BNP Paribas Open 2014

This was my 2nd year heading out to the desert for a little R&R and Rafa stalking (my favorite!)  This year I had one of my good friends from college come with me.  We would hang out with tennis players in the morning at breakfast.  We seemed to be on the same schedule for the lobby as Stan most days. (Stan Wawrinka)  We would then either shop, spa, or catch a practice mid-day and then head out for the matches in the evening!  This year a 2nd large stadium was added with delightful new restaurants such as Nobu.  It was a wonderful long weekend and the weather was perfect.  It is my little guilty pleasure to watch and take photos of Rafa every year and this year I actually got within reaching distance of him.  Being that I am slightly obsessed, I pretty much had no idea what to do when he was 2 feet away from me.  Sadly a glance and a photo is all I got, but I'll take it! I did enjoy watching more of the matches this year as I am getting into tennis more.  I enjoy watching other players and it has made an impact in my house.  Now everyone in my house either plays tennis, is taking lessons, or is about to this summer!  It is a great sport and my dream is to get to go watch it in Europe one of these years!  Possibly even the French Open!

First match against Stepanek

 

Your welcome, ladies.  Fernando Verdasco

Practice

The Joker

 Federer Practice

 Andy Murray breakfast bound.

Vamos Rafa!

To say I have an slight obsession with Rafael Nadal might be an understatement.  Of course, just by taking a look at the guy you can see why he instantly caught my attention and was an early favorite of mine.  However, the more I read about this guy and the more interviews I see, I am convinced he is so much more than a good looking Spaniard who is an amazing tennis player.  He seems to have been brought up by a wonderful family who have taught him to be a great champion, have humility, not seek the spotlight, how to have some class and to value family and friends. 

Every year in March he comes to Southern California and I was determined to get out to the desert this year to see him in person.  My first attempt was a classic fail when I went out on Monday only to miss his practice and then not get to see him play due to his competitor dropping out.  So I was fortunate enough to have the 2nd chance to try again on Wednesday.  Take a look at how I spent my day.  Ultimate success! 

 

This is probably one of the few sporting events I have ever been to without a media pass, and I am certain had I had one I would have ended up meeting the guy and getting a photo with him.  Gotta get my husband to start doing some tennis matches!

My Top Ten: Royal Wedding

Although I did not end up staying up all night to watch the wedding, I did DVR it and watch it this morning. I LOVED it and was in near tears several times. Mostly because I was so happy for William and wished dearly for him that his beautiful mother could have been there to see it all. But also I was so happy and excited for Kate. I remember all to well what it was like to be a bride. Even me being a simple commoner having experienced nothing like what she did today, I could still feel that excitement and happiness that comes with being a bride and marrying your "prince"!

So what were my top ten favorite things about the wedding:

10. The location of the ceremony.

There is something so sacred and special about being married in a church, but to be married in a cathedral that has been standing for hundreds of years, it must be awe-inspiring. I have walked in many old cathedrals and basilicas in my travels and I cannot even imagine what it might be like to be married in one. If I could have my pick, I would pick St. Peter's in Rome. Breathtaking! I thought they had decorated Westminster beautifully and I love the layout of it. It was a wonderful backdrop.

9. The hats of the guests.

I have always loved the British tradition of wearing hats to weddings. There is something so formal about them and I love how fun all the designs are. There were several that were border-line weird, but for the most part, I loved looking at them all!

8. The wedding cakes.

Especially the fact that William had a groom's cake! How southern is that! People in CA don't even have groom's cake normally. I even loved that his cake was a recipe from a cake he used to eat as a child. How sweet. I thought they were both beautiful!

7. Prince Harry.

I love how cute these two brothers are together. He seemed to play the part of the perfect younger brother/best man. I saw him making jokes and just being a brother to William on many occasions. It has been so neat to watch these boys grow up. They both really take after their mother.

6. The carriage ride.

How royal is that. It is like something out of a fairytale. Sure you can arrange to exit in a horse and carriage after your own wedding, but when does anyone ever get to parade around the city with millions of people cheering them on and with hundreds of uniformed escorts. AMAZING. ROYAL.

5. The exit from Buckingham Palace.

How cute was that when William and Kate left on their own in such an amazing car. It even read Just Wed on the license plate. I could have done without the cheesy balloons and ribbons on it, but how wonderfully cute and surprising the whole thing was.

4. The formality.

I love all the royal protocol and all the proper-ness of the whole thing. How much time must they all spend learning how to be royal. How to act graciously, who to shake hands with and who to not, how to compose yourself and be proper all the time. It was amazing and refreshing to see. One thing I love about being from the south is all the etiquette and learning how to be and act, and it is so nice to see that there is still a proper way to be and the royals are experts at it.

3. Pippa's dress.

I almost half expected for Kate to be wearing something along the lines of Pippa's dress. How perfect is her petite frame and how wonderfully beautiful was her dress. It was fit perfectly and I loved that it was white. It complemented the whole bridal party I thought.

2. The coordination of the wedding.

I am not sure who the wedding planner(s) was/were, but my hats off to them. I am pretty sure it wasn't a Martha Stewart or a Colin Cowie, but they need to be equally recognized as if they were. How in the heck do you coordinate such a fete and have it come off without a hitch. As a planner myself I am in awe of how you seat all 2000 guests appropriately in a church where most will not have a view at all. How you get people from 3 different locations, to one location at perfect intervals and in the order they need to be. I am imagining people on radios going cue the brothers, cure the mother, cue the queen, cue Kate, etc....They all made it on time and in the correct order. Amazing. Prefect.

