We did it First

What is the world coming to? When I started reading the news yesterday morning, plastered amongst every page were these headlines, "Paris names her Dog after Jimi Hendrix". WHAT!!! I certainly don't think that is news worthy, BUT it is a pretty cool name for a dog. For probably the first time in Paris Hilton's life, she is behind the times...The name Hendrix for a dog is sooooo 2-8 years ago. ;o) I am certain our Hendrix and THE Hendrix are up in Rocker's Heaven chillin' together.

Rock on Hendrix's, Rock on.

(Yes, thats a Santa Claus hat flying off his head)

This Bonny Lass is Goin' to the Motherland!

On the 15th of every month SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) puts out specials on 3 different cities that you can fly to on half as many bonus points as normal. We have been itching to get away for a quick trip but had been waiting to see what cities were on sale this month. When we checked we were delighted to see Paris, London and Dublin! It was easy to pick one of these three.

Paris: Been there, Done that! lol. just kidding. We would love to go back to Paris, or even just fly into Paris and go to some other French cities/towns, but not this time.

London: We both want to go, Michael more so then I, but it doesn't call to us as loud as many other towns.

So, Dublin it is! We are heading out in a week and a half and will only be there over a weekend, but should be plenty of time for some fun and most importantly, the Guinness Brewery! Recently a Viking Ship from Denmark set sail to Dublin and arrived just a couple days ago after a 6 weeks journey and will stay there for a few months. Perhaps we will run across that Danish Viking Ship while we are there!

Once I step foot in Ireland, I will have finally visited all the country's that make up my blood! Mexico, Germany, and Ireland! While I'm so glad I know that my family from Mexico was from Guanajuato, I still wish I had some idea where in Germany and Ireland my family came from as well.

Movie, Homework and Friends... Oh My!

Last night we saw one more movie. This time it was "The Bourne Ultimatum". This one was FANTASTIC!!! Now, I think we are all caught up on movies for a bit until Shrek 3 comes out. (It isn't out here yet)

Yesterday we got a fun homework assignment in our Danish class. We have to write a paper about Marge and Homer Simpson. Our teacher said we could do it however we wanted as long as we talked about what they look like,their personalities and their clothes (Because those are the most recent chapters we have done) So we decided, I will write about Marge, and Michael will write about Homer. This should be fun and challenging. We can read a ton of Danish, we can understand a lot, but writing gets tricky. I can come up with all the words, but for some reason I guess I know it will be easier to judge my danish if it is written. And that is intimidating.

Check out this picture. This is my good friend Anthony Weeks. We have been good pals since 8th grade. He is in the Army right now and got his two sweet precious daughters matching flight suits to his and got some pictures done. I thought it turned out so sweet that I had to share! Plus, I know several of my loyal readers know Anthony as well and might enjoy seeing him all grown up with his daughters.

If this doesn't melt your heart, I don't know what will

Movie Weekend

Another weekend down. They are passing way too fast. The weather has been wonderful here, but the effect is that inside places, it isn't so wonderful as the sun heats up places quickly. Michael has been going to work in shorts (as have many others in his office) and he usually comes home miserable because of the heat in the building. Friday, he left early. We were home from the gym and both showered before 4:30. We decided to come up with something to do rather then just bumming around here, so we got tickets to see "Evan Almighty". Oooo what a funny movie! We laughed and laughed and laughed some more. If you haven't seen it, you should. Sunday we went to see "The Simpson's Movie" also very funny. As we watched both of these movies we found ourselves at times to be the only ones in the theater who were laughing, which is a weird feeling. We find it happens when something is said that is a play on words, or in reference to a small event or American saying. I guess thats just something you learn to get use to. So, number 783 of things they don't tell you when you move abroad is, "You will find yourself to be the only one laughing in movie theaters at certain times"

Friday I also bought some pretty flowers. The picture is a little dark, but I think you get the idea.

And Sunday we got some delicious cinnamon rolls!
There is no doubt, the best pastries in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD, are Danish. I've known that for 5 years now, but I just can't say it enough. YUM.

Enjoying Copenhagen and Lyngby

I love rain. I love fall. Most years I could do without summer. But what "they" say, seems true, when all you get is rain, you get tired of it, when all you get is cloudy days, you long for the sun. I don't know who "they" are, but "they" knew what they were talking about.

This weekend was nothing short of gorgeous days of sun, sun and more sun with a slight cool breeze that made the weekend simply perfect! The air feels like fall though, but one of those beautiful warm, fall days. So we took advantage of the weekend and played tourists in our own home!

