What a busy busy week I have had back here in Texas!! El Paso was fun, but short. Saw lots of family, saw lots of friends. It was hard to cram everyone in because during the days everyone was busy and in the evenings I had to get to as many people as I could. Thank goodness that my older brother Mark was able to skip away for lunch on Tuesday and that on Wednesday and Thursday my good friend Robert was able to babysit me. Without them I would have been bored out of my mind during the days. Friday I spent the morning and afternoon packing and cleaning and going to the airport. The week went by fast but I got to see a decent amount of my brother Joe, and My sis and her fam, and even got to spend a little time with my nephew who will be 21 in a couple months! YIKES. Of course I got to see tons of my mom and Sharon too :) I kept my dinners open to spend with them and we had lots of yummy food.
I got back Friday night and Michael and I pretty much crashed after dinner. We both had a busy week. World Tai Chi and Qigong day was on Saturday and I had a really good time there. Despite the fact that it made me really miss the Tai Chi Community here. This morning I had a lesson with Master Chen Bing who was visiting from China. He is absolutely gorgeous while doing his form work, and it was amazing to be able to train with him. He was genuinely nice as well. As you all should know, Tai Chi is really slow movements, but while training with him I was dripping with sweat. It was intense, but I certainly got a lot of great stuff from the lesson.
Michaels mom and step dad came to see us on Saturday and we spend the afternoon and evening with them as well as Sunday afternoon. It was great to see them and we were so glad that they made the drive to see us. We even got to see our old Blazer which was fun :)
Monday, April 30, 2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Back in Texas
Hey, remember me? I use to blog here.
So where have I (we) been lately? Outside enjoying the Danish weather. The springtime is such a lovely time in Denmark. The beautiful colorful tulips and lilies all started and the trees are starting to turn green. For a while the highs were in the lower to mid 60's and we were able to walk around in shorts/skirts and short sleeve shirts. As long as the sun didn't disappear behind a cloud the weather had been perfect. The last few days we were there it started to turn cold again, but it forced us to not waste away days sitting outside drinking beer. For some reason if there is sun, there is beer flowing everywhere you look, so now, when we have a perfect sunny day, we both start to crave a nice cold Danish brew.
We left Denmark on Sunday. Woke up at the horribly early hour of 4am. I hopped in a cab and headed to the airport. My flights were both good. I landed at DFW at 6:30pm where Mary and Jason were waiting for me. They babysat me while we waited for Michael to land 4 hours later. I finally got to see Mary's new starbucks store. When we got there Mary told one of her employees behind the counter that I just came in from Denmark and to speak slowly to be because I didn't speak much English. The girl took her seriously, but the three of us started laughing before she could talk to me. Then we headed to the Olive Garden for dinner and Subway to pick something up for Michael when he got in and back to the airport to wait for Mr. Pate. Sorry did I say Mr. I meant Dr. (don't tell him I messed up) They did a great job keeping me awake though I was fading at several points. After Michael landed we drove in circles to find the front of the rental car place and finally got to the hotel at about midnight. We got up at 6 Monday morning and Michael put me in a Limousine Service to get me to the airport and Michael headed to a meeting at TI. I got to El Paso about 11:30AM and was exhausted. I was fine in the morning, but the plane ride sucked all the energy and life out of me for the entire day. My good pal Jeremy picked me up and took me to see my bro, to the store and then home where I was going to take a nap, but thinking about Michael at work with the exact amount of sleep as me in the past few days made me feel a bit guilty so I managed to stay awake all day and finally put my very tired head on my pillow at 9pm. Thank goodness I got a good night sleep last night.
So, to make that long story short, we both made it safe, sound and sleep deprived. It is a strange feeling being back in the states and knowing we don't have our home here. My ears had to get adjusted to hearing English everywhere. The first day of travelling I was surprised when people would automatically start speaking English to me. A few people I actually had to say, "I'm sorry can you repeat that" because it caught me so off guard. Isn't that ridiculous? I think I am better now though.
So where have I (we) been lately? Outside enjoying the Danish weather. The springtime is such a lovely time in Denmark. The beautiful colorful tulips and lilies all started and the trees are starting to turn green. For a while the highs were in the lower to mid 60's and we were able to walk around in shorts/skirts and short sleeve shirts. As long as the sun didn't disappear behind a cloud the weather had been perfect. The last few days we were there it started to turn cold again, but it forced us to not waste away days sitting outside drinking beer. For some reason if there is sun, there is beer flowing everywhere you look, so now, when we have a perfect sunny day, we both start to crave a nice cold Danish brew.
