It was once stated about my husband…(the one I call Liverpie when he’s rotten and Alejandro when he’s being a sexy Latin man…think “Buzz Lightyear in Latin mode)…isn’t interested in going down the road unless there’s a tennis match at the end of the line. He would go to the moon if there was to be a tennis match there, so the individual was correct.
As luck would have it, we didn’t have to go to the moon…only Cincinnati. There was an ATP Tournament there in which it turned out that my two favorite tennis pros would actually be playing each other!
The match between Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal started right after we got there. These two top ranked players had not played each other in years in the U.S. so it was really a thrill to get to see them both together. You would have to be a tennis lover to understand I suppose, but it was a great event. I took photos for our tennis business site, but gosh it’s so hard to get great action shots in tennis, and I really wanted one with both of these guys in it.
There were many other matches after this one, but in our hearts…we’d already seen the best match a person could see in 2013.
For the fashion readers of the blog, however, back to me!
SIDEBAR: I came across a Youtube video a few months back by Jenna Marbles named WHAT BITCHES WEAR TO THE AIRPORT and I laughed so hard (despite her unnecessarily foul language) because I am the bitch she’s talking about. She believes we should all wear sweatpants and flip flops I guess, when we travel because she doesn’t want to have to wait in line as we unbuckle our strappy heels and take off our accessories. Sorry, Jenna, but I like being dressed up, plus we had somewhere to be right after we landed…but since seeing the video I’m always worried she’s going to happen to be there to call me out. My suggestion is that she be on time, so she won’t be in a rush when the TSA feel me all over and probe me.
That was just a sidebar on fashion and today’s travel, show when you see this next picture, in which my top is a wee bit wrinkled, understand that I do at least, travel very light. I’ve learned over the years. These days you can be on a 7 day dream trip, but my husband forbids me to bring anything more than one carry on!
Other than tennis affairs, we made time to relax and enjoy time here and there, even taking a boat ride up and down the river, and of course the Realtor in me checked out the architecture on surrounding real estate. I also like to compare the cost of living from state to state. (This way, when a future client calls me from an area…relocating to Texas, I have an idea of what they are used to when they think $599 will get them a three bedroom apartment!) Cincinnati is so much more beautiful than I thought it would be. I’d lived in Kentucky before, years ago…but never made the drive to Cincinnati.
And yes…it’s my gold straw hat, again! It made quite a few outings this summer which is actually a good thing in the real world because it means that I got my money out of it. Not only that, but it’s just good planning. When you are going to be outdoors all day watching tennis, or boating… who really wants to mess with a bunch of hair blowing all over? Not me.
This next picture may seem a little odd, however, close to our hotel and the tennis facility in Mason, Ohio is the absolutely biggest surprise at Outback Steakhouse.
I have never been a huge fan of Outback in Texas. There are many nice steakhouses that are elite and prime in Houston. We were tired and hungry and it was close by, so we stopped into Outback in Mason.
We noticed the people were fabulous, and the food was exceptional. We ended up asking the manager why the food was so much better than the ones back home, and we were told that this one was an owner/operator location.
We had actually already eaten and were about to leave, but the owner, Sam Bonasso brought us a prime rib and crab cakes to sample. Immaculate. Impeccable. It turns out that Sam is a top of the line Chef, and apparently there are 42 million ways to cook beef, one of which, takes basically all day. Not only that, but the menu is not a typical OUTBACK menu. They have crab stuffed mushroom caps and such! So if you are ever in the Cincinnati area, you really ought to try this place! This is embarrassing, but I have to say, we ended up eating there three times in a relatively short period.
And that’s my Cincinnati story!
-August 28,2013
-SDS
