Making Memories in Santa Fe

I still don't have wedding pictures. Bummer. And I refuse to do a wedding post without wedding pictures. Well, our wedding post anyway. Hollllaaaa, Santa Fe!!!

This past weekend Cash's co-worker and the closest friend I have in Midland got hitched. Yeah they did! I love these people...

my first week ever in Midland..haha

I knew when I first met Ross and Barbara that I would love hanging out with them. When our wedding got closer and it was set that I was moving to Midland, I didn't know really anyone else to call a friend. I felt so comfortable to be able to call or text Barb and ask her to come over and lay out or do lunch. In fact she was going to come over one day to hang out by the pool so I hopped in the shower to shave my legs. Then I heard the doorbell ring an hour early, and I knew it was her. I threw a towel on and with shaving cream running down my legs, I answered the door. She just busted our laughing and sat in the other side of the bathroom while I finished my bath. haha...not too many friends are that awesome!

Being the new girl in a close-knit town marrying a hometown boy is a dauting task. I remember being the judge of all the girls my guy friends dated and married. Being on the flip side of things and living in a new state for the first time in my life I have been pretty anxious. Will I meet friends? Will the girls like me? What if I don't make any girlfriends?? Every girl has those nerves, and moving to a place like Midland where oil has struck it rich ..and me coming from small town Arkansas... magnified that. But Barbara was so fun and enjoyable to be around that I knew I would at least have one friend besides Cash.

my now husband and dear friend at the Ranch Party 2011

Ross and Barb Ranch Party 2011

Oh, we've had some great times. Ranch party, anyone? Crawfish boil when we were both so spotted burnt we looked like we had leprosy. Well, kind of. And enduring all the rock shops we get taken to.

Ross and Cash

These 2 guys go way back. Back it on up to high school. Now they are the two most handsome geologists at Clayton Williams.

So when Ross popped the question to sweet Barbara (in Hawaii!!! single guys take note), it was a yes ma'am on the rsvp. They decided to say their vows (and oh my how sweet they were---every female in the room, as well as Ross's brother, were tearing up with Barb through her vows) in gorgeous Santa Fe and the Four Seasons Encantado. Take your breath away!

But with all the excitement of going to our first wedding as a married couple, seeing our friends tie the knot, having a weekend out of town...with all of that I was still nervous. I would have Cash, but who else would I talk to? What will it be like? I didn't know many other people in this circle.

Luckily, after the wedding we were all standing outside and got to talking to people around us. I already knew Heather (the single sweetest person in the world) and Kellye (Ross's sister), so I just stuck in that group. Then I got to meet Savannah, and oh my stars. We had the best best best time!!!

Savannah, Kellye, me, and Heather (thanks, Heather, for tweeting this pic. ha)

Don't mind me looking like the alcoholic. Right before the picture was snapped, everyone else set their glass down and there I was the sole holder of a glass of wine. The wedding was gorgeous. The company was even better. We danced and talked and ate and danced some more.

my amazing husband

Cash even danced and not just the one slow dance he had promised me. He boogied. He shook what his momma gave him. He dropped it like it was hott.

On top of all that something changed for me this weekend. I got to know more people and felt so comfortable. I watched my husband interact with so many old friends. And although I still felt like a newbie, I knew I'd be okay. Before the night was over, Heather looked at me and said, "Barbara and I were talking how you were moving to Midland and we said, 'She is so going to be in our group!!!'" How can that not make you feel like you already have a place to belong?

While I've always had a great time with my friends and know how to feel at home back "home", it was fun yet different this weekend. People were no longer talking about the time in basketball in high school or about the hard time with a student this past year or about the latest with so-and-so. And I missed that. At one point I put my head on Cash's shoulder with big tears in my eyes and said seeing all these people so close makes me miss my friends.

But while it was different, it was still really good. People were now talking about college degrees and the careers they led. Doing Aggie chants not calling the Hogs. It was oil talk and vacations. I've known life would be different in Midland because opportunities are different. However, on top of being different in the realm of friends and networking it was different that I was now Avery Pullin, a Mrs. It stings a little to miss my friends and family, the ones who watched me grow up and the ones who knew me single and saw me endure 26 years by myself. The ones who watched me grow as a person and a friend. But I get the opportunity of a lifetime and that's in starting out a new chapter with new surroundings, a new last name, and a new chance. No one may know all the baggage or all the childhood memories or all the proud moments. But they have what is me now: a married woman starting a new job and new adventure. That's my blank slate...one I'm proud to start writing on.

--Be blessed--

Avery