One Little Thing: an Inspired Invitation

This is the cutest thing. Why not turn an ordinary supper with a girlfriend into an occasion? Doesn’t have to be the Moulin Rouge–just one little thing that’s special. That is all you need to create a sense of occasion in everyday life. If not now, when?! So here’s what my friend Nina Griscom did this afternoon, using the Penultimate app on her iPad, she wrote:

Nina's Sunday Night Invite
I'll take brilliant chat with mediocre food anyday, won't you? It's a special thing in New York to be invited to someone's home, because everybody goes out all the time.

It went on for two more pages, specifying the dress code (bathrobes), and the evening’s agenda (wide-ranging). The Ninja (as I call her) by the way is a very good cook, so her “mediocrity” is over-modest.

Speaking of modesty, I will now go and put on the bathrobe least likely to look ridiculous trailing beneath my coat, and I will hope to find a cab very quickly. Not that I’m worried about it; it’s New York, after all. But now I think of it… in Tarboro, this is how Mama drove my sister and me to Sunday school nearly every week, with her rain coat over her bathrobe, which hung out the bottom by about two feet. She made even that seem kinda glamorous. I’m sorry she and Nina never had a chance to meet.

9 comments

    1. Monday morning update: I overslept. Just sayin’. Love your comments and confessions – ha! Also to let you know the app Nina used is called Penultimate, and it is very cool, best for the iPad, and requires a stylus to draw and write with.

  1. That is just one grand little idea…absolutely wonderful! You are so right, Frances; if not now, when?! I had to chuckle reading your comment about your mama driving you to Sunday school vested in raincoat over bathrobe…my mama did the same thing in little ol’ Lake City, SC…driving us to school and Sunday school…coffee cup in hand! I can still smell it…yum!

  2. Well damn…I did that with MY children! PJ’s and robe on with camouflaging coat on top! I’m a product of my mother…I guess some things just don’t change, and I say a big halleluja to that!

  3. Okay. I’ll take the mediocre food.
    If that menu is mediocre the chat must be off the chart…
    Blessings…

  4. oh my gosh, Frannie– love this post. And i just downloaded the app…it’s so cool…I’ve been wanting to have a little “come in your home clothes” (as in, what do you put on as soon as you walk in the door) casual comfort food gathering.. and this might be just the spur to do it..

  5. LOVELY idea! And the story of your mother adorned with a raincoat over a bathrobe as she dropped you and your sister off at church took me back to my own childhood… I had stayed overnight with a friend and we were running late for church. Her mother… you guessed it – drove us to church in her bathrobe. The added color was that her muffler decided to be ornery and a policeman tried to warn her about her muffler. She smiled and waved at him and sped away!

    I’m loving your reflections and your aesthetic. Thanks for all that you share.

    Cheers!

    1. Pamela, how funny! Who knew we would strike such a universal chord? Ha! Thank you so much for writing 🙂

  6. I can remember my Mom picking me and my date up from the movies when I was in High School her her robe and night gown ! What fun memories ! Thanks !

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