I Can't Believe It's Over!

So, now that I am back in Hermosa after a couple crazy weeks of traveling, I have some time to update everyone on volleyball news...

Two weekends ago in Muskegon my partner and I came up one match short of qualifying for the main draw! The weather forecast said rain and wind for Thursday and Friday and unfortunately, the weather people were actually right. My first match on Thursday started around 9 while it was drizzling. I kind of felt like a little kid again getting to go out and play in the rain! It was a different feeling playing while it was raining but it was actually really fun! My partner Lynnsy Jones and I played really well together and won the match pretty easily. The other team's scores were somewhere around 16 or 17 in the first and about 15 in the second. At the end of the second game it started pouring! That definitely made it harder! The ball got really heavy so you totally had to change the way you served, passed, set and hit. It was just a different game all around. Luckily, we finished it off pretty quickly! We sat underneath the check-in tent for a couple of hours waiting for our next match because it rained steadily for the next 2 hours! It also got super windy so then it was cold too! By the time we played again the rain had stopped which we thought was a good thing! Unfortunately, the rain clouds left because the wind blew them away! I don't know if you've ever tried playing beach volleyball in the wind, but it is really hard! I wish I knew the exact MPH of the wind, but all I know is we weren't even playing real volleyball because the wind blew the ball around so much. We were lucky to even get our serves over! Before the second match, the girls we were playing (and their coach... most people don't travel with a coach, but there are a few teams out there that do) asked us if we wanted to play with fresh balls they brought instead of the heavy balls that had been in the rain all day. This is where our huge mistake was!!! After warming up with both balls, we decided we'd play with the lighter, more fresh balls. Logically, this made sense to me... we are used to playing with balls that are fresh and light, so that's how we'd play our best right? Man was I wrong! The lighter ball moved so much more in the wind than the heavy balls we'd played with in the morning! Looking back, Lynnsy and I realized we should have played with the heavy balls because the other team had a bye in the first round and wouldn't have been used to the heavy balls! Such a bummer, but I guess it was a lesson learned. Anyway, we lost the second match and it wasn't pretty.

I took this picture right after my first match - it's POURING!

This is underneath one of the tents, there were tons of people huddled together and you can see the rain dripping in between the two tents

This was taken in the morning...

This is the SAME view a few hours later! Did you notice that you can't see ANY scenery in the first picture????

I was trying to take a picture of the little red flag to show hard hard the wind was blowing. It's tough to see, but it's blowing straight out!

I flew back and spent the rest of the weekend in St. George, Utah watching Scott's baseball team play! Unfortunately, I got into St. George right after Scott's first game was over and I missed him pitching. The real bummer was that he hurt his arm really bad... he was only able to pitch an inning and a third that night. Now, he's just waiting to go to the doctor to get an MRI and see what's really wrong with it. He wasn't able to finish out the last week and half of his season so he was pretty bummed. Everyone please say a little prayer for him because he'll be figuring out what to do with his life for the next couple of months. He's got a few job interviews set up which is really exciting!

