I'm officially on vacation 'til March 21. This is a real vacation. One that we've been planning for a while. With people I just adore. In a place where I can't use my cell phone for calls or emails or texts.  
 
If you are trying to reach me, I'll be back in the office returning emails and calls on Tuesday, March 22. Kory is also out of the office at this time, on his own adventure!  
 
'Til then, I leave you with this joyful senior photo :) She looks how I feel right now!

YOU GUYS! How has blogging become so, so difficult for me? I can't believe it has been two weeks since my last post.  
 
We are tying up a few business-y things around the office this week, like taxes (ugh). Next week I'm hitting the road to go on a vacation with my mom and extended family. I'll be out of the office from March 8 to March 21. Where am I headed? You'll just have to check back here on March 22 to see, now won't you? I can tell you I'm traveling to five places I've never been before ... any guesses?  
 
Here's a photo that has nothing to do with this blog post :) I just like it.

To all of our lovely blog readers out there, Happy Valentine's Day from Shawna Noel Photography.

Over two years ago, I chipped my front tooth. So I went to the dentist to get all fixed up. Well, that "fix" wasn't as easy as I hoped ...  
 
At that dentist visit, I learned I had really crappy teeth. Like British-bad. Or maybe Alpaca-bad? Looking back at photos I can see my bad teeth. But at the time I didn't know how bad things really were :) 
 
I had an overbite. My teeth were crowded because of my wisdom teeth. My front teeth were mini-sized (I don't know the official term for this problem!). And everything was crooked, everywhere. I was a mess! 
 
Over the last two years I've had my fair share of dentist, orthodontist, oral surgeon, periodontist and doctor appointments to fix all of the issues I had.  
 
What exactly happened? Let's break it down. I got ::  
-- Wisdom teeth removed 
-- Braces (complete with a W bracket on the roof of my mouth -- that was fun) 
-- Jaw surgery 
-- Gum surgery (crown lengthening) 
-- New front crowns 
 
Whew. Now that everything is done I'm so, so happy. I'm sporting a new smile and I LOVE it. Yay for teeth!  
 
I've got a bunch of embarrassing, I-can't-believe-I'm-posting-these-on-the-internet photos for you to see the progress. Nothing to gross, I promise :) 
 
Photos by Britta Trygstad

Self portrait :)

Photo on left by Jamie Rennich. Photo on right by Emily Griffith.

Me and my momma. Photo by Jamie Rennich.

Photos by Kory Wallen.

Photo on left is self portrait. Photo on right by Kory Wallen.

Photo on left by Britta Trygstad. Photo on right by Kory Wallen.