Hi, My Name Is...Sicka Sicka Slim Tiffany

Starting a new job is never easy.
It's difficult meeting all new people, figuring out exactly where you fit in socially, and learning everybody's names.
When I first started my job(4 years ago), my then-supervisor somehow got it in her head that my name was Tiffany. Not a huge deal at first; she was old and I was initially understanding.
But after a few weeks, when she still hadn't learned my name, I became a bit annoyed. So I told her that my name was actually not Tiffany and that I preferred to be called by my real name, Courtney.
Her response was shocking.
"Well you look like a Tiffany, so I'm just going to call you that."
Now Maureen, that's not really nice is it?
You can't just go around changing people's names on them.
But she did. For the entire two year period that she served as my supervisor, she called me Tiffany. And in turn, I still refer to her as Ursula.


(OK, so I'm lying about calling her Ursula, but she totally referred to me as Tiffany. Come to think of it, I should have shortened it and asked her to call me "Tiff" instead. I kind of like that...)

Red Light, Yellow Light, Green Light, Go

Sometimes I wonder if stoplights are psychic bitches.
Because they plot against me, turning red when I'm in a hurry; turning green when I need to apply makeup, change out a cd or search through my purse for whatever reason.
Devilish little creatures, they are...

Ahh, The Ring Bearer

So this weekend was my girl, Amy's wedding. SO MUCH FUN! It was one of those perfect weddings, where the couple's meant to be, the bride's beautiful, the groom's a hottie, and the church is amazingly decorated. Very fairytale.
The maid of honor from the wedding, Anna, is gorgeous. She's like 5'10" or 5'11" without heels, so add our wedding heels to the mix and she's freakin' tall. And just as we're about to enter the church for the ceremony, the little ring bearer looks at Anna and then at his dad and says innocently, "Daddy, why's that woman bigger than you?"
Just as I was about to gasp in horror, Anna responds in her best sarcastic southern belle voice, "Aww, isn't he just precious." And as she proceeds to explain to Ty (The ringbearer) that she's a superhero with all kinds of special powers, it's my turn to enter the church. I literally have to fight the urge to giggle all the way down the aisle. Good stuff.

Dr. Ray - I Heart You!

Today, while sitting in the dentist chair, I was given a big decision to make.
Deal with five teeny little minutes of semi-pain (minimal pain, according to Dr. Ray) while the dentist replaced my filling sans anesthesia, or pay an extra $30 for those precious shots and deal with several hours of mouth/lip/tongue numbness.
And as I sit here, two hours after the fact, slurring my words, drooling on my clothes, and possibly biting my tongue off without even knowing it, I have no regrets. Nope, not even one. Because those five minutes that I sat in that dentist chair this afternoon were five of the most pain-free moments of my life.
Cheers to that!

Gas to get to the dentist's office: $2.50
Cost of anesthesia after insurance has covered its share: $30
Dry cleaning bill to remove saliva from my clothing: $5.00
Knowing that a man DRILLED into my tooth and I didn't feel a thing: priceless

Gullible Co

I've always been one to get stuff wrong. With words, I mean. I can never quite understand exactly what it is that songs/movies/commercials are saying.
On television shows with sponsors, for instance, they cut to commercial and say, "Brought to you by...(insert sponsor name here)."
And until the age of like 13, I always wondered what "broughtude" meant exactly. As in "broughtude by..."
In Mariah Carey's song, "Dreamlover," I could never fully understand the line that went, "Cause I wanna share forever with you baby." So a friend of mine told me that it said "I wanna shivarivva with you..."
I bought it.
And for years I wondered quietly and to myself exactly what it meant to 'shivarivva.' I finally came to the conclusion that the shivarivva was a dance I had not heard of.
For months, I tried (without succeeding) to figure out exactly how you do the shivarivva...
Thank goodness for google.

A Memory with Allison

It was the night before I was supposed to move away from College Station. I had gone out with the girls to karaoke night at Shadow Canyon. The worst singer ever gets up on stage and begins to sing "American Pie."
The crowd grows tense and silence fills the room as this horrific singer begins to butcher this classic song. The tension grows as the man fumbles on the words and fidgets awkwardly on stage.
And then he hits the chorus, "And they were singin' bye bye Ms. American Pie, drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry..."
Suddenly, a few members of the audience start to sing along. A muffled humming sound takes over the room. People start to dance a little bit.
The man hits the chorus again. "...Them good ole boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye, singin' this'll be the day that I die. This'll be the day that I die."
By the end of this chorus, people are full out singing along to the song, swaying back and forth in one collective motion, toasting the horrible singer and just having a generally good time.
I remember exchanging a look with Allison and almost starting to cry. We both knew at that point that life was changing. We would no longer live in a world where even bad singers get toasted by the crowd and where having fun is the top priority. College life as we knew it was officially over.
Something about that moment really summed up that part of my life in a way that I could never have put into words.
I often wonder if Allison still remembers that moment also...

I Had To Give In...

...and schedule a dentist appointment for next week.
Ever since the age of 15, when Dr. Schrader gave me four fillings and never offered up anesthesia of any kind, I've had this insane fear of dentists.
It kills me that they just nonchalantly lay all their torture devices neatly in front of you so that you can vividly imagine the horror that you're about to endure.
I can still picture 15-year-old Courtney, sitting there scared and in pain, feet straight out in front of me and not even touching the chair, knuckles white from my hands clenching the seat, tears welling up in my eyes. It was my first set of fillings and I didn't even know that deadening my teeth was an option. But as a dentist, you let people know these things!
Because here it is, 11 years later and I'm still scared.
You bastard!

Feelin' the Love!

Do you ever get to the point in life where things start to feel like a whirlwind? Things get so busy that you don't even have time to stop, but there's nothing that you're willing to give up...
These past couple of months have been exactly like that - three weekends ago was my cousin's surprise party followed by a day at Space Center Houston, two weekends ago was the bonfire at my friend's house followed Amy's bridal shower in Lufkin, this past weekend was Amy's bachelorette party in College Station, this weekend I'm going to a women's conference in Houston, next weekend is Easter weekend and the next is Amy's wedding, followed by the cookoff and then our trip to Chicago. Team that with 9 to 10-hour work days recently, hanging out with our friends and family here in town, and all of our church events, and you've got yourself a relatively busy schedule.
It's been SO MUCH FUN seeing some of my girls from college these past few weeks. I hadn't forgotten how much fun I have with them, but it's nice to be reminded of just how silly we can get around each other.
It was so great to back with some of the same girls I used to hang out with, in the same town where we all met, shopping in the same places we used to shop, hanging out at the same places we used to frequent.
Definitely great...and much needed!

Amy's Bachelorette Party Pics

Oh yes it's ladies' night...
My girls gets married in T minus three weeks and counting!!!