After St. George, I was back in Hermosa practicing and then headed out to Chicago! I love the Chicago AVP event because Chicago is such a fun place to get to visit! I flew in on Wednesday and ended up just hanging out around the city for awhile before meeting up with Scott's friend Matt who lives in Chicago. He let me stay at his house while I was there so that I didn't have to pay for a hotel... very nice of him! Thursday morning we played our first match in some pretty dreary weather again! It barely sprinkled but was a little windy and overcast. I played with Jessica Veris again in this tournament (she was my Hermosa Beach AVP partner) and we played pretty well in the first match! The team we played was super scrappy so it was a fun match with lots of long points! The scores were somewhere around 21-18ish in both games. We had some time off in between matches and during my break Grammy, Tommy, and Aunt Jacque showed up! It was so fun getting to hang out and talk to them! It rained for a little while after they got there so we all sat under a tent watching some of my friends play. Then we got to grab some lunch around the corner at Einstein's before I had to start my second match. The team Jess and I played in the second match has qualified for the main draw a ton but we knew they were totally beatable so we were excited for the match! Well, it ended up being very close and we put up a good fight but we lost in two. We definitely shouldn't have lost but just made a few mistakes here and there. We played well but just needed an extra ace or kill here or there! And that's where my 2009 AVP season came to an end. It was a bummer because we had a very good chance of qualifying and fell just a few points short. But, it just leaves me with an even greater desire to work hard this off season and be ready to start in 2010! The rest of my Chicago trip was really fun! I got to hang out with Matt and grab some amazing deep dish pizza! And I got to spend some time with Cayley Thurlby's family (she's originally from Chicago) and she showed me around Chicago! One of the fun things we did was going to this place called the Weiner Circle. It's a famous hot dog place in Chicago that's known for it's GREAT food and service. The famous part about it's service is that they're REALLY rude to you! While we were there they definitely came through, haha we got yelled at a few times. :)

Stay posted on my blog because I'll still write about fun life things and I'll be playing in plenty of local tournaments still! Also, feel free to let me know if there is anything you'd like to hear about that I don't write about!

I forgot to mention.... The first night I was in Muskegon I went and grabbed dinner from this little tavern place. I talked to the cute old man next to me and he ended up telling my waitress who told the manager that I was in town for the volleyball tournament. Well, the manager came over and gave me some coupons so that I would bring some volleyball people back with me sometime during the weekend. So, Thursday after my matches were over I brought my partner, her boyfriend, his partner and another girl I had just met back to the restaurant with me! On the menu, they have a deep fried hamburger... yikes, right? Well, our table was having debates about how they actually deep fry the burger - do they do it all together? Do they do it a piece at a time? How long do they keep in the frier for? Etc. Someone in the group asked the waitress about it and after a couple different conversations, she ended up taking us to the back so we could see how they do it!!! It was so fun! We got to go into the kitchen and one of the cooks did a demonstration for us! I got a bunch of pictures on my iPhone...

Putting the hamburger together

He said it was very easy... dry, wet, dry wet... this was the first dry

Wet number 1

Dry number 2

Wet number 2

The cook and Lynnsy's bf and partner hanging out while it fries!

In the frier

Taking it out

Finished product! They fry a pickle to go on top and stick a knife through it!

(PS Don't ever order anything like this... the waitress and the cooks said it tastes terrible! Haha)

WONDERLOVE!

Wonderlove! - Bryan is on the left and Chris Paul Overall the lead singer is in the middle (he has an awesome voice!)

I promise I do actually play volleyball out here in California, however, I get a lot more pictures of the other things I do because I can actually take pictures of the other stuff :)

Scott and I were lucky enough to catch one of the last few shows that Wonderlove is going to play for awhile! In case you don't know who Wonderlove is, they are one of the best bands EVER! The guitar player (guitarist ?) is Bryan McIntyre, one of Aaron's (Kiki's husband) very best friends! Obviously, he is one of Kiki's good friends too, along with the other members of the band. Anyway, Scott and I drove to watch them play after his game in Orange County one night. We walked in right in time and got to hear all of their awesome songs! We also caught Bryan's eye during the concert and got to chat with him after. Such a fun night! If you haven't heard them, you should go to their myspace site because they really are awesome! I think they also have music on iTunes that you can check out!

The whole band except for Chris left the stage and he was supposed to play by himself for a song or two, but the crowd wanted the whole band there (and so did Chris) so they came back out and sang with him!

Shaquille O'neal is GINORMOUS!!!

Shaq - the close up - he was like 5 feet away!

I tried to show how GINORMOUS he was compared to the other peeps around! So crazy!