First thing we did was head to Copenhagen climb the "Rundetaarn" (Round Tower) for a view of Copenhagen. We figured, we've seen Oslo,Rome, Paris, Tokyo, Istanbul and even a couple small German villages from way up high on towers and mountain/hilltop, it was probably about time we saw Copenhagen as well. The entrance was pretty cheap (for Copenhagen standards) at 25DKK a person (about $4.50) so we thought, why not!

"Rundetaarn"
Apparently the tower part of the Trinitatis complex, and included an astronomical observatory, a student church and a university library. It was built between 1588-1648We saw the church and the library which were a decent size and quite nice. It is also the oldest observatory in Europe and is still used! At night in the winter (which is practically all day long haha) people can go up and use the telescope to see the sky.

Climbing the tower was pretty simple. The entire climb looked like this until the very end where there were about 15 steps. Not too bad. Easiest tower climb we have ever done (worst one was in Freiburg Germany where we climbed just short of 1,000 stairs in the narrowest little stairwell, in a Cathedral to get to the top of a bell tower) I was actually a little surprised to see many people huffing and puffing on their way up.

Once at the top we had an amazing 360 degree view. Knowing so many of the buildings and streets made looking at wonderful Copenhagen that much better. We could see pretty far and could even see some really tall buildings in the distance which we immediately recognized as "Høj Gladsax" , which is basically where we lived last time we lived here.


After the tower we wondered around Copenhagen. Stopped at Nyhavn grabbed some soft ice, then hopped on a boat (one that is tied up and doesn't go anywhere) for a micro-brew style beer. The city was so very full of tourists, not many Americans though. Seemed like the streets were filled with Swedes and Brits. We both have an " Årskort" (year card) for Tivoli, so as long as we were in the city we hopped in there for another beer and sat right next to the little lake in there and had a really good time. After all this, we were starving so came home and ate and rested our feet. (We actually do tire ourselves out from walking, but no one has been brave enough to stick it out long enough to see that actually happen!)

Copenhagen Street

Tivoli

Tivoli

Sunday was just as lovely if not more so then Saturday. We hit the gym in the AM which was pretty much like an old abandon town. We were the only ones in there for about 45 minutes until 4 people came and hopped on treadmills. Then there were 6 of us. Danes love the sun, I'm sure they didn't want to waste any of the weather on being indoors. I can't blame them. We were doing abs and I told Michael that at that moment, I envied their freedom of not being so ridiculously dedicated. We got out of there as fast as we could and headed for a little walk. We stopped at a bakery on the way to grab some bread (and it was the first time Michael had ever witnessed me doing everything in Danish). We headed towards something called, "Lyngby Fort" I had seen it on a map and was just a little curious what it was, so we went. To be quite honest, I'm still not exactly sure what it is, but I know it was built in 1887 -1892. It was, "interesting" to say the least. Kinda hidden behind houses, and very overgrown with growth. We climbed up to the top and ate up there.

It once read, "LYNGBYFORTET" but now, there are letters missing

Along the side

Stairs to top
View From the Top

Top of the Fort

Walking back to our place we stumbled upon a hidden treasure. A "Møntvask"!!! It is a Laundromat!! For those of you who remember months and months ago I had to start doing our laundry by hand....again.... well. I am STILL doing it that way. Long story short...our landlord sucks and we do not want to spend the money to buy a washer that we can't take back with us because they are quite pricey. ANYWAYS, so we have searched every corner of Lyngby (or so we thought) looking for one and never could find one. On our way home, somehow we ended up on a hidden curve of a street, not too far from our place, and staring me in the face was the word, "Møntvask". I grabbed Michaels arm and pulled him across the street as he was laughing knowing my pleasure in seeing this word. I haven't minded doing our laundry by hand but the sheets and towels are quite the chore, because they are so big. I think that was the highlight of the day! Today, I'll be heading down there with towels and sheets to get those all washed and I am very excited about it, as I am sure my mom and a few of my close friends are very excited for me as well!! haha.

We got back to our place about 3:30 and spent the rest of the afternoon/evening on our balcony. Reading, drinking some wine, doing Danish homework, eating dinner....etc.

Today looks just as wonderful as the past couple days. Perhaps August will turn out to be ok after all. I'm not holding my breath just yet, but I'm closing my eyes and wishing really really hard that it keeps this nice.

