Let me just say...

MAC Cosmetics is a God send for late bloomers like myself and well, for just about any woman in need of assistance on the beauty front. If you know me at all, then I know what you're thinking, "Who in the hell is this person writing on Jennifer's blog?" and if you don't know me, then just know that I have always been a tomboy - until recently. That lovely and yet utterly frustrating change was brought on by my boyfriend who, despite falling in love with me while I was in my pajamas half the time, has seen beyond the ugly girl hiding in the corner and has found let's just say the diamond in the rough. About six months ago we began a frustrating effort to polish the diamond. I'll just say that it's been an experience, and although it hasn't always been easy or fun, some great things have come out of it, including MAC.

Okay, so I know nothing about make-up. Alright, I lied a little, I didn't know anything about make-up and then I put in a little effort. I got online and read a lot, I bought a subscription to, check this out, Cosmo magazine as an early 24th birthday present to myself and have been reading some more (I know, English major), and I have intentionally embarrassed myself in public twice in the name of beauty. Let me take this opportunity to tell any other tomboys turned girly-girls that practice is the only way to make the make-up part happen. That was my problem, I didn't want to spend hours in front of the mirror with brushes dropping to the floor and powder coating my recently cleaned bathroom, but that's what happened. In this world of GPS systems and computerized cell phones that can bring you the world or schedule your car maintenance at the push of a button we don't have time for such nonsense as experimenting with colored powders that only end up making you sneeze off anything that you managed to put on, but that is no excuse.

Being good with make-up begins with being good at being patient. And so after a visit to Sephora about a month ago to buy new eyeshadow, lip gloss, and mascara I began the tedious process of painting my face, screwing it up, wiping it off, and starting all over again until my eyelids were raw. It sucked!! After a month of going from bad to worse every time I tried to do my make-up I managed to come up with a look that worked, and I got good at it after a few weeks. I even got complimented a few weeks ago - I didn't need to wear any blush that day! Although I finally looked decent I wanted to look better; that's the first step to becoming a girly-girl I learned, when you want to do more with make-up than the basics.

Don't get me wrong, I loved my Sephora make-up, but I wasn't happy with the eyeshadow that I had. It was a pallet with several colors, but they were all too dark and a little too shimmery for a day time look. Who knew there were day and night looks? So, I went in search of something better for my eyes. I've developed an unusual habit the past few weeks of having to ask any woman I see with nice eye make-up what brand she uses, and the answer is always MAC. I've been trying to hold out on trying MAC for over a month now because it is a bit expensive, but I just couldn't do it any longer after Chris and I went to a party at a co-worker's house last weekend and Chis made a comment afterwards that he loved one of my colleague's eye make-up and of course, it was MAC. And so tonight I sold my tomboy soul to the devil when I drove to International Mall (which has a Louis Vuitton and Tiffany's for the record) and walked into the way too glamorous for this kid, MAC store. All of the employees were busy so I made myself at home by the eyeshadows and spent five minutes looking at individual colors that I thought I could never turn into anything when finally a lady with lime green eyeshadow came over and offered her colorful assistance.

And so I embarrassed myself for the second time in public for beauty's sake (the first time was at Sephora) when I admitted my eyeshadow shortcomings to her in front of a packed room of gay men and fashionistas - again, no blush required. Being kind she asked me what I was looking for, and I explained that I wanted to learn how to do a smokey eye for nights out with Chris and a sophisticated day look since I work for a law firm. She came back with nine colors and ten minutes later I had one sophisticated eye and one smokey eye. She taught me how to do everything myself and what brushes to use for this and that, and she introduced me to the most amazing eye primer known to man. I eventually walked out thirty minutes later with nine colors and a pallet that I hoped would not end up being the victim of the dark corner in the cabinet under the bathroom sink where things like floss and old prescriptions go to rot.

