i (heart) venice

ive suddenly realized that the last 24.9 years of my life have been completely wasted by chasing after american, irish, english, and brazilian men.

clearly, italians are the hottest men on the planet.

i am never leaving venice.

bye bye bye

hello everyone,

cannot write much. am in germany, and the keyboards are strange. having a great time. everzone i know in london is safe after the latest attacks.

-cfc

ven conmigo

i am so tired. late night last night, now red wine at work (literally on my desk as i type this... crazy english drinking all the time). it's too much. this is probably the last time i'll write for a while as the l'adventure grande begins very soon, so here's a funny lil' convo about my longterm plans i thought i'd posted quite a while ago... and here's a funny lil picture for you from a very fun weekend not too long ago. i now understand what nadine means about me not realizing how unhappy i look most of the time, hehehe. too bad i was actually really happy when this picture was taken. haha, oh well.

big night tonight. bigger day tomorrow. :)

~cfc

BobJE: : what then, after six weeks
dmbandie: ummm i guess back home
dmbandie: i've been asked to stay but the damn visa laws are a beeyatch
dmbandie: not really sure
dmbandie: might move to chicago for a while
BobJE: interesting
BobJE: just because, or is there a job you want there
dmbandie: just because
dmbandie: not looking forward to living in DC again
dmbandie: i think i'll be home from sept - jan
dmbandie: then either move to chicago, back to london, or LA with nadine
BobJE: she's heading out there, huh
BobJE: that's almost too ridiculous to pass up - having the two of you out there together
dmbandie: hahahah what?
BobJE: that's basically a sitcom
BobJE: "OMG~~! Liek, we R in LA! RoXXorZ!!" "I don't know what this city is all aboot, but I want to find some maple syrup!"
BobJE: the show writes itself
dmbandie: HAHAHAHA
dmbandie: scene 2: [morning, courtney is not happy] "well good morning courtney!!! have some pancakes and let's talk aboot dangerRuss" "AHHHH LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!!!!!"
BobJE: "I can't leave you alone now, hockey's on! Let's put on our blue jeans and jean jackets and watch the action on the ice."
BobJE: "Ok, Denim Dana."
dmbandie: HAHAHAHAHAHA
dmbandie: oh man, what will the sitcom be called?
BobJE: hmm
BobJE: Spazz Nation
BobJE: Canadian Bacon and Dynamite
dmbandie: HAHAHAHAHA

~cfc

"Sin ti me siento tan solo
sin ti no puedo mas
mi cuerpo pide tu cuerpo
tu alma acariciar"
~r.m.

It’s always better when we’re together...

(LtoR) In back: Brian, me

In front: Michael, Teri, Tomasz, Suzanne, Sharelle

I know that every Monday I get on here and say I had the best weekend, but this weekend was REALLY the best. :) Went up to the lake district (northern england on the coast of the irish sea) with part of the melrose place gang. left very late friday night, drove through the night only stopping to pick-up teri (american!) in birmingham. arrived at suzanne's house just after 5AM.... so everyone got to see how pleasant i can be during the early morning hours... hehehe ("i'm TIRED!!!!!!!!!! it's time for SLEEP!!!!!!! ROAR!!!!") thankfully everyone ignored me. good times. hehe.

went to lake windemere, took a beautiful lake cruise, picked out the houses we want to buy when we're katrillionaires. went to dinner and i think i laughed more than i have in about 4 billion years. ("that's the funniest thing i've done in like.... 2 minutes") went dancing and suzanne and i challenged each other to a competition of an unusual nature... sadly she won.... she won big. overachiever much?? hehehe. i amused michael by not being able to walk in a straight line and brian and sharelle struck several memorable poses. teri and i sang james blunt to everyone... an event i had to be reminded of the next morning, hehe. such a great weekend!!! :)

perfect weather, amazing scenery, AWESOME people!!!

the drive home took FOREVER due to some traffic on the motorways. sitting in the traffic reminded me a lot of DC and actually made me very sad about going home. :( not quite ready just yet.

off to heathrow airport this evening to pick up my dad and sister!!!

the grand adventure begins this week!! how exciting!!

