#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.

#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-.

#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!

#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.)

#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!

#15 Happy Anniversary Ron & Mary

Saturday took my dad, mom, my dad's cousin Tom, and me to Kendallville, Indiana for Tom's brother's 50th wedding anniversary open house. Ron and Mary live in Kendallville and operate S&S Travel Motor Coach Tours (http://www.s-stravel.com/). My parent's have taken trips with them for years. S&S stands for Sheryl and Susan, their daughters. About eight years ago I went on a cruise with them and Susan, her husband Randy, and boys Nathan and Andrew (now referred to as Nate and Andy).



It was a beautiful day for a drive and we had a nice time visiting with them.

#14 Monumental Christmas Tree

Each day-after-Thanksgiving in Indianapolis, the city lights the "World's Largest Christmas Tree" on Monument Circle (the center of the city). It's actually lights strung up to look like a tree (if you couldn't figure it out).



My friend Julie and I ventured out on the lovely evening to take in the festivities. Paul, Aaron, Allie (his girlfriend), Megan, and her friend Jenna, met us there after watching Fountain Central get stomped 52-0 in the Class A football championship. (Lori's brother's kids go to Fountain Central.) Julie and I started out in a not-so-crowded area of the Circle watching the big screen, until I made the fateful decision to get closer to Paul and co. We made it, but it was not a pleasant experience and then had the constant bump from behind as others tried to make their way through the crowd.

Crowds like this are not a problem for super talls like me. I can always see what's going on and people can always find me. When meeting friends I'll say, "Look for me!" Paul is 6'4" so he has no trouble either. Aaron is about 6'1" or 6'2". Allie, however, is maybe 5' so she felt very claustrophobic in the crowd.

We capped the night off at Jockamo Pizza (http://www.jockamopizza.com/) on Indianapolis' far East Side. Yum-o!

#13 Aaron and the Thanksgiving Trifle

I spent Thanksgiving at my parents with my brother David and my other brother and his family (Paul, Lori, and previously mentioned Aaron and Megan). My dad does most of the cooking, but this year I volunteered to make one of the desserts I had seen on Paula Deen's show - a gingerbread pumpkin trifle.



After Aaron arrived, he looked at the pies my dad had made (blueberry and pecan) and asked, "Where's the pumpkin pie?" Uh oh.... I forgot that pumpkin is Aaron's favorite pie. I broke the news that there would be no pumpkin pie this year and I think his bottom lip actually quivered. He quickly recovered and even liked the trifle, but mushed it up so much that it looked like cat vomit. And then he gave his best Wolverine impersonation with his new cast.

#12 Megan and the Ipod

I recently got an ipod and for the past few weekends I have gone to my brother's house so my 16-year-old niece, Megan, can help me download all my CDs. In my defense, I don't have my own computer and my work computer won't allow me to do this. Although, even if I had my own computer I would probably still need help... Yesterday was my third trip and I think it will only take one more visit. I have around 80 CDs. The second time I was over there I mistakenly downloaded about 10 CDs that I had already downloaded. Agh!! Yesterday I was able to get my Christmas music on there and I will allow myself to start listening to it the day after Thanksgiving.



Megan is a junior in high school. She doesn't mind hanging out with her crazy Aunt Linda now and then. :-) She's really smart and pretty, is lots of fun, and we share a love of country music. We've traveled to Nashville twice for a country music-filled weekend and to do a "little" shopping at the Opry Mills Mall.

Thanks for your help, Megan!

P.S. - As an equal opportunity aunt, I will add a post later about my nephew Aaron.

#11 NCAA Thanksgiving

Aloha! Yesterday the NCAA Staff celebrated its annual staff Thanksgiving luncheon and the championships group was in charge of planning.



We had a blast planning the event and it went off splendidly. Our theme was a Hawaiian Thanksgiving, complete with a pig on a spit.



It's a bit early, but "Hau'oli La Ho'omaika'i

#10 Heels or No Heels?

Since I'm on the subject of shoes, I will answer yet another common question I receive - "Do you wear heels?" Of course I do! My reasoning is that I am already super tall at 6'6". Even if I walked around with NO shoes I would still be super tall, so I might as well wear cute shoes.

My first recollection of wearing heels was in high school. For some reason I wore 1 1/2" heels one day. I am surprised I did that, since I was a lot more sensitive about my height back then. They went with a dress I had, so that must have pushed me over the edge.

Currently I only wear heels to work. I own one pair of 3" T-straps (these have about a 1/2" platform under the toe), one pair of 2 1/2" suede pumps and a pair of 2 1'2" black mary janes (see photo from Posting No. 7). Last week at Nordstrom I bought a pair of super cool black booties (Mee Toos) that are 3". I can walk comfortably in the others, but there is something about the booties that feel extra high. I plan to bring them to work and wear them on carpet to see how they feel. If I can't deal with them for a day at work, they are going back.

When I'm out and about on the weekends, I opt for flats. Again, still super tall, but I don't want to flaunt it too much in case I may run into a cute, tall guy. That doesn't happen very often, but this tall chick still has hope!

For all you super tall chicks out there - if you see a pair of shoes you love and they happen to be heels, go for it! You may just hear someone say, "Great shoes!" instead of "How tall are you?"

#9 Shoes, Part Deux

I've never thought of myself as much of a writer, even though I have kept a journal periodically over the years. This blog may take the place of the journal, or it may even inspire me to start it up again.

What does writing have to do with shoes, you might ask? In thinking about my latest posting and women's fascination with shoes, it brought to mind one of my favorite fictional writers - Carrie Bradshaw from HBO's "Sex and the City." She thought nothing of spending $500 on a pair of fabulous Manolos or Jimmy Choos. I do NOT spend that much on shoes. I admit, I spend enough, but I have my limits.

It used to be more difficult to find size 12 shoes but it's really not that hard anymore. The hard part now is trying to find a particular type of shoe. I used to say that if I found a fabulous pair in my size it was a sign from God that I HAD to buy them. I really can't say that anymore, but I sometimes still do. Ha!

Speaking of the above-mentioned Manolos, once while in Saks Fifth Avenue at Keystone at the Crossing, I tried to be funny and asked the sales person if they carried a particular Manolo in a size 12. I was with my friends Julie and Krista doing a little post-Christmas shopping. I was ready to act disappointed, when the salesperson said they DID come in 12s. What?! "Ummmm, well, thank you." Exit store. The joke was on me!

So back to Carrie. Not that my lifestyle is anything like hers, but there are parts of that character I can definitely identify with. And we share the love of great shoes and writing (if you can call my gibberish writing). AND the title of my blog was partly from the show title and partly from a song by Nick Gilder that played in one episode.

Until the next shoe sale...

#8 Tall Tips - Shoes

The Nordstrom Half-Yearly Sale is currently going on, so I walked to Circle Centre Mall on my lunch hour to look around. I wear a size 12 in women's shoes, which is actually kind of small compared to some other tall women I've known throughout the years. I know of a few a little shorter than me who wear size 14-16. And I think I have trouble finding shoes!

At the gym yesterday morning a young woman asked me where I got my shoes. She also wore a 12 and looked to be around 6'2". Places I frequent are:

Nordstrom - along with the half-yearly sale, I check their Web site for sales and you can search by size. I have a "shoe guy" there who is very helpful and I look for him when I am in the store. Ask for John Copeland.

Clarks of England - they have a store at Circle Centre and have an outlet store in Edinburgh. VERY comfy and very cute styles the last few years. Can be pricey, but again, look for sales or go outlet and you can get some good deals. I once stalked a pair of gray mary janes for a month at Circle Centre until they went on sale. I called each week to ask what the price was. They are one of my favs.

Piperlime (www.piperlime.com) - a branch of Gap and Old Navy. This is an online store only. I bought one pair of boots from this site. They don't have a ton of 12s but I look there occasionally.

Nine West - they have a store at Circle Centre as well as Keystone at the Crossing and Edinburgh. I don't go there as often anymore. They do have 12s online, but I found that I can wear their boots in a size 11. It's worth a look!

Payless - you could pay more, but why? I mostly get sandals and sneakers. They do have the occasional leather shoe. They're worth a look for trendy shoes you may not wear for a long time. I did find a great pair of rain boots there a year or so ago.

Stout's - This is a downtown Indianpolis store on Massachusetts Avenue and it was the first store my in which my parents took me to find big shoes. It was an event to go to Stout's. They would wrap your shoe box in brown paper and it would come from the upper office in a basket in some pulley system and then drop down from the sky. They also had a cool parrott that would talk to you.

Zappos (www.zappos.com) - this is an online store where you can search for any kind of shoe. The best part is they have free shipping and free return shipping.

In case you're wondering, I found two pair at Nordstrom today. :-)

#7 NCAA Halloween

The NCAA staff Halloween Costume Contest resumed this year after a two-year hiatus.



Several championships group members dressed as Saturday Night Live characters (or musical guests), while others created their own hilarious get-ups. In case you don't watch SNL, I am the world's tallest Beyonce impersonator, flanked by two back-up dancers. My idea came from a skit when Paul Rudd hosted November 11, 2008. I highly recommend watching the video on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5qx-MVrXfk).

To see additional Halloween photos, click "See my photos" under the Links heading to the left of the page.

#6 Flash Drive Debacle

I am not a super technical person but do my best to keep up with things technology-based, such as a digital camera (check), keeping track of my photos on an E: drive and CDs (check) and even my latest adventure - the ipod (check, thanks to my niece, Megan). I have done fairly well with all of this...until yesterday. With all the happenings of the Halloween weekend I was organizing my photos on an old work-issued E:drive. All was going splendidly when I received an error message upon inserting said E:drive to make further updates. A message came up telling me I had to format it before I could use it. I don't know much, but I do know that formatting erases everything. I enlisted some IT help today and the outcome was not good - the darn thing is toast. I had quite a few photos on this drive and most were my only copies. Something made me unclick the button "delete after copying" when copying from my camera, so I do have my Halloween pictures. Let this be a lesson to all of you - make sure you have back ups of back ups and don't wait too long before saving to a CD. I am also dabbling in flickr to give me even more back up power. Now if I could just figure out how to link from my blog to flickr...

#5 Tall Tips - Pants

After Saturay's Hilly ride, I stopped in Edinburgh at the outlet mall. Among some other items, I found a pair of wool pants at J Crew that were on sale and had cuffs. Which brings me to one of my best clothes-buying tips - look for cuffed pants!

Whenever I run into another tall female one of the first questions they usually ask is, "Where do you buy your clothes?" I have a 36-inch inseam and it's a rarity that I can walk into a store and buy pants off the rack. Once, while visiting a 6'3" girlfriend in Ft. Lauderdale, I found TWO pair of extra tall jeans on a sale rack at the Gap. I bought them both and gave one to my friend!

So back to my tips. First, I scan the pant bottoms looking for any that hang to the floor. Next, I look for cuffs that I can let out. Voila - super long pants! This trick is best done with dress pants, as jeans will leave a mark along the hemline. However, I did do it once to a pair of dark jeans and colored in the line with a black marker.

Stores that carry extra long pants (mostly online): Banana Republic, Eddie Bauer, Gap, J Crew and The Buckle.

#4 Hilly Hundred Weekend

October 24 & 25 I participated in the 42nd annual Hilly Hundred.



The Hilly is put on by the Central Indiana Bicycling Association (CIBA) and is one of the country's best weekend rides. It's based in Ellettsville, Indiana (near Bloomington) and consists of 50-mile routes Saturday and Sunday through very hilly southern Indiana. It's one of the most challenging rides I've done, but it's also one of the most fun. The ride is limited to 5,000 riders. Riders pin fanny flags to the backs of their bike bags (or themselves) so you can see where they're from. I saw a few from California, one from Germany and another from England.

I have done this ride about 12 times (I've lost track!) and have ridden with friends, my brother and even by myself. This year I rode with my CIBA bike buddy Steve. Saturday began dreary and drizzly. The sun came out by lunch and it turned out to be a pretty nice day. Sunday was even better - sunny skies and a high temp of 62 degrees. We made it up every hill - even the killer "Mt. Tabor" which is a 20% incline. To ease the pain between hills, we enjoyed the fall foliage, which seemed to be at its peak. We also enjoyed the rest stops (3 per day) which included food and entertainment.

After Saturday's ride Steve and I hit the sale tent. Each year there is a huge tent full of bike vendors with a lot of great deals. Matthews Bicycles always has a 50% off everything sale. I also like BicycleEverything - it's an online store based in Brownsburg (http://www.bicycleeverything.com/). There's a hot guy who works there who's my height. Last year when I was perusing the merchandise he seemed a bit awed by my height and started talking to me. I rode with Steve last year also, and since he's 6'4" people probably think we're a couple. I took a chance and, after leaving Steve outside, went back, gave "hot bike guy" my business card and told him, "I'm not with that guy." What happened? Never heard from him. So this year I went back to the place, kept my head up, smiled at him, and bought a pair of wool socks and some gloves. I was a tiny bit embarrassed, but I needed them and I got a great deal!

#3 Stood Up!?

My original idea for this blog was to write about my dating experiences. Dating can be rough enough for the "average", but throw in that I'm a foot taller than most men and hilarity can ensue! After thinking about it for a minute, I realized that my postings would be few and far between if I limited it to dating. (Cue music from SNL's Debbie Downer.) Therefore I will post the occasional date for your reading pleasure.

I had a first date last Sunday with a man I'll call "Sandy". I met Sandy at a local restaurant and we had dinner at the bar. Sandy is 6'3" [first mistake - I broke the Jim Harbaugh rule! (see posting #2)], is nice looking, funny and seems like a nice guy. We had a pleasant date and shared some laughs. I did like him, but wasn't entirely attracted to him. He asked me out again for Tuesday. I try to give a guy at least two dates to see if anything changes, so I accepted. He had a short business trip in another city Tuesday and said he'd be back by late afternoon and would call me. I arrived home from work and proceeded to try on items I'd bought that day for Halloween (check back for that posting!), but by around 6 p.m. I hadn't heard from him. Hmmmm. By 6:30 I had changed clothes and had started doing some stuff around the yard and tried not to get too dirty. By 7 I was assured I had been stood up. Are you serious? Do 41-year-old men still do that? I must admit that I was a bit relieved that I didn't have to try to figure out how much I liked him and if/how to let him down easy, but c'mon man! That is just rude. Next...

#2 Jim Harbaugh "Rule"

Some of you may wonder if I have a height requirement, being that I am 6'6". Technically, I don't. If I'm attracted to someone, I'll go out with him. This being said, I do feel more comfortable with man close to my height. I have an informal heigh limit of 6'4". I have no idea why I picked that height, but it sounds good and two inches isn't that much of a difference. When Jim Harbaugh played for the Indianapolis Colts I would tell people that my height limit was 6'4", but I would go 6'3" for Jim Harbaugh.

I still would, however I believe he's happily married and living somewhere in California. As luck would have it, I met Jim at the 2003 NCAA Men's Final Four in New Orleans. Don't we make a great-looking couple? I forgot to mention the rule to him though. Darn it!

#1 Hey Everyone!

This will be my introductory post. I thought it would be fun to have a blog after watching Julie and Julia. (I wonder how many others thought the same thing?) I also have friends with a blog and love keeping up with their happenings online. So here I am, trying it out.

I find humor in many things in life and figured this would be a great way to keep track of them while possibly entertaining others. Being taller than average and a WOMAN makes things even more interesting. I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures in the city (where I work), the suburbs (where I live) and wherever I may travel.