This Night is Sparkling

HELLO.

I suppose I am destined to fail at keeping any kind of blog schedule. Even this post, which I've known I wanted to write since December, is now 2 weeks late. I mostly blame the fact that I am so addicted to my phone that I rarely turn on my laptop anymore. It's been so long that I actually fear I have too much to talk about, so I'll just try to give you the highlights.

Firstly, for those of you who have taken even the slightest interest in my Invisalign journey, I am not done yet! Surprise! We are approaching the 2 year mark of me wearing different plastic aligners each week, and the end is not in sight!

I recently had an appointment where everyone, including me, noticed once again the aligners weren't fitting quite right. We decided we'll let it go until September, at which point I will likely have to get scanned by robots for a 3rd time! As the weeks go on the trays fit less and less so I have already accepted my fate. I do believe someday I will actually be done; I do wonder if it's too optimistic to assume it'll be before 2019!

I just started wearing trays 37 out of 50, not including the first 30 or so from 2016. It's been a long process but honestly, I've finally gotten to the point where I'm not embarrassed to smile! It kind of snuck up on me; I thought there would be a big moment where I thought now is the time! Instead, I've just scrolled through a bunch of photos for this very post and realized I am smiling in every single one! #progress. It's also hard not to smile when you're holding a precious tiny dog with a beard!

At this point my biggest problem is how often I now have to wear tiny rubber bands. They snap off if I yawn or get too into singing in my car, and they always seem to be cutting my tongue somehow?? I also have the weirdest lisp sometimes and I'm not sure why. I'm hoping it's just the braces but I fear it's the new position of my teeth making me unable to speak words!! *Sorry to everyone ALWAYS*

I didn't realize I'd have so much to say about my braces until I wrote that. I'm actually here to tell you about one of the best nights of my life: Saturday July 28, the night we saw TAYLOR SWIFT.

Now I'll admit, it almost felt like watching her concert on DVD, because I mostly stared at the large screen behind the stage. Taylor herself was this tiny dot running around, visible mostly due to her sequin covered outfits, but I still had the BEST NIGHT.

Aside from the stress of planning our little trip, it was 100% SO FUN. I sound like a huge dork talking about this, but you have to understand I bought these tickets in December and have been building up to this moment ever since.

We all got dressed up in primary colors and did our hair and makeup (which the humidity made sure to destroy by the end of the day) and departed from Connecticut by 12:30. I, of course, posted photos to all of my social media accounts; we got noticed by Taylor's team on Twitter which we couldn't stop talking about for the entirety of our drive.

Once we arrived I was very excited to discover literally everyone just decided to tailgate before the show. Every car in the lot was playing a different Taylor Swift song, and everyone was complimenting each other's costumes and outfits. Already I couldn't stop talking about how everyone was so nice.

We had a few drinks in the parking lot, and suffered through using the stadium-supplied porta-potties, before finally heading towards the stadium. As a side note, porta-potties are hell on earth, and they should be banned from the universe. We were fortunate enough to hop in prior to the show, but I still may be haunted by the memories forever.

SO we got into the stadium pretty easily; there were a few moments of "are we headed in the right direction? Maybe??" but at that point I didn't have a care in the world. It's pretty unlike me to not have a care in the world, so that alone made the day nearly perfect, and the show hadn't even started yet.

The people scanning our tickets were so nice, and then the guy handing out bracelets (which lit up during the show, and continued lighting up in my closet for days) was so nice, and then the ladies selling giant Strawberritas were SO NICE. I vowed in 2015 to never drink a Strawberrita again if I could help it, but it's all they HAD. In that moment, I truly wished I liked beer, #RIPme.

After sipping on that drink for a few I realized I was most certainly tipsy enough to purchase a t-shirt for $40, another thing I had vowed not to do. In the moment it was hard to resist, and I actually have no regrets. It is now one of the comfiest t-shirts I own, and it is a nice reminder of the night to go along with my 16 Instragram videos.

The rest is just a blur of screaming about love and cats and how drunk we felt while getting emotional over songs we knew playing over the speakers with my sisters, and of course taking millions of selfies.

Charli XCX was literal perfection; she sang I Love It and also BOYS. There is a video floating around somewhere of Sarah and I dancing to that one with the most sincere smiles. #embarrassing. Then Camila Cabello killed it of course; my favorite song was the slow one - ARE WE SURPRISED?

And then what can I even say? Taylor was perfect. Alas she did not sing Enchanted, but we did get a mash up of New Year's Day and Long Live, so I'm happy. I screamed more than I ever have in my entire life; I literally lost my voice for a few days. It was mostly when she walked out on stage for the first time, and then later I was just scream-singing along with every single song. Hearing Delicate live was a spiritual experience, and I even got excited for Bad Blood (who am I??).

That tiny human-shaped figure on the bottom right is Taylor

The night ended far too soon; I would've been happy to hear her perform every single song she's ever done, but of course, inevitably 11pm came and the lights came back on. We hung out in the parking lot for another hour while traffic cleared up, and then headed home like nothing happened. The hardest part of the entire day was staying awake for that drive home. Susie and I tried our best to keep chatting, but I am an old lady who goes to bed by 10, and it was 2am. 

