After working through the morning (lots of research for a freelance piece!), I was more than ready for a break.
My break came at 1 p.m., as I headed out the door to College Park Orthodontics to check in with my orthodontist to make sure everything was looking okay with my teeth following my treatment with Invisalign.
I wanted to have new retainers made before we move to Ocala, so I booked an appointment and was really looking forward to seeing my orthodontist again. I love her!
My orthodontist got married about a year before me, so I loved visiting her and chatting about everything wedding related during my Invisalign treatment. Then, a couple of months ago, she had a beautiful baby boy. She emailed me pictures and showed me more today and he is the cutest little guy!
My appointment went really well and I will have brand spankin’ new retainers in less than two weeks… in “passion pink.” Yes, I got to pick the color. And yes, I’m 26-years-old and picking the colors of my retainers and the flavors of the gooey stuff they put in your mouth to take the impressions for retainers still excites me.
If you happen to live in Orlando and are in need of a fantastic orthodontist, I highly recommend Dr. Williams. She has degrees from Boston College, Harvard and the University of Florida and is all-around awesome. She’s also offering a promo right now: If you sign up for Invisalign treatment with her before August 1, you get a $50 gift card to Whole Foods or Sports Authority. Sweet deal, huh?
She also offered to do a little giveaway on the blog!
Two readers will receive their choice of one $50 gift card to Whole Foods or Sports Authority, courtesy of College Park Orthodontics.
To enter this giveaway, simply comment on this post in one of two ways:
- Tell me about your experience with braces. How amazing it felt when you got your braces off, how you looked like a total toolbag in junior high because you picked neon rubber bands… Share!
or
- Tell me which celebrity you think has the best teeth. My vote is for Carrie Underwood.
I will randomly select two winners tomorrow afternoon.
Lunch
Lunch today was enjoyed en route to the orthodontist. I ate a quesadilla with apple slices and Canadian bacon in the car, so no photo was snapped.
I did snap a photo of dessert though!
After my orthodontist appointment, I stopped by a fro yo place and enjoyed a cup of white chocolate mousse, espresso, triple chocolate and Butterbeer frozen yogurt (can’t WAIT for Harry Potter tomorrow!!!) topped with peanut M&Ms, Golden Grahams, Butterfinger crumbles, yogurt pretzels, cookie dough, cheesecake and brownie bits.
The whole thing was resting in my belly within two minutes of me digging in.
And now I’m blogging away in Starbucks where I plan to spend the remainder of my afternoon.
A realtor has been showing our apartment to prospective tenants this whole week and I had to get out of there. The realtor doesn’t have a key, so I’ve had to be there for every showing and today I finally told her I’d hide her a key because I feel like I’m lying by omission as potential tenants come in and I don’t say anything about the mice. She understands how bad the situation is and I can’t believe they’re trying to rent it out when the problem is so immense.
You better believe I am asking EVERY homeowner about a history of mice before we move in somewhere in Ocala!
And I’m off!
Don’t forget to enter the giveaway! 
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I had braces when I was 12. It.was.not.fun! I did not like my orthodontist, and it was such a painful process. I have so many retainer stories too. One time I accidently threw them away with my food in the mall food court. My dad had to get the janitor to come empty out the trash so I could find them. Eek…not fun!
i actually currently have braces and absolutely HATE IT!! they are horrible but it will be much better in the end 🙂
I had braces for 4 years when I was in elementary and junior high school. I even had to wear head gear at night! It was a miserable experience. I was sooo excited to get them taken off!
I had braces a grand total of 4 times….needless to say I was ecstatic when those puppies were off for good!!
I never had braces but believe it or not I was jealous of the people who did, I thought the colored bands were so cool. As far as teeth go, I’m going to agree with you on Carrie Underwood, her teeth are fabulous!
The best part of getting braces is the feeling of your teeth when you first get them off! They felt so smooth I couldn’t stop touching them
I had braces on and off from 3rd grade to freshman year of high school. The braces weren’t too bad…it was the headgear I hated! That stupid metal contraption was so embarrassing!
