TENNIS - I love this sport!

I am definitely getting my fill of watching tennis this summer with both French Open & Wimbledon! I told Jai that I looked forward to week 2 of Wimbledon as there is less tennis. : )

Wimbledon is my favorite. It is cool to watch the coverage and see the grounds and remember walking around the place last year. I love it when Julia wears her Wimbledon sun hat. I tell her sometimes "last year WE were there" since I was 4 months pregnant in late-June.

In a way I’m bummed that we won’t see a Federer-Nadal final again. I am excited the Williams sisters made it a repeat final!

Favorites:
1. Wii commercials showcasing the non-famous players beating the famous sports people, especially the images of the tennis players

2. US Open series commercials:

a. Federer: “Rog”
b. Venus’ dog Henry doesn’t really like tennis.
c. Serena’s dolls (look like Williams sisters!) fighting – “victory is mine!”
d. Andy Roddick’s one not as funny as I expected; I really enjoy his post-match press conferences!

In the his press conference yesterday about playing Andy Murray in the semi-final, A.Rod said 2 funny things:

1) holding up his hand he says he can count how many supporters he'll have in the crowd
2) when he hears the cheers "come on, Andy" he's going to pretend and tell himself that they mean him ... he's funny! : )

3. outfits:

a. loved Maria S’s dress, too bad she lost so early
b. hated Petrova’s dress, glad she lost so I didn’t have to see it again
c. Safina’s top is too small – “not appropriate for Centre Court” a commentator said; I agree!
d. I like Serena’s dress, similar to Maria’s

4. 38 year old player (Dante Grumm I think are her last names correction: Kimiko Date Krumm) – same age as me! Playing in Wimbledon after 13 years hiatus (think she got married and had some kids). She played Caroline W. who wasn’t even born yet when Dante Grumm played in her first Wimbledon! CRAZY!

5. Quote on Serena’s T-shirt one day this week: “Strong is the new Beautiful.” LOVE it!

I really like the Wimbledon towels this year, too!

I love tennis so much. : )

Second Trimester - the beginning weeks

June started the beginning of trimester #2 and am I glad. I almost literally to the day of ending the first trimester started to feel better! Partly psychosomatic I'm sure as well coinciding with the beginning of my school's summer break, but I felt much more energetic. Lucky for me since I would need it as I embarked on a month of traveling that took me from Nashville to New England to London, ENGLAND!

I visited friends in Rhode Island and Vermont and Maine as well as a family reunion in New Hampshire. Also during the NE trip I was at tennis camp for 3 days during an unusual heat wave that took down non-pregnant people. I had a great time with my sister and 2 Wellesley friends, Pauline and Lisa. Thankfully they checked on me often and made sure I rested and rehydrated. I also enjoyed the carbo-loading necessary to play tennis 5 hours a day in the SUN! Ahh, I'm loving the eating part of pregnancy. : )

THEN Pauline and I headed to England for a week and went to Wimbledon to watch TONS of tennis for 3 GREAT days. We saw the Williams sisters play doubles TWICE, one time on Centre Court! Jet lag and pregnancy sleepiness seem to be interchangable, almost indistinguishable actually, and we made the most of our trip abroad. Also I got the cutest baby hat with the Wimbledon emblem!

When I returned to Nashville after a harrowing journey via Chicago's O'Hare airport (never again!), I was done with travel. Or so I thought since Jai & I already had travel plans to Seattle for July 4-8 and off I went again to the beautiful and green Northwest. Thank goodness for summer vacation - I was able to rest without having to go to work between these wonderful trips.