~courtney

perfect quote for the weekend:
"Love is the answer at least for most of the questions in my heart
Like why are we here? And where do we go? And how come it’s so hard?
It’s not always easy and sometimes life can be deceiving
I’ll tell you one thing, it’s always better when we’re together"
~j.johnson

i'm so happy, cause you're so happy!!!

TRAVIS

me and fran & me and dougie!
liverpool - 8 july 2005.

i'm the happiest girl in the WORLD!!!

in all the planning yesterday i totally forgot to comment on the 2 minute silence held in london at noon yesterday in honor of everyone who died in last week's attack. it was so powerful, my office went out on to the street and everyone and everything stopped for 2 minutes. we could hear big ben tolling, and my office is a good distance from it. the whole thing is so sad.

off to the lake district for the weekend with part of the melrose place gang. :) should be fun.

THEN, the thing i haven't even begun to think about... monday my dad & sis roll into town!!! flying to amsterdam, then heading to koln & dresden (germany), prague, vienna, venice, rome, pisa, milan, geneva, nice, paris and cherbourg! ahhhhh by the end of 3 weeks i will be ready to COLLAPSE. :)

and best of all, got the travis pics developed. ;)

~cfc

"now I'm not a doctor
and I'm not a lawyer
I get a prescription and set it on fire
blow me a kiss
I'll be happy for the rest of my life"
~travis

well I was afraid I might get in the way

it's been a pretty traumatic couple of days here in the wonderful world of london. well, at least my part of it.... had a great talk with stacey last night where we re-strategized our DMB summer tour plan. it was shocking and disturbing but i think we've made the right decisions. after talking to her, joe, kasey, and nadine this week i started to *really* think about my friends back home, and how lucky i am to know such great people on both sides of the ocean. as much as i don't want to leave, i hadn't allowed myself to think about how much i miss some people back home. this whole london experience has definitely proven to me who is important and who will be there for me through basically anything.

finishing that thought, last night i met gitta for dinner and together we offically dropped the package, thereby closed the door on bad memories and were able to toast to *good* friends! it was a great feeling. :)

can't believe tomorrow's friday, this week has flown by!!! i feel like this whole thing is rushing to an end way faster than i want it to... :(
oh! new pics are up! http://photos.yahoo.com/kourtanay my favorite is "The Shows" folder. ;)

~cfc

"funny to think how the time gets away
funny how you take me right back again
funny the feeling
stole me away
first time I saw you, you did me that way
what should I say?"
~dmb

copying you!

i'm going to have a terrific blog post today! and i'm going to amuse people! i don't have much money saved up, and that's... okay... because i'm good enough, i'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!

more later, perhaps. and if not, that's... okay! i'm the best me i can be!

~cfc

[i'm copying this from yusef's blog for 2 reasons. number one, shortly after he posted this he made some big life decisions that seem to be turning out as good calls despite 70 hour work weeks, so perhaps stuart is good luck. and number two, it was my comment that inspired this in the first place, so i'm not really copying anyway!]

I'm a goddam sore loser...

i always knew that i was funny, but my tirade yesterday evoked a seriously un-anticipated response from my loyal readers. apparently the SWMMD trend is far worse than i ever realized, as it seems everyone has their own experience with SWMMDs to share.

i have a dream, that one day, there will be no more SWMMDs. that all the short, white middle-aged men of the world will attend concerts and not attempt to dance, and never EVER attempt to win the hearts of innocently-by-standing middle aged women by dancing akwardly to a beat of their own.

i have nothing more to say today, at least nothing that can beat the SWMMD story yesterday. so i'll leave you all in peace with this simple thought: i truly, truly, TRULY wish it weren't socially unacceptable to sing and dance walking down the street, because on my lunch break i nearly had to do that, i had no choice... sunshine on my face and good music in my ear turns courtney into a one-person broadway show. (even to the less-than-cheery ray lamontange, interestingly enough). it nearly broke my heart not to be able to share the magic with the other chumps spending their hour of freedom on regent street.

ah well, their loss.
~cfc

"I ain't too proud to stay
that I'm still thinking 'bout you
and I'm so lonesome without you
and I can't get you out of my mind"
~r.lamontange

i stand at the crossroads of high roads and low roads...

