If we couldn't laugh...

Today I had a moment when I almost took my beautiful and precious and quite expensive PC and tossed it off the ferry into the Puget Sound. I am not kidding. I learned that threatening or swearing at a piece of equipment does nothing for its speed or accuracy. I also decided that the US Coast Guard would be suspicious of my angry technological gesture.

So, after a very frustrating day, it was great to calm down with my husband on the ferry (it's the greatest people watching on earth), put the top on the car down for our commute home, pop in my favorite Eva Cassidy CD, and count my Blessings. I have a fabulous husband and home, a job I love, a great team, amazing friends and family and thankfully we all manage to laugh every day. I always have to re-learn to keep things in perspective....

I've spent the past several hours 'cleaning up' my PC and came across some of these pictures that depict some of the fun we have at our office on a daily basis. As I spoke lovingly to my PC this evening, I couldn't help but chuckling about the day and recalling one of my very favorite quotes "If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane."

Amen, Jimmy B.

A very moving tip

Guess what our office has been up to? Yes, we are officially moved into our new office (a cute little renovated house, actually) in beautiful and quaint downtown Edmonds, Washington. Between the Holidays, the move, some exciting new ideas and goals for 2008 and just the day to day fun, somehow I looked up and found that it is already January! Even more shocking was realizing that our blog site hadn't been updated since November. Wow. If the old saying that 'time flies when you're having fun' is true, then at Good Taste Weddings & Events, we've been having a laugh riot.

We've also added 'keeping up with the blog' to the list of our exciting plans and resolutions for 2008. So hang with us, it's going to be a great year!

I like you, too - Amy Sedaris

You've got to love a book with a sub-title that reads: Hospitality under the Influence. This book is Amy Sedaris' hilarious look at entertaining. I would recommend signing onto amazon.com immediately and ordering two copies - one for yourself and a second for your favorite hostess. Shucks, I think this may be a Christmas staple for those friends of mine who love to throw - and attend - parties! Here are some of her ideas:

• Party Strategy The second you decide to throw a party start making ice. Sedaris calls buying a bag of it "cheating."
• The Guest List If everyone is the same, the party is a boring convention. Still you should avoid toxic combinations, like an astrologer and an astronomer, the newly divorced couple, and a serial killer and a drunken teenager.
• Invitations Be specific about time, location and themes so guests can dress appropriately. If you don't RSVP immediately, hosts will worry you are waiting for a better offer.
• Etiquette Don't arrive early unless specifically asked to. But do arrive on time, especially for a dinner party. Depending upon the host, consider practical gifts like toilet paper and stamps. If you want to bring wine, ask the hostess what she is planning to serve and bring a bottle of that. If you want to be graceful in an old world sort of way, send a bouquet of flowers the following day.
• Adult Proof Your House Assume guests will snoop. Plan ahead and fill your medicine cabinet with marbles.
• Try to Turn a Profit Capitalize on the chance to sell things to a house full of liquored up, generous guests. Set up a table of things you are selling for 25 cents. A strict hostess Sedaris has three rules for party sales: 1) it has to be a quarter, not two dimes and a nickel; 2) you break it, you buy it; and 3) you buy it, you take it away.
  

Who said entertaining couldn't be entertaining?

Bottled Water and a Smile to boot!

When planning weddings, I love adding just a bit of whimsy that reflects the personality of a couple. These beautiful personalized bottled waters are lovely but when you look closely, you'll see some fun reflected in the quotations on the back of the labels. It's fun to include these in your welcome baskets for your guests and perhaps in your hospitality suite. In addition to sharing the beautiful memories of your celebration, your guests will be smiling long after your big day has gone. Cheers!