Confession 36 - Invisalign, Clear Braces!

Hi Everyone! Today I'm confessing about a recent event I went to where I learned all about Invisalign: those cool looking "plasticy braces" or aligners.  Are you like me and ever wonder if they really work? And because they look so cool, they are probably pretty expensive right?

Well, it was a flood of really cool information I got at my event about them. Invisalign is a treatment that is an alternative to metal braces and their purpose is to straighten your teeth!  Whenever I think of metal braces a very distinct image comes to mind. I was lucky, I did not need braces when I was a teenager. But, I watched the ever so famous movie, Sixteen Candles, that portrays metal braces, let's just say, in a less then desirable way.  Joan Cusak's character, remember her and all these funny scenes! 

OMG, can you imagine having to deal with that type of criticism in this day in age, with SnapChat, Instagram and Facebook? Tada! Now you don't need to! Invisalign is "the Clear Alternative!"

I know many of you readers with Teens are thinking, "no way, how do I know if my teenager is wearing their aligners?" Well, Invisalign has this great teen program called Invisalign Teen. The aligners are made with a blue dot that dissolves and goes away with use. So if your teen is punking you and not wearing their aligners, you will know!  Plus, approximately every 2 weeks, you get a new set aligners to achieve your goal of straighter teeth! And with less discomfort, pain and shame! What a new concept!

Because there are no wires or brackets, they are completely safe to wear for a teen that is in sports. Teens consistently talk about how comfortable Invisalign is and the fact that no one needs to know you are even wearing them. How cool is that!  And gone are the days where you can't eat certain foods because you have braces, like popcorn, jolly ranchers and licorice. No way! Eat away, any type of food since you remove your aligners before you eat! 

I bet you had no idea that.... 

There have been revolutionary breakthroughs in orthodontia with the use of digital imaging to take dental impressions for teeth straightening with Invisalign. Some orthodontists even offer alternatives to the goopy molds now, with digital scanners like iTero, patients are comfortable while taking dental impressions and the orthodontist is able to receive precise 3D imagery through the use of an iTero wand to create a teeth straightening treatment plan with Invisalign.

That there are over 1.3 Million patients that are smiling with confidence thanks to Invisalign! That's a lot of people! And there is a 96% Patient Satisfaction rate *US Survey Data 2009

Many people think that Invisalign can only be effective at treating minor orthodontic issues.  But the fact is that the 96% patient satisfaction rate is a result of successfully treating a broad range of cases, from overly crowded teeth and underbites to jaw problems and tooth misalignment.

And believe it or not, in terms of cost, for most cases, Invisalign is comparable in price to traditional metal braces. Wow, I had no idea! I just assumed, they looked cooler and more cutting edge, and were probably more expensive.  The Invisalign treatment, usually requires fewer office visits, shorter appointments, and less emergency visits for broken wires or brackets.

I'm on the rampage now, to finally get the hubbs in and fitted for Invisalign. He's had this "Letterman" space between his teeth forever. He never got braces when he was younger since he played the trumpet for years, into his late 20's.  I wish there was Invisalign for him back then, *sigh*.

A couple links you might want to check out and peruse: the Smile Assessment section for Invisalign and also a link to Doctors that can treat you with Invisalign. 

So what are your thoughts about Invisalign now? Are you more comfortable checking them out and asking your orthodontist about them? I sure am and can't wait to get the hubbs in!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you liked my latest confession!

Disclaimer:  This is a sponsored post. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Confession 35 - Oh Crap, it's Bikini Season, Need to Sugar!

Today I'm confessing about Sugaring, but before I do, if you are an elder, or older person related to me by blood, marriage or otherwise, please step away and do not scroll any further! Okay, now that I've got that out of the way.

How did all this sugar business start? Well, let me give you a little background. For years, I put myself into the category of Oprah Winfrey, who has gone on record and TV saying that she doesn't wax. She's old school and she's "groomed" but kept the way God intended her to be. I liked that thought process for many reasons, and at the end of the day, I'm a big chicken! I am scared to do anything down there in the "nether regions". So, for years, I stayed groomed in the comfort of my own home, by myself.

