We Have Half a Home

This morning at approximately 10AM we got keys to our flat! For those who don't know, a flat, is the equivalent of a US apartment yet slightly different. So you will probably hear that term a lot from me because really, it is very much a flat, and completely different then an apartment. Our furniture arrives on Tuesday and the movers unpack us on Wednesday.

ANYWAYS, yes, we got our keys this morning and now have complete access to our place. Our relocation agent, Flemming, picked us up from our hotel this morning and took us to our flat where we met the agent for the home owner. The two agents went through the apartment making notes about things that weren't in tip top shape (inventory if you willl) and read the meters and make a note of it, and show us a few things we might need to know about (fuse box, opening the canopy, working the fridge, finding the storage room) and of course, give us the keys. Flemming took us to ISO, a grocery store here to make sure we know everything we needed to know about them (which of course we did, though there were 1 or 2 minor things that have changed in the past 3 years. Mostly to do with recycling..yes in the grocery store, I'll get to that later). He then took us to TI and I ate lunch with Michael in the cafeteria there, left and went back to ISO. I got some Lime Light (for calcium in the shower) and garbage bags, Kleenex, cough drops, paper towels and a bottle of wine ( the bottle of wine was for tonight though, not the flat). While standing in line I met a nice guy in his 30's probably that I understood perfectly(because he spoke to me in Danish) that told me that another line was much shorter, so I followed him over. At some point while we were standing ther he realized I only spoke English and started talking to me. When the lady in front of him started having problems with the debit card machine he apoligized and said it was his fault I was standing there because he put me in that line. Of course, nice me just laughed, said it as nothing and it wasn't his fault. I think he felt bad..we chatted a bit in line and after I checked out he was still bagging up his stuff and said Have a Happy New Year, and I said, thank you and you too and he responded with, "take care". It sounds silly and simple but it reminded me of how incredibly friendly and nice the Danes are once you start speaking with them. At first they can seem almost standoffish when you are use to friendly Texas ways..especially West Texas ways and especially especially Lubbock West Texas ways, but once you get to know them, or break the ice a bit, they are such a friendly people here. After ISO I headed back to the flat and dropped it all off and looked around again and headed back home. Michael worked for about 2 hours after I left him and headed back this way too. We went to the gym, had a glass of wine, went down to the lobby bar/cafe for another glass of wine and dinner and now we are back up here and I am writing this.

The Danes are getting very excited for New Years and if we hadn't lived here previously I would think we were in a VERY bad part of town because of all the gun shots. Luckily I know, they are just fireworks randomly going off. I can't WAIT to show video and pictures from New Years Eve here, it is insane, and like nothing I have ever experienced before. It cannot be described in words, though when New Years Day comes, I will be up to the challenge because it will be fresh in my mind.

Our First REAL Danish Christmas

While this was actually our second Christmas to spend in Denmark, it was actually our first real Danish Christmas. We left on Saturday to head to the other side of Denmark. We met Klaus at the Central Copenhagen train station in the morning. We went a little early to make seat reservations for the way back home and for some coffee. We hopped on a train at 11:00. Since we didn't have seat reservations and the train was packed we had to stand for the first 3 hours of the trip!! The last 2 hours, seats cleared up and we finally got to sit down.

The town Klaus is from is cute and little and surrounded by "country". It was nice to get out of the hustle and bustle of big Copenhagen. Klaus's parents were so nice (we had met his mom once before in Dallas) and made us feel right at home. They fed us non stop and it was all really wonderful food.

Christmas Eve Klaus took us to a wooden tower for a really cool view of the area.

The Tower

View from the top of the tower. It was REALLY windy and REALLY cold up there.

We went to church on Christmas eve at a really old and really small church. It was built in 1773!!! Michael and I were squished into the pew. Thankfully the service was not long at all and we were out pretty fast.Klaus sat a few rows ahead of us and his parents on the other side of the church. We got there pretty early, but it was still filled up. Again, like I said, it was a small small church.

The Church

After Church and before dinner on Christmas Eve

Here in Denmark, they celebrate Christmas Eve. Christmas Day is just kinda put on the back burner for a day to eat leftovers and recuperate from the night before. So we got home and had a big ol feast of pork and duck, potatoes and I don't remember what else because I was too busy stuffing my face. For desert we had "Ris ala mande" Almond/Rice Pudding basically. It is a tradition that an almond is hidden in it and whoever gets the Almond, gets a present. Guess who found it? MICHAEL! He got a game which was put into good use! :)

Ris Ala Mande with cherry sauce on top

So after dessert, we played the game, and then...you ready for this? We sung Christmas carols while walking around the Christmas tree!!! This is a very very popular Danish tradition and it appears most families do it. I had read about it, but never done it. It was actually pretty fun. They had some English songs, and Danish songs, and we had to sing both. Then it was gift opening time. I had never opened presents like this before. One person would take a present and give it to the person it was for, then that person would go get a gift and take it to that person and so on and so forth. We got some really nice things and thought that was really nice of them.

The Christmas Tree

hristmas Day we went for a little walk in the town and did..literally nothing. Kinda funny to do nothing on Christmas Day.

Klaus's hometown. That is Michael and Klaus walking

The 26th Klaus's parents took us on a little tour of the area. It was about 3 hours and we drove up along the coast and back down the other side and saw lots of cool stuff. It was fun. Then we came back that evening. We left at 6pm and got back to Copenhagen a little after 11pm.

One of the places we stopped on our little tour. The North Sea. It was also really windy and really cold here!

I have a lot more pictures, but thought this was enough for right now.

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!!

PS as a side note: We get our keys to our flat tomorrow! Yea!!!

For Christmas I Really Want a Night in a Hotel

You know how a lot of business's at Christmas time will give all their employees a Christmas present? Well they do the same thing here. (Actually TI in Dallas did not do this.. I'm sure it has something to do with the massive amount of employees that it employs) Anyways, yesterday the TI office here got their Christmas presents. Guess what it was??? Ya, you got it, "A Night in a Hotel"! HAHAHAHA... Michael said all his co-workers were making fun of him. "oh look, I bet thats what you have always wanted" "Is the SAS Radisson on there?" Actually it's pretty cool. The hotel choices are scattered throughout Denmark, Nearby Sweden and very Northern Germany or we could pick to take something else on the card that is offered. A wine package, a food package, a glassware package. We just have to decide if we want the hotel, or something else by January 6th. I don't know what we will decide to go with. There are a lot of places in Denmark we are wanting and to have 1 free night in a hotel might just come in handy However, 6 bottles of wine is never a bad choice....Well, we have time. :)

Tomorrow we are going to the Western Coast of Denmark for Christmas. We are going with Klaus to his families place. We have been to the area once before, but in a different town. It is out in the country and are really looking forward to it. We will go by train tomorrow morning and come back on Tuesday for our last week here at the hotel.

Yesterday we went to the Lyngby town hall to register and got that all taken care of. Actually we wont be officially registered until January 1st, but we got the paperwork and all the nitty gritty stuff out of the way.

Michael, Don't Make Me Leave!!!

Great News!! (no no, we aren't having a baby ;o) )

But really, Michael got some good news yesterday. The woman that was living in our flat moved out yesterday. The landlord is doing the stuff he needs to do to it to get it all ready for us....and we get the keys on December 29th. While it is only like 3 days early, its nice to know we can get into it then. We contacted the movers/shippers and our stuff is scheduled to arrive in Copenhagen on the 26th of December. But we aren't sure if will have already been through customs or not. Michael is going to schedule a move in date with the movers today. It may be next Saturday, or it may have to wait until Tuesday. If it is Tuesday, we will stay in the hotel until then, so we can have a bed to sleep in. If it is Saturday, we will probably stay here until Sunday morning.

When we got all this information I actually found myself sad and not wanting to have to leave "hotel life" and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why because I am so incredibly excited about our flat and the town we will be living in. I'm excited to get all our stuff and putting the place together, REALLY excited to be able to start cooking again and to get into a daily routine. So why on earth do I want to stay in this hotel as long as possible??

Then I had an epiphany.

It hit me like a ton of bricks. I had felt this strong feeling of not wanting to leave before, many times, and all in one particular circumstance. All my apprehensions I was having about leaving this hotel are the exact feelings I always get when we are getting ready to pack up and leave from a trip/vacation. In particular when we are leaving other counties. In the past 6 months alone I have experienced it 4 times now...Tokyo in June, The Cruise to Mexico in August, Denmark in October, and again, right now.

My epiphany: I realized that I haven't realized that we are staying in Denmark!!

I am finding myself not wanting to "leave" because I have enjoyed our short time in Copenhagen. It has been so refreshing to step outside and walk to the city center and just...."BE". Be in the moment, be in the city, be in awe of everything Danish.. you know, just "BE". It has been wonderful to be able to take in life and watch others live theirs, enjoying the simple things like fresh brisk air, cobblestone streets, Christmas decorations and a warm steamy cup of coffee. It's no wonder I have attached all of that to being here, in the hotel, and it's no wonder that living in a hotel has somehow convinced my inner voice that this is just a little jaunt to Europe and like always, Michael is going to FORCE me to pack up and drag me back to the US against my will ;) (Sheesh, the nerve of him!)

So... I guess, I don't believe we are here to stay and apparently it hasn't dawned on Michael either. To him, it feels like a long business trip. I wonder when it WILL hit us?? Perhaps when everything we own shows up on our doorstep? (It hit us pretty fast in Dallas, and I am sure the biggest factor was that Hendrix and the Blazer were both with us when we arrived and they both signified "home") I will say, it is nice to know that I am enjoying being here so much that even though we AREN'T leaving Denmark... I am having "I Don't Want to Leave Denmark" Syndrome.

Anniversary/Room Pictures

First things First:
Our Anniversary! We had a blast. Michael came home a little early and we got dressed and ready to go. He had bought some champagne, I mean sparkling white wine (properly named, anniversary) that we had really enjoyed when we were here 3 years ago. I had also gone to a fantastic bakery/cake shop earlier and got us a couple slices of cake to go with it. On our way out we asked the Concierge service if they could send up a bucket of ice to chill it for us while we were away. Of course they did no problem. While in the lobby we got some free Glogg. You may say, what is Glogg? And what a funny name! It is a drink, similar to mulled wine and at the bottom of the glass there are raisins and almonds that have been soaked in port. You sip it, and eat the treats at the bottom with a spoon. I had missed it terribly the past 4 years, so have been so happy to have it again. We have had it from several places, but my personal favorite, was the one here at the hotel. ANYWAYS, we went to eatand see the show at Tivoli. Tivoli is pretty hard to explain. It is an amusement park, but not like 6 flags, and not like Disneyland. Its a beautiful place in the middle of Copenhagen with gardens, and restaurants a few rides, and just a really great place to go especially to people watch. At Christmas time they set up a Christmas Market and all sorts of other fun stuff. So we ate, walked around a bit, got rained on ALOT, walked around some more and saw the show there which was HYSTERICAL. It was a 3 hour show and we laughed from the start till the end. Anyways, enough on that.. here are some pictures!!!

Tivoli

Michael inside the Nisse House (basically elf house)

Me!

and for fun, heres a video from inside the Nisse Village thing... Push play :)
In the video I am drinking glogg with an added shot of whiskey. yum.




We have made it a tradition that every year on our anniversary we would take a picture by a Christmas Tree. So this is this years picture:

OK, Second! Where are we living??
I haven't taken pictures of the actual hotel or lobby yet, but here is our room! The room we were in previously was SOOO much smaller, we didn't have much space at all..Thankfully we only had to live there like 3 days! We have been in this room exactly 2 weeks today.

Front Door/Computer Desk
One of our two big windows, drawers, tvCouch and Coffee Table

Bedroom
Poor us, having to live here huh?? ;) Actually it hasn't been to bad. We both already think that this place has already become more like home then our Apartment in Plano ever did. I suppose since we never got completely unpacked there,and were there 18 days before finding out we were leaving, we never let it feel like home. Here, we have gotten pretty comfortable. Everything we have here is unpacked and well, as you can see, its pretty nice. No complaints :)

Happy 3 Year Anniversary to Us!!!

Yesterday after I wrote the blog post about how I should get out and do stuff even though I've already seen it, I decided to up and go!! So I went to visit an old friend... The Little Mermaid! To get there I had a pleasant walk around an old citadel which I believe now houses the Danish defense Intelligence Service. I had a nice stoll enjoying the nice weather and the scenery. From there I went and saw the little mermaid and got a kick (as always) watching all the tourists taking pictures with her. Then I wondered up the Christmas Market at Nyhavn. It was a nice enjoyable day. I really wish I could post pictures easily. We have found a way around the filter on Michaels computer... but he doesn't bring it home every night. I'll get pictures up soon! :)

I really really really can't believe 3 years has already passed!! Wasn't it just yesterday that we got married? I was flipping through pictures and decided to make a little slide show to remember the day by. So here it is! We look soooo young too!!

Creatures of Routine

Amos Bronson Alcott once said, “The less routine the more life.”
I LAUGH in the face of less routine!!!! OK,not really, actually I find myself ready to cry in the face of less routine. I'd say we have pretty exciting and not boring lives. Well I suppose our daily lives are pretty boring, breakfast, work, gym, dinner...and weekends we add in a bottle of wine. (ya, sounds boring) Friends will come in from out of town or we will go visit others and we still have to go to the gym at night and be in bed early and say no to going with anyone last minute, and people have to beg us to go to a bar and we still say no because, well its not part of our routine. BUT, I will say, our overall lives are pretty exciting. We have done a ton and seen a lot for our young age so I think we are doing alright with being creatures of routine and if you know us, you know we thrive on routine and go crazy when we don't have one.

All that being said, I think we FINALLY got a routine down here in the 'ol SAS Radisson!!! yippee!

