Now that's something to smile about!

My blog posts usually consist of what Ashton has been getting into lately, but this one's going to be all about ME ME ME!!! ...and my sister, Jeanette. =) This has been an exciting week for the two of us because we have entered into a right of passage that most people complete by the time they are graduated from junior high school, or even sooner. Yes yes, we are no longer teenagers. Because we in fact, GOT OUR BRACES OFF!!! HOORAY! It was definitely more fun (if having braces consists of any fun at all) having someone to share the agony and pain with. Someone to tell you when you have broccoli or an entire chinese food noodle stuck in your teeth (it's happens). Someone to tell you, "hey they already look straighter." And someone to cheer you up when you look at a photograph of you and your metal mouth, because soon enough, you'll have perfect teeth. So here we are, 2 years in the making, with our PERFECT TEETH! Don't be jealous, you too can have a noodle stuck in your teeth to have straight pearly whites in the end. C'mon, everyone's doing it!

So come with us, through our journey, of the "before, during, and AFTER!"



BEFORE PIC:
Now normally, I would NEVER show a picture like this to anyone. Because these are the ones that captured that horrible angle of my smile that I would always try to avoid in photos. It really accentuates the reason WHY I decided to go through with the braces. Over the years, I became very good at camouflaging my teeth issues. My poor friends and family would always have to deal with me saying, "no no, take another picture, there's a weird shadow on my teeth." Fear not my friends, those words are now in the past. Now you'll just have to endure me saying, "ooooh look at those teeth, do you want an extra copy?" hahaha. Click on the picture to see a close up of what my poor orthodontist had to deal, if you dare...



DURING:
This picture was taken in June 2007, at my baby shower. I like to call it, "the brace face sisters."
This is the most recent picture of my brace face. Taken just 2 weeks before I got them off. It was "married girls night out" with my beautiful Regis (the salon I worked at pre-Ashton) girlfriends, Elena and Raeanna.



AND AFTER:
Quite an improvement, don't you think?! We can't stop smiling!!!


P.S. My other ME ME ME thing is that I am also a "blonde" again. After 2 years with my natural hue, I decided it was time to spice things up again. Many thanks to my good friend Raeanna (the beautiful blonde in the "with braces" picture above) for my lovely blonde locks. It definitely pays to be friends with awesome hairdressers. And being one myself, I'm fortunate to know so many. =)