The excitement began last Thursday night when Mads, Jess, Stephen and I headed to Deep Ellum to get new tattoos! Stephen has been wanting one for a while and has been working on the design that he wanted so we loaded up in the car, with drawings in our hand and cash in our pockets. My plan was to get my "grounded in Texas tat" to complement the one on my neck of the Danish flag and I was READY to go, but we decided that Stephen should go first, just in case he got spooked by any pain that he saw me experience! And he did GREAT!
His tattoo was of a cross on his shoulder blade that had a small angel in each of the 4 corners. The angels represent each of the four miscarriages that his mom has had over the last several years. This was his way of honoring her and remembering the spirits of the angels that never got a chance to join their family. I can only imagine how touched his mom was when she saw what he had done.
Then it was my turn. I have thought and thought about what to put on my Texas tat...wanted something that would stand out when people saw it so they would associate me with Texas (since I know that everyone in the world knows about Texas!!) no matter where I live!
Shelly had the idea of putting it on my foot since after 38 years, I can definitely say I am GROUNDED IN TEXAS....and even though everyone talked about how much a tat on your foot hurts, I thought "I already have 4 in 4 different places, and none of those really hurt...so I can do this!" Well, the smile in the previous photo did not last long!
EVERY SINGLE SECOND of this tattoo hurt. I now know for sure that my foot has no fat on it to absorb the pain... it was all bone and it took my breath away! Good thing Stephen did not watch this first!
But by the time it was over, I was quite happy with it! It turned out just like I wanted... so I guess I am officially ready to go to Denmark now!
The next night was one that I have been anticipating for a while, but could not believe it was actually happening! As I wrote earlier this month, Nichole and Michael have been in Texas for the last few weeks as he has had to work for TI in the Dallas office and they wanted to see their family. It was so cool to get to have them over for dinner so they could meet my parents and Shelly, but last Friday night, their travels brought them back to Allen, Texas and I got to introduce them to the rest of our group. It was so surreal... all of them have heard me talk about Nichole and how we met and many of them have gotten to know her through her blog, but to have all of these friends in one place at one time was just great! It was like a passing of the baton...they have all taken such good care of me over the last few years and now, Nichole will get to do that as my "only friend in Denmark" LOL!!
However, the one who was most excited to see Nichole was Albert! And I know he will be just as excited when she comes to see us in Herning after I arrive in June.
I think Nancy was as happy to see Mads as Albert was seeing Nichole!
Sunday was awful as this was the day I had to say goodbye to Mads and put him on the plane headed back to Herning. We both thought this goodbye would be easier since we are so much closer to the day I move, but we were wrong. It was so difficult to sleep Sunday night and all I could think about was how many nights I have to wait until April 24 arrives! Each day we get a little closer to finally getting to be together full time, but each day we are apart makes us want to be together even more. We have made it so far.... what´s a few more weeks, right?!
Well, I have covered the "friends, ink, and goodbyes" part of this post...and now to the Paparazzi! Last night was the kickoff Red Carpet event to Dallas´ American Film Institute Festival. It takes place over about eleven days and includes film world premieres by very famous people as well as student made films created by local teens. Because I have a theatre teacher who is PHENOMENAL, I have been exposed to things like the AFI over the last few years. He has been working with his kids year in and year out to teach them about film making and has even hosted our own festivals at the Angelika theatre to premiere the best ones. The talent of some of our kids over the years has just amazed me! Well, JP got extra tickets to the Red Carpet event last night because he had about 8 of our student films selected for premiere during the festival and he gave 3 of them to me. So Jess, Stephen and I got dressed up and headed downtown to the Majestic Theatre.
There really was a red carpet and Paparazzi camera crews everywhere! It was like being in front of the Kodak theatre in Hollywood! We arrived early enough that we were posed and ready for the stars to arrive. The event for this opening night was Helen Hunt´s directoral debut of her new film "Then She Found Me", staring Helen, Colin Firth, Mathew Broderick and Bette Midler. Stars began arriving and we spent the first few minutes trying to figure out who was famous!! And then Helen arrived!
We were standing about ten feet from where she was being interviewed by a reporter and even though I don´t really get into all this stardom drama, I must admit, this was really cool!
After Helen made her way down the Red Carpet, we had another surprise. Last night´s other honoree was not someone who was debuting a film, but someone who was receiving a lifetime award from the A.F.I. because of his life long contributions to the film industry.....and that is when we saw who it was....Mickey Rooney!
He spoke to us inside the Majestic about his life in film that started when he was less than five years old...and since then appeared in 360 films! He was delightful to listen to! The last business of the night was the actual premiere of the movie and we all agreed when it ended... IT WAS GREAT! It had so many life stories within one story to the point that I think every human being could find a personal connection to this film. We had a wonderful night together...even though I forced them to pose for photos all night long!
Stephen has learned to just go with the flow! LOL Smart guy!!
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Danish Version:
Sidste ugen havde mange spændende ting.... venner, blæk, farvel og "paparazzi"!
I torsdags Mads, Jess, Stephen og jeg gik til Deep Ellum at får ny tattoos. Stephen havde brug for en tattoo at repræsentere hans mor og fire børn hendes tabte. Hans tattoo er en kors med fire engeler for hver baby. Han er meget sød og jeg kender hans mor er meget stolt af ham!
Jeg havde brug for min tattoo at være om Texas fordi jeg har boet her otteogtredive år. Jeg besluttede at får det på min fod. Enhver fortalte mig en tattoo på foden gøre ondt men jeg tror ikke det! Men enhver var RIGTIG .... det gøre ondt MEGET!!! Men jeg kan lide det og tror det se perfekt!
I fredags Nichole og Michael kom til Allen og mødte alle min venner! Jeg var meget spændt fordi min venner i Allen hører mig taler om Nichole og Michael men de tror ikke de kunne møde dem! Det var en godt nat!!
Mads ankom til Herning i søndags og det var meget vanskelig at sige farvel i ham. Jeg er træt af siger farvel og er klar at være sammen med Mads hver dag, hver uge! Men vi kun har fire uger til jeg tager til Danmark med Albert og Emmitt.
Så du kender om "venner, farvel og blæk" .... om "Paparazzi"...
Jess og Stephen og jeg fik billeter i aftes "Rød Tæppe Begivenhed" for Dallas´ Amerika Film Industry Festival. Det var natten når skuespillerinde Helen Hunt´s ny film "Og da hendes fandt mig" ... først filmen hendes dirigede. Vi så rød tæppet og mange berømt mennesker! Det var en meget godt nat sammen med Stephen og Jess!
5 comments:
Hi there,
Great blog. I can imagine how excited you feel about moving to Denmark. It has been a very interesting year for me and I must say I like it very much here. Feel free to email if you need any help with getting started when you arrive. My email is paulapannu@yahoo.com
-Paula
Last Friday night was so fun!
That tat vid brought tears to MY eyes...OWWW!
I guess it's fitting that the tattoo of Texas should hurt the most...everything's bigger right? In this case...the pain!
Love the Tat! But you know that already. Thanks for having us over on Friday. We had SO much fun meeting all of your friends and getting to see you Shelly, Emmitt and Albert again! :)
The Red Carpet Movie Premier sounds fun. How cool that you got to see some famous faces. I'm not much into "stardom drama" either, but it would certainly be pretty cool to be steps away from the well known! :)
You and Jess fit right in with the glitterati! Glad it was fun!
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