So this week was a little tough.  When I say little, I truly mean it; please don’t begin the “are you okay” phone calls, because, truly I am great.  All I mean, is that mid-way through the week, after the long labor day weekend where all I had to keep me company was CBS’s 7 hours of live US Open coverage, I was definitely feeling the need for a coffee-with-good-friends-day. (aka: Starbucks Day)  You know, the type of day where you just go and chill with those few people who know your history.  You can talk about something or nothing, all of which is perfectly okay, and somehow you end the evening laughing, feeling refreshed.  Well, I decided to skip Starbucks this time around since I’m not a huge fan of the subway-car-type layout of the one closest to where I’m staying.  Instead, I ventured back  to this cool little place called Caffe Tazza where I had the most delicious decaf almond mocha last week when I met up with a new friend.  It was a drink definitely worth having again (pictured above), even if I didn’t have anyone to accompany me this time around.  I tried to make a few phone calls, but left a few messages instead and sipped my beautiful artwork of a beverage while reading some local BSCENE magazine that displayed all of the cool places to go here in Tyler and surrounding East Texas areas.  I had to take a picture of this artwork as well as the adorable fall colored gerber daisy that was on the table with the salt & pepper shakers, since Caffe Tazza does also sell a variety of  foods.  Apparently, there is a small flower shop nearby that provides fresh gerber daisies of all different colors daily for the tables at this up-scale, artistic looking cafe.  I found it really nice to just get away from the non-stop tennis coverage that has filled my afternoons over the last two weeks.  It had rained all day, but the evening sun was shining brightly through the storm clouds that were in the distance.  It was peaceful.  Eventually, I ended up back home, watching more tennis and did talk on the phone with a good friend before I was off to bed.  The only thing that was bad about my experience was that when I went online to check my bank statement today, Caffe Tazza had taken a .97 cent tip from my debit card that I did not leave them.  So, I can assure you that unless I have cash, that picture of the delicious almond mocha displayed will be the last time I see one of those.  I’ll stick with my Starbucks as I did this morning when I picked up my seasonal favorite, Decaf-Nonfat Pumpkin Spice Latte w/whip in all of its cardboard-like-to-go-cup glory. 

The rest of the week has also been a bit of a struggle physically and mentally.  Now, this is of course part of the reason for my journey into the world of tennis full-time; the fact that it would challenge me to physically be more proactive with my own health and fitness for life, which is also a mental challenge as well.  I was so frustrated with lab on Tuesday because it was all focused on competitive drilling, and go figure, I seem to lack the competitive drive.  Let me correct myself in saying that I do not actually lack a competitive drive, rather, I tend to push aside my drive to be competitive as it happens to stir up some strange, deep-seeded, self-esteem related issues from childhood.  Basically, when I lose, I tend to somehow fall into old habits of berating myself mentally for not being good enough at anything, because yes, of course, it is completely rational to think that my lack of ability to hit a good topspin forehand in a pressured situation somehow means that I clearly suck at life too!?  Exactly.  Ridiculous!  So, after feeling quite miserable mentally that day and also feeling as if I barely hit a tennis ball or exerted myself on a cardio level, I grabbed my headphones and headed for the gym.  Music is the key to relieving the madness, at least in my case it is generally.  I just wanted to put on my little mp3 player, find my favorite “angry” songs and exercise.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, so I began walking quickly around the track, and suddenly, I had the desire to run.  Run hard.  Run fast.  Listen to angry music.  If my right ear-piece would have stopped falling out of my ear, I would have run a lot more, but eventually I was too irritated to continue and satisfied with my mile.  There is another thing I will need to invest in and that is a good pair of small, unfortunately expensive, headphones that actually will not bounce out of my ear upon jogging.  By the end of the night, I felt normal again.  Actually, I felt good.  It was good to run and not feel like death was near.  It appears that two weeks straight of tennis five days a week is getting my body and my lungs in shape very quickly. (P.S. Since I haven’t mentioned it before, I have had exercise-induced asthma since I was a kid, so for the longest time growing up, I never dreamed I could even remotely be considered athletic, let alone, run without feeling like I was going to pass out.)  Running of course is not my preferred method of exercise, but unfortunately, the swimsuit I ordered online last week has still yet to arrive.  I am becoming seriously impatient and have already had two dreams about swimming laps in the pool.  I am itching to get up at 6am for lap swim at the college each morning.  The water sounds and looks so good from what I can see at the track in the gym.   It has been about seven years since I have actually swam laps; however, it is the one thing that I wish I could do every year, but cannot bring myself to pay for a membership to any place that has a pool.  Now that a pool is at my disposal, I want to take advantage of it as much as possible.  

I exercised again directly after tennis Wednesday, but Thursday I was so physically exhausted that after lab, I came home, showered, and passed out in a two-hour nap.  The humidity down here with all the rain this week was thick.  When I awoke, I watched some tennis and went to this cute little place close-by called Salsarita’s Fresh Cantina (equivalent to a Moe’s or Qdoba) for a delicious rice/ground beef/queso/pico de gallo filled burrito that I ate while watching more live US Open coverage.  One of my roommates convinced me to go with her to the little gym she goes to around 8pm.  It didn’t really take much convincing though, since I was excited to be asked and enjoy getting to know the two women I’m living with better.  Plus, I know what it’s like to feel the “need” to go to the gym, but not have the motivation on your own & so I am always willing to help motivate since I have generally had a lack of motivators in my own personal life.  I ended up having fun roommate-bonding time after we got back in the evening, and found out that we were all going to a winery Friday evening! 

KE Cellars, also called something else, but I’m not really sure what.  A delicious little winery on South Broadway (in this “moist” county as I like to call dry counties that allow restaurants to serve alcohol).   

I had been looking forward to going out with my roommates and their friends all day!  I suppose after 3 weeks, “a night out” in any capacity sounds amazing.  Plus, I’ve never been to a winery outside of my cousin Lisa’s wedding at Huber’s in Indiana almost five years ago.  This winery, KE Cellars, was quite possibly the coolest place I have been to so far!  They apparently have their wine place, (the official winery where they make the stuff) somewhere out in Flint maybe?  I don’t remember.  But this is a little wine bar that they have in town, and it is only open until 9:00pm, which is, a bit silly, but I suppose they don’t want a certain crowd hanging around.  With this being a college town, I’m guessing they want to make it more for an older crowd.  Anyway, when you walk in, they have racks and racks full of wines along with a check-out counter if you’d like to purchase anything.  Then, at the back they have a wine bar, where for $1 you can taste any of the wines you like.  Off to the left, they have a room with cool wooden carved, long tables, relatively comfortable chairs and music.  The walls are sort of a fake brick/stone paint on one side with barrels of wine on the other.  The lights were dim and hanging from cool wooden pieces of barrel I think, so the ambiance was pleasant.  There was just a few of us, so some familiar faces from my roommates gathering last week at the house and some new faces as well.  The guy that was playing his keyboard and singing was rather loud, but decent.  You can either go to the bar and get a glass of wine, or you can order/split a bottle of wine that they will chill on ice for you.  You can also get a great little cheese platter and bread with olive oil for dipping!  Myself and two others went in on a bottle of the house blush wine, which was delicious and sweet.  I mean, really good.  We also got the cheese platter, plus the bread and olive oil.  All really good.  All the wine glasses had the KE symbol on them, and I just sat and relaxed with new friends.  We laughed, talked small talk, and some even danced a little with these adorable old women who were celebrating the birthday of a woman who just lost her husband two months ago and started undergoing chemotherapy, having already lost most of her hair under a bright yellow hat with birthday favors attached.  She looked happy, and even right now, it makes me just want to cry and hug her because there was so much joy on her face.  I loved it.  I loved the atmosphere of a mixture of the ages; people, wines, etc.  Maybe it was the wine, but I just found so much to smile about while I was there!  Seeing as how it closed at 9pm, myself and the group I was with walked outside, and talked for a while.  Half the group (the coupled parts of the group) left for home, while I stayed around with one of my roommates and two of her friends and we just talked for about an hour outside the doors.  I love listening to all the different stories.  People here seem to just be from all over!  Randomly ending up here in Tyler, TX by way of the Lord bringing them here for some purpose.  Many of them well-travelled with serious mission work, or just growing up overseas.  I have so much to learn from other people.  

I’m ending the night with so many thoughts racing through my head.  So many places I want to see.  So many faces that are already becoming somewhat familiar to me.  It is funny how a new place can put so much of your own life into perspective.  I’m enjoying the community that I’m feeling already.  I am happy to feel welcomed and blessed to be living out a life that many will never know.   

Tonight, I am thankful for my week.  The mental challenges, the new places and faces, the good wine and laughter of people all around me.  Most of all, I am thankful for a God that is always teaching me and opening my eyes to the richness of the little things.