For whatever reason, I woke up at 6:30. Spent a few minutes online and then decided to shower, go down stairs, get coffee and blog. A latte clutched to me, I settled on a comfy bench and pulled out my beloved MacBook and stuck my earbuds in my ears.
I have to confess that part of the reason I plugged in my ipod was in the expectation that this would mean someone would come and talk to me soon. Even so, it was a huge surprise to look up and see Niki standing their with her partner HH. Apparently she had already spoken to Bailey (who was coming down soon) and Pab (who was not, though had woken up enough to confirm that I wasn't in our room). Niki's instinct to search for me near coffee just shows how well she knows me.
A quick conversation showed I had no plans. Niki did. She wanted us to go over to the mall at Planet Hollywood and explore the Betty Page shop there. That sounded like a great idea to me. We collected Bailey, dropped the MacBook in my room, told Pab where we were going and headed out. (okay, I know the picture is from the film and isn't really Betty Page. But it's cute anyway, isn't it?)
At the cab stand we ran into Dr. Dan who was also headed to the mall (he was looking for dance music). He shared a cab with us which was a good thing for a few reasons. First, Dan is a very nice guy indeed. Second, once in the cab I realized I had left my wallet on the table in the hotel room (!!!) so it was great that my sponging was spread a bit thinner and third, I could talk with him about having forgotten one of my medications. Ever the helpful gentleman, he offered to get the information from me later and call the 'script into a local pharmacy.
After wandering around the casino for 10 minutes like mice in a maze, Niki, Bailey and I finally found the mall and then the Betty Page shop. The store was a treasure trove of wonderful dresses. My forgotten wallet seemed like a wise decsion as I looked on the lovely dresses. You see, I've gone up a size recently and, while trying not to be crazy about my weight as nothing is as tedious as me whittering on about body image, I didn't really want to buy a lovely dress that would, by summer, (hopefully) need to be altered in order to fit. Bailey, like me, was admiring the many lovely things while Niki actually tried some on. She found a fantastic dress (well, actually she found many fantastic dresses, but this dress looked especially amazing and so she bought it.
While Niki was busy in the dressing room, Bailey found the spanking bench / machine discretely located in the back of the store behind velvet ropes. Its shiny red leather surfaces looked unworn and like a prop so we didn't ask even to pose on it. This would prove to be a mistake as, apparently, had we bought an "I was punished" t-shirt, we'd have been entitled to a go on the machine. Ah well, got to save something for next time.
We couldn't linger because we had meet Dr. Dan (remember, shared cab) to be back for the suite party / demo Northern Spanking was hosting. Niki was going to be in the demo, but only as the crime "victim" as she wasn't planning on playing this weekend and she warned me that the suites were smaller than at the SunCoast so arriving early would be important. Even though crowds are sometimes a problem for me, I very much wanted to watch so I could see the NS girls in their uniforms.
On the way out the four of us (Dan, Bailey, Niki and me) were so caught up in our happy chatter and in such a hurry to get back that we basically threw ourselves into a taxi van, talking at full volume. As we pulled out, the driver pointed out a MASSIVE queue of people we'd somehow missed and, in our oblivious state, had jumped ahead of. We were mortified, especially when the driver told us that she'd been trying to hold the door closed to keep us out.
Oh the shame of it all.
Still, it did mean we got back to the hotel right on schedule. This was where and when I found out I wouldn't just be *witnessing* the NS scene.... (to be continued).