So, I forgot to mention another fun thing from Hermosa Beach weekend... Shaq VS. In case you haven't heard of this, Shaq has a reality tv show called Shaq Versus, and basically, each episode he takes on the best athletes from a different sport. So, he's going to swim against Michael Phelps, do some quarterbacking against Ben Roethlisberger (I think), and play beach volleyball against Misty May and Kerri Walsh. Here's where the really fun part comes in! After the men's finals of the AVP Hermosa Beach Open, they filmed the episode of Shaq VS where he plays Kerri and Misty! Basically, Cayley and I showed up for the last point of the men's finals and got a front row seat to watch the show! I didn't have my camera so I wasn't able to get that great of pictures but I did manage to snap a few on my iPhone.

For the filming, they did introductions twice, just to make sure they got a good one, and then finished the rest of the match. They had a helicopter helping film for the introductions so I think that's why they only had 2 tries. Shaq got to play with Todd Rodgers against Misty and Kerri which might make you think he had a good shot at playing a competitive match... Don't let the fact that Todd Rodgers is amazing fool you though, Shaq was TERRIBLE!!!! Haha, it was one of the funniest things to see that big guy try and move on the sand! Plus, I'm pretty sure he's never touched a volleyball in his life and his hands engulf the ball so watching him set was pretty hilarious! All in all, it looked like he could have been decent if he practiced ever, but I don't think he'll ever be able to catch up to Phil Dalhausser. Speaking of Phil, before the taping started, Shaq and Phil were talking and goofing around and Shaq kept putting him in bear hugs! It was strange to see someone actually dwarf Phil Dalhausser! Anyway, keep your eye out for the episode of Shaq VS and the volleyball girls! It was pretty awesome to watch even though Shaq kinda gets dominated!

Hermosa Family Fun

Hello again!

I am taking off tomorrow morning for the Muskegon, Michigan AVP event so I figured it was time I posted Hermosa AVP stuff!

On Wednesday morning, my mom and dad flew in to hang out, see my life here, and watch me play! My mom has been out here already but it was the first time my dad has gotten to see me out in California so I was super excited to pick them up! My dad actually spent lots of summers during college out in Manhattan Beach with his friend Scott Fisher, so it's not like he doesn't know the area, but I was excited for him to see it all from my perspective! Anyway, Scott and I picked them up from the airport (after making them wait like 15 mins, oops! Sorry!) and then we headed back to Manhattan Beach for a yummy breakfast at the North End. I'm so glad Scott's friend Justin introduced us to that place because it is such good food with an amazing view!! After breakfast I showed them my apartment and then checked them into their hotel. My parents and Scott were nice enough to accompany me down to the playing site so that I could get in a serve and pass the day before I played. Scott served at me and set me some balls while my parents shagged - just like the good ole club days :) Then Scott had to head out for his baseball game. My mom was exhausted so she took a nap and my dad took me to get groceries! Woohoo! He filled my fridge and cabinets for me which I was super grateful for! Thanks dad (and mom for the instructions)! We then tried to grab some dinner at the Bottle Inn but it didn't open in time for us to eat and make it to Scott's game so we grabbed some dinner at Fonz's. I've been wanting to try it so I was excited we had the chance. It was excellent! After that we headed to Scott's game in Orange County. We ended up leaving Scott's game early to go pick Courtney and Anthony up!! It's been awhile since I've seen them so I was soooo glad they got to come visit!! After we got them we all chatted for a bit but I had to turn in because I was playing the next day.

Thursday morning I woke up early to check in and met everyone over at my parent's hotel room. I had quite a bit of time off so we all got to hang out and relax for awhile. After a pretty long wait it was finally time to head back to the tournament site and get ready! My partner, Jessica Veris, and I played the Machado sisters. These girls are both pretty young (young by beach vb standards - like 20 and 22) and are both short. So, one might think, that must have been an easy first match, right? However... the Machado sisters are know for their great defense and marathon points! They dig everything and the rallies are usually 4 to 5 times over the net! We lost the first game 21-18ish but felt pretty good still. We won the second game, I think 23-21, and then ended up winning the third game like 15-9! I had a bunch of aces in the third game which came as a nice surprise because we were all EXHAUSTED by the third game. Anyway, it was a really good win for us because those girls are great players. Our second match didn't go quite as well... we lost in two games, 21-15, 21-16 ish. The ladies we played were a little older but still knew how to play the game. It was a bummer but I did get to see Pao and Jaimie Hosfeld (Brian, my assistant coach from Texas, his wife) and their daughter Ella! It's always fun to have Pao around, especially when I'm playing with her haha hint hint... and it was great to see Ella and Jaimie because I never get to see them!