We left Denmark on Sunday. Woke up at the horribly early hour of 4am. I hopped in a cab and headed to the airport. My flights were both good. I landed at DFW at 6:30pm where Mary and Jason were waiting for me. They babysat me while we waited for Michael to land 4 hours later. I finally got to see Mary's new starbucks store. When we got there Mary told one of her employees behind the counter that I just came in from Denmark and to speak slowly to be because I didn't speak much English. The girl took her seriously, but the three of us started laughing before she could talk to me. Then we headed to the Olive Garden for dinner and Subway to pick something up for Michael when he got in and back to the airport to wait for Mr. Pate. Sorry did I say Mr. I meant Dr. (don't tell him I messed up) They did a great job keeping me awake though I was fading at several points. After Michael landed we drove in circles to find the front of the rental car place and finally got to the hotel at about midnight. We got up at 6 Monday morning and Michael put me in a Limousine Service to get me to the airport and Michael headed to a meeting at TI. I got to El Paso about 11:30AM and was exhausted. I was fine in the morning, but the plane ride sucked all the energy and life out of me for the entire day. My good pal Jeremy picked me up and took me to see my bro, to the store and then home where I was going to take a nap, but thinking about Michael at work with the exact amount of sleep as me in the past few days made me feel a bit guilty so I managed to stay awake all day and finally put my very tired head on my pillow at 9pm. Thank goodness I got a good night sleep last night.
So, to make that long story short, we both made it safe, sound and sleep deprived. It is a strange feeling being back in the states and knowing we don't have our home here. My ears had to get adjusted to hearing English everywhere. The first day of travelling I was surprised when people would automatically start speaking English to me. A few people I actually had to say, "I'm sorry can you repeat that" because it caught me so off guard. Isn't that ridiculous? I think I am better now though.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Queen Margrethe Turns 67
Yesterday I got to cross something off my list of Stuff to do in Denmark before we leave :)
I saw the Royal Family :o) (I know, I'm a dork)
The Queen and her family make a balcony appearance wherever they happen to be that year. This year, they were in Copenhagen, so I took my happy little self to the city to check out the hoopla. At noon there was the changing of the gaurd, which I had seen before, but the Queen wasn't in residence so I didn't get to see the band play. Obviously she was there this time, and the band did play. Then the royal family came and waved and the crowds sang to her.
It was pretty cool. Tons of people and lots of Danish flags. The police were all in good moods too and making lots of jokes. One told a girl (that started to ride though the square on her bike) that if she rode her bicycle inside the palace courtyard he would have to arrest her and take her jail. Then told her the menu in jail this week was only bread so it wouldn't be a good time to go to jail.
I saw the Royal Family :o) (I know, I'm a dork)
The Queen and her family make a balcony appearance wherever they happen to be that year. This year, they were in Copenhagen, so I took my happy little self to the city to check out the hoopla. At noon there was the changing of the gaurd, which I had seen before, but the Queen wasn't in residence so I didn't get to see the band play. Obviously she was there this time, and the band did play. Then the royal family came and waved and the crowds sang to her.
It was pretty cool. Tons of people and lots of Danish flags. The police were all in good moods too and making lots of jokes. One told a girl (that started to ride though the square on her bike) that if she rode her bicycle inside the palace courtyard he would have to arrest her and take her jail. Then told her the menu in jail this week was only bread so it wouldn't be a good time to go to jail.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
I Heart Google
Ok Ready Follow my instructions:
Go here: www.maps.google.com
Click on "Get Directions"
Get Directions from Dallas, Texas to Copenhagen, Denmark.
Read Line 26.
:o)
Go here: www.maps.google.com
Click on "Get Directions"
Get Directions from Dallas, Texas to Copenhagen, Denmark.
Read Line 26.
:o)
Thursday, April 12, 2007
99 More Days
We pre-ordered our Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book last week. We can pick it up at midnight on July 21st. Don't know if we will or just wait till the morning, but since the book store, is literally almost right across the street from our place, as might as well throw on some shoes and go get it! :) We have always just gotten one book. I usually read it in the morning, then Michael reads it in the evenings and we both manage to get through the books in about 4 days this way. Michaels always been doing something big for school when the other HP books have come out, but this time,he will have nothing, So, we may order a second book and we will both have one. I added a countdown to the side of my page so you loyal readers could share our excitement of nearing of the final Harry Potter Book!!
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Eggstra Special (First Post)
Hi all, this is Michael. Those of you who read this blog have probably heard of me, I'm Nichole's husband (the blog recluse). I actually do exist and have a vague understanding of how computers and blogs work :) I am just a little lazy about writing posts. But this weekend something so amazingly fantastic happened that I decided to forgo my usual evening sloth and spend a few minutes writing down the details of our 'egg'strodinary encounter.
