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 4 different times starting when I was a 2nd grader (let’s just say home girl had some JACKED up teeth). They were awesome at first and everyone envied me for having them. By the time my last round of braces rolled around in 10th grade, however, they were no longer “cool.” I had a full set, hardcore rubber bands and all. Even worse (and this is gross) my teeth got super yellow while I had them on. I had one boy even tell me I could butter bread with them. I was so relieved to get them off, the first thing I did was throw on some whitening strips. I’m happy to report that I now have “perfect” WHITE teeth (quoting my dentist) and I religiously wear my retainers to keep them that way!
I had braces for 2 years during Jr. High, and I absolutely LOVED to color coordinate my rubber band colors! Black and orange during Halloween, red and green during Christmas — oh boy!
I had braces for about a year and a half. It was supposed to be 3 years but I never did anything they told me to, shot the rubberbands at my sisters and chewed gum and ate popcorn! For never following their orders my teeth look great and have remained nice and straight (that could also be due to the retainers that are cemented behind my teeth).
my worst rubber band color choice was going with alternating orange and black to celebrate Halloween even though the rubber bands stay on until the next visit which was waaaaay after Halloween.
I had braces, and remember it was the strangest feeling licking my teeth after the were off!
I’ve always thought Angelina Jolie had awesome teeth (along with everything else, figures, right?)
Thanks, Julie!
I never had braces, I guess I lucked out! My favorite celebrity smile is Luke Bryan’s, his teeth are bright and white!
I was sort of lucky and only had to have braces for about a year, which wasn’t too bad really. I don’t remember much about the colors I picked, except that I knew not to get yellow because that would look like my teeth were rotting, haha!!
i got braces in high school and although i didnt think that they were that bad at the time, it was A-MAZING getting them off! for the 2 years that i had them, i refused to smile with teeth in pictures hahah!
#1: Braces are like a rite of passage! I had them on for 2 years and so badly wish I would have gotten one of those permanent retainers they put on your bottom set. If they offer that to you, you should do it! My teeth have shifted since the ripe ol’ age of 14.
#2: Jessica Simpson has great teeth. As does Julia Roberts. And Matt Damon. And Carrie Underwood. Ok, I’m done.
I used to always get holiday colored rubber bands. I got brown and orange bands one fall for Thanksgiving!!
I never had braces, but I am going through the process of dental implants right now. I had the implants placed and they will put the actual teeth in in August.
Anyway, I love Katherine Heigl’s teeth.
I used to change the bands on my braces based on the nearest holiday! Looking back, I look utterly ridiculous, but in my 5th grade mind I was the coolest kid in town
Only cool kids have red, white, and blue bands on the fourth of july 😉
I had braces in junior high – thankfully I got them taken off Freshman year! Everyone had braces so I didn’t feel too awkward in school, but when we went on family trips I was embarrassed outta my mind! Cute boys talking to me with goofy yellow braces (yes yellow)? In my dreams at that point..
I had braces for 5 long years…from about 3rd to 8th grade! i remember my teeth would hurt SO badly after each visit to the orthodontist. and before i got braces, i had to wear an “expander” because my jaw was so small. my mom would literally have to crank the expander every so often to widen my jaw. ouch!
I loved having braces but what I love even more is my retainer. I wear them every night and they’re like my security blanket. I’ll be wearing them until I have dentures!
Jessica albas teeth are perfect!
Loved having braces from late 4th-early 6th grade. Had perfect teeth when everyone else went through their awkward stages 🙂
I always wanted braces just so I could have those rubber bands that were colored, but alas, never got em. I think Jennifer Garner has a great smile/teeth.
I have always liked Natalie Portman’s smile. They don’t look too manufactured!
i think jessica alba has the best celebrity smile!
agreed, Carrie has excellent teeth!! I never had braces but always wanted them!
I’m not a huge fan of her’s, but Britney Spears. I think she has beautiful teeth.
I looked forward to getting braces in 5th grade. I had to get four teeth extracted bc my teeth were so crowded! For some odd reason, I would like biting my teeth together after getting them tightened bc I kind of liked the pain?!?!…strange huh? I would get neon colors, alternating colors, but after about a year, I went with plain silver. I’m soooo glad I got braces because my teeth were SO crooked, that my orthodontist still has my “before and after” models in his consulting room to show potential patients!
My favorite part about the orthodontist was definitely picking out the multi-colored rubber bands for braces. I was a dork.
Love your blog Julie 🙂
I had braces and retainers in high school, but the highlight of my orthodontic work was my flipper – a retainer with a fake tooth attached to it. I’ll keep the story short and just tell that my dog ate it – twice – and I definitely walked around with a missing tooth – total torture for a 16 year old.
