Invisalign Reveal Day!

It's finally that time.  The time for the big Invisalign reveal!  Today I ordered my retainer and I got all of my little nubs taken off.  I'll still have to wear the retainer 24/7 for the next 3 months until I gradually wean myself to wearing them just at night, but I'm so amazingly/ecstatically/genuinely/in-awe happy with the results.

Once again, if you're thinking about doing something to fix your smile, I 100% recommend Invisalign and you can know I mean every word because no one is paying me to say that.  You're welcome for the free, word-of-mouth advertising Invisalign.  If you wish to pay me that would be aces!

I wanted to find you a really good "before" picture, but I realized that I haven't smiled full-on in a photo in a very long time, years even. Thanks to facebook I can literally track that.  There were an alarming amount of duck-lip pictures that made it to profile status, though.  I might need therapy.

This is the best/worst one I could find, which was taken right before my graduation 2 years ago:

Photo compliments of Lady Di.

Um...hello, Snaggle-Tooth and Roller-Coaster Bottom Teeth.  What's up?

Please, let me introduce you to Ms. Sexy-Straight and Gradual Slope.  They're new to the neighborhood.

Lovely, right!  I like Ms. Sexy-Straight and her sister Gradual Slope.  They can come to my house to party any time.  I also think my teeth are whiter...maybe that's all in my head, but I'll take it.  I've been using a little trick I picked up from one of the challenge participants about adding baking soda to my toothpaste. It doesn't taste that great, but I'm excited to see how it works.

Here's the side-by-side before and after:

Well thanks for sitting through that. 

If I happen to see you and I take out my aligners to show you, please don't think I'm too weird.  I'm just excited.

The Human Pincushion

Monday I got my allergy test done!  I'm so relieved to get that over with.  Now I know what bothers me and I can avoid it.  Apparently, a lot of things bother me because I had a pretty large reaction.  I was tested for a total of 36 things!

Don't worry, I took pictures! (I edited them with a cross process so that you can really see how many places I reacted):

The verdict?

•  CATS!  

Basically, they told me I was allergic to my children.  The doctor didn't mention anything about getting rid of the cats, but he did say they are not allowed in our bedroom anymore...that's the thing that saddens me the most because bedtime is prime cuddle time and at least one of them almost always sleeps with me. :(  Oliver has had a hard time with this because we have cuddled every morning after the alarm goes off since he was a little kitten.  I also have to make sure I wash my hands whenever I touch them.  I knew they were out to kill me, but I didn't know they'd resort to biological warfare...geez!

• Feathers
• Dust
• Dustmites

I have to cover all of our bedding in special protective covers and wash the sheets in ultra hot water at the very least once a week.  I'm so not excited about more laundry, but I think a lot of my headaches/migraines will go away.  I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond right after work (coupon in hand) to get a mattress cover and multiple pillow covers since Mr. S and I swap pillows unintentionally.  So far, I think it's working!  S thinks our bed feels like a hospital bed, but I'm sure that will go away once we wear in the covers.  I'm trying not to inconvenience him too much...I'm also trying to con him into hardwood floors in the basement since I have medical proof for my headaches every time I go down there...

• Trees
• Molds
• Grass
• Ragweed
  

The doctor gave me some bangin' nasal spray that has almost eliminated my sinus pressure.  For the molds and pollens I've decided to take allergy shots in the hope that one day I won't have issues any more.  It's going to be expensive at first, but as it stands now, I spend about $300 a year on allergy meds.  So if I'm allergy free for the next 50 years that's a savings of $15,000.  Plus my insurance is going to pay for 90% of the shots.  Score!

I really hate taking the over the counter meds because they really dehydrate me and I have to confirm twice a month with the feds that I don't have a meth lab in my kitchen.  That just makes me feel skeevy.

I actually got pretty upset at the doctor's office when they went over how many different things I was allergic to.  My initial reaction was to sucker-punch both of my parents in the face for negligent parenting because they never got me tested and for looking at me like I had 3 heads every time I mentioned allergy testing growing up.  Then I realized this was just more of the same from them and that I've done so many positive things for myself since I've become an adult that I'm proud of me.

Oh!  By the way, it's my birthday!

Aligner 3

Aligner 2 (The Princess of Dorkdom)

Well, here's another update on my invisalign.  I'm still loving it, but the new set I put in this morning is definitely a lot tighter!  I hope that in 2 weeks I can see a lot of improvement between the aligners.  Either way, I know I'm not going to be able to really tell until I compare the original with the final product.

So here you go, more pictures of my teeth!

