Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind?

Goodbye San Antone. We have had our disputes. I have griped more than enough times about your weather, about your horrible drivers and even more horrible road systems. I have wasted my breath trying to argue my point for why the Mavs are so much better than your team ;) but all the while I am speechless when I realize that not one person in this city (besides myself) doesn't root for the Spurs. 

But this was the city of my first real adult job. My first day as a nurse. The city where we bought our beloved dog. The apartment we first shared as ours. This is where we lived when we were engaged and where we did most of our wedding planning. This is the home we came back to after saying I DO. This is where we cried over the loss of our first baby and came the closest to God we have ever been in our entire lives.  We had fights and tears and smiles and laughter in this city and I am so happy we were able to call it home for for the last 2 years. I was proud to live in "South Texas", where only here do people understand the beauty of Whataburger. In this city, cowboy boots is a staple, and it is out of the norm to see guys in jeans who aren't wearing boots. Proud my husband is not one of these aliens ;) most everyone listens to country, goes to church, and knows how to two-step. We will miss it here. 

We were blessed enough to only be an hour from my in-laws. Whom I'm absolutely impressed with their ability to make time for us. So many times you live in the same city as a friend or loved one and all too often you don't take advantage of seeing each other any more than if you lived states away. This was not the case for Brice's wonderful family who I gladly accept as my own. We will surely miss the short distance from them. 

In the reverse though, we moved here expecting to spend more time with friends and family who lived in the same city, who were elated when they found out we were moving to San Antonio. And we saw them a handful of times if at all. I suppose I am disappointed at both sides for not trying harder. I digress.

 The wonderful souls I became close to we're not the people I was expecting. Mostly my coworkers. This beautiful group of people who work together for the lives of children. My fellow nurses, PCAs, unit clerks, bosses, and need a forget childlife?! Friends who have witnessed every stage of our lives we have experienced here in San Antonio. I have been blessed to work for this hospital for 2 years. 

But it is time to move on as our time in San Antonio has plateaued and is now to the end.  It was only appropriate to use this blog's title. A song by the King of Country, George Strait, who considers San Antonio his home, singing about our new home. We will be starting our new life chapter in Fort Worth, Texas. Not too far from my parents in Dallas. I'm am quite excited about this. Not too much of a culture shock for Brice, as he is well acquainted with the San Antonio lifestyle, Fort Worth is much more of a "country" feel than Dallas...but is a healthier distance to Northpark ;) 

I will be working at Cook Children's in the ER. One of my dream jobs. I am quite the mover and shaker when it comes to work so I'm excited about this fast paced environment. This facility seems impressive and highly ranked on the children's hospital charts. Not to mention they have a chick-fil-a and a Starbucks. SOLD!! Oh...and a build a bear! 

Brice will continue his work with Halliburton, in a position he seems very proud and excited about. More on that soon. 

We have purchased our first home, just minutes from my work. It's an older home with charm, character, and a back yard for Sperry. I'm super pumped about this short commute. It will however be a bit of a haul for Bricey. Thankfully his best man lives 15 minutes from us so they can carpool to work together. We are already thankful for these friends that are so close to us. 

 I never imagined myself in Fort Worth but we are so very excited about this opportunity and couldn't be more sure this was another part for the plan God has in store for us. We are so very proud of this next step in our lives, and we ask for your prayers along the way, and negative comments be kept to yourselves. 

For those of you "keeping the secret" thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We needed this information to be "ours only" until we were ready to tell the public. It was just a healthy thing for our marriage and thank you for understanding this. You are now free to tell whom you please :)

Our home will be open to y'all soon enough so please if you are ever in town, would like a dance partner at Billy Bob's, have an extra hotdog at the Ranger's game, need a cowboy hat for the football game, feeling a need to attend the livestock show, need a drinking buddy at Joe T Garcias, or just someone to enjoy each other's company, PLEASE do not hesitate to ask! In the meantime, prepare yourselves Fort Worth...here come the Pattersons! 

My 9 tips for wedding planning

So we haven't even been married for three weeks and I already feel like we are an old couple. But I love it. I have a draft forming for all the information of the wedding day and honeymoon but it's so long I don't even know how to edit it. So I'll start with this one. 

I can't stop thinking of all the tips I have for other brides,  so I've got to get this off my chest. This is just a handful of things I was told from other people. As well as other things that I learned myself. Hope you enjoy!

Of all the advice people gave me about my wedding day, the advice that really stuck included:

1. Don't let the things that go wrong bother you. Just laugh them off.

This was something that Brice's  mom told me and it didn't really make sense until it happened. So many things went off schedule on our wedding day and it was too late to do anything about it. So after I cried ;) I just laughed. Not really! The only thing I cried about was when the cake baker called my cell phone during my hair appointment to tell me she made the wrong wedding cake. And I was due for a cry. 

2. Don't fly out for your honeymoon the morning after your wedding. 

This was something one of Brice's friends who just recently got married said it was one of the best things they did. We actually had planned to leave for St. Lucia at 5 AM on Sunday after our wedding. And because it's an international flight we would have had to be there at 3 AM. Yeah right. So we decided to fly to Miami Sunday evening and then fly out for St. Lucia on Monday. We were able to go get my ring fixed Sunday morning after the wedding because a diamond fell out on our wedding day (just laugh right?), we were able to have lunch with my family and in-laws, and we were able to go back to my house to gather the many things we would have forgotten. 

And then there's the list that people didn't tell me that you all need to know.

3. During your hair trial and putting your wedding dress on before the wedding realize how much time things actually take. 

I had a hour by hour schedule that I put together months before the wedding that I sent out to all my bridesmaids. And sometimes you don't realize it takes two hours to get an updo. 

4. Plan ahead the stuff you want to take with you to the wedding venue. 

Unfortunately I live out of town so everything was packed in bags. But I was smart enough to pack a separate bag for the honeymoon and another bag for my Dallas trip. Something I totally recommend. However many of the things for the wedding day was taken to Dallas months prior and I was scrambling the morning of the wedding trying to remember what everything I needed to take to the venue. We got to the venue two hours before the wedding and I had planned on getting into my wedding dress there with my hair and make up already done. A few things in my bag included toothpaste, toothbrush, pressed powder, lipgloss, hairspray, bobby pins, makeup remover wipes, Band-aid (the cameraman actually needed one so I offered him one of my Barbie Band-Aids). I wish I would have gotten double-sided tape. We were needing this for a wardrobe malfunction. And thank God my mom had tweezers.  And then the sentimental stuff like my special Mrs. Patterson hangar, my Handkerchief, my ceremony shoes, my reception shoes, my jewelry including my wedding earrings and my wedding bracelet, flower girl basket, ringbearer pillow, the marriage certificate. 

5. Delegate who will be responsible for what needs to be in your getaway car.

My wedding planner asked me an hour before we left what needed to be in the car. The only thing I knew to tell her was my purse. I had forgotten I took out many smaller makeup bags with things like my makeup remover and toothbrush and toothpaste...something you might need for your honeymoon suite. I also forgot the sandals that I was wearing that morning, and had planned to pack them in my honeymoon suitcase as my beach sandals. My Michael Kors sandals did the job, but it would've been nice to have my cheaper pair.

6. Pack a snack for the honeymoon suite.

They weren't kidding when they said we would be hungry. We even took plenty of time to eat during our wedding. But we were still ravenous by the time we got back to our honeymoon suite. Thankfully our catering company packed us a small lunch box full of little snack items including trail mix, popcorn,   two slices of our wedding cake, two cans of champagne (presh) and some other goodies, and we finished every bit of it, so it would've been nice to have something else to snack on.

7. Take your wedding cards to the airport.

I'm so glad we did this. We had a lot of time to kill for flight. And it was very sweet to go through the cards together as a married couple and read them :) it's also nice to have your bank app so you can direct deposit the checks by just taking a picture of them! 

8. Buy an address stamp

One of the smartest thing we ever did! You start getting arthritis after so many thank you cards,  and yes it's not very many words but when you're writing 300 thank you's it is.

9. Take off time after the honeymoon.

I was going between taking one week before the wedding off or when we after the honeymoon off. And decided I was going to need the time after the wedding. So glad I did because they gave me time to recoup, time with Sperry, and time to change my name. Not to mention I wasn't a tired wife :)

I know I've already forgotten things so I will add as I remember but until then, happy wedding planning to all and to all a good night!!

Life's too short to not treat yourself with a little vacation

So I've decided there would be too many posts or too long of a post to depict my mommy and me vacation so I resort to this location. 

My mom had a brilliant idea to take a mommy/daughter vacation as our last hoorah before I said my I DOs. Vacation? Sure. Cancun? Absolutely. So I took off work for the weekend, kissed my 2 boys goodbye, and headed to Dallas on Thursday. Early Friday morning my dad dropped us off at DFW and our vacation began. 

The plane ride started questionable. We didn't realize, until our boarding passes were printed, that we were seated on separate rows. My mom posted up on her row, as I emptied my nervous bladder (flying has made me more and more nervous the older I get), hopefully awaiting 2 single fliers. One, hopefully, agreeing to switch seats with her. The prey arrived, and momma bear attacked. The girl happily obliged and the man now sitting next to my mom hands the lady her pillow. Low and behold, the man and lady were together. When my mom and I realized this we sincerely apologized and asked if she'd like her original seat back. She told us not a problem, "we sat by each other on our previous flight". What a wonderful soul. 

As we started our descent. I noticed we were above the ocean, and this was the view. Bliss. 

Gorgeous. Would you say so?

So we made no eye contact on the way out, determined not to be stalked to join a time share. Successful, we made our way to our resort. All inclusive and absolutely beautiful. 

We were greeted with welcome drinks, so we posed: 

"Let's just take a selfie my mom said". Excuse me, did I hear you correct? You young soul of a self just use the word SELFIE. Many phrases like this came from her mouth this past weekend, one of those being HASHTAG. I guess the empty nesting is taking years off my parents. NOTE: The red, almost sunburn looking line on my shoulder was from my 90 lb carry on. Ouch. 

We were given our room key and introduced to our alcohol dispenser and fully stocked fridge with beer, mixers, and BOTTLED water. Pray for no revenge on us, Montezuma. More on that story later. 

Here was the view from our balcony. 

Most of our day was spent traveling and in customs so we took advantage of the few hours left of sun and went to the beach. It was here that we noticed the resort setting up for a wedding, a post on Facebook that couldn't wait for the blog  to be posted. There were topless women. Perfectly sculpted bosoms that had absolutely no tan lines, not that I was studying them, but this was not their first peep show. There were also the gravity exposed; poor souls, but we will all have our turn, just not now please. This all just a few feet away from the ceremony. Not my cup if tea. Then there was my mother and I. We were the photographers. I captured moments, people. 

NOTE: Please notice the classy spectacles and their fresh ocean water hairdos. Psh, onlookers. I continued my job:

Yes, I was sobbing by this point. No, not because the bride's father was in flip flops, or that the people in the ocean felt like their role was as important than mine photographing, but because I know in a little over a month, this will be me and my daddy. 

We couldn't stay for the whole ceremony. We had dinner and drinks to attend to. 

And so we did. 

Enjoy drinks

And drinks. 

And more drinks. 

It was all-inclusive for heavens sake. And we were in Mexico. And we were celebrating. We had so much fun. With so much laughter. 

It was fabulous to be away from the stress of what we call life. Away from complaints of everyday junk. I actually enjoyed the sound of blissful silence. No country or repetitive songs on the radio. No tv you could understand because we don't know Spanish. Even though I've lived in SA for almost 2 years now...but that an excuse for another story. It was fabulous only having tvs in our room because people had no distractions. They sat face to face at a table, made eye contact, and communicated. I love this, which is why we have not had cable, or any tv channels, for 2 years now. I highly recommend it. Everyone was optimistic. They were on vacation too. And celebrating life, with no complaints. 

