Deal Brittany - Savvy Girl, A Guide to Etiquette: Full Color Edition Volume 2

@MustBringBuns

@MustBringBuns

mustbringbuns.com

How to Be a Hospitable Host
and Gracious Guest

On-the-Job Etiquette

... Download at BrittanyDeal.com

[BRITT:Growing up, your parents probably drilled certain etiquette rules into you, like saying please and thank you, chewing with your mouth closed, and holding the door open for others.

But now that youre a real-life grown-up (according to your drivers license, at least), youll run into many life situations where youll need to know more about etiquette than please and thank you.

To get you savvy on all things etiquette, I teamed up with Bren Underwood, a modern etiquette guru and creator of the etiquette, entertaining, and lifestyle blog Must Bring Buns . This Savvy Girl guide is your official road map to help you get through lifes important events and tricky situations with class and dignity. This book is intended to give you all the info you need to have the confidence to be yourself, the class to get invited back, and the comfort to know youre not in the dark.

While the word etiquette may evoke memories of rules, stuffiness, and being judged, Bren is here to show us why thats not the case: Modern etiquette is about understanding the guidelines rather than following a set of strict rules, she says. I personally love this because, as we all know, rules are made to be broken!

After all, were human. At some point in our lives, we will accidentally overstay our welcome, spill our wine, forget to send a thank-you note, or get caught wearing two different shoes to a party.

While getting ready that evening I asked my roommates opinion on what shoes to wear:

The strappy ones or the pumps? I asked

Definitely strappy, my roomie replied.

Unfortunately, Im a bit absentminded. And on my way back to my room, I forgot I was wearing two different shoes. (In my defense, the heels were the same height.) Forty minutes later, I got to the party and realized my mistake.

There was no time to go home and change, so I decided to own my silly error and poke a little fun at myself. And guess what? Instead of being judged for showing up not properly dressed, I was greeted with warmth, friendship, and a dose of loving laughter. I realized then that etiquette is so much more than proper grooming or knowing your way around a table setting. Etiquette is also about how we connect with others.

People wont like you because you have a great job or because youre wearing the perfect outfit. Theyll like you because of how you make them feel when youre around them. Sure, its great to learn about etiquette so we can minimize our mistakes, but the reality is no one will care if you forget which bread plate is yours or if you wore two different shoes to the party as long as youre kind, respectful, and have a positive attitude.

In the words of Maya Angelou, People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel. And that, I think, is the secret to etiquette.]

[BRITT:Meet Bren, Etiquette Guru and Founder ofMust Bring Buns ]

BREN: A few years ago, my husband and I planned to spend a weekend with friends at a ranch in Texas. Just as I was putting my cowboy boots in the car, I got a call from the office. A last-minute work emergency (hello, ad-agency life!) meant we had to drive to the ranch the following morning instead of that evening as planned.