Different?

Just a quick test...see if you can spot the difference!

Picture of me this morning.

Picture of me later this morning.

Week 51

December 18
I hosted a Christmas Cookie party. It was a wonderful afternoon and we had tons of cookies. Everyone brought their favorite treat and we were all able to sample each others delicious cookies. After the party, everyone took a plate home to continue enjoying the cookies. It was a lot of fun!

December 19
Bill wrapped a bunch of presents for me. He got too many gifts for me this year, but I enjoyed all of them! He carefully wrote on each gift...it was super cute!

December 20
Just wanted to show you that even my braces are Christmasy! I got red and green ligatures to show my Christmas spirit!

December 21
My turn to wrap presents. I love presents and wrapping...and opening! These are all for Bill.

December 22
HAM!! We're having HAM for Christmas dinner. We love ham! I splurged and bought an expensive imported ham because we love ham that much. We look forward to our ham Christmas dinner all year long!

December 23
We had a lovely afternoon going to lunch, going to a movie, running errands, etc. One exciting event was driving on the new overpass by our house. They have been doing construction on the overpass and roundabout for a year now and we've been eagerly awaiting it's end. Although the construction isn't completely done...the overpass is open and it alleviates some of the traffic headache near our house. We were able to drive on it to the mall and it was splendid!

December 24
Christmas Eve is not complete without a Candlelight Service. We enjoyed a lovely Candlelight Service at church before our traditional Chinese food dinner. I love Christmas and the candlelight service is one of my favorite parts! Happy Christmas Eve!!

Week 34

August 21

Ubi got another bath...he needs a lot of baths because of the bacteria problem. This time it was raining so he had to stand in the rain while the shampoo worked. He doesn't like bath time or standing in the rain.

August 22
Bacon loves boxes. She loves bags too, but today she played with the boxes all afternoon. And when she was done playing, she "guarded" them. Such a silly cat!

August 23
These are all the tools I use when I try to keep my braces clean. It's a lot of work and some days I don't bother. I'm not really sure this whole braces thing is going to be worth all the trouble!

August 24
Here is my candy bowl at work. It is very popular and people come from other offices just to get chocolate. I'm so popular!

August 25
My contacts were really bothered me so I got out my glasses. It had been a long time since I've worn my glasses and I think the prescription is old. I guess that's another thing I need to work on.

August 26
We went to another movie: Cowboys & Aliens. I had been eagerly awaiting its release here in Panama because I love Harrison Ford. We were the only ones in the theater until after the movie started...then 5 more people showed up (and this was opening day). I guess it's not going to be a big hit here. We liked it...but we like Sci-Fy and weird movies so we're easy to please.

August 27
We have a new comforter. I think Bill was allergic to the last one so we've been using the comforter from the guestroom until I could find one I liked and was willing to pay for. I finally found it...and it's reversible. Although, with a black cat, I don't think we'll use the white side much.

Four Things Friday #3

1. If you've watched the news at all lately, you'll know our government could possibly shut down this weekend. Since I work for the government, it may affect me. My boss has to decide if I'm "essential" to work during a shutdown or not. Right now I'm on the cusp of essentialness...I'm .5 essential. It could go either way!

2. I really wish that pasta didn't make you fat because I LOVE pasta but I don't love being fat. Our favorite restaurant here is called Tre Scalini and it has a lot of pasta choices. Basically 75% of the menu is various sauces and pasta dishes. The awesome thing is that you can choose which pasta (noodle) you want with most of the sauces. I LOVE pasta.

3. I had another orthodontist appointment yesterday. It wasn't as painful as I expected (maybe because I took a bunch of drugs) - so that was nice. The ligatures on my braces are now purple...I thought it was a nice color for Easter and spring.

4. A nugget of wisdom my father sent me this week (perhaps because I write these 4 random things each week or maybe because I'm just random in general): Pearls melt in vinegar. I've never tried it so I have no personal experience, but if you do let me know.

Week 3

Here I am again...with my photos from the third week of the year. It was a big week, so let's get started.

January 16
I went to lunch with Abby & Erica at a new Italian restaurant near their house. It was good, but my favorite Italian restaurant is still Tre Scallini.

January 17
I went grocery shopping with Maggie...because it was a US holiday, I didn't have to work! We have SO much fun when we shop together and we love Riba Smith.
January 18
Ladies Bible Study started again, after the Christmas break. It was fun to be with all these wonderful ladies again!

January 19
A big day for me...I got braces. It hurt! You can read more about it here.

January 20
Bacon loves to play with the darts from my Nerf gun. Unfortunately, I intended to use the Nerf gun to stop her from doing bad things...but she just thinks it's a game. Oh well, I continue to shoot her when she misbehaves!

January 21
My teeth still hurt so we went to the mall for another milkshake. And, I tried to eat french fries but I'm not ready to chew yet. Instead, I ripped them in to small pieces and basically just swallowed them. Hope the tooth pain goes away soon - I want to eat again!

January 22
We spent some time out on the patio. It was nice. Ubi enjoyed a treat while we read. Bacon really wanted to share Ubi's treat...but he wasn't that generous. So, she just followed him around and even licked his face a few times.

Metal Mouth

You can now officially call me metal mouth! That's right, I have braces! The orthodontist took a look last month and told me I have "severe crowding". She (and the dentist) recommended braces. The dentist wanted them so he could more easily clean my squished teeth. The orthodontist wanted them to help my smile...or appearance...or something similar (and, most likely, for the money she gets $$). In a moment of weakness, I agreed. I wasn't particularly concerned about my smile/appearance/whatever...I had grown quite fond of my crooked teeth. But, the dentist made a compelling point. I HATE going to the dentist, and if getting braces will lessen the pain of future dentist visits, I thought it might be an OK idea. So, I said yes...and I was promptly scheduled for an extraction (remember, my crowding was severe).

12 days ago they took my teeth...well, they didn't really take them because I still have them...but they removed the teeth from their happy home. And today, the big day, I got my braces! I have to admit that I'm in pain. Not a sharp or stabbing pain, but a dull and constant "pulling" pain. It is also very uncomfortable to have extra stuff in my mouth. I'm getting used to moving my lips around the braces to conceal them. I think this is going to be a long and painful process, but I'm hoping it will be worth it in the end. I'm hoping that I still think it was a good idea when I'm done. Either way, there's no turning back now...the metal is in my mouth!

At least now I feel a connection to my favorite James Bond villain, Jaws!

Week 1

Here's my first official post for Project 365. I actually made it a whole week taking a picture a day. Some of the pictures are rather boring, but with 365 pictures to look forward to, there are bound to be a few less interesting ones. I'll try to have an even mix of exciting and boring photos each week, but I'm not making any promises. I will do my best to update my blog each week with pictures...but, if you'd like to get more regular updates you can check my Flickr photostream. It will be the same pictures but it might get updated a little more often (then again, it might not, who knows). Either way, here is last week in photos:

January 1
My sister's family leaving for Peru. They arrived safely and are settling in to their new life.

January 2
We left the U.S. too, on our way back to Panama. Christmas vacation was fun but we had to get back to work...so sad!
January 3
The beginning of the year is time for new calendars. I love puppies!

January 4
Another new calendar. This one we made using Bill's pictures of Panama.

January 5
More new calendars (I like my calendars a lot)! I love chocolate labs and penguins are my new favorite animal.

January 6
The animals, looking cute. (You'll probably see a lot of the animals this year.)

January 7
I had 4 teeth pulled...it was NOT fun. I'm still pretty drowsy in this picture, but they gave me my teeth so I had to get a picture!

January 8
All I ate today was jello, pudding, ice cream, and mashed potatoes!