forward to this and next months. I can't wait!

Things Kids Say

49 days in, ladies and gentlemen. I officially consider it not the beginning of the school year anymore.

I have learned, in my ~3.272 years of experience, kids are inquisitive honest. Sometimes, kids are too inquisitive honest. I've never experienced more of this from children than this year.

"Mrs. Bormann, why are your earrings so weird?"

"Mrs. Bormann, the zipper on your shirt is too big."

"Mrs. Bormann, why did you cut your hair? I liked it better long."

I remember judging taking note of one of my HS science teacher's clothes one year. He seemed to cycle through the same shirts very often. Too often, I thought at the time. I apologize for doing that. Poor guy, he was just trying to keep it simple.

A couple of weeks ago, one of the best "things kids say" moments happened. I will not be able to do the moment justice, but I am going to give it a try.

A student in my last class of the day likes to write notes on my white board to my 1st period for the following day. One Tuesday afternoon, right before the end-of-school bell rang, she began writing her note to my 1st period for the following morning, "Happy Wensday!" When I saw it, I tried to enunciate the word for her, "WED-NES-DAY," in an attempt to remind her it is spelled differently than most people say it, to which, she responded, "huh?" I said to her, "remember, it's actually spelled, "WED-NES-DAY," sounding it out again. So, she proceded to fix the spelling. I began working on something else, partially forgetting what had just happened, when she says, "Mrs. Bormann... [looking puzzled] ... when did they change it?"

... "sweet girl, they haven't."

#middleschool

Happy Monday, my friends! 

Friday Favorites

I spent the last two days at New Teacher Orientation being fed an abundance of information about the new district in which I would be teaching. Because I am not brand new to teaching, I was not required to attend the third day of NTO today. Instead, I took my time getting up and getting ready this morning. I went to Target and then to Office Depot to pick up a few things for my classroom--won't be the last trip, that's for sure! Once I found most of what I wanted, I headed to my classroom to work for a little while. I got quite a bit done today, but I still have lots to do next week during Staff Development. So, no pictures of the classroom today, but instead, I am going to share some of my current favorite things.

[one]

We have lived in our new house for a little over a month now, and we are finished decorating for the most part. My first room to completely finish, our dining room, ended up being my favorite.

I am already looking forward to breaking bread many times with many different people in this room. The mirror on the wall makes the space look double its actual size. You may remember this mirror makeover from here. We found these curtains at World Market. Matt didn't want us to buy curtains in our old apartment, because he knew it was very temporary, so I could not wait to get curtains in our new place! These have hints of sky blue that match our chairs. 

         

          

















I searched long and hard for the perfect metal chairs to go with my $20 table. I finally found the kind I was wanting at a great price from Cymax. They even shipped free (and super quick!). 

The picture on the left is one of my favorite pieces of furniture. It's our little mini-bar. It was the first piece of furniture Matt and I picked out together. We got it at an antique store while we were in Gruene for our first married Christmas. The picture in the middle is of the wall between our dining room and our kitchen. This chalk board was actually already there, and I have loved getting to write (and menu plan) on it. The picture on the right is another one of my favorite pieces. It is a butcher block that was given to me by my grandparents, and I vividly remember my grandmother using it in her kitchen when I was a child. 

Everything in our dining room has a story. Each piece brings back a fun memory. I LOVE our dining room! 

[two]

I am loving our new welcome mat! I threw out our old one before we moved, because it needed replacing. However, I couldn't find a welcome mat that I really liked. It was important to me because it is one of the first impressions of someone walking into your home, so I wanted it to actually serve the purpose of being welcoming. Well, I found one, and I am obsessed! I saw it online at Target, but shipping is not available and when I first saw it, you couldn't pick up at any of the stores nearest me. BUT, on my latest journey to Target, the welcome mat and I locked eyes. It was love at second sight! Do you love it as much as me?!? It's really okay if you don't... but HELLO, it's so stinkin' cute!!

