A fun-filled, joyful time

Last week I traveled to Minneapolis for meetings with my agent, editors and marketing staff at Bethany House. I flew in a day early in order to join wonderful agent, Wendy Lawton, and super authors, Lauraine Snelling and Julie Klassen for a day of “beauty.” We traveled to Rochester, Minnesota where we met with Jill Swanson at her Simply Beautiful Image Consulting office. Jill is a delightful woman and you can learn more about her here: http://jillswanson.com/image-consulting.htmconsulting.htm

Unfortunately for Jill, she didn’t know she’d have to contend with the likes of me. She was totally flummoxed when I wrote on my sheet that my favorite colors are yellow, orange and brown. She gave me a sweet smile and said, “Do you know how few people choose those colors?” I shrugged and shook my head as she gave me a pitying look and suggested I put those shades into my home décor and refrain from wearing them since they are not “my colors.” I shuddered when she said I was a “summer” who would look so much better in pink, blue and raspberry. However, she artfully proved her point by slapping color swatches of those unseemly shades across my upper body while Lauraine, Julie and Wendy shouted their hearty approval. Who knew I was traveling with such traitorous friends!

After learning most of the clothing in my closet consisted of the wrong colors, we moved along to make-up where I learned Jill can wield a mean pair of tweezers and mascara wand and Julie learned how to curl those beautiful eyelashes of hers. By now, we were famished and Wendy and Lauraine made a food run and picked up some wonderful sandwiches and Wendy discovered these wonderful gingerbread boys at a local bakery. I decided that since they contained ginger, it should be helpful to my stomach. Sure enough, that little fella didn’t cause me any problems.

Once we’d finished lunch and Julie had gone through the make-up round, Jill said it was time for Julie and me to don a leotard so that she could better check our body shape. I told her I was more than willing to point out my muffin top and wave my flagging upper arms without stepping into a leotard, but she said the leotard was necessary. I warned Jill she really didn’t want to see me in a tight leotard. As you can see from the shocked look on her face, I was correct. The sight was enough to scare her to death! Once she regained her wits, she did her measuring and asked me if I realized that I tip to one side. Really? No wonder I have trouble walking a straight line. I stared into the mirror at that bright pink leotard I was wearing and she carefully pointed out that my right hip is higher than my left and that I would need to have my skirts hemmed accordingly. My solution? Wear a sign that says don’t look at my hemline. Better yet—no more skirts! Just kidding—I’ll still wear a skirt, but be prepared: the hem will probably be lopsided.

Lauraine and Wendy didn’t take as much work (or time) as Julie and me. They’d already had a previous session with Jill and they were there to make certain they were doing things properly. Jill added a few more tricks for each of them and gave them each a stamp of approval. We finished our session at 7:00 p.m. and were ready for dinner. Lauraine directed us to Michael’s a wonderful restaurant in downtown Rochester where we each enjoyed a delicious meal. Before leaving, we stopped to in front of the wall of fame. It was fun seeing pictures of all the famous folks who’d visited Michael’s in the past.

The following morning, it was off to Bethany House for meetings with editors and marketing. We had a great work session followed by lunch at the Oak Grill. Dave Long commented that with all the constructive criticism authors receive from their publishers, he couldn’t believe we’d spend an entire day and pay someone to criticize our clothing and appearance. Just goes to show that men simply do not understand the way women think.




And I have to share a couple of pictures our sweet Patti Jo sent to me. She enjoyed a few days at St. Simon’s and know how much Tracie and I love the live oak trees, she snapped some pictures for us. Aren’t they gorgeous? You need to click on them to see them larger and get the full beauty of these trees.











May you find joy as you experience joy with friends. ~Judy