Rafa at the BNP tournament

It's 5:40 a.m., way too early to be up. But Patrice and I are playing at 7:30.

Last night we saw Lopez and Nadal upset Fyrstenberg and Matkowski. We sat in one of the nosebleed sections and I held on to my seat. I'd forgotten about the weird vertigo-like sensation I get in the upper section, where it feels like I'm pitched forward. Once I calmed down, I could enjoy watching Team Spain dominate the match.

After some shopping on the grounds with Patrice and Debbie, I watched Simon and Isner on the jumbotron, listening to Dave Matthews and Journey on level ground.

I'm glad to playing on a court with bleacher seating! I'll check in after the match.

Almost Nationals

The last two days started with breakfast outside: omelets made to order, pancakes, fruit, pastries. A nice perk (minus the aggressive birds who will eat right off your plate).

The hotel feels very Melrose Place, with the rooms overlooking the pool. And Patrice and Tim are only three doors down, which makes this place even more homey.

The courts are usually empty at mid-day (and fill up early in the morning), so we hit with our teammates Yvonne and Gina at 11. It was reassuring to shake off our initial sluggishness. I am also experimenting with V-8 juice as a pick-me-up. Hmm.

My dilemma du jour: Sunglasses or not? The frames mess with my peripheral vision on my backhand. But it's also hard to serve into the sun. I'll let you know how it goes.

Three straight days of sunshine, pool time, and tennis — love it! Tonight we're off to see the pros play at the BNP.

Thank you for all of the good wishes and good advice. Kelsey, I love your Rob Schneider-like "You can do it!" Jen, you were right about the self-tanner. And Tom, enjoy your break from Noonan and me this week.

I wish you all could be here. But I'll check in tomorrow!

Hello from Nationals

We're finally on our Nationals trip!

After getting up at 4:30 a.m., we were barely awake for our connecting flight in Chicago.

When we finally touched down in Palm Springs, the first thing I noticed about the airport was the brightness in the Sonny Bono Concourse. The second thing was the town's penchant for naming streets after celebrities (Gene Autry, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra).

We checked into the hotel and then grabbed lunch. Even though I was ready for a nap, Patrice and I decided to go hit at the hotel's courts.

We gave up after an hour. The ball was slow and so were we.

But it was still a luxury to play tennis, sit at the pool, and eat dinner outside. A good Tuesday.

Combo state playoffs

Our Le Club combo team competed at state playoffs this weekend. In the craziness, I didn't get any photos. (This one's from when we won our flight playoff at Highlander.)

Even though we're not advancing, there were many highlights this weekend:

• Patrice forgot her tennis skirt, then bought a black and green outfit without trying it on. I unknowingly bought the same outfit in red. We will look like Christmas if we ever wear them at the same time.

• Rocki's phone call to Ann, joking that she couldn't make it to her match on time.

• Kristen's reassurance during our first match: "You can't be that nervous. You held serve." Thanks, Kristen!

• Jane and Nora being down 9-8 in the super tiebreak (one point from losing the match). But then they won the next three points. Mental toughness!

• Lunch at Panera with Patrice, Kristen, Carol, Jill, and Cam.

• That Cam rolled bread into little balls and Jill sliced the brownie into tiny pieces so she could share with all of us.

• Kim's text: "I deserve to be there so play well." Followed by, "Ok — that message was supposed to read 'you' deserve to be there. How 'I' came up is weird but it is right next to the 'u'... I hate this phone. Good luck to all of 'u.'"

• Carol's one-handed backhand volley. Wish I could do that!

• Nora inviting us for a post-match glass of wine. Nora is always offering wine (and pizza).

• Saturday's victory dinner with Patrice and Tim at Mama Mia's.

• Trish and Patrice won all their matches. The entire season!

• Ann hugging us at the end of our matches. And one last time. "It was a good run," she said.

Cheers to my combo friends! I enjoyed all of the practices, pizzas, and playoff matches. I hope we can do it all again soon.

Putting the fun in fundraiser

Last night our tri-level team hosted an event at Moorland to raise money for our Nationals trip.

