#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...