When Koogie had a cone, he would go to his preferred dripping faucet, stick the cone under the edge, then lick up the water that was gathering inside the cone. Then empty the cone into the sink. However, he'd keep catching the cone on the edge of doorways and get stuck and kept pushing rather than move over a couple of inches.

Ugh. I hate when pictures remind me that I do not always look like I do in my head. I was at a dance convention over memorial day weekend, and a dude took a ton of pictures and is slowly putting them up, and I finally found a few of myself...and my face is all piggy looking, like my features are too tiny and sunken for it, and my belly is enormous (several pictures in profile--ACK). UGH. And of course I see all this as I'm eating a ham and cheese croissant (so delicious...so bad for me). Just...not how I see myself looking when I dance.

meara, I think you're lovely, but my BFF and I both sympathize. She just got a driver's license photo taken and was deeply bummed over her appearance. We have the same problem as you: we don't look like we think we look, and the disparity is sad-making.

Okay, I've gone and bought a cat-size inflatable collar. I didn't notice until I got it home that it's supposed to be attached to the pet's collar. Gray Cat doesn't have a collar. Will it work anyway? Or do I need to go buy a collar too?

It was damned hard to inflate! People with asthma should all be issued a handheld inflating device.

We have the same problem as you: we don't look like we think we look, and the disparity is sad-making.

Pictures from my bridal shower, mostly profile, are what solidified my decision to NOT wear my hair up for the wedding. From the front, I didn't realize I had so many chins. Horrifying. Not the way I want to be captured in pictures.

I avoid photos as much as possible (I renewed my driver's license the first week of May and still haven't looked at the photo). Also mirrors.

I don't think we do look exactly as we do in photographs. I actually look a lot better in photographs than I often do in person. I happen to be photogenic, which can also be problematic because it's not a true portrayal of how I look in person. In any case, even Beyonce looked terrible in many of the Super Bowl halftime performance stills.

What photographs don't capture is our fluidity and a lot of other things that can add to attractiveness in person. I'm not saying it doesn't mean we can't work on getting rid of double chins if they bother you (I know I've got one when I hold my head a certain way, and it does bother me) but photographs aren't the only evaluative tool to use. I know some downright beautiful women who just don't photograph well. And there are people like Cameron Diaz who literally wouldn't catch your eye if you saw her in person. I mistook her for a barista when I saw her in LA. She was very sweet about it, but I couldn't believe how ordinary she looked in person. The camera LOVES her though. And it's not at all uncommon.

My post may seem braggy about being photogenic, but it's not. It's led to some incredibly hurtful encounters when I've used online dating sites. There's nothing like a guy meeting up with me and saying "you look nothing like your pictures" (that were literally taken the week before) and basically walking out on the date. It happened more than once, and really sucked. It's the reason I haven't tried online dating again.

What photographs don't capture is our fluidity and a lot of other things that can add to attractiveness in person. I'm not saying it doesn't mean we can't work on getting rid of double chins if they bother you (I know I've got one when I hold my head a certain way, and it does bother me) but photographs aren't the only evaluative tool to use.

This is totally true. And in general, even if a double-chin photo of me makes me wince, I know it's just one moment in time -- literally a second -- from one angle, etc. And I'm cool with that.

Except for the wedding pictures part, because those are the ones that family members put on the wall forever (although generally those aren't candid profile-shot pictures, but you never know). So that keeps poking at the back of my lizard brain.

I know some downright beautiful women who just don't photograph well.

I do, too. I know at least one woman who is seriously heart-stoppingly beautiful in person, and I have never ever seen a picture that did her justice.

Steph, also remember that any wedding photographer worth the price of admission will be retouching those photos. Most of ours were candids and not posed, and I was pleased with them.

Normally, I cannot stand pictures of me. I don't think I look good in person or in pictures. My issues, they are legion.

Also: holy crap, today is 3 months to the wedding! I need to get off my ass and finish all the little fiddly bits of planning. If it were a few little fiddly bits, it wouldn't be a big deal, but I have a list about as long as my arm of little fiddly bits: take dress to tailor, buy shoes, order invitations (THIS WEEKEND), send invitations, buy/make table decorations, make playlists, buy wedding bands, get marriage license, make practice bouquet to determine if I really should be making mine, and, oh, write the ceremony and vows, among other things I know I've forgotten.

We picked the venue, photographer, cake, dress, and officiant so quickly that then we kind of stopped doing anything. So time to get my ass back in gear. Prepare for silly posts about the travails of making one's bouquet, etc.