“The Girl with the Purple Eyebrows”

A friendly Dimo’s virgin wanders to the pizza window; an excited but slightly nervous expression appears on their face. Typical for a first timer. The girl behind the counter, the with the purple eyebrows, greets them warmly. But she can tell they are overwhelmed. So she let’s have a look.

As their face scrolls over from the BBQ Chicken to the Mac N’ Cheese to the Vegan Argyle, their first-timer expressions turns into that of a kid in a candy store. They’re exploring the alternate pizzaverse. Soon, the the girl with purple eyebrows can tell they’ve got questions.

But the customer doesn’t even know where to start; they keep making shapes with their lips but no words come out. Tara has seen this before; she knows what to do.

She spreads her hand out from right to left, making sure she’s referring to the entire pizza window. As her hand completes its journey over the pizzas, she poses her famous question. “So, what looks good to ya?”

She’ll give them a rundown, of course. But she wants to get to know them first, before she takes their Dimo’s virginity. Because the only way to lose your Dimo’s virginity properly, is to have the girl with the purple eyebrows show you the way.  

Serial biker, University of Chicago rowing coach,  pizza tricyclist, clock hoarder, photographer on the side, Michigan City native, Tara “T-babes” Kline is one of a kind.

Tara came to us in June of 2015; she started as a wonder girl in the FOH. But she quickly spread her talents across multiple departments in the store. In particular, she’s made a big splash as our in store brand manager. She’s given the interior a cleaner aesthetic, spruced up our signage, and is the person who makes our Artist of the Quarter work hang so neatly on the walls. We have definitely seen Tara grow here, but some things about her have never changed. She’s always been the embodiment of a Subaru, a spunky personality always exploring the trail off the beaten path. She’s been listening to the same Nikki Minaj song on a loop for the past ten years, she’s always scouring for her next source of peanut butter, and if she’s just chillin, she’s not just chillin. She’s color coordinating her planner.  This is serious, folks.

And while Tara’s always searching for the next great adventure, she doesn’t treat people like subjects in her story. She cherishes them, loves them, adores them, hugs them, surprises them with Kombucha and cake on their birthday. The family and friends that have helped Tara along her journey hold a special place in her heart and no matter where she goes in life, she’ll never lose sight of what really makes her happy.

That’s why her favorite thing to photograph has been her younger brother, Ben. She’s been able to watch him grow in every stage of his life, and document it, from his terrible twos to his middle school years, to times he’s helped out with her art shows.

So whenever Tara’s feeling a little down, she might go play with one of her bikes or her boats. Or she might just flip through her album of Brother Ben.