So, Coffee Bean in downtown Riverside had a deal today on $1 drinks ...
So I decide to drive there (without the foggiest on its location). I pass the ARTS WALK!!! Forgot that was going on tonight. Drive in circles for 40 minutes then ask a woman who looks like she drinks coffee if she knows where it is. Of course she does. Women in yoga pants ALWAYS know how to find coffee! She points the way says it's in a plaza and goes back to walking. I almost tried to flip a U-ey on a one way street and later did turn down a oneway street the wrong way, but luckily I noticed about halfway through the turn and just turned right back around before disaster had a chance to find me.. but anyway! Eventually I found it and parked in the big parking garage just south of the Fox Theater. I walked to Coffee Bean and through/under/around tons of people, caution tape, and chairs... what in the world is going on... I see a kiosk "Fashion's Night Out," A fashion show!! (SHAME!!! I can't be seen like this in front of people who devote shows to fashion! Look down and walk fast... scratch that! I have no reason to feel shame, I'm a working girl in her uniform, SO?! Hold head high, but not snobbish, walk purposefully, you belong here and no one can catch you off balance)
Fast-forward- I'm in Coffee Bean!!! I order a Pumpkin Spice Ice Blended and hand over a single dollar bill! WIN >_<!! Second win, it takes less than 5 minutes from the time I walk through the door to the time I take the first sip. Alright, so I got my drink... there's a fashion show, and the arts walk.... but I'm in my work uniform.... BACK TO THE CAR, and like Clark Kent in his telephone booth I am transformed! Okay so not my MOST fashionable day.... I have cute overall shorts and a thin breezy off the shoulder top with a loud vertical stripey pattern and Chuck Taylors...but that'll just have to do! Light-years better than my uniform in any case. So I walk back to the Plaza and ask a gentleman, with a shirt that matches the kiosk I saw, what is going down for the night. Fashion show starts at six and there are other activities till 9 put on by the sponsors. Cool! K... so I see little tables and stalls set up with bangles, shineys, and fluffies... TREASURES so I browse those chat with the ladies, tell them about the special going on at Coffee Bean, one of them gets up and goes straight there before I'm even finished with the details! I call several people to see if they want to meet up with me on my impromptu adventure. EVERYONE is out of town and one of the only two people who aren't had plans with her bf to celebrate his birthday! So tonight's mission was a solo adventure! I went back to browsing stalls and then went into an AMAZING building... don't know what it's called but it's cool. It's four stories of kiosk style sections displaying different vendors' collections. It's like a permanent swapmeet or something or like hundreds of miniature thrift stores all in one place! Tons of trinkets and antiques. I got lost a time or two and just wandered the maze of dazzling intricacies, smooth fabrics gliding over unusual mannequins, glassware, old china tea sets, gleaming enticing golden pocket watches, hats, gloves, shoes, a bar and a cafe! A library, a furniture store, and much MUCH more! I think I was in there for almost an hour! I was in Narnia. When I finally pushed myself out of there I just continued browsing down the row of shops until the fashion show.
I'm not gonna going to try to word-ify the show, because it was way way way too much input ya know? But it was brilliant and beautiful. The models were more diverse than I've ever seen. Ages 4-74 and spots in between; skinny, thin and heavy; anorexic, muscular and pudgy; boys, girls, and a couple people somewhere in between. There was dancing, beatboxing, singing, and strutting, and of course runway walkin! It was really cool and I liked most of the fashions, some were too bulky, plain, or shapeless, but there was a lot of really cute stuff and stunning models. Stayed for that, and then when it ended, with thoughts full of fashion and dynamic walks (I would LOVE to be a runway model and get to dress up and parade as someone else), I headed over to the ARTSWALK! It's always the 1st Thursday of every month and yet I forget every time! This was my first time. There was so much to look at, too much to take in, bought a couple little things, talked to a ton of artists, found out about what it takes to be a vendor ($5 bucks, your name, & a phone number turns out). I might do that one day if I get brave enough... might motivate me to actually produce art more often lol. But anyway it was SO COOL!!
