I can finally say I'm out of my house and back on road, something that I haven't been able to say for quite some time!  Not sure I miss living out of a suitcase, getting up at 5am because of jet-lag, and getting mobbed at the airports but I do miss that center court on Sundays which is exactly why I'm here.

The day before a long trip is often a very hectic one because not only do you have to pack and run errands but in my case it included practicing, hair appointment in BH ( where I randomly ran into Vince Spadea at a stop light), friend's b-day dinner, and spending 3 very unnecessary hours looking for my phone. In the midst of packing and doing a phone interview in my closet, I happened to put it in a shirt, that happened to lay under 10 other shirts. Not only was it on silent, but it wouldn't light up when I tried to call it in the dark. Those were three very stressful hours of my life. My poor housekeeper does not know what she's in for when she goes in there this week.

Of course now that I'm on the other side of the world, I've remembered about ten things I forgot to bring....typical of me.

Anyways here I am in Turkey....warm people and great food( very yummy)...two VERY important qualities. I haven't seen too much of the city but from what I have seen, it reminds me a bit of Russia. Still adjusting to the time change....sort of forgot what that feels like. I'm hoping I can visit their famous Grand Bazaar because I'm in search of their glass tulip tea cups, although I'm not sure how realistic that really is.

I went through one of those claustrophobic drive through car washes for the first time because there was no way I could spend another 20 minutes waiting around for a proper washing.....I was a bit disappointed because after it was watered and splashed with some disgusting looking rainbow wax, someone dried it by hand with a red towel, that left red looking dust all over it. Is it normal to need a another car wash after just washing it?

Can we please talk about Robin Thicke's new song 'Lost Without U'? The lyrics 'baby, you're the perfect shape.....baby, you're the perfect weight'.....Robin, you're one smooth operator.

One more thing.....couple days before I left 2 paparazzi guys started following me around out of the blue and taking pictures of my practices, etc.....guys one piece of advice....I saw you perfectly clear in your vans, hiding behind window blankets so don't  bother hiding anymore and also this is not the first time someone has taken pictures of me practicing....you're wasting your time....go home and have a beer.

 Maria