In other nerdy things/events, I ordered my first pair of glasses.  I would have gotten them yesterday but they had trouble getting the lenses into the frames correctly and then ran out of lenses...so they had to have more lenses over-nighted.  I wasn't too bummed because they upgraded my lenses for no extra charge and then gave me lens cleaner for my wait.  Since I'm pretty laid back it was no big deal.  I did almost 2 hours of window shopping, got a pretzel, and had a text-a-thon with my best friend. All in all, that's a pretty decent evening.  I hope that I can pick them up tomorrow after work before Mr. S and I go out to celebrate V-day.

I guess I should also shave my legs tomorrow.  Isn't it funny how that's your main concern when you've been together for so long?  We aren't doing gifts, so it's mostly just an excuse for a nice dinner.

Anyroad, I'll post some pictures of the glasses once I get them.  Glasses and "braces"...it has been a big year for me.

Aligner 1

Simply stated: I'm so in love with my Invisalign.  Best obscene amount of money ever spent, ya'll.

They don't hurt nearly as bad as metal braces did when they're moving your teeth.  In fact, they're down right comfy.

You can't tell I have them on unless you want to get close enough to kiss me...which I admit has been a problem for folks lately.  (Sorry...cheeky moment.)

For the most part they've cut out a lot of mindless snacking since I have to take them out to eat anything which has made me more mindful.  I've only been to the candy bowl at work once: props!

So before (sorry I didn't take proper pictures):

After 2 weeks:




Maybe it's all in my head, but I feel like I can already see a difference.  Don't ruin it for me if you can't. ;)

Weight Loss Ramblings

I have a weigh-in tonight that I am dreading!  I've reach a complete plateau at the same place I always reach it.  For some reason, I can live at the gym and never get under 175...ever!  Dangitalltohey!

Of course, it doesn't help that I'm sick to death of dieting and trying to eat "right."  I just want to have a freaking donut, ok?

Not, ok?  Well, darn.

I talked to my trainer and she said I either needed to cut something out (I'd rather stab myself in the eye with a carrot) or up my cardio...looks like I'll be up-ing my cardio then.

A random thought: Has anyone ever noticed that the tea drinkers in their lives are always so mega thin?  Now, I'm not talking about the crazy green tea pills and all that nonsense.  I've just been wondering, is it the tea?  Or, do tea drinkers just have healthier lifestyles aside from their beverage choices?

I'm inclined to switch out my coffee for tea...oh heck, maybe I am going to give up something else after all.

BMI-TMI?

After all this training at the gym I was curious what my BMI (Body Mass Index) was.  At my heaviest I was considered obese with a BMI of 32. I was so stoked to just get down to overweight a few years ago.  Now, 50 pounds from my heaviest, I'm still in the overweight category with a BMI of 27.  That's frustrating.

 

However, there might be some light at the end of the tunnel: I'm only 14 pounds away from a normal weight.  Just 14 pounds!  That gets me very motivated to stick with this and so do all the risk factors associated with being overweight/obese.

 

Since most of the following things run in my family, even for skinny relatives, it gets me very concerned:

• Coronary heart disease (Dad just had his first heart attack in February)
• Type 2 diabetes (Great uncle)
• Cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon) (They found cancer on Dad's kidneys)
• Hypertension (high blood pressure) (Dad, both grandmothers)
• Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides) (My triglyceride levels are already on the rise according to my last round of blood work)
• Stroke (both grandfatehrs had multiple strokes)
• Liver and Gallbladder disease
• Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
• Osteoarthritis (a degeneration of cartilage and its underlying bone within a joint)
• Gynecological problems (abnormal menses, infertility) (I was diagnosed with PCOS at the age of 16)

(http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/effects/index.html)

 

And I don't say all that to be a Debbie Downer, but instead to rejoice in how far I've come to try and keep myself healthy!  I know I'll still have to worry about these things even if I get all the weight off, but that will be at least one less thing on my plate--no pun intended.

I want to age beautifully and gracefully and stick around a hell of a long time. 

So 14 pounds?   I can start with that.

 

 

My Green Thumb

The garden is growing super this year and why shouldn't it since I worked so hard putting in a wall, but that's not what this is about.

Do you have any nervous habits that you just cannot break?

Mine is an inherited trait: tearing up my hands.

I don't bite my nails, but I will bite off the skin around my nails any time I get stressed out.  Half the time I don't realize I'm doing it until I start bleeding.  I really hate that I've always done it.  My mother has done it her whole life too.

The only thing that helped me out was getting acrylic nails.  I love those things!  Not only do your nails look amazing, but getting to go to the "spa" for an hour every few weeks is relaxing.  However, they really ruin your natural nails.  I've been trying to grow out the damaged part of my nails and I'm half way there.  It's also really hard to keep up with them with my crazy schedule...but I do miss them.

