Wednesday, December 23, 2009

#20 Alyce and Kendra

One of my good friends from high school, Alyce, and her husband, Allan, are expecting their first child in January. They signed up for a birthing class and ended up being in a class with Kendra Wilkinson (from "The Girls Next Door" and more recently "Kendra") and Hank Baskett (Indianapolis Colts). They taped the class and Alyce and Allan appeared briefly this Sunday night on E! I think their total screen time was about 10 seconds. If you happened to see the show, they are the couple on the far right. Alyce has short blond hair and Allan wears his hair like Steve Alford. :-) I must admit it was pretty cool to see them on TV. And even though I don't watch Kendra regularly, it was a sweet show.

More on Alyce and Allan - their daughter Maggie is scheduled to arrive the first part of January. When they got a dog (Sophie) I told Alyce I wouldn't dog sit for them. When she told me she was pregnant, she said, "I know you won't babysit my dog, but will you babysit my baby?" Absolutely! I can't wait to meet Miss Maggie!

Alyce is 5'9" and has a size 11-12 foot. Although after her pregnancy she thinks her feet are growing!! Since I wear a 12 we have, at times, swapped shoes. Mostly we let each other know when/where there are any good shoe sales. Now that I think of it, Allan and I wear the same size shoe also (around 10 1/2 in men's) and I once borrowed his golf shoes to wear for Halloween.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

#19 Jingle (Deaf) Jam

Last night Krista, Julie and I went to the Jingle Jam concert at the Murat Theater. On the bill - The Elms (from just down the road in Seymour, IN), Five For Fighting, Barenaked Ladies and the All American Rejects. Overall, a great show. My ears are still ringing a bit, as I forgot my earplugs. Our seats were orchestra center row z - pretty good! I've seen the Elms a couple of times and they were enjoyable once again. Five For Fighting was great. I've always like "their" songs, but seeing John Ondrasik in person made me an even bigger fan. (For those who don't know, John IS Five For Fighting.) I saw BNL about seven or eight years ago at Conseco Fieldhouse. They were stellar again last night, even without Steven Page. I knew a handful of AAR songs but didn't know much about their shows. All I will say is that Tyson Ritter is an interesting dude. The sound wasn't the best for their show and I didn't feel that dropping numerous f-bombs was appropriate. Those guys like to spit a lot on stage too. yuck! I do like their music and will probably someday buy a CD and enjoy that more than their live show. We stayed for their whole show to hear my favorite song of theirs, "Give You Hell."

Surprise of the night - a kid (now a 30?-year old man) that I used to babysit ended up sitting right next to us. Too funny! He even said to his girlfriend, whom I've met before, "There's my babysitter!"

Seat rating - the Murat is a wonderful venue to see a concert, but my knees always hit the seat in front of me. I will give this venue a C-.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

#18 Balloon Rescue

On my way to a social gathering last night, I walked through the Circle Centre Nordstrom store shoe section to see what I could see. I refrained from purchasing a pair of riding boots that were $400 ON SALE. Yikes! But the highlight of my visit was rescuing a balloon that had drifted to the ceiling. I jokingly told the sales associate that I could pull it down if he brought me a chair. However, after standing underneath, I determined that I could jump and grab it myself. I proceeded, in my skirt, to get in my basketball high jump stance. I jumped high enough, but it took me three tries to actually grab the thin string. I was happy to help out, and to provide brief entertainment to the other customers. All in a tall day's work!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

#17 My Summer Vacation(s)

Since I started my blog in the fall I am a bit late with "What I did on my summer vaction." I did so many fun things I'd like to do a short recap.

June - Bike Virginia. I joined 1,999 other cyclists on the Journey Through Hallowed Ground, seeing wonderful scenery and a few battlefields along the way. I met a couple of cool guys, Bruce and Steve, and we had lots of laughs.



The route started and ended in Charlottesville and I was able to spend time with former Indy friends, Kelly and Mary. I spent a fun-filled evening with some of their friends enjoying great company and killer homemade pizza by Chef Todd. My last stop was Midlothian to visit my college roommate Tammi and her husband David and kids Ashleigh and Christopher.

August - South Haven, Michigan. My brother, Paul and family rented a house in South Haven and I spent a couple of days with them.



The town has lots of shops, restaurants, a Sherman's Ice Cream Shop and, of course, a wonderful beach.



August - Western Shoreline Bicycle Tour. My friend Julie and I drove to Traverse City, MI to join the three-day portioin of a seven-day bicycle tour. We rode to Mackinaw City by way of Charlevoix and Harbor Springs. (Unfortunately, due to my flash drive deblacle mentioned in Post #6, I lost my Michign pictures.)

Labor Day Weekend - I ended the summer by attending a weekend at the U.S. Open in Flushing, NY. Julie and I met up with my friend Tammy from Ft. Lauderdale. The last time Julie and I went we were rained out Saturday, but this year the weather was perfect and we had two glorious days of tennis. We saw all the big names - Nadal, Federer, Sharipova, Willams(x2), Hewit, and applauded the comeback of a former big name - Klijsters. But the best part of the weekend was meeting and getting a photo with one of my favorite players, Max Mirnyi, aka "The Beast". My new "buddy" Nick Bollettieri was gracious enough to help me out a little after Max won one of his doubles matches on a side court. (Again,due to my flash drive deblacle, I lost my U.S. Open pictures including my picture with Max. Hopefully I will run into Nick again next year and he can help me out. I did save one picture on my desktop.)

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

#16 Tall Drink of Water

I have a good sense of humor about my height and, as you can see from my profile picture, have pictures taken of myself that accentuate it. In October I went to a roller derby bout (The Circle City Socialites) at Ellenberger Park and had to get a picture of myself drinking out of the fabulously low drinking fountain.



If I had a dollar for every time someone called me a "tall drink of water" I'd be rich!