Basking in the glory of TENNIS champions

Last year we went to our first professional tennis tournament, and we loved it so much we were back again this year. It's held near Palm Springs and it's a big deal. All the top tennis players in the world are there showing their skills.

We paid good money for these nose bleed seats!! But it was actually a great view. It was so much fun to be there in person, cheering with thousands of other tennis fans. The energy was pretty awesome in that stadium!

We got to see the #1, #2, and #3 players in the WORLD! Roger Federer, as shown below, is Shane's favorite. Sadly, he lost in the semifinals. But it was just an honor to watch him play. King Fed. Fed Ex. The Fedster.

Then we watched World #1 and Armani model, Rafael Nadal, get beat by Novak Djokovic. It was an amaaaaazing match. These guys are insane!

A BIG THANKS to Tania Robertson, Alex's mother-in-law, for hooking us up with a place to stay! We were fed and housed by Tania's sister, Kerry, at her sweet home in Palm Springs. It really put our weekend over the top! Until next year...we'll be watching tennis on the internet :)

Getting fancy in Venice Beach

Saturday night, I was hired to drive a friend of Dorothy's to Venice Beach for a party.

I dropped her off at her party and had a free date night with this good looking fella!

We had a lot of fun walking around, checking out the town. There were some wild, funny things as shown above.

And then there were some super awesome, really modern, creative things as shown below.

We finished out the night dining at what we both decided was the fanciest restaurant we've ever been to. We wanted to go big, and we did. Holy cow. When we put our names in, they took our cell number and called us when our table was ready. But it wasn't a table; it was 2 stools at the "communal." It was packed and loud and swanky. The waiter came up to us, dressed in nice street clothes, and gave us menus we did not understand. Shane says, "So, we normally eat at Wendy's." HAA! The waiter gave us the rundown and we did it up. Homemade sodas, an appetizer of fine cheeses, orange zest goat cheese ravioli (5 ravioli to be exact), and chicks+fries. It was a fun/funny experience- we were in another world. And then we got the check - you don't want to know!

Overall, we decided we're very glad we live in Long Beach. But we had an awesome night out - bring on the old ladies who need rides!

Water Aerobics? Jewish Community Center??

Since I finished school last year I've been working on becoming a certified fitness instructor. It's been a lot more tricky to get into the field than I anticipated. Lots of money, time, training, and schmoozing involved. But, I've finally gotten my foot in the door! And my foot is in the door of the Jewish Community Center, teaching old ladies water aerobics!! I taught my very first class this morning. And boy was it funny. I don't know if they're going to come again...I think I may have even killed a few of them. Taking care of my old friend Dorothy has definitely helped to prepare me for this new adventure!

Wish me luck:)

Race on the Base

Last Saturday I completed my very first (sprint) triathlon! Shane was planning to do it with me until he injured his knee while surfing 3 weeks ago, dang it. But he was awesome and calm when I showed up to the race unprepared! Maybe I didn't do much triathlon training, or register correctly, or catch the pre-race meeting...but luckily in the end my schmoozing skills came in handy once again. I got my number pinned on just in time!

Shane hobbled around getting my bike in place, cheering, and filming. What a guy.

The race was a reverse, sprint triathlon, to be exact. I ran a 5k, biked 12 miles, then swam 200 meters. A perfect beginner triathlon. It took me about 1 hour and 23 minutes. 4th in my age group! I've decided I want to do it again next year, more prepared and with less messing around during transitions. It was fun!

Here's a little footage: