powder & the prez

plane tickets--check.

secret service clearance--check.

my new outfit--wearing it, check.

houston....we landed.

never in a million years did i expect this to happen.

when i started coming up with ideas for things to do this year....i never saw this one coming. then again, a lot can happen in a month.

to understand the story, i'm going to have to take you back to last march. for those of you that know me well, you probably know how much i enjoy makeup.

after having a bad day at work, many people eat or workout to take away their frustration....

i buy lipstick.

so this hobby of playing with makeup that i've had for years, finally turned into a fun "saturday job". i started working a few saturdays a month at a cosmetics boutique here in birmingham (amy head studio...come check it out!).

i've loved it. i've done makeup for formals, rehearsal dinners, and weddings.

i must say, doing a bride's makeup always makes me a little nervous. i didn't think anything could top it...until now.

fast forward to the first of january when i was hanging out with my roommate, caroline, and her boyfriend, stephen. something was brought up about me doing new things this year and stephen mentioned that i should tag along with him when he and one of his friends film the next part of their documentary. i would be in charge of the makeup.

wow. yes, please.

did i mention they're filming george bush sr?

i really didn't think it would actually happen.

but, a few days later i got a text message from caroline saying, "another interview has been granted and stephen wants you to come to houston to do bush's makeup!"

my response: "i'll be at the airport in 5 minutes".

two weeks later, stephen and i flew to houston. once we landed, we headed to dinner to meet up with stephen's friend (jeff), jeff's wife (cindy), the camera crew (kris & randy) and john and susy young.

yes, i just said john young...as in the astronaut.

for those of you that are space buffs, you'll be impressed. for everyone else, wikipedia him.

stephen and jeff are good friends with the young family; john was in their first documentary. it was pretty surreal to have them join us for dinner at one of their favorite spots near nasa (so appropriate, huh?)

i sat on the opposite end of the table as the youngs, so i didn't get to visit with them much. my only claim to fame is that john and i both ordered the same dish for dinner...baked lasagna.

i did get to visit with kris and jeff and i loved hearing the hollywood scoop (they work on the set of a popular sitcom.)

after dinner, stephen drove me and kris by nasa (my 1st time to see it) and then we headed back to the hotel.

my alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. the next day (way to early if you ask me); we had a jam packed day ahead of us.

i don't get nervous often. today was different.

on the way to bush's office, i managed to inhale about 20 wintergreen breathmints. (do you realize how close you have to be to someone's face when you put on their makeup? ) by breathmint 21, i think my eyes started watering...but who cares, nothing could be worse than an ex-president telling you, you've got bad breath.

once we got to bush's office, we were introduced to several of his staff (everyone was very friendly and nice) and we began setting up for the interview.

the plaque on the back of the chair reads:

"the president january 20, 1989"

as we were discussing makeup, they thought it would be best that since i was applying his powder, that i should also smooth down his hair as well.

all of a sudden it dawned on me, "wait....alison, what did you just volunteer for? you know nothing about doing someone's hair."

glancing at the bag full of makeup and hairspray, i noticed we didn't even have a brush or comb.

helplessly i looked at stephen and remembered that my comb was in the rental car outside. jackpot.

a little after 11 a.m., president bush greeted us and we all shook his hand. (he's a tall guy!) after he sat down in his chair, i applied powder on his face. i was completely starstruck... probably not the best combination when applying makeup to someone.

i then asked him,"mr. president, do you mind if i smooth out your hair?"

never in my wildest dreams did i think those words would come out of my mouth.

he didn't mind, so i made sure he didn't have any fly aways with my comb.

several people have asked me what i did with the comb. hey, i'm from texas... i had to tease my hair the next day.

the interview lasted for about an hour and a half. certainly the best history lesson i've ever had. he is such a nice and gracious man.

if i say so myself, he looked great.

as far as what was said in the interview, you'll just have wait and see the end result.

stephen and i headed back to the airport where we grabbed pappasittos (yum!) before taking off and heading back to b'ham.

after all was said and done, i took away so much from this trip...including george bush's cold. then again, who can complain about that?

i'm still up in the air on what i'm going to do for next month, but it should be a good time...whatever it is.

love,

alison

p.s. a huge thank you to stephen for letting me tag along with you. i'll take care of boudin and kinser (his dogs) anytime. and caroline, we missed you on the trip; we definitely had a few good laughs telling funny stories about you.