friends: Emcee at a wedding

I was one of the emcee's at my friend's wedding on Friday. My goal was to be funny and entertaining yet still be efficient and ensure the reception activities were on time.

First, I wanted to introduce the parents and bridal party with music that would get the crowd super excited, I wanted it to be upbeat, fun and personal -- where stories and tidbits from the bride and groom about their bridal party members are shared. I thought this would give the audience some background...some context. When I go to weddings, I love hearing the personal stories, hearing how the bride and groom met, embarrassing stories etc..

Cara and I scoured Value Village and Wal-mart for the costumes and of course my mom, who is seamstress extraordinaire, made some of them too. The photographer loved it and here it is.

But rather than being humorous, I think I was actually a little dry and boring.. because I was very concerned about cramming everything in before 10pm. Would you rather the emcees try and make the audience laugh and crack jokes or just let you know what is going to happen next, plain and simple?

life: laugh and enjoy today

I was at a BBQ yesterday where there were 3 little girls. I was glad that there are still kids out there that can find joy in the simple things, things like blowing bubbles and chasing them around the yard for hours, in a complete absence of TV, computers or video games.

I was so happy making them laugh.

These kids reminded me to try and slow down the constant rush in my life and try to appreciate the everyday laughs and do things that bring me joy and a smile to my face. I find that sometimes I am so fixated on reaching long term goals and experiencing things far in the future, that I don’t always celebrate the small successes and appreciate the happy moments occurring today.