glasses & grenades: AVA does High T

Anna moved back to central Florida recently-ish and so the three of us had been talking about getting together FOREVER, but time after time it was well, never the right time. Until it was that first Friday of June.

Yeah June. 😬 I am incredibly behind on blogging. Shrug.

The moon and stars all aligned, I met them at the parking garage, and we walked to Church St. for dinner at Artisan's Table. We shared a bunch of appetizers and laughs like we owned the place. I mean, we were the only people in the entire restaurant which was nice but also strange and sad. Where are all of those happy hour people?

We moved the party to Orlando's new cool spot - High T. It is top to bottom Alice in Wonderland themed bar with Alice herself and the Queen of Hearts roaming around very much in character. Again, we had the place to ourselves even though they do recommend reservations (and yes you get your deposit back). The whole "early bird gets the worm" saying is true. There are multiple sections you can choose to be seated in, or reserve, but since we were once again the only ones in the place we just hopped from area to area.

We started at the bar where we watched the bar tenders make some fancy ass drinks. I had a cute lil water but the girls went all out and it was so fun watching these drinks come to life. We all were so focused on 'the hole'. The whole time we were at the bar one of us kept saying "WE HAVE TO FIND THE HOLE!" Ha! We found it and even got pictures with Alice before it swallowed us down. Apparently 'The Hole' is another seating area that can be reserved. I imagine everyone wants photos in it so I don't think it would be the best to sit and hang out unless you'd want to be interrupted over and over. The hookah sitting area aka the Absolem Hookah Experience, was roped off, and is an extra charge.

We sat back at the bar and tried to airdrop photos to one another which was a whole hilarious fiasco. We had a real boomer moment and had to ask the very youthful Gen-Z bar tender guy why it wasn't working. I'm sure he didn't expect IT support to be part of his job description but we appreciated him nonetheless. And you know what's even funnier? We still had trouble. But OMG we laughed like we were 13 again and it was everything.

We of course needed a bathroom break and I was amazed by the level of detail also in the bathroom. It is a beautiful space and my inner interior designer was just bursting with excitement. I also gladly helped strangers figure out how to work the sinks. I should've just put a tip jar out and given people a mint as they left. This is my new side hustle guys. Come say hi to me in the pretty bathroom.

We continued to explore the space because every inch is filled with something different. Upstairs is the Red Queen Piano's Lounge. It's more like a loft area overlooking the rest of the bar. It's definitely a tight squeeze for a group of people but four fit extra comfortably at the giant chair and table.

The Balcony Birdcage area is of course outside, on the, you guessed it...balcony. We sat out there and talked about everything between middle school and that exact moment - clip and go hair, getting the shot, 44, Titanic, and that my brother was born at the end of our 6th grade year and the following day I was going to his wedding AND the fact that the three of us went to middle school with his wife's cousin - Jennifer. It is definitely a small world after all. I think it's the most I've laughed in all of 2023. There is something truly special about friends you grow up with as kids and continue to grow with as adults. Of course our lives look a lot different and it takes a lot of planning to get us all in one place these days, but it's always worth it.

I'm always game to go down the rabbit hole and drive down memory lane while making even more.

Take time for your friends, all of them, from every part of your life. We all wouldn't be who we are without them. Treasure them and the moments you share together.

We ended the night with a bang. Poor Anna got stuck in between two gates while trying to leave the parking garage. Thankfully Val and I noticed before speeding away. We told her to hold on while we got help. We saw a security guy walking around the garage earlier that night so I went all the way to the top to try and find him but no luck. I'm driving while Val is in my passenger seat on the phone with Anna. We were all dying laughing but I was determined to figure this out. I finally found a number for security and they paged the guy we were looking for. He was able to lift up the gate and she got through. Crisis averted but honestly hilarious as hell especially when we already had the giggles all night. I mean we were proposing #FREEANNA t-shirts and everything. I dropped Val home and that concluded our wild and crazy AVA reunion. Until next time...