Luckily, I got home and began playing with it all myself and wow did I have success. Okay, so I'm not a knockout yet, but I'm getting there quickly. Maybe not knockout but weak at the knees, definitely. The cool thing is that I actually feel confident in what I'm doing when I experiment, and it's all owed with much thanks to a lady with lime green eyes. The thing about MAC is that it is the best of the best when it comes to quality, and all of the employees are more than qualified to assist with beauty mishaps like myself. They know their shit even if they don't look like they do. And so in closing I recommend that you go to a MAC store or counter at a Macy's or Dillard's, walk up to the scary looking lady and tell her that you're tired of being scared and ugly. She'll make sure that all changes. As aforementioned, the price is a little high, but it pays for itself in confidence and, hopefully, compliments. That's all from this former tomboy. Welcome to MAC, have fun!

One sick puppy

Bogart is sick, and I mean really sick, like in a ruin your carpet at six a.m., three p.m., and seven p.m. kind of way. Yeah, he did all that this past Thursday, and it was all in the living room of our small seven hundred square foot apartment. We went through two rolls of paper towels, three or more bottles of soapy water, and all of the sanity that we had - including what was in reserve. We made a vet appointment for him about six days ago when we noticed tape worms in his business, but because he was a new patient they scheduled the appointment for next Saturday; that's a lot of shit in our apartment.

It all began with me almost being late for work because, after walking him for 15 minutes outside, he came in the house and had liquid diarrhea in several places. I woke Chris up, and we spent the next twenty minutes on our hands and knees scrubbing the floor Cinderella style. When it was all finished we had soaked half of our living room with soapy water, and I had ten minutes to eat breakfast, get dressed, make my lunch and leave for work. I made it on time and I'm still not sure how!

Everything went well at work, and then half way home (I work 15 minutes from my apartment) Chris called and said to meet him at the vet's office. We'd never been to that vet so, although I knew that it was on a side street, I didn't know which one. I came home grabbed Chris and Bogart and drove to the vet, luckily without any incidents in the car - Bogart pooped in my car once, not fun. After 15 minutes of filling out paperwork we were called to an exam room. Bogart did much better than he does when he goes to see the vet who did his knee surgery. There is one particular woman at the office that must have done something really terrible to him because he always pees when she gets within two feet of him. This time he relaxed a lot more until he broke the thermometer that they had put in a not-so-pleasant place. They tried to take a sample to test for the worms but all they got were a few drops. The sample was enough to tell them that he has Coxidia though. That is a nasty parasite about as big as an amoeba that resides in the intestines and causes the same effects as worms - GROSS! Hence my poor puppy's dilemma.

The vet, Dr. Keene (who is AWESOME by the way) immediately asked if we had Bogart on a flea preventative. We both said "Yes, and it doesn't work!!" We've had a flea infestation for about two months, and when the damn bugs started biting me a week ago I gave up all hope of ever getting rid of them. You're supposed to put the topical treatments on dogs once a month, we've been doing it biweekly and it only seems to make the fleas multiply. Apparently, Bogart gets worms when he eats the fleas that carry the eggs which is very frequently since he bites at them because he can't really scratch very well. So, that explained the worms but what about that coxidia, amoeba thingy? That, we were told, comes from eating cat poop, something Bogart has ample opportunity to do.

There is a lady who lives two doors down from us, and she is the epitome of a "cat lady." She leaves her kitchen window open for the four or five stray cats that live outside our building. She feeds them, but she doesn't give them shots, flea collars, or a litter box which means that they all go outside. Bogart's favorite snack is a little dried pile left by one of the cats. It's everywhere and there is no getting away from it - so enters coxidia. We told the vet our dilemma, and he said, "If he eats it, he'll get it," great.

Once we had finished discussing Bogart's current illnesses, Dr. Keene did an annual exam and everything looks good, all intestinal creatures aside. When it was all said and done we had an antibiotic for the coxidia that we have to give Bogart for the next week, one really large deworming pill, and some special W-D dog food that was supposed to make his business not soak into our carpet anymore. We also went ahead and got him back on HeartGuard for heartworms since he had only been off of it for about a month and a half. Lastly we bought a six month supply of the God-send, Comfortis.