So here it is:

*Wake up call

*Eat a HUGE breakfast downstairs (since it is our main meal of the day now) keep an apple and yogurt, on the way back up stop and get some coffee from the lobby with 4 extra cups for protein shakes (2 a day per person)and grab a croissant if they have one

* Michael leaves for work

*ALL DAY... Michael works, I do what needs to be done here, grocery store, laundry (still in the sink and hung dry, I don't mind it. Is kinda fun, Michael likes it too. He says it makes him feel "industrial and pioneer-esque", and yes, he has helped with it several times now.), set up stuff (netbank,and other boring stuff like that), send out old bills ect... Around noon or a little after, I have to leave the room so housekeeping can come and give us new towels, coffee cups, plates, and whatever else it is they do in here.. I can't stand not having something to clean, so I usually straighten every 3rd day or so... makes it more livable. :)

(Lunch usually consists of... the apple and yogurt from breakfast and the croissant from the lobby and coffee...and I usually find a little more from somewhere)

*Michael comes home

*Gym

*Dinner - avocados, cereal sometimes, crackers, cheese, fruit, sandwhiches sometimes, and other odds and ends I I've picked up... not a big dinner, but we are tired of eating stuff that is prepared for us.. so full of sodium or butter. I can't wait to get a kitchen back!!!

*Bed

*Rinse, Repeat....


sounds terribly exciting doesn't it?

It seems that being in Europe should be sooo much more exciting then everything I have said and done since we got here huh?? And I'm sure it would seem that way if I didn't know the city inside and out and walked over and played in Central Copenhagen more often...and came back and wrote about all the new stuff I've seen and done.. but it seems sooo... not new!!

Ah, Copenhagen!!! been there...done that... I am so fancy! ;)
Perhaps I'll try to get out and find something to write about that everyone else might find interesting even though they might just seem so particularly Danish and ordinary to me...

Tomorrow is our 3 year anniversary!! I can hardly believe it. We have big plans too! I will, without a doubt, take lots of pictures! :)

Christmas Tree Video

The sun made an appearance the past two days!! YEA!!! Yesterday during the day and so far all day today, there hasn't really been a cloud in the sky over us! Just blue sky and a shiny sun, and guess what we did with that sun today? Thats right stayed inside and admired it from our window!! Yesterday we went out for a bit just wondering around. Got some lunch, some christmas beer, Glogg (similar to mulled wine) and Aebleskivers (best I can describe them is little pancake balls with jelly and powdered sugar) and came back. Stroget (the huge pedestrian street here) was PACKED you could hardly move down it, so we didn't stay on it long.
This morning we decided we didn't want to do a thing, so we haven't. Our entire bodies hurt from our past two days in the gym and its been kinda nice to sit around and be lazy and watch tv. So as you can see, there really isn't ANYTHING going on with us at all. We kinda feel like we are on vacation, but at the same time not really.

Here is a video I uploaded from the Christmas Tree Lighting last weekend. When "JuleMand" (Translated to Christmas Man AKA... SANTA) gets to the top of the ladder there are about 30 seconds of him standing there. He is waiting for the clock and bells to strike 4 o clock. Just hit the play button and turn up your volume!
Hope you enjoy!

Pictures...I HOPE!!

Yesterday our day started out great. I went to Lyngby with Michael and we went to DTU to see a few people. One was our good friend Dorte. She is one of the secretaries at the university and she became a friend and was wonderful to us while we were here last time. Her family is very sweet too and we have scheduled a dinner with them at the beginning of January. We had all wanted to do it sooner, but with the Christmas Holidays, it was hard to find time before. We also saw one of Michaels old advisor's, Pierro. He is Italian and always made us laugh. It was great to see both of them. From here Michael went to work, and I spent a short time in Lyngby at the "Store center" (like a mall) and grocery store. I came back to the hotel and left again where I spent several hours wondering aimlessly around central Copenhagen. It has always been one of my favorite things to do and favorite ways to take in the city. On my way back to the hotel it started raining and got VERY windy. (this had happened to me the previous day as well)By the I got back to the hotel and I looked in the mirror, I looked like a Dane with their rosy cheeks!!! I had the rosiest cheeks I had ever seen on me. I cleaned up the hotel room and did some laundry.. in the sink and hung it on the laundry line in the shower (because it is going to cost us at this point 160 bucks to get hardly any laundry done at all, and while TI would pay for it, We are both too nice to charge that amount for laundry to the company) Last time I did laundry in the sink was right after the first time we had moved to Denmark the first time. We have been searching for a laundry mat, but aren't having any luck and no one can really tell us a close one to go to. I know where several are, but they are pretty far and I don't want to drag our clothes all that way. I will do another load today.... :)

Ok, so we have been having some problems with posting pictures and video. The hotel we are staying at apparently has a filter of some kind turned on to where we can't. We have tried NUMEROUS things to try to be able to get them online and FINALLY I found something that works... for the pictures, still working on the video though.

I had tried to post some pictures in the post yesterday, and I thought I had it, but then I had an email from my mom telling me otherwise. Bleh.... These are thumbnails and small and when you click on them, it will take you to another site to look at the pictures... pain for now, but will have to do.....
So I hope this works:
(Please let me know if it does or doesn't!!)

Michael and I at the Christmas Tree Lighting

by ndnhippo

Castle Wall that we (I) walk by almost everyday

by ndnhippo

View from the Castle Wall

by ndnhippo

Copenhagen

by ndnhippo

Typical Yellow Building in Copenhagen off of Stroget

by ndnhippo

Trying ... To... Stay.... Awake.....

So I bet you are wondering what the heck we have been up to since we got here!

Well, as you know, we are living in a hotel. The SAS Radisson to be exact. When we first arrived we were in a standard room because the hotel was booked and they weren't able to put us in a Jr. Suite. So we dealt with the small room for a 3 nights and then got moved to the 18th floor to a Jr. Suite. It is much bigger and we now have two rooms. a bedroom and living room. And our stuff all fits in here! yea!! It was a tight fit before. With the Jr. Suite we also get free breakfast. (we were paying before)So we like our room. There is a gym on the 4th floor. Not a cheesy little hotel gym, but a real gym!! We are happy about that.

Michaels work has started off great. He is really enjoying it, loves the people he is working with and I know it was nice for him that he already knew everyone and didn't have to waste time having to figure out who was who. Currently his commute is about 45 minutes... which isn't bad considering that is the same amount of time he was commuting in Dallas.

While he has been at work, I have been trying to figure out ways to eat here. We haven't really eaten out all that much and have been eating salads and sandwhiches for dinner but they are quickly getting old. and we have no forks so we are eating salad with our hands (good thing we don't eat dressing) We both miss having a kitchen! And it is really hard to eat well (meaning healthy) when you can't cook! But we are making it work. It will be nice to have a kitchen again.

The darkness is crazy. Talking about it and remembering it, and actually being in it and experiencing it are two totally different things. While its not pitch black all day long, it is still pretty dark from about 9-3. Last time we were here we were able to ease into the darkness, but this time it has been a little more difficult since we were just thrown into it. Usually for me about the middle of the day (right now) I start getting really tired. Almost like my body isn't sure if it is suppose to be waking up or to start winding down for the day. There have been a few days when the sun makes its brief appearance that the clouds are so thick and low to the ground that it makes the day super dark.

I've also been wondering the streets and have been to a couple museums. Ones I had been to previously, but was fun to go back. The state museum has a nice exhibit on the history of Denmark from the 1600-2000's. The last time I went through this exhibit we had only been here a month or two so this time through I appreciated it so much more after knowing so much more about the country.

