Saturday, January 31, 2009

Mission Accomplished

Hair Crisis Averted!!

I was able to get in and out of the salon in only 3 hours! Which is great, considering I was thinking 4-5 hours.

The "color stripping" process took about the first hour. He applied some kind of chemical to remove the color, and then after rinsing it out the first time, applied it a second time. It's not that he screwed up, but apparently I had enough color in my hair that the first attempt didn't remove it all. So his second attempt was to get the remaining color out. At that point, my hair pretty much looked like a tiger. Nice copper/orange and some brownish/black areas. It actually looked pretty cool, but I was pretty sure that wouldn't go over well at the office.

So he had to dye my hair with a shade that matched my original hair color. Then the last 1 hr 45 min to 2 hours was coloring and letting it set in my hair. Then the rest of the time was spent shapooing, rinsing, and blow drying my hair. And let me just say, blow drying at the salon takes about 30 minutes, because they do it in sections. If he'd just let me do it (and he had to blow dry it 3 separate times), I would have been out of there in 2 hours!
The final product was a medium/dark brown that is actually a bit darker than my natural hair color. However, over the next 5-6 weeks, the color will begin to fade, causing my hair to lighten, and then it will be more like my real color. And it's close enough in color that when my roots start to go in again, it shouldn't be as obvious.
So I've learned my lesson. Save my money, and see the professionals!!

Friday, January 30, 2009

Hair Trauma Drama

So, for those of you who don’t know me, I like to dye my hair. I’ve gone blonde, strawberry blonde, brown, dark brown, and most recently, black.

Where I “started” at in college… (I think this is my real hair color!)

When you use blonde on brown hair, you get a weird mix of blonde and red, depending on the light you’re standing under. In this one, it’s yellowish-orange.

Dark Brown – either mid to late ’07

And finally black – back around Thanksgiving ‘08

Because I do it myself at home, with kits, I always have the potential of it not working out. I’ve always had pretty good luck, actually, with having it turn out to a normal hair color (at least on someone on this planet!) And this last time, the black looked o.k. for a while, but I think I’m over it. Plus, my roots have started showing, and they were my natural medium brown. Needless to say, brown and black are VERY different, especially when they’re right next to each other.

A few weeks ago, I decided since my roots were showing, that I’d dye my hair brown again to bring it back to its “original state”. However, since my roots and actual hair were technically 2 different colors when I used the overall color, and you CAN’T lighten black, the hair dye DYED them 2 different shades. So now I look like a skunk. Not very acceptable for a professional workspace. What’s a girl to do?

Well, I had to call my hairdresser and a local salon to see what I could do, since obviously I shouldn’t be trusted to fix this on my own. The common suggestion soon became “color correction”, which basically involves stripping my hair of the dye color until I get back to my “real” hair color. It is a 2-4 hour process, at minimum, so I should expect to be there for a while. I go into the salon at 1 pm tomorrow, and I’m supposed to be paired with a Hair Coloring “Expert”. I enjoy going and getting my hair done, usually, so let’s hope that 5 hours of sitting around and having my hair pulled or my scalp burning won’t ruin this experience for me!

And believe me, NO MORE HOME DYE JOBS! And especially not black! I’m actually thinking of saving up and going back to blonde highlights once in a while. Which will be tasteful (I did this in high school, and I liked it) and will be done by professionals! But that will be down the road, once my hair has “settled down”. (And depending on if I still like hair coloring after tomorrow!)

Of course, there is always a possibility that he could “strip” my hair, and it could leave certain pigments behind. You know, like purple, green, red, blue. Any color really. So it could be a trial and error process to see how long it takes to get back to my real hair. Or “how many strips does it take to get to the center of Karen’s hair issue?”

We’ll see if I still have a job at a fancy 5 Diamond/5 Stars resort, come Monday morning, if they can’t fix it and I look like her!!!

No Coffee??!?!!!?

My morning didn’t get off to a good start. I’m not completely addicted to coffee, and I can go a few days with out it. But on the mornings when I absolutely need it…

You better get out of my way.