And why did I call this post My Green Thumb?  Cause I have identical green band-aids on each thumb until my skin grows back.

Lovely.

But seriously, what are your bad habits.  I want to know so I don't feel alone with my psychosis.

Attack the Fat

We had our final weigh-in yesterday morning and the end result was 11.4 pounds (and 10 inches)! My Steven lost 40, yes, 40 pounds!

Absolute craziness.

What did the honey and I do to celebrate our victory?  Well, we went to Carmello's, an Italian restaurant we've always wanted to try, to celebrate my birthday post weigh-in.  It was divine!  We had a mini, pesto pizza for an appetizer, I had alfredo tortellini, and then I had the triple layer chocolate mousse cake!  And who do you think would have walked in while we were being so naughty?  One of the trainers from the gym.  You can't even plan such serendipity, folks.

I'm pretty sure I gained all 11 pounds back.  I couldn't have, could I?  Naw, but I'm determined not to eat at all today to make up for it.

I already did some squats and leg exercises with my elastic bands...thinking about a run when I get off work too.  Cause I'm determined not to gain any back.

Determined, ya'll.

I've really been blown away lately by how slim my face has gotten.  Enjoy the embarrassing photos I borrowed from my photobooth.  There are about 1,000 photos save on my computer that I took in between my facebook time in college. I swear I did, in fact, put in the work for that degree!

The top left is the oldest picture I could find, circa beginning of sophomore year.  The two in the middle are the most recent.  It's also a homage to my crazy and ever changing hair.  Crazy, huh?

I really can't believe that old picture was 45 pounds ago, ya'll.

Christmas in May?

It's extremely difficult for me to wait for my favorite holiday: Christmas. I live for it the whole year. Lately I've been thinking" "oh, I should start present hunting and baking goodies...getting out my holiday tunes and all that jazz." However, I will sit here patiently waiting until at least Halloween.

My birthday is coming up and I'm really excited about that too. Like...Christmas excited for it. Today at lunch, I told Steven I wanted a birthday tree of my own and I'm half tempted to put up my little 2 ft tree and put some really colorful not-so-christmasie-ornaments on it. I'm also hoping that the birthday-Santa leaves me some goodies under this tree. :D

I'm still debating what to do for my birthday. I've scheduled a cleaning and orthodontist consultation for the day before...completely boring, but they need to be done. I've taken 2 days off, so I should have a long weekend to myself if the pier is generous and doesn't schedule me. I'm hopeful, but not delusional. I really want to take a day and go to the city either solo or with the Steben. We live 45 minutes from D.C. and we never get up there. Shameful, isn't it?

Oh! Also excited that amazon has informed me that the new Sookie Stackhouse book has been shipped and will, I hope, arrive on the book's release date. Lately, I've lived for book releases. I've done more pre-ordering off of amazon in the past few weeks then in the whole existence of amazon.com. Once Hitch 22 arrives I'll probably disappear for a good week or so until I go to a book meet-and-greet with the author...

Also, in other life events: I have fluorescent orange pee. Yeah, you read that correctly. It's a side effect from one of the medications I'm taking to get rid of a bladder infection. Very nasty and annoying things that completely disrupt your life. I genuinely hope you've never experienced one. I'm trying to take it as easy as I can, but I know that I'm just not getting enough sleep. I never get enough sleep these days.

All work and no play really does make Ms. Domestique a dull girl...I know, I know...

Attack the Fat Challenge

For the past 6 weeks Steven and I have participated in the Attack the Fat Challenge at our local gym. It's just like the Biggest Loser and boy are we losers! (Definite pun intended) We meet with our trainer, Tammy, 3 nights a week for an hour and she goes about the process of kicking our butts!

I've always liked to work out once I get used to it and I feel great! I've got muscles I didn't know it was possible to even get and I can go for days. One week before a weigh-in, I did an hour of spin before our hour workout and after that I went to town to run errands, and I was still too buzzed to sleep. I love all the energy.

I'm back into my 12's which are now almost loose. Go figure. I'm back to where I was when I graduated from college and more so. After our move I got super depressed and ate and ate and ate and ate. It didn't help that Steven and I ate out all the time. We've completely stopped eating out and it's reflected in our waistlines and pocketbooks...eating out is incredibly expensive. Go figure. It also feels like we're more of a family since we take time to at least have lunch together. I still entertain the idea that we will have dinner together every night once I finally leave retail. I guess that means I'll need some recipes soon. Oh, domestic felicity!

