Deyna

It is hard to answer the phone at work: "Give Kids The World Human Resources, this is Deya."
"Hi Dina"
"I'm sorry, this is Deya."
"This is Dina?"
"No, this is Deya. Dina's on the other line, can I take a message?"
"But I need Dina."
Unfortunately, our names sound exatly alike on the phone. So several of our fellow staff members have started to refer to us as Deyna.

Adventures of Deyna Part 1: A few weeks ago, our insurance broker invited my boss Dina and I to a March of Dimes charity dinner at the Portofino Hotel at Universal. I'm not really one to pass up an opportunity to get all gussied-up, but when I found out that local chefs and restaurants were having a cook-off at the event and we would be voting on the food, well, I'm no idiot. Dina and I went to the event and had a great time. I will say, the biggest challenge of the night was trying to find me a non-alcoholic beverage! All off the restaurants had wine pairings with their food, so the servers weren't bringing drinks to the tables at all. I asked for a water and was completely scoffed at as if I had requested a free-night in the Penthouse Suite. I tried to explain the situation and was told the cash-only bar had soda. This plan had 2 loopholes. 1) I never carry cash and 2) I hardly ever drink soda. Nice. Dina is now very distressed that I will become dehydrated and pass out before the night is over so she is on a mission to find me a drink. She goes to the Blue Martini (a very trendy club in town) booth and convinces them to give me a martini glass of ice and orange juice- yes, straight. Everyone at our table was dying to know what my fun drink was. And no one believed me! The Playboy bunny-esque bartenders did not want to refill my 5oz of juice so we were back at square one after my ice melted. Hmmm, what to do? We eyed a coffee cart and saw a pitcher marked "Skim Milk". I poured a coffee cup full of skim milk and it was possibly the most satisfying dairy drink of my life. The moral of the story? Don't bring a hand bag that won't pack your own bottled water.