Our family is always ready for some football! We are Carolina Panthers fans, and for years our tailgates have been organized by a self-proclaimed Executive Committee and supported by countless others through annual financial contributions. During the holidays, when everyone’s families are in town, the size of our tailgate can swell to 100+ family and friends. Although the…
Welcome . . . As I chat with friends, I hear a familiar refrain: Where has the summer gone? I have no idea, but I hope you’ve enjoyed every minute of it! Highlights for us were the beach with family and summer nights on our porch at Grandfather — made more special by the fresh summer foods we…
Dear Friends, What an exciting year 2018 has been for Effortless Entertaining! Thank you to everyone who has invited me to speak and to all who’ve attended my presentations. I’ve loved being in your communities, reconnecting with old friends, and making so many new ones. I hope you will enjoy the gorgeous photos from the EE event hosted by…
Welcome . . . God blessed me with a big, raucous, and abundantly loving family! They have truly been God’s gift to me my entire life. Once Ed and I started our own family, they were God’s gift to them, too. My mother’s family came from Lebanon to start a new life in America. We…
As I write, I’m listening to Ella Fitzgerald’s version of “Summertime,” and the song makes me want to slow my pace and lean into the joys of family and travel that await in the season ahead. Our family will spend as much time as we can in the North Carolina mountains. For 25+ years, these…
Dear Friends, By the time you receive this, May will have raced by. Depending on your season of life, you may be busy with end-of-school-year plays, art shows, science fairs, spring sports ending and summer sports beginning. Maybe you’re enjoying those high school, college, or graduate school graduations? I know there are many of you…
Dear Friends, I am writing this month’s newsletter from one of my favorite places . . . Hilton Head, South Carolina! This beautiful island is home to our good friends the Richardsons and the Hoddes, and to all the wonderful new friends they’ve introduced us to over the years. In your Effortless Entertaining guide, Step Two, I…
In writing this first issue of My Effortless Entertaining, I’m reflecting on spring and the gratitude that fills my soul for the new life this season awakens. Ed and I were married on a spectacular day in May at the height of spring’s beauty and abundance. Our happiness, though, was mingled with our great sadness…