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Waiting for a ring? Is he holding a box or a phone?

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I was chatting recently with my old friend Michael, who I hadn’t seen in a while, and told him I was writing a blog.  “Is it too technical, or would I be interested?” he asked.  I began to giggle. Why you ask? Because for all practical purposes, this is a wedding blog.  And Michael is not the marrying kind.  Now I’m not saying he’s gay, he’s dated women as long as I’ve known him.  He was even engaged once, but he couldn’t go through with it.  He’s just not cut out to function in the kind of arrangement that makes so many others so very happy.

I was delighted to hear yesterday that after all these years, he’d finally figured that out. He laughed too and shook his head – and basically said (out loud!) that he knew “it was never gonna happen.”  He knows he’s not meant to be married, and now he’s very upfront with anyone that comes into his life.

In this season of romantic jewelry store commercials pulling at the heartstrings of women across America, (see above for the kind that used to absolutely kill me as a single girl, and which will be EVERYWHERE until Valentine’s Day) I caution “someday brides” to tune in to their partners; make sure you’re not waiting for a ring from a guy who’ll never understand the way you love, and need to be loved in return.

Live well and love well.

-Dinah

Twinkies? We don’t need no stinkin’ Twinkies! Easy Holdiay Party Hostess Success!

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Many are afraid of losing the Twinkie to history.  But the word HOSTESS brings on fear of a kind unrelated to chemically enchanced spongecake. Let me be clear: there is no reason to fear having guests. At it’s most basic, entertaining is simple. Order take-out, and be entertaining. 

Guests today are not like those of the 19th century.  They do not come to your home in white-tie expecting to be served a seven course dinner by your Butler.  In fact, if you are clear when you make the invitation, they may not expect to be fed at all.  Recently we had friends over and I invited them for drinks and dessert.  They plainly knew this was not a dinner party, and were delighted with a special winter cocktail, and freshly baked cookies.  But were you neither baker nor drink maker, there are goodies at supermarkets that are delicious, and flavored holiday concoctions that are very celebratory spiked or non!  And truthfully, if there is enough food and booze at a party – everyone has a good time.

Cheers to not waiting for “perfect” parties!

As for being entertaining, you don’t need your own stand-up comedy routine. There are many easy games that take the pressure off you running the gamut from old fashioned charades, to a full on session of “Dance Dance Revolution,” or if you’ve got a more academic crowd, a rowdy game of Scrabble will do the trick.

So forget making everything perfect! Do you ever hear people say they went to a “perfect” party last weekend? No.  Aim for Great! Aim for Fun! Chinese food on paper plates might be the best party you ever had.  Take that Martha Stewart.

Live well, and love well.

-Dinah

Holiday Cards? Already? Yup. It’s time.

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I have always loved photo holiday cards- especially the ones from happy newlyweds! The husband and I didn’t get our act together these past 2 years, but look out Holidays 2012! I’ve used a code on Shutterfly and ordered 10 free cards.  It pays to be on their email list – they are always sending out codes for one free thing or another. We’ll see how it goes with 10 cards, and maybe we’ll order more.  What I love about a site like Shutterfly is that all my info (and boatloads of my photos) are already in there, so yay! Less work for me!  I thought I’d share our first ever card.  Let me know what you think!

5×7 Folded Card
View the entire collection of cards.

 

*Full disclosure, I’ll get a discount on my next purchase if I send them the link.