Sassy

I met this girl last weekend, and immediately thought that she and Coby would be the perfect match. I am looking into setting up a meeting with the two of them, and hopefully they can be friends!

"I am a 1 year old brindle female boxer mix. I am so sweet and friendly and I get along great with other dogs. My owners dumped me and my sister at the shelter because they didn't seem to know anything about dogs. My sister got adopted and I am still looking for a new home. The world is a bit of a scary place sometimes, and I am not sure about things. But, once you show me that you are a kind and loving person, I will show you the same thing right back. I know my basic commands and I always check in with whoever is walking me. I would love to have a home with another dog to play with. If you are looking for a buddy to take on walks, hiking, or even camping, then I am the dog for you!"

Is Two Better Than One?

I would like to start out by saying that being an adult is awesome. You don't have to report to anyone, explain yourself when you make a decision or come home late, and basically do whatever the fuck you want to do. I went to church with my mom over Mother's Day, and they had a small ceremony for 8th graders that are transitioning into high school. It just reminded me how much that time in my life sucked, and I felt immediate relief knowing I was beyond that stage. With that being said, I want to get another dog. As a kid, I had to beg for years to let my parents get me a dog. I did eventually get one, but it took a lot of work to get there. I love having Coby around because it is nice to have a companion 24/7. When we first got him, he was a handful. He still is, but he has come such a long way behavior-wise since that time. Any other dog we get would have to be a submissive female, or a dog much smaller than him (think pug). Maybe I am fooling myself into thinking that Coby could use a buddy when we are gone all day, but maybe this new dog could teach him a thing or two about attitude. We wouldn't be looking at a new canine friend until June, but I feel like it would be my chance to choose a nice, calm dog since Alex basically chose a dog with mental problems. Don't get me wrong, I love Coby and he is doing so well, it would just be nice to have a dog that we could take to the dog park. I'll keep you posted...

Giant Microbes!

So I visited The Wizard's Chest yesterday in Cherry Creek, and noticed that they have what are called giant microbes. I have seen these before online and wanted to purchase them, but after seeing them in person I just couldn't help myself. Since I work for a company that tests and treats people for STD's, I thought they would be a perfect addition to my work space. I purchased HPV, Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, and Syphilis yesterday, and purchased several more via Amazon today (HIV, the Kissing Disease, Trichomoniasis, Hepatitis, Herpes, Egg Cell and Sperm Cell). I hope to someday work with teenagers and do sex ed/teen pregnancy, so these will be awesome to use. The picture above is of Chlamydia, and you can find more at giantmicrobes.com!!

Coby the Dog

A few months after Alex and I moved into our home, we started thinking about adopting a dog. As a kid, he had a pug, Josie, and I had a lab mix, Zohey. They were both easy, fairly mild dogs. We went to a couple of shelters and visited with a few dogs. All the ones I liked, Alex wasn't crazy about, so we waited.

Alex and his brothers had a German nanny growing up. Her name is Marita and she is very, very fond of Boxers. She runs a Boxer rescue here in Colorado called HoBo Care, and oftentimes brought one or two of her dogs over to Alex's house. The organization's volunteers meet at the shelter where the dogs are kept to walk them every Saturday. Alex and I decided to get involved, and one Saturday we went to walk with the other volunteers. We walked a newcomer, his name was Buster. He was barking (which Boxers don't do very much), pulling, and freaking out in general. We saw a lot of dogs that day, and Alex noticed one in particular that looked a lot like a dog Marita used to bring over to his house. The dog was brown and white, had a spot on his side, as well as cropped ears and a cropped tail. I didn't think much more about it and we went home. Marita called to ask how it was, and Alex mentioned the dog he noticed earlier. She called us again later in the day, saying the dogs name was Dandy, that he was a very good dog and we should consider fostering him. Next thing I know, Alex and I are back at the shelter. We met Michelle there (one of the women who helps runs the organization) and she had Dandy out of his kennel. She gave me his leash and we went for a walk up the street. The first thing I noticed was that he wasn't pulling at all...he was the easiest dog to walk EVER! We found that his ears were cropped very poorly, and there were scars on his face and legs. He was found with a pack of stray dogs in Kansas and was brought to a high-kill shleter. Once his time was up, HoBo Care was called which was how he ended up in Denver. He was soft too, oh so soft. Did you feel how soft he is? Okay, okay, we can foster him!

Over the weeks, we came to find out that Dandy had a rebellious streak. And by rebellious I mean that he was an asshole. He growled at people that were on the other side of the street of us as we walked, and he especially hated other dogs. And I mean hate. Like with a passion. Any other animal that challenged his masculinity (even if they weren't doing anything), he disliked. Miraculously, we found that he got along with Zohey, extremely submissive female dogs, and little tiny dogs. Ok, so he has a type. Don't we all? Needless to say, I did not sign up for a dog with a bad attitude, and I was afraid it wasn't something I could handle. We got a call about a week later saying there was a family interested in adopting him. As his foster parents, we had first pick. Alex wanted to keep him. I didn't. Truthfully, I wanted to keep fostering dogs and thought it was great that someone wanted to give Dandy a forever home. "Let's give another dog a chance," I told him. Although he didn't agree with my idea entirely, we took him the following Saturday to meet the family. They seemed to really like him, and Alex spent some time with the daughter of the prospective family. When we left, a decision hadn't been made, and Alex shared that the daughter had told him some things that didn't say very good things about the family as dog owners. She claimed they had given a previous dog away because he dug up their yard, which is something a lot of dogs do. Oopsies. Alex felt obligated to inform the organization. We didn't want a dog going to a home that was just going to be given up again. It looked like Dandy was going to be with us for awhile longer.

