Today I had lunch with Kimberly Wilson, yoga and entrepreneurial phenom behind DC's immensely popular and chic Tranquil Space. We met for Japanese food in Dupont Circle, and had so much fun talking about our various projects and common perspectives on many topics that Kimberly invited me back to the studio to be a guest on her fabulous Hip Tranquil Chick podcast, which I already listen to all the time! It was quite a thrill.
Tranquil Chick Podcast #32: Be Your Authentic Brand is just a click away.
As soon as the interview ended, I suddenly recalled one of my favorite memories of when I lived in Washington, DC, for a year after college. Growing up in the Maryland suburbs and returning after school, I felt very out of place. I was living with my parents to save money and all of my new friends lived in communal shares downtown. I had no friends that I still spoke with from my early life, and as soon as I arrived in DC, I was sent to work in San Francisco for three months, where I had an incredible time and was extremely sorry to leave.
When I returned, I felt sorry for myself for a few weeks over my lack of a vibrant social life and moped around quite a bit, and then decided to do something about it. I made a list of twenty or so people that I wanted to get to know better (a few I had only met once in passing) and invited them to a dinner party just before the holidays.
I sent custom-printed invitations that promised, "Drinks at 7 o'clock, Dinner at 8," hired my teenage sister and two friends to serve throughout the evening, and ordered calla lillies even though they were out of season and six dollars a stem. I cooked most of the food myself and served it on china at a dining room table that seats eighteen. We had aperitifs in a living room filled with white flowers in the dead of winter and softly lit by candlelight. Dessert was a spread of tarts from a bakery half an hour away that I gone to pick up earlier.
Everyone had a wonderful time and I suddenly found myself surrounded by fabulous new people I quickly got to know better, and, after an evening like that, seemed pretty keen on me, too. I may have been in debt for months, but it was a very small price to pay for happiness! I am sure if I did it again, I could do it for much less money and still achieve the desired effect, as I am older now and have different ideas about style and ambiance (i.e., in-season flowers and fruit for dessert simplify things quite a bit, thus keeping the host or hostess much more relaxed). But the sentiment certainly remains the same.
If this story doesn't typify how amazing you are at making things happen and shifting energies and extending your connections to people-- I don't know what does. You're too cool.
Posted by: Elizabeth | May 19, 2006 at 04:05 PM
LOVED the podcast and look forward to reading the LIVING WELL BY DOING GOOD book you recommended. Have a great time at BEA.
Posted by: Susan Henderson | May 20, 2006 at 11:12 AM