Don't Say Cheese

Well I woke up bright and early yesterday, geared up for the day to begin. As I was getting ready for work, a thought suddenly hit me. My license expired on that day! Uh oh! So my first thought was what to wear. Well I was already dressed so I looked at my shirt to see if it was suitable for my pretty mug shot license photo. Now maybe this is a woman thing. In my opinion, most men would not care what they were wearing for their license pic. So the verdict was well, it was a new shirt but wasn't sure it was "license material." So I started to change and then decided what the heck, I was being too picky about a pic that not everyone gets to see. Only those people that I have to prove I am myself to, or people that do not believe I am old enough to buy goods that I buy on a rare occasion get to see the pic anyway. And 99% of the time, those people are strangers anyway, so why in the world would they care what shirt I chose for my license picture? So after debating on if my shirt was ok or not, and deciding it was fine and refusing to allow myself to change, next thought was OMG ~ the hair! AHHH... was it going to be a good hair day or a bad day for the perfect hairstyle? At this point I had not fixed my hair yet so I was hoping and praying it would be a good hair day! Well after using my straightener and making sure every hair was in place, I decided it was an "ok" hair day. An "ok" hair day is not the best, but could be worse so I was content with it.



So off to work I went all psyched up to go on my lunch break to get my new pretty license and all of a sudden, I had a huge realization...



The day was Monday and the license branch is closed on Mondays. Hmmm... so now all that worrying over the shirt and the hair for nothing! Oh well, at least I looked good for the customers who came in to my office and for the strangers I saw in Wal-Mart LOL.



So fast forward to today. This morning when I woke up I was at least mentally prepared for the big day ahead. The day to have my pic taken to put on a permanent piece of plastic for the next 4 years. Oh my, the thoughts of the previous morning came rolling in to my mind! I must have the perfect shirt, my hair must be fixed just right, oh my!! So while staring at the clothes in my closet, I decided on another new shirt I bought this month. And then came the moment of truth ~ was today going to be a good hair day or a bad hair day? Well... I am happy to say it was a good hair day! Not just a good hair day, but my hair gave me no fits at all. It was as if my hair knew today was the today it would gets its image posted on the new license so it decided to cooperate in a perfect manner!



OH WAIT JUST ONE MINUTE... I left out one VERY important part of the whole getting ready for the pic scenario. The other article of importance would be the jewelry. Yes... the necklace and the earrings because those do accent the face! So I took a moment or two to think about this one. I had accessories to match my outfits the last two days but opted to go with one of my favorite necklaces and sets of earrings. My pretty circle of diamonds matches about any shirt, casual or dressy in my closet. So that was the item of choice and not only did I have to wear it one day, but two days in a row! And to most of us women, that is a no-no. You can't wear the same piece of jewelry days in a row. But I did, and it's ok. I will live with it. Now just don't tell my neighbors or friends because they might think badly of me. Just kidding!



So then lunch time came around and it was time to go get the hideous dreaded jail resembling pic new license pic taken. So I did one more check of the well fixed hair in the bathroom before I left the office, just in case it had changed from 5 hours ago ya know. All was well and off I drove to the lovely place we all dread can't wait to visit each year. Yep if you are like me, you mark the day on the calendar when you can visit those lovely smiling employees at the license branch each year! (Now for my blog followers who know I am a blonde, I also do have a sense of humor and have SOME common sense in there so that was a joke in case ya didn't pick that up) Ha!

So I arrived at my favorite place and only had about a 20 minute wait which wasn't bad considering it was the end of the month. I listened to the nice lady ask me all these questions such as:
"Do you have any other id from another state?"
"Have you ever been convicted of a felony?"
And the list went on and on. I cannot remember all of them but I felt like I was given the "are you a criminal?" interview.

Then the moment I had been waiting for finally arrived. I stepped over and sat in the chair with the blue background behind me. The nice lady gave me my instructions ~ push the hair back off my forehead, sit up straight, and don't smile for the camera! I stopped her right there and told her that was difficult for me to do because I tend to smile alot, especially for a camera flash! So while sitting up straight in the chair and trying not to laugh, she got ready to take the mug shot and I busted out laughing. She couldn't take the picture since I was "smiling." She then started laughing at me because I couldn't sit up and "not smile." I apologized to her and told her it was more difficult not to smile than to smile. The man beside me looked at me like I was from another planet and was laughing at me. I could see what his expression read "wow, that girl must be a total ditz. But she is kinda cute though...." I didn't care though because I was having fun at the moment. So finally I took a deep breath, sat up straight and "didn't smile" for the camera. She snapped the pic and it turned out good on the first try! That was wonderful considering the man & woman before me had to get their shots taken 3-4 times before getting a good picture. They didn't look too camera oriented though! So I was proud of myself ~ after my laughing attack, I was able to take the pretty pic with the first snap of the camera!

And finally at last, I was handed my new permanent plastic mug shot that identifies me driver's license. Well the end result is my pic turned out ok and you can see the resemblance of a smirk on my face. Oh, I guess the nice lady did tell me I could smile but show no teeth. Now that looks goofy so forget that idea!

Then I noticed something else new about this license. For the mug shot, they zoom in really close to your face now! On my old license, it showed my full head of hair and part of my shirt. Well, not on this new identification! So it was a good thing I had a good hair day even though the pic cut off part of my head that shows my hair. Oh and I can see the earrings so at least that part got in the pic too! And the shirt I wore looks a different shade than it really is, well the eensy weensy teeny tiny bit that you can see anyways.

So all the worrying and fretting over what shirt and jewelry to wear ultimately really did not matter. So my advice to anyone who is going to renew their license is this ~ don't fret over your appearance. Just make sure you hair isn't in your face (for women with long bangs, I have no advice LOL), make sure you don't smile (because that isn't allowed as I learned), and don't stress over this fun activity we get to repeat every 4 years! And if you are like me and have to smile for the camera, practice this move at home before "not smiling" in public. Or else you will give the nice employees and customers something to laugh about! Or is that just me? =-)