[three]

I love watching The Today Show in the mornings, and because it's summer, I have been able to watch it more than just until 7:15am. It has been wonderful! They have these recipe segments, and one morning, they were talking all about zucchini. We have been really into zucchini lately (along with the rest of the world, apparently). They shared this recipe for Zucchini Boat Pizzas a couple of weeks ago, and I finally made it, and WOW-EE it's delicious!! I may have to share the recipe on a later post, because it is definitely one to try!

[four]

Last, but absolutely not least, my favorite thing right now is my sweet girl, Avery. While Matt has been at school, she has been there with me. We've gotten to spend lots of time together, and I know she will be just as sad as me to see me go back to work. 

Oh good grief, that face! How am I supposed to get anything done around here?! 

Happy Friday, friends! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

DIY | Dining Table Makeover

Before we moved to North Carolina, I printed out the floor plan of our new place and began sketching in where all of our furniture would go. Knowing that we would have a legitimate dining room for the first time, I was set on I getting a new dining room table to fit the space better than our breakfast table could. There was only one small problem... a new dining room table was just not in the budget. I mentioned in this post that I found this $20 library table on an online trading site. T-W-E-N-T-Y dollars, folks!

I had researched exactly what I wanted to do with the table before starting the project. My plan was to strip/sand down the table top to its bare wood, and then choose a stain and sealer, no paint. Then, I wanted to paint/wax the sides and legs of the table to look distressed. I have posted about some of my previous DIY furniture pieces before here and here, and in both projects, I used Annie Sloan chalk paint and waxes.

One morning, before Matt left for work, I asked him to get out the electric sander for me, because I was going to start on the table. Once he left, I got to work. I sanded the entire top of the table, and the color was definitely not what I was expecting. I loved it! It was then that I decided I did not want to stain the top anymore, and instead, I would just seal it.

Here are all of the products I ended up using for my table. On the left, the water-based, clear protective finish (sealer). I didn't want anything glossy, so this "Clear Satin" was perfect. On the right, you see I actually chose not to do an Annie Sloan brand of paint, but instead, I used a similar chalk paint that matched the color I was going for a little better. It was also cheaper. And, of course, I already had my trusty soft and dark waxes from Annie Sloan. (<-- game changers)

                         

         

      
















I coated the table top three (or four) times with the sealer, and in between each coat, it needed time to dry. So, the first thing I did after sanding the top was brush my first coat of sealer on the top. While that was drying, I painted the legs and sides of the table with the Vintage White paint. Notice, I did not strip or sand these parts of the table. This is by far my favorite part about using this chalk paint--not an insane amount of work.

After allowing both the sealer and the paint to dry, I went in for another coat of each. The paint dries very fast, so pretty soon after that, I was able to start waxing the sides and edges with the soft wax, followed by the dark, followed by a rag to brush strokes in the direction of the grain. This is what creates that distressed look that is so popular right now.

After allowing that to dry, and after another coat or two of the protective finish over the entire table, there was a finished product, and I couldn't be happier. It is exactly what I had envisioned before beginning the project, and even better, I did it myself.

If you think it looks good in our old space, just wait until I give you a peek into our new home with a picture-tour of our dining room.. coming soon!

Our Move

Well, we made it! We are officially residents of North Carolina, and after today, I will have a new state driver's license, which may be a little hard for me to swallow, but at least people won't inspect my ID like it's fake every time they ask to see it.

We have been here for about three weeks (minus a week for a family vacation we took), but I want to go back to pre-move to document some of our last days in Houston.

When we first decided on coming to NC, my mind already started worrying about how in the world we were going to get all of our stuff here. On the other hand, Matt's mind started planning the best roadtrip ever! After much persuasion, I talked him into NOT driving a 28-foot UHaul truck with our entire house in the back, our dog in the passenger seat, and my car being pulled behind by a trailer (making the entire ensemble about 40 feet long! Did I mention HE wanted to be driving the thing? Ya, all of that terrified me and gave me nightmares (and I am not exaggerating about the nightmares).