I like to go in early, around 7 am, because it’s more quiet so I have time to get some uninterrupted work in. I also get to leave at 4, so I feel like I have more of an afternoon. There are 2 ways to access our break room – one is the entrance to our Sales department, which is right off of the elevator. And the other is a connecting “hidden” hallway between HR and Sales. Both were locked this morning. I just knew it wouldn’t end well.

Security eventually came and unlocked the door, but I wanted coffee at 7, not at 8, and that hour definitely made a difference. Thank goodness no one else was here before 8.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Travel

I want to travel.

Of course, without the money, that becomes nearly impossible. But I have been itching to leave the country and just travel for weeks or months at a time. In order to do so, I probably wouldn’t be able to do so with a dog, or a job back home, so there are responsibilities that can also weigh me down. Language, on the other hand, could be considered an obstacle that could be more “easily” mastered than responsibilities or money. That just leaves getting a job that allows travel. And I’d have to give up Bailey, or give him to a family member for a few years. Yeah. Right.

I am probably one of the rare people who enjoys travel. I enjoy plane rides, and that feeling I get when I walk off the plane into the airport. What should I do first? What’s my hotel room going to look like? What cool features will the hotel have? What is specific to the city that I MUST go see? What experiences will I have to remember and talk about for the rest of my life?

I went to New Orleans for the first time back in October of 2007 to visit my friend Steve. It was one of the best trips of my life. I was only there for about 1 ½ days, but I got out to Bourbon Street twice, and down to the beach in Biloxi, Mississippi. The places I got to visit, the things I got to taste, the sights…just makes me ache that I can’t take trips like that more often.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to move anywhere anytime soon – what I “crave” is travel. Being in different places and experiencing it, and then coming home and reflecting on everything… I can only wish (at this point) for that feeling about everything I do each day.
Maybe someday…

Monday, January 26, 2009

Happy Birthday!


I know, I know…another Bailey post. But I have a good reason! Happy Birthday to Bailey! He turns 1 year old today! I got him back on March 24, 2008, and I have enjoyed him ever since!

(<-- This is NOT him, by the way! I couldn’t get him to sit still long enough with a hat on his head if I wanted to!)


I wanted to take him to the dog park this afternoon so he could run endlessly and just have a blast. He loves for me to throw his toy, he gets all excited (or at least pretends to), and then after I’ve thrown it, he will run halfway in that direction and stop and sniff the grass he’s standing on. Then I have to walk all the way to the toy to pick it up, so it’s not forgotten. I don’t even know why I bring toys…he ends up eating rocks and rolling around in the dirt anyway.

However, it’s kind of hard to drive to the dog park when it looks like this when you get home from work:
So we stayed home and he enjoyed his new toy...
which he destroyed LITERALLY 5 minutes later. (The duck, not the brush)

It’s fun to look back and see where he was and how huge he is now! So for a moment of “recollection”, here’s a fun comparison:

Bailey Then (@ 2 months):
Bailey Now (@ 1 year):




So Happy Birthday, my little man!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Resolutions? Or Commitments?

I don’t usually make formal resolutions, but there are a few things I would like to take care of this year.

Blog more: I know that I’ve already been blogging pretty much everyday for the past week or 2. But, before I started back up, the last post was I made was in November. I enjoy how it’s a little therapeutic and it’s almost a bit creative. I love thinking about what I’ll post about/how I’ll phrase it/what pictures I’ll pair with it. I also made my current page header, and I really enjoyed collecting those pieces and putting them all together. (On a side note, if you’d like me to make you a header for your page, I would love to make one for you! It may not be as perfect as the ones you pay for, but I make them with love!). Plus, I like to keep my family posted (pardon the pun) on what’s going on!

Eat better: To be perfectly honest, I can’t guarantee to myself that I will start to cook better, but I can control portion sizes. And I don’t need seconds. It’s just the food…it’s just so good once it hits the lips!