A few years ago a pill came out that vets could give to dogs with serious flea infestations. The pill lasted 24 hours and started working 30 minutes after ingestion. The pill would kill every flea currently on the dog or that got on the dog for those 24 hours, and it killed them before they could lay eggs. Comfortis does the exact same thing only it lasts for an entire month. Apparently fleas have become immune to ALL topical treatments, and since Comfortis has only been out about a year, it works wonders.

In addition to all of the other medications, Dr. Keene also recommended that we put Bogart on daily Gluclosamine tablets since he had double knee surgery last May. Chris and I are going to do that, but we're going to get the tablets from PetSmart, although for the record the technician gave Bogart a Zoom tablet to try for the Gluclosamine and he loved it. When it was finally all over we left the vet with a $255.83 vet bill...and it was worth every cent.

In the past two days Bogart has regained his energy, his solidity, and his house-breaking abilities. I was away for most of the day working on a group project for class, but Chris said that Bogart pooped three times today, and he barked to go out every single time!! Now that's my Bogie! And so it seems that the rescue dog with two bum legs who it seemed couldn't be trained is in fact house-broken, but he's just had worms so bad that he's had no control. Thanks to Comfortis the fleas are on their way out though which should mean no more worms and no more poop in my house.

My aunt lent us her carpet shampooer (pardon the nasty pun) yesterday, and while I was doing group work Chris was an awesome boyfriend (as always) and cleaned all of our carpet. Tonight was the first time I've come home in three days and not smelled dog stuff when I opened the door; it was wonderful. Bogart is close to 100% again, and we finally have a vet who is ten minutes away, extremely thorough, and more than reasonably priced. I have no complaints. Things are looking up, and we are all a lot happier with a healthy Bogart.

I know that this post has been long and disgusting at times, but please don't ever let anything written here deter you from adopting a dog from a rescue or a shelter. Rescue dogs are a handful because they come with so much baggage that you know about and even more that you don't know about. They do strange things like throw up at your family's house the first week you have them because you leave them with family for a few hours, and they think that you're leaving them for good...again. It takes about a month for the trust to appear but once it does you have the most loyal friend you could imagine. For all the headaches, sleepless nights, floor scrubbing, and vet bills that Bogart has cost us, he is a wonderful dog, and to have him come running to the door with his strange gate and bow legs is something that I wouldn't give up for the world.

He was a damaged, fairly immobile dog when we first got him in August, but after three months of practice and a lot of TLC he has become an energetic puppy on a road to recovery that is getting shorter every day. He walks everywhere now, and yesterday when I got home from picking up the shampooer I saw two brown blurs streak across the dog park next to my building. As I pulled in I thought to myself, "I wish Bogart could run like that." When I went inside I noticed that Chris and Bogart were both gone. I waited for five minutes thinking that they had gone for a walk, but when they didn't come back I went looking for them. And I found them...at the dog park with Chris talking to one of our neighbors, Cecilia, and I found Bogart streaking around the park in a blur chasing Zoe, the neighboring Plott Hound who looks almost exactly like him. He was the dog that I had envied when I drove in. He was the happy puppy that the sad dog "Crash" had become - he was my beloved Bogart - healthy, happy, running Bogart. How I love my new best friend.

Incommunicado

I've been feeling sick since last Tuesday, and when I felt too sick to go to work this morning I decided to go to the student health center on campus. It took three hours, one round of blood work, and a lot of poking and prodding but in the end it was determined that I have the flu. I never found out if I have the pig flu or the people flu, but it doesn't matter, the flu, is the flu, is the miserable damn flu. I have a ten day supply of amoxicillin and doctor's orders to stay home from school and work tomorrow. Supposedly if I drink enough orange juice, eat enough chicken noodle soup, and sleep enough I'll get better this week. I'm just glad to know that my sleepless nights and feverish mornings will be ending soon. Until then, here's to the other couple of thousand people who also have the flue - you're not alone in your sick misery.