Apparently passports can take a long time to receive after you send away for them. There is an option to expedite the process, but that costs extra moolah!
Since we’re leaving on a cruise with our friends at the end of April, I wanted to be sure to give my passport a good seven weeks to process since my old one expired and I need a new one.
I headed to Walgreens to get my passport picture taken right before lunch this afternoon. After talking with my friend Michaela in Colorado about heinous passport photos, I was worried that the photographer wouldn’t let me smile. Michaela said they didn’t let her smile in her passport photo, which resulted in a horrific convict-esque non-grin.
Since Michaela and I both have a hard time not smiling when someone says to “be serious” in a picture, I feared that my picture would also be a weird closed-mouth awkward grin.
Fortunately my passport photographer didn’t say anything about not smiling, so I bared my teeth and gave her a grin!
Even though it looks like my eyes were blacked out, that’s infinitely better than my “serious” look would’ve been.
Our wedding photographer took one serious photo on our wedding day (I told her ahead of time that they weren’t our style) and it still cracks me up.
It looks like we were mourning the death of our singles lives.
I remember the photographer who took our school pictures during my senior of high school made everyone do a “serious” picture. Mine was so hysterically awful that my family put it on the fridge immediately to taunt me when we got the photo proofs. A model, I am not!
I actually had something kind of funny happen to me when I asked to change my last name from Bream (my maiden name) to Fagan in the Walgreens system while I was waiting for my passport photo to print. The woman asked whether or not my first name was still the same.
Do people often change both names?
I wanted to tell her that yes, in fact, I did change my first name and am now Princess Consuela Bananahammock, a la Phoebe Buffay. (There will never be a show better than Friends, I am convinced.)
Lunch
Today’s lunch repurposed the salmon leftover from last night’s dinner.
I made myself a salmon salad wrap by combining the following:
- Salmon
- Light Miracle Whip
- Mustard
- Relish
- Chopped cucumber
- Chopped carrot
- Sliced grape tomatoes
I also ate roasted Brussels sprouts and zucchini on the side.
Dessert was a speckled piece of poo.
Or a date rolled in chopped almonds. 
Off to do some editing!
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Passport photos are like drivers license photos- they never turn out good! Yours in very good however, you seem so photogenic!
Lovin all veggies lately!
I am sitting in the airport reading your blog and laughed out loud when I read your caption about your serious wedding photo! I am such a smiley person too so my “serious” pics usually look pretty goofy!
LOL at your serious wedding pic, it’s so awk looking 🙂 Good thing you two can laugh about it now 🙂
isn’t it horrific? our photographer had to count to three so we could drop our smiles and she could take that one horrific picture. let’s just say it didn’t make it into any albums or frames.
I think your passport photo turned out great! That’s funny that you posted about passport photos. My fiance and I are planning on getting ours taken tomorrow. First passport for both of us for our honeymoon! Exciting! 🙂
So jealous of your brussels sprouts. I haven’t be able to eat them lately because of tummy issues. I miss them.
Beautiful picture!! I can NOT take serious pictures, either – I just look depressed or angry. That’s so hilarious about your family putting your “serious” senior picture up on the fridge – love it.
i just look like i’m constipated or something. it’s not attractive.
that speckled piece of poo looks delish 😀
And then ryan could change his name to crapbag! Don’t you love how Friends can apply to every situation in life?
i watched the clip on youtube and died at “crap bag.” so freakin’ funny!
Love that wedding picture! Just out of curiosity, how much time per day do you devote to blogging and how long does it take you to write a post (editing pics+writing)? Random question, I know!
oh gosh, a lot. i’m really not sure… hours and hours. i’m at my computer from 7 a.m. – 5 p.m. most days (with a break for lunch/a quick walk with sadie sometimes) and i spend that time blogging, creating freelance content, answering emails, bookkeeping and working on other random projects that seem to pop up frequently. certain posts take longer than others! i know that’s such a vague answer but it really does depend!
That’s OK…not vague at all. I was just wondering cause it sometimes takes me forever to publish a post so I really admire you since you do it 2-3 times per day. All the time you invest is worth it though 😉
i know this may sound crazy, but blogging 3x a day for me is LESS overwhelming than the thought of blogging 1x a day since i feel like my post would be neverending. it’s definitely time consuming. i just checked out your blog and it is gorgeous. i love the bright, clean look!