But this weekend I'm headed to the river with some friends and will be in a bathing suit for 4 days straight and well, the thought of shaving was giving me much anxiety. Meanwhile, a mutual friend of my BFF was telling us all about sugaring. It's cool, doesn't really hurt and so much better than waxing.  I waffled on it for days and then ultimately succumbed to checking it out.

I snagged this from Kari's FB Page!

I'll have to say, I was pretty nervous and anxiety ridden walking into the studio and filling out my profile sheet and contemplated walking out the door leaving Kari (the Sugar Guru) a note saying, nope, not gunna happen, changed my mind. But just as that was happening in my head, my BFF emerged with Kari and confessed "it's not that bad and really you'll be fine." She proceeded to tell me that I should let her get  "all up in my lady business" and think of her like a doctor. Don't be embarrassed and just get it done. YIKES! Ok, there's nothing but anxiety that comes from hearing the word "lady business" ... Just saying!  Here's what her studio room looks like:

Kari made me very comfortable and she talked me through the process. She's fast and good! Wow, I had no idea, how have I gone my whole adult life so far without checking this out? Kari explained to me that sugaring dates back to the Pharaohs ... really?  I guess I can say I'm walking like an Egyptian now! Yahoo! I needed another code word that didn't pose a weird response from people....

I highly recommend checking it out. Go like Kari of OC Sugaring's Page on Facebook and take a look at her website to learn more about sugaring.  If you are going to try it, try it with a professional who knows her "sweetness" like Kari, she's totally the bomb.com.

She's also offering up first time customers a 10% discount on their first sugaring experience.  Just mention that you heard about her from Confessions of a Creative Junkie and she will give you the discount.

Today, I hope you liked my true and quite possibly the most TMI confession! Thanks for stopping by!

Confession 34 - Your Worst Mommy Moment

Today I'm confessing about being a "real" mom, yes, the kind that loves her kids but makes many mistakes. Yup, I said it, I'm not the perfect mom (shocking right?). Well, when I came across Meagan's post from The Happiest Home, it hit a nerve.

I mean, I was just siting at the baseball field yesterday with my friend watching her son play the last game of the season and my daughter comes up to me on the bleachers screaming in rage. You guessed it... She ran to me during the optimal time, the time when the ball is not moving on the field and the batter is just getting into position waiting for the ball to be pitched, yes the quietest time on the field! As she comes over to me I can visually see she is not hurt and that she is crying for attention, mubbling something about what her sister did and trying to get her way (ie, fighting with Big B). Typical of Little B. I take one look at her and tell her to stop, this of course makes her scream louder and now she starts to solicit looks from other moms. Oh great, I know, most of you have been there, at least the "perfect" moms like me :-). Then, what I do next, is merely out of instinct to get her to quiet down and stop screaming. I place my hand on her mouth, and in doing so squeeze her cheeks, and tell her to stop crying NOW! I try to be curt but not overly loud, I didn't need any other mom's turning to look. This got her to calm down a bit and phew she eventually stopped.  It wasn't my best parenting moment, and I'm sure I could have handled things better. But hey, I'm human, and well, Little B was on my last nerve! Luckily, this "mommy moment" wasn't photographed and I can probably say wasn't the worst (yes, I've had worse, and that is for another post).

So check out Meagan's post, you'll see that she is the "perfect" mom just like all of us.  Her moment, carrying her then 3 year old son in a football hold away from a wedding photo shoot, was documented in a picture that she then posted 10 years later on her Facebook Page. She reflects back in her post about how different her son is now, nearly 10 years later and that all things, like this type of toddler misbehavior will eventually pass. Meagan writes:

 “Speaking of hard parenting moments, I wanted to share this picture I ran across in a box recently. It’s me, at a family wedding, largely pregnant, carrying my completely-freaking-out three-year-old away from the professional photo session. He was a real handful back then, but he is now 13 and a more lovely young man you could not imagine. I just want to take my old self from this picture, give her a big hug and tell her everything really WILL be OK.”

She had an outpouring of supporters and commenters on her site. All positive and reflective mostly on how it was nice to hear from another mom, that things will pass.

Her post solicited so much spur, that she approached the Huffignton Post on writing an essay.
There she writes:

I do know that I can no more take total credit for the way Isaac is today, than I can take all the blame for the way he was then. I didn't do everything right, nor did I do everything wrong. I wasn't always consistent and I didn't always follow through. I was as firm and loving as I could be while sometimes buckling under the weight of parenting a challenging child.

