Bringing Back Queen of Court
Posted on December 10, 2022 by Ching under Pickleball.
Back in 2020, when I first started getting into pickleball, we used to have a group of ladies that met regularly at Chicken N Pickle early on Saturday mornings for what we referred to as “Queen of Court” play. It was essentially a ladder group, where when you win, you move up a court, and when you lose, you move down a court. Partners split after each round so you get to play with various partners during the session. It was one of my absolute favorite play groups. However, I had to give it up when I started teaching Saturday morning Aqua Zumba classes. Jenny Cole took it over for a while and was organizing the groups but then it just kind of fell apart. I eventually gave up my Saturday morning Aqua Zumba class but I was getting even more into pickleball and found myself out of town a lot on weekends for pickleball tournaments so even though I really missed the group and wanted to bring it back, I didn’t have the capacity to do it because of my crazy schedule.
Fast forward to a few months ago, when I saw a video of my Tanner Rice crowning a “King of Court” at one of his DUPR events… It brought back memories of our old “Queen of Court” days which I have missed and gave me the idea to combine it with a DUPR session. I had hosted several DUPR sessions over the summer before my tournament schedule got insanely crazy. Over the last few weeks, my schedule calmed down enough to where I could actually squeeze in a women’s only DUPR session. I bought a very special crown just for the occasion.
We held our first official one with the crown in October. I remember Cindy Egan having a last minute emergency and asking Brandi Richardson fill in for her and Brandi ended up winning the crown the night.
Since Brandi was the queen, she got to decide when the next QoC would be. She had a bunch of travel in November so we couldn’t have our second one until November 28. I generally don’t like to win my own events but I think I was still so pumped from my #DUPRDoubleDib weekend so I ended up doing really well and winning. So now I’m the reigning queen, at least, until Monday, December 12, when we have our next QoC session. I’m not playing in it this time (unless someone backs out last minute) so there is no way for me to possibly win.
I’m looking forward to passing the our beautiful crown to the next winner. Good luck to all the ladies playing for the crown on Monday! GNG.
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The DUPR Double Dip
Posted on December 9, 2022 by Ching under Community, Food and Drink, Pickleball, Travel.
My “DUPR Double Dip” weekend over Thanksgiving break is hands down one of the highlights of my entire pickleball year. It’s the best things about going to pickleball tournaments without actually playing in one.
My weekend started in Oklahoma City for my friend Tanner Rice’s Friday night group play at Hidden Trails Country Club. I arrived early enough to get my butt kicked at ping pong, which I am decent at, and, even though Tanner told me “he wasn’t very good” at it, his concept of “not very good” is still better than me. The guy is just good at everything.
I also learned the basics of Euchre, which is a super complex card game. Tanner teamed up with Erica Dennis against Katie Merrill and me. It helped that Katie is a ace card player, who is really great at Euchre, and so I think I understand the game enough now that, whenever she and I have to play our friend Ramon Lozano and Tanner at some point (when our #TeamBonding thing ever happens — more on this later), we are going to smoke ’em.
Anyway, we ended up not reporting the results of the Friday night session because one of the players had an emergency and couldn’t make it. I still had a ton of fun, though. I met and played with new people who I’d never met or played with before and that’s kinda my jam. Oh, and I hit a sweet ATP — even without the potential payout as an incentive.
Katie rode to OKC with Erica and then spent the night with me at Avid so the two of us got to do a little “team bonding” with just the two of us. The more I get to know Katie the more I love her. She is just an all-around great human being.
The next morning, the two of us rode to Tulsa together and bonded some more. She took me to her favorite lunch spot in Brookside called Blue Moon Cafe.
It’s hip little place that serves great sandwiches, salads, and other things. I don’t know much about Tulsa but apparently Brookside is kind of the place to go dining and shopping and such.
Here are some pictures of our food…
After lunch, we went to LaFortune early to help set up for the “Paddle Off the Turkey” DUPR event. Tanner was actually working in the area and decided to swing by to help Ryan and Caroline Luelf with their event by entering scores, taking some pictures and videos, and even helping with tear down. So I didn’t get any pictures from Friday because we were all playing but, since Tanner didn’t play on Saturday, I actually have some pics and clips to share. Thank you, Tanner!
