occasion for champagne

This past weekend I had a much anticipated visit from some of my best, and oldest friends. The ladies finally made the long trek to Montreal and we had a lovely time.

Living with a guy doesn't give me much occasion to indulge my girly side. Try as I might, I can't convince Brian to do face masks or pedicures with me. Imagine my delight then, when my friend Jonina showed up with a bunch of beer, cheese curds, Lays bbq chips, and a freshly-burned Britney cd to get the night started. That girl knows the way to my heart.


After a dinner at the Spirite Lounge (a crazily-decorated restaurant owned and run by the Vegan Nazi, see photo above), we popped open the champagne, blasted the slightly embarassing aforementioned cd and had fun with makeup and (big) hair.

It was way too cold to venture very far, so I settled for taking the girls to nearby Crescent street. My logic was that if one place wasn't fun, other bars were only steps away. Big mistake. Every place had a line-up. We were stuck with 3 options: 9 dollar pints at an overpriced pub, paying cover (gasp), or going to the only bar that didn't have a line but was very sleazy.

After one drink at the pricey place, we tried to go to one mediocre-looking place, only to turn away when the cover was $8. The bouncer who had just checked our IDs yelled after us, "Now I know there is no way you guys are 24. What 24-year-olds can't afford an 8 dollar cover?"

We can't, I guess.

So, begrudgingly, we settled for the notorious cougar bar which I won't name because it's name now makes me shudder. We had been on the dance floor for all of 30 seconds when creepy old men started circling us like sharks. Circling turned to ogling turned to groping. After some harsh words and a near fist fight with one particular creep, we got the hell out of there.

It was an exceptionally slimy experience. I just hope the girls don't think all Montreal bars are that creepy. They certainly aren't. I have never seen anything like that in my life. It was like we were surounded by a swarm of locust-like dirty old men. Yuck.

Apart from that, however, it was fantastic to get together.