I had braces in middle school, complete with glow-in-the-dark headgear (yikes!), colored bands for various holidays, etc. However, I was too young to take the retainer thing serious afterwards and my teeth shifted back. Now I’m doing Invisalign and I love it! Couldn’t be easier and I’m getting great results 🙂
I never even had the option of braces or not i needed them bad! I had a gab between my two front teeth almost the size of an eraser! No joking here:) And on top of that I had spaces between almost every tooth, had a peg tooth and was missing a tooth!:) I was the orthodontist worst nightmare bahaha.
Everyone said I was cuter with braces, but now I look back and realized I looked like i had a wire fence in my mouth. I wonder how hideous I looked if people thought I looked better WITH braces than without! Awkward teenage years….Yikes!
I had braces for WAY too long – 5 years! I always would break off the brackets on my molars. Each time I broke a bracket my orthodontist asked me to donate $10 to a local charity. I was quite the donator!
I wish you could see the Harry Potter exhibit that’s here in Hong Kong, it’s fantastic! http://hongkongintern.wordpress.com/2011/07/15/platform-9-34-harry-potter-comes-to-hk
I thought I looked better with braces on. I know crazy, but I think I started to smile with my teeth more and when I smile with my teeth I “look” happier! I always chose bright colors and then when I got my braces off I was a little sad that I no longer got to have my colors changed! 🙂
I would have to say that baby blue was my color of choice for bands…only because i am a north carolina tarheels fan…im so unique 🙂 i also had a permanent retainer before my braces that i had to crank to widen my tiny mouth and to go along with that i had to wear head gear at night to fix my under bite. my mouth was a train wreck until i was 11 LOL…..it all paid off though!
I had braces for a little under two years in middle school…mainly what I remember is how weird (and…slimy?) my teeth felt when they took them off!
I remember going to the orthodontist, and he told me that where I put my tongue when I swallowed was wrong…. never heard of such a thing!! But apparently my TONGUE was pushing on my teeth and moving them. As a result, I needed braces. 😀 Such a pain but totally worth it in the end! I was voted “best smile” in 9th grade…so cheesy, I know!!
My vote is for Halle Berry! Great smile!
I remember the day I got my braces off. I wore crest white strips at school…a start to a bad obsession. They work though!
I LOVE THE DENTIST! The orthodontist too I guess 😉
I’m totally gonna go for Adam Levine from Maroon 5…but uh, only cause I wish I could, um “experience” his smile, if you catch my drift. Ok, I’d love to make out with him. OOPS.
you could ask anyone i’m close to, and they will tell you that i still say the best day of my whole life was the day i got my braces off! it was my sophomore year of high school, and i had been anticipating getting them off for like 2 months, and every ortho appointment i had, he would say, “next time…just a few more weeks!” and so when i told my friends that i was DEFINITELY getting them off that day, no one thought i really would. i saw my boyfriend in the hallway between classes, and he said “did you get them off?!” and I flashed him the biggest, longest, cheesiest smile. hahaha, we’re getting married in november and i still ask him if he remembers that day! 🙂
I think Rob Lowe has great teeth! Perfect for when he played the politician on Brothers and Sisters!
ugh I had braces for 2 years but it was the best 2 years ever since I love my teeth now 🙂
I really like Ashley Judd’s smile. I think its very natural and pretty.
I also think that Jennifer Aniston has fabulous teeth! xo
Amy Winehouse! 😉
I got my braces just before I started college -_- (I hadn’t gotten them earlier because my teeth were straight for the longest time…then they decided to get slightly crooked) Thankfully, I only had to wear them for a year and a half or so.
Hi! I remember the day I got my braces off. It was eighth grade, and I had had them on since fifth. I walked into Art class, smiled, and everyone gasped! I got compliments all day, and their reactions (along with nice teeth) made all those years of yucky, uncomfortable braces worth it!
Jennifer Aniston!
I’d have to say Selena Gomez has great teeth ;]
I was one of the lucky ones who never had braces!! While this was a great thing in my childhood, it turned out to be bad because going to the dentist is one of my most dreaded “human chores” and I would pretty much rather do ANYTHING else than sit in that chair!!!
How sweet of her to do a giveaway too 🙂
I had braces, headgear etc from third grade till college—- I was so happy when I finally got to retire from the orthodontist!