I’m sorry, but I burst out laughing at that picture. It looks like there must be something incredibly depressing in your bouquet! You both look great though! 🙂
don’t worry, we all did. 🙂 it’s a tragic photo.
Glad I’m not the only one! I always laugh though at inappropriate things.
Julie-really hope your passport gets here in time. Not to freak you out but when I changed my name on mine it took like 15 weeks to come back. Maybe they were just super busy back then?
I changed my first name, middle name and last name.
My name is was Jennifer but was called Jenna since I was one. So, I finally changed it. And I could not part with my Maiden name or my middle name (it’s a family name) so I kept my maiden name as a duel middle name.
It was a pain and is a mouth full but how often do you use your middle name??
i kept both, too! i am officially julie elizabeth bream fagan… julie e.b. fagan. oh yes. 🙂
My passport picture is so embarrassing I look like I just committed a crime, you are lucky you got to smile!
You were on a roll today crazy lady…had me laughing the whole way through the blog…and nauturally at the poop for dessert remark…bc I’m mature like that. Yay for the cruise!
When I got my passport photo, they told me I couldn’t smile! Have you ever tried not to smile when you want to smile?
I love the serious wedding photo! Reflecting on the day…ha ha!
Princess Consuela Bananahammock is my second favorite Friends episode! The first, of course, being the quiz episode! BIG FAT GOALIE!
i LOVE the quiz episode. MISS chanandaler bong.
Lucky! I was NOT allowed to smile in my passport photo and it is seriously scary. I look like a serial killer or something!!
Oh my gosh that is one of my FAVORITE episodes of Friends ever!!! It never fails to send me into fits of laughter.
I thought it was kind of a requirement that you can’t smile in your passport picture? But if your picture is accepted, you’re soo lucky to have such a nice one!
It reminds me of the Tyra episode where she invades a DMV and gives a bunch of women makeovers for their driver’s license pictures!
I think I about spit out my chocolate milk while reading this entry- OMG so hilarious. I also just got done doing one of your leg workouts, holy won’t be walking tomorrow batman. 🙂
haaaaha to the serious wedding photo. I love it.
honestly, serious wedding photos to me always look like the bride and groom are trying waaay too hard to look modelesque. it’s supposed to be the happiest day of your lives.. c’mon!
so i have a theory about serious wedding or engagement pictures. they look great if you DON’T know the couple. when you DO, you just cannot take them seriously and they become fantastically hilarious.
That lunch looks delicious, not helping me take my mins of the fact that I can’t get lunch for another half hour 🙂
You could have also told her you had changed your name to Regina Falangee (also a Phoebe special).
Mourning the death of your single lives 🙂 Love it.
When I saw your “serious” pic I though omg they look like they’re mourning then I scrolled down and saw you said exactly that! Who wears white to a funeral? LOL
LOL about the serious wedding photo – – you guys do look rather unhappy!! And by the way, your passport photos are GORGEOUS! They are pretty strict about not letting us smile up here in Canada (for me anyway!) so sadly I look like a convict in mine!
My passport photo is ATROCIOUS, probably because, as you feared, my photographer told me that smiles were not allowed! Oy. I kind of can’t wait to get it re-done!
Hey Julie! I have to say I just stumbled across your blog recently and it’s already my new fave, even though I’m allergic to peanut butter 🙁 That pic is too funny and it doesn’t get much better than salmon and Friends quotes to me! Keep it up! (:
thanks so much, jess! so glad you found me!
I would’ve said “Chanandler Bong”
I have the same issue with serious pictures. I look TERRIBLE when I’m serious.
LOL to the mourning your single lives. Hee!
Hindus believe that the husband and wife’s initials have to match. If not, the wife typically changes her first name too- my sister went from Shyamla to Karina!
haha, thank you for the multiple laughs.
1. You should have just made your official name “Crap Bag.”
2. Speckled piece o’ poo actually had me convinced enough for a solid second until I realized how gullible I was.
Friends = the best.
Your passport photo is great!! Mine is terrible and I can’t wait to get it changed yet I really really don’t want to pay to get a new one. I got a new one when I changed my name and when they sent me the new one it still had the same expiration date. I was sort of upset by this because it was still so much money!!
Well done!
I’m sorry… but your serious wedding picture cracks me up! It looks like Ryan is about to laugh. I’m definitely not a serious picture person either! I look crazy. During my passport photo, they wouldn’t let me smile, but I did kind of turn the corners of my mouth up so I wouldn’t look completely scary. Yours look great!
