Dates, Lost Dresses, and a Beautiful State

So Friday I was blissed out again by a lovely date, but this time it kind of sucked to be blissed out...I went to the airport straight after the lovely date and couldn't get anyone on the phone to dish with. Then I had to sit on airplanes, where no one cared to hear about my lovely date. It was a full12 hours after the date that I was able to say anything subtantive about it. It just about killed me.

Speaking of airplanes...I did have a wonderful conversation with a gentleman from OR who, along with his wife, have been vegans for 15 years. They are both in their 70s and doing just wonderfully. That was a ton of fun.

I realized during the layover in Seattle, that I had forgotten to bring the hot red dress I'd bought for the wedding. This was very sad and I had momentary panicked thoughts of having to wear my jeans to the wedding, which is not my idea of a good time (because what's a wedding if you can't dress up?). We did solve the dilemma at Sears (of all places) just about 2 hours before the wedding. I got an equally hot black outfit that went smashingly with the red shawl I had brought to go with the red dress.

The wedding was beautiful. Both brides were radiant. The view from the church was stunning. And the reception was a blast. I did indulge in quite a bit of champagne which probably meant that I was just as entertaining as I was entertained. I'm fairly certain I did nothing to embaress myself, and there was a designated driver for myself and the friend who also indulged quite a bit. It was all good.

There was a bit of drunken flirting that went on...especially when we returned to check out of the hostel that we were staying at. There were 2 lovely, and very young, Brits (Frank from Wales and Tom from Sheffield) that it was apparantly too much to ask for us to leave alone. They were very kind and probably very amused - especially since we went away pretty quickly.

The next day, doing well for drinking water all night, there was a nummy brunch with abelskiver (traditional Danish breakfast stuff...think pancake balls). Then we went for a leisurely walk in a nature preserve in Eagle River.

The area was completely beautiful, but the towns seemed quite dreary. However, I'm cutting Anchorage some slack - they are not yet 100 years old and there was that pesky, destructive earthquake in 1965. And really, let's think about what architecture from the 60s was like. Too bad really.

The highlights of the trip, however, were the people. The brides and their families and friends were wonderful, including the nice couple who had us stay with them the night of the wedding. The two people I roomed with (and rented a vehicle with) were like sister and brother (but no blood relation) and just a hoot! Sister has mad flirting skills that I am jealous of and is also on-line dating. We had much to dish about. Brother was endlessly amused by us when we were drunk and was terribly kind about herding us about.

The trip back was awful because I was tired and cranky to be returning. But getting back to my own bed (and sleeping for 13 hours yesterday) was a joy.

And now I'm back at work and it feels a bit surreal.