Saturday, February 6, 2010

Throwing Paint


So my friend and I a couple of years ago, coined the term Fabulous Friday. The purpose of the alliterative phrase was to embrace the day of the week that we all look to with hope and great prospects. Thus we decided, in honor of Friday, to do things that we had never done before, go places we had never went, and in all honesty just celebrate the fabulousness of the work week which is Friday. Thus I did have ulterior motives when asked by a guy, who I will refer to as Mr. Dimples for the remainder of the blog in order to protect his identity, what night I would like to get dinner and celebrate my month of February.  If you know me I think it goes without saying that I am a free-spirit.  I delight in new adventures and thus when I heard the details of the plans for the evening I couldn't help but be intrigued and excited. 

The evening began with Mr. Dimples actually coming to pick me up, which in my book is a huge accomplishment. Most of my outings with the opposite sex have me traversing to Timbuktu, lost, and in the end stopping in some sketchy part of town asking hopefully if they could give me directions using landmarks instead of cardinal directions because I had never been a girl scout. Yet all of the anxiety was alleviated as he found my place with minimal problems. Since old man winter decided to show his ugly face yesterday, the snow had really started to accumulate. Thus, as we are walking down my drive way and Mr. Dimples was appropriately commenting on the wintery white precipitation, I found myself sliding down my driveway, in my super cute outfit, into a snow bank. Yes, friends within less than 2 mins I had already embedded into a soft white bed of snow. I mean it is moments like these that are so perfectly priceless you can't just help, but laugh. He quickly grabbed my arm and kindly pulled me from the abyss of snow.  This is when I knew the night had no where to go but up.

So as if we had stepped back in time to the 1950's, we entered the new up and coming neighborhood of Fountain Square. The square itself has an eclectic collection of contemporary art with an old fashioned exterior. The restaurant he had chosen was a Thai restaurant called Siam Square. As we entered the door you couldn't help to feel the energy that room provided with shades of red and oranges that were screaming from the walls. I actually feel dinner can be the most stressful and most judged area of a date. People say that within 5 mins of a dinner date people can know whether they will end there evening early. Thus my goal was to make it pass those first five minutes. 

So perhaps Mr. Dimples new identity deserves some explanation.  I think in life, one of the most welcoming and inviting things people can do is smile. It is the unspoken hello that needs no introduction. Thus as I sat across from my dinner companion I couldn't help but love his incessant smile and good dentition, thus he developed his new identity of Mr. Dimples. Despite the great conversation, I would have to say the highlight of the dinner was my dabble into Asian dessertery. The waitress really had to convince me, to get the ice cream made out of the tarro root, but I hesitantly accepted and what I was presented with was a scoop of loveliness that was the shade of periwinkle and purple mixed together. It was just the creamy mixture of goodness I needed before the pilgrimage to our next stop on the list Big Car Art Gallery.

So I appreciate art because like clothing to me it is a form of expression. It speaks to our souls. So the gallery itself is a collection of several peoples studios connected by long corridors. Thus it is like a clown house of art, with graffiti like walls, crazy colors, and fresh ideas. As you can imagine I loved every morsel of this place. So my favorite artist was this lady who was in her late 50's who had really taken a great interest in Mr. Dimples and me.  She was describing her work to us, and the things she hoped that we took away from her paintings. She had these misty blue eyes, the kind of eyes that looks like at any moment she might cry, that really spoke to my soul. I will never forget as she told me she really just throws paint and dances with her art. She explained that her constant movement with her work and her flinging of paint is the passion that we feel coming from her work. It is a feeling that transcends from the canvas and captures the onlooker. I couldn't help but look at her paintings and agree with the woman; I did feel a sort of energy that was inexplicable.

We finished the night on a whim, a mere suggestion, of a favorite dive bar in Indy the Living Room Lounge. It is a consortium of different walks of life that are brought together by one thing-- karaoke. Through the thick haze of cigarette smoke, you find a stage where everyone is a rock star. I think that is what I love about karaoke there is no judgement. You can be as serious or as horrible as you want and no one cares. While both myself and Mr. Dimples put on our best performances, I think in honest we enjoyed the characters of the evening more like my new homeless friend and J-Love our bartender. 

In short, I had a memorable and quite Fabulous Friday. Yet, I love that as I woke up this morning all I could think about was throwing paint. I feel in life we all have the ability to throw our own paint, to show others our true colors. It is our willingness to throw ourselves out there to try new things that allows us to reveal the passions that truly motivate us.  Thus I encourage you this week to spatter paint wherever you go don't be afraid to really let the paint fly, because you will find that life is to short to use a paintbrush.

2 comments:

Matt said...

The living room! Haven't been there in a minute but the karaoke can get intense- it's one of the places where you can change the pitch of your tune (yes, I do have a mental map of who has karaoke when and what kind of setup)

Jen Pasko said...

Matt, I feel like I am going to get something in the works...I had forgotten how phenomenal your karaoke skills were....Perhaps we could even get a Glee like ensemble for the event.....