And finally, the bachelorette party ...

I know both of my readers have been desperately awaiting the follow-up to my Bridal Shower post.

My last entry left off as the girls and I were getting fixed up at my apartment. I wore an absolutely killer dress, a picture of which I am still hoping to find online. If all else fails, I'll post a picture of myself in it, but I'm not sure about that. Anyway, it was a smoky blue-gray, with braided straps, an incredibly low V-neck, and a silver braided double belt around the ribcage. It was a nice bouncy jersey fabric, a-line, that hit just below the knees. Super duper hot, if I do say so myself.

We took a cab/car service into the city, which in itself was pretty hilarious. Our driver was a guy about our age, who was having serious lady drama. Every once in a while his phone (a blackberry pearl, like mine) would light up with at least 20 lines of text message. He'd glance at it and keep driving. Finally the phone rang and he answered it. The portion of the conversation we were able to hear went something like this "Yo, I ain't trying to read that right now, why you keep sending me essays? I'm driving! Oh, is that what you think? You think I'm with you so that when you piss me off I go get with someone else? That's what you think? I ain't got time for this." Hangup. Poor guy. He wasn't helped by the fact that we were stuck in major traffic, and the girls and I said "no" when he asked if he could smoke. Sorry, dude ... I just didn't want to stink all night. Anyway, I feel bad for the guy. As we were getting out of the car, I told him it's really not supposed to be that hard (it's really not). I wonder what happened with them.

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Finally, we arrived at Toloache. My amazing cousin and maid of honor arranged an absolutely terrific meal to kick off the evening. I thought only a few of us would be there -- like maybe 4 or 5 girls, but there were sixteen! The table was covered in confetti, each guest had a goodie bag and a place card, and there was a huge wedding-cake-shaped "Congratulations" helium balloon tied to my chair. I was immediately crowned with what turned out to be the "veil" my older cousin (and matron of honor) had worn at her own bachelorette party nine years ago.

The food was out of this world. I cannot say enough about it. There was a stuffed hot pepper, a roast suckling pig dish, a chicken quesadilla ... everything was amazing. I was drinking Toloache's signature drink (something potent and blueberry), and everything was wonderful. Dessert did not disappoint -- I had an outrageous warm, melty, gooey chocolate cake. There was a perfect flan, and delicious churros con chocolate. This place is terrific, and I will definitely go back.

I really enjoyed having more time to chat with the girls, since the shower had been sort of insane. I know everyone had a great time.

From Toloache, we went to one of my favorite spots in the city -- Divine Bar. Unfortunately, I no longer have to specify that this was Divine Bar West, since, I am informed, Divine Bar East has recently closed. To say I am heartbroken is not an understatement. Enough sadness, though ... that night we were at DBW, and it was, as always, a perfect venue.

The drinking and cavorting continued. At one point, someone had the absolutely inspired idea to give me a scavenger-hunt-style to-do list. Off the top of my head, I recall that I had to do the following:

Kiss a bald man (other than the bar tender, who wrote this item) on the head.

Find a guy named Mike and take a picture with him.

Get somebody to sing you a love song.

Get a condom from somebody in this bar.

Get somebody to buy you a drink.

Find your way home!

I'm pretty sure that was everything. You'll be glad to know I scored a perfect 100%, though I do have to thank the strange, slightly cross-eyed and relatively unattractive bachelorette who was also there for one of the items. The young lady wore a necklace that was adorned with tiny penises and a variety of condoms. She gladly donated one to my cause. It was ... bizarre.

Anyway, we had an absolute blast. Someone had the brilliant idea to do Irish Car Bombs, which are probably my favorite drink in the world. Anyone who knew me in college knows that I gained 15lbs of Car Bomb during my semester in Salamanca, Spain (We drank them at O'Neill's, by the Plaza Mayor, and called them "Coche Bombas"). Well, first of all, the bartender, Alejandro, did not know how to make a car bomb. I was shocked. I told him, it's a pint of Guinness or another Stout, and a shot glass filled mostly with Jamison and topped off with Bailey's. I explained that you drop the shot glass into the pint glass and gulp the whole thing down. He left, and came back with a manager. She told us that wouldn't be possible, since they don't have regular shot glasses there, just little mini wine-glasses, with stems. Part of their whole wine bar theme. I suggested that we could just pour the Jamison and Baileys from the shot glass into the pint glass and drink it down. But then, my maid of honor remembered that inside each of our goodie bags, she had placed pink plastic shot glasses that said Girls Night Out on them (excuse the cheesiness -- my "no penis" request had left her with few options). Yes, we're the kind of girls who bring their own shot glasses to bars. They rinsed them out for us and we went to town. I love car bombs.

From Divine Bar, those of us still standing went downtown to Le Souk. For some reason I can't get past the welcome page of their website, but I assure you, this place is awesome. It is huge annd packed, multiple floors of bars with hookahs and great Arabic music. I will have you know that this uptight nerd danced on the bar. And I made three dollars. And that's all I'm gonna say about that.

We did find our way home with no problem. We crashed and slept until noon. It was fantastic.