Flash Back

I don't know if you noticed or not, but I have been a HORRIBLE blogger lately. The month of July was especially bad. I am finding myself incredibly busy, with nothing at all. It's strange! So I made an August resolution. Be a better blogger. I must find things to post about, even if there is simply nothing going on. So, today after my daily chores, and errands I dusted off my scanner, grabbed my boxes of pictures and scanned a bunch especially the ones that needed touching up, and while doing so, ran across a bunch of old pictures of Michael and I from 1998-2001 (AKA, the years before the digicam made its way into our lives) This month marks 9 years of us sharing our lives together! For the math experts out there, that is 1/3 of our lives!!! I thought it might be fun to post just a few pictures of us together through the past 9 years!

Band camp July 1998

with Dusty Balderas and Blake Hlavaty.
(Go ahead, say it: This one time at band camp.... ya, we've never heard that before ;) )

1999
Ready for TBS (band sorority formal-once a band geek, always a band geek)
Look how tiny Hendrix was!

The pro pic from that night

Michael was once a farmer...so I decided I was going to be one also

2000
Chuck E Cheese's
2001
Gma's Gpa's 50th Anniversary Pro Pic

2002
Paris

Magazine Picture for a Danish Article about the DTU/TTU program

2003
Engagement Picture

2004
Costa Rica

2005
Lubbock Home

2006
Fort Worth

2007
Copenhagen

Newest Picture Together
Istanbul

CPH Zoo

Wednesday I went to the zoo with my friend Sarah and managed to see I think almost everything there! I was actually entertained with learning the names of animals in Danish. My favorite name was "Næsehorn" it translates in English to "Nose Horn", which if you can guess was the.....Rhinoceros! After the zoo we headed to the city and met Michael for dinner at a really good make your own sandwhich place. It put subway to shame. It was fantastic!!! Here's a few videos I took at the zoo!

Ape using tool


I want our next dog to look like the big monkey. He is so fluffy and snuggly looking!!


Parenting Skills of a Monkey

No Spoilers Here!

Ah, we are done with our book! And as the title says, it is safe to read this post, I couldn't in good conscience post spoilers.

Friday night we stayed up to go get our book across the street. We hobbled over there at midnight and sat in the "mall-ish" place waiting for them to open up. We couldn't get it till 12:01 England time which is 1:01AM Copenhagen time. At about 12:50 they opened the gate to mall from the big hallway area we were in and it was cute to see sooo many people running towards the book store. Then they opened the bookstore a few minutes later, again people running in. I didn't realize it but most of those people didn't have a reserved copy, hence the running. We however did, so didn't have to wait in a very long time. we grabbed a book went to the counter, paid, they crossed our name off a list and we came back home. The line had gotten pretty long by the time we left. I would say we were home at 1:15 and fell right to sleep. We got the British Adult Cover of the book. (Unlike the states the British version puts out two covers an adult and a children's.) We have another British version as well, and while there are few differences, there are not many. Simple things like spelling of certain words, and British slag are used that are not found in the American Editions.

Saturday Started Harry Potter Weekend 2007. We decided to read in 2-3 hour shifts mostly. I'd read for 2-3 hours, then Michael would catch up to me, then I'd read for two hours, then Michael would catch up to me. It was nice to be reading around dinner time because I got my dinner cooked for me twice in a row! We even went to the gym in shifts. We finished about half the book on Saturday and Sunday night late late, I finished the book and Michael got up early this morning to finish it as well.

As much as we tried to take our time on it the anticipation of knowing we would finally find out any answers and predictions we had were just a few page turns away made it difficult to slow down and to put the book down.

I am thankful to Liz Wise, a girl I use to work with in the library at Texas Tech who one day in the spring of 2001 handed me a paperback book called, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". I had heard a little of the books, but never gave them much though. She insisted I at least read the first chapter. If I didn't like, it she would drop it, if I did, she would let me borrow the book. Needless to say I was hooked. I in turn did the same thing to Michael. And he also was hooked. J.K Rowling is such an incredible and amazing author. To be able to captivate children and adults of all ages alike in one magical story is a feat I'm sure she could have never imagined.

As for Book 7... Perfect.

Our Book

Yea!! We have our book! See you in a few days!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows

Today I feel happy and anxious! why??








Look right over here --------------->


Notice that my Harry Potter Countdown says 0 days!!! whoo hoo!!
We get to go get our hands on it tonight and the weekend will be spend READING! We have a pretty good system when the new books come out. I read all morning and half of the afternoon, Michael reads the other half of the afternoon and the evening. We usually both finish the books in about 4 days. We are aiming to do the same this time and will even go in shifts to the gym so the other can read. Yes, we are geeks, but we don't care.