Haha I have never heard of anyone changing their first name – so weird. I want to go cruise in April – jealous!
haha ur wedding pic is cute!! but since u point it out, yes u do look sad haha. that salmon u had for lunch sounds awesome!! i need some more salmon around here
This post gave me the laugh I needed today. poop and consuela. perfect
I’m with you…I can’t seem to NOT smile in pictures! My original passport photo was TERRIBLE (I totally looked like a convinct) then, just when I thought it couldn’t get ANY worse, I went ahead and lost my passport on the Tube in London. I was studying abroad and needless to say, a little stressed out. The next picture was taken after bawling my eyes out…no bueno. Every time anyone at an airport looks at it, they grin stupidly, or ask me if I was having a rough day.
Ugh me and passports do NOT get along! I’ve lost two, had one sent in for more pages, and then had a fourth stolen. I’m pretty sure the government thinks I’m lying and ordering extra passports just to sell on the black market 🙂
First name crap, last name bag. LOVE it. And now we need to see that high school photo that was so terrible!!
Nick and I recently did the quiz where Chandler makes everyone guess as many states as possible in 6 minutes…you know, where Joey guessed 56! gah, I love, love that show.
And I’m a moron…I didn’t get all 50 states. Chandler was right-you always forget a few. 🙂
http://betterwithfreckles.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/chandlers-dumb-states-game/
My passport took 6 weeks. Mailed it first week of February 1. Just got it yesterday. Hope yours gets to you in time!
Ah my passport picture is serious – I got it taken before I studied abroad in college and the lady wouldn’t let me smile. It really looks like a mugshot. Also, when I got my senior pictures done in high school, the one was a serious profile picture. SO hideous and tossed out immediately!!
I know there’s no such thing as a stupid question, but that one kind of was! Why would she ask you if you changed your first name?! Maybe she thought you were in the witness protection program.
Your lunch looks awesome – what a great leftover idea!
Love the lunch… I’m a fan of anything salmon!
HAHAHA. This post cracked me up. We had to tell our wedding photographer not to do any serious pictures either, and she didn’t believe us until she tried one.
“Crap Bag. First name Crap, last name Bag”…<3 Friends, best show in the universe.
You get the award for best passport picture EVER!
YUM! You have me craving that yummy looking salmon wrap! **My mom works with passports and she said: After the passport office receives the application, they say it takes 4-6 weeks. If you expedite it ($60 extra), they say 2-3 weeks, if overnight mailedboth ways. Have a fun trip!! 🙂
OMG I love Phoebe Buffay! Princess Consuela is pretty solid, but is it even better than when Mike wanted to change his name to Crap Bag?! 😉
I need to get my passport renewed. This makes me incredibly nervous! If someone tells me not to smile, I guarantee I will have a giggle attack which will certainly result in an awful picture!
I fall asleep to Friends every.single.night. If it’s possible to love a show more and more after seeing every episode at least 50 times, then I have accomplished it. Can you name your favorite episodes of all time? Mine are the one with all of the embryos (aka the trivia game when Monica and Rachel lose the apartment) and the one with the cop (aka the one when Ross says PIVOT!!!). I also enjoy the one with the holiday armadillo.
The one where Ross says PIVOT! is seriously my favorite EVER! Hilarious! Love Friends….
i LOVE that one, too! ross is my fav!
My old passport photo was TRAGIC. If I was able to find it and scan it onto my computer it’d probably win some sort of Awkward Passport Photo contest. Just picture the biggest goober smile with my head pulled so far back that I practically have three chins. So weird, so unnecessary, so funny!
Gosh, your passport photo is beautiful! So much better than mine. And the salmon wrap looks delicious.
P.S. I literally laughed at loud at your comment about your serious wedding picture. “It looks like we were mourning the death of our singles lives.” Hahaha, it does. 😉
I’m terrible at serious pics too – I always have look like I’m in terrible pain or I’m depressed. That serious wedding pic made me laugh – it looks like Ryan is about to burst out laughing at any moment.
That wrap looks delicious!
I think that’s a great passport photo! you should see my husband’s. he decided to do the serious-tough guy look and it turned out more like sleepy-angry guy. it’s hilarious!!!
“mourning the death of our single lives” lol. totally cracked me up!