It all started on Friday, Nichole and I had just come back from the gym and were going to have a quick lunch of scrambled eggs (a favorite in the Pate household). I was just about to hop in the shower when Nichole yelled from the kitchen "Michael, come here quick!" I hurried from the bathroom (fully clothed, FYI) to the kitchen to see what was happening. She had found that the egg she cracked had a double yolk (Wikipedia's thoughts on double yolked eggs). I thought this was pretty cool, I had never seen a double yolked egg before. She then continued making lunch, cracked the second egg and to our surprise it too had two yolks. This continued until Nichole had cracked five eggs, half of the package, all five had two yolks apiece!
I couldn't believe that we had found five double yolked eggs in a row. We had purchased a package of ten eggs and the first five were all double yolked! I was pretty convinced at this point that we should put the remaining five eggs on e-bay and let some one buy the eggs on the off chance they were buying five double yolked eggs (you know someone would have paid some money for them).
Saturday we went to the gym early again and then came home and decided to hard-boil the remaining five eggs to see if we could get some cool hardboiled two yolk eggs. Sure enough as we cracked the shells and cut the eggs in half, all but one were two yolk eggs.
So to recap, we bought a package of ten eggs, nine of which were double-yolked. The odds of this seem to be pretty astronomical, but there it is. I was so inspired (or high on yolkey-goodness) that I decided to write my first blog entry here! Maybe now that I have started I'll write more often, but probably not :)
It all started on Friday, Nichole and I had just come back from the gym and were going to have a quick lunch of scrambled eggs (a favorite in the Pate household). I was just about to hop in the shower when Nichole yelled from the kitchen "Michael, come here quick!" I hurried from the bathroom (fully clothed, FYI) to the kitchen to see what was happening. She had found that the egg she cracked had a double yolk (Wikipedia's thoughts on double yolked eggs). I thought this was pretty cool, I had never seen a double yolked egg before. She then continued making lunch, cracked the second egg and to our surprise it too had two yolks. This continued until Nichole had cracked five eggs, half of the package, all five had two yolks apiece!
I couldn't believe that we had found five double yolked eggs in a row. We had purchased a package of ten eggs and the first five were all double yolked! I was pretty convinced at this point that we should put the remaining five eggs on e-bay and let some one buy the eggs on the off chance they were buying five double yolked eggs (you know someone would have paid some money for them).
Saturday we went to the gym early again and then came home and decided to hard-boil the remaining five eggs to see if we could get some cool hardboiled two yolk eggs. Sure enough as we cracked the shells and cut the eggs in half, all but one were two yolk eggs.
So to recap, we bought a package of ten eggs, nine of which were double-yolked. The odds of this seem to be pretty astronomical, but there it is. I was so inspired (or high on yolkey-goodness) that I decided to write my first blog entry here! Maybe now that I have started I'll write more often, but probably not :)
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Tallinn, Estonia Review
We made it back Tuesday night from Estonia.
It was completely what I expected, but nothing what I expected both at the same time. I am finding that seems to be the way most places present themselves to me during trips these days. Upon arriving we got a (cheap) taxi to our hotel. The drive and the surroundings looked so much like Russia. Big trees on one side, old run down buildings on the other that made the town seem very cold, dark and almost as if the Soviet Government was still there. But it wasn't. As horrible as that description sounds, it made a huge smile grow on my face and somehow I found comfort in the dark Eastern European atmosphere. Though I suppose that won't surprise some people. Along the way I watched Michael look out the window to see what his reactions of this would be as he had never seen anything like that before. Once he heard the words "This reminds me soooo much of Russia" come from my mouth his look of apprehensions of what he had already seen had somehow immediately left.
Our hotel was cute, tiny and quite. It was a pleasant 10 minute stroll from what is known as "old town". Without staying where we did, we would have never seen the "real city" and probably just the small area we spent most of our days in.
Tallin's old town was AMAZING. This area was so well preserved from the Medieval Times complete with a giant wall, towers,really old buildings, and lots of cool churches. We spent our days wondering around all the narrow curvy cobbled stoned streets in Old Town, sittings in cafes and restaurants drinking coffee, tea, wine, beer and eating. There were so many cool restaurants and cafes. Generally we aren't food people, we usually enjoy going to the local grocery stores and getting our own food but we couldn't help but be sucked into the food culture in Tallinn.
Me in the cafe shown above
Amarillo Restaurant , also didn't eat here, but also needed a picture.
This became our favorite cafe. We went three times for tea. The atmosphere was perfect. Dark, low ceilings, great music, good cake and wonderful tea.
