MY FABULOUS FOOTLOOSE AND FANCY FREE WEEK

Every summer my mom takes my son out of town for a week.  Around that time, me and my daddy always do our annual daddy/daughter date where we eat, catch up and talk shit and hip hop (we always try to outdo each other lol).

 This year we went downtown to the Tilted Kilt and had drinks, wings and nachos- overpriced but good.  I loved the atmosphere; open and airy and the servers wore kilts.  Men included teehee...

@ The Tilted Kilt with my pops.  He's so Kool Moe Dee lol.

After we ate we walked right across the street to the Horseshoe Casino.  Everybody who knows me understands and accepts the fact that I am notoriously cheap (although I prefer positive terms like frugal, budget conscious, and thrifty)- well every one except my daddy who got super irritated when he found out I only had $11 with me. 

"Well why not make it an even $10 wit ya cheap self?" He grunted at me.  He wasn't amused when I said the extra $1 was for luck lol. 

I am not a gambler AT ALL- I'd rather spend my money on sure things like the clearance rack at Dots, maybe even a good meal from time to time but even that can get pushed to the back burner for a fly pair of shoes...

So anyway, my plan was to sit at the penny machines and play a dollar at a time until I either hit big or ran out of money.  Yeah- I quickly ran out of money and my daddy who sat there watching me like a hawk the whole time, pulled out a $20 and gave it to me.  I spent $5 of it and pocketed the rest for later on- daddy didn't raise no fool, I know "extra" spending money when I see it lol.

I sat in this spot for about 20 min. and left empty handed : (

So anyway I was over "my first casino outing" in no time and just walked around and people watched which is what I like to do anyway.  I knew my time with my daddy was up when he headed over to the blackjack table and sat down. I hit him up for another $5 while he was distracted, chucked the deuces and headed to my next destination.

The previous day I had ran into a good friend of mine named Donald who is a phenomenal singer and performer (we went to high school and graduated college together) in fact he's so good that as I am writing this he is in Japan performing with a band on an exclusive six month nightclub contract . In Japan. (say it with me in my Victoria Beckham voice) Majahhh! We randomly ran into each other as I was coming from the library and promised to hook up before he left.

I called him like the next day to "do lunch".  We kept it local and went to the La Petite Triangle, a cute little French restaurant in Ohio City that I always pass but never venture into.  I ordered a chicken mango crepe, the only thing on the menu that I could (a) pronounce (b) afford and (c) recognize, hey you can't go wrong with chicken lol.  It was so hot that instead of taking advantage of their very sophisticated outdoor seating we stayed our asses inside and sat at the table. 

Me and Donald in front of the Petit Triangle Cafe in Ohio City.

We caught up on life, love and just trying to make it in our desired fields.  He shared with me the ills of the recording industry and basically confirmed a lot of rumours that have been floating around for the past few years about the entertainment world.  We spoke about his upcoming trip to Japan and I was not surprised to learn that although boarding the plane three days from our outing, this guy was still not packed; such a man smdh.

We only had a brief time together, he had to start packing among other things and I had to get my son prepared for his trip but we decided we would kick it the following weekend.

Sooo, that brings me back to the casino.  After leaving my daddy I called Donald and went back to the west side to meet him at my house where we decided our plans.  Me, being proactive had already scoured cleveland.com, Scene newspaper and whatever else I could to see what was going on that week and had a plethora of activities to get into- all of which Donald was not too excited about...

"You mean you don't want to join me for the West Side Story Sing along?"

 Insert Donald's blank stare here lol.

  We decided to go back downtown and get wasted.  Now I'm not a drinker by any means.  One vodka and cranberry can get me through a drag show and a night of wild techno hip pop dancing at the Bounce.  Buuut, since my friend was leaving for JAPAN and I would not see him for another six months I said what the hell!

First stop Tower City where Donald purchased a cold ass Foo Fighters rock tee shirt (with my help lol). After checking his fresh we then hit up the candy store and stocked up on waay too many sweets, the next stop was the Ontario Cafe, very small hole in the wall, no decor and questionable crowd (as in- is that a man or women, or a little bit of both?) but home of the strongest cheapest drinks in the city.  Where else can you get a Long Island ice tea for less than $4? Exactly.



In front of the waterfall in Tower City after purchasing too much candy.

I achieved lots of mileage in these badboys and felt as if I could run marathons!

These definatly are going into my Shoe Hall of Fame!

 

The shoes that I had on were Fab U Lous and def a conversation starter but as I stood up after drinking that LIIT (that certainly had me lit lol) I noticed a slight wobbliness in my step.  Down I came (I was at least 6 1/2 feet in those bad boys) and put on my sandals I had bought just for the occasion. 

We stopped at the Wonder Bar where I was falsely told and disappointed to find out there was no longer a "reggae night" and continued on to the Xecutive Lounge where Donald was an instant celebrity (oh of course I put my shoes back on before walking inside the bar lol).  Turns out his old band was there and they persuaded him to give an impromptu performance which he KILLED!! I was so excited to see him in his element and the Foo Fighters shirt really just set it off (you know I'm all about the visual).  One mixed drink later I knew all my plans the following morning and afternoon were cancelled.

Donald performing at the Xecutive Lounge.

We stumbled over to the Chocolate Bar were we danced (gangsta boogied, whatever) on the mostly empty dance floor ( I felt so Studio 54, dancing and showing off my shoes and dress) and of course ordered more drinks.  We stayed there for another hour or two and then went right back to the Ontario Cafe where the last LIIT pushed me to the limit lol.  I had soo much fun with Donald and one of the BEST NIGHTS OF MY LIFE!

Taking a break from burning up the near empty dance floor.

Pausing for a pic.  I liked how the background went with my 'fit.

Wait, you thought the story was over huh lol? So after Donald made sure I got home safe, I decided that in order to properly end my night I must possess a bag of Spicy Nacho Doritos and a blue Gatorade. So I walked the 10 minute walk to the 24 hr. gas station (yes, in those heels, I had nothing but the fashion gods on my side smdh) and on my way there I passed by a group of people sitting in a circle on the sidewalk, one holding a guitar and the others participating in some sort of call and response folk song.

Interesting, I thought-random, but very interesting. I reached the gas station, happily made my purchase and saw the same group of people in the same spot when I passed by again.  I had gotten maybe a few feet away when I decided "what the hell" and asked if I could join them.

To my delight they said yes and I hiked up my dress and sat right there on the sidewalk with them Indian style.  I introduced myself, they said they were squatters who were bored with no money, a guitar and a bottle of wine (hey I'll drink to that, but I didn't lol) and they were making up songs to sing to pass the time.  So there I sat on the sidewalk of my Ohio City neighborhood at one in the morning warbling off key to a song that probably does not exist anywhere else and it felt- right.  I felt so free and... and...bohemian!

It was the perfect way to end a night/morning.  I stayed for about an hour and then gathered my skirt and my snacks and made my way to home sweet home.