#205 Shopping for Comments

While grocery shopping last week, a woman in the dairy section asked me for help. She couldn’t reach the strawberry cream cheese and asked me to reach it for her. She was older, very cute, and asked very nicely. I was happy to help.

Later on that day I was in the Goodwill. While perusing the clothing racks, a shorter woman next to me looked up and asked, “How’s the weather up there?” Again, it was an older woman. This time, not so cute, not so nice. However, I still smiled and said, “It’s great!” and kept shopping.

#204 Ultimate Pizza

My nephew and his friend Eric constructed an ultimate pizza the other night. They started with a medium cheese pizza from Little Caesars. On top of that they added a Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme, a Big Mac, a Wendy’s Baconator, a Burger King Double Whopper, Wendy’s fries, and cheese. Aaron, Eric and Eric’s parents ate it. Aaron said it was actually pretty good. I’m not sure if he tried to calculate the fat and sodium content of all that junk food. Ahhh, to be 19 again.

#203 120 Minutes

You can get a lot done in 120 minutes. Read. Clean the house. Mow the lawn. I prefer to listen to 120 Minutes. Back in the late 80s/early 90s, there was an MTV show called 120 Minutes that played alternative music videos for, well, two hours. I LOVED this show and its music. I still have a cassette. At the recent Woodruff Place street market I bought a CD for $1: Never Mind The Mainstream Volume 1. It even has CD bonus tracks my cassette doesn’t have from World Party and Modern English, to name just a couple. I played it at work yesterday and it greatly improved my mood!

#202 I Kid

I just heard about a new show on TLC called "I Kid with Brad Garrett" that begins June 28. Check out this link. It looks hilarious! And I’ll be able to watch my former beau (see Post No. 29) on TV again.

#201 Late For Work

The entire month of June I've arrived at work on time (well, mostly on time) at 8 a.m. for summer hours. (We normally begin the work day at 8:30 a.m., but in June/July/August we come in at 8 a.m. and every other Friday get off at Noon.) This morning I got up and got ready, and didn't even realize I was late until I pulled into the parking garage and thought, "Why is the garage so full?" I looked at my car clock (again) and it finally hit me that I was late. I need more sleep.

#200 Out On The Town

What’s it like when a 6’6” woman goes out at night to a club? There are several possibilities, and all of them happened in one night last Saturday night. After the reunion, four of us high school gals headed downtown to Ike & Jonesy’s for some 80s music. Well, they USED to play 80s music. That night it was hip hop and rap, and the crowd was much younger than I’d experienced in the past. We ended up staying about half an hour. Following is what happened in that short time span:

The Older Man – Older men love me. I usually get hit on by men in their 60s. I was in line to get in when a Tom Jones lookalike came up to me and said he wanted to dance with me later. He buzzed around me once we got onto the dance floor. I nicely ignored him (is that possible?) and he finally went back to his buds.

The Walk-By – When I’m out in a crowd, inevitably a group of guys will send one guinea pig over to walk by me to judge how tall I am. I was on the dance floor (standing, not dancing; I don’t like hip hop too much) and noticed two tall guys in a corner. I caught their eyes a couple times. Kinda cute. I went to the ladies room and when I came back one of the guys was standing near my friends. I stood right next to him. He must’ve been standing on a step earlier because he wasn’t as tall as I thought he’d be. He never said anything. I never said anything. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him communicate with his friend. First he rose up on his tip toes to make himself taller. Then he put his hands up by his chest like he was telling the guy how tall I was. One full hand and one finger (six – six). I just shook my head and turned around.

Free Drinks! – We had just walked in and, Wham!, Tony offered to buy me a drink because I was taller than him. He was pretty nice and good natured, and said that as long as he was in there he’d buy me a drink. Cool. He wouldn’t buy Heather a drink though. I tried to order two at once to get her one. Tony’s too smart for that.

Shoe Glance –Men look down at my feet to see if I’m wearing heels. Nope. In college I would go to fraternity band parties and guys would look down and say they thought I was standing on a cooler.

I’d never been out with Heather before and I think she was shocked at the attention I got. I must admit, I usually get just one of the above so it was an exceptionally busy night.

Now where’s that 80s music?

#199 Back In Time

Speaking of high school, I loved high school. I had great friends and had great experiences. I played volleyball and basketball. I was in the Spanish Club and got food poisoning in Cancun on Spring Break (there’s nothing like getting sick on the beach and covering it up with sand). Like I mentioned earlier, I wasn’t popular, but I had a great circle of friends. So what’s it like being the tallest girl in high school? As I told one of my former classmates at the reunion, my first driver’s license listed me as 6’4” and 145 lbs. Yikes! (Note: I’m more than 20 lbs. heavier now.)

