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Red lights, Nights Out and ‘Crassy’ United…

Last week was kinda hectic for this roaming blogger…

It included about 1700km of driving, two cattle sales, three meetings, helping to herd a group of bush kids around Dreamworld and White Water World, a visit with Violet to the State Library (fabulous place!), a spot of Christmas shopping and my tri-annual mega-grocery haul… and catching up with my city friends. They are a wonderful patient lot, my mates from the Big Smoke… quite used to me doling out little bits of my time here and there for hurried catch-ups. (And I hope the ones I didn’t manage to see this time, will know that they are top of the agenda next visit. You know who you are!)

This visit also saw a small bloggy catch-up.
Well it was really a Twitter Catch Up for people who also Blog.
The subset of which happened to be in Fortitude Valley last Thursday night.
And the subset of the subset who happened to be married to younger men.
Quite a select group really.
A chatty blogging group of cradle snatchers.
We are thinking of calling ourselves Cha-blo-cra-s’ners (or ‘Crassy’ for short).
Not really.
But you know, if the drinks had been a little cheaper at our chosen venue, this might have come up in our wide-ranging discussions. Which brings me neatly to The Venue.
We met at a fabulous place recommended by my dear friend Gee.
Gee is a local (who actually grew up in my hometown but has been thoroughly city-fied) and is quite used to the upmarket, shiny-shiny fabulousness of this area.
Me? I’ve only been gone two-and-a-half years from the bright lights, but apparently I have lost all semblence of sophistication in this period. Cause this place kinda blew me away.
This is the foyer of our chosen venue…

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Now you will have to forgive me here, but while this is as impressive as heck…
it kind of reminds me of a *ahem* high class brothel.
Not that I have ever been to visit one (said she hastily).
But the red… is very… well, RED.
And glowy.
And don’t get me started on that chandelier
The drinks area tucked in behind this daunting entry was actually quite lovely.
The dude playing the guitar and singing was very friendly (and a bit wink-y).
And the wait staff couldn’t have been more helpful really.
A lovely waitress helped me open the menu to the cocktails page.
Which was good, because the shock wearing off from the extreme rouge entry was soon replaced by a second wave inspired by the $18 starting price of mixed drinks.
Not only am I a cultural heathen, I am also apparently as tight as a fish’s…um… ‘out’ door.
Luckily Gee, who loves me regardless of my conservative, heathen, fiscally-challenged tendencies, and my wonderful bloggy friends Rhubarb and Tracey, held me steady as I sipped carefully on my house chardonnay.
Sorry…what’s that?
You want to MEET these lovely ladies?
Well, it just so happens that I did have my camera with me, and managed to talk my friend Gee into being shutterbug, and I may also have twisted a couple of arms, and convinced my blog buddies to bare themselves for all to see… they are a shy bunch, but I am very, very bossy when the occasion calls for harrassment.bloggygals_1364 b
That’s moi (the stunned mullet with the Luna Park grin, nursing her 1/4 glass of vino), Rhubarb (the sexy beast) and Trace (with her wonderful smile and blue eyes… she tells me they are really green, but according to the Nikon, they are blue. Go figure!).

The two on the right managed (somehow) to forgive the alleged organiser of the event (that’d be me, if you are having trouble keeping track) for failing to pass on vital organisational information. Information such as whether this was to be a “dinner” event, or a “drinks after dinner” event. Seeing as how I have young children, and seeing as how Trace was operating on ‘Mickey Mouse’ time (aka Daylight Saving) I assumed the 8pm timeslot would automatically mean the latter option. Apparently not.

And I do admit we ran a little late for the actual time suggested … Gee has three little ones, including a four-month-old cherub, and my Violet decided to throw the hissy-fit of the century upon discovering Mummy was going out after she went to bed. A lot of last-minute bribery and corruption was called on to allow us to get out of that front door (thanks Gee’s hubba-hubby!). My lovely companions posed gamely for the camera despite their growling tummies. I am hoping they were being good sports, and not biding their time to decimate me in an upcoming post?