1. Kate's Dress.

My first reaction when I saw it was, that's it...that's what she chose? I have seen that dress before? Someone else has worn something almost identical before. It is so the opposite of what I pictured her in. Where is the modern day princess everyone was talking about? How safe of a pick. How boring of a pick. How not representative of a young bride. It looks like an older bride dress. So at first I was disappointed. So how did it make my #1?? It was perfect for the occasion. Had it been me, I would have picked the same thing. I would have said, "I want to look like Grace Kelly, like royalty. I want to be that traditional princess bride. I want a tiara, I want a ball gown, I want lace, I want to be exactly what I had always pictured a princess bride to be. In that sense, I LOVED it. She is so beautiful and it fit her perfect and it was just perfect for a royal wedding.

Who Do You Think You Are?

I have become obsessed with this show. For those that may not know, it is a show on NBC where celebrities research their family history. I was already a family history/genealogy buff before this show was even created, but it has inspired me to learn more and dig deeper into my family roots.

I have done a little research and have found ancestors dating back to about the 1500's on certain lines, however, I have not verified all the info I have found and I am interested to now learn the stories. At first I just wanted to get names, dates, and places of major events in my ancestors lives, but now I want to know more about them. Who were they really? What did they do for a living? What kind of lives did they lead? Why did they move around and come from another country? A lot of these answers I know I will never find, but the journey to find out is fascinating. I only wish I had the time and the resources to really travel to all the places that my ancestors lived to meet with genealogists and historians to really get the full story. In the TV show that is what each celebrity gets to do. It makes the experience that much more rich. For example: Lisa Kudrow traveled to an old town that was basically wiped out during the holocaust and learning some of her ancestors were the victims in that horrible day. Or Rosie O'Donnell going to Ireland to see first hand the type of living conditions her relatives were living in just before they boarded a ship to come to America. I love that all the stories are unique, but all very much the same. Everyone has people in their family that overcame obstacles and were searching to make a better life for themselves and their family. I find it sooo interesting!

Do any of you know a lot about your family history? How far back have you found ancestors? If any of my friends or family are interested in having me help them, I would love to help. I am by no means a seasoned genealogist, and do not know a whole lot, but it is something I find very fun and interesting to do. It does take time and a lot of reading, but I think it is important for everyone to know where they came from. Don't you?

U2

It doesn't get much better than U2 when it comes to concerts. This was my second time seeing them and they did not disappoint. I feel like Bono's voice sounded better when I saw him 8 years ago in LA, but hey...it was still amazing! The set/stage was awesome! By far the best set up for a concert I had ever seen. I seats were "behind" the stage, although it was a 360 degree stage. They were still great. They came to our side a lot and at the end they walked all the way back and stood there for quite awhile, so I was able to get some awesome shots! They have an unlimited amount of great songs to choose from and I feel like they played them all. Not since the Foo Fighters have a seen a more entertaining band that seemed to play on and on, one great hit after another!

The Muse, the opening band, was also great! My husband REALLY wanted to see them and to be honest I was not that interested. Once they came out they really rocked the place and turns out I already knew most of their songs. I was pleasantly surprised at how great they were!

It was a great night and the new Cowboys stadium (which I think is a tad over-the-top and a bit ridiculous since "The Boys" are mediocre this year) was still AMAZING and huge and very nice!

Andrea Bocelli

Over the weekend we went to see Andrea Bocelli. This has been a dream of mine for years now, and (although it was actually taking place in Italy in my dream) it was amazing! We ended up going with Charlie's brother Rob and his fiance, Nina. We had a great meal at Houston's before and a fun time having drinks at Victory Tavern. Bocelli was amazing and so were his guests. I was in tears during several of his songs. They kept flashing up on the big screen behind him images of Italy and it was the next best thing to actually being there. If any one is going to be in Italy on July 1st, he is having a concert in Piazza San Marco in Venice. That would be dream concert of a lifetime so make plans to arrange to be there!! He does not disappoint! Bellissimo Andrea!

Vegas Weekend

What a fun weekend I just had. It was a nice break from the kids and daily life to zip out to Vegas to be with the girls and just have a good time. We had lots of great food, lazy time, and party time. We started our weekend off with a few drinks (of course) and then headed to dinner at Los Caminos at the Palazzo. Highly recommend this. The guacamole was outstanding and so was my dinner. We then headed over to the Venetian to see what was going on and we spent most of the time in a lounge and then we went back to the room to just hang out and visit. The next morning we drug ourselves to the pool and lounged in our cabana. This was sooo nice and quite a little luxury. Lucas, or cabana boy, waited on us hand and foot and brought us breakfast, lunch, and all the cocktails in between. We laid out a little bit, gambled on the horses, and just relaxed. I was so mad that I picked the wrong 50:1 horse to win. I would have won $500 instead of the big zero. That night we had dinner at Zefferino's at the Venetian. We were all a little drained from the night before but we figured since we were on the guest list at Tao that we would mosey on over for at least one drink.....little did we know what was about the transpire. First off, there were about 200+ people in line and out the door. We proceeded to follow a group of girls into the club, but promptly got stopped. We informed the guy we were on the "list" and he said so was everyone in that long line, but he had mercy on us and pulled us to the side and got us in right then in there. So we not only got line privilege, we paid no cover, and found ourselves upstairs in what we would find out to be P. Diddy's and Jay-Z's post fight night party. We were in prime position by Chloe Kardashian's table and had P. Diddy and Jay-Z and their entourage walk right next to us not once, but twice. The little mini concert they gave was awesome and celebrities such as Adrian Brody, David Arquette, Mel B. and Balthazar Getty (just to name a few) came and went throughout the night. It was surreal and we kept wondering how the hell 4 moms in their 30's ended up in what was one of the hottest parties in Vegas that night..by accident! It was quite a weekend!