Who makes up the rules anyway?

I'm typically not a rule breaker. I was never the kid who colored outside the lines. I like to know the boundaries and stay within them.


Ok, ok, so I smoked twigs when I was 13 years old on a swim team trip, which turned in to cigarettes a handful of years later (no, I do not smoke anymore, thank you very much) and ok so maybe I had my first drink well before the age of 21, but those are just details. Forgetting about all those infractions, I really tend to follow the rules. Wait, I just realized that I typically go at least 2-10 miles over the speed limit. I don't floss on a regular basis. I have been known to drink boxed wine in a water glass. Occasionally I'll use cream cheese in a recipe if it calls for milk and I've run out.

Well, looks like my theory is blown to bits. I don't follow rules. There, I've said it. The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.

So in what appears to be a long list of rule breaking, I've done it again. Yesterday morning I decided I wanted to have a dinner party. I've been married for 17 months and have all this beautiful china that we received as wedding gifts, and it's just been sitting in my china cabinet. (Do I at least get points for buying the china cabinet to display said unused china? I think so). I want to use my china. People need to eat off of it. I mean, its beautiful. And aside from my desire to use the china, tomorrow marks our One Year anniversary. No, not our wedding anniversary. It's the one year anniversary of our house! (Well the house itself is 80 years old....) We bought our house exactly one year ago tomorrow. So I want to celebrate. So we're having a party.

So yesterday (i.e. Thursday) I sent an email to a handful of couples and invited them over for dinner on Saturday night. I then did some research on throwing a proper dinner party, seeing as how I've never thrown one. I quickly learned that I broke the first 3 rules of dinner party etiquette:

1. "Call each of your guests to invite them personally. Do not email them. Alternately you can send a proper invitation." FAIL. In my defense, this is the 21st century and the interweb is a part of everyone's, especially my generation's, daily life. We live in the day of the evite. Email is quick and easy. I think my friends might find a personal phone call odd? Doesn't that put you on the spot? Well, this doesn't exactly go with my whole disconnect to reconnect plan, so maybe I should have called. Note to self for nest time.

2. "Give your guests at least 10 days advance notice of your dinner party." FAIL. So I admit that 2 days advance notice is short notice. But so far almost everyone is coming, so maybe advance notice isn't all that necessary. Or my friends don't lead as busy lives as I thought. Maybe we just lucked out.

3. "Try to keep the guest list small and intimate. Six to Twelve guests are perfect for this type of event." FAIL. I tried, but we're up to 13 and possibly counting and it was hard to keep it to that minimum as it is. This will be a good test of our dining room table and its seating capacity. We may have to break out into two different tables, but I'm hopeful we'll all fit. Cozy is always better, right?!

So my rule breaking streak continues. But who makes these rules anyway? I think its Martha Stewart. But she did do a stint in the big house, so I think I'm ok if I rebel against the rules.

So here's to hoping my dinner party's a success, despite my indifference for the rules!