It’s freaking amazing, but it’s also freaking exhausting. Which is why I can’t write words. So pictures it is!

We started the day off with a Fernando Verdasco practice session.

It was kind of mundane until Maria Sharapova came out. Turns out Maria had the court booked for the same time. You know what that means? FIGHT!

Guess who won?

Then it was over to the ESPN booth to see Chris Fowler in person. What? I love him.

These are Chris’s pants.

Unfortunately his bottom half was covered.

(Just kidding.)

Then it was time for Rafael Nadal vs. Fernando Verdasco.

This was a match I was excited about. Until it started and I remembered that Rafa wasn’t playing well and that all Verdasco does is choke. The hour and fifteen or so minutes that I spent watching this first set were seriously the worst time of my days at tennis. It was complete torture. I still maintain that the best decision I made all week was leaving that game.

I made it over for the end of Sam Stosur and Li Na.

I know this isn’t a very good picture, but for some reason I just love it.

After the women came Mardy Fish vs. Richard Gasquet. I love, love, love Gasquet. I could watch him play tennis all day and the fact that he’s never really excelled makes me sad.

#backhandidie

During the Fish/Gasquet match I saw that the Tomas Berdych vs. Nicolas Almagro match was almost over and I knew I wanted to swing by and see Nico so I headed over there.

Sadly Nico was less than stellar and was easily defeated.

On my way back to Fish/Gasquet I grabbed a burrito.

It was terrible. Do not get a black bean veggie burrito from Hot Heads at Cincy Tennis. Also, it was $10. That’s more expensive than a burrito at the US Open. And the one at the US Open is good. And it comes with chips. Just saying.

While I was watching the end of the match I missed two calls from a Cincinnati number. I called them back when I could and it turns out that I won the chance the do the coin toss before the David Ferrer/Giles Simon match. You might remember that my friend won last year. How crazy is that?

If you would have asked me how tall David Ferrer was before we did this I would have said 5’8. If you would have asked me how tall he was after we did this I would have said 5’5. If you ask me now, after seeing this picture and comparing him to me (5’3), I say 5’9. So weird.

After we did the coin toss we got to sit courtside.

I think that last one might be the best tennis photo I’ve ever taken.

It was a great match to sit courtside for. It went three sets, it was really competitive, and we got to see fun people in the stands. Like Gasquet and former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Once Simon won we headed over to catch the Nadal and Lopez doubles match.

They lost almost right after we got there, but it was nice to finally see Nadal play doubles. Even though I was pretty disgusted with Rafa from earlier.

Then it was time for the night session which featured the skip-able Federer/Blake on Center Court so we checked out Francesca Schiavone and Jelena Jankovic on the Grandstand.

After the first set there I went over to see Gael Monfils and Philip Kohlschrbeiber.

That ended up being a mistake since Monfils won easily fairly soon after I got there and by the time I wanted to go back to Schiavone/Jankovic that match had picked up and was packed so I had to stand along the top of the stadium.

But it was a fun match that Jankovic won, even though I was convinced until she actually won that she was going to lose. Because that’s how she is.

After that match ended we headed over to Graeter’s where I got the blackberry chip.

Which was a-mazing. Then we went to Applebee’s which was vomit-inducing. Can’t win them all.

Our first stop was Pittsburgh to get some breakfast.

We went to an adorable place called Pamela’s (apparently it’s a Pittsburgh chain) and I had amazing french toast and potatoes.

I can’t even think about the amount of fat/calories/etc. in this stuff. I just ate it and it was a-mazing.

Then it was back on the road.

We briefly drove through West Virginia (it’s wild AND wonderful).

And then got to Ohio.

We stopped at two Flying J’s (I have a small bladder).

We kept up our tradition of getting Skyline chili before heading to the tennis.

And finally it was time for tennis!!

We did some walking around the remodeled grounds before watching the Petrova/Kirilenko vs. Goerges/Kuznetsova doubles match.

At 7pm a bunch more matches started. We watched Petkovic vs. Arvidsson, which wasn’t too interesting so we quickly headed over to the main event.

