I can haz MISSION!

This is me =)  No, for realz. Srs.  Anyhoo.

I am a local KC musician, and as such I have seen SOOO many pictures of myself that end up on my Facebook wall.  Like any normal woman, I'd love to lose a few pounds, and I hate my <insert body part from my waist down>.  But the common denominator between all of these photos - the very thing that catches my eye every single time and never fails to elicit a cringe - is my smile.  My goofy crooked smile.  Not that I don't dig the goofy, I do goofy very well - I'm proud of my goofy.  It's the crooked part.

After talking with my dentist, talking with a few orthodontists, and spending six months or more making plans and saving my pennies, I came to the happy discovery that an affordable solution was possible for me - even as a single gal in her mid-30s.  I made my decisions, I signed my paperwork, I waved a tearful goodbye to a lump some of money in the form of my down payment, and I started an adventure.  I was going - actually GOING - to get braces.

But as the date loomed nearer to have the darned things applied directly to my face, I started making a list of questions I had.  Because I was excited and impatient, I consulted the internet before speaking again to the orthodontist I ended up choosing, because we all know the internet never lies.  And what I found there was woefully inadequate.  I found tons of articles from medical professionals, but what I really wanted was anecdotes and advice based on real experience - and not necessarily from a teenager, as the treatment for an adult is different from that of a child.  I knew one friend who'd had braces as an adult, but I was hoping for a greater wealth of differing opinions from a population of people, to get a more wide-angle view on what was about to happen to me, as not everyone perceives things the same way.

So, now that they're on, I've decided to pay it forward to the next Adult With Braces who might be running into the same issue I had.  Hence my pretty blog!!!!  (I won't lie, the hardest part was picking out my template and background photo. It'll probably change a lot. I like visual variety =D)  Soooooo if you've found your way here NOT through my FB page or as a friend or friend of friend, then Welcome!

Well, Welcome otherwise, too.  I love you mom...