We set up fun activities: volleys, clocking serves, and hitting targets. Mary H., Lauren, and Jody, who aren't making the trip with us, came to play and help us out.

I worked the ball machine on court 4 and was awed by how good everyone’s ground strokes were. I got hit only a couple of times.

Char used the megaphone early and often but managed to not disturb Debbie’s six-week-old grandson. After the drills, she announced who had the fastest serve: Patrice's husband, Tim, at 98 miles per hour. Unreal!

The constant walking to retrieve balls worked up my appetite. While our guests played competitive mixed doubles, I grazed on veggies and dip, later moving on to lots of brown foods: wings, meatballs, chocolate mousse cake. Great job, Pam and Gina, with coordinating the food!

On to the raffle. I'm happy to say that my friends won the necklace, earrings, massage, tennis dress, three-month Highlander membership, and dinner prepared by a chef. Kevin, I'm sorry you didn't win the apple pie.

I feel very lucky, having a terrific partner and being on a winning team. Being around people who cheer us on makes it even better. Patrice and I were so touched by the support from our Highlander friends: Doug and Beth, Dan and Mary C., Ron and Jean, Colleen and Kevin, Tim, Terry, Chris, Fred, Mary A., and Carol came to play tennis and buy raffle tickets. Rick and Jess, thanks for donating to the cause. We hope to see you very soon.

Heartfelt thanks to all for sharing our love of tennis and reminding us what a great club we belong to.

Oh no, Poopaya!

Last Sunday I dropped off Papaya at Colleen and Kevin's house.

Colleen had graciously agreed to dogsit for a week. She wasn't home when Papaya and I arrived, but Kevin welcomed us in. Pops wandered for a couple of minutes, tried to eat the cat food, and came back over to the table next to their kitchen.

I said, "Be a good girl."

Pops squatted and dropped a poop. This is not a trick we worked on. (Had things gone as planned, I would've followed up with "Shake." Which maybe isn't that impressive, but at least it's not a poop on your kitchen floor.)

Kevin took her outside, I cleaned up the mini-mess, and all was fine. (Carol's commentary when I told her the story: "He scared the crap out of her!")

The week went by without incident, Colleen said, except when she went to play tennis and Pops ate the sugar cookies that were in the bottom of a bag on the floor.

Naughty!

Other than those couple of things, Pops was a decent guest. Colleen walked her and introduced her to some other dogs (Colleen is a social director for dogs, too!).

Kevin also took good care of her, playing lots of frisbee and making sure she didn't overeat the treats. All in all, a good week. He offered to take care of her anytime. And gave her a new nickname: Poopaya.

Looking forward to 2012

Every December I move the TV to make room for my Christmas tree. This year I wondered what life would be like if I never had to move that TV again. It was so heavy it warped the coffee table it was on.

My friends were puzzled. ("I have a small house. I have four TVs." "That wouldn't be so bad in the summer, but what are you going to do in the winter?" "Can't you just leave it there and not watch it? Or put it in the basement?") My parents offered to get me a new one. The current model was a Christmas gift from them in 2002, the year I bought my house.

I knew that nothing would give me more free time than giving away the TV.

Still.

No more Revenge, no more Packer games, no more episodes of The Cleveland Show that spoof Die Hard. (The year: 1988. The thieves were after a 27-inch TV. Just like mine.)

Instead, there is Hulu. And, I hope, more football parties at Chris' house.

I gave the TV away on Thursday. The house is so quiet!

But it helped to go out on New Year's Eve, where the party at Clyde and Sandra's proved to be a perfect distraction. Upstairs, we ate chicken and sandwiches and watched Pops, Sandra's 93-year-old dad, eat his jello shot with a spoon. Then we all played Sequence. It is oddly addictive in a Connect-Four-meets-Stratego kind of way.

After that, it was back to Clyde's man-cave for more wine.

A few minutes before midnight, Carol announced, "Well, it's been a rough year." We shared a laugh at her last-minute reflection on the disappointments of 2011. Ah, bygones.

It was a good night for a party — and for a TV.

We watched the ball drop in Times Square and toasted to 2012. Cheers to new habits! I wish you a year filled with friends, parties, and board games.