We also went and watched the mayor light the big Christmas Tree last Sunday in the Town Hall Square. We will post that video soon...

Ill start posting more again... Ive been so tired during th day that I don't even have motivation to post on here. Michael has been dragging alot as well. And apparently a lot of the Danes are too, or so we have been told, so I know its not just us. Now I think its time to go get a cup of coffee and lunch.

I've been having some problems uploading pictures, but I'm working on it.. bleh!!
SOOOO stay tuned, for photos! Call it anticipation if you will.. ;)

Learning to Love Our Lives Abroad - Our Story

Today we start a new focus of this blog; our time in Denmark. While we already know we love it here (therefor, not "Learning to Love Denmark") and in the short few days we have been back here, both in October and now it is obvious to us, that our feelings towards this country have not changed. I now hope to look back at this blog one day with warm feelings about our lives here and am anxious to see how our lives adjust to being here. When I say "our lives", I mean our WHOLE lives. Last time, it was just us a few bags and a countdown clock since we knew the exact month we would be leaving, this time it's not just us and a few bags, but it is us, close to everything we own, and the future is not already set in stone. This is a once in a lifetime experience and we have been lucky enough to call it a twice in a lifetime experience.

So I will start this blog with "Our Story" to freshen up everyones mind as to how and why we spent 15 months here and how and why we returned. Some of you may have read this off our website, but since it is down, I thought It might be nice to post up here. So, here we go!!

Once upon a time we lived in Denmark…and we fell in love. Michael was chosen to be the inaugural student to work on a dual master’s degree program between Texas Tech University and Denmark Technical University while doing research at Texas Instruments in Copenhagen that would later be used for his thesis. Before leaving we were oblivious to the fact that this adventure would change both the simplest and complex aspects of our lives, forever. Living abroad taught us so much about not only another culture and way of life, but about our world, ourselves as a couple and ourselves and each other as individuals. It was an experience we now look back on and can’t fathom our lives had it never existed.

We arrived in Denmark in June 2002. It took us a couple months to get use to the differences in everyday life that Denmark presented us. With time we grew very comfortable being in Denmark and quickly felt a strong affection for everything Danish. There was something about Copenhagen that meshed completely with our ideal way of life. Our 15 months passed very quickly and we found when it was time to return home, we were both deeply saddened that our time in Denmark was coming to an abrupt halt. Much to our surprise it was incredibly difficult for us to adjust to being home. Upon returning we found ourselves unbelievably homesick and experiencing a strange and strong culture shock to our home county. Oddly enough, our homesickness and culture shock to the the United Sates was much greater then we experienced when we got to Denmark 15 months prior. We took very careful note of our strong feelings and passion for the small country we came to love realized that we HAD to go back at some point in our lives. Not just to visit, but to stay awhile. Perhaps to work at TI or maybe even to do some Post Doctorate work at DTU. We just knew, we were yearning to go back.

About a year and a half after our return Michael started to see the light at the end of the tunnel on his Ph.D. and started the job hunt. Something not many people may realize is that the Denmark office actually gave Michael his job offer. The first call he made was to the Texas Instruments office in Copenhagen letting them know he would be finishing his education soon and was looking for a job. Within a couple months Michael had a job offer from TI Copenhagen in his hands. He would be one of 4 guys starting a brand new design center in the town of Lyngby (Same town DTU is located and where we bought our wedding rings) upon completion of his degree. The only catch? We would have to spend one year in Dallas so Michael could get some training under his belt...Ok, DONE. Though, this was not an easy decision because neither of our West Texas hearts had the slightest desire to move to the giant DFW area.

August of 2005 rolled around and we moved from our safe haven of the small college/farm town that is Lubbock to the big city. As many people know our time in Dallas did not start off well and it took us a loooong time to adjust. Our excitement and anticipation about moving back Denmark, made our time slightly less difficult. Once February came around we were finally able to start focusing on our upcoming move and we were able to stop thinking about all the negative feelings we had about Dallas. Then, without warning, the storm hit. We hopped on a couple big waves and rode them and waited until it settled.

Here’s where it gets tricky. Without saying too much or making this too confusing there was a big corporate restructure within TI that caused many changes. One being the anticipated design center in Lyngby. The vision of the center and the products being made had changed. This was a big kink in the path Michael had established for himself. Not just a little kink but a big messy one. Some of Michaels superiors expressed great interest in him staying in Dallas and made it very clear that staying, was indeed, an option. We were forced to sit down and really think about what we wanted to do and what would be best for us, not just now but in the future as well. We spent a couple months talking and thinking about each side of the issue. Finally one Saturday we had a very long 13 hour conversation (Some of which took place in the gym and most that involved lots and lots of wine) because we needed to make a decision. The end of our lease was creeping up and we needed to know what step to take next. It was that night we decided to stay in Dallas. We came up with several ways to make Dallas more appealing as a way to help us look forward to staying in Dallas for at least a little while longer. (Buying a house, a new car, taking more big trips, starting a little family….Doggies, not babies)

About a month after we had made this decision, TI was still feeling effects and changes from the corporate restructure, especially in Michaels group. We had some information “leaked” to us that the Danish office would be calling Michael to re-offer him the job. The design center in Copenhagen reverted back to its original vision with some added bonus’s. About a week before we left on our cruise, Michael got that call. We didn’t know whether to laugh or cry about it. By this time we had FORCED ourselves to come up with lots and lots of negatives about moving back to Denmark to help ease the pain of knowing that we had stripped ourselves from this wonderful opportunity, and honestly, had gotten very excited about staying in Dallas. We found ourselves back in a position to have to make another decision. Our decision was, let’s not make this decision. If it was meant to happen it was, if it wasn’t...it wasn’t. This time, TI would be deciding for us. Michael gave them some requests and some conditions that if met, we would go, and if not we wouldn’t. After a couple months of working on these requests some were met and some were not, but when weighed, the scales tipped heavily in favor of us moving back and one September Monday morning we were actually NOT shocked when Michael got a call with a start date of December 1^st. When we were making the decision in the spring whether or not to go, Michael mentioned that for all we know either option we choose would probably lead us in the same direction and the two paths may meet up at some point, and perhaps 5 years down the road we still maybe moving to Denmark. He's a smart boy, but it was a bit shorter then 5 years.

Since learning of our upcoming move we have had to start chiseling away at all the negative thoughts we had put in our heads about moving back. Which has not been easy to do. Perhaps learning to enjoy Dallas was a step we had to take before we could leave, so that one day, moving back to Dallas would be much easier. As each day passes we are finding ourselves more and more excited about returning to Denmark. So, after 3 years of desperately wanting to return, and 2 years of anticipating an actual return, we are finally going back to the land that captivated our hearts and souls in an indescribable way.

WE MADE IT!

Whoa, what a trip. I'd say we are pretty darn good at the traveling and the being in airports and airplanes and dealing with the stresses that come along with traveling, but boy today tested us.

The morning went well, took everything in us to get up for breakfast at 830. EVERYTHING, Our bodies were already starting the I'VE HAD ENOUGH and I am shutting down process" We have been moving nonstop for the past two months and the past 3 weeks have been crazy and the past 1 week was pretty much psychotic. Somehow we had mustered up enough energy to keep us going and Wednesday we felt like we were hanging off a cliff and our forearms started to give and we just had to hold on as long as we possibly could. Didn't think we would make it a few times, but we did.

