The Fat Lady is on in Five.

So that's it...summer is officially ending...my job is finished...I fly out today sans lip gloss. Three weeks of vacation...and then summer is o-v-e-r. So...wow.

I'm not really in a place to be profound today...I went to my friend's stagette last night. She's getting married on the island next weekend. I've never been to a classic, ridiculous, penis-cup, suck-for-a-buck kind of stagette, which this was. Because most of us are in law, and TOTAL geeks...there was a theme...I'm embarrassed to even say it..."prisoners of love"...we were all outfitted in black and white with hand cuffs and whips....and bubbles (which aren't exactly related to the theme...but I love bubbles and they were definitely the novelty of the night). It was completely out of control...by the time we let our boys join us at about 1 or so, there was speaker dancing and body shots on the bar.

I love the time of the night between bar closing at two...and stumbling back to the apartment at 5:30...the slow trickle out of the bar, jovial conversations outside, stolen street corner kisses, wanderings shoeless because you're done with the heels and you see nothing wrong wandering barefoot through downtown, back to someone's apartment for "just one more" (I love the people who show up for the one last drink...some old friends, some you just met that night - drunken comraderie...it's fantastic) and then the slow dispersion of your evening companionship as everyone tends to leave two by two...yada yada yada. It just seems like that time can never last long enough...so contented...happy.

But one thing that I wanted to mention was this dish we had at one of the bars. Stuffed strawberries...seriously...I think this is what prompted the allowance of boys because these things were utterly orgasmic, and totally easy to make on your own. Superripe, supersweet strawberries...cut off the green, stand upsidedown. Cut off the pointy end and add melted chocolate and a dollop of whipped cream...replace the end and then drizzle caramel all over the strawberries and the plate. Of course the better the quality of the ingredients, the better the experience - I think this whipped cream was infused with vanilla bean, for example, and the caramel was nice and thin...perfect for dipping the strawberry...you could probably also add some kind of liquor to the chocolate or something like that...but seriously...the memory is still on my lips.

It was a good night...I wish every night could be that good.