The second night we were there we ate at the coolest restaurant ever. It was like "Medieval Times" but 1000 times less cheesy and actually felt real! The food was typical from the time period and typical to Estonia. We both had fillet mignon. Mine was peppered and Michael's had a nice mushroom sauce. They were both excellent and came with some wonderful sides too. The entire 3 floors of this restaurant were completely lit by candle light. Even the chandeliers. The waiters/waitresses were dressed in Medieval garb and during dinner there were traveling bards. They had a tiny platform at the top of the room and came and played music. It was awesome. The beer there was to die for. Seriously. Best honey beer ever. It had a hint of cinnamon in it. yum.
Heres a couple videos too. They are both dark, but you can hear the music and in the second one you can see all the candles in the room.
One of the best things for us about Tallinn was how cheap everything was compared to Denmark. The Danish Crown and Estonian Crown was about 2 to 1. So we were able to just cut everything in half to figure out the cost in Danish Kroner.
Heres some random pictures,
Me and a Russian Orthodox Church
Michael in Lower Old Town
Train Station
Flower Stands
Michael with the Baltic
Me and the Baltic Sea. It was windy, can you tell??
Main Town Square
It was completely what I expected, but nothing what I expected both at the same time. I am finding that seems to be the way most places present themselves to me during trips these days. Upon arriving we got a (cheap) taxi to our hotel. The drive and the surroundings looked so much like Russia. Big trees on one side, old run down buildings on the other that made the town seem very cold, dark and almost as if the Soviet Government was still there. But it wasn't. As horrible as that description sounds, it made a huge smile grow on my face and somehow I found comfort in the dark Eastern European atmosphere. Though I suppose that won't surprise some people. Along the way I watched Michael look out the window to see what his reactions of this would be as he had never seen anything like that before. Once he heard the words "This reminds me soooo much of Russia" come from my mouth his look of apprehensions of what he had already seen had somehow immediately left.
Our hotel was cute, tiny and quite. It was a pleasant 10 minute stroll from what is known as "old town". Without staying where we did, we would have never seen the "real city" and probably just the small area we spent most of our days in.
Tallin's old town was AMAZING. This area was so well preserved from the Medieval Times complete with a giant wall, towers,really old buildings, and lots of cool churches. We spent our days wondering around all the narrow curvy cobbled stoned streets in Old Town, sittings in cafes and restaurants drinking coffee, tea, wine, beer and eating. There were so many cool restaurants and cafes. Generally we aren't food people, we usually enjoy going to the local grocery stores and getting our own food but we couldn't help but be sucked into the food culture in Tallinn.
Michael Eating
Best Cheese Plate EVER....EVER EVER, and we have had ALOT of good cheese plates!
View from a cafe from the first day
Me in the cafe shown above
Texas Honky Tonk Restaurant. We didn't eat here, but of course needed a picture
Amarillo Restaurant , also didn't eat here, but also needed a picture.
This became our favorite cafe. We went three times for tea. The atmosphere was perfect. Dark, low ceilings, great music, good cake and wonderful tea.
The second night we were there we ate at the coolest restaurant ever. It was like "Medieval Times" but 1000 times less cheesy and actually felt real! The food was typical from the time period and typical to Estonia. We both had fillet mignon. Mine was peppered and Michael's had a nice mushroom sauce. They were both excellent and came with some wonderful sides too. The entire 3 floors of this restaurant were completely lit by candle light. Even the chandeliers. The waiters/waitresses were dressed in Medieval garb and during dinner there were traveling bards. They had a tiny platform at the top of the room and came and played music. It was awesome. The beer there was to die for. Seriously. Best honey beer ever. It had a hint of cinnamon in it. yum.
Michael with Olde Hansa in the Background
Being shown the way to Olde Hansa
Even the bathrooms were cool!
Drinking honey beer
Even the bathrooms were cool!
Heres a couple videos too. They are both dark, but you can hear the music and in the second one you can see all the candles in the room.
One of the best things for us about Tallinn was how cheap everything was compared to Denmark. The Danish Crown and Estonian Crown was about 2 to 1. So we were able to just cut everything in half to figure out the cost in Danish Kroner.
Heres some random pictures,
Me and a Russian Orthodox Church
Over a View of Old Town Tallinn
Michael in a Park
Michael in Lower Old Town
Upper Old Tallinn
The City Wall
The City Wall
Train Station
Flower Stands
Michael with the Baltic
Me and the Baltic Sea. It was windy, can you tell??
Main Town Square
So in the end, we had a great time. It was nice and relaxing, we got to see a bunch of really cool things, and get to know a new European town. It was definitely one of the coolest, not very discovered, cheap and stereotypical European town in my eyes. I'd go back in a heartbeat.
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