Another braces story that I enjoy happened to a fellow teacher at the middle school where I work. She ordered pasta from the school cafeteria, and as she headed to the lounge, she looked down and noticed a bright green braces rubber band right on top of her food. AHHHHH! I would have thrown up!
I’ve never had braces, thank goodness!
I didn’t wear my retainer the first time I had braces, so I ended up with braces twice. I feel bad for my parents who had to pay for them…
Luckily I’ve never had braces, but I have terrible eyesight instead! I love Jessica Biel and Carrie Underwood’s smile!
I’ve always been jealous of my friends with braces growing up. They knew and would always let me choose the colors for them. I always liked choosing based on big holidays (red&green for christmas time, orange&black for halloween)
and I think natalie portman has a great smile
somehow I never needed braces. HOWEVER, I had to wear these bulky clear mouthguard looking things when I was around 7 or 8 yrs old – it might be worse than braces, but helped prevent braces.
I had braces, but never had to do the rubber bands, thank goodness. But I did wear headgear at night – As a stomach sleeper, that wasn’t so fun!
I had braces for 4 years. Luckily I had them pretty early and they came off in 7th grade, right around when I started caring about boys and how I looked. If I had to get them now, I would definitely go for invisalign though.
You know braces were like the evil side of junior/high school. However, the monthly trip to get them tightened and new rubber bands, always led to fro-yo or yummy milkshakes because of course, my mouth was too sore for anything else. 🙂
I had braces for almost 2 years and I thankfully got them off a month before I started high school! I thought it was so cool to get two different colors of band around the braces and they were almost always bright colors. I always get compliments on my smile though so they were worth it and I still religiously wear my retainers at night so they stay nice and straight!
This may sound creepy but I think Jessica Biel has such a pretty smile and beautiful teeth. I totally agree about Carrie Underwood too!
I had braces for 2 years and luckily I did not need rubber bands or any additional components! Just clean braces. I remember my grandpa drove me to the orthodontist to get them off and I felt so free and beautiful afterwards! Then he dropped me back of at middle school and I remember how eager I was to see everyone! (i remember i planned a special outfit for that day!)
I had head gear!!! I didn’t need to wear it during the day (thankfully), but had to at night. At overnight camp, my parents made sure my counselors made me wear it every night… it sucked! But, I have to say, I am very happy with the results 🙂
And you have flavored impression cement? I wish I had that… I’ll never forget that icky taste and gagging :/
I should submit a 2nd entry for my sister – she is 19 (going to be a sophmore in college) and needed to get braces put back on 2 weeks ago 🙁 She has clear ones this time, so it’s not as bad, but she has been in extreme, constant pain!
I actually wanted braces initially!
I always got colorful bands.. for differnt holidays or our school colors. so cool. I looked ‘so cool’. luckily i got them off before high school.
i also had to get some again when my tooth got knocked out for field hockey in college, though not very long. no colorful bands though!!!!
i could not handle the retainer! HATED IT.
I had braces for a total of 7 years (2 separate times). I hated having them on (especially in high school), but when they came off, boy, did I feel amazing!
I think scarlett johannson’s teeth are perfectly imperfect!
ugh… I had braces for three years when I was 12-15. I think I need to go back and fix a space that opened up on top… time to look in invisalign!
I had a pretty horrendous braces experience! I am quite allergic to metal, so aside from the regular cuts from the braces, I also had blisters and rashes. Needless to say, I was a happy camper when they came off!!
well she’s a celebrity chef but a celebrity nonetheless- Giada has perfect teeth. I didn’t know it was possible for humans to smile as big as she does!
I watched my sisters suffer through braces for FIVE years! (they had a perfectionist orthodontist). Luckily, I didn’t need any. My vote for best teeth would probably go to Halle Berry 🙂
rosario dawson!
No braces for moi, but had a retainer for other issues…read, getting into a go-kart accident at age 9 and knocking one of my eye teeth out and buffeting up the rest 🙂 also, experienced “the gate” as I sucked my thumb 🙂
I had braces TWICE. Once in middle school, when everyone had them, and then once when I was 25! Luckily I had the clear kind but still!
Can’t wait for Harry Potter either. I’m taking my 9 year old neighbor next week.. She just started reading the books last year. I promised her (shoveling out from 3 feet of snow) that if she finished book #7 (she just started book #2 during the snowstorm) by the time the movie came out I’d take her. Must keep that promise. Are the movie theaters in Orlando selling out for midnight shows like they are in my area? Every show from midnight until 3 am is sold out. Are you going to post about how you enjoyed the movie?
No braces, but I did have an orange and purple retainer that I thought was the best combination ever!