Public speaking

This week is just a strange one. The boys had a Pro-D on Monday, followed by 2 days of getting out of school early for student-led conferences. And now all of a sudden it's Thursday... how did that happen?

I had my first "real" Epicure party on Tuesday night - with an actual hostess and people I didn't know in attendance... Gulp! There were a few familiar faces so that was comforting, but otherwise I was forced to do some public speaking in front of strangers! Not my favourite thing to do but apparently I did pretty good, even though I have no idea what I said. Sales were good, and it was a fun evening. A party centred around food... how can that be anything but great??

So this reminds me of the time I was a Maid of Honor at a friend's wedding in my early 20's... I really didn't want that "honor" because there was no way I was going to give the toast to the bride in front of 250 strangers! My friend assured me that she wouldn't make me do that, because she knew I had a huge fear of public speaking. So I agreed to stand up for her and it was a lovely day. We drove to the reception in the back of a limo, drinking way too much champagne, and I arrived very... aheem... relaxed. We all sat down at the head table and I was in good spirits, anxious for the fun party to begin. Halfway through the meal my friend leaned over and said "by the way, you're doing the toast... just thought I would give you a bit of notice." That's when the panic attack started and I began to sweat buckets in my teal taffeta dress... lucky for me, the dress came with a horrendous bolero jacket with crazy pointed sleeves which could take out an eye if I wasn't careful. So my pit stains didn't show through at least... so anyway, to this day I have no idea what my speech was about (remember the champagne?) but apparently I did an amazing job... everyone said it was great and I was funny and charming. And the bolero jacket stayed on all night in spite of the intense heat and hours of crazy dancing. I think I threw out that hideous dress as soon as I walked in the house that night, because I haven't seen it since. Thank goodness.

So yeah, public speaking is not my gift. Unless there's champagne involved. Or food.