hmm, lots to say, where to start? (oh, happy 1 month til my bday day to me!)

thursday was horrible, to say the least. finally left work around 3pm and walked to rebecca's office in victoria to wait on a cab with her. went to her place in portobello to calm down a little bit. got some dinner and watched 'mean girls' (surprisingly hilarious), before turning on the news again to return to reality. very very very sad. very lucky that no one i know personally was hurt, although 2 of the affected tube stations (kings cross & russell square) and the bus explosion all happened within 100 yards of melrose place.

after many many phone calls and consultations with various transport websites, helen and i agreed to go ahead with trip to liverpool to see travis. it wasn't an easy decision, and reminded me of going to see ben folds just after 9/11. makes you feel silly going to see a band after such tragedy, but you can't stop living your life i suppose.

got the 8am bus (£9 - love that fare!) to liverpool and arrived just after 1pm. helen had found us the GREATEST hotel... literally next door to the venue!!! :) walked around liverpool for a bit before joining the queue at 6:30pm. helen warned me that the liverpool crowd might be a bit more 'rough' than the london audiences, i wasn't sure what she meant but i quickly found out...

got a great place dead center in front of the stage, about 3 ppl in. i was wearing heels so i had no problem seeing over everyone, but my feet were DYING by the end of the show. still recovering from all the dancing/bouncing. the venue, of course, didn't have air conditioning, so about 20 minutes into the set the crowd was a big fat ball of sweat. gross! the wonderful fran healy insisted water be brought out, because he's just that concerned about his fans. i held on to my water for dear life for the rest of the set. SUCH A good show!!! i think they were about 3 seconds into the first number "sing" when dougie looked at me and smiled... hehehe. *blushes* what a hottie. i turned to helen, "i'm SO GLAD we decided to still come!!!"

i was initally in front of 2 cute tall boys from denmark, which made me feel good b/c (a) i like cute boys, and (b) i was approx 9 feet tall since i was wearing heels, but they could still see over me. when suddenly tall cute boys are replaced by a standard middle-aged on-a-first-date couple. there are a million reasons why i don't like being near couples at shows, but the main reason this time was that it became clear that the dude was both drunk and totally unaware of personal space. during the opening act i tolerated a hand on my ass for about 2 seconds before glaring at him and posing in a way that was so awkward any fool would have realized i didn't want to be touched. any fool except that one.

so forgive me but i must digress where to comment on what i believe is the saddest result of man versus nature. it's a trend we're all familiar with, but sadly i got to witness/feel it first hand during the show. i'm talking about Short, White, Middle-aged Men Dancing. (SWMMD). You know what i'm talking about, and if you don't, go to any DMB show and linger by the corporate boxes halfway up the venue, during one of DMB's more peppy numbers. You'll see what I mean. It's very disturbing. I haven't seen the movie "hitch" starring will smith, but I know from the previews that it address the issue of SWMMD as will tries to help that guy from 'king of queens'. based on this scene alone, i can only assume that "hitch" is a fantastic movie and should probably receive an nobel peace prize for trying to stop the spread of SWMMD.

i wasn't expecting to encounter any SWMMD at travis, especially up at the front, so imagine my joy when the music picks up a bit and i realize from the flailing against me that drunk dude is dancing. and he's not just a SWMMD, he's a UBSWMMD!! (Ugly Balding Short White Middle-aged Man Dancing!!) this is without question the worst type!!! in additon to bumping into me repeatedly, he bopped about, moving his body all at once, as if totally incapable of moving his upperbody independantly of his lower body, and definitely not in sync with the rhythm of the music. all this was done with a tall beer in hand and the middle-aged woman with him seemingly oblivious to the fact that such dancing is NOT normal, and definitely not attractive! just before the water was handed out to the crowd, i realized UBSWMMD was now sweaty as well, and i started to feel ill. the illness got worse as his lady-friend joined him in the bop-dancing-crapola. why oh why are people allowed to carry on in such a manner? ugh ugh ugh. will someone think of the children??

