Entertaining

I love to entertain. I don't do it nearly as often as I would like to - in fact, in the nine months we have lived here we have had people over just a handful of times.

We just got back from staying with family in Ohio. My brother and sister-in-law entertain all the time. Whether it is having her parents over for dinner almost daily, having a group of friends over to just hang out or putting together a backyard BBQ at the drop of a hat, they are pros. How do they do it? I think I may have figured out their secret.

They focus more on enjoying their company that they do on making sure the house is perfect, the food is pretentious, and the color scheme matches.

Sounds so simple, I don't know why I didn't think of it before.

Sure, I would love to have people over and lounge around the pool all day, sit at my large farmhouse table on my back deck, while the kids play in my perfectly manicured yard. I would of course serve them a 3 course meal that would make any Chef proud. The truth is that I live in a 3rd floor walk up with a balcony and camping chairs. Our only pool is the communal pool that is shared with 75 other apartments.

So what did I learn in Ohio? Toss some beer in to the cooler, some bowls of chips on the table and grill some burgers. Your friends are there because they enjoy your company, not because they are impressed with the table cloth matching the dishes and your mad culinary skills.