On The Hunt

Last week at physical therapy there was this woman wearing a t-shirt with a tiger head on it.

A giant tiger head. It took up the whole shirt. And she was a pretty big woman.

It looked something like this.



I knew I had to have one immediately.

She said she got it at Wal-Mart, so this weekend I went on a hunt for this shirt while I visited my parents. I figured if there is anywhere in the good ol' US of A with tiger head shirts, it's Marion, Indiana.

I went to Wal-Mart, Meijer and several other jank-ass clothing stores and came up tiger head shirt free each time. It was a real bummer.

Even Ray was dedicated to the cause. We were eating slices of square pizza from Pizza King (amazing) and he said, "This is great and all but this is time we could be spending looking for your tiger shirt."

So true.

But two days later we left Marion sans tiger shirt.

Sad.

But then my mom called me yesterday at work to tell me she went to the airbrush t-shirt shop in the Marion Mall and the guy working told her he could make her one.

"Gina, the woman at the kiosk next to the t-shirt store said he's a real artist. I had him put it on a gray t-shirt. I'm supposed to pick it up tomorrow at 11. I'm so excited!" she told me.

At first I was nervous. An airbrushed tiger on a t-shirt from the crappy airbrush store in the mall? I dunno... I really had my heart set on a screen print tiger on a crappy t-shirt from Wal-Mart.

Then I realized this tiger shirt will probably be more amazing than I could ever imagine. I'm convinced it will look like the Cheetos tiger.

I got this voicemail from my mom this afternoon saying it looks "so cute." Since I can't post audio (suck it, Blogger) please enjoy this "movie" I created with my mom's voicemail and a photo of us having tea this weekend.



Highlight: "And that thing's eyes look REAL."

She picked up the shirt this morning and rushed it to the post office because I need it delivered by Sunday. My plan is to wear it for the Flying Pig relay. I'm of course fearful that the fabric will be brutal - cotton so stiff it will slice me up. But I'm willing to take my chances, assuming it fits at all.

When I called her back she said the guy who did it is an "amazing artist" and she's going to go to him again if she needs anymore shirts airbrushed. Just fyi.

So now I wait until hopefully Thursday when it arrives. I can hardly contain myself. I feel like my face will look like something between shock and awe when I see it. I wish now I'd have had her put my name on it. Like, the tiger's name is Gina. Or, I am a tiger named Gina.

I'll post photos for sure.