i don't know what happened to this specific SWMMD after the show, but i'd like to think that (like most SWMMD's do after shows), he went home with his lady friend and made some sweet sweet love and secretly congratulated himself on wooing her with his stellar dance grooves. thinking this makes me want to vomit, but it's the sick, sad circle of life, i suppose.

if anyone runs into me in the 2040's in a corporate box at a show and i appear to be enthralled with a SWMMD, please don't blink or hesitate for a second, just break out your hand gun and shoot me in the head. trust me, i'll be better off that way.

anyway, travis played a great set, full of hits, and one new track 'closer'. fran commented before 'love will come through', that the next song was about "real love, not hollywod love. real love is like a mountain range, full of ups and down, not all pefect like in the movies." hmmm, i love fran healy. way to sum up all my delusions in one sentence.

i'm a little disturbed because, for the life of me, i can't remember who i saw them with at the 9.30 club in oct of 2003. yusef? sarah?? bueller??? ugh, i'm getting old.

helen and i went back to our room and changed after the show, before returning to the venue to give our regards to the band. got some great pics, will post soon. we were happy to discover the opening band chilling at our hotel bar after the show, hehe.

beautiful saturday in liverpool, walked around the town/harbour for a bit before my train. couldn't help thinking that despite the overwhelming stress of terrorists, money, boyz, life decisions, and the eternal struggle of man v. nature, it's a pretty amazing world we live in. how wonderful it would be if we all got along.

the rest of the weekend basically spent at melrose, which is offically the most annoying place to get to now that 1/2 of bloomsbury is blocked off after the attacks.

happy monday,
courtney

"If I told you a secret
You won't tell a soul
Will you hold it and keep it alive
Cause it's burning a hole
And I can't get to sleep
And I can't live alone in this lie"
~travis

better

okay, have heard from everyone, feel a little bit better. the constant drone of sirens on the streets has calmed down which is nice. escaping the building for a bit in hopes of clearing this massive headache i have.

many thanks to brian for calling me this morning to warn me off the tubes.

~cfc

confusion

very scary morning here in london. reminiscent of 9/11. not sure yet exactly what's going on but ended up walking most of the way to work.

have heard from everyone except michael and tomasz... :-/

~cfc

Happy Olympic Bid/G8 Summit Protest Day!!

This country is absolutely ABUZZ!! Too much going on in one day! The Olympic decision, plus the protests just up the island in Gleaneagle....

But, first, i must explain the "how's your father" hilarity from yesterday... many thanks to this website for solving the mystery!!! hahaha.

Hence, 'How's your father' became a euphemism for you-know-what. I imagine it never caught on in France because Frenchmen didn't care who shagged their daughters as long as they could watch.

Please do visit the sight for the amazing illustrations.

Spent last night at melrose with brian & the gang. Brian told us all about his time in australia, the good and bad... :(
But, a bit of good news! Brian has a BLOG!!!! Woo hoo!!! Next we will have to create a Melrose Blog for group posting. hehehe.

~cfc

it's been a long time...

it's been a really long time since i've posted an entertaining IM conversation (actually never in this blog), mostly because my AOL- IM conversations are basically non-existant in this time zone and land where everyone uses MSN. but thanks to my pal and fellow american-in-london Rebecca, today was one of those "please stop it before i start hysterically laughing and get fired" conversations. i think we were still high off of patriotism from yesterday. hahaha.

