Blues, Salsa and Chinese Acrobats

Have I mentioned life in Vanessa's St. Louis world is nothing short of splendid and one of those lives I thought only other people had. It is hard to pick one moment from this weekend as I literally feel like I've been on vacation all weekend! I don't even know that I can pull sarcasm into the picture...who am I kidding; there is always sarcasm to be had.

Of course my weekend o' fun began with breaking said boys heart (see previous post). I am sure a rapid and sure recovery will be had.

Let's start with the evening of the 4" inch heels. Now, we all know how I love to wear fabulous shoes. Well a spontaneous night of fun doesn't always coordinate well with the shoes. A part of 4 inch heels looked great as I "wore" my jeans (as it was point out to me that night) into Jazz at the Bistro to see one Ms. Kim Massie. What an amazing voice. She can sing Ella like I've never heard (www. Kimmassie.com). You have to see the woman in person to fully understand -- the facial expressions acting out each song.

Fabulous Amy and I stepped outside of the Bistro both not ready to pack it in and as Amy pointed out my "rack" looked great and it would be a waste to go home. My said ample bust for the night continued to be a theme between Amy and me. I have a good 3 inches on Amy with my feel flat on the ground. Add 4 inches and let's just say it is a good thing that she thought my rack looked great because she was eye-level with it all night.

Here comes the reason my chiropractor would shoot me. Throwing caution to the wind Amy and decided we owned St. Louis this weekend. Neither one of us knowing how, decided Salsa dancing was in order. Why I thought my feet would stand this pure form of torture I'll never know. Walking into Dante’s, the first oddity is the guy to girl ratio. There is like 10 guys literally to every girl. Now if we were going to a raining men, gay stripper bar this ratio would have made sense. We both ended up looking as white as we were but had a blast and just had to remember it's all in the hips!!! Top the evening off with waffles covered in hot fudge and ice cream at Uncle Bill's and you've got one heck of an evening.

Enter Saturday. I wandered off to the Missouri Botanical Gardens to enjoy the first non-rain day in some 2 weeks. The Missouri Botanical Gardens is one of the largest and longest running in the United States. They also were having Chinese Culture days and celebrating their Chinese Garden. Full on Chinese Acrobats and full on contortion of small children throwing straw hats was a highlight of the afternoon.

After soaking up the sun, it was time for a night out. I actually busted out a dress. While that may not see odd for a girl, it is odd for this girl. Dolled up, in a dress and MAC Velveteen Red lipstick we headed to Brandt's on Delmar (http://www.ucityloop.com/), quickly becoming one of my favorite parts of town. Meeting Cassey and Josh and listening to the Sydney Street Jazz Trio is good times. I quickly pointed out upon reapplication of said red lipstick, that exact tube of lipstick out lasted my marriage.

In true Thelma and Louise fashion the closing of Brandt's at midnight did not coordinate with our bad girl side! We strolled Delmar looking for some healthy fun and wandered into the Delmar Lounge. One of the bars open in the Loop until 3AM. We sat at the bar and contemplated the meaning of life (as any good bar patron does at 1AM) and laughed until our sides hurt. This particular evening ended in true, unscriptable fashion.

Stepping outside on the street, I asked this extremely tall gentleman if he had a light. Later finding out extremely tall = 6'7". His reply to this was I smoke pot but I don't smoke cigarettes. Alrighty then. Amy and I kindly pointed out that you still need fire to smoke pot. Ah, yes the quick retort -- but not in a bar. After chatting for a moment and exchanging hellos and an original do you come here often, the retort of said tall man was he owned the establishment. The 3 of us chatted, art, jazz, politics and lord knows what else until the sun was breaking and the birds annoyingly chirping. The annoyance comes when you lay your head on a pillow and it is all you can hear.

Here we are Sunday morning...correction going to bed at 6AM means that when I got out of bed the classification was not morning. But it was coffee, eggs, ragtime albums and laughs.
I have done it...Vanessa Got her groove back!