Why I won't meet a man at dog beach.

This weekend was going to be a great weekend. One of my best friends was coming to visit and we had every second of the weekend planned out.

Saturday morning we woke up and decided to go get coffee and take the dogs to dog beach. I was excited to go as my dogs have never been to the ocean and I couldn't wait to see their reactions. We got there and Max ran right to the water. He was running, playing and having a great time. Mia was a bit more cautious and stayed close by my side. Here are some pics of the happy moments before "IT' happened:

About 15 minutes into our beach outing a large furry dog ran up to Krystle and I. I didn't think much of it until I felt it..the small itch inside my nose. Not just any itch, the itch that signals the impending doom I am about to endure. The itch was followed by an innocent sneeze. At this point I was holding on to hope it was just a slight irritation and the sneeze would resolve whatever was irritating my sinuses. No such luck. The first sneeze was the beginning of the end. I began sneezing, and sneezing, and SNEEZING. The sneezing was soon accompanied by nasal drainage shooting from my nose as well as tears streaming from my itchy, watery eyes. Now, I know in movies dog beach is a common scene to "accidentally" run into your soulmate. As I stood there sneezing, dribbling mucous and tears all over the sand, I thought, "oh yeah, THIS is attractive". Thankfully, I had benedryl in my purse leftover from the last allergy attack I had. I popped two immediately and was able to prevent the itchy hives that normally appear if I don't take a heavy dose of antihistamine within the first 2 minutes of the attack. Krystle and I headed back to my car as quickly as we could. It was quite a scene I'm sure. I had no Kleenex on me so I was forced to use the sleeves of my jacket to wipe the constant drainage coming from my face. All I kept thinking was "please, oh please don't let my face/eye swell up." The last attack I had was followed by my eye swelling so much it was almost completely closed for a week.

This allergy attack happened Saturday morning. My work Christmas party was Saturday night.

We got to the car and Krystle was kind enough to run into the drug store and get me Zyrtec D.  3 benedryl, 1 zyrtec d, and $20 later I took a shower and laid on the couch with an ice pack on my eye- in my head I kept repeating the mantra "please don't swell, please don't swell"

The benedryl knocked me out and I awoke about an hour later. I looked in the mirror and my worst nightmare was confirmed.

My face was swollen. My eye was so puffy I could barely open it, and I had a work Christmas party where I was to meet the new CEO of my company in 6 hours. Krystle and I decided it would be best to get some fake eyelashes so that my eye could appear more "open".  Krystle, the good friend that she is kept reassuring me, "ohhh it looks like it's getting better!" the whole time we were out and about. The look of horror I received from the cashier at Starbucks told me the true story though. I looked like Quasimodo.

Luckily, Krystle was able to make me up and apply the eyelashes so that I appeared semi-normal. I think most of the credit goes to the dark venue where the party was hosted (Thank God) as well as the open bar that prevented most from realizing my puffy face wasn't caused by their inebriation.

You can still see that my right eye appears "lazy" despite our best attempts to make it appear normal.

 Dog beach is often romanticized as a great place to meet someone. However, when you are allergic to dogs, it is the last place you want to go looking for love.

Things I have learned:
1) I will never again stop taking allergy meds b/c I 'feel ok' I would rather be full of antihistamine then have this ever happen again.
2) Friends lie. Check your appearance in a mirror when someone exclaims "you look good!" when you can barely open your eye.
3) Dog beach is not a place where I will be finding dates
4) Never, NEVER leave home without benedryl, kleenex, and Zyrtec D.. you never know when you may need it.