dmbandie: so i'm like, 9 to 6 should be fine
dmbandie: but it's always more like 9.20 - 9.30
dmbandie: see why i'm so shocked they want me to stay??
R: lolol, yes
R: but i'm sure when you do get there, you're good at what you do...
R: so that's prolly more important than getting there at the buttcrack of dawn...or it should be anyway
dmbandie: yes, if "what i do" is surf then net, then i'm ace
R: hey.....me TOO!!!
R: we're both SO skilled....wow
dmbandie: hehehe
R: oh and get this...i can IM like, 3 or 4 people simultaneously...now that's talent you want in the workplace
dmbandie: hahahahahahaha
dmbandie: i can download illegal programs faster than anyone i know!
dmbandie: give me a RAISE
###################
dmbandie: it's a line from a DMB song
R: OH ok, then it's fine
R: lol
dmbandie: hopefully he'll get it
R: it almost sounded a little erotic, lol
dmbandie: hahaha, it's a v.erotic song
R: oh is it? lol there ya go...
R: so, you're telling him the truth, AND telling him that you're still up for a little how's your father...
dmbandie: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
dmbandie: a little how's your father?????
dmbandie: oh my god
R: i so don't know where that came from
R: lol
dmbandie: i am trying SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HARD not to laugh out loud right now
dmbandie: tears... streaming...
R: LOL
############
R: oh, just so you know
R: these are my new favorite words:
R: asshat
R: and
R: fucktard
dmbandie: HAHAHAHAHA
dmbandie: are those from the batman boards?
##############
R: weren't you supposed to marry gavin? he's going to be so upset...
dmbandie: oh man, this is getting tricky
R: juggling all your husbands..
dmbandie: plus if you take into account the fact that pete yorn's waiting on me
dmbandie: this is rough
R: who's pete yorn?
dmbandie: (singer/songwriter)
R: ah.
R: well, sounds like you've got your hands full there...
R: i need to find me some musician boys...
dmbandie: for real!
dmbandie: i think (unmentionable)'s still touring! ;-)
R: oh dear god.
R: no, no, no! lol
dmbandie: hahahahaha
R: (unmentionable) was nice, but he's not....sparky enough for me, you know?
R: not "sassy" enough
R: needs more spunk
R: more....moxy
dmbandie: hahaha!! more moxy

oh man. anyway, off to melrose where brian has FINALLY returned from australia!! i think the only people more excited than me are perhaps gitta & micahel who can finally be relieved of their care-taking duties over me!!! hehehe. took some fabulous pics of our 4th of july celebrations last night, will post soon.

~cfc

"it's been a long time,
We shouldn't have left you
Without a dope beat step to step to
Step to, step to, step to..."
~aaliyah

from sea to shining sea...

Happy Fourth of July!!!

Today truly is my day of independence, as i finally came clean with my job about the big trip coming up! Suprisingly, they could NOT have been cooler! Worked out when my last day would be, arranged for my vacation days to be paid as well, and then we started talking long term. I was worried that they wouldn't want me back after i told them i need 3 weeks off, but ... they do! Now it's a matter of straightening out my visa and booking return flights! woo hoo! :) i feel really good about everything now.

Had a great weekend, spend saturday afternoon at LIVE 8!!! with michael & gitta... i was the ONLY person in london screaming my head off when they showed 30 seconds of DMB performing in philly... but oh well. hehehe. great day, such a powerful event. very glad i went.

late night saturday i met up with Sharelle in, shock of all shocks... crapham, otherwise known as clapham. we went to a club i've often wondered about called infernos. it was £10 to get in, which is ridiculous... but if anyone had told me that the BEST CLUB EVER was 2 feet from where i live perhaps i wouldn't refer to it has crapham!!! any club that plays tiffany, followed by britney, followed by lionel richie is a CLUB I WANT TO BE AT!!! hehehe. sharelle and i had no less than 4 guys trying to follow us home. blondes do have more fun!

sunday after about 4 hours sleep i went to lovely notting hill to meet up with rebecca for some shopping and BATMAN! totally understand yusef's obsession! great movie!

off to celebrate america's independence in england! hehehe.

~cfc

And I knew for sure I was loved...

apparently, it's july. who knew?

sitting here at the computer lab, reflecting on what a difference a week makes. :-/

finally went to the texas embassy cantina that i'd heard so much about from helen at feld inc. :) thursday night had some margs and nachos with rebecca, who FINALLY came back from the states, and gitta... :) good friends, good times. :)

last night went to the crazy walkabout with nicola... SO MUCH drinking!! discovered my new favorite drink, the snakebite (cue: nicola's handmotion)... it's half beer (!!!) and half cider and something fruity and red with an S on top. soooo good. i finally understand why people who drink beer take so long to drink... those things are HUGE. can't throw em back like you can with vodka/crans.

~cfc


"If I could get another chance,
another walk, another dance with him
I'd play a song that would never, ever end..."
~l.vandross, RIP