Get Bailey out more: The poor puppy doesn’t usually get out much during the week because I work all day and by the time I get home, it’s either dark or almost dark out, and I’m just so tired. So I want to walk him when I can, and make it out to the dog park more often.

Control: I want to work on making sure I don’t get upset over things beyond my control. I think this expression is meant as a joke in an Office episode a few seasons ago, but it makes sense to me – “I can’t control what other people do. I can only control how I react to it”. I just find myself stressed out a lot, and it’s pretty draining. I’m sure I’m not the only one who gets stressed around here!


So all in all, it's not so much resolutions, as things that can constantly be worked on.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Showers

I love taking showers. Not just for the obvious cleansing reasons of course, but because everytime I get out of my shower, I see this:







I know Weims are a "velcro" breed, but he can't wait until I get out of the shower! (And yes, I kept my camera in a water-safe place before I took these!)




Thursday, January 22, 2009

Nostalgia

So, for lunch a few days ago, I cracked open a package of Ramen I’d been storing. It was like a flash back to my freshman and sophomore year when, surprisingly, I lost 15 pounds because I didn’t have a cafeteria in my dorm, and I didn’t feel like walking across campus. Instead, I lived on microwaveable Ramen and Easy Mac (thanks, Mom!). Living only on about 400 calories for lunch and dinner really helps you lose weight.

It’s weird, but the lunch brought back all sorts of flashbacks from college, and I realized – I miss it! I miss the whole experience! I starting thinking about things like the fact that I didn’t have a boyfriend the first year or so either, so I wasn’t going out as much on the weekends. As a matter of fact, I was one of “those people” who lived so close to home, I’d just pack up my stuff, head to mom and dad’s for the weekend, and go back Sunday afternoon. I loved the time I spent with them, but I also feel I missed out on a lot of experiences you get your Freshman year. And I missed out on making friends and those relationships that “last a lifetime”.

Anyway, just something to think about. I definitely would not go back and do high school over again, but I would LOVE to go back to college as an undergrad!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Property Laws

I definately feel I should blog more about myself...work, boyfriend, fun activities. So I definately intend to start sharing all that. But, Bailey is a pretty big part of my life, so that's pretty much what a Day in "My Life" might be like. Watching him do silly things. :) So not to add another blog about Weims (or Bailey), but I wanted to share this!


Stay posted for more "non-dog friendly" posts. :-)

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

All is Well!


I just got back from the vet, and have the best news! The Bailey Monster doesn't need surgery!!!

I noticed on Sunday that his wound was starting to scab over, and the area around it wasn't hard to the touch anymore. So I called the vet's office and asked if I could meet with the Vet who was going to do the surgery before Bailey went under. I didn't want him to have surgery if he ultimately was healing and didn't really need it.

So this morning, I met with the vet who suggested the surgery when I took him in on Friday. This vet took a look at him today and said, "You know what? I'm going to say, we don't need to do this. He's almost fully healed and he doesn't really need it."

WOO HOOO!!!!! My baby is gonna be fine! :-D

Here's a parting shot of him enjoying peanut butter! (I promise that's what it is; I put it on there!)




Monday, January 19, 2009

What Are The Odds?

So I decide to take Bailey to a smaller, less frequented dog park, about a block from my apartment this weekend. This one is a significantly smaller fenced in park, that doesn’t have any bells or whistles, and because of that, it’s not usually very busy. But Bailey can run “free” without me having to worry about him running away, and at 103 pounds, that’s a plus.

We went on Saturday, roughly around lunchtime. So I’m there for only 5-10 minutes, and off in the distance, I see a couple walking towards the park. They just “happened” to have a Blue Weimaraner with them!! What are the odds of choosing to go to the park when I did, and run into another Weimaraner, and on top of that, one with a very rare color!!! (This pic I found online shows how dark the coat is. The regular coat is on the left, and the Blue is on the right. It has more of a “blue” hue if you happen to see one in person). If you compare it to a pic of Bailey I’ve posted, Weims are usually a brownish or silverish gray.