We went to breakfast, got ALL packed up, and checked out. Fayne met us at the hotel and the three of us went and ate lunch and it was nice to sit for a little bit before the flights. She is a massage therapist and before we left she gave Michael a short little shoulder/neck massage which he was grateful for. He said it helped him relax for a short time. (you'll see why a short time and not a long time in a moment). Then we said our goodbyes, which were hard, but I forced myself to wear a happy and strong face otherwise I'd never leave.

Now starts the "fun" and I mean that in the most sarcastic way possible. We decided our best option was to take the rental car to the arrivals parking lot, grab our 4 suitcases and leave our carryon in the rental car and get checked in. Our flight was suppose to leave at 5:50 PM and we got to the airport about... 2:00. About 4 hours ahead of time. And I am GLAD we did. We stood in line for a good hour (which we were sweating about because we were in 1 hour parking but we parked kinda far from the ticket counter and we both had to be there to check in) As we are standing in line for about an hour we are overhearing lots of stuff about how most of the flights to chicago are either canceled or delayed like crazy. We got to the counter and learned our flight was delayed till 9:00pm and later found out it was canceled!! The guy at the ticket counter put us on the 323 flight, which at the time was about 20 minutes away, but it was delayed until 5:30 so that worked out great! We then drove to the rental car place and turned in the car, and got back to the airport where we had a little time to sit. We got on the plane but were well advised we would be sitting on it about 2 hours before we took off. Not too bad because they played a movie and well when we are use to being on anywhere from 8 to 14 hour plane flights, an extra 2 hours on a 2 hour flight was child's play for us. We were delayed because of air traffic. We were happy to see we had emergency exit row seats so we had a good 3 feet of leg room in front of us. The flight was by far one of the bumpiest we have ever been on, but didn't bother us at all. but still, really bad turbulence most of the way. Not like a little turbulence either, big big turbulence. When we got to Chicago we had 40 minutes to get to the other side of the airport and get back through security. Keep in mind the Chicago airport is HUGE. so we had a couple "Home Alone" moments where we were running through the Chicago airport all decorated for Christmas trying to catch our flight. (remember that scene) We missed the train to get us to the other terminal and had to sit and wait about 10 minutes for another one.When we got to security, the guys were saying anyone flying SAS to Copenhagen in this line, so we were able to shuffle to the front and get through easily. Anyways, we get to the gate and they are just starting to board, we already were checked in from Dallas we just had to show them our passports. We got on the plane and about collapsed. I had forgotten how much we LOVED Scandinavian Airlines. I don't know why we would ever fly anything else. The plane of course was MASSIVE (I LOVE the big mamba jamba planes! they are so huge and amazing to just look at) We had the individual TV screens and all sorts of other fancy stuff that other airlines don't offer even in their biggest fleet. The SAS flight was perfect. We had a row in the middle of the plane, but we were the only two in the row so we had 4 seats all to ourselves. We slept... ALOT! It was like our bodies both finally let go of that cliff we were hanging on to by our pinkies at this point and let ourselves fall.

I love flying internationally so much more then domestically. They feed you.. good food. They encourage you to get up and walk around as often as possible while domestically, they encourage you to always stay seated ALWAYS. And while the flights are so much longer, they are usually more comfortable.

Anyways, we landed, got ALL our luggage (our suitcases were the 1st three out and the 4th one came out just a few pieces later), got a taxi to the hotel, went to find a bite to eat at one of our favorite cafes in the city had a beer and meandered back to the hotel. Michael crashed about 6:30, and me about 715-730. I actually don't remember the exact time. We got up this morning about 5 and couldn't possibly sleep anymore.

Today Michael is already at his first day of work, and I'm trying to catch up on all my emails that I haven't written for the past 3 weeks and try to convince my friends that I'm not a bad friend for not getting back to their questions and such sooner. I can tell not having much to do is going to take some getting use to. I feel like I have a billion things to do, when the fact of the matter is... I don't have anything of any importance to do, but recuperate! I just have to make some sense of this hotel room. Not too much sense though, we are moving to a Jr suite in a couple days. Yippee!

More later!

Today is THE Day...

First things first, Push Play, turn up the volume... and read with some background music!!



So today is the day. We are ALL packed, car is loaded up and I'm sitting here doing nothing for 30 minutes till check out. Michael is a bit spastic, but he is just walking back and forth doing nonsensical things. Moving jackets, picking up trash, and just all around...anxious. He gets this way, I have to stay calm or I will drive myself crazy making sure we have everything in order (which we do, because I put it all there. We have called all our family memebers and said goodbye on the phone. (has the music made anyone cry yet?) Fayne should be here soon for lunch and we will go do that and head to the airport, the plan is Michael is going to drop me off at the terminal and leave me there while he takes back the rental car. We have way too muh luggage to try to get it all on the bus shuttle to take us to the airport. Then we will check in, have some coffee/or wine and wait to board. We may have some weather issues but we should make it out before they hit. Dallas is suppose to get icy tonight, but shouldn't be a problem at 5:50pm. Chicago is getting some cold weather as well with snow and ice, but hopefully it wont hit before we leave at 10:00. I guess we will find out soon. If we get delayed, no biggie, we aren't loosing a day on a fun trip. I'm pretty calm bout the whole thing (Michael tried to sit for a moment, stood back up and said he couldn't)

So... Here we go!!!!
I'll write from the other side...

Today is the day,
Goodbye Dallas...

Learning to LEAVE Dallas

Well here it is, our last full day of Dallas living is over. Hard to Believe...

The day started bright and early with a wake up call at 5:30AM. We got up , got dressed and headed down to breakfast. I dropped Michael off at TI (he had some last minute stuff to do, phone calls to make, layout people to talk to, and some people wanted to take him out for a farewell lunch. I headed over to Chris and Fayne's so I could have one last private lesson. I stayed through lunch and before I even started to leave the tears started. Leaving wasn't easy and it didn't help that he was the very first person I REALLY had to say goodbye too here in Dallas. Then I headed to get my haircut and went to the grocery store (yes the grocery store) so I could pick up some stuff for sandwhiches and some bananas for tonight and tomorrow and get some coffee from the Starbucks. The guy that helps me all the time gave me my coffee for free when he found out he wouldn't be giving me coffee anymore. That made me smile. By this time It was time to get Michael, He took the train up towards Plano and we went to turn in our modem to time warner Cable, Get new workout gloves (because that was high on our list of stuff to do) and head to the apartment to get the last few things out and turn in th keys. It as a relatively painless process. I had to write a giant check (2montsh rent) to cover the cost of breaking the lease. Wasn't too hard to write though because TI is paying that fee for us. :) Leaving the Apartment was the easiest time leaving we have had in ... FOREVER. I think since I left my apartment in college that I lived in with Mary. Since then the house in Lubbock , our 2 Flats in Denmark, our House in Lubbock and our house in Allen have stirred up a TON of emotions for us both. This one, neither of us even blinked an eye. I am sure it is as simple as the fact we have lived there only 3 months..... Can you guess where we headed to next??? You got it, The GYM! We signed the form to cancel our membership :( :( :( and had a pretty good last work out. In the past week I have taken a moment here and there to look around and take in the gym (i know it is silly, but something I usually have to do when I have big changes in my life) I had to force myself not to do it today, because I didn't want to break out the tears in the gym... how dorky would hat have been ;) We said goodbye to some of the staff and some of the people we see on a daily baisis there. And yes, we walked out, and those tears came back. While living in Lubbock Market Street *the grocery store) was our second home (YES, the grocery store) but here, the gym was, without a doubt, our second home Our place to go to when times where hard (homesickness from Lubbock, the pain of loosing Hendrix, and simply our escape from Dallas when we didn't want to be here) Then it evolved into the place we found comfort, friendly faces, always someone to talk to even if just for a brief moment and gave us something to do together and a way to spend time together our side of the house. So yes, it was kinda hard to leave, but we managed. We came back to the hotel and hung out with Mary and Jason, they had gotten dinner in the hotel restaurant, Michael and I took turns changing and eating sandwiches, though I brought mine into the restaurant and the hotel lobby bar with me. Later in the night "our pal" Ed from the gym came to say bye and spend a little last minute time with us. The all left about the same time. Since I had a few drinks in me my tears didn't start back up, but I'm certain if I didn't have a drink or two in me, they would have.

