I week ago today, myself and Eddie Q emceed the Yorkton Celebrate Success Business Awards at St. Mary’s Cultural Centre. I have a few stories for you that I didn’t really talk about on the air, lets say a behind the scenes to what the night was like for me. I don’t get out much, so getting to put on heels, get dressed up, and actually leave the house was so nice! I did instantly regret wearing the heels though. My 38 year old feet just don’t want to do it anymore. My sisters motto growing up was, beauty is pain. And that is very true. But beauty is also comfort, and being able to walk without wincing every step. So I think I am officially done with wearing high heels.
One thing that was so nice though, was commiserating with my friends and ladies who I haven’t seen for a long time about the woes of getting dressed up for an evening out. At one point there was three of us women in a group, and we were talking about how do you keep your suit jacket pinned up properly, when the pin keeps falling out! I do know on Instagram, this one influencer that I follow who is fabulous, has talked about a clothing stapler, that doesn’t wreck your clothes but keeps things in place! I need to find myself, and those ladies one of those! Then the conversation went to picking out what we would wear for the night, we all had similar ideas in mind, and then two of us decided no to the suit jacket because we’d be too hot, and just in tanks tops, and they don’t sit right anyway. It was a moment of pure joy for me. I work with a lot of men, and I can’t have these conversations with them. But being surrounded by women with all the same clothes troubles, was just so nice!
When I’m emceeing I really can’t eat before I have to go on stage. Even now after 17 years of being in the industry with lots of stage work, I still have butterflies in my stomach the entire time. And food and butterflies don’t really mix. But we were at St. Mary’s Cultural Centre that night, and you know how fabulous their food is! Everyone from Yorkton and area knows how fabulous their food is! Perogies, and cabbage rolls, and their roast beef, and THE BEST horseradish (in my opinion) around. Eddie Q is sitting next to me, diving right in, having no problems eating a full plate of food, plus dessert, plus second helpings. I’m not food shaming him by any means, I was thoroughly jealous. He obviously didn’t have butterflies, or his butterflies don’t mind being squashed by food.
When the volunteers were coming around and clearing the tables, I asked one, if they possible had to go containers in the kitchen. I know, it was a long shot. This gentleman asked another gentlemen who was cleaning the tables as well, and they both said, go back to the kitchen and they were sure the ladies would be able to find me something. Oh those poor ladies. All 4 women in the kitchen when I went back looked a little annoyed, confused, and questioning. Like who the heck did I think I was, and why would I think they would have a to go container. But very quickly, when I said I had to do stage work and I couldn’t eat the delicious food but I wanted to, the ladies regrouped and found me two paper plates. THANK YOU to the fabulous staff at St. Mary’s Cultural Centre, especially the women who make that amazing food!
I do want to give a shoutout to Juanita and Sherry from the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce. Juanita is so organized, she made emceeing for Eddie and I an absolute breeze with her prepared script! A lot of times as emcees we find out what we are saying moments before we go on the stage. I was able to sit down with Juanita a week before to go over things! That was fantastic. And Sherry, oh my goodness, she is the life of the party, and I had a permanent grin on my face that night because of her! It was so lovely getting to work with these two fantastic women. Thank you for inviting us to be apart of your night!!
Now back to the food. Because of those wonderful ladies in the kitchen, when everyone was making the mad dash out of the parking lot when the awards were over, while scraping off their vehicles from the ice and snow that had come down, I got to sit in the GX vehicle letting it warm up, while I ate my leftover roast beef, mashed potatoes, and perogies! That was the perfect way to end the night.
-Tonya Cherry-
And if you actually read to the end of this blog text me at 306-783-8622 and tell me how many spelling mistakes I had.