August 2020 – #TheAuthorMoms

Friends Don’t Let Friends Research Alone – Part 1

We’ve had so much fun launching The Author Moms that we wanted to make sure you got a front row seat to all that we have going on and all the escapades we’ve had.

For years, Becca and I have been dear friends. We’ve been critique partners. We’ve traveled, gone on book tours, gone to conferences, and researched together.

Earlier this year, I asked Becca if she would go with me on a research trip. You see, I’m thrilled that I have a new series coming out from Bethany House that takes place in 1905 at the beautiful El Tovar Hotel that sits on the rim of the Grand Canyon.

The timing seemed to be perfect. Becca’s daughter was due with her first child (which would be grandbaby #1 – woohoo!) several weeks later – so Becca said she could swing it for a few days so I didn’t have to go by myself.

That, people? Is friendship.

Here we are at the Grand Canyon. Let me tell you, I have what my kids call T-rex arms (they’re short – lol) and so trying to get a shot with both of us AND the massive Grand Canyon in the background was quite a feat. But we did it!

And we didn’t fall in! (I FaceTimed my parents a few times from there since they’d never seen the Grand Canyon… and one time my mom said, “don’t fall in!” – it gave us and several other tourists a good chuckle. One of the guys who heard it said, “You never stop being a mom.” Yep – that is so true. I’m sure I’ll be saying stuff like that to my adult kids for the rest of their lives too.)

Becca is more than just a friend. And she’s more than just family, too. She’s also a brilliant author and so when we were doing research, she knew exactly what I needed. She also came up with incredible questions to ask and ideas for me to pursue. She’s amazing and I’m so glad she walked into that writer’s meeting a decade ago so we could meet.

The research trip was fast and furious, but full of fun and TONS of pictures, notes, questions, and ideas.

Friends don’t let friends research alone.

About to have our first meal at The El Tovar restaurant. This dining room plays a major part in my stories since The Harvey Girls are so integral to the history here.

The Story of the Dress, Part 2

Kim and I were on a research trip at The Grand Canyon when Kayla called to say she was ready to go wedding dress shopping…and she wanted me to be there. You can’t know what that meant to me. You see, I missed dress shopping with my daughter. We just couldn’t find a time that fit her work schedule, my work schedule, and the dressmaker’s schedule. Instead, her future mother-in-law was with her that day, which is great, it just stung that I couldn’t be there.

So when Kayla asked me to be part of her dress shopping, I immediately got weepy. What a precious gift to be included.

Of course, this was in early March before COVID-19 shut down everything. Kim and I already had plans to go to Michigan and New York for book tour things. We were going to leave a couple days early, stay with Kayla for some shopping, and then do our author stuff. It all got cancelled. Sad, sad day!

See Kim’s post here for the account of how they ended up with an online shopping experience. What I appreciated was still being a part of dress shopping through Zoom.

One Friday, Kayla sent this picture along with a text message: Hm, I wonder what’s in this box. It was quickly followed by: Can we push off crit group today? I’m too excited to wait. I can’t speak for Kim, but I was too excited to wait as well.

I wish we all could have been in the same room, but doing it over Zoom wasn’t bad. Kayla’s friend was amazing. She helped Kayla into dresses, ran into the bedroom for jewelry, fluffed trains, and took pictures almost simultaneously. And after we’d oooh’ed and aaah’ed over all four dress choices, it was Brittany who said, “I think we need to look at one and two again because, you know, with that first one we were all caught up in seeing Kayla in a dress. Any dress.”

True.

So we looked at options 1 and 2 again and decided that #2 was the favorite for everyone.

I got weepy-eyed again. In part, it was the whole experience. But mostly…I think it was seeing the woman Kayla had become and imagining the look on my son’s face when he saw her in that beautiful dress.

The reality didn’t disappoint.

The Story of the Dress

There’s an amazing story to the gorgeous dress my daughter wore for her wedding. Even more incredible when you think of the pandemic and all the restrictions we’ve had the past few months.

When we knew they were going to get engaged and that a wedding was coming, the world was in the middle of the COVID craziness. Trying to figure out how on earth to find a dress when everything was closed was more than a little daunting. So my husband and I started brainstorming which led to me calling wedding dress shops all over the country. Lots and lots of phone calls.

The answer everywhere was, “we’re closed.” Heartbreaking news for the mother-of-the-bride just trying to find a place for her daughter to be able to find the dress of her dreams to marry the man of her dreams. And let me tell you, my daughter’s pretty low-maintenance. She didn’t have huge dreams or expectations of some crazy-elaborate wedding. She’s always wanted small and intimate. But she was hoping for a special dress. Even if it ended up just being her and her fiance (if because of the pandemic, none of the family could get there), we were fine with that. Because at the end of the day – big wedding or small – it was the vows between Kayla and Steven that mattered.

So of course, my husband and I wanted to give her at least the one wish – the dress. But how? The more we looked, called, searched… the more we realized it was going to take a miracle.

Enter SomethingBlueBride.com

Over a weekend, my husband had been putting his internet searching skills to work. Discovering that it appeared Iowa might actually have stores open, he told me I should start calling around on Monday. If we all had to drive to Iowa to try to find a dress, we would. So of course, on Monday, I did a little search and called this adorable store. The owner answered. (Katie is amazing. AMAZING.)

The pandemic was getting worse, and so restrictions were tightening, but Katie told me that on that very morning, she had launched a new program. It was called – Something Boxed. And we had the awesome opportunity to be her first customers for it.

So the next day, we had a virtual appointment and Katie had dresses set up throughout her store based on my daughter’s likes. After narrowing it down, my daughter received a beautiful box of wedding dresses shipped directly to her (she was in grad school, so she wasn’t even in the same state as me!) When they arrived, we had another virtual appointment and my daughter was able to try on the dresses while Katie gave her expert advice about alterations and such. The perfect dress was found – and oh my word, what a beautiful gown!!! Did you see the pictures? It’s perfect. Without Katie from Something Blue – we wouldn’t have been able to do this and so we are forever grateful. And it’s simply a privilege to know her because she’s one of the sweetest people on the face of the planet!

So I wanted to encourage you all, that even though we are in these crazy times, there are wonderful places like SomethingBlue that are doing outstanding things like SomethingBoxed and going above and beyond to help make dreams come true.

If you know a bride that is in the stages of trying to find her perfect dress – I urge you to steer them to SomethingBlue. I would give them 100 stars if I could. They are PHENOMENAL. You can also find the store on Facebook.