So anyway, we hung out and watched some matches, and then had to leave because Courtney got hungry... and we all know what that means :) Haha, I'm totally kidding... It had been a long day and everyone really had only eaten breakfast so by 5 o'clock we were all starving and so tired! So we ate Paisano's pizza on the pier and it was delicious! It is definitely some of the best pizza you'll ever have! We relaxed for awhile because everyone needed a little rest, and then went to Scott's game again. It was really fun going Thursday night because Scott was in the stands "charting" - basically he was taking stats for his team - so we got to sit with him for awhile and talk to him! After the game we were hungry again, mainly just me and Scott, so we tried to eat at Koji's, this shabu shabu place in Orange County where we went when Kiki and fam were in town. Unfortunately, they were closed, even though the website said they shouldn't have been! So, we headed back to Hermosa and just ate left over pizza.

Friday morning Scott had to leave for a road trip so it was just me and the fam. We pretty much hung out at the AVP all day and watched matches. Courtney and Anthony took a short break to visit with Anthony's Aunt Thelma and her husband who live in Manhattan Beach. It was a super fun day though and we got to see lots of good volleyball. We also got to sit in the VIP tent next to Misty May!!! That night we went to the Bottle Inn which is an authentic Italian restaurant in Hermosa. They seated us in the wine cellar which was really cool! And really, it was chilly too.

Saturday morning, my parents had to leave. It was sad because it was such a short trip, but maybe I can convince them to come back and visit me again!!! :) After Courtney, Anthony and I dropped my parents off at the airport we went back to North End because they missed it the first day. They also LOVED it and took some pretty pictures when we were done. I really wanted to show Courtney and Anthony some of my favorite houses on the strand, so after breakfast we parked by the Manhattan Pier and walked up and down the strand for awhile. They got to see Holly McPeak's house and my very favorite house ever. It is huge and beautiful and in my dreams I'd love to own it one day :) And we finally got to do what Courtney was MOST excited for.... Hollywood!!! Haha, we actually went into the city of LA, it was my first time since I've been out here. We saw the Walk of Fame and looked at every star, walked up and down Rodeo Drive, and then went to Robertson street. Courtney definitely knew the good places to find stars. We were a little disappointed because we hadn't seen any stars and needed some refreshments. We got some Pink Berry and sat down to eat it when Anthony says, "Isn't that the doctor from ER?" Courtney and I both whipped around and we figured out it was the doctor from Grey's Anatomy!!!! At least we thought it was Dr. Burke! We all wanted to be 100% sure so Courtney had me follow him down the street. He turned into Subway and I didn't want to be too stalkerish, so I just looked in the window discretely. I was convinced, but we ended up making Anthony go in the Subway to ask for Dr. Pepper and make sure it was him. He did and he said it was him. While we sat outside the Subway finishing our Pink Berry, Dr. Burke came back out with his cute little girl and there was no doubt left, it was him! We saw a celebrity!!! Woohoo, haha. After that we ate at the Ivy but didn't get to see anymore celebs, just lots of really, incredibly rich people. After a long day of star searching we headed back to Hermosa to clean up and relax. We went out on the pier for dinner and then just to hang out for our last night which was super fun.

I am so so so glad everyone got to come out and visit! I miss my fam a lot and LOVE getting to see them whenever I can! Thanks again for the visits!

Love you guys!

Me, Snoop Fish, and the awesome sign Jakey made for me!!!!