Fortunately we did eventually make it back home, and life just kind of went back to normal. The girl in the Dunkin Donuts drive thru laughed at me when my voice cracked as I said hi, and I wore my new t-shirt like 3 times, and now here we are! I am snuggled up with my Patches looking forward to Friday. I would 100% go again if I got the chance, and maybe even pay the extra for closer seats. I could honestly talk about that night forever, but since it is now 10:04, I think it's time to go to bed!

Someday I will update again, hopefully soon! BYE.

Recommended listening: Graffiti - CHVRCHES but also Sweeter Than Fiction by Taylor Swift (bc 1. how can I not, 2. I had never heard that song before this past Tuesday and I am OBSESSED)

Halfway There...Again

Hey guys.

I haven't felt inspired enough to write anything on here since January, though I guess plenty has happened since then that I could talk about.

I had a moment as I finished my coffee where I thought, it's now or never! Not that that's exactly true, maybe more like it's now or another 6 months from now! But a lot can change in that amount of time so let's just do this!

As of a couple days ago, I am on trays #25 out of 50, so I'm halfway done with my braces journey (again). I suppose I could do some math and add in the 20-something trays I completed before everything went wrong, but I'm terrible at math so we'll just say this is the new halfway point.

Things are progressing quite nicely, I'd say. I've been a little concerned that my braces sometimes don't fit quite right, but I was told not to worry (as if!) and that we'll just start over again if anything goes wrong...though hopefully it doesn't.

My back teeth are starting to get smushed together again which has been cool. I forgot they wouldn't always be spaced apart. It's crazy to think someday soon I'll just be done with this forever and will just have a normal smile. Even now it's already not too bad. I mean, I still hate it, but compared to 2 years ago it's lookin' pretty good! I do not have a progress pic for you because I am lazy, but trust me, it's getting there!!

Life outside of braces has been fairly decent. Adam is getting me into plants, even though I find trying to keep them alive and happy to be fairly stressful. I've had to emergency FaceTime him on more than one occasion so he could investigate what might be wrong with one of my many succulents.

So far I've only killed one cactus, and I'm told it was likely already on its way out when I picked it up at Home Depot.

I also made a new succulent, which actually isn't as hard as it sounds. A single leaf fell off the one I've had the longest, and I gave it a spot in the soil along with some water. What started as a fallen leaf has now turned into THIS:

I'm honestly so thrilled. And also afraid that I'll kill it...but so far so good!

I wish I had written here sooner because some memories are just so far off now that I don't have enough to say about them anymore! I do have some fun adventures coming up this summer so I'll try my best. I'm sure I'll be here to share our Taylor Swift concert experience (!!!) in July, and I'll try to check in a bit more regularly. I'm aware that I say this in almost all of my posts but I mean it this time ;)

I hope the first half of 2018 has been great for you guys. At this point I just can't wait for it to actually start feeling like summer so I can put my sweaters away once and for all.

I also hope I actually keep my promise and update this soon. I guess we'll see!!!

Recommended Listening: Jericho - Marc Scibilia

One in a Million

GUYS.

Last time we saw each other (not including my lame Year in Review) I was still daydreaming about the day when I could eat pretzels again without being scared of disturbing the holes in my gums. Fortunately after just a few weeks I found myself eating whatever I wanted again, and it was glorious.

I actually remember the first time I felt normal, as I ate Rosemary & Olive Oil chips on my lunch break (which btw, you gotta try those they are AMAZING). As I crunched away in the otherwise silent office, I thought to myself about how I had finally arrived - as in I am now living a life that will (most likely) never require a tooth removal again! I am truly living the dream.

So it had probably been 10-12 days since I had gotten my teeth pulled when I was supposed to start wearing the trays again. I showed up and they once again started gluing various bits of plastic to my bottom teeth. And again they used some foul tasting glue substance which I definitely ate by accident. Then finally they snapped my new bottom trays on!

I worried that I would have to get used to it all over again, but it actually felt pretty normal which I saw as a good sign. So far, so good! Like, here I am, finally on my way to that perfect smile!

Then just for fun, or something, they decided to try on the top trays before even attaching the plastic things to those teeth. I couldn't see what was happening, but I had a pretty good indication that it was not going well, seeing as she was trying to shove the plastic aligner down on my teeth as hard as she could without any success.

They called the orthodontist over and he tried too, which was unfortunate; it does NOT feel good to have someone try to force one of these things on your teeth. When he finally stopped he just looked down at me and said,

"This has literally never happened before. This is like one in a million."

Oh. Cool. I feel so lucky.

In all honesty I don't really know what happened; the scan could've been weird, or the manufacturer might've had an error on their end - or some freak with the same name as me and only slightly different teeth got their trays sent to me by mistake!

Unfortunately, this meant they had to scan my teeth yet again and send them off to get new trays that would actually fit. I then had to wait...for like a month and a half. UGH.

My next appointment kept getting pushed since the shipment took ages to arrive, and finally mid December I went in to start Invisalign yet again! I took home trays 1-10 of 50, and time has actually been flying by!

