April was the 20th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.  20 years ago I was in my first year of college in California.  I heard about it but didn’t know anybody directly effected by it. Now that I’m a bonafide Okie (even though I’m Texas born) I have come to understand what the Oklahoma Standard really means.  This term started being used by the media and civic leaders after the bombing when they saw the outpouring of love, donations, and help from strangers for their fellow Oklahomans.  When you walk through the Memorial museum there is story after story of people who gave their time and resources to help those who were suffering.  This tradition and standard has continued through every emergency, small or large that our state has faced over the past 20 years.  While we may have fundamentally different political or religious views we are able to set our differences aside when faced with adversity and do what needs to be done when someone is in need.  

This week I met up with some friends from my Oklahoma Women Bloggers group.  We visited the Memorial to show respect for the victims and survivors of the bombing.  I’ve visited the Memorial several times but each time I walk through the 9:03 gate I feel a wave of grief, compassion and healing hit me.  I see the chairs and I feel like time stands still.  Those babies are still just babies, cradled in eternal arms of love; those fathers and mothers wait patiently to be reunited with the pieces of their heart they were forced to leave here back on earth.  No matter your religious upbringing or your understanding of why we are here, you can’t help but know that there is something “more” happening at the Memorial.

So, this happened this week…I started Invisalign.  Trust me when I say it wasn’t on a whim.  I’ve been thinking about this for a long, long time.  At one of my regular dentist visits I casually mentioned how I was concerned that my front teeth were looking crowded.  She pointed out that I have a “deep bite” and that my teeth are pointing toward the back of my mouth rather than straight up and down.  

You know how when you realize something about yourself, that hadn’t really been on your radar before, it’s all you can think about?  My back pointing teeth were all I could see.  Before I had been a little worried about my slightly crooked front teeth and pronounced canines.  Now all I could think about was my toothy grin.  I made an appointment with an orthodontist to talk about Invisialign and discovered I was a good candidate.  I’ve never had braces so I don’t have anything to compare it to but traditional braces didn’t appeal to me.

One entire year later and I am finally on the path to straight teeth.  We never do anything in a hurry and Dear Husband had to tinker with the budget to figure out where which one of our 19 ING savings accounts the monthly payments would come from.

So what was the initial visit like?  I’m so glad you asked. 

First they took two x-rays of my head.  Not just your standard dental visit x-ray but space age looking machines that rotate around your entire head to get a complete picture. 

Next they needed to scan my teeth.  Apparently, an older way of getting teeth impressions involves trays filled with goop that slides down the back of your throat.  No goop here.  The new version of tooth impressions involves a scanner.  They used a little laser scanner to scan the front and back of every tooth.  The scanner blows air into your mouth during the process to dry off the teeth it is scanning, so it makes your mouth extremely dry but you are able to stop and rewet your mouth.  The scanning process took less than 30 minutes but I was a good girl and sat very still.  The more wiggly you are, the longer the scan takes.  I asked which gave a more accurate impression of teeth, the scanner or impression trays.  The scanner wins.

All of my information; x-rays, teeth scans and measurements were sent to the Invisalign factory where all of my aligners will be made specifically for me.

Next visit:

Two weeks later I was able to pick up my first two sets of aligners.  The hygienist and doctor went over the process with me and answered all of my questions.  I go back in four weeks for a check up and to get new sets of aligners.  Each new set of aligners is kind of like when traditional braces are tightened.  The aligners will slowly move my teeth to the desired position.  The entire process will take 18 months and 32 sets of aligners.  

In this video I talk about what it feels like to wear Invisalign, getting used to them and the things I can’t do with them in.

This week I was having lunch with a friend and we were talking about her business and how to promote it.  Owning a business is not for the faint of heart.  Now matter how much you wish and hope and pray, it doesn’t just promote itself.  It takes a lot of work and when you’re the one in charge all the responsibility falls on you to make things happen.  The same rules apply if you have a brick and mortar store or an online store, if you’re a retailer or a writer.  As we were saying goodbye she asked me the question every blogger is secretly hoping every real life friend and acquaintance will ask…“What about you? How can I help you promote your blog? What are your goals?”  unfortunately I was at a bit of a loss on how to answer her.  Unless you have a staff to do the leg work of promoting your blog on all the social media outlets, find brands to work with and make you look like a rock star; blogging can be solitary and a labor of love.  You know those bloggers with followers in the hundreds of thousands and really fancy looking sites?  That doesn’t happen all on its own organically.  There is a machine behind the green curtain making things happen.  They have a staff…who get paid money.  Most bloggers will never have that, and I’m okay with that.  For the small time bloggers, we depend on each other to help promote the posts and blogs we love.  We share opportunities with our online friends when we think it will benefit someone else and we are each other’s cheerleaders.  We spread the love and light each other’s candles.

Because success in writing and blogging depends on other people reading what you write, there is a necessary evil that many introverts (who also happen to be bloggers) shy away from.  Self-promotion.  I struggle with tooting my own horn too much because self-promotion feels very self-serving which in turn can feel narcissistic.  But sometimes in order to get the right people to notice you, you have to make yourself seem super awesome…that you are the best thing to happen to the internet since Grumpy Cat.  You have to play this social media numbers game that can feel juvenile and is terribly tiresome.  

This online world is a strange animal.  There is so many awesomely amazing things happening here and so much horrific garbage going on right at the same time, right at our fingertips.  It’s odd that we’re all here together making a go of it.  I like to imagine what the internet would look like in real life: we’re all at a huge library sitting around reading what interests us most.  Over here is a lady looking up recipes, right next to her is a 13 year old frantically flipping through pictures of her friends.  Across from them is a lunatic who is holding out for the South to secede from the Union, hoarding canned goods and ammo.  Next to him is a guy flipping through a Penthouse next to a convention of costumed Star Wars geeks who are crowding a group of moms talking about cloth diapering who sit next to a guy reading instructions on making a homemade bomb (ISA – pl