Michael Me and Ed

Partney/Pate Picture

Michael and I came back upstairs and I started my magic. Packing Suitcases. I was really excited because it has been a long time since I had to do "serious" packing. I am talking tight squishing stuff in the suitcases packing. So I went to work on our GIANT suitcase, and the smaller one, well unfortunately, I have a TON of room left and I didn't even get to start to repack the other two suitcases. I'm sure we will need to pay an over the pound limit fee, but its not that big of a deal to us. Plus TI pays this too so it no biggie. We didn't use the air freight offered to us, so the 25-100 bucks (25 per bag) shouldn't be too steep of a price to pay.

I haven't said goodbye to Fayne yet. She is the only person we have left to see. She is going to lunch with us. I have a feeling that goodbye is going to be the worst, because it will be the very last one, and that in my mind usually translates to: Ok, It is time. Actually that is a lie. Our VERY VERY last goodbye is a GIANT one. The Sun. After all, we wont be seeing it again for a couple months. Hopefully it won't be cloudy tomorrow, but if it is, thats ok, I hugged it from afar today. While most of this post seems really really sad, I must assure everyone, we are soooo incredibly excited to go get to experience Denmark once again. To truly remember what it was we fell so in love with about this country a few years ago is going to be amazing and we can't wait to jump right back in where we left off. 2 days this time, we will be "European Texans!!"
YE HAW!! Wait we can't say that, that is far from Euro Chic! ;)

I may or maynot have time to post before we leave tomorrow. I am going to try to, but if not, we leave tomorrow at 6:00PM and arrive in Copenhagen about 1:00 in the afternoon on Thursday Denmark time. I will post as soon as I can after we arrive. :) :) :)

Moving Day

Our stuff is currently on its way to Houston to be put on a boat and start its little trek over the ocean. Today was moving day, and it went well. They brought a container to our place which they packed up and we will see it again on the other side of the pond. Looks like something straight out of a shipping yard to me!
There were 5 guys and they were QUICK! They were done by about 3:30pm. They got almost everything besides our food, cleaning supplies, and CANDLES!!! I guess I wasn't expecting them not to take my candles since when we moved TO Dallas, it wasn't an issue. Oh well. I gave half to Fayne and the other half are finding a new home at Mary and Jasons. I was less then thrilled when I realized I had bookoos of candles laying around that I loved :( Oh well... Candles are just things. As long as Michael and I both make it there safe, the rest doesn't really matter. But I was still sad... See:
I had Tai Chi today....my last class :o( and afterwards Chris and I did a video of the form with and without swords. It was fun and actually really nice to do the form with him. We haven't really gotten the chance to do the whole form together side by side, its always been more of a student/teacher watching each other situation but this was a nice way to end my last class.

Michael showed up at the end to pick me up so I used his set of extra hands to get a picture of the three of us...

After that they came over to our place and got a bunch of stuff off our hands (They have made this move a little less stress free). They took most of our food and a ton of other little household item that we weren't taking or couldn't be shipped. Without them we would have had to either throw a bunch of it away or have to take the time to load it all up and find a place to take it, which quite frankly, we don't have the time for. Our apartment is almost completely empty. Only things in there still is 4 bottles of water, 2 candles, and a partridge in a pear tree. ;) So thankfully tomorrow, we don't have to clean anymore (done) or throw out trash (done) we just have to turn in the keys.

(Look at all that trash!!!)

So now we are living in our temporary residents, The Crowne Plaza (no complaints here) and have started our month of hotel living. I've always wanted to be a vagabond!!!

Our Home for the the next 2 days.

My posts aren't very exciting these days, more just informative... so I'm sprucing them up with lots of pictures!!!

Despite all the Hecticness We are Having Fun

Yesterday wasn't terribly busy, but we had lots going on. We went to the gym in the AM, I went to the grocery store for probably the last time (and said goodbye to my deli guy), Michael stayed here and waited for our friend, Jens, to come by to drop off some stuff, Chris came by to pick up all the furniture we aren't taking and then we went out with Chris and Fayne in the evening.

Our couch, coffee table, computer desk, computer chair, dresser, a cabinet, two little rolling carts, cd stand and two barstools along with some other odds and ends all walked out of the apartment today. Now just about everything left in here, we are taking.

Chris and Fayne took us out to eat Vietnamese food for dinner and then we went and sat around and talked all night as they helped us polish off most of our alcohol. The movers wont move alcohol so the only responsible thing we could think of was to drink it all. Actually there wasn't that much but it was good stuff and didn't want to toss it. They have 2 snakes, by the end of the night we both braved up to holding the creepy little things. Actually it wasn't so bad. We had a really fun day and evening and we have been able to keep our minds off everything we have to be doing when we have been doing other things.

Snake 1
Snake 1 and 2 (on Faynes right hand)
Im not so sure how I feel about this... but it wasn't so bad.
Michael overcoming his snake fear

Today was not as fun as yesterday but we got a ton done. Our bags are all packed for our few days in a hotel in Dallas and our month in a hotel in Copenhagen. The movers come first thing tomorrow morning. 8:00AM!!! I suppose its a ready or not, here they come kinda situation, but I think we are ready to go and ready for the movers to come. Our place is going to be EMPTY tomorrow. Hard to believe.

Back From the Sun City

We will start with fun:

THE NEGRETE DANCE!
Here is my little brother and me being goofy
(This is a video, push play)

As you can tell because of the lack of posts, we have been away. We got back last night from El Paso after spending the week there for Thanksgiving. We had a really great time. We got a chance to spend a lot of time with the family and some of my friends. Sunday after we arrived my mom had the whole clan over for a little party (Clan being my brothers and sisters and their families) My nieces and nephews are all becoming giants. It is slightly scary. I was chatting with one of my little nephews who is in 6th grade this year. He looked at me ever so seriously and asked, "How tall was I when you met me?" It made me giggle inside and I told him, "Jonathan, I met you the day you were born!" he responded with.. "oh...well...then.....how tall was I at your wedding?" So I showed him and he seemed much more pleased with that answer.

