sonic. not the hedgehog.

colby made it out of the grocery store, and grilled us up some awesome steaks. of course, much of anne's ended up on her clothing, but the rest of us enjoyed actually eating them, while enjoying the weather on the deck. saturday evening was topped off by more downtime, and a screening of 'casanova'.

after the movie, we made our first sonic attempt. for those in the northern virginia area, you know that the fast food chain 'sonic' is advertised all the time. the commercials tempt us with tasty drink concoctions, among other things, yet there is no sonic nearby.

clearly a misue of marketing dollars. however, upon learning that there was a sonic very close to julie and colby's, it was not a question about whether or not we would go. i had called to see how late they were open, and was told midnight. so imagine our shock and dismay when anne, colby, and i pulled up to the joint at 11, only to have all the lights shut off on us. attempt thwarted.

sunday morning we got up and got ready for church, and anne and i made a mad dash to the sonic. they were open. we both at strawberry limeade and brownie blasts, and it was sheer yumminess.

after arriving back at julie and colby's, we headed over to church. anne and i stayed for sacrament meeting, then got on the road. we made it back in record time. that was the last best thing about the evening, however.

i called it a night at a reasonable hour, but woke in the middle of the evening to the most horrible pain i have ever experienced. it was my problem tooth. the one i have been trying to avoid fixing until next year. i knew it would likely have to be pulled and an implant put in. and implants are expensive.

i got to work late, and my co-worker suggested that i might have an abscess. i called my dentist and they were able to squeeze me in. he confirmed that it was indeed an abscess and that it would need to be pulled.

at this point, the swelling was fairly minor, but by the time i woke up this morning, i looked as though i were sucking on a couple of golfballs. and again i was still in a lot of pain. i was able to schedule an early morning appointment with the specialist to extract my tooth, but when i arrived he told me that he could not pull it until the swelling had gone down, and the infection localized once again, to the tooth.

i have an appointment friday morning and am praying that the swelling goes down and that the painkillers keep working.

compare and contrast the pics below. the first was taken by anne at duke gardens on saturday, the second, only moments ago. i told corey i wasn't confident enough to post it, but who was i kidding, of course i am! needless to say, i will never be ungrateful for my 'normal' smile again.