Novak Djokovic vs. Ryan Harrison. I love Novack and I was excited to see him since he’s on this crazy winning streak (he’s lost ONE match this year) and I think Ryan is an up-and-coming American (who needs to learn to control his emotions) who I really like.

Novak won pretty easily, but it was still a good match to watch. And it was packed.

Fastest serve we saw!

After that there was a woman’s match on the main court but we didn’t really have an interest so we headed over to watch Simon vs. Tipsaravic.

The match was close, but oddly enough not really exciting. So we left after Simon went up a break in the 3rd set to get ice cream.

That’s a buckeye blitz with whipped cream. SO GOOD!!

It’s a full day of tennis today. I can’t wait!!

Long Island

To the Throgs Neck Bridge

To traffic in the Bronx

To the George Washington Bridge

To I-80

To a rest stop

To gorgeous farm land

To beautiful, curvy, hilly roads

To where they play the Little League World Series

To towns where people haven’t taken down old signs

To somewhat sketchy gas stations

To more beautiful mountains

To State College

To one spot of bad weather

To almost my destination

To one final hilly, winding road.

Tennis or bust today

You might remember that we went last year. To watch tennis. Of course.

A little trip down memory lane…

Cincinnati Chili!

Andy Roddick.

Line judge Serena berated.

Andy Murray.

Rafa practicing.

I looked crazy happy meeting Brad Gilbert.

Doing the coin toss on Center Court.

My announcer crush (hi Chris Fowler!).

Ashley geeking out at Roddick.

Here’s to another good year!

Pics and some commentary:

Laura and I love swings.

There was a cool Volkswagon car show.

Cincinnati! Where I’m going Wednesday!

I think this one was my favorite.

My future home (aka the admiral’s house).

Laura in my future library.

Sadly we missed this.

I think this is my favorite shot from the day. Imagine, the people who were stationed in that fort would look across and see…nothing.

Actually, I think my favorite thing about the day was a banner that was a piece of art that goes along with a show at the New Museum. It was in Russian, but translated it said: “I do not complain about anything and I almost like it here, although I have never been here before and know nothing about this place.”

It faced the Statue of Liberty and I thought it was very meaningful.

You can also note my weight changes. And hair color changes. Otherwise I think I’m exactly the same!

This was taken in my senior year dorm room. I think we were watching the Golden Globes or the Oscars. If it was the Golden Globes it was the night I had too much to drink and couldn’t go to work the next day.

Also my senior year, this was taken one of my friend Natalie’s famous College Democrats date auctions.

Spring of 2008, I went back to Mount Holyoke to visit my friend Maria, who was a senior, and we went to this ice cream shop that’s connected to a farm.

Fall of 2008, my friend Laura and I were coming home from our friend Liz’s housewarming party. We saw a swing set attached to some project buildings and decided to swing in the early hours of the morning.

January 2009, I was at Barack Obama’s inauguration with my friend Becca and there were tons of people to take pictures with there.

May of 2009, back at college for my 2-year reunion and at my favorite burrito place.

Same college reunion, this is after the Laurel Parade.

Made Men Maggie.

Fall of 2009 (the day before I got the swine flu) by my old desk. This (cropped) is actually my LinkedIn photo.

2009 Vendy Awards.

Turkey Trot 5K.

Summer of 2010 watching the US-England soccer game.

November 2010 at the Macy*s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Anyone else ever examine their Facebook profile photo history?

I can’t remember birthdays. I really just can’t. I don’t know why, but I can’t seem to remember anyone’s birthday. I know the general timing, but I can’t remember the specific day. I have to look at Facebook around the approximate time to figure it out. But then some people don’t have their birthday listed on Facebook. In which case there is no hope for me. I realize that this is a crappy thing for me to realize, but I do my best. And I don’t expect anyone to remember my birthday so I figure we’re all fair.

