I have a separate blog called Intentional Hospitality, but my purpose in writing this post isn’t so much to give you recipes and timetables as to talk about a major source of happiness–and nervous breakdowns—in my life: throwing parties.
I have always liked to cook, going way back to my grade-school days. In fact, one of my fondest memories from about fourth grade is the time that my mom put me in charge of cooking dinner and I made everything from the
Wow, what a week. I realized yesterday that I hadn’t written any posts since sending out my newsletter on Monday. Although one finish line (the end of the BSF year) had passed, this was concert week, with performances last night and tonight. Thursday afternoon and basically all day Friday were consumed with making food for the reception last night; Tuesday and Thursday night were rehearsals, and then I rushed to get to the venue yesterday in time to set up my cupcake stands and put out my food.
I wasn’t able to post this until today because of some technical issues. What a total joy to participate in this concert! I did indeed try to be mindful throughout. Don’t know that there’s much more to say. If you live anywhere near Greenwood Village, CO, come to our next concert! I’ll start posting about our new music in January. In the meantime, take a look at what you missed.
Here’s what I wrote in the afterword section to my book (see sidebar for ordering info!) titled “What I Learned From My Summer Vacation”:
1. Pay Attention
I’ve mentioned earlier how my mind tends to scamper ahead of what’s actually happening so that I don’t fully experience what’s going on at the moment.
My favorite movie of all time is Amadeus, the 1984 film adaptation of the play by Peter Shaffer. (Not the R-rated “Director’s Cut” version, please, but the PG-rated original release.) It’s not historically accurate in many ways, but so what? It is permeated with the glorious, glorious music of Mozart. And I have to believe that Tom Hulce’s portrayal of the this incredibly gifted but often troubled genius is very close to what the real man was like. So many great scenes.
I’ve been writing quite a bit recently about two subjects: tools and planning. As I write this I’m facing two frantic days to prepare for tomorrow night’s concert and reception. Yesterday I got all of my grocery shopping done, a task that I would normally have put off until today. So today can be solely dedicated to food prep that can be done ahead, housework, and going over my music. We have our second concert-week rehearsal this evening, which will be fraught with the usual angst over our entrances and exits. (Why we can’t just have a standard procedure that we always follow is beyond me, but I guess it keeps us from getting complacent.)