Joseph, I want my money back

Passion about the verdict overflows. We've traded walking for floating.  Smile?  We don't just smile, we are beaming!  With this excitement now comes preparation.

If you know me, you know I love to travel.  We both do.  We've done lots of it.  But again, this is a first that we'll be separated by more than 1000 miles.  And she's leaving me.  For a country I'm not familiar with.  With people I'm not familiar with.  ugh!! 

Trying to look past that we compile a list of preparation. 
Number One is: Get a Passport.  At this point we're looking at her leaving in roughly 6 weeks.  All literature says a passport takes 4-6 weeks to arrive. It's a Sunday, and while we can't do much on the weekend about it, we can get a passport photo.

We head to Walgreens feeling a little nervous, still in a state of shock.
No one in line at the photo department.  Great!
Someone working on the machine but can't tell if he works at Walgreens or not.
He's not making eye contact, absolutely no acknowledgment that we're standing there.
I start to grow impatient with being ignored.  Naysia gives me the all too familiar, "Chill out and don't embarrass me" nudge.

Finally, Joseph switched over and asked what he could do for us.  I'm sure I smiled and said we needed a passport photo.  He hurriedly grabbed the camera, pulled down the white backdrop and called Naysia over.  Took 2 photos, asked for our contact number.  He then says, they'll be ready in about 10 minutes.

No worries, we have to go grocery shopping and decide to return on our way home.  Upon our return I sent Naysia in the store to get the pic.  When we got home I kinda frowned.  I don't know much about passport pics but I was pretty sure this wasn't going to meet the requirements.

An appointment was scheduled for Tuesday, May 22, 2012 with Sharon at the Sun Station Post Office.  She was very kind, helpful and informative.  When it was time to give her the photo, she kinda frowned.  In her opinion the Walgreens photo wouldn't work for several reasons.  1) Too fuzzy.  2) Head too big.  3) Not enough of  a border around her face. 4) Glasses aren't completely upright. 
She took us on the side of the office and got a much better photo.
 

Left: Joseph     Right: Sharon

At the end of the passport experience this is what the prices looked like
Walgreens Photo $10.90
Passport Application $80.00
Expedite Fees  $60.00
Post Office Photo $15.00
Post Office Fees $25.25

Best believe I headed right back to Walgreens to get a refund.