I did not date in high school. I had crushes. My first big one was on the tallest boy in school. He was my height – 6’6”. The second, probably biggest, crush was on a guy who was 6’4”. Both had no interest in me whatsoever. They played basketball, football, baseball and dated cheerleaders. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I was a tall, skinny girl with a mullet. I don’t know that I would have dated me either. Even with the mullet, I had a couple guys ask me out. One was kinda cute and played football, but I refused to go out with someone a lot shorter than me. He called me a few times. Being so shy, I don’t think I said two words to him on the phone. He finally gave up.

It would have been fun to go on dates with boys I liked in high school. However, I wasn’t scarred for life and I did have a great high school experience.

#198 Reunited

Last Saturday night I attended my high school reunion at a country bar on the east side of town. I would guess about 50-60 people came. Henry Lee Summer played that night. Blast from the past – he played at our senior prom. He’s had his ups and downs, but he sounded great. I went by myself and had a great time catching up with lots of people. I had a small circle of friends in high school and was pretty shy so didn’t talk much to other people back then. And although everyone remembers me, I wasn’t popular by any means. They remember me because I played basketball and was the tallest girl in school. It’s fun to see people after all these years and feel comfortable enough to talk to them now and find out what they’ve been up to. A very fun night!

#197 Hal Ketchum

My favorite country singer is Hal Ketchum. I first heard of him in the early 90s and saw him once in concert at 8 Seconds Saloon. He’s not the most well-known amongst the average country music fan. I’m sure most of you, if not all, asked yourself, “Who?” As with a lot of the musicians I like, there is just something about him. He has a great voice and is an amazing songwriter. And he is dead sexy.



Three years ago Megan and I took a road trip to Nashville during her fall break. Before the trip I had no idea what a big country music fan she was. We went to the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Ryman and also toured the current Grand Ole’ Opry. We even took advantage of the shopping right across from the Opry at the Opry Mills Mall.

I ordered tickets online for the Opry and as luck would have it, Hal was performing that night. He is a member of the Opry and was on a regular rotation at that time. There are basically three parts to the show and each performer sings two songs. Our seats were in the front row off to the left side of the stage right where the performers entered and exited so I got a great view of him. We also got to see a new artist that we’d just heard on the radio on our trip there – Luke Bryan. When he started singing Megan and I looked at each other and said, “It’s the guy from the radio!” (We'd just heard, "All My Friends Say")It was a wonderful show.

#196 Summer Slam

It always seems that during the first couple weeks of June I run around like a chicken with my head cut off. (A tall chicken though.) There's the Woodruff Place Flea Market, Talbot Street Art Fair, Harrison Center for the Arts fair and the Italian Festival. Then there's my work summer meetings (including committee dinners). My lawn and garden need work and I have laundry to do. Throw in a family member becoming a minister, a Fever game, a high school graduation open house, and then I decided to join the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training Program for a 100-mile bike ride in September, which brings more meetings and training. I go, go, go until 10 p.m. and then fall into bed around 10:30. Then it’s harder to get up at 5:30 to go to the gym. It’s all fun and worthwhile stuff, but I’m ready for a break. I have nothing planned next week! Wait, I did make an appointment for a bike fit...here we go again!

#195 Head Rush

I occasionally have head rushes. For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, a “head rush” is when you get up too fast and it takes several seconds for the blood to get to your head. In the meantime you can't see anything - your vision goes to black. I used to get them more when I was younger, but now usually get them when I’m getting out of shape or am a bit dehydrated. Once I was in a doctor’s waiting room sitting for a while and when they called my name I stood up and couldn’t see a thing. I didn’t want anyone to know so I kept walking very slowly until I could see again. It’s a miracle I didn’t walk into a wall. Although I actually did walk into a wall at home. Usually when I get them I bend over and put my head down by my knees. Not the best look. I’ve done this in front of my friends after getting out of a car. They all take off in the parking lot and I’m standing by the car bent over.

#194 Sweet Jane

I first met Jane Pepper in 2000 when I started volunteering at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships (formerly RCA Tennis Championships). I only saw her once a year for a week, but we clicked right away and each year we picked up right where we left off. She was one of the nicest, funniest, most radiant people I’ve ever met. (One memory that sticks out is of a Saturday Night Live skit we’d both seen that was about Wal Mart greeters. They would talk to each other and would always say, “I knowwwwww!” We would do that while we greeted the tournament attendees in the hospitality area.) Each year I’d look at the volunteer schedule and hope that I had at least one session with Jane. And each year at the end of the tournament I’d make a silent promise to myself that I’d call her up and we’d get together during the remainder of the year. For whatever reasons, I never did.

She was murdered in her Broad Ripple apartment in the fall of 2007. When the 2008 tournament rolled around, it wasn’t the same. We still had fun, but we all missed her presence. The tournament’s last year was 2009. Last summer a core group of volunteers got together and reminisced about the fun we had, and how much we still missed Jane. A couple of the women had known her since college.

Several weeks ago I read that her killer was sentenced to 88 years. I’m thankful they caught him and he’s being punished; although who knows how long he’ll really serve.

