With Andy Murray

This is the picture I referenced in one of my other posts of Shaun and I with Andy Murray. He's from Scotland and played Roger Federer in the final of the US Open this year after beating Nadal in the semis. This picture was taken after he lost the final. I thought it was really cool that he was so willing to take a picture with us AND smile after such a heartbreaking loss. But, he's a super nice guy so that shouldn't have surprised me too much.

Hola from Madrid...finally!

So, I am really not doing well with blogging while I'm away. Today is my last day in Madrid and I've FINALLY sat down to post a few pics. How sad am I?

Madrid has been awesome. The city is so beautiful, the people so friendly and the food so good! (speaking of food....the oldest restaurant in the world, Botin, is here in Madrid. Unfortunately we never got to eat there but I did get a picture of it!) The weather has been FABULOUS and I'll be coming home with a tan even though I was wearing SPF 45. Yesterday morning was a litte nerve-racking due to rain but luckily patience paid off and the clouds went away and the sun came out for a beautiful afternoon. This morning has been a little wet but I'm leaving so as long as it's not raining in Paris, I don't care.

I didn't really do anything tourist-y while I was here besides the city tour I had booked for our group. Other than that we did a lot of walking. One afternoon we came across a guy that had made himself into a statue. He was covered in clay and only moved if you put money down. Over the course of our few days we came across a few instances of this live art but he was definitely the best. I think it was the way he incorporated himself into the whole scene.

The only crappy thing about this trip is I realize now as I sit here going through all my pictures is that my dad and I never took a photo together this whole weekend. No one would probably know that we were even in the same foreign city at the same time if it weren't for some group photos. Oh well, I had a great time with him nonetheless - pictures or no pictures! Hopefully he enjoyed. It seemed like he was pretty into the tennis once he figured out the scoring.

And, the tennis. The tournament was held in a bull ring!!! It was VERY cool. The matches were UNBELIEVABLE and though Team USA lost, they did a great job. Four of the five matches were so good and the doubles match - the only one we won - was probably the best match I've seen in person.

Well, I'm in the hotel lobby waiting for airport transfers for my clients. Three are gone (including Dad's) with two more to go, including mine. Opps, strike that - 4 gone and mine's next. I'll try to post some more pictures from Paris. And NOT of the Eiffel Tower. LOL!

New Travel Update

On Tuesday I'm off to Madrid as originally planned for the Davis Cup. Instead of coming home on Monday (22nd), I'm actually heading over to Paris for a few days to check out some hotels for the 2009 French Open. Now I'll be home on the evening of Thursday, September 25th.

Don't know how much time I'll have to do postcards from Madrid but I'll try. If anything, I'll take lots of pictures and post them here.

New York, New York

Well, the rest of our time in New York City for the US Open went pretty quickly. Shaun came down Tuesday morning of the second week. It was so nice to have him there. We even put him to work! :)

Later that week I got to see an old friend I hadn't seen in AGES! Merritt and I were in the 7th & 8th grade together in Monterey, California. We haven't seen each other since Christmas of 9th grade when I flew back for a visit. Now she is an architect in NYC and we crossed paths online. Unfortunately we weren't able to meet up at the tennis but we did get meet over some yummy pastries and caught up over a nice sunny walk in the SOHO area.

The tennis was great. James Blake lost to another American, Mardy Fish but Mardy made it to the quarter-finals, losing against Nadal. At least he took a set off him. Another American, Sam Querrey also did really well. Scottsman Andy Murray kicked some butt and played Roger Federer in the final. That night, Shaun and I were lucky enough to meet Andy. He was so nice about taking pictures with people even though he had just lost the US Open.

Speaking of pictures, Shaun was almost part of a paparazzi attack. The day before we left he went shopping (without me!) and found himself facing a whole bunch of cameras. He soon figured out he must've been close to someone famous. He was. Turns out he was walking right next to Nicole Richie and her daughter. I don't know if I believe him since he's in NONE of the pictures online but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. HAHAHA!