Dinner Parties of Love

I love having people over to my house for dinner. Somehow it just makes the place feel warmer. I enjoy the effort of making the meal and preping the house . I grew up in a home where people were always coming over and the house was really the center of everything. I'm glad that we have found friends in PDX that feel the same. Any time I send out an invite for a dinner party it is met with an enthusiastic 'yes' and 'what can we bring'. Sometimes I tell them to just bring themselves, after all that is the point of having you over. But sometimes I tell them to bring something to compliment the rest of the meal. It just depends.

One of my other favorite parts about dinner parties is decorating. It's never elaborate but I like to try find ways to make the table feel special, elevated. I was pretty proud of myself for our Valentine's Day dinner. Some simple carnations, a few cups, and some votives supplied all the glamor for the evening.

 I cut the carnations super short and tied them into bunches. Then stuck them in some short glasses and added water. A beautiful result for very little work.

I made sure to polish the wine glasses as we were setting the table to really make them sparkle.

I don't need to be Martha Stewart or any of those other people, but one thing that they did teach me was that you could make your guests feel even more special with a few simple accents. It literaly took me more time to buy the carnations than it did to put these center pieces together. And what a beautiful result.