Young House Love

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Beauty Queens, Bouncers, Crafting, & Stick Dogs

Hooray, our publisher has finally locked down a few upcoming dates that you guys have been asking for and even added a few more tour stops, so we’ll spill those beans at the end of this post! But before we get to what lies ahead, it’s time for our once-every-two-weeks tour recap of our most recent stops (the last ones of 2012 before things kick back up again in January).

After our whirlwind week away in mid-November, we had Thanksgiving week off and then were back on for two separate stops in Washington, DC and one in our hometown of RVA. The first was at the FLOR store in DC. The tight footprint of a Georgetown shop meant lots of people braved the wait out in the chilly weather, for which we are very grateful. Luckily the FLOR folks generously provided popcorn, wine, hot chocolate and just about the best cookies I’ve ever eaten in my life. Seriously. And if you saw two girls sneak in before the event opened, they were our cousin Cat and my little sister Carrie… hence their line cutting privileges. Update: Sherry wanted me to add that she has no idea why she puts her head down and smiles like a bull about to charge someone, so there ya go.

DC Flor 1 Cat Carrie

Oh and also, to anyone who came out – if it ever looked like I was taking random breaks to wander through the line and make phone calls, it actually wasn’t me. It was my alleged doppelganger Patrick, who helped organize the event and apparently was mistaken for me several times that evening. As in people kept saying “wait why isn’t John upstairs signing?” You can see from Heather’s experience how it was mildly mind-boggling to those patiently waiting. I don’t really see the resemblance, but it was enough that apparently Patrick’s own daughter saw a picture of Sherry and me after the event and asked why daddy was standing with “that lady.”

DC Flor 2 John Look Alike

Oh and if you see Burger photobombing any of other pictures from this event, it’s just this paper-Burger on a stick that Nickie and her friend brought with them. And yes, we still have it around the house to this day.

DC Flor 2 5 Burger Heads

Okay, on to the fun stories and fun people we met (not that the aforementioned people weren’t fun or anything). But check it out, we met Miss District of Columbia! And she even let me wear her crown . Cross that one off the bucket list, Petersik!

DC Flor 3 Miss DC Crown

And since Georgetown Cupcakes (the shop featured on the TLC show DC Cupcakes) was across the street, we got lots of sugary deliciousness brought our way. This dozen from Emily, Melanie, and Danielle included some that were personalized with our initials. Emily had the advantage of actually working at the cupcakery.

DC Flor 4 Georgetown Cupcakes

And she wasn’t the only person we met with the behind the scenes scoop on some TV. Jeannette once worked as a production assistant for True Blood, which is why Sherry broke out her “vampire face” for this picture. In her defense, she thought all of us were doing it. Instead we just left her hanging, fangs out and all.

DC Flor 5 True Blood

