Tennis anyone?

 

     Last week my husband insisted that I go out to the desert and enjoy a few days at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament. If you’re not familiar, it’s considered the “fifth slam” and draws all the top players to one of the largest stadiums and events in the world. We’ve been a few times, but since we took our son last year and he wasn’t so into it, my DH thought I should just go by myself and have a good time. Which I did. The plan was go to the day session on Thursday, and then on the way back spend a day at Glen Ivy Hot Springs in Corona, which I’ve been wanting to go to forever. They are famous for their mud baths. Anyway, the draw on Thursday turned out to be pretty weak, hardly anyone I recognized and a lot of qualifiers and wild cards. Don’t get me wrong, these can be great matches. I remember going to the qualifying rounds at the US Open years ago and it was great. It was the first round though, and there was a definite lack of enthusiasm around the grounds. The first place I headed was the practice courts to watch one of my all time favorites Martina Hingis getting ready for her doubles match. She looked in really great shape, so much that I wished she would start playing singles again (fat chance). The over to the match of the day which was the return of Mardy Fish playing fellow American Ryan Harrison. I was hard to tell who was the underdog, as Mardy was once a top player but has 11 years on his opponent. It was a really good match and Mardy almost pulled off taking the second set, but Harrison prevailed. It was nice to see him play well but he ended up falling in the next round. Then I headed over to stadium 2 to watch Hingis and Mirza win their match. General admission in this court can get you really close to the action if you can find a seat. I stayed for bits of a few more underwhelming matches before calling it a day. I had been there since noon and had almost burst into flames, but the evening was really nice. I decided then that I would have to come back for the night session the next day to see Serena Williams make her return to the tournament after 14 years away.
   
     I got to the tennis garden as soon as they let the night session in at 4:30 and watched Nadal play doubles. Most of the top players are playing doubles here and draw huge crowds. Then I checked out the practice court schedule. Federer. There was a bit of a line but I finally got up there, one court away from where he was hitting. For tennis fans, he is god. Not a god or the god, just god. After he was done he was sitting around talking to his team and the crowd near the fence started cheering for him to come over. A girl in front of me yelled “yay Roger, the way you sit in that chair!” and we all cracked up, because I think everyone would have stayed around another hour just to behold him. He finally went over and spend a long time signing autographs and taking photos, so I got as close as I could to his highness.

     

     Then I bounced around a few matches before discovering the wonderful lounge chairs in front of the 3 screens showing the matches going on. I thought this would be a great place to park it while waiting for the night match. The life. Then I grabbed  glass of Pinot and headed up to the major nosebleed seats. Now I have not always been a major Serena fan, but I’ve always enjoyed watching her play. Her entrance, though, and the reception she got was really something special. There was a standing ovation that just kept going on and she was clearly very moved by it. And then there was the match with Niculescu, which was surprisingly competitive. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen her play, but it was close and very entertaining at times. Serena ended up winning in a tight 2 sets and the crowd was of course pulling for her all the way, but really showing some love to Nuculescu for some phenomenal shot-making. There was a salute to heroes afterward honoring military and first responders. I stayed for a few games of the Kyrgios/Kudla match, but it was late and I had to drive back to LA that night.
   

     I really feel like I learned how to do Indian Wells this time - here’s a few tips:
*Check the order of play online to see which day and session to go to
*Buy tickets online
*Plan which matches you’re going to hit
*Bring snacks, an empty water bottle, sunblock and a hat, and a seat cushion if you’re in the grandstand seats on Stadium 1. If you’re going to a night session, check the weather because it can get cold.
*Get there early to park/walk/get through bag check/buy a draw sheet/hit the head/fill your water bottle
*Check the practice court schedule and spend some time there
*Try to get a seat where the sun isn’t on you the whole time (it sets in back of the mountains)
*If you’re pooped, plop yourself down in front on the jumbo screens, grab cocktail and chillax.
     This is a very chill tournament, so if you’re in Socal you should definitely check it out. Meantime, I’ve been keeping up with the action on Tennis channel and ESPN. Serena, Roger, Djoko and Murray still all in there.

On Wednesday my back finally felt well enough for yoga so I took Dice Iida-Klein's class at Yoga Glo. I had taken from him before and knew he was kind of athletic, so I took the one hour Level 2. It was an interesting Vinyasa flow where something is added on each time. I think we did about 6 cycles and boy it was killer. He is known for his arm balances and handstands and he threw one in on the mat after all that, but there was no way I was trying it at that point. I was just happy to have made it through the class. Later I had some wrist pain that was probably from not planting my hand down firmly enough, but luckily it was gone by the next day. If a teacher is always getting on you to plant your index finger joint down, that's the reason. 

     I finally completed the roman shade for my bathroom, and it looks really cute. It was so labor intensive and took so much time and table space that I'm not sure I'd do it again. There's a store around the corner form me called Fabric Planet that has a great selection of fabric remnants and trim and also does curtains and alterations. I recently ordered some ottoman cushions from Lowe's to match the chair cushions on my patio furniture, but they are a few inches too long. Knowing how I am with projects like this and wanting to actually use them this year, I think bringing them over there might be a good idea.

     I started 2 new books. The one I'm reading is The Bat by Jo Nesbo.

It's the first in the Harry Hole series. I read The Snowman a few years ago which is the 7th in the series, and it was so good I wanted to read them all. It took me a while to track this down because it hadn't been available in English until recently, and I've collected almost all the others. This one is set in Australia but still qualifies as Nordic Noir.

On audiobook I'm listening to Here if You Need Me, which is the true story of a woman who became a chaplain for the Maine State Forest Service after her husband's death.










As far as podcasts go, I've been getting a little bored of the ones I've been listening to a lot, so I tried a few others on my list, like Star Talk Radio with Neil Degrasse-Tyson and another one called Meet the Composer, which is an in-depth conversation and exploration of a modern composer. There's so much stuff out there that I think it's a good idea to actively search out new things and thenactually listen to them. 

     I finished The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and it's really starting to change the way I think about things - acquiring them, storing them, getting rid of them, etc. While I haven't put the full system in place, I did try one trick about folding things up in drawers and stacking them vertically. This is really amazing and I highly recommend it. My drawer of tops before was a jumbled mess, and I didn't even know what was in there. After culling what I didn't need, I can see everything as soon as I open the drawer and choose what I actually want to wear, not just whatever's on top. I even did my husband's scrub drawer too so he could feel like a Japanese surgeon. Adorable. I really like what she has to say about the less you have, the more you're able to see what you value and what direction you want to go in life.