Gosh, it's been a while

To my surprise, I still remembered my login and password to my blogspot. So, as everyone can on confirm, I am not much of a writer....I prefer to communicate verbally. Though I am highly impress that Amy, Mike, Joyce and Amanada had the time to update their blog on a weekly, if not daily basis.

Happy Anniversary

Today is mine and Mike's 4 year anniversary! Can you believe it! In the time that it takes most people to finish an undergraduate degree, we have managed to meet, fall in love, live together and get married without killing each other! Since this is the last time that we will celebrating this date - our Wedding Anniversary will now take precedent - we are spending the weekend at the Fairmont Hotel. We finally are going to take advantage of his free hotel nights! I am super excited.

So hunny, if you are reading this....Happy 4 Years! It's been interesting to say the most....I love you!

I got a new job!

Ok, we'll I got a new part-time job. It's actually a really funny story. It all began with a trip to Ann Taylor Loft - my most favorite store of all time! I was in the store to return 2 skirts that I purchased. While in the middle of doing this, I asked the sales person a question in regard to a previous purchase I made. I wanted to confirm that the reason I didn't receive A! points (yes, I am an Ann Taylor Rewards Customer) for my previous purchase was because I made the purchase with a Merchandise Credit. The woman behind the counter kept telling me that I should have gotten those points. It didn't make any sense to me why I should of gotten them since Merchandise Credit isn't really your only money - it's money you've all ready spent and for some reason couldn't go back on your credit card. Anyways, I figured that this girl was just going to rig the system so that I can get these points - which of course I would of really appreciated! I didn't have the receipt at that particular moment - it was back at my office. Since she only worked to 3, she told me to ask for Alicia when I came back - she is the manager and she could give me the points. Well, it was about 4pm and my whole team is gone so I was going to leave early and head over to ATL to get my points....but something told me that I should confirm with Alicia that I could in fact get these points....so I call, tell her the situation and of course I was correct in the fact that I could not get the extra points. She stated, "that would make sense to anyone who has worked in retail" ( no clue if Veronica - my sales associate will have a job tomorrow) and I said, "yeah I know, that's why I wanted to make sure so I wouldn't waste my time walking over there and your time when I got there"...I use to work at ATL ...." This sparked an interested on her end, she asked me what store I worked at, I told her. Next thing you know I am explaining to her how I had to quit working at ATL because I spent all the money I made on clothes! We laughed...only a fellow worker at ATL knows how accurate a statement this is. I then went on the tell her that I was in the store a couple of weeks ago and one of the associates told me that you only need to work 2 nights a week to get the 40% discount as an employee. Alicia confirm this...I told her that I was thinking of going back during the holidays and work PT not for the money but to support my habit! We laughed. Next thing I know she is offering me a PT job at her store.....3 blocks from my office working from 5:15 to 8pm 2 nights a week. I don't have to work weekends because they are not open on the weekends and they close at 7pm during the week - even through holiday season! I told here that I be there tomorrow at 2 to fill out an application! Alicia and I are new best friends! Now, for those that know me, you are probably laughing your butts off that I am going to be working here again....but what you need to understand is that the first time that I worked there, I needed the money. This time around - I don't need the extra money - I am just supporting my habit and if working there 6 hours every 2 weeks allows me to buy $185 in merchandise every 2 weeks(after taxes, I would only be making about $75 every 2 weeks but with my 40% discount, I can buy$185 in merchandise) and not have this money taken that out of my own money (money from my full time job) then why wouldn't I do this. So yes, I am going back to working at Ann Taylor Loft....do my time and have a great wardrobe to show for it. I think Mark would really appreciate this story. :)

They say bad things come in 3's.

I don't know who originated this saying but I would personally like to introduce myself to this guy and smack him over the head! Last night I had an "in 3" experience. Oddly enough, all of this happened with in 3 hours...coincidence, I think not. Last night I left work and went to the gym, up to this point, everything had been going great during the day...I even left work early! But then 6:00pm comes around (6 is divisible by 3) and I leave the gym. I am a bit hungry and have 1/2 hour to make it to my appointment at the salon. So I grab a chicken salad from our gym cafe and eat it on my way to the car. All is going well and next thing I know I am face down into the pavement. Yes, somehow I managed to fall. I don't know how it happened....it really felt like an out of body experience. I wish I could say that I tripped on something or lost my balance and fell...but I can't. One second I was walking fine, eating my chicken salad...the next I am on the ground. Of course I was wearing a white skirt! So both of my knee and shins are scratched up, same thing with my hands. I managed to get 2 bites of my chicken salad before it managed to take a dive onto the pavement. So there I was chicken salad on my shirt, and blood on my skirt trying to hobble to the car because I also twisted my ankle.....Bad thing #1.

Why I didn't just turn around and go home I don't know. I hate to just not show up to an appointment I made, so I did go to the salon. Arrived a tad late due to the fall. I was in and out of the salon...probably not more than 30 minutes. I get to the car and I am pulling out of my parking space and next thing you know. Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump.....yes, I have a flat tire! The tire was completely flat! No clue what happened. I checked the spot where I was parked and there wasn't a piece of glass around. Of course, Mike is at a Bears game so it wasn't like he could come and change the tire for me. At first the only thing that was going through my mind was "if only Mike would of showed me how to change a flat." I have been asking him to show me at least for the past year and I always get the answer, "next time we go home to my folk's house, I'll show you." Needless to say, we have been there plenty of times through the year and still have not been shown...so next time, mark my words, he will show me! (Though after watching the guy do it last night, it look relatively simple and I am quite confident I can do it now) The bright side of this story is that this time, my cell phone was charged so I was able to call 411 and get the number to a local towing company for them to come and change my flat. The guy on the other line said 10 to 15 minutes. At first I was waiting in the car but it hurt my knee to bend it so I decided to stand and wait outside. It was better because I could hold my skirt in one hand and lift it above my knee so no more blood would get on it but this really didn't help my situation because every time the wind blew on the open womb, it burned. So there I am, stranded in a sketchy area of Bucktown, with blood dripping down my leg, blood on my skirt and chicken salad on my shirt with a flat tire! 30 minutes and $40 later, the guy shows up and changes my tire. Of course they only accept cash and I only had $20 on me so I followed the guy to the bank down a couple of blocks and went to the ATM and took money out. Obviously, the flat was bad thing #2.

I am driving home, flat fixed and thinking to my self where I should go to get the flat fixed and when I would find the time to do it before Saturday. I am going down to Oak Lawn on Saturday to see my mom and show her the wedding pictures. Since I will be needing to drive on the highway, I would need to get the tire fixed because you can't drive with a spare over 55 mph. I am almost home, less tha 1/4 mile away and I get to the intersection of Wellington and Sheffield. I am stopped at red light and then it happened - bad thing #3 - I get rear ended! I am thinking to myself, "YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" I look in the rearview mirror to see a 20 something girl on her cell phone - and yes - being on your cell phone while driving in the City of Chicago is illegal as of July 1st of this year - obviously she didn't get that memo. By this time I didn't know if I was going to break into tears or go off. I hobble out of the car, and I can see the look of fright on her face because I am hobbling out of the car and she sees the blood down my leg and probably trying to figure out what the white spread on my shirt is. She immediately asks me if I am ok. I then continue to ramble on the events of the evening to this complete stranger. I know she felt bad and there wasn't any damage to the cars so we exchanged insurance information and didn't even have to go to the police station to fill out a report because there was a parked police car right there who saw the accident. Yes, she got a ticket...2 actually. 1 for rear ending me and the other for driving with a cell phone.

At this point, all I wanted to do was just crawl under the sheets and go to bed....actually that is what I wanted to do for the past 3 hours! I finally get to our neighborhood and spent about 15 minutes trying to find a parking stop. I found one on Wellington. I got out of the car and gathered up my stuff and walked across the street to find solitaire in the form of a LARGE icy from the Ice Box. I usually get the small, to avoid the access calories but after the evening I had, I thought a Large was justified. I Walked in the apartment, clean my cuts, changed into PJs, and watched the remaining hour of the US open while eating my icy. I got home at exactly 9 and was asleep by 10.

Today, I am hoping, will be much better. So far it has started out well. I got into work today on time - early even and we get out early due to the holiday weekend. And I have managed to spend the past hour typing this blog...so in retrospect, all is going well. :) I'll be out of here in about 3 hours.

I hope everyone has a good holiday weekend. Be Safe!

A Life Changing Month

Hello Everyone! So I have decided that I can't be a loyal fellow blogger. I tired and tried but I just don't have anything interesting to share on a daily basis but I do have something to share on a monthly basis! So I have decided to just admit that I can't do this blogg thing every day or even every week.... but I can at least do it once every month. Doing it every month allows me to build up interesting thoughts and stories...I guess it is because a lot more stuff happens to me over the course of the month rather than in the course of a day.

To bring everyone up to speed, I am officially (50%) Mrs.. Sonia M. Patterson! Technically, I have been a Patterson as of July 1st but now I am 50% legal. I went to the DMV yesterday and changed the name on my license. I have to still change my name on my Social Security Card to make myself 100% legal....but I think this change will wait till next week as going to the SS office is never a pleasant thing. I have attempted to go twice this week and I have always been number 75 in line with only 1 window open! On a side note, I had to get a new license photo...I no longer look like I am twelve.

Mike and I have been enjoying married life. We have 3 new additions to the family.We recently purchased an Audio System for our Big screen TV and a Audio Stand for our DVD player and Play station. I wish I could say that it was Mike who initiated this purchase..but no, it was me. It all started with the Audio Stand...I found one on Best Buy.com and went to pick it up. I had Mike with me of course - this was my 1st mistake....while we were there he asked if we can look at Audio Systems, I figured that there was no harm in looking. 20 mins later we left Best Buy with a Audio Stand and Audio System! I guess I was anticipating that the cost of the Audio System would be far more than we paid but I think we got a good deal and now our living room is complete. So the good thing is that there is no longer anything else we can buy as far as electronics are concerned. :) I said we have 3 new additions, the 3rd addition is our new living room set. I think it is a shame that I purchased this set because I really like it but have a table cloth on it because I don't want to scratch it. Of course, the table cloth takes away the beauty of the table. Oh -well. I am sure that once we get our first scratch on it, we'll never use the table cloth again. :)

Besides all of this, both Mike and I celebrated birthdays this month. I turned 27 on the 21st and Mike turned the big 30 on the 28th. For my birthday, we had friends over at our place. By the end of the night, I was surround by a lot of Gay people. :) We ended up at Roscoe's, which is in Boys Town. It was a blast! It was also my first appearance at a gay bar...super fun. For Mike's birthday, we had a surprise birthday dinner at Ditka's restaurant. Mike Ditka himself was there to personally say "Happy Birthday" to Mike. Overall, both birthdays were lots of fun.

Now that July is finally behind us, I am looking forward to what lies ahead of us.

Go Me!

Hello Everyone! I am very excited to say that I am officially a real estate agent! Yes...after a grueling 3 hours and 25 minute test, I some how managed to successfully pass the State Examination. I can honestly say that an hour into the test, I wasn't feeling so confident and at hour 2, I think I just gave up completely and started to think ahead to the next day I had available make my 2nd attempt at the exam. And I can without a doubt tell you that I was not at all confident that I passed when I finally submitted the test. Once again, I was in denial when the woman handed me my sponsor card and said, " Congratulations." The exact words that came out of my mouth were, " seriously?" I am super excited because I can OFFICIALLY not have to worry about anything and enjoy the remaining 15 days coming up to the wedding.

Go Me!

T Minue 13 Days!

Hello All! As everyone knows by now, I passed my final examination. I just wanted to let everyone know that I FINALLY signed up to take my State Exam on Wednesday June 15th....so less than 2 weeks away. The little break away from real estate was very nice but now it's time to begin the whole studying process once again. I will be so excited when this is all over. In other news, last night I went for a "trial run" with my hairdresser. The way she did my hair last night was adorable. I am sure it will look great the day of the wedding. Tonight we meet with the Pastor and go through the service. This should be fun. I can't believe that the wedding is 28 days away! Only 8 more days till RSVPs are due back....If you haven't replied yet, I suggest you do! :)