I was super impressed with Ryan and Caroline’s DUPR event. They were highly organized and I love that they took the time to group everyone that that the games would be more competitive. Here’s how my rounds went:
Round #1 —- I played with Genevieve Eskridge and Amanda and Jordan Jones (this amazing mom and daughter duo from Edmond). I only won one game this round but the scores were super close. Genevieve and Iost 12-14 and Amanda and I lost 8-11. When I played with Jordan, we won 12-10. She was super excited bec she prefers left side and I prefer right side and so we stacked on our serves. It was my first time playing with the Joneses and it was a blast!
Round #2 —- I played with Caroline, Colby Fugit, and Kali Wilson. This was my favorite round of all because I won all 3 games. And, Kali and came back from being down 2-9 to win our game against Caroline and Colby, 12-10. It was epic!
Round #3 —- I also loved this round because we got to play mixed doubles and I love mixed! Mike Ward and I were paired against Jesse Mabon and Erica Dennis. It was my first time ever playing with Mike and first time meeting and playing against Jesse. The format was best 2 of 3 games to 11, win by 2, but if one team wins in straight games then you switch partners and still play a 3rd game. We split games so ours was a legit 2 out of 3. It went 11-4, 3-11, 11-6. There was clearly a better side but Mike and I pulled it out in the end.
Round #4 —- This was my 5-player group with Caroline Luelf, Erica Dennis, Jordan Jones, and Ben Meyer. This was my worst round. I think in part because we were in hour 4 of playing and also because there was a long break between the previous round and this one. You will see in my DUPR match history that my scores were not good this round.
Anyway, I loved getting to play with different people and I loved how they set up the groups so that the matches would be more competitive. I’m so glad that I made the trip to check out both Tanner’s Friday night session and Ryan and Caroline’s DUPR event because I learned so much this weekend. I can’t wait to implement some of the things I learned at my own events so that matches will be even more fun and competitive for all the players.
On Saturday night, after playing, a bunch of us decided to check out Roosevelt’s. We wanted to have dinner there but the wait was over an hour so we stayed and took some pics while we waited for everyone to arrive but then ultimately ended up eating a nearby Mexican restaurant called Chimi’s instead.
Here are some pictures of our dinner…
You can never go wrong with Mexican food!
We took some pictures on our way back to the car after dinner.
It was so great that a couple of friends from Wichita (Colby Fugit and Ben Meyer) came to check out the DUPR event and also joined us for dinner.
I am so grateful to Katie for letting me stay with her that weekend. I not only got to bond with her but also met and bonded with her sweet dog Rosie. It was the best weekend ever and one that I won’t soon forget, specially now that I’ve written about it here. Definitely one of the highlights of the year for me. I just love spending time with my Oklahoma friends and can’t wait to visit them again. I’m already counting the days until my next OKC tournament! Until then, GNG.
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Thanksgiving Weekend
Posted on December 9, 2022 by Ching under Family.
David and Donna were in town over Thanksgiving and so, along with mom and dad and grandma, we all got together at YaYa’s for Thanksgiving brunch.
We like going to YaYa’s because then no none has to spend several hours preparing and cooking our meal, there’s no clean up after, and we aren’t stuck with a ton of leftovers that we have to eventually throw out. Also, the food selection at their brunch buffet is quite extensive. They have ham, turkey, beef, pork, seafood, a wide variety of sides and desserts — there’s something for everyone.
Brian always fixes grandma’s plate for her and then tells her what all he got since she can’t see very well these days.
Brian and I don’t really do the whole Black Friday thing anymore but we did swing by Bradley Fair on Friday morning to deliver a cup of hot chocolate to our friend DJ Carbon. He was spinning tunes outside Lululemon to keep the shoppers waiting in line to get into Lululemon entertained.
Brian actually had to work on Black Friday so my time with him was very limited. Also, I left for Oklahoma City on Friday afternoon to play pickleball that evening with some OKC friends. More on this in the next post.
Until next time, GNG.
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Yakimono Japanese Grill
Posted on December 8, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Our last meal in Oklahoma City is brought to you by Cassidie and Drake Johnson. As we were leaving the Smash tournament, we asked for some restaurant suggestions for a quick lunch before skipping town. Cassidie and Drake recommended Yakimono, which is one of their most favorite eateries.