I’ve never had braces and was always jealous of people that did. I always thought it made them cuter. I still think that way.
I think Jessica Biel has the best teeth ever.
I had braces in high school for only 6 months because my teeth weren’t really crooked it was more about my over bite 🙂 It seems like now though my bottom teeth are crooked. Maybe I need to do the invisalign on my bottom teeth.
thanks to you and your dentist for holding this awesome giveaway! I think Denzel Washington has BEAUTIFUL teeth – talk about pearly whites!
I would have to say Tom Cruses teeth are impressively straight. However Jessica Alba’s are increadibly white. =-)
Hilary Duff has the most amazing pearly whites! Almost as amazing as yours are going to be!!
I had braces on for 4 years and it was not fun! It was the most amazing feeling to get them off and right before my 16th birthday.
I’m getting braces BACK on in about 2 weeks. I had them on for 6 years, but after being back in orthodontic gear for the last 6 months I’m all kinds of ready to be done. I’ll have them on for about six months just to straighten things out and then I’m finished… FOR GOOD! And no neon rubberbands this go-around. : )
I will never forget getting my braces off.. it felt so great to slide your tongue over your teeth and not feel metal! i remember the hype was getting “clear” rubberbands so your braces would look invisible from far away, but kids would drink fruit punch and they would turn red.. not so invisible anymore!
I was a frequent visitor to the orthodontist for a record breaking NINE years! I had every.single. thing you can imagine but I get so many compliments on my smile it was worth it!! Whenever I’d go get work done, I remember the doctor’s assistants would say, “Don’t move ANYTHING!” and walk away. I remember sitting there in panicked fear to mess anything up. Oh I do not miss those days.
I think Ryan reynolds’ teeeth are nice, he’s got the nicest smile,
I never had braces but I remember on a train trip when I was 5 I popped out the retainer that was cemented to my teeth. My mom freaked! It was too funny.
708 responses? My goodness! You’re famous!
I felt so cool when I got braces. I was the first in my class and felt like all the cool older kids. I would show up with my multicolored bands on each tooth and just wanted to show off. Then everybody else got braces. It wasn’t fair.
I had a cemented in retainer on my bottom teeth and just recently part of it broke. Unfortunelty, playing roughly with my dog managed to knock the one tooth not on the retainer crooked. I fear the thought of braces again. Then I would really feel like a loser.
my experience with braces is…never having to wear braces. 🙂 my bottom teeth became slightly crooked over the course of going into my 20’s, but i’m not bothered by it and no one else seems to notice/care. i felt really left out as a child when everyone else got palate expanders, though.
I hated my braces when I got them. I think I broke the “No gum” rule the day they were put on. 🙂
Looking back though, I’m soooo glad my parents made me get (and payed for) my braces. People are always telling me how I have a great smile, and I owe it all to the braces!
i got braces in the FOURTH grade! i remember my first color picked was lavender, and the guy next to me made fun of me and said it looked like i just ate some lavenders and it got stuck in my teeth….hater!
then i remember taking the orthodontist SO seriously and literally running to the bathroom between classes to brush my already clean teeth..well atleast my teeth are pretty now!
I’ve been doing the Invisalign system too – LOVE IT. As an adult, so nice not to have a mouth full of metal. Can’t wait until I’m all done!
Hi Julie! I would have to say Anne Hathaway has the prettiest celeb smile in my book.
Love your sparkly retainer case 🙂 I have a green sparkly one. I got my mouth filled with metal when I was 14, right when all of my friends were getting their braces off. So I felt pretty self conscious being the only one to have them. It felt SO great to be free of the “chains” and gain my self-confidence back during my senior year… and perfect timing, 1 week before my homecoming and senior pictures!
Julia Roberts hands down, especially combined with that big smile.
Haha ewww I was definitely that girl that wore black and orange colored braces bands for halloween and red and green for christmas.. I think i even did red, white, and blue for the 4th.. LOL so corny, but so happy I had them.. I get lots of compliments on my smile 🙂
oh braces. it really is a rite of passage of sorts. i got them taken of (thank goodness) right before i began high school. but for whatever reason, my ortho told me it was wise to keep wearing my retainer until.. well.. indefinitely. so here i am, 11 years later, still wearing my retainers at night!