Wednesday, May 26, 2010

News! News! 10 weeks down! Michigan smells great!

This Blog is devoted to my (adult) Braces, and my Moving to L.A. with (adult) Braces. I don't know why I keep putting (adult) in parenthesis. Maybe it's my way of saying (I know I'm old and this is weird, I'm aware I have braces, please stop staring while I shop in the produce section).

Braces News!! First of all RUBBER BANDS SUCK. Who knew? Seriously? Like everything else with this adventure I was preemptively embarrassed about what they would look like. Then for days my mouth hurts so bad I am shamelessly digging my fingers into my jowls searching for bands and smoothing on wax.

Second of all, RUBBER BANDS ARE AWESOME. I don't know how they work, or what exactly they are doing, BUT my diet is broadening!! That's right people I am getting closer and closer to ripping that T-bone with my back teeth. Basically, things are getting closer together in the back, despite my enemy the bite rim. Huzzah!!!

I thought I would share photos from my dental records taken before my braces were attached. I look... different. Other than needing to cut my hair... and put some makeup on. Also for those of you confused, please note the missing tooth. All the other teeth were slowly moving into that hole. THAT is why I am in this predicament.

I just hope I'm not the next Jennifer Grey. Nobody puts baby in the corner... except I'm pretty sure her nosejob made her never work again.


Moving News!! I have left New York City. Although NYC and I have had our disagreements, and let me just say they picked some serious life altering fights with me, I left on a good note. No one flipped the bird, which one of us is known to do, and no one assaulted anyone, which the other is known to do. We simply had pastries in a beautiful Bakery and said our goodbyes.

I am in Michigan at my parents house having a garage sale so I can fit my stuff in my new/ old itty bitty car. It is a lovely place here, but I am REALLY looking forward to my move to California!

Friday, May 21, 2010

Just because I dress this way... does not mean you have to pity me.

I'll cut to the chase. It didn't happen. The bite rim is still on. Until when? UNTIL THE END OF TIME APPARENTLY... or at least until I find a Dr. in L.A. and have a consultation with them.

My disappointment grows but please do not pity me. Tomorrow is my last day of work and then I am unemployed for at least a month. It sounds soooooo relaxing. I have worked so many hours in the last two months it should be illegal. So I am taking this well deserved break and I will sit in my parents hot tub and let my mind go absolutely blank.

Good News? It will be easier to keep my post-ortho-dontic weight. Putting on chewing weight is almost as easy as putting on Baby weight. I am of course only assuming. But Seriously.


Bad News? I am still hungry. I still want a cheeseburger like my life depends on it. I am still a little concerned about road-tripping the USA without the use of my canines.

WORSE NEWS? I got Rubber Bands.


NO JOKE. I knew it was coming someday. But nothing prepares you for this. And again, per usual, the pain and discomfort FAR outweigh the embarrassment.

Although I am looking forward to the next 3 weeks in Michigan with tears of hope for full nights of sleep, I am aware of the downside. You can't be unemployed and NOT panic about the idea that you may never get a job again and will die on the streets shivering in 55 degree weather in Sunny SoCal. However small, it is still a possibility. Especially because I get cold really easily.

I just remembered that in 3 days I am leaving New York, my home for the last 3 years and 9 months.

Now I have compiled some pictures to display my current state of emotions. Enjoy my complexity.


Guess who is going to cry a lot tomorrow? This girl.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Coming upon the moment of truth

So much has been going on with my move I have not had much "blogging time." But trust me, next week when I am staying at my family's house in Bay City, I will definitely have some time.... possibly too much...

I have about 4 days left. Sunday I start the drive with my parents and I am hoping we do it all in one day. My preparations for moving and my attempts to say goodbye have been productive, yet more difficult than one might expect.

BUT, My oldest sister Abbe came to the rescue and helped me pack AND we had some fun. This shot is me standing in the rain to get tickets to see HAIR, my last Broadway show while I live here. It was EXCELLENT. Very fulfilling.

Tomorrow is the big day. Last Ortho appointment in NYC. I will say goodbye to Dr. Vaysman, and HOPEFULLY say goodbye to the crazy bite rim stopping me from eating like a normal human being. Fingers crossed, but not holding my breath. I'll let you know how i goes...

Saturday, May 8, 2010

I am that girl who diets!!!

Lunch hour is pretty much the best thing ever invented. All morning I'm wondering in the back of my mind were I will go to eat. Eating is, and always will be, a highlight of my day. I'm starting to understand why losing weight has always been so difficult.

The new eating challenges have really limited my options but I have my usual haunts. I go to Chipotle at least once a week for their burrito bowl. Thank you chipotle for meeting my needs with sour cream, cheese, and guacamole. I also frequent Cosi for their soups or smoothies. Or both. Don't judge.