I knew that in order to ruin his "best roadtrip ever" plan, I had to come up with something good, so I did my research, and I found some companies, and one in particular that matched our budget, that would send our stuff across the country to let us meet it there. The company we used was called U-Pack, and it was exactly what it sounds like... YOU (us) PACK. Here's the deal: you pack everything you own in boxes, and then a driver comes to your house, drops off a trailer and then leaves. You then pack all of your boxes/stuff in that trailer as best you can (crossing your fingers that it makes the 1,200 mile journey without being completely destroyed). Then, for a small fee, you can actually choose the day your stuff is delivered to your new house. So, this is what we chose to do.

I wasn't aware at first, but I apparently married a master-packer, which is awesome. Single ladies, add that quality to your "Must Haves" for your future hubby. Seriously, he worked so hard to get all of our things packed and packed well. I owe our stuff not getting destroyed to him. Just check out some of our furniture items... #saranwrapisyourbestfriendwhenmoving <-- that hashtag should be trending.

Once we had everything pretty much packed, we took a quick trip to visit as much of our family as possible. Since my family all lives in Houston, the trip was really to see Matt's family. We got to visit both of his grandmothers, both of his parents, and his brother and our new sister-in-law. We also got to do two Texas-things that we hadn't done before. While we were in Waco visiting his brother, Sam and Sam's wife, Shannon, we went to Magnolia Market (the Texas "landmark" made famous by the hit show Fixer Upper. We also went to the Fort Worth Stockyards with Matt's mom while we were in Fort Worth.

We got back on a Saturday, and the trailer and movers came on Monday. We ended up hiring two men from a small moving company to help us load all of the boxes and furniture into the trailer. They were clutch, because they were speedy and knowledgeable about how best to pack everything in the truck. Here we are right before closing up the trailer. And below that, what our house looked like afterward. 

A very confused golden retriever and three tennis balls. Crazy, Since everything was now packed, we had planned to stay a couple of nights at my parents' house before going to the bayhouse for the Fourth of July. During our last couple of nights in Houston, some of our amazing friends threw us a Texas farewell party. We left some dear friends back in Texas and can't wait for them to come out to NC! 

After leaving Houston, we went to Galveston to stay for the Fourth of July holiday. We were there for five wonderful days, and got to spend some quality time with my family before leaving Texas. 

We came back to Houston Sunday evening, and here we are bright and early Monday morning to start our journey east. 

We drove all day on Monday, leaving at about 5:30am from Houston, stopping a few times for gas, bathroom breaks, and food, and we arrived in Atlanta, where we were staying for the night at about 8:00pm after the time change. We checked into our hotel, and immediately left to go get dinner. When we got back, we cleaned up and went to bed in an attempt to get some much-needed rest. The following morning, Tuesday, Matt woke up at about 3:30am to get on the road to meet our moving truck which got to our house at about 11am. My mom and I left at about 7:30am to make the 5 hour drive to our new home. After three days, we had every box unpacked and all pictures hung on the walls.

We left for a family vacation on that Saturday, so having everything mostly finished was a priority of mine. It felt great to be able to leave knowing that we wouldn't have a ton of work to do when we got back. We loved getting to spend eight days in Palm Springs playing golf and hanging out by the pool without any unpacking looming ahead. I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted, but here are a few from the golf course on the day of our family tournament and from the pool (with Matt's lifeproof-cased iPhone).

We got back to North Carolina on the 18th, and we hit the ground running. Matt is already in his second day of official orientation, but he has been working and studying for a couple of weeks now, and I have been working in my classroom for a couple of days, but mostly enjoying being in our new home with the dog, running errands, and exploring this new city.


Will update more soon! Happy Thursday, friends! I'm off to get my new driver's license! Fingers crossed they let me! ;)