I left that day thinking, “How cool was that? I NEVER see Weims at the dog park!”. It was such a nice weekend actually, so I thought I’d take Bailey back around the same time on Sunday. As I’m walking up, I see a few dogs running around, and I’m pleased that Bailey will again have someone to play with. And all of a sudden, there’s another Weim! And it was a different one than the one I saw Saturday! Now, what are the odds of that?! I hardly ever see Weims, and to see 2 different ones in 1 weekend??!!!? Pretty cool, and definitely a high point of my weekend.

Other than that, I spent Friday night playing hours worth of Guitar Hero World Tour on Justin’s Wii. I know, I can see everyone grasping their hands to their chests with their jaws dropped. Me? Playing Guitar Hero?? It’s actually more fun than I thought! I’m only on the Easy level, and I play the Bass part, so I’m no expert yet. Justin plays the lead guitar usually, and I have to say he’s definitely better than me. But then again, he has been playing longer than I have. We ended up playing some more on Sunday as well. We’ve even started a band! It’s pretty freakin’ addicting, I’ll have to admit.


And then Sunday was spent watching the playoffs, and enjoying homemade chili, in my very own Crock Pot! We got big loaves of bread from the grocery store, cut out a chunk from the middle, and then went to town enjoying our Chili Bread Bowls! I’ll be eating leftover chili for a week! Yummy!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

The Accident Prone Puppy

I know I have only recently posted in November, and unfortunately, it's about Bailey again.

Last week, I came home and his abdomen was swollen, and hard to the touch, especially right around his hernia repair scar. I called the vet, and left a voicemail with them that I wanted to make an appointment. The next morning, his stomach was swollen a little worse, but I knew that he could make it until I took him to the vet. Or I guess I hoped he would. Whatever was "growing" on/in him must have popped and he was squirting blood everywhere.

So I got special permission from my boss, who is a dog person, to take extra time out of my work day to make an emergency run to the vet and drop him off. That was a pretty stressful 2 hours. They called me around 10 and let me know that, fortunately, it didn’t seem to be associated with his hernia repair but that it was right next to it.

Apparently, it was a doggie “sports hernia”, or pretty much just a really bad bruise. The vet thinks that Bailey either fell onto something, or a stick poked his stomach or maybe just stretched his ab muscles so tight that it tore. It must have happened sometime in the last 2 weeks, but as bruises on humans go, you can’t really tell, because it takes a few days for the bruise to appear.

So I don’t know how it happened, or when, but the blood finally pooled in his stomach, causing it to swell. That’s what I saw last week that concerned me. And the vet thinks that it popped simply because he’s such a big dog, and the pocket or tear (whatever it was) was completely filled with blood. So he had an internal “tear” that started the bleeding, and now he’s got a small hole on the outside that is what let the blood out.

The vet recommended at that time to start him on antibiotics and anti-inflammatories, to try and heal him medically, to avoid surgery. So I took him back in on Friday for a check-up 1 week later, and the vet said he didn’t like what he saw. The medicine definitely helped the swelling go down, but the wound wasn’t healing. There was dead tissue inside that was preventing (restricting) the veins from getting what he needed to heal the hole to where it needed to go. So they want to go in there, cut out the dead tissue, sew together healthy tissue to healthy tissue, and that should make it much easier to heal.


He’s not in any visible pain, and he’s still the rambunctious ball of “spaz” he’s always been. It’s just frustrating that he is hurt, again, and that now he has to have surgery. There is also a possibility that he has something stuck in there that is causing the dead tissue to form around it, like a piece of stick (if that’s how he got the bruise – by something poking him), in that case – I DEFINITELY want to get it out.


So that’s where we stand. 20 minutes later into typing this blog. :) Hopefully it didn’t take you that long to read it. I’m taking him in on Tuesday morning at 7 am, the procedure should take 20-30 minutes tops, and then I’ll be able to take him home that night. With a wonderful Elizabethan collar to boot. :)

Love you!