I have so many ideas for this blog, lists in my binder, lists in my head, and thoughts that wake me up in the middle of the night. It can be overwhelming just trying to decide the best place to start. So I am just going for it. Starting here, there and everywhere. Just know that it will be a work in progress for quite a while. I hope you will stick with me, tell me what you like and don’t like, what you need and what you could have done without.
Some of the ideas on my list are just things I want to learn more about and share, some are memories, thoughts, failures and victories. At first I thought the goal would be for this blog would be to share the best ideas I could find for entertaining, tablescapes, holidays, family gatherings and more. I just really felt I am not really yet qualified. I have so much to learn. Having come to that conclusion, this blog is now about my own process of learning, designing, imagining, and creating what will hopefully be wonderful events and times of hospitality.
As a child having a big event usually meant it is was the annual visit from my grandparents. Mom would make us clean our rooms better than ever. The house would be made spotless. My favorite part of this recurring memory were the meatballs. Memories of Mom and I rolling meatballs and dropping them in the sauce. Watching the sauce simmer and the meatballs cook. The scent of her amazing spaghetti sauce would spread throughout the house. At some point the excitement of seeing Grandma and Grandpa, while still the top of my list, would almost be tied with the mouth-watering anticipation of her special recipe.
Then one day I grew up and had a home of my own. A home to decorate, to share with others, to clean and to fill with the scent of meatballs and sauce. As life progressed that first home, an apartment in West Germany, other homes and apartments have been decorated, there have been lots of parties and entertaining. When our daughter was very young we would invite everyone in our families and our circle of friends. We would enjoy the company of 20 or more people in our little two bedroom home. Our current home in Hendersonville, Tennessee, has lots of room for our entire family and our circle of friends.
This blog that I am sharing with you is a journey of sorts. A journey of my adventures in planning and hosting family events, decorating for holidays, planning our annual Christmas open house and more. You can expect other tidbits along the way, some birthed through my own struggles and questions. Like all journeys there will be laughter, joy, struggle, I hope you will join in the conversation, share your own ideas, dilemmas, strategies and questions.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey!
Blessings,
Lauree
…keep dancing the dream!