I am on tray 9 as I write this, and next week I have another appointment to make sure this is working like it's supposed to (and to pick up more trays). It actually felt silly saying I'd see them in February as I walked out before Christmas, but we're already almost there!

I figure I still look pretty much the same, though my bottom teeth are nearly perfect now. Looking at my photo from the day I first started in 2016 is crazy to me! I can't believe they ever looked that bad!

I'm not sure when I will start feeling like I'm almost done; it's hard to pick out a day when I won't feel embarrassed about smiling in photos. I don't necessarily think it will take until the very end of this whole process, but I do still have a ways to go.

Outside of my teeth life has been pretty decent. As of today I started exercising again, though I technically canceled my workout by immediately ordering a pizza and eating 3 slices. I still really want abs. Or to be able to do more than 3 push ups. Or both.

If I could get back into blogging more regularly that would be good too. I'm still feeling a little rusty as I write this out. My phone is filled with notes of things I need to write about, and honestly I'm actually excited about some of my upcoming ideas~

To wrap up I'll say this - thanks for reading, and thanks for bearing with me through my more nonsense-y posts. Someday soon this will become less of a confusing mess and more of what it was meant to be...even if that is yet to be determined.

GOODBYEEE.


Recommended Listening: Staring Contest - Mates of State

PS If you haven't already please watch The Room. Half the gifs in this are from that movie and if you haven't seen it yet you are MISSING OUT.

Year in Review: 2017

Hey everybodyyyyy.

So maybe you've noticed (or more likely, you have not) that I haven't posted anything here since October. Hahaha, oops.

I actually wrote out a full post in November, and then never got around to editing it, and now it kind of makes no sense to post as is. There were a lot of what if's since I wrote it just a few days before I started on my braces again. So someday soon I will grab some pieces of that and update you all on the exciting movements of my teeth.

Til then...

It's time for my annual year in review post! This is obviously a little late since it is now 2018, but I couldn't just skip over my tenth year of reviewing my (mostly) boring life! So let's get to it!

Overall I wouldn't describe 2017 as terrible, even though it was weirdly a really difficult year for me. There was so much good to outweigh the bad, but then again it's a proven concept that people look back on things fondly even when they totally sucked.

ANYWAY

I kept my goals fairly vague last year, because honestly I have no idea who even reads this besides my parents, and I like to remain ~mysterious~

Really though, it's all typical stuff, and I mostly never accomplish any of it!

1. I wanted abs. 
I did not get abs. 5 years ago started my obsession with getting abs, but I just love eating pasta too much. I did buy an exercise bike, though I mostly just hang my laundry on it...

This year I'm not going to force the abs thing, but if I can somehow gain some self control when it comes to carbs maybe I will get them.

2. I wanted to do more art. 
So, did I? I kept up with my blog fairly often, and I did some drawing here and there. Whenever I say I want to do more art I picture myself quitting my day job to wear those flowy pants all day while I paint masterpieces in my non-existent flower garden. 

I have accepted that if I want to actually paint something good I really have to practice drawing again. It's a tough habit to create but maybe I'll do it this year??

3. I wanted to do more "grown up things" aka pay off my braces/car or learn to make real meals.
I haven't paid off my car, but I'm pretty damn close, which is actually so exciting! 
I also didn't really get too adventurous cooking-wise either, but I did start making my food more often than going out!

This year's goals are going to be basically the same as last year's, and I think that's fine. I know it's like a clean slate or whatever but I also try to remind myself that you can make changes any time you want, so see you in May when I start working on those abs!

I will be skipping the top 5 formula this year, and decided instead to share a few photos that stuck out as I looked through them. Not to say I did nothing fun this year, but I do think it was more defined by some smaller moments:

My baby, who wakes me up on the regular

my heroes, ben & jerry

This photo warms my heart every time I see it.
Just some innocent cows hangin' out, gonna go cry about it!

Admiring nature in true 2017 fashion

me and dat boi 

my dearest sibs

this one made me laugh out loud for real

There's probably a lot more I could say, but a picture speaks a thousand words, and my hands are so very cold I must end this soon!

To wrap up I'l give some good tunes that got me through the year:

1. Runaway - Matt Corby

2. Drought - Andrew Belle

3. Wishing Well - The Oh Hellos

4. Past Lives - BORNS

5. Cut To the Feeling - Carly Rae Jepsen

I'd be lying if I said I was going to miss 2017. I feel like 2018 has a lot more to offer; I have learned so much about myself in the last year, and for once I feel like I have some direction! Again, vague vague vague; someday soon I'll write a real blog about it. Until then, thanks for reading my ramblings about my teeth and my journey~~~ 

I'm not one for being sincere, but I'm looking forward to -- ehh, never mind.

BONUS here's a recent pic of me SMILING u guys. S M I L I N G. By the end of the year (for really real) I will have the best damn teeth ever, and I will never* frown again!

*most likely untrue

BYE

Recommended Listening: Delicate - Taylor Swift

The whole album is amazing of course, but this one is officially my fave