Things to see EVERYWHERE! DJ's on street corners, old guys singing Elvis, saxophone players with their hats on the ground, guitarists everywhere, art here and there, laughing, talking, shouting and calling (yes those are all things you can see, not just hear). I made a wrong turn down a narrow street and heard music for the Shim Sham (Here's a video with the steps, although not even close to the same music! We usually dance it to a MUCH faster song!), looked across the street to see about 10 people dancing it under the light from a store front. RAN across the street danced the rest of the individual portion, slung my stuff down on the sidewalk and turned back around to see that there was one boy left over who still needed a follow for the partner dance portion, PERFECTION. I run up to him ask if he knows how, he says "kinda," I grab his left hand, put my left on his shoulder and jump into it, he doesn't have a clue! Haha, but he's cute. Fresh young face, bright purple v-neck, cool kicks, and gorgeous dreads. We stumble through the rest of the song, I do my best to teach him the steps, and the whole time we're both just grinning and dancing, wild with freedom. The song ends he shakes my hand and takes off with his friends... I don't even know it we exchanged names... we didn't need to in any case. It was a momentary mutual movement and it was perfect. Afterward I hung around a bit listening to the music and watching the various people pass by along the street. The spiffy-looking guy who brought the music offers me his hand and we start to dance.
Performing with a stranger by the light of a storefront window on the side of the street in the lively dark night.
People stop to watch, as we move flawlessly (he was an AMAZING lead), the dance ends with a low dip and a myriad of applauding hands. I thank him and head off down the street.
Didn't get his name either! Just a wandering kinda night, no names necessary, I did acquire one, a woman named Jean. Talked quite a bit about her art and her daughter and gave me the valuable information about becoming an Artswalk vendor. I continued down the block and eventually found the proper street and parking garage and my car as well. People were just arriving to skate the smooth cement inside, I considered joining them, but they were all short boarders, and our styles don't quite mesh. Long boards are built to cruise downhill, and short boards are meant for tricks. Hung out and enjoyed the sounds for awhile and then got in my car, rolled down my windows and drove home with the wind in my hair and the music blaring. Sang along at the top of my lungs whenever I was really feeling a song and walked through my front door 40 minutes later skipping on cloud-tops with stars in my eyes. Haha. All sounds too crazy I suppose, but it was truly a magical evening.
Beautifully silent solitude surrounded by crowded harmonious cacophony. I felt like tying flowers in my hair and dancing with my eyes closed.
It was delightful.
It was delightful.
I write all this and yet I know I have failed to capture the evening. I've failed to tell you what it was like within me. I told you the things, the input, the noise, but I'm not sure how to express to you the inner joy. To find the silence amongst the crowds, to be alone with your own thoughts yet conscious of so many outside.
The serenity of dancing through life without a single familiar face to find, and yet to see such sincerity in so many strangers. All eager to experience, and striving to connect. So much amiable ambling, without any planning or stress. That's my kind of living, what I know I prefer.
Wandering with wonder where the wind wishes,
and finding life's adventures...
I find God in those meandering days. Days that start out empty and end up the most full. When you find the quiet between the chaos you can see slowly enough to drink in His art. Such stunning masterpieces all around. The skies, the trees, the people. I challenge you to find your silence one of these days and look at least one stranger as if they were the work of art that they truly are. I'm not talking about lust, and I'm not talking about studying their angles and dimensions, take those things in, but focus on the light within. Find it. Find what moves them, discover your own curiosity in their secluded and unknown mind. Looking into someone's eyes when they are engaging in something/someone else is something inspiring. God made them and all the things that make them tick. Don't you want to find out more about who He is?
Anyway, it's getting much too late and I must sleep. If you haven't written me off as insane and stopped reading yet, I hope you've enjoyed this snippet of a glorious night.
Love you! Thanks for reading.
Every Day's an Adventure, (you just gotta find it)
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