Me and all my nieces! Including my great (grand?) niece (the littlest one)

Alex and me

Michael and My Mom

My big sis

Playing with my Nieces and Nephews in our hoodies

All the Siblings - We are like the Brady Bunch!

The rest of the week we spent buying some last minute stuff for the move, seeing as many friends and more of the family as we could and tried to take it easy. We saw everyone on our list that we had wanted to see before we left (except for one of my nephews) but our list was pretty big and I was impressed we got to everyone and even got to see some people Multiple times! We were both pretty under the weather as well. Something about the EL Paso air whether the pollution or the dust from the desert I don't know, but we were both yucky. We didn't get anything done for the move that we had hoped to (calling to cancel stuff, changing our address with the post office... Boring stuff like that) but oh well. Just another thing to add to our list of stuff for Monday and Tuesday.

We got back home last night and as we landed we both took a deep breathe as we got ready for our last little push here. The next few days are going to be BUSY BUSY BUSY! We just have to make it to Wednesday at 6 pm and then we can relax for a bit.

Some other Random Pictures For Fun

After we put up the Christmas Tree at my moms

My good friend Dean and me

Other good friends "Get You Guns Up (Texas Tech) and Gig 'Em (Texas A&M)" Pic.

My Boys! Hubby and Bro

My older brother, Michael, Me and My Mom

Friday Friday Friday

Yesterday was busy, but not so busy at the same time. I left pretty early and went to Chris and Faynes to do our laundry because we lost ours last weekend, and we got through a lot of clothes.
I spent almost all day there. They were getting ready for a camping trip which looked like some hard work. There are 5 in their family. They have 3 boys! 3!! I can't imagine. When I was leaving their middle son came up out of nowhere and gave me a hug. It was sweet and reminded me of when my little nephew Jonathan use to do the same thing. I'm gonna miss their kiddos too. They are way cute!

Yesterday was Michaels last day of work I picked him up at TI and he came walking through the parking lot with a box. It looked as if he had been fired. He said as he was walking people refused to look at him and he felt like he had been fired. Kinda funny. He said his last day was really busy but went well and he was pretty sad. However, on Tuesday after Thanksgiving he is going out with his group for a goodbye lunch so he will get to see everyone one more time. He has 2 weeks off now. He will enjoy that.

After our days both came to an end we met up with Mary and Jason for dinner, for a farewell dinner, a congrats to Michael on the new job, a congrats to Mary because she found out she is getting her own Starbucks store that she will manage. It is brand new and she is really excited and to congratulate Jason on making the Mock Trail team in law school! They insisted dinner was also to congratulate me on my new tai chi sword, but I think that was stretching it a little far. We hung out for a while and they came back to our place afterwards for a bit to. We had a really good time.

My posts are becoming more and more frequent if nothing else so we can look back and see everything we were doing leading up to our move.

Friendly Faces

15 months ago when we moved to Dallas we knew more people then we could count that lived in the DFW metroplex area. Problem was, everything is so far apart here that we never really saw anyone, besides Mary and Jason of course. In the short 15 months I have grown comfortable with seeing the same faces in the different places we go.

A random select few people I am going to miss...

I'm going to miss Chi, the Vietnamese woman that cuts my hair and always tells me I need to start having babies now. (Does she think I'm getting old and need to rush it?? lol)

The woman at target who when I order pictures and sees the last name always tells me that she went to school with a Pate but he pronounced it "Pay-tee"

I'll miss my deli guy, Jerry, who all he has to do is see my face, and he knows exactly what I want, how much I want and how I want it cut. Such a simple thing, but makes my life just a little bit easier. He doesn't know my name, but I'm sure in referring to me my name is "Pound and a half of Arostica"

The rotating faces at Starbucks, I swear there are new workers there bi-monthly. But they quickly get to know what it is I want.

Then there is the gym...ooo the gym. So many people I'm going to miss in there, some have become good friends, others have become comfortable familiar faces that we never speak more then 3 words to at a time.

Jeff who is a HUGE guy. Practices Martial Arts and has some huge guns (not the shooting kind, the muscle kind) but always tells us something about us being in the gym, like our babies are going to be born with dumbbells in their hands, or we are going to lift all the weight out of the equiptment.

Ed, the guy that always waves to us while he is on the stair machine when we walk in that has become our friend and swears that if he works out his abs, his stomach is going to get huge. He always makes us laugh about something and who has come to our rescue when we had car problems. Horray for those kind of friends!!


And then the 4 obvious people...

Chris and Fayne whom I've been spending at least an hour and a half with for the past 11 months and recently more like several hours a week......I've said it before, I'll say it again, they have become such a huge and important part of my life and introduced me to something that I have become incredibly passionate about...Tai Chi. They started as my mentors, but have become very good friends as well. I will feel their absence immediately...

and surprise surprise.....Can you guess the last two??

You got it....Mary and Jason. I don't even want to think about that yet...Without them, I'm not sure how our time in Dallas would have been. They were our support for those first LOOONG months, I can't even imagine if we had moved here without them. That would have made our transition here so much more difficult. It will be the first time in 3 years that we have lived in different cities. I know our friendship between the 4 of us is strong enough to survive time and distance though and I know without a doubt, they will be taking advantage of us being in Europe!

I'm not looking forward to our Dallas goodbyes, those are going to be the real ones. They wont be the, goodbye because you are leaving Dallas and we will still be here, or the goodbye we are going back to Dallas and will see you soon, it will be the goodbye because we are leaving and aren't coming back. Those are always the hardest for me.

I'm Not Dying

ok, so i'm feeling better...mostly. Almost completely, just a little lingering junk. I'm almost certain it was just severe allergies. I took it easy this morning, then ran a few errands, met Fayne for Lunch at Central Market (a grocery store) and then we met Chris at Starbucks. Michael and I had our last sports conditioning class tonight and afterwards our pal Ed took us and the trainer Casey and his sister who is also in the class out for dinner. We thought that was very nice of him.

So, this is our last Thursday in Dallas. Next Thursday, Thanksgiving, we will be in El Paso, and the following Thursday....will be the day we land in Denmark. Crazy.

Not Here, Not Now...

Tuesday night we went to dinner at some friends place. Everything was good until right before we left and both of our allergies AND our asthma went into high gear from their doggie. Sneezy, coughy, itchy throat...the whole 9 yards. Well we got home and went to bed. Michael healed over night, I did not. Yesterday the temperature dropped down pretty low and the wind was crazy and kicked a bunch more stuff in the air that always gets my allergies going. They bothered me most of the day just moderately but by 5:30, I was completely miserable. My throat felt as if I had swallowed a thorny rose stem, my nose was stuffy, my ears were in pain, my lungs were tight, and it was all accompanied by a lovely sinus headache. This morning, I woke up feeling better then I did yesterday, but my throat/ears are still bothering me and my nose is still pretty stuffy. I can't tell if my body is just having a hard time fighting off the allergies, or if I am coming down with something. I'm holding onto the, this is just really bad lingering allergies theory and my bodys way of saying, "SLOW DOWN WOMAN"

#6

Today we traded in our rental car for our 6th rental car since October 6th!

