Melissa is Coming for Dinner: I wish!
A beautiful life is about the authentic LIFE we live and how we share it with others!
So let’s imagine that my friend Melissa Michaels (author of The Inspired Room blog) and her family is coming for dinner tonight! For several years our families only lived 4 hours away from each other. That 4 is now 7 since Melissa has moved to Seattle, so our chances of getting together have become slim. We regret that we didn’t try harder when we lived closer to each other!
Yes, entertaining does take effort. Yes, you have to make it happen. It just doesn’t happen FOR you!
So I’m going to pretend …
It’s beautiful in southern Oregon right now. Cool nights and very warm days. Perfect for entertaining.
I’m setting the table with one of my favorite oilcloth tablecloths made in France. Can you imagine a table cloth you don’t have to wash? These beauties are made to wipe off with a wet sponge – and then they look like new! They’re nothing like the old vinyl or plastic tablecloths that our mother’s used to use. They are gorgeous and so practical for entertaining. You can find oilcloth tablecloths here (no, I am not paid to show you these!)
So the table is set for our family, and for Melissa and her husband and son. But if her daughters and son-in-law happen to pop in later, that would make our dinner party even more fun! I can be spontaneous! The more the merrier!
Simple table set – a few votive candles and snips of iris’ from our yard.
Food prepared – halibut that melts in your mouth and fresh salad from our garden. Perhaps a fresh plate of tomatoes with salt and white pepper with a drizzle of oil.
Melissa’s bringing dessert (power of delegation!)
Backyard ready for guests – easy ambience.
Kids ready to hang and play with Melissa’s son.
Maybe we’d dangle our feet in the pool after dinner.
Music is playing.
The night is young.
More than the ambience or the tablescape though, what makes entertaining real for me is the connection. The conversation that will take place, relationships that will be forged, and the intimacy that is shared.
It’s how we make a difference in this world — by reaching out to new families that come into our lives.
It’s called real entertaining for real people.
Do you have friends that live in different states that you long to have over for dinner, especially on a cool summer evening?
(Melissa is the author of The Inspired Room blog, where she encourages beautiful, authentic living. We share similar views on keeping things simple, especially when it comes to entertaining. Melissa endorsed my new book, so if you get a chance to read the back cover — this is the Melissa I am writing about here today!)
Sounds like a perfect evening. I am lucky enough to be sitting in Southern California (6 hours from home) spending a GREAT weekend with fabulous friends…makes me happy and also makes me want to share a meal with some other friend who are farther away.
Yes…I do. That is what is going to be so wonderful about heaven! We will all be together, but for now, there are a lot of friends I would love to have over for breakfast, lunch, or dinner!
We are fortunate to live close to many friends and we have a dinner group of 4 couples. We meet once a month at each others homes for dinner TONIGHT is dinner group! We love it!!!
I miss Melissa TOOOOOO! :o(
Road trip??? LOL
God bless!
I love the photo of your table settings. I want to have a tasting for my friends and have decided to have it outdoors. I’ve been searching for idea. Thanks.
Hi, Sandy! Loved the post and I love both you and Melissa. I was hoping you’d provide a link for those oil tablecloths. I’ve heard of them, but never owned them before. Isn’t this a beautiful time of year? So, comfortable! Have a great one!
The link is there, Elizabeth. You can also google them. They are wonderful!
I wish I was coming for dinner. Your book is on the top of my list to read this weekend. You are my favorite blogger and I haven’t had time to talk to you lately…. So I am coming for dinner.
I wish we could all get together for dinner more often. I hate being so far apart from my friends!
Yes I do … YOU :)
I, too, love oil cloth tablecloths. I bought one in Moldova. It is covered in fruit and so beautiful and real, that the birds sometimes land on my table.
I am glad you keep in touch with your friends, even long distance ones.
Fondly,
Glena
A plate of those tomatoes screams summer to me! Thanks for linking up!
~Kristin
This is a beautiful post! And yes, I have friends I pretty much want to spontaneously hop on the plane right now and go visit. My very closest friends live out of state—in Minnesota, Washington, and Colorado. Fortunately, I was able to just go and stay with one of them. The others are a bit further away. If I were to imagine dinner right now it’d be with my friend at her cabin in northern Minnesota on the lake. Love how I imagine myself at someone else’s place? I’d imagine her cooking and doing the dishes too LOL! ;)
Again, amazing post!
Friends far and near that I would love to have for a get together… Seems that life just keeps getting in the way of a formalized date.