Bridesmaids are Beautiful whether Blonde, Blue Eye-shadowed, or Braced

I know this may come as a complete surprise to you, but Braces do not exactly CLASS UP a formal event. Shocking I know.

Let me back track for a second. I am in my mid-20's which means most of the people in my life are embarking on huge life changes. And I include myself in that list, but for some reason my life changes are not accompanied with a registry, haha. Currently, I am in the midst of Wedding Bonanza 2010 with 2 weddings down, 1 wedding to go. I am quickly approaching the last, perhaps the most significant one of them all- my sister's. In 2 weeks I will be the only girl in my family left to bear the last name that I actually do not always bear. (bare? bear? whatever).

Last weekend I stood up as 2 of my dearest friends married each other after dating for about 10 years. They have been together for so long, the wedding almost seemed like deja vu. It wasn't until the brides Dad walked in the room and saw his daughter in her wedding dress that I realized, oh my god, she is getting MARRIED. It is actually HAPPENING.

I am having a hard time really believing that my sister, my roommate of 14 years, my best playmate, and fashion consultant, is getting married. I still remember us like this(Abbe's in green, Maggie-the bride- is in Purple, and I-the baby- am in red):

WHOA, I DIGRESS, INTO SAPPY TOWN, USA.

So where do my Braces play into all of this? (Seriously Chelsea, stick with the subject (seriously stop talking to yourself in 3rd person))

Well, getting married is a HUGE deal. SO huge in fact that in order to document it and savor the moment forever, people hire Professional Photographers!! Which means yet again these braces are famous whether I want them to be or not.

My preparation for these weddings included hair, makeup, manicure, pedicure, new shoes (Payless but still), new jewelry, Bridesmaid dresses, new undergarments to ensure you do not fallout of said Bridesmaid dress. In addition to these I am having the ties on my braces changed so my teeth look crispy clean!

For the Baltimore wedding I did my very best all week to keep the teeth clean. Drank any dark drinks through a straw, brushed constantly (although that is per usual), and carried around my picks everywhere. So the wedding comes, I jammed a toothbrush and toothpaste into my silver sparkly beaded purse, and I'm set right? Well, I would have been but there were unseen events!!!

We hadn't eaten from 11am until 8pm. I am STARVING. We are patiently waiting to do some quick wedding photos before we can finally enter the cocktail hour. THEN, the kind waiter brings some hors' dourves for the Bridal Party. The Bride and Groom are missing because the car never picked them up from the church so we have about 5 minutes to chow down, without an opportunity to brush my teeth before photos. Now what would you do? And keep in mind, YOU ARE STARVING. Well, it went something like this:

Despite the fact that Jane looks absolutely disgusted. I am pretty sure we had an awesome time. I'm looking forward to the final wedding in this series!

*AHEM! All photos in today's blog, minus my childhood sister photo cuz that would be just weird, were taken by the talented Jeff Vautin and his iPhone. For a photo of Jeff please back track to last month to see a photo of him and his Bride Jane. They are a smashingly gorgeous couple.

IT COULD BE WORSE:

Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet

I'll cut to the chase, I was Ugly Betty for Halloween:

The only people who guessed what I was had been told ahead of time by Stephan. I think this can be explained by 2 reasons:

1. These people clearly never watched Ugly Betty. Now, I also didn't watch much Ugly Betty, BUT I once played the love interest of Michael Urie in a staged reading in New York, so by default I don't HAVE to watch Ugly Betty. (I think Kevin Bacon was there too).

2. They thought I was Ugly Betty but didn't want to say it in case I would take offense re: the braces. It's like when you don't want to congratulate someone on their pregnancy, JUST in case they are fat.

Best part of the night? Someone asked me if my braces were fake for the costume!!!

Aside from Halloween, I have some braces related thoughts on my mind that I would like to get off my chest, I mean teeth, whatever. Bare with me-

Having braces is tough. Young, old, broke and paying for them or rich with insurance. It's just tough. It hurts. You look weird. No matter how much weight you lose and how sunny your skin gets, they will still be there, dropping you down a notch.

Having braces that hold you back from your career and your Passion... well thats just a b****.

Seriously, we can go on and on and on about how "you don't look that bad" or "I saw a girl on TV with braces the other day" or "you can still do theatre." But if we get real and you try and tell me I look JUST as good with the braces as without you are full of it or have really bad taste in women. AND if you try and tell me there are tons of braces roles, I will tell you they are for tweens. And there are many TWEENS who are actors in LA with braces who don't have the boobs of a 26 year old (although my chest was this big at 16, I'm just sayin).

So at the end of everyday I have to tell myself, this will get better, they will come off, and not everything will be perfect but this won't be there and you can pursue your life again like every other person trying to achieve something.

And I can perform again.

I can't believe how much I miss it. This is the longest break I have ever taken from acting since my very first play "Oklahoma" when I was 14. In 12 years, I have never stepped away from the stage for this long. You know what I miss the most? Not the dressing rooms, or the applause or the after parties. I miss those 5 minutes on stage, somewhere near the climax where you are so engrossed in the character, you forget you're not her, or that people are watching, and real emotions fly out of you at a pace that is unstoppable.

That is what I miss.

Well, onward and upward.