The hardest part is trying to keep my food journal. It does help keep me in line, but it's a complete pain to remember to fill it out. For the most part I've given up all sodas. I have about 1 diet soda a week. That has been the hardest part since I love, and I mean love, love it so much I'd marry it, diet soda. The trainers explanation was that the fake sugars can actually convince your body it's real sugar and therefore it will make you hungrier...and I know, soda is the devil. It's a painful process...an exorcism really.

I've lost a lot of inches everywhere except on my arms...those have gained a ton of muscle. Even in my forearms...I wasn't aware that women could have muscle there, but apparently we can. I told my trainer I'd bulk up a lot if we did a lot of muscle training, and I have, but the muscle will burn the fat. However, I'm starting to think that I'm getting too much arm muscle because I can't find shirts that fit in the arms. I've been getting into smalls and tight mediums, but only if the armholes are big enough. It's frustrating...but I do really like the guns...I show them off...a lot. In fact, I like to show off a lot of things now. Just the other day I started a conversation with a friend off by stating: "By the way, my ass looks amazing, just thought you should know." Really, I did. Maybe that makes me vain or whatever, but I've been a fattie for a long time and I really enjoy not being so big. It's a mood booster and I just want to get everyone working out with me.

By next week I hope to have gone down into the next weight bracket, aka to have lost 10 pounds total. The program ends in 2 weeks, but they will be doing another thing in between the next 8 week challenge. I'm determined to keep losing weight. Determined I tell you!

And don't worry, I'll soon be selling tickets to the gun show. :D

Where have I been?

Oh blog readers, I know that I have dropped off the planet. My life lately has been a jumble of activities. I'll try to lay out the past few months for you, catch you up, and start writing again.

Work:

I've been working about 37 hours a week for peanuts at the Pier 1 up here. My assistant manager is horrible and is probably the first person I have never been able to find anything I like about them. I've been trying for 5 months to find something I can like so that I focus on that when I have to deal with her. The search has been fruitless, and I've just about given up hope on her. I spend most of my time at work protecting the associates from the wrath of this woman and it's getting to me. It's a very toxic environment to say the least. The customers up here are also very rude and I get a lot of people who think I'm too young to be a manager.

The job hunt has been very slow goings. Even though I have a degree and a lot of kick-bootie grades, most employers only notice my retail experience so it has been extremely difficult to break into any professional scene. I'm still working on it. I think that to really have the time to find a new job I will have to quit my old one. This is very emotionally taxing since I do love my company and I have been there for 2 years. However, I need a job that is full-time and has benefits. There was a brief lead with a stationary company, but the most they could offer me was 2 part-time positions at once where I shuttled between two of their stores and it was a pay cut.

Home:

The house is slowly coming together. The key word there is slowly. I've been doing some craft projects, we finally hung some stuff up, and our room has a mind of it's own. So far the design is a mix of Pier 1 and Ikea. Ikea is such a magical place and I live 30 minutes from it. I live about 30 minutes from most major retailers. There is even a Tiffanys store somewhere near me. I can't afford anything so I've figured it would be dangerous to go. Anywho, I'll post some pictures of my house updates soon. I need to charge my camera...I haven't done that since we moved and that has affected my blogging.

Steven is amazing. I relish in every moment I have off from work to spend with him. He is so supportive of me and gives the best hugs. It has been great to live with him and have him around all the time. I love it! We play tennis with his family and I'm getting quite good. So much fun!

Health:

Through the stress of the move, my crappy job, and lots of eating, I gained back all the weight I lost for my graduation. So I got a gym membership at an amazing gym called the Freedom Center (the pool has a huge water slide) and I go every morning for 30-45 minutes of cardio. Steven is doing a biggest loser challenge and has lost 20 pounds in 3 weeks. He's doing so well on the program and I'm extremely proud of him.

I discovered soon after I moved here that I needed to have a root canal done. My mother canceled my dental insurance just before my graduation so I've been paying out of pocket. I have been going back to Gloucester for this because it saves me about $700 to go there then to have it done here by an endodontic specialist. In the end it will eat up $2205 from my savings. My tooth also got extremely infected and I had to take a lot of antibiotics. For about 2 weeks all I could eat was mashed potatoes.

Literature:

Where would I be without my books? So far I've spent a lot of time re-reading Harry Potter since the last movie came out. I'm currently reading The Historian. I'm halfway through it and I find it to be predictable. I hope that it gets better because I've had several people recommend it to me and those are normally good books. As Dracula books go, it hasn't been that entertaining for me. After you have experienced the joys of Tanya Huff and her Blood series...one cannot go back to just any vampire story.


Those are the big things that I've been up to. So much has been going on. I need to start writing again for my own sanity it seems, so stay tuned for further updates!

The Tough Get Going

I'm the only person I know who can pull off getting sick on her Spring Break. Things are finally looking up. Right now I feel the best I've felt since Wednesday (breathing is such a nice thing).

However, my nose has decided to drain one nostril at a time. So, just so you know, this photo was not staged. It hurts too much to blow my nose, so I'm just using the tissue to catch the flow. Yeah.

Thank goodness for my Trader Joe's recycled paper tissues I got in DC!

But, I think I might have also needed a tissue monster this week.

Hair Update

Dang my hair has grown... I forget how short it used to be. Picture one was my last haircut before Caitlin's wedding. The second is my hair today. Wowz.

Diva Cup

Posts this week might be TMI since I'm going to be doing a product review. About a month ago, I tracked down the co-op in Roanoke (awesome place, FYI) so that I could get the Diva Cup.

The Diva Cup is a menstrual cup made out of silicone. Intrigued? Well you should be. Because it is made of silicone, it is reusable. You just have to wash/boil it. The girl who checked me out said that she has been using hers for 5 years! Can you imagine the amount of feminine products not going into the landfill?

It cost me about $30, but with the price of girl-time products it pays for itself in the first year of use. Awesome. Since I got it from a co-op I was also supporting a local business. Double awesome.

You only have to empty it 2 times a day. Added bonus for the girl on the go. You can run in it, swim in it, dance in it, whateves (except the horizontal mambo, ya dig).

You can see why I was intrigued, right?

The great thing for me, and TMI, is that I get rashes from pads in the winter. Dry skin + pad= diaper rashes...owies.

So throughout this week I'll keep you all updated on the process. Apparently, it can take some time to get used to it/getting it situated correctly.

Have any of you ever used one?

Thoughts?

I thought it was weird at first too. I've been scoping it online for about a year.

80 Year Old Moment OR Yay for Calcium!

So I totally just fell down in the shower. The water was too hot when I got in so I ran to the opposite side of the shower,
somehow I twirled, slipped, and down I went. My hip hit the side of the tub, but thankfully I landed in the tub and didn't fall out, grabbing the shower curtain and ripping the rod from the wall.

However...for the purposes of this blog I kind of wish I had landing soaking wet on the bathroom floor with my cats staring at me, wrapped in the shower curtain, and dodging the falling rod.

My hip is most likely going to develop an epic bruise. Pictures will follow.

Zen Moment

I finally made the leap to the aluminum waterbottle. Kroger had some Gaiam (you know the awesome people you buy yoga mats/videos from) bottles on sale. Not ridiculously on sale, but enough that I had to get one to help out my planet.

I fell in love with the tree...to be honest. Plus, no icky plastic chemicals and weird bacteria issues and this baby is completely reusable and recyclable when I'm done with it.

Winter Allergies

Lately, I've had the feeling that I'm having allergy problems. Nothing as bad as the pink-eye I got during the summer. I have a runny nose and eyes, but I feel fine over all so I know that it isn't a cold.

Apparently, according to WebMD (laughs, I know, I'm one of those obsessive web-searchers), winter allergies affect more than 40 million Americans. It looks like I'm one of those year-round allergic folks.

Where's my Clariten D?

Dear Diary:

I spent my New Years watching Bridget Jones and going to bed early. My tummy hasn't been feeling too swell lately. Bridget Jones' Diary was rather appropriate for the evening since the whole premise of the movie is that she starts a diary for the New Year in order to fix some things in her life. Not only is her character based on Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice (a personal favorite) but it's just down right hilarious and I relate to Bridget immensely.

To quote Bridget, her New Years resolutions were:

Resolution #1: uggg - will obviously lose 20 lbs. #2: always put last night's panties in the laundry basket. Equally important: will find nice sensible boyfriend and stop forming romantic attachments to any of the following: alcoholics, workoholics, sexaholics, commitment-phobics, peeping toms, megalomaniacs, emotional fuckwits, or perverts. Will especially stop fantasizing about a particular person who embodies all these things.

Now, I've got the guy thing in the bag, however, I think that numbers 1 and 2 could definitely be added to my expectations for the new year.


So, Amanda's New Year resolutions:
1- will obviously lose 20 pounds
2- make sure that yesterdays panties make it to the laundry basket
3- carry trash from my car when I make it
4- graduate
5- continue growing-out hair: do not cut it
6- add probiotics to my diet
7- take my vitamins regularly
8- find an adult job
9- buy a house
10- strengthen long-distance relationships

What are your goals for 2009? I wish you all the best in what is sure to be an interesting year ahead.