I can’t make up my own recipes. I used to go to the farmers’ market or grocery store and buy a bunch of stuff that looked good with a recipe in mind and then I’d try to make something and it would be awful. I used to beat myself up about this, but then I realized it just wasn’t something I’m good at. So now I find recipes that go along with my general idea and I make those. And usually they turn out pretty well.

I can’t keep waiting for “normal.” This has been a major revelation. This was helped in large part by a post by Rachel Wilkerson. I’ve been waiting for my new normal for a long time, since last summer even. But things never calm down or go back to “normal” and by continuing to wait I was continually setting myself up for failure. Lately I’ve taken steps to adjust to my crazy life which actually is my new normal. Working out in the morning, is a big part of it and doing a better job at planning my meals and budgeting my money better.

We landed right on time on Thursday night and after only a few wrong turns I made it to the hotel right around midnight. Unfortunately my hotel room wasn’t as nice as my room last year, even though it was the same hotel.

When I turned on the TV this was the first thing I saw:

It finally got cool(er) in NYC when I had to head into a furnace in Austin.

When I woke up the next morning I knew I had to use my time wisely if I wanted to get everything done that I needed and wanted to do. After a quick 3 mile run on the treadmill (no way was I running outside!) I ordered some delicious pancakes for breakfast.

These things were enormous and SO filling. I ate less than half and I wasn’t hungry again until close to 4pm.

After eating I went over to set up for my work thing later that night. Then I was back in the hotel for a conference call with work. And then finally I was off on my Friday Night Lights tour.

While on the tour the temperatures just went up and up and up.

It was so hot that by the time I made it back to the hotel I actually considered using the valet rather than walking 20 feet in the heat. But I sucked it up and walked.

I ate dinner early since I hadn’t had lunch and since my work thing started at 7. I went to Maggiano’s Italian restaurant, which was delicious, but so much food. I think my pasta dish could have easily served a family of 4. I got the bruschetta (which I ate about half of) and a chicken/veggie/fettuccine with garlic cream sauce dish (which I ate about a quarter of).

Then it was back to the hotel to hang out for a bit before my work thing. I got dressed and headed over around 6:45.

The show was in an old Borders store, which, in my opinion, was really depressing. It was still painted red and they had the author quotes up on the walls.

I thought my booth looked quite nice though.

After the show ended around 10 I went back to the hotel to watch tennis and snack on some of my leftover pasta.

I slept in Saturday morning and surprised myself by waking up at 9:15. Before I could get distracted I headed to the hotel gym to do a 30-minute elliptical speed workout.

I decided to have waffles for breakfast since I knew I wanted to eat lunch before my flight back to NYC and didn’t want the super-filling pancakes.

I hung around the hotel a little while longer (love noon checkouts!) before saying goodbye for another year.

I headed to a nearby Great Harvest to buy some delicious bread to bring back with me to NYC. And then I headed back to Matt’s El Rancho. Because it’s never too early in the day for a margarita, right?

I had a small lunch and then headed back over to the old Del Valle High School football field since I realized I had went to the wrong place on Friday.

Much better, right?

I even got out of the car and took a few pictures of the field through the fence.

Then it was time to head to the airport. The old field couldn’t have been closer, it was literally about 2 minutes away and there was even a gas station on the way where I was able to fill up the gas tank.

I got to the airport pretty early, especially since my flight was delayed 20 minutes, but the Austin airport isn’t bad airport to wait in. It’s pretty quiet.

We actually ended up leaving on time and my flight back to NYC was more than half empty. I was in row 9 and there was no one next to me and pretty much no one in back of me.

I had some chocolate chip cookies, which I thought had pretty good nutrition stats.

The flight was ok except for the takeoff, because it’s so hot the plane does that bouncing thing and I’m not going to lie, I was a little freaked out. But otherwise it as fine, JFK was backed up so we had to circle for about half an hour.

Then I got into the car and my driver was crazy. He yelled at me for taking too long (I didn’t want to be circling either!) and then missed the turn for my street which is the last left you can make for a while so he did a U-turn in the middle of Atlantic Ave. (a very major road). He was pretty terrifying.