#1 - CAN'T REMEMBER....
#2 - Chevy Cobalt
#3 - Chevy Impala
#4 - Chevy Cobalt - wrecked!!!!
#5 - Ford Focus
#6 - Buick LaCross

and we have 2 more to come
#7 - El Paso
#8 - Last of Dallas

This morning we got the Buick LaSaber and started a new contract because today, TI starts paying for the rental cars!!! HORRAY!!! Slowly, but surely, we are becoming TI's resposibility and it is going to be so nice! We booked our hotel in Dallas our last two nights and while we stay in a hotel, TI buys all our food (Including food from the grocery store) Did I say, "HORRAY"??

We got a new couch and coffee table (that matches the thing our TV is on) and they are being delivered today. The couch is more of a loveseat, perhaps a little bigger, but not much. It is made to have a slip cover on it, so we got a black one for now, but we can change out the color at anytime. They are both from IKEA and we will be living just a couple miles from the IKEA in Copenhagen, it will be easy to get a new slipcover if we ever want it.

I've started packing our winter clothes thatwe won't wear here bfore we leave, but will need the second we land in Copenhagen.

We have booked our hotel aka.. temporary home... for the month of December in Copenhagen. We will be staying at the SAS Radisson. Not the one we stayed at on our househunting trip but another one, just about a mile away. It is in central copenhagen and we will still be walking distance from anything we need including a Metro Station. It will be nice to be in Central Copenhagen for the holidays with so many festivals and markets going on everyday. We will also be in the City Center for New Years, which should be CRAZY, but fun. The hotel has an indoor pool, a nice gym, a spa, and houses a really big casino on the 1st floor. Also the hotel, the casino and its resturants have a TON of holiday things going on. Should be fun!

I have been surprised at this but LOTS of people have been asking us if we are still going to the gym during this crazy time. The answer, of course! It has been one of the only constants in our lives for the past 4 years. It gives us a place to try to leave the hecticness of our lives at the door and a place to see and talk to friendly faces. Skipping our 1.5 hours at the gym everyday would probably make us feel worse, then better about the extra time we managed to find.

Now... onto another busy day!!

And Then There Were Two

We came to Dallas with only 4 things we really cared about.
1 & 2 . Each Other
3. Hendrix
4. The Blazer

We lost Hendrix along the way, and yesterday the Blazer drove off with its new owner. Michaels mom and Wayne. It was actually more sad then we thought it would be to watch it drive away. It had been a great car for the time we had it.




Along with the Blazer Tanya and Wayne took all of our good guestroom furiture including the bed, and the washer and dryer and some other odds and ends. It became a little more real seeing stuff we aren't taking being loaded into a trailer.

Goodbye Stuff!!

Today we are on the hunt for some new furniture (its cheaper to get here) for our Danish Flat. Things like a smaller couch, bedside tables and a few other little things. Hopefully we will find something.

This week is our last full week in Dallas (we leave Sunday for El Paso) and our schedules are shaping up to be nothing short of a circus. We have 3 dinners planned with friends on different nights. The other three nights we are trying to leave open to do stuff around the apt to get it ready to go for the move after we get back from El Paso. Michael has 5 days left of work here. His last day at Dallas TI will be this coming Friday. He will then have 2 weeks offs which he is increadibly excited for. Nice thing is, he is only using three days of vacation time! The three days before Thanksgiving. Then when we get back, those aren't days off, but are more like "moving days". Once we move Michael has a handful of days he hasn't used that we will be cashing out on. horray!

One other note. We got our contract for our flat and everything looks great. Flemming had told us he would never advise us to sign anything that he wasn't completely comfortable with but by the looks of the contract everything looks fantastic. Michael has a phone meeting with him next week to discuss it all. We will then put down our deposit (3 months rent OUCH) ad first months rent (so yes, at one time, we will basically pay the amount of 4 months rent.. did I say OUCH?)
When we move out we will get that 3 months rent deposit back minus the cost of any repairs and such... So thats that!!

The next few weeks are going to FLY!

Moving Stuff Around

Tanya and Wayne (Michaels mom and stepdad) are coming down here tomorrow till Saturday. They will be leaving with our Blazer, nice guestroom furniture that is too big to take with us but don't want to get rid of (Been in Michaels family a long time) and our guestroom bed and some other odds and ends. But in order to send them off with the 12 drawers and book shelf I have to clear it off and I'm realizing there is no where to put it all!! YIKES! I have a feeling the next week and a half this place is going to be a mess. The movers are going to look at us like we are crazy when they get here and see all of our stuff laying around on the floor. Oh well, we don't have that much stuff so I'm sure it will be far from the worst they have ever seen.

This is our schedule... brace yourselves, this is scary. We are here (counting today) 10 days, then we leave for El Paso for almost a week. When we get back we have 5 days before we head out (We leave in the Evening on the 29th). We have 13 nights left in our own bed until January!!! I told Michael I am going to actually enjoy being in a hotel for a month. I don't know what I will do with myself besides enjoy the holidays. There wont' be a kitchen to cook in, Housekeeping will be coming by everyday to clean the place... Needless to say, I am looking very much forward to December and the holiday season this year. We already have something booked for our anniversary. The "Crazy Christmas cabaret" It is a pretty big deal in Copenhagen every year. It takes place in Tivoli (a popular amusement park and gardens) not amusement park in the 6 flags sense, but more of a place with kids rides, and lots of restaurants and it is beautiful. Hard to describe. Anyways, this Crazy Christmas cabaret is a British Production and suppose to be hysterical. We wanted to go last time we were there, but didn't. That will be a fun way to spend our anniversary and I imagine will eat dinner in the gardens and browse the charming Christmas Market , and eat and drink Glogg and Aebleskivers (a Danish tradition and it is so yummmmmy) ah, I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!

As a side note, I'm going to have to be starting a new blog as well. "Learning to Love Dallas" just won't make sense anymore. So I suppose, this blog is quickly coming to an end too.

I Think We Love NASCAR !?!?!?!?

Yup, I think we might. We went with Melissa and Frank and Melissa's parents and had a great time. We didn't know what to expect, but WOW!! It was increadible. The amount of people was crazy, Texas Motor Speedway was HUGE, the cars were SOOOOOOO fast, and SOOOOOOO Loud. It was awesome. We knew we would enjoy the expirence but had no idea that we would enjoy it as much as we did. The race was about 3 hours long and they did about 360ish laps. I never could figure out what was exciting about watching cars drive in circles for that long, but now I know... and can't explain it. The worst was after the race when the street basically became a parking lot. It took us a LONG time to get home.

Melissa and Me Waiting for the Race to Start

Terry

Melissa and Happy Frank

Holly and Michael

The Boys

Looking Straight Ahead from our Seats

Crazy McClains

Melissa and the Crowd

Looking Slightly Left from our Seats
See the cars coming on the track?

Michael and Me Listening to the Race

Racing as it Gets Dark

The weeekend was fun and it was great to see the McClains and meet Frank, but like always, fun weekends go by way too fast.