I do a lot of group activities with my couples circle however, some one on one girl time is always a welcome change. This one-on-one time allows me to build an even stronger bond inside my circle.
Back in September I found this new place called Portal Charlotte. I kept seeing people post pictures in this one room that had a “FEELS” signs but I never knew where they were. I kept thinking it was some immersive art museum in another state. Low and behold someone finally posted the photo with the location attached. Then presto I saw it was a new place right here in Charlotte, NC and I knew I had to go there. So I planned to go with my friend, Kiara, and we decided on later on in October since they were having half off Thursday’s. If you know me you know how much I love a deal that saves me money.
Fast-forward time and it‘s the day of our little girls date. I’m at home on FaceTime with my fiancé trying to figure out what colors to coordinate with and what shoes look best with my outfit —isn’t he the sweetest?
Kiara and I decide to carpool from her place and while she drove I worked my magic in the passenger side mirror trying to do a full face of makeup; which by the way was successful. When we pull up to the location we realize we’re going to have to find parking. It’s located in Uptown right down the street from Chima. We circle around and find parking a block away over by Romare Bearden park.
Sidenote: I’ve gotten to a point in my life that some shoes are just meant to look cute in note to walk around in. So what do I do now? I wear my slides out and bring my heels/boots in a cute bag with me to easily switch up when I reach my destination. So when we had to walk a block to get to Portal Charlotte you can bet I had my slides on all the way until the front door.
When we arrived checkin was fairly simple and we explored the location. It actually isn‘t that big. There are about 9 “rooms” if you can even call them all rooms. Some are no bigger than a small closet or aren’t even rooms at all more like cutouts, while others are about the size of a small bedroom. Each spot with it’s own theme or setup.
Kiara and I did a once over of the space just starting off by exploring everything. Afterwards we decided to give each room a shot with the camera I brought along — a Canon M50. We started with the first room that was unoccupied and then just moved around. Sometimes waiting patiently for others to finish up before proceeding to take up the next room and it’s theme for our photo shoot fun. I can only speak for myself but I had loads of fun in what I’ve named ‘The Money Vault’, ’The Illusion House’, and ‘The Records Room’. All of the spaces where a great deal of fun but I think those were the best rooms.
Between the two of us we took turns in each themed room taking pictures of the other. Posing each other and learning tricks about the camera. Sometimes the flash wanted to cooperate and other times it didn’t. Since the building was mainly low lighting we needed the flash in almost every single room. I had loads of fun though. I quickly switched up my usual go-to pose to try out more drastic poses or I was silly simply wanting someone else for a change to capture me in my moment of happiness. Often times as the friend photographer I’m quick to pull out my camera and shoot great shots of everyone because I have an ee for it. However, that likely leaves me without any footage of myself enjoying the moment too.
I was silly. I was laughing. I was serious. I was most of all happy.
You would think that our night ended there; that we went back to her place and then parted our separate ways. I mean it was 10:00pm on a work night. Nope, we got the idea of taking advantage of already being out to try out Applebee’s new Dollar Vampire drink. I mean it’s only $1 it won’t hurt anything. So we wound up at the University Applebee’s since that’s the closest one to us. While we sat at the bar recapping our night and diving into different topics we got lost in our own conversation not arriving back home until after midnight.
I’m grateful for that bar conversation though. I was able to check in with her about her job and where she was at. I was able to share how not perfect my own relationship is so that I was vulnerable and someone who’s more relatable then you think. As well as being able to share where I was with my own endeavors and how I’m doing these days. Just being able to feel open and confident enough to be vulnerable is a type of connection that I crave on most days and am trying to cultivate in my various friendships.
What have you done to go #BeyondYourWindow recently? Share on social media with the hashtag, comment below, or send me a private message!