February will go down in my personal records as a really great month. OK, there were the snow storms, and some football team lost in that big game they have every year that interrupts the great commercials, and the economy is still struggling to make a comeback, and Congress is still filled with politicians, and all that other negative stuff. But hey, I managed to have some fun times anyway, and it all started with a rare “three nights out” week.
I started the month and the week by having dinner with Kathy, formerly of Tall Girl Shops. She is now managing one of the duty free shops at O’Hare.
Before you ask, no, she cannot get you any duty free Scotch (I already asked). Unfortunately her Dad is having severe health problems, so she has been spending much time in Virginia with him. In addition, her computer is sick, so she has been unable to respond to emails. Nevertheless, she asked to be remembered to everyone in the community, and she hopes to make it to one of our events in the near future.I should mention that Kathy and I had dinner at TGI Fridays. The drink special was a Cosmopolitan poured over a glass full of cotton candy. As you might expect, it was on the sweet side, but I am now officially a Cosmo girl. By the way, TGIF has a delightful bar guide you might want to check out (http://www.tgifridays.com/theBar/theBar.aspx). In particular, go to the “Girl’s Night Out” section. The “do’s and don’ts” are cute and they do seem to apply.
The very next night, it was time to again do my part to push our new friend Sarah out of the comfort of her closet. Once again, we met in the parking lot of a convenient Panera shop. Next time, I am going to march her in the front door, even if she is wearing clubwear (in this case, a
delightful black, leather miniskirt). Our assignment for the evening was to reconnoiter the Hideaway in Park Forest and the Velvet Rope in Oak Park. Our first stop, the Hideaway.Fortunately, I had done a bit of research in advance, so I knew that the Hideaway was difficult to see. It sits right at the corner of Roosevelt Road and Marengo Avenue, but there are no big signs and no bright lights to point the way. So just plan to turn north on Marengo from Roosevelt, and the Hideaway will be right there (or left there, whatever). Now when you turn onto Marengo, you might notice something that I found to be rather perplexing. At this point, Marengo is marked as a one-way street heading north. Half a block north there is an alley running east and west. At that point, you will also encounter something very strange. Signs on both sides of the street, facing you as you drive north on the one-way street say, “Do not enter, one way”. That’s right, after the alley, Marengo apparently is a one-way street heading south. Since Sarah and I were both wearing short skirts (you did not think I would let her outdo me in that regard did you?) and the breeze was rather chilly (ooh, delightful), we chose not to investigate further. But I will have to check next time to see if southbound drivers encounter similar signs also warning them not to proceed on pain of head-on collision. Ultimately, it seems that all drivers are required to turn down the alley to escape this particular trap.
Approaching the doors, the Hideaway looks very much like a tavern that closed down in the recent past. No sign identifies the place, except for the address. Intrepid adventurers that we are, we did not let this slow us down. We stepped around the snow and whisked open the doors. First impression; this is the kind of place where everyone turns around to see who just walked in the door. Gulp, I hope we are in the right place. Yes, the bartender smiles, the admirer sitting at the bar smiles, and the t-girl sitting with him sort of grimaces (in fairness, she had obviously been taking her medication to ward off the February chill, and we were probably a bit blurry to her). We say hello and work our way to the far end of the bar and find a nice high-top table. We remove our coats and take our places on stools, maneuvering to show our legs to best advantage (tee hee).
As we look around, we find the surroundings to be nice, but along the lines of a neighborhood tavern. More beer and pretzels than wine and cheese. However, the advantage was soon evident in the bar tab. Two G&Ts (that’s gin and tonic to you) were only $3.50. Yes, that was $3.50 for both, not for each one. A very nice deal! I understand that there is a second floor with music and dancing on certain nights, but it was not open the night we visited.
As we began to sip our drinks, we were approached by an admirer that I will call Tom (because that was his name). He had apparently grown tired of the overmedicated lady at the end of the bar, and decided to try his luck with us. Now I will freely admit that I enjoy the attentions of a nice admirer. But in this case, I could see that Sarah clearly was not truly prepared for this aspect of her delightfully feminine and attractive presentation. So, being the caring and compassionate friend that I am, one who is always sensitive and attentive to the needs of those around me, I engaged Tom in conversation and thereby encouraged him to continue to hang around. I could tell that this pleased Sarah by the way she smiled through clenched teeth and her knuckles turned white where she gripped the edge of the table.