Walking to the AVP site for practice

Practicing the day before the tournament

At Hennessey's for lunch

Me with the AVP sign at Hennessey's

During our first match

Me and Jaimie
Serving
Me, Courtney, Ella and Pao playing in the sand :)
After our attempt to go to Koji's failed :(

The AVP Site from the VIP tent

Manhattan Beach Pier

The Bottle Inn! Yum!
I'm next to Chuck Norris' star, haha

At the Ivy, we were doing our cool famous thing keeping our sunglasses on

6-Man Sailors

6-man Sailors!!!!

Hey everyone! I'm finally putting up another over-due post! So, two weekends ago, I played in a tournament called 6-man! Pretty much everyone that lives in southern California knows about it (well at least everyone in the LA/south bay area). It doesn't matter if you're a volleyball player or not, 6-man is a fun time!

This year I played on a team with Alyson Jennings, Lauren Paolini, and Juliann Faucette! It was a nice little UT reunion :) The other girls on the team were Alyson's friends from out here. The point of 6-man is mostly just to have fun but it's also to dress up in costumes (yes, I played in a costume tournament again) and play volleyball! This tournament is a little different from others because you actually play with 6 people on the court, just like indoor. The court is also a little bigger than the courts I play in during real competition. On the women's side of the tournament, there are usually about 12 girls on a team. The better men's teams usually have about 40 guys!!!! Usually there are about 10 guys that play and the rest just cheer and have fun.

So, the tournament format is pool play on Saturday and you have to finish first or second in your pool to make it to the play offs on Sunday. We played 4 matches on Saturday... some of the other teams in our pool were dressed up as Santa's, bay watch girls, and the Oakley sponsored team just had on really bright weird neon clothes! I was jealous of the pink Oakley's they all got though! We ended up going 3-1, we lost to Oakley in our last match. Pao and I left the tournament after that to grab some food at La Penita, and rest for a bit. After that, we met up with our team to hang out and go see all the other 6-man people out. It's funny because it's the only time people are really allowed to go into bars or places like that in swim suits! My team didn't, but a lot of girls just stayed in their swim suits the whole time!

We lost our first game on Sunday but Pao and I stayed to watch until the finals. It ended up being a long day but it was actually really fun because the volleyball is really good on Sunday! We cheered on some of our guy friends that played and also cheered on our team from last year who ended up winning it all! 

Overall, it was a super fun weekend! And even though we didn't win it, everyone at the tournament said we were definitely the cutest dressed team!!! That's gotta count for something, right? :)

I've got lots of pics for this post!! Woo hoo :)

Hook'em! Pao, me, and Juliann

Hook'em again! Pao, me, Al

Our outfits once we took the warm ups off. Captain's hats, bright red lipstick, pig tails, rope necklace, blue tops, and white bottoms with Dragon (our sponsor) on our behinds!

The TEXAS team!!!! I made sure to find them, which wasn't tough!

Texas team again, Lukas (a guy Kiki was friend's with in high school) is the closest one in the shot.

Pao was trying to get action shots! You might be able to see the Dragon on the top of my swim suit bottoms.

Action shot, apparently Pao had her hands full (notice her squirt gun in the pic)

Men's Baywatch team
This is the Ditka team's scoreboard

Team Bridezillas

The sea of people that attended!!!! Crazy!
My new friend Mitch, me, Pao, and Taylor Bukolt (another UT alum!)

Taylor and Mitch's team was "More cowbell" - they took time outs so that they could have dance parties on the court :)

Erika Lott (my roommate for my first year of USA Vball!), me, Pao, Al

Wrestler team - notice the "wrestling ring" around their court, haha

Men dressed up as old ladies, haha
Pao, Geeter (the AVP announcer), me. Geeter's team, Team Fletch, is one of the better known teams, they didn't make it to the second day :/

The Magnum P.I. team. They all grow mustaches for at least 2 weeks before 6-man. They also wear really short shorts! But, they usually have at least a couple AVP men and some professional indoor players so they're really good!