June 14, 2011 was a monumental day in my personal history.

It was the day on which for the second time in my life, I got my braces taken off.

Click here to take a look at my before and after pics from January 13, 2009, when I got the buggers put on. It’s not for the faint of heart. My dorkiness level went up about 47% that day.

Pictured above, the braces removal “before” shot, graciously taken by Shari Bonnin. She currently holds the record for “most awful Steph face ever captured on camera”. Unless someone out there has a worse picture of me? Let’s have a competition! If you’ve got a picture of me where I’m making a horrible face, email it to heartsandlaserbeams@gmail.com. I’ll post a compilation of the awfulness in the near future!

Is it creepy to keep the braces taken off your teeth? I kinda sorta brought mine home in a little envelope. Is that weird? If it is… Then forget I just said that.

And now, without further ado. I am 47% less dorky:

You may be asking yourself, “Steph, how can I avoid having braces twice in one lifetime?”

Wear your retainers. Duh. I’m off to eat some corn on the cob and caramel apples and pita chips and hard candies and other braces no-nos!