Man, I can so relate to Meagan! She totally gets it? Then, I find out she is a mom of 5 and, well, it all makes sense. You see, parenting and being a mom has more to do with experience than anything.

She goes on to write:

But maybe most of all, because it [the picture] serves as an important reminder that as parents, we never can be sure of how our kids will turn out, nor exactly what our role and influence might be in the outcome. We try our best, we make mistakes, and we hope for the best.

I guess that's what this photo represents most to me. Hope. Hope that my worst days of parenting will be followed by some kind of sweet reward, even if I can't imagine it right now.

Yes, Rock on Meagan, you are so right, try our best, make mistakes and hope for the best! So, yes, the sweet reward! I'm waiting patiently for that one. I'm in the midst of it I feel with Little B, she is so hard to parent and quite exhausting. But then, I thought that of Big B when she was 3 and look at her now at 9.  So yes, all things will pass and there is Hope!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you liked my latest confession!

Confession 33 - SquareHub App Social Networking for your family

Today I'm pre-confessing (is that even a word) about an app that was just released today, SquareHub.  Ironically, there is nothing "square" about this app and it seems to me to be one of the coolest, most awesome apps that I have seen released in a long time.  I mean, I think the last time I was this over the moon, was when I stumbled on Orchestra, I remember my giddy feeling, all happy and blissful! Well, this morning when I found out about SquareHub, I felt the same exact way.

So what is it? It's a new app that basically lets you have a private network with your family.  So let me paint the picture. We have close family friends that have 5 children, 1 away at college, 1 soon to be and 3 still at home. At any given time, both parents are on their phones texting away to their children, talking about what's for dinner, who can pick  up who, who will be home to feed the dog, etc. Group texts can get hairy and rather cumbersome to respond to, so most of the time, the parents and the kids are sending individual texts. See the issue? See the huge "black whole of time"? What if there was a way to have private communication for your whole family to see?

Introducing SquareHub, a private social network for your family that allows you to communicate in real time with your whole family, taking away the cumbersome, clunky way texting, calling and emailing are. Take a look at the screen shots below... Literally I'm {swooning} and so AppHappy!

You can check in to places just like on Facebook, so parents will know when your kid reached the movie theater or Suzy's house. You can also share pictures, that can be adorned with stickers, filters and star rewards. The app is also equipped with emoticons for when you are too busy to respond with a "I like that", or "bummer", you can just hit the face icon! Genius right?

The app is cleverly equipped with a To Do List feature where you can assign tasks to any family memeber and any or all family members can have visibility.  No more from your teenager "mom never told me to do that", oh yay buddy, that's not what the To do List says! Genius! (I know think of a new word Creative Junkie)

So go and check out this app and download it, it's FREE and get some time freed up to do some things that matter, instead of sending texts and emails!  I'm sorry to say that this app is only available for iPhones at the moment, an Android version is currently in development.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you liked my latest confession!

Confession 32 - About Me Page

Thanks for stopping by today to see what I'm confessing about! Today, I'm confessing about me! I've waited so many months to write this section of my blog, because, as with most people, it's so hard to write about yourself!

I hope you enjoy getting to know me a little better.

http://confessionsofacreativejunkie.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you liked my latest confession!

Confession 31 - The Great Gatsby - The Movie

Today I'm confessing about a little known secret of mine, I love the Roaring 20's and love the book The Great Gatsby even more. I can remember vividly back in high school reading it and reminiscing about the era, the characters, the style.... ahhh! And the makers of the movie have not left anything out! How can this be? And Leonardo as Gatsby? Honestly what is not to like.  The countdown is on... 10 Days ... these are going to be the longest 10 days!

Here is some eye candy for your pleasure. If you have not seen the trailer, it's worth watching too below...

Check out this headpiece that is worn by Carey Mulligan, LOVE!

I'm so {{Crushing}} .... ahhhh!

And the soundtrack, EPIC! It goes with the scenes so perfectly... I'm in love with Lana Del Rey's song, Young and Beautiful and Filters rendition of "Happy Together" ... I just can't get enough! The soundtrack is released May 7th!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you liked my latest confession!