Yes we could have focused on the negatives. The food wasn't that great, but the presence of company over a meal outweighed the cons. We didn't have much cold air in our rooms, but we didn't spend much time there anyway so why complain. The internet wasn't the best connection, but at least we have the ability to communicate through apps like viber so we don't pay $99 a minute. Once our family had a visitor who all they had to say were complaints. Finding the negative in people and negatives of life. A world full of pessimism. I had had enough at the end of their stay that I initiated a rule: For every negative comment you say, follow with 2 positive things. It's a wonderful way to work if you must. 

This brings me to the mother in the airport in Cancun. She was just mad at life. It all started when her husband let her probably 9 year old girl go to the bathroom on her own. Yes probably not the best decision. But she dragged on her pissed off attitude for forever. "Daughter where did you put my book?" It was in the girls suitcase. She demanded she get it out. So the girl did, meanwhile trying to repack her suitcase because she had messed it up digging, her mom threw a fit, telling the dad it was his responsibility to clean up the mess. "Daughter go check the flight status" but she did it wrong the first time so she sent her back again and again because she just didn't get her the right information.

The younger daughter was told to complete her homework but didn't understand how to work out the math problems. More complaints. More yelling. I considered offering my tutoring services so she could grab one last cocktail before losing her britches. I felt for the husband who was being kicked around and cussed at. I felt for the girls who were being used for their mothers laziness. I felt for the girl who truly couldn't concentrate in a busy airport trying to complete math homework that she didn't even understand yet no one would explain it to her. I'm not a parent yet. But I have my patience tested every day with children. And please, just a word of advice, choose your battles. Do you need to throw a fit about your child's handwriting when she literally is writing with an unsharpened pencil without anything under the paper to write on....in public! If I were to have counted she was probably 100 positive comments in debt. It bothered me that is all. Vent over. 

This all being said I was blessed to have been gifted a book that was written by a woman who I frequent her blog entries. They are hysterical and so witty. I had come across her section in Barnes and noble during our last trip to the bookstore and Brice got me a copy for Valentines day. The book, SEVEN was written by Jen Hatmaker. This almost diary-like novel is centered on living simply. Decluttering life's unnecessary things to leave room, time, and life for God. I, not being much of a reader, was proud to have finished this beautifully written book this weekend. She discusses minimizing media, stress, waste, and spending. She fasts for a month limiting herself to only 7 foods. She prays seven prayers throughout the day. All while making more time and a better meaning to serving The Lord. I don't think reading this book could have come at a better time. I am coming back to reality more motivated and spirited then ever (I made a small exception for my positive outlook when I was seated in the middle seat on the way home and Mr. Aisle seat thought he was good enough for both arm-rests. So audience, remember: the middle seater has both left and right personal space bubbles popped so please be courteous and give up the arm rest or even half of the arm rest. I was kind enough to remind my com rad of this). I highly recommend this book (or you can borrow my copy). It's crazy funny and so full of meaning. 

I'm not only thankful I got to spend this meaningful time with mi madre but really got to learn about myself independently. I've matured so much in the last 2 years. Making a career out of what I love to do, building a relationship with the person I love so dearly, becoming financially stable (regardless of freakishly ridiculous student loans), and enjoying our little family in our 900 square foot apartment with my 2 boys. This was the picture that was sent to me on day 2 in Mexico. 

I'm still goofy and in my opinion, hysterically funny, but who's to judge. I'm still a daughter and sister and friend. I still sunburn even though I coat myself with 70 SPF. But I'm so ready to begin my new journey as a wife. I'm ready to see what our future holds. God has given me more than enough, including this beautiful sunrise this morning

 And someone who has long awaited your return

Thanks mom to making memories with me this weekend! Now....BRING ON THE WEDDING!!!!!