R.I.P. Jane.

#193 Shopping Spree

I walked to the mall today at lunch to check out some big sales. Gap, Clark’s and Bath & Body Works. While in Bath & Body Works, one of the sales people (a young man) came up to me and said, “I love you. I love tall people.” He was kinda tall. Then he talked about people asking him to reach things and hating short people. That was a quick turn from love to hate. My disclaimer - I don't hate short people! Unless they ask me for a step stool.

#192 Step Stool

Monday I had lunch at a local restaurant, Tortas Guicho Dominguez y El Cubanito. First of all, very good! The funny part came as my friend Tammy and I got into my car to leave. A man was walking down the street (ok, he was a little short) and he asked, “Do you have a step stool?” I didn’t really get it at first, so just answered, “No, I don’t.” thinking what a strange question it was. Then I realized what he meant.

#191 What a Racquet

At the age of 42 I recently bought my very first tennis racquet. My previous racquets include a Wilson my parents bought me in the ninth grade when I played on my first and only team (my coach used to give us scratch and sniff stickers to put on our racquet covers when we won) and another Wilson that had been used at youth clinics and was given to me by a co-worker who felt sorry for me because I still played with a racquet from the ninth grade.

Over the years I’d thought about buying a racquet but never followed through because I didn’t know what kind to get. There are so many! After 18 weeks of group lessons and playing with several loaners at the club (Dunlop, Prince, Wilson, Babolat and Head) I finally chose the Head Extreme MP. I had lots of help from the pro shop staff. I love my new racquet. My last group lesson was in May. I picked up the racquet after the lessons ended so haven't actually played against anyone with it. I did use it once hitting against a machine. Since the sub thing hasn't worked out so far, I keep looking at it sitting in the corner in its matching bag. It looks lonely.

#190 Foiled Again

I haven’t played tennis since my group lessons ended in May. I did get on a wait list to be a sub for a mixed doubles league. Subs play for free! I figured that would allow me to play all summer according to my schedule. I naively thought I’d be the only one on the sub list. So they sent an e-mail out a couple weeks ago asking for two subs. I had given them my personal e-mail address so I didn’t respond until after 5 p.m. Subs are taken on a first-come, first-served basis. I was not first. Or second. I gave them my work e-mail so I could be faster the next time. Well, I was out of the office last Friday afternoon and THAT’S when they sent the e-mail. Darn it!

#189 Marissa's Miracle

In Post #152 I told you about Marissa, an Auburn graduate who discovered she had a brain tumor in January. I just read on her blog "A Day In The Life" (see my blog list on the left) that they successfully removed it! Praise the Lord! She still has to go through chemo, but this is a truly amazing event. Please continue to keep her and her family in your prayers.

#188 Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

So the woman in post #186 who mentioned not knowing there was a bar in the bathroom is Nancy. (You made the blog!) Today I brought up the shoes again and she asked me if it bothered me when people go out and buy the same thing I have. I asked her if she bought the shoes - she did! She stopped at Nordstrom on her way home from work Friday. Her son is getting married soon and she needed them for the rehearsal dinner. I have no problem with anyone wearing what I have. I think it would be fun to wear them on the same day.

#187 Heel Yes

Today I have set a personal record for shoe heel height. I am wearing a pair of 4” wedge platforms (Franco Sarto Carnival Wedge in black). Last Saturday Julie and I stopped at the Nordstrom half yearly sale (taking a break from celeb searching during Indy 500 weekend). It seems like when I shoe shop with someone else I end up trying on the highest heels just to be funny. So I tried on a cute pair of open toed black patent slingback wedge platforms (whew!). And I thought they were really cute. And I bought them! While looking at them in the mirror I noticed other patrons staring at me. And I swear I heard someone whisper from the other side of the sale rack, “She’s really tall even with no shoes on.”

I wore them around the house a bit to see how they felt. Wow I am really tall in these shoes. I told some friends at work about them. And today I brought them in to wear at work to see how they feel wearing them all day. I asked opinions from about five people. My main concern is that I not look ridiculous. I know what I like and am comfortable wearing most anything but wanted an honest opinion about a 6’6” woman wearing 4” heels. I got the thumbs up. Well, from everyone other than Ethan, who is 6’8”. He doesn’t like it when I wear heels. He’s really kidding, but deep down inside I do think it bothers him a little. His wife is tall so he’s ok.

I have discovered two issues with these shoes: 1) My legs will not fit underneath my desk so I have to sit somewhat like a man; and 2) I have to duck when walking into the restroom stall so I don’t hit my head on the bar. I mentioned this to another woman here and she said, “There’s a bar in the bathroom stall?” She never noticed.

These shoes will hereby be known as my “Nordstrom going out of business” shoes. Or maybe I should call them my “hit my head on the bar in the bathroom stall” shoes. Be careful out there ladies.