One day on my way home from work, Marita called. I was talking to her about my concerns and why I didn't want to adopt Dandy. I hung up the phone, pulled into the garage, and walked to the back door. As soon as I opened the door, Dandy was there with a huge smile on his face, wiggling his butt in excitement. I realized that there was a big smile on my face too. I took him for a walk, pondering the decision. Then I called Marita and told her that I had a change of heart. Alex wasn't home yet, so I had planned on going to the shelter, filling out the paperwork, writing the check, and coming home with a big bow on him. But before I could leave, he came home. I told him we had to go somewhere but that I couldn't tell him where or what was going on. At first he thought we were getting another dog, but he eventually figured it out. We promptly renamed him Coby, and are learning more about his mannerisms every day. He is definitely a handful, but has been a positive addition to our family. he loves to snuggle, and thankfully has calmed down a bit. He actually enjoys meeting new people now for the most part, although his defensive side still comes out once in awhile. He is SUPER spoiled, and I'd like to get another dog at some point to help socialize him. But for now, he is our "special needs" child. Check him out!:

Planning A Wedding Sucks

Getting married is a big deal. I mean a really BIG deal. For me it wasn't the fact that I was promising myself to another person for the rest of my life, it was the parents, and the planning, and the parents. Yes, I said that twice. I thought planning my wedding was going to be fun, a breeze, easy as pie. Instead, I felt like each idea I came up with was shot down or not good enough. I cried. A lot. Like a lot a lot. People's feelings were getting hurt, tensions were rising, resentment being built. We were always one straw away from breaking the camel's back. It was one of the worst experiences of my life. I think the problem was that everyone has such different expectation for this event, making it impossible to please anyone. And anyone who knows me well knows that I am a people pleaser. As my boss told me, "opinions are like assholes, everyone has one." Well said.

About eight months into our engagment and knee deep in planning, I freaked out. Was I making the right decision? What if I wanted to be single for awhile longer? What if I wanted to pick up and move to Florida? Oh no, oh no, oh no. I decided to go to counseling. I went a few times by myself and once with Alex. I was surprised about how much Alex opened up during our session, as he is normally not so communicative at home. I expressed why I was so stressed and tried to make him understand how difficult it was to plan this wedding without his help. I like to get things done right away whereas he procrastinates, so it made it difficult to be on the same page with our needs and wants. Although he did step up to the plate a bit, I still made the majority of the decisions. During my counseling sessions, I learned a lot about myself and need to please people, especially my mother. I think because of this time of self-reflection and growth, I learned not only that I did in fact want to get married, but also how to avoid letting my life and feelings be controlled by others.

When the day finally arrived, it was like a dream. That morning I watched The Goonies, and by the end of the day I was sleeping in the Brown Palace Hotel a married woman. When all was said and done, everything was beautiful and I think everyone involved was pleased with the result. We went on our honeymoon to Mexico the following week, and I have never felt more relieved. I thought I would get pretty depressed because all that planning was over in one day, but I really didn't feel that way at all. I was too happy that it was all over with to be sad about the past. Planning a wedding sucks, but I am happy with my decision and can't imagine marrying anyone else.

Come and Gone

As I child, I had many fantasies about what my life would be as a "grown up". I would pretend that my baby dolls were real, and that I had rescued them from orphanages. I was married to Lance Bass from N'Sync (before we all found out he was really gay) and we were madly in love.

When I was in kindergarten, we had to draw pictures of what we wanted to be when we grew up. While other children drew pictures of firefighters, veterinarians, and doctors, I drew a picture of myself holding a sponge and said I wanted to clean houses. I was really dreaming big. Although it is comical now, it really attests to what I thought I could make of my life. There is a little bit of truth to it though, because how many of us really fulfill the professions we dreamed of as children? Many women become stay at home mothers who end up changing diapers, cooking dinner, and scrubbing the toilet. I never thought I would be talking to hundreds of people a day about sex, but here I am! In hindsight, I was just being realistic. I always felt like I was ahead of my peers with how I looked and felt about these things. I believe I was a pretty serious child, always doing well in school and wanting to please. That never changed.

I met my husband my sophomore year of high school, his junior year. I noticed him working in the school store and in my photography class. I asked a mutual friend to introduce us, because I was pretty sure he didn't even know I exsisted. Once we started spending time together, we became extremely infatuated with one another. I don't want to say we fell in love, because I don't think you can really learn to love someone until you've been with them long enough to learn their qualities as well as their faults. The other relationships I had established up until that point fell to the wayside as I devoted 110% of my attention to Alex. This proved to be, well, not so good. When Alex graduated and was heading off to college, I still had another year to go. Needless to say, my senior year I was miserable. I kept to myself for the most part, just trying to get through each day as quickly as possible. The following year I followed him to Indiana where he was attending school at Notre Dame and enrolled in Saint Mary's College (SMC and college in general is a whole new can of worms I will discuss in another blog). It was very difficult to get out of old habits, and not surprisingly, I fell into the same rut my senior year of college. I was without Alex, and therefore, didn't know what to do myself. It's as if my ability to have fun and socialize was completely taken away. Again, not good, but in my defense, Indiana sucks. In December 2010 when I was home for Christmas break, Alex propsed to me on the top of Lookout Mountain. FRIGGIN' FINALLY!! What I had always wanted finally came true.

Once I graduated from SMC, Alex and I lived temporarily at my mother's house before we moved into our own home. It was one of the most miserable summers of my life. Once you leave home, you can never go back and expect things to be kosher. In August 2011, we moved into the Highlands neighborhood which was once considered dangerous but now is the new, hip place to be. Our wedding was on April 14, 2012. It's hard to imagine being a little girl all those years ago, dreaming about homeless babies and N'Sync, and being where I am today. Married, graduated, full-time job, a grown up.