MOVE OVER MARTHA

A while ago I posted about wanting to learn a thing or two about hostessing from Martha Stewart. I loved the idea of providing postcards and stationary in the guest rooms {although when we have visitors, they rarely have need to send handwritten letters or send postcards from our neck of the woods}. But now...NOW. Kathryn M. Ireland, interior designer, has really piqued my interest in the ways of hostessing. She's relaxed and inclusive. Here's an excerpt from an article in this month's Domino magazine {can you tell I just read it from cover to cover?}
"One of my earliest and most enduring memories is of my mother at her Aga range, stirring a large pot of Bolognese for a cottage full of houseguests. Immediately inclusive, she had a way of making everyone feel comfortable and, most of all, wanted. She allowed a wide margin of error and communicated that anything could be fixed...All this made a big impression on my little soul and laid the foundation form my future as a mother-of-three, Bolognese-stirring houseguest-junkie. I have extra rooms in two homes on two continents and, taking after my mother, my motto is, "fill 'em up!""
This is the kind of hostess I want to be. And it seems that if I were this relaxed, comfortable, spontaneous, and real, Martha couldn't hold a candle to me.