"No, I'm not married."

I do not like being single.

Yesterday at work, not one, or two.. but THREE different, unrelated people asked me if I was married. First, a patient, then the computer guy, and then a company rep. Why? Why do people always feel the need to ask me such a thing?
Do I look married?
Does the gloves make it look like I am wearing a ring?
Do I give off a married aura?
Does my appearance scream "wife!" ?

I know people always think I'm older than I am ... (which for now is not a bad thing in my mind) but older and married are not the same.
I don't hate that the new "Do you want fries with that?" is "Are you married?" I just feel kinda like I'm being stabbed in the guts everytime someone asks me.

..... or maybe it's just everytime I have to relpy, "no."

Shelli McCullough, where are you?! Why has it been so long since we last chatted?! Why are our schedules never the same!? I have had enough of this.

Career Woman?

Don't worry! I haven't decided to become a business woman and forget about marriage and being a mom. It's just that I am officially finished school.
My last practicum at Doc Pollock's office ended last week, and since then I've just been lazy and bored. I always seem to think that having a "break" will be the best, but it takes me about 6 hours to realize that I NEED work or school. I can't just sit around all day and be happy, which has lead me to my latest strategy, which is to sleep in as late as I can and then spend the day watching daytime television (which with the recent end of Oprah, has been QUITE a feat.) I've been doing better lately, and at least been making lists of things to do. So it was bitter sweet, heavy on the sweet, when my potential new boss called me this evening.

I have been putting off telling the office that I am now "temporarily certified" until the results of my board exam are mailed out. I think the realization that this could potentially be my career for the rest of my life, has caused me to ease myself into commiting to an office.
The result of our conversation is that I start next Tuesday, and work Tuesday to Friday, 10 to 5 for as long as this arrangement works for both parties. I will be making slightly less money than I hoped for, and it's a really small office. Basically it's just a good starting place - I will get a doctor's signature on my resume, and it will be great experience straight out of school (most of the girls in my program are scrambling to find jobs.) I am excited, and disappointed at the same time. I feel like I should be happier than I am, but I have a feeling that once I'm in there holding the HVE and polishing the plaque from someone's teeth, I will be much happier :)

Apart from teeth, my life is rather mellow. I was just called to be the Secretary of the YW Presidency in my home ward which I am really excited about! I kinda feel like it's my first real grown up calling, which I know sounds silly. I am excited to be able to bring my organizational skills to the presidency, and sincerely hope that I'll be able to indluence the girls for good!


It feels strange to me not to be going back to school in the fall. But who knows, there is always the goal of getting into a hygiene program!

As far as my personal life goes, (wink wink) things are great. Patito and I have been together just over three months now, and it just gets better and better all the time. Who knows what the future could hold!

I apologize for the lack of excitement in my posts as of late.. hopefully with a new job and time passing, I will have more exciting stories to tell soon!

Caught.

Catch of the Day

Last Thursday I texted a good friend of mine with whom I have an "unwritten pact",
"I am going through RW withdrawls."
..to which this friend replied,
"I'm done school in 20 min, can you wait?"

We then proceeded to peruse all of the beautiful things in our favourite store, make our debut trip to the coolest Wal-Mart ever (shopping cart escalators... need I say more?) to grocery shop and buy Juno, and stop by the BEST new Frozen Yogurt place ever. Fun, right? Believe me, (I was there) and it was.

This was just the start of an awesome week of favourite movies, surf shops, late night walks down town, secret "quality time" windshield gifts, great music, and way too much driving around.
And then my stupid self had to think way too much about it and maybe sorta start to kinda think there might be maybe some feelings or something?
Dummy.
I do not like feeling unsure. I do not like being the one to initiate "talking" about feelings. I am always so torn between letting the anxious, cheeky flirting blindly continue, and finding out the cold hard 'true facts' about the situation.

Well, I guess now we'll just have to see how all of this plays out.
As anxious as I am about it (slash worried that the fun-ness will go away after "talking" happens) I have to admit that it's really great to be having a small situation; how boring is life when you're not being chased!?

PS. He's tall.

Secretly hoping to be caught,
Aubrey

Happy Birthday Noelle !

Today was little Noelle's 11th birthday.. not only do I love Noelle, and is 11 my favourite number,and did Cous and I get to help out with doing the girls hair and nails at the party, but we also got to spend the rest of the evening just talking to our favourite Mom.

There are a few things that (I hope she already knows! but regardless..) I would like to make this Mom aware of. I would like her to know how much I love and appreciate her. When I walk into her home I feel so much at HOME, almost more than at my own home. She is one of the most beautiful, caring, wonderful, strong, smart women I have ever known, and for her influence on my life, I will always be grateful. She is who I think to visit when I have a big problem; she is the one who I always have in mind as I write here, because she is the one who inspired me to start it; she is the only woman that I would ever even think of going to when I have questions about birth. I love that we are so alike ! I love how well we understand each other ! I am SO GRATEFUL that you were my Young Women's teacher. I STILL see every day how much you taught me and influenced the choices I made then, and have made from then on. You inspire me to choose the right, to make decisions that lead me to all the best things. I am so beyond grateful for the kindness and honesty with which you treat me. I am just so glad to know you.

Noelle,

I hope your birthday was all that you hoped it would be ! I hope you had fun with your friends, and made lots of good memories. I'm so glad that you wanted me to be there to have a small part in this special day with you, and I hope that you think of me as a good example !!! I hope that as you grow taller, YOU stay the same. You are a beautiful girl, with a wonderful knowledge surrounding you! Be good. We're all rooting for you !

Love,
Aubrey

Practicum - Day 1

Today was my first day of practicum ! I will admit, I was nervous, but not as nervous as I thought I would be when the day finally came ... it seems like 5 shorts months ago, the term "winter practicum" seemed totally irrelevant cause it was so far away, but it's really here !

I got there early, and the morning CDA was really helpful and nice! She seemed like she really wanted to TEACH, which I loved.
The day went by pretty smoothly; I spent the morning mostly helping clean the rooms after each patient and a little bit with the sanitizing of the instruments.
In the afternoon I sorta got thrown into chairside, which was GREAT. I was REALLY nervous, (I was hoping that no one around could see my heart beating out of my chest!) You leave school thinking you're set, because you've done all of these things before... but what you neglect to take into account, is that you've only ever worked on MANNEQUINS! In the real world, where people move, and have tongues, and real cheeks, and saliva, and make sounds... THINGS ARE MUCH DIFFERENT!
It was also interesting how many of the tasks that legally a CDA can do, that the dentist did himself (and all dentists do). This made oral evacuation more difficult because I was used to doing it alone as the operator, when in this case, I had to find my way in around the dentist's hands and tools already in the mouth. It was tough, and I definitely wasn't perfect, but my dentist is WONDERFUL, and the CDA's were great, so with help, I managed to pull it off ! By the end of the day I was doing the complete room change overs and all of the sterilization myself !

I feel a lot better than I did this morning. I can't WAIT to get more responsibility and to learn more ! I loved how willing the staff was to let me try things even though I wasn't as quick or as skilled as the CDA's in the office.

Overall, a wonderful success ! Today made me so much more excited to finish learning, and to make this MY profession. (Although I still think I belong in the hygienist's op.)

A huge thank you to my wonderful practicum office !

PS. I know this comment will be controversial, but I stand by what I've said before... that there is something just so handsome about dentists. No matter what they look like, something about how they work, and how they explain things... I just love them ! Hooray for dentists !!!

Hair Cut !

As promised... here are the pictures !
(Be Warned, it's pretty difficult for me to take a serious picture of myself!)
Before:



And After..