If you were to compare it to something we have here, I think the closest equivalent would be Hibachi Boy, which I absolutely love. I’m thinking that I’m going to ask Brian to take us here on our next trip to Oklahoma City because I really want him to try it. Here are some pictures of our food…
I think this might be the Vegas roll. I got some to share with everyone. I only had one because I thought it was a tad spicy. Ryan really enjoyed it though. I think he ate most of it.
The food was pretty good but I couldn’t finish my yakisoba because the portions are huge. Will have to remember to just split something with Brian when we go. This is actually a picture of Cory’s plate. I didn’t bother taking a picture of my plate because we got the exact same thing.
I had the best time at the Smash tournament this year. Last year was fun but I came home with a medal, and I won something from the silent auction (I’m the proud owner of a Halftime Chiller multi-function rolling cooler), and I didn’t have to do any driving at all so this year was even better.
Molly and Cory swung by Wichita to pick me up on Thursday so I rode down to the hotel with them. Once there, I pretty much hitched rides with various people including Katie and Erica. Cindy and Jenny rode down to OKC together but then Austin (Jenny’s husband followed) so she rode back home with him which left Cindy without a passenger so I ended up riding back to Wichita with her. It felt weird not having any kind of control over my fate but it was refreshing to just be able to go with the flow and not be responsible for planning anything. I have been banned from planning group dinners anyway because, apparently, I always invite way too many people. I feel like I should relinquish control more often because this was the most perfect tournament weekend ever. I loved every minute of it.
Until next time, GNG.
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Post-Pickleball Grub at Poblano Grill
Posted on December 7, 2022 by Ching under Community, Food and Drink, Pickleball.
We crashed the Bartlesville pickleball crew group dinner while at the Smash tournament a few weeks ago. I think my “party crashing” ways are starting to rub off on my friends. LOL.
There were so many of us that we had to take up two booths. I ended up in the same booth as Kumar Krishnan, Erica Dennis, and Marva Stroman.
The other Wichita peeps went to the larger booth. Clockwise from left: Ryan Kellenbarger, Karen Fox, Deana Holman, Kali Wilson, Cyndi Conley, Jenny Corley, Cindy Egan, and Chris Wilson.
Here are some pictures of our food…
I only got food pics from our booth because everyone else was far away. Anyway, there was a bit of drama at dinner. I think there was something wrong with Karen’s food. She is the one person whose food you really do not want to mess up. Everyone else will be super chill about it but Karen will not let anything slide. True to her name, she won’t stop until the situation is resolved to her satisfaction.
There was also a bit of drama surrounding dinner itself because some felt left out. Honestly, there was no official dinner invite. We just kind of crashed the Bartlesville dinner and, luckily, they had enough room for all of us party-crashers.
I had no idea what we were doing because Molly and Corey Sager were still playing in their championship matches and so I knew the Bartlesville people were going to Poblano Grill but was holding out for what the Wichita people were doing. When my friend Katie Merrill was ready to return to the hotel, I ended up riding back with her (because I didn’t have my own vehicle that weekend and was just hitching rides with everyone). I was literally in the middle of showering when my phone rang. It was Cindy and Jenny calling me from the hotel parking lot, asking if I needed a ride to Poblano Grill. They were both starving and wanted to eat early and Cindy said she cleared it with Molly and that Molly was okay with us not waiting for them.
As I did not have a car, I made a game-time decision to just roll with it. I have never gotten ready so fast in my entire life! I’m pretty sure I didn’t even put lotion or deodorant. I just dried myself off and put clothes on. I was in such a hurry that I tried to get in the first car that I saw was running in the parking lot, startling a total stranger. LOL. Ryan and Chris both said they were coming too. Luckily, there was still room at the big booth for the two of them.
Dinner was wonderful. I had a great time catching up with Erica, Marva, and Kumar at my table and I had no idea about the whole super awkward bill issue at that happened at the big booth until later. Oh, Tanner Rice (not pictured), also came to hang out but he arrived after everyone was pretty much done. Erica and I stayed while he ate dinner. The three of us had a really nice visit.
I just love my pickleball friends, specially my Oklahoma pickleball friends. I enjoy every moment I get to spend with them and always look forward to when we can all get back together again. Until the next time, GNG.
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