OK, so it wasn't a COMPLETELY insane night of debauchery and drinking (we're all well past 21 years old), but we sure had a good time!

The three other bridesmaids and I planned a double-duty party: it was a combination shower/bachelorette night. My sister, Margaret, had not already had a traditional shower so we meshed that soiree with a night on the town. Bridesmaid extraordinaire and party planning queen Megan Morra Huffman devised the plan: we'd start the evening at a classy restaurant with a bridal shower, and end up with the surpise, sassy bachelorette party at a hip, club-like locale.

The other two bridesmaids-in-arms, Sandy McGowan Bowers and Livian Lawrence Jones, helped plan an unforgettable night for the bride. We started the evening with wine, cheese and tame shower gifts at Sonoma Modern restaurant. This is the only destination Margaret had a clue about because she knew to meet us there at 6 p.m. After that, she was in the dark.

From there, we grabbed our purses and walked a block away to Arpa restaurant for a dinner filled with a variety of tapas (TAH-pahz), which is a Spanish term for small portions of an item that are served alone as a snack or with other tapas as a meal.

We then moved on to the "bachelorette" portion of the evening at the bar at Aquavina restaurant. There, we'd planned to nibble on chocolates and champagne while Margaret opened some more, ahem, "adult" presents. We even conned an unsuspecting bartender into acting toward the bride like he was the hired entertainment, if you know what I mean!

Afterward, most of the guests left for home, but several of us walked to lovely Westin hotel by Starwood a block or so away from the restaurant, where we'd already made a reservation. We ordered another round of drinks at the bar and eventually made it to our room after a fantastic night with friends, filled with fun for a bride who's hard to surprise but easy to love!