After we finished our drink, it was time to move to our second target for the evening, the Velvet Rope. We announced that it was time for us to move along, I “accidentally” mentioned where we were going. Our new friend Tom asked if he could meet us there. In spite of Sarah’s sad, puppy dog eyes, I told him that would be fine (I do have a bit of a sadistic streak). Tom walked us out to our car, then jumped in his own and sped away. Somewhat more sedately, we drove the few miles to Oak Park.
The Velvet Rope is located on Lake Street in Oak Park. It is not a large club, but definitely a bit more elegant and sophisticated than the Hideaway (also more pricey). Being a Tuesday night, there was not a great deal of activity, but there was Ce-Ce! She was a delightful lady who assumed the double role of beautiful server and talented entertainer. Apparently a show was not scheduled, but when we expressed a desire to see her perform, she did so with great style.
We thought that Tom had decided against joining us, but about the time my Cosmo arrived and our appetizers appeared, in he walked. The dear boy had apparently interpreted Sarah’s frosty reception correctly, so he chose to stand next to me at our little high-top table. The high-top table and our stools were still good for showing our legs, and they also made it practical for Tom to “accidentally” touch my thigh now and then. Before very long, Tom suddenly remembered he had to go home immediately, and off he went. It was nice of him to pay for a round of drinks, but I wonder just what it was he had to do when he got home? While we did not visit either the Hideaway or the Velvet Rope on a busy night, they were both felt very comfortable and welcoming. I would recommend either one as a night-out destination.
The final night of my hat-trick week was the night of our fledgling support group meeting. Following our meeting, five of us headed out to the Rock Bottom Brewing Company for a
nightcap and some additional conversation. There we renewed our acquaintance with the delightful Brigitta who had been our server on a previous version, and we met the wonderful Tanya who had the dubious honor of being our server this time. While some of the group amused themselves by arguing about health care in the United States (I refuse to comment), Brigitta and I considered the likelihood that at least one other person in the establishment was a TG girl in hiding. We did not see any obvious candidates, but I know she was there somewhere (and probably wishing she could join us)!During the second week of February my only “heel time” (thank you to gorgeous Lowla Valentine for that lovely descriptive phrase) was for the CGS business meeting. That was the meeting where I risked life and limb to drive through a winter weather warning so I could hear the program on voice and participate in the board nominations. Whoops! Program cancelled due to weather. Nominations extended until March due to weather. Oh well, it was still more fun than studying.
The third week of the month managed to eclipse the first week in terms of fun, adventure, and total heel time. Tuesday was the Transformations T-party, with the jet-set Rori in attendance along with the gorgeous Lisa. As usual, they were marvelous hostesses and 
ensured that everyone had fun. There was a good group, with many red outfits and lips in evidence. I managed to shock Christine by actually ordering an alcoholic beverage (a cosmo, my new favorite girl drink of course).The weekend turned out to be something very special. My wonderful spouse had to fly to California for a few days, leaving me with the whole weekend to play that exciting reality show, “Unsupervised T-Girl With A Credit Card!” Due to the cruel and unrelenting deadlines and column size imposed by my editor and publisher (they are beautiful, but very mean), details of my weekend adventures (if suitable for the refined tastes of the typical Primrose reader) will have to wait until next month. For now, I will just say that good times were had Friday and Saturday nights, along with Sunday afternoon.
The only heel time I have scheduled for the final week February is the CGS social. that will make a total of 9 days during the month where I was able to slip on my heels and spread my t-girl wings. I know, this is probably nothing special to our sisters and brothers who live full-time, or nearly so. But speaking for those of us for whom being full-time is not in the cards, it is wonderful to be able to be out and about and feeling complete! My thanks to all of you for making up this wonderful community that makes this happiness possible.
Big hugs to all of you!
*****
Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Please send to me at greercd@hotmail.com.
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