30-Love Love

Last night I went to the Legg Mason Tennis Classic (which I sometimes still think of as the Virginia Slims Tennis Classic, because I am old. Do they even still make Virginia Slims?) with my friend Amy and another person from work, who I didn’t know very well, but who turned out to be quite nice.

I had never been to a live tennis match before, and it was so much fun! I’ve always liked watching tennis on TV, and had crushes on such tennis players as Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi when I was growing up. I was hoping we’d get to see Agassi, but he lost really early on in the tournament. The evening got off to a most excellent start when we hopped in a cab at the Metro rather than waiting in the really long line for the free shuttle bus. Our cab driver was a riot. He kept saying how smart we were to have gotten in his cab, made sure to point out all of the embassies we passed along the way, yelling “Indonesia! Poland!” as we went by, and pulling off a crazy left turn maneuver in front of a huge line of cars at one light. He was a hoot.

And then the tennis match was very cool. Really, I was sitting there watching the match from our excellent – and free, thanks Amy and Amy’s friend who gave her free tickets! – seats, loving every second of it and plotting how I could get up to New York for the US Open. We saw the Moodie-Safin match, which was very exciting, with both sets ending with tie-breakers and then some of the doubles match with the Bryan brothers, who are twins and apparently very good doubles players. I told Amy at the end of the night that between the tennis and her Superman/IMAX idea, she’d have made #1 on my speed dial, if I had speed dial numbers programmed.

In totally unrelated news, but linked in my mind because both of them live in New York and I was thinking about the US Open, I’m apparently kind of a jerk. Or at least not such a great friend, as I had to call TWO of my oldest and closest friends today to apologize for the fact that I completely missed their birthdays. I take birthdays pretty seriously, so I was mortified to have forgotten them. Even worse, it’s not the first time. Damn summer birthdays. I called Mary Pat, whose birthday I actually did remember on her birthday, but I got distracted and forgot to call her, and then I forgot for a week. A week! Not very good best friend from middle school behavior. Anyway, I called her on the way to the Hagerstown Outlets to look for new sneakers. Yes, that’s right, I’ve actually exercised enough to need new sneakers! I hit the sneaker outlets and eventually ended up with two pairs at Reebok. Nike had nothing in a size 6.5, and prices that I can only describe as not very outlet-y. Same for Addidas. Reebok had better prices and a buy one pair get one pair for half price deal, so even though they didn’t have any 6.5’s either, I decided to go for two pairs of size 7’s. I very virtuously did not even look at any non-exercise clothes because I am not buying any clothes until I reach my goal weight, but I do need a few new smaller exercise shirts so I can stop flashing the world when I lean over in yoga class. Once again, I discovered that there weren’t really any bargains to be had, so I hit the road and went to Target, where I got two tank tops with sports bras built in and a t-shirt for what one shirt at the outlet mall would have cost me. Good old Target. But while in Target, I got to thinking about my friend Julie and how I should call her. And then I realized that I should really call her what with her birthday having just happened. I actually briefly hoped that today might be August 3rd, but when I thought I about it, I knew that couldn’t be right. So then I had to come home and call her to apologize for missing her birthday. Sometimes, I just suck.

And finally, on yet another unrelated note, has anyone ever, in the history of making cookies, made Nestle Toll House cookies and gotten 5 dozen cookies in one batch? I made cookies to take to John’s dad tomorrow and I got 4 dozen. I have made chocolate chip cookies a bazillion times, and I always get 4 dozen, and the recipe always claims you’ll get 5. Just wondering if I’m the only one.