Worth Every Penny

This blog is typically a place where I record my comings and goings.  It's definitely more of a travel log than a journal.  A few years ago I started a private blog that only I have access to as a place to record more of my thoughts and feelings.  I'm not doing very well at that because that blog has less than 25 posts!  Anyway, this post includes a few of the "feelings" that I would normally reserve for my other blog, but thought I would share here anyway.

Life doesn't always take the course we would anticipate or desire.  I never in a million years thought I would be 31, single, and childless.  But here I am.  I realize that, being single, I lead somewhat of a selfish lifestyle.  I do what I want, when I want, without having to run anything I do by anyone else.  Sure, I would absolutely trade my lifestyle in a heartbeat to have a family of my own, but I've decided for now to capitalize on this fact :-)

After doing some calculations, I realized I've invested a lot of money in myself over the past couple years.  I thought I would blog about three of these "investments" that I believe are worth every penny.

1.  Laser Hair Removal - Okay, maybe this is a little TMI, but I LOVE the fact that I've been able to get laser hair removal.  I've finished the areas of my bikini and inner thigh, am almost done with my underarms, and am about half way done with treatments on my lower legs.  Can I just tell you how much more confident I feel?  The treatments kinda suck, but the end result is great.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it.

2.  Veneers - When I was in the 7th grade, I got hit in the mouth with a softball.  I was playing 3rd baseman, Chrissie Bacon was pitcher (she was the fastest pitcher in the league), and Kelly Firkins was on the other team and leading off on 3rd.  Chrissie and I had planned that, since she could throw the ball so fast, she would throw to me and I would tag Kelly out.  Great plan in theory, but when I didn't use two hands to catch the ball, and the ball bounced out of my mitt and hit my mouth instead, I decided that a great plan without great execution isn't so great.  Needless to say, one of my front two teeth totally died.  I ended up getting a root canal on my birthday to fix the tooth.  Happy birthday to me!  The tooth had to be packed with bleach from the back in order to keep it white.  Since then, I've always been a little self-conscious of my smile.  That white tooth was really white - much whiter and more opaque than the teeth surrounding it.  I began to notice that the tooth to the side of that front tooth was a little brownish in color, and I didn't like that the other front tooth had a white spot on it.  When I switched dentists a few years ago, Dr. Cutler showed me x-rays explaining that the brownish tooth next to my super white root canalled tooth had actually self root canalled... that the impact of the injury I had in the 7th grade had caused that tooth to die as well.  He also said the white spot on my other tooth could have potentially been caused from the impact.  Anyway, each time I would go in for my 6-month checkup, Dr. Cutler would ask when he could fix my teeth.  I finally gave in.  My multi-color teeth (or patchwork quilt as the dental assistant called them) are now beautiful and even-colored.  As a side benefit, I haven't bitten my fingernails since my temporary veneers were put on on June 9th.  I'm not jumping the gun here, because it's only been a little over a month, but if I would have known I *might* stop biting my nails if I got veneers, I would have fixed my teeth a long time ago!

Probably weird to put such a close up of my teeth, but this allows you to see the pretty drastic difference!

Before...

After... just ignore my poor sunburned lips (this picture was taken just a couple days after Rec Fest).  They also fixed my open bite!

 3. Last, but definitely not least, my trainer - In fact, I probably should have put this at the top of my list.  I guess I saved the best for last.  Anyway, I have talked multiple times on this blog about my trainer Brandee and my bootcamp classes.  I seriously feel like a different person since I started training with Brandee almost two years ago.  For one thing, I'm over 25 pounds lighter.  Yes, 25 pounds!  Yikes!!!  It's sad to think I let myself go that much to get to that point.  I always blame it on one thing or another, but what it comes down to is I wasn't taking care of my body.  I wasn't exercising enough and I definitely wasn't eating right.

I also know that because of Brandee, I am fitter than I've ever been in my life.  At the end of June when Brandee last did my body fat testing, I was stoked to have fallen into the "athlete" category on the body fat chart.  It took me a long time to get here, and I worked dang hard... it's amazing what a boost that gave me (as well as motivation to keep it at that level!!!)  Then just this week, we did fitness testing at the gym.  I was pretty proud of my 6:50 mile... when have I ever been able to do a sub-7 minute mile?  Just a few years ago I could hardly run a 10 minute mile.

Brandee's encouragement and training has definitely motivated me to lead a healthier lifestyle.  I still need her to keep me at this level because she holds me accountable (i.e. just last night I had to do 50 pushups as "punishment" for the sweets I ate over the last week!).  I hope one day I will feel like I can keep this up on my own, but for now, I appreciate the fact that I can truly lean on Brandee.  Not only as my trainer, but as my friend.  I mean, who else can say they watch the Bachelorette every Monday night with their trainer? :-)

Me... pre-Brandee (2009)

Me with Brandee... today!

So there you have it... I wouldn't change a thing.  Definitely money well spent, if I do say so myself :-)