#157 Oscars

I love the Oscars! Unfortunately I had to work all day Sunday so I missed the show. I did tape it so I'll be able to catch up on the glamour/excitement later. I saw some of the red carpet fashions online. Below are a couple pictures of note:

Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman



I am fans of both of them, and love that even though she's a bit taller than he, it seems he's ok with that (more than Tom Cruise). And I love that she wears heels around him! Go girl!

Zachary Levi



Not much needs to be said here. He is looking quite dapper. I had to include him, as I do have a Zachary Levi Rule (Post #27).

#156 Breaking News...

Paula always keeps my up on the breaking news of the day. I have a little of my own, although it's a couple weeks old. I will not go into great detail, but I had a date a couple weeks ago. I had a good time. He's cute, nice and tall. We've not gone out a second time due to our schedules. Stay tuned...

#155 Heywood Banks

Last Saturday night Michelle, Phil, Joe and I saw Heywood Banks at Morty’s Comedy Joint. I’ve heard Heywood on the Bob & Tom Show for several years and have always wanted to see him live. When we got there, Heywood was standing outside his dressing room talking to someone so Michelle and I waited around to get a picture with him. This guy was talking his ear off. I almost interrupted after a while to “save” Heywood but the guy finally left. To go get his girlfriend. In the meantime I got my picture taken with Heywood. He’s about 6’3” and I think he’s really cute. He did ask me right away if I had a boyfriend or husband my height, but I think he was wondering if I had a really short boyfriend or husband and how funny that would look.

I look like a raccoon in this picture...



Back at the table Michelle wrote my name and phone number on a napkin for me to give to him. I did look around for him, but he was back in the dressing room. When he came out to perform I noticed his wedding ring. That would have been embarrassing!!

Heywood was awesome and we had a fun night. Check him out on http://www.heywoodbanks.com/

#154 CIBA Swap Meet

Last Sunday I attended the Central Indiana Bicycling Association’s annual swap meet. It’s like a huge garage sale for bike parts/clothes/accessories/etc. I had never been but a couple friends were going so I headed on out there. I’m not very technical and have no idea what kinds of parts my bike has so I looked for clothes. I found a great deal – a $5 sports bra! Unfortunately, I’d played tennis that morning and left my wallet in my tennis bag at home. It was too good a deal to pass up so I borrowed money from my happily-married friend Steve to buy a bra. I’m sure he didn’t mention that to his wife.

#153 Crackers

Some of you might say I am “crackers”. Maybe I am...and MAYBE I AM! (Stolen from the SNL skit Dog Show by Will Farrell and Molly Shannon.

This post is about eating crackers. Ashley at work was talking about the show Minute To Win It and that it’s really hard to eat a lot of crackers without drinking any water. I think she said they tried to eat eight on the show. A friend of hers tried to eat four (all at once) and couldn’t do it. That really doesn’t sound like a lot, does it? I frequently eat crackers with peanut butter so thought it was no big deal. I tried it this afternoon. It is HARD. I did eat them one-at-a-time and actually ate four but still had some residual cracker paste in my cheeks. If you try this at home have a glass of water handy and don’t do it alone. You could seriously choke. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

#152 A Day In The Life

I added a new blog to my blog list today. I hope you can find time to check it out. Here's the history of how I found out about her: My co-worker Jen's brother graduated from Auburn and is friends with Marissa, another Auburn graduate. So Marissa went to the BCS championship game in January and on her way to the airport the next day she had a seizure. Turns out she has a brain tumor. Jen filled me in on her story and then showed me her blog. I have never met Marissa, but just reading her blog you can tell that she is a very positive and determined young woman who, at 23, is handling quite a lot. Not only is she battling a brain tumor, she also lost her job.

If you feel so inclined, please pray for Marissa. In one of her posts she asks for prayers...

"For those of you lifting me up in prayers, I know its human nature, even for me, to pray for selfish things like, no cancer. But, I ask that you pray for God's will, and pray more for acceptance, and patience for me this week and during this journey. ...Thanks for keeping me in your prayers, its the greatest gift of all!!!"

I thought I would also add an address for donations:

Marissa Parks
United Community Bank in Villa Rica, GA
485 W Bankhead HWY
Villa Rica, GA 30180
#-770-459-3100

War Eagle!

#151 Valentine's Day

Even though I have not had good luck with V-Day, I do like the holiday. I have many people in my life whom I love so it's just another opportunity to let them all know it.