*bats eyelids furiously*

Gee was called on to recommend a nearby eating place and we rectified the situation (narrowly avoiding the treacherous condition which our mutually admired blog-goddess – The Pioneer Woman – refers to as Low Blood Sugar Cranky Butt Disorder (LBSCBD)). This disaster was averted with some Turkish fare, allowing the chatter to go on deep into the evening. My non-blogging buddy Gee steadfastly hung in through the WordPress-versus-Blogger debate, and even the HTML chat (actually, I have to confess that I may have glazed slightly during this section).

We were charmed completely by Tracey and her twinkling sense of humour, down-to-earth outlook and amazing generosity in travelling five hours just to meet us all. And Rhubarb (Rhubarb, Rhubarb)… whose health battle was completely unapparent in person (she swears by mineral makeup, so I immediately bought some the following day) and whose wicked wit kept us all in stitches.

And so we are all now safely back in the comfort of our own homes –

Rhubarb in her urban seaside den,

Trace in her Mexican (sorry, New South Wales) ocean-overlooking village abode,

and me… me a very long way from any waves at all.

Back in the bush.

With the goannas and roos

and some sweet memories of the night I made

two almost-strangers starve in a high-class brothel.

9 Comments

  • Jenni

    It looks like you had a fun time! However, your assessment of the decor is pretty much what I thought when I saw the photo on my blog dashboard. It's also reminiscent of dh's grandma's old living room with the red velvet wallpaper and upholstery. The intensity of the red would give me a headache if I stayed in there too long. The second room looks quite cozy, though.

  • Mom L

    Wow – you do clean up nicely! And you ladies sure know how to have fun – I would have had nightmares for a week after being in that brothel, er, redrum, er, red room!!!

    Nancy in Iowa

  • Debby

    $18 cocktails?

    Oooooh. I never had one of those before… I'm with Jeanie. I'd expect just one of those puppies to knock me on my keister….

  • traceelements

    I'll see you the chardonnay, and raise you a culturally and fiscally challenged Corona. (Which at least I know doesn't make my brain slam against my skull the next day.) Coronas are what I drink when I'm trying to be fancy. You put a lime in them – so it's ok to drink out of the bottle, even!

    I have to say that I thought I might be refused entry – I didn't feel quite dressed for such ..err.. posh.. surrounds. Rhubarb had to just about drag me in! (And I was seriously wondering just how glamorous this Bush Babe was going to be!!) Lucky you proved to be very down to earth – and Rhubarb helped me through. As Anon just said, I had high class company. Thanks for a lovely evening.

  • rhubarbwhine

    Seriously, BB you are a stunner, and Trace has the most gorgeous eyes I have ever seen.

    We had a great time, and I wish I could have kicked on for coffee and dessert as offered; but I was bushed and it was tomorrow… But let's do it again, huh girls?

    Thanks to both of you and Gee too, for such a lovely night. xx

  • Bush Babe

    Gosh I have been doing such a flurry of posts that I failed to come back to my comments here… most remiss of me!!

    Rhubarb – I really am going to have to slip you some funds for all these compliments. You are making me blush furiously (and silently wonder if you have had that prescription for your specs filled out yet).

    Jayne – bloggers are just like a box of chocolates… you never know what you are gonna get (or where you are likely to find them!!)

    Tracey – I take full responsibility for the dress code being overlooked by anyone (I thought you looked lovely, but I am hardly a fashionata!). My code is usually, if I am going out, wear black. (And I am not even from Melbourne!)

    Anon – ummm… I hope you meant this in a GOOD way? Heh…

    Debby – they'd knock me on my (er) keister, mostly because I'd not be able to affort dinner afterwards!!

    Jeanie – see above response!

    Nancy – it was just the foyer that was questionable (but we all had to walk through it to get to the meeting place). I feel queasy just looking at the pic still!!

    Jenni – glad it's not just me then. Next time, we may do a park meeting. But not at night. That would be even worse!!!

    🙂
    BB

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