Yesterday was Clam Chowder Day ( New England, not that gross orange stuff) and I was really looking forward to it. Anti-climactically, it was not that good. But I made a discovery - I'M THAT GIRL WHO DIETS!!!


You know that girl you go to lunch with that drives you nuts because she gets her salad with olive oil and vinegar on the side while you ask the server to just POUR the bottle of ranch dressing over the top of your Chef's salad? I'm her!! Well, kind of.

At Cosi they offer you their special bread (which tastes like heaven) with everything. You could probably get a piece of bread and they would offer you an additional piece of bread on the side. When I used to go I would eat 3 bread crusts from the bowl, and then get my piece of bread with my salad, that was covered in dressing. Now they offer me bread with soup and day after day I decline their delicious starch. Yesterday when I rejected his bread "benjamin" gave me that knowing look, "Oh, you're one of those girls."

Huzzah!! I'm a diet girl! I feel so proud! I hope everyone in that Cosi yesterday was annoyed with me!! (Disclaimer: The only reason these girls annoy us is because we are jealous of their self-control).

If they only knew that the day I can chew I'm getting the HUGEST cheeseburger and french fries anyone has EVER seen. And EVERYTHING will be smothered in Mayo.

New Thought: maybe the annoying skinny girls are secretly eating potato chips at home. This new glimmer of a thought gives me hope.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Watch out Jane Austen, there's a new girl in town.

For those of you who find my humor lacking, are secretly reading this at work, read this instead of calling me and catching up (eh hem, grandma), or are stalking me and simply looking for my current whereabouts so you can hide in my flower garden ( hahahaha, flower garden. I live in New York City. The homeless man across the street might have a grocery cart filled with cans that might resemble a flower garden... from a distance), here is the cliffs notes version of the blog you are about to read.

1. I was visited by my very handsome boyfriend named Stephan who enjoys cooking for me, and is VERY good at it. ( be jealous)
2. I have had braces for 7 weeks.
3. I still can not chew.
4. I leave NYC in 19 days, but will not arrive in LA for 49 days. In the middle I will linger in a place much like "purgatory" or "limbo" or "land of bars and pharmacies" called Bay City.
5. All donations to the fund "Chelsea decided to live an extravagant life filled with medical bills after years of being a starving artist" can be made through the pay pal button that I will install.

And now.....

A Simple Meal by Chelsea O'Connor

This was it. She knew this moment would come but it seemed all too soon. The pain still flickered in the corner of her mouth and the scratch of a lonesome piece of rice between her teeth made her realize she had missed a spot while brushing. But it was too late. The flight from Los Angeles had arrived and the crowd was moving. There he was... As they rushed to each other after 61 days of distance the excitement was palpable. They embraced, and the first words to tumble out of her mouth were, "Oh my god my braces. Are they horrible? Do I look hideous? Are you embarrassed to be dating a 12 year old? You're so embarrassed aren't you?"

So I guess I won't be authoring any romance novels... Whatever, Mansfield Park wasn't even that good.

Stephan headed back to LA this afternoon with a GIGANTIC suitcase. Seriously, he packs like a woman. It was like a different outfit every 3 hours. It almost looked like I sent him back with the largest suitcase I could find, filled with my belongings. Almost.

Despite the fact that I worked 4 out of the 5 days he was here, we had a wonderful time. But the best part had to have been Sunday evening's meal. I got called into work at Comix - apparently they didn't get my letter and think I still owe them 2 weeks. Comix- it's over- I'm not taking you back no matter how many shiny things you buy me. I still can't believe you thought buying me braces would do the trick. Now it's over between us and I'm getting skinnier. Sucks for you.

I came home from work Sunday night at 11:50pm to a sweat soaked Stephan, cursing at a bowl of risotto, and a smoke filled apartment. He had meticulously planned a whole meal tolerable for the chewing impaired. BBQ chicken, slow cooked until the meat fell of the bone, then pulled and smothered in sauce, Steamed swiss chard with balsamic vinegar and sea salt, and risotto that tasted like burning.


I hope you can see the steam rising. Don't I have the loveliest mixing bowls?



The meal would not be complete without the risotto. So it's midnight, and there is only one thing to do: Stephan goes to the 24 hour grocery store, buys a bottle of cooking sherry, and begins again on this mysterious rice cream. I - throw out the pan.

The end result was DE-LICIOUS. Round 2 risotto= pretty close to perfect, and the swiss chard was Glorious. And eating BBQ chicken after 7 weeks of smoothies was like an award for the fat child inside me that asks every morning if we can please stop at McDonald's and get a sausage biscuit and hash brown for breakfast.


Then, because I am pathetic and forced him, we did a photo montage: