Mark and I love to have people over. It allows for quality time, easy conversation without the noise of a loud restaurant or being on the timetable of a waiter trying to turn over a table. We both enjoy cooking and it’s a good way to make use of all our various kitchen gadgets. While I love the chance to go out and try a new restaurant in San Francisco, sometimes it’s nice to have a meal at home with good company.

The problem with entertaining is that sometimes I over-complicate and stress over silly things. Silly things like figuring out how to make 5 new, semi-complicated dishes that I saw on a blog that are really more than I bargained for or should be attempting at once. How do I get 3 hot dishes timed correctly to serve for dinner when I only have 1 electric oven? To decorate or not; will I seem like a crazy Martha Stewart if I make those labels I saw on Pinterest? Do we play games or not? What if they don’t like the food? I want the food to be fresh, but not spend the evening in the kitchen ignore the guests.

Do you get the picture? I worry over things that probably aren’t an issue or it’s an issue I’m creating (like attempting 5 new semi-complicated dishes an hour before company arrives). However, as time goes on I’m picking up our own ways to make things simple, but nice as well as getting new inspiration and ideas from other blogs or pinterest browsing.

This will be a new series on “easy entertaining” as I share tips I’ve learned over time, my own hosting successes and failures, ideas for the future, inspirational finds and my entertaining experiences along the way. Plus I’m hoping this series gives me the extra motivation to try new things when we have friends over.

Do you entertain often? Do you ever over-complicate?