Blurb Saves Christmas?

My Grandmother turned 90 last March. Over the past year she wrote fairy tale stories for her 6 great grandchildren with each of them as the main character. She writes all of her stories by longhand. 

In May I got the bright idea to type them all up to create a book as a Christmas gift for Grandmother. Additionally, I found a wonderful illustrator, Evalyn "Evie" German, to illustrate each kid as their fairy tale character.

Check out Evie's work here:

Whatevie website

@what.evie Instagram

As the illustrations came in from Evie, I loved them so much I started to think this was the best gift idea I'd ever come up with. If Christmas was a contest, I would win. Maybe I'd killed it this year and get a bye for next year. I'm out for 2018.

Malone

Harlowe

Rowan

Lola

Connor and Chloe 

I loved the illustrations so much, I thought it would complete the book if I had one with Grandmother and all the kids, so I asked Evie for one more.

Blurb, a site that helps you create professional, quality books, was recommended to me. I'm not a designer, so it took me awhile to get the book the way I wanted. I did a test mockup that needed some changes, but finally by December 2nd I finished the book and placed my order.

I got a notice that it shipped on Dec. 8th and should arrive by the 19th. Plenty early for a Christmas day celebration.

Then the 19th passed and I still didn't have Grandmother's book. On the 20th I emailed Blurb and they replied that they'd credit the $15 shipping charge and that I should check with my post office. I went to the post office and shared the tracking information, but they had no record of the package in their computer. I wasn't going to get the book.

I emailed my Blurb customer service contact, Miranda, early the morning of the 21st, shared the story about Grandmother's fairy tales and pleaded if there was any expedited solution. 

I checked the website to see if I could reorder with overnight shipping, but it requires 3 - 4 days just to produce the book. There was no way it would make it before Christmas.

Then Miranda got back to me. She rushed production and had the book overnighted to me. We had to be home in person on Saturday to accept delivery. Christmas is saved!

...but now it's 6pm on Saturday 12/23 and no package delivered.

I do have the mockup version, so I have something for Grandmother to open on Christmas day, but it's not the final version. I'm so frustrated. I don't know what I could have done differently to make this work.

I'm sad, but I think Grandmother will still love the book. I'll try to get a picture of her reaction to share.

Merry Christmas!!

If you'd like to see a copy of the book, you can find it on Blurb: Grandmother Cate's Fairy Tales.

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Wedding Weekend

Lovely morning on the Riverwalk before the wedding

We attended a family wedding last weekend for Jessica and Pranesh in San Antonio. It was the first wedding for the twins and it was so amazing. The bar is set pretty high for all future weddings.

Jessica is the daughter of my Aunt Annie (from my Dad's side) and Charlie Smith. Jessie is a world traveler and met the love of her life, Pranesh, in Hong Kong. Learn more about their charming story here.

The wedding was a happy occasion preceded by a sorrowful one. Jessie's mother, Annie had been battling cancer and lost her fight in early February, three months before the wedding the family had planned together. 

The wedding was beautiful and poignant, making me grateful for each moment I have with my family. This wedding is one of those experiences that will stay with us all. 

Chloe was excited about the wedding from the first time I mentioned it to her. I let her pick out her own dress and about once a day leading up she asked me how long until the wedding.

My Mom joined us for the trip to San Antonio and I'm always so grateful to have her with us for her fun spirit of adventure and her incredible maternal support. While we were getting ready, Mom did Chloe's hair and it was amazing, beautiful, feminine curls. Chloe and I both loved it. Thank you "hair by GiGi!"

GiGi even wrapped hair around the pony tail holder. I'm so sorry I didn't get an after shot, but Chloe's hair was so lovely for the wedding.

Everyone cleaned up nicely.

The ceremony was beautiful and I loved that my Uncle John officiated. Chloe was thrilled by Jessica's gorgeous dress and all the beautiful flowers. I loved that through out the ceremony friends and family read love poems that Jessica had sent to Pranesh during their long distance courtship.

My sweet girl kept checking on me during the ceremony because I teared up quite a bit. She didn't understand the significance of the Easter Lilies placed in loving memory of the Mother of the Bride. 

Jessica and Pranesh, newly man and wife.

I'm sorry to say that some of the boys in the family weren't as in to it as the girls. Connor fell asleep during the ceremony and when we all got up as the bride and groom left he asked, "Is that all?" 

The celebration after the ceremony is not one the twins will ever forget. We were at the beautiful St. Anthony hotel for a cocktail hour before an lovely seated dinner. 

My favorite part of this picture is Pranesh sweetly waiting for his bride in the background.

The twins laid down next to the dance floor to watch the Bride and Father dance. I hid behind a post and cried as I watched my babies watch Jessie with her Daddy. 

However, this was a celebration and the dance floor started to hop. Chloe was eager to dance, but Connor hung back. After awhile the whole family joined us on the dance floor. Connor and Chloe had some good moves, then I saw Chloe whisper a plan to her brother. I wish I had a picture or video of what a happened next as they both dropped to the floor for their version of the worm. So awesome!

Lovely family weekend with great memories! I'm so grateful.