I love that I am so much The Animal Girl to all my friends and family that they all want me to meet their pets! Mom said Flikka would be so happy to see me. Garth said he couldn't wait for me to meet Osiris. Mom also said she wanted me to meet Fiona. And Mom's friend, Sally, really wanted me to meet Kona. Luckily, I got to meet them all on this latest trip to Seattle!

I got in really late on a Wednesday night (Thursday morning, if we're being technical about it). Later Thursday morning, Sally picked us up and we went to Olive Garden to meet up with her daughter, Jessica, and the four of us had lunch together. The food was great and the conversation wasn't bad either. On the ride home, Sally expressed her unnaturally strong distaste for her husband's tie-dye shirt, among other opinions, all of which I didn't really understand. I didn't say anything, though, because what's there to say, really? I think tie-dye is just fine. I guess we'll agree to disagree? Anyway, Sally said she'd love for me to meet Kona, so we stopped at her place for a little bit. I pet the big Lab/Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy through the gate, since the backyard is filled with bees. The bees apparently seem to ignore everyone except Mom, so we stayed on the other side of the house! It was fun petting him and seeing his cute puppy excitement.

After we got back, I called Angela and we made plans to get together. I picked her up at a nail salon and we drove for about an hour to another city for the Bachelorette Dinner, to be followed by a little Bachelorette Party. It was really cool talking to her on that drive. It felt like old times, like we were really reconnecting and bonding again. I had missed her so much! We talked about all kinds of stuff, and I let her vent the wedding madness to me for a while and gave her advice as best I could. She thanked me a bunch and seemed slightly less stressed when we arrived at the restaurant.

I met a lot of Angela's friends and relatives, and while they were perfectly nice, I felt a bit out of place. They were all so naturally feminine and super girly, which I am not. And when the discussion of Harry Potter came up, they said, "Those books are too scary for kids!" and, "Kids can't read such long books!" And I was once again taken aback. How do people think like this? If children ARE reading the books, then clearly they CAN, and they're not too scary for a lot of kids. Plus, adults like them! So, I'm all for Harry Potter. Exciting and interesting reading is never a bad thing, in my opinion.

After the super delicious dinner, we lost about half our group that needed to leave. The rest of us headed to Nate's older sister's house. (Nate is Angela's fiance.) We soaked our feet and gave ourselves pedicures with these cute little kits that Shannon bought for all of us. I painted mine lime green and Angela painted hers hot pink. Coincidentally, those were her wedding colors, so that was kind of cool. We also ate ice cream, watched The Wedding Singer, and watched Angela open her gifts (from Nate's sisters) of lingerie, edible underwear, and naughty dice. It was all pretty cool and we laughed a lot and had a good time, overall. I felt weird, though, because I still felt out of place and a bit anxiety-ridden after spending a full afternoon and evening around people I didn't know, as well as being the only person at the smaller gathering that was not a bridesmaid or the bride. That part sucked, but at the same time, I reassured myself all was well because Angela had done so many sweet things that day that showed me she was glad I could be with her. It felt kind of stupid to feel left out while I was being included in the Bachelorette Party, so mostly, I was feeling confused and wishing I could hang out one-on-one with Angela again. But one-on-one moments are hard to come by in times of a wedding, so I tried to just concentrate on the fun stuff and let go of the rest.

As we were leaving, the guys arrived back at the house, and the porch light was totally broken. So we were just standing around in the dark talking. But I'd seen Angela say hi to Nate, so I introduced myself, and said it was great to finally meet him, and he said the same. Angela turned to introduce us, saying, "Oh my god, you haven't met! Nate, this is Meghan!!" But I'd beaten her to it. It was nice to at least say hello, even though I couldn't see him at all!

The next day, Mom and I met up with Garth and had lunch at the same place I'd eaten with Angela the night before. It was super delicious food again, and this time, I ate way too much. So much that I didn't eat anything else until the next day! Mom, Garth, and I had a fun time hanging out for a bit, though, and I did get to meet Osiris, Garth's cat. Osiris hid at first, but it didn't take long for him to decide to come out and investigate. He even let me pet him and laid down by my foot. He's a really sweet cat, and Garth loves him so much. It's always sweet to see people enamored by their pets.

The rest of Friday was spent shopping, and Mom and I eventually found me a really pretty dress and a comfy pair of sandals. The sandals that fit were the first pair I tried on - how cool is that? The shopping process (for the dress, anyway) was long and exhausting, but I was very happy with the results.

Saturday was Angela's wedding. It was visually very beautiful, great scenery and bright, colorful decorations. And it was nice to see Angela and Nate so happy. It was weird not knowing anyone, but at least I had Mom. The nicest part was a cute little photo album that was also their registry. There was also a harp player and some adorable kids. I was incredibly surprised by how amazingly religious the ceremony was, knowing what I know (thought I knew?) about Angela and her beliefs and her hopes for a simple ceremony. I can't even tell you! I was so thoroughly taken aback by that. So, that and the fact that she spent time with all her bridesmaids before the ceremony and not me left me feeling confused and weird (when one of them said Angela was "just sitting up there, waiting for things to start," I asked if I could say hi and the girl left for a long time and came back and told me that Angela said she didn't want to see anyone). Maybe it felt like more of a slight because Angela was one of my two maids of honor and hung out with me before my ceremony? I guess I shouldn't have expected total reciprocity, but I guess I kind of did, in a way. It was weird. And being around all the super religious relatives who were very into all the traditional aspects of weddings left me feeling really anxious and again, just really out of place. After we'd had some cake and listened to the toasts, Mom and I congratulated Angela and Nate and then left. I'm sure they're having a fun time on their honeymoon in Hawaii right now. Hopefully after they move and get settled in New York, I'll be able to talk to her again and we can catch up and everything. I'd love to know if things are just different than I thought, or what. I suppose it's possible we've grown apart slowly enough that I didn't notice until her wedding. I hope that's not the case, though. I hope all the stuff that seemed weird had to do with the pressures and demands of family. Anyway, it'll be cool to see her outside the hullabaloo of wedding stuff and relatives and whatnot. I just hope to reconnect with my friend again, and hopefully it'll be sooner than later.

On top of feeling completely bewildered by all the wedding stuff, I realized when I got back to Mom's house that I had a horrible sunburn. My shoulders got the worst of it, though my neck and chest weren't feeling too great either. I joked to Mom that my heathen pagan skin burned at the ultra Christian ceremony! Heh!