Notes from the Fox Den

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of the Fox Den!

To quote Nausicaa Twila, “There are rare people who will show up at the right time, help you through the hard times and stay into your best times...Those are the keepers.” Amanda Jones is one of those rare ‘keepers’ in my life. I first met her about three years ago when she and I worked for the same company, we lost touch for a little while, and then about a year ago she came back into my life full force.

We instantly reconnected and became fast friends. She has been an ear to listen, a voice of reason and a laugh when I needed it the most. Seriously, I wouldn’t trade her for my own tropical island.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to help her celebrate her upcoming wedding as part of her “Bride Squad” while she shopped for the dress in Houston.

It was a weekend of laughing so hard you cry while enjoying the company of strong, confident and empowered women. I came away from this event not only feeling closer to the bride to be, but walked away with new friendships. I discovered a few more keepers in the ladies that I spent the weekend with.

We arrived to the Airbnb house we rented for the weekend to see an array of goodie baskets that included everything you would need for a great girl’s weekend; wine glasses, lip gloss, matching pink flasks and hangover recovery kits. Each of us also had a personalized shirt waiting for us to wear while dress shopping on Saturday.

The bride to be wore a white T-shirt, with the rest of us sporting black T-shirts, each listing a different Frankie Beverly and the Maze song title on the front and our name on the back. Mine was ‘What goes up’.

We arrived at the bridal shop in full force on Saturday morning ready to do business. Amanda had asked us to each select one dress that we wanted to see her in as she made her selections, so we fanned out and put the consultant to work pulling down an array of styles. Some were amazing (one literally made me tear up) and some were not so great.

We each had our own dry erase board and were able to give our opinions on each dress. There were comments like ‘Golden age Hollywood’ ‘Disco ball’ (applied to a dress that glittered so brightly I thought I needed a welder’s helmet to keep from scorching my eyes) ‘Just no’ and ‘Contender’.

We were laughing so hard that other bridal parties wanted to join our group. And why wouldn’t they, we were having a blast!

At the end of the day, Amanda may have found her dress, but she had decided that when she does say “yes to the dress” she will do so alone in order to surprise us all at the ceremony.

From there, we went to Top Golf to hit a few balls and eat lunch. Unfortunately the LPGA will not be calling us anytime soon to join the tour, but our lack of golfing skills didn’t matter. We were together, supporting a mutual friend and enjoying life to the fullest.

Sunday we concluded our adventure with a lovely brunch at Grace’s. Seriously, if you are ever in Houston and have a chance to go there, do so. The ox tail raviolis and shrimp and grits are my recommendations. Oh and don’t forget the bread pudding.

It was a bittersweet parting and we are already planning our next big adventure.

To my dear friend Amanda, I wish you all the happiness in the world. Thank you for introducing me to a great group of women. I can’t wait to see you walk down the aisle and become Mrs. James Cleaver.