My "bad luck" is that the two times I've been dating someone during that time of year, they've broken up with me right before Valentine's Day. One even sent me a text "Happy V-Day" after I'd not heard from him in a couple weeks. It was all I could do to not respond, "Bite me!". (I've always wanted to say/write that to someone but haven't yet.) I guess these days I would respond, "Forget you!" :-)

So I will not hide in my house watching sappy, romantic movies and eating a carton of ice cream. (Actually, I'll probably watch The Bachelor.) I will think of all the wonderful people in my life and how blessed I am.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

#150 Alarming

I've not talked too much about my parents in this blog. A funny thing happened last night, so let me introduce you. My parents will have been married 50 years this May. Mom is 83 and dad is 77. They are both in relatively good health. Mom has arthritis and has had back surgery, and lives with daily pain in her back/legs. She also uses hearing aids. They both take their share of pills every day. Mom has been forgetting to take her pills and mentioned wanting some kind of alarm.

I have a Timex Ironman watch that I don't use so gave it to her last Sunday and set it up to sound an alarm three times during the day (twice for pills and once to call her friend Mary). I had dinner with them last night and she complained the alarm didn't work. After looking at the watch, I realized the time was set for a.m. instead of p.m. (my bad). I reset everything and we waited for 6 p.m. to strike (one of the alarm times). We sat at the table talking when the alarm (on her wrist) went off. She kept talking, seemingly oblivious to the sound. I told her it was going off and she said it wasn't. My dad didn't even hear it! It is a bit high-pitched, but I use my Ironman to wake me up in the morning and have never had trouble hearing it. It has a five-minute snooze, so when it went off again she held it up to her ear. Nothing. Dad did mention that she has lost all high-pitch hearing, and apparently he has too.

The really funny thing is we sat and talked about the alarm for a few minutes before my mom realized she'd forgotten (again) to take her pills!

The search is on for a louder alarm.

#149 LOVE Tennis

I’ve been on a well-deserved tennis binge lately. Well, if you can call once a week a binge. Tennis is my favorite sport to play. I played basketball for around 20 years but have always held tennis dear to my heart. I don’t know what it is about chasing that yellow ball around the court. I don’t realize I’m getting a workout until it’s over. So much to love – speed, power, grace, the guys have great legs, I love to wear the skirts...

In December I bought a Groupon for a six-week group tennis class at the Five Seasons. Great fun and learned a lot. (Kurt: "The bird is dead.") I wasn’t ready to put my racquet down so did some research and ended up joining a group tennis class at Indy Racquet Club (IRC) North. Turns out my high school’s boys tennis coach (back in the day) is a pro there and I’m now in his class. LOVE IT. I have a couple weeks left and am planning on joining a league afterward.

For the past few years I’ve played sporadically with some guys at work on our lunch hour (when the tennis center was still standing, may it rest in peace). I was embarrassed the first few times we played because I used my tennis racquet from the 9th grade. Luckily one of the guys had an extra racquet lying around and gave it to me. Nothing fancy, but an improvement. The IRC lets you check out racquets for each lesson so I’ve played with Nadal’s and Roddick’s racquets. So cool! You can totally tell the difference. I’ve told myself that since I’ve never bought myself a racquet (my parents bought my first one) that I’m due for a splurge. Plus, I heard they have specials each month for half off.

Back to 9th grade. Julie and I met in the 9th grade and ended up being doubles partners on the tennis team. She jokes that she never hit the ball. When I was at the net I hit everything with my giant wingspan. When she was at the net she missed every volley hit at her and I hit from the back court.

Stay tuned for more tennis news!!

P.S. My blog photo was taken at the 2009 U.S. Open underneath Louis Armstrong Stadium.

#148 Denise the Meteorologist

Denise used to work with me and since she left two years ago (has it been that long?) a small group of us have met up with her once a month. Until December. What happened? Starting in December, each day she’s scheduled a get-together, we have had enough snow to cause havoc on the streets. December, cancelled. January, cancelled. We thought for sure February would be ok. Ha! We teased her that if it got cancelled in February we’d alert the local TV stations that they could predict winter storms with 100 percent accuracy if they hired her. Our next outing is in a couple weeks. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

#147 Snow Days

Like most of the country, Indy has been hit by a winter storm and I've been at home the past two days. As fun as it is to have a snow day, I do feel a bit isolated when I have to work from home. And I don't have high-speed Internet so dial-up drives me nuts. Maybe I'm a bit behind the times, but I can't justify paying a monthly Internet bill when I rarely work at home.

Some neighbors have been out chipping away at the ice on their driveways. I may go out in a bit but don't want to kill my back with the ice. I do make sure I lift with my knees! And no twisting - gotta save the back! Shovels aren't made for the super tall.

I do wish I still had ice skates. I would love to skate down the street. I used to do that as a kid. Sometimes a small creek would appear in our backyard that would connect with the real creek down the street. When it froze I used to skate all over the neighborhood. So much fun! And the snow forts, snowball fights, sledding...

Be safe out there!