But I made it home safe and sound! I’m going to spend the day today relaxing. Only 10 more days until I go to Cincinnati!

I only started watching Friday Night Lights in May and I have to say I am an idiot for waiting so long. It is seriously one of the best shows EVER on television. If you haven’t watched it you must go watch it now (it’s streaming on Netflix) and, if you have watched it, you must go read this now. The fact that this show is no longer on the air is an American tragedy. Seriously.

Anyway after some hurried planning (many thanks to here, here, here, and here) I set out to see eleven different sites. (You can check out my Google map of the tour here and I’ve listed all the addresses below.)

First up, the Panthers’ field.

It’s actually at the Pflugerville High School Stadium and the crappy part about it is that it’s closed off to the public.

But still cool. (1301 Pecan St. W. Pflugerville, TX 78660)

Next, Tim Riggins’ land. I can’t remember if he buys the land in season 4 or season 5, but since Tim is one of my favorite characters I wanted to make sure I paid a visit.

After a long drive down a narrow, windy road, I don’t think I ended up at the right spot. Tim’s land was much more open looking. This was covered in trees. Looking at the map again I think I needed to drive a while more down Burleson Manor Rd.. Oh well.

(7252 (or farther down) Burleson Manor Rd. Manor, TX 78653)

Third was the Panther Field House.

I don’t really know what I was supposed to find here, but that’s the only trace of the Panthers that I found. It’s supposed to be an abandoned field that they used, but really it just looked abandoned. I guess they haven’t used it in a while. Still nice to see though. And probably the oddest located place I went. (Flow Ln. and Del Valle St. Austin, TX 78617)

(Ed. to add: I ended up going back to the next day since when I got back to the hotel and looked at Google Maps I realized I didn’t go far enough south. I’ve updated the address above and here are some better pictures…)

Fourth was Garrity Motors which is actually a Chevy Dealership. It’s supposed to be on the service road of I-35 but my GPS couldn’t find it. So I didn’t go, but good luck to anyone who wants to see it. (6328 Interstate 35 Frontage Rd. Austin TX, 78745)

Fifth (after a few wrong ways trying to find Garrity Motors) was Ray’s BBQ.

I don’t think this is what it looked like on the show, but still fun. (6302 Monsanto Dr. Austin, TX 78741)

Next was the East Dillon Practice Field.

Is what it is. (2271 Riverview St. Austin, TX 78702)

My next stop was Matt Saracen’s house, but that was stupid because I drove past Vince’s house on my way there and then had to drive back to Vince’s house. So next stop should be Vince’s house.

If you watch the show you know that Vince is supposed to live in the ghetto, but I thought this was a perfectly fine neighborhood. (2681 E Cesar Chavez St. Austin, TX 78702)

After that the next stop should be Matt Saracen’s house. All of the numbers I had listed for the houses were wrong which at first made me think I was in the wrong place, but after driving up and down the roads I realized the houses were there, just with a different number.

I was sad the Saracen #7 sigh wasn’t outside (3009 Kuhlman Ave. Austin, TX 78702)

Next came the Alamo Freeze.

Yes, it’s actually a Dairy Queen and yes, I got a blizzard. The inside is nothing like the Alamo Freeze, fyi. (5900 Manor Rd. Austin, TX 78723)

Finally, my two favorite stops.

The Riggins’ house!

Much nicer than when Tim and Billy were living there (2604 Lehigh Dr. Austin, TX 78723)

Finally, the Taylor House.

Can’t you just see the team working out on coach’s lawn? Or Eric and Tammi leaving with Gracie Belle? (6805 De Paul Cove, Austin TX 78723)

So those are the 10 stops I made. If you are in Austin and you’re a fan of Friday Night Lights I highly recommend checking out some of the places. Many of them are located in the same general area. And, even if you go to all of them, it’s not that long. It took me about 4 hours all together.

And I’ll end with clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose and Texas forever.

All My Ex’s Live in Texas – George Strait

That’s Right (You’re Not From Texas) – Lyle Lovett

Bob Wills is Still the King – Waylon Jennings