last post from alabama

so, i think i left my camera in nc, which is unfortunate, because we have some furniture to list on craigs list. also, no pictures for you.
as i mentioned, this was very unexpected. we had always planned on patrick becoming a salesman, just not right away. this is unprecedented, and i am so proud of him. he has obviously done an amazing job where he's been the past 10 months, that they feel confident he is ready for this next step. he is such a natural pilot, a good people person, and a good salesman. i, along with premier, can't wait to see what he's going to do in texas!

his territory will be much smaller than the one he has now, but alot of people, and alot of potential. he will be working alot of hours, but on the road less. i hope he'll be home in time to kiss hannah goodnight. the commutes are so much longer in these big cities, i know i'm going to miss the small town life! his office will be right at the airport, which is great, and he'll have an administrative support person, a customer service helper person, and be working alongside another saleswoman. as for us, we're just hoping we can find a house not too far away so we can bring him lunch or a pumpkin scone. (because really, what do stay at home moms do all day except make pumpkin scones and do lunch with friends, right? :-) hannah and i are really excited about the exciting things in the big city!

we have most of the logistics figured out. we are leaving a week tomorrow, actually. patrick driving the uhaul and me with the munchkin in our car. (anyone with extra earplugs, send them to me. hannah is going to go so crazy). we think that the time hannah will need to stop and run around every so often will be enough time for patrick to catch up with us. when we get there, we'll find a house to rent for a while. our house is on the market, so we'll see how that goes.
i'm going to miss our relative proximity to NC, our cute little house, and our church. but for quite awhile i've been meaning to write a top 10 of what we miss in texas. so here goes, a top 10 of what we're excited about in texas!

1. food. specific restaurants, like joe t. garcias (at the stockyards in ft. worth. they only have 2 items on the menu, but it's always packed out. they also don't take cards. wierd.) and fogo de chao (brazilian, and conveniently located right in addison. but expensive!), authentic mexican food, and pretty much every ethnic food on earth is available in dallas. and then of course, the grocery stores. oh, the grocery stores. central market, it's 2,000 cheeses. and the farmers markets too.
2. broken bow, oklahoma. i know, not texas. but only a few hours to paradise. of sorts. you probably don't believe me that OK is paradise. you can rent cabins or camp, and fish (lakes and streams), swim, hike, canoe, all kinds of things. it's really big, and really secluded. we went there on our babymoon. we got stranded at the top of our little mountain because the road washed out. i was 1 wk from my due date. fun stuff :-).
3. which brings me to my next one, midwives. no, i don't need one. but when i do, yeah!!! i won't have to go underground to look for a covert midwife. they're everywhere, and certified, and well regulated. so great!
4. fredericksburg, and the hill country. absolutely beautiful. we went there last march, and missed so much. there are outdoor things like climbing enchanted rock and white water rafting on the river, beautiful little bed and breakfasts, great restaurants, cute little towns with lots of shopping, wineries, all kinds of stuff.
5. canton trade days. the first weekend of the month, canton texas has the worlds biggest flea market/arts and crafts/antiques/everything you can imagine sale. it takes a couple days to see it all. i almost have dreams about canton trade days, i like it so much.
6. friends. we will be a few hours from longview, but we'll still go back and visit. patrick's friend ben lives in dallas, and my friend kristy (who just had another baby!!) lives in houston, so hopefully we'll get there too. my best friend from highschool lives in san antonio. and i have a friend from middle school in dallas somewhere. (i never talk to these people, but thanks to facebook, i know what they're up to :-). see, texas is the place to be.

ok, so that's only six. i'll come up with four more. proximity to an airport, so all y'all can come visit easily! and lots of things we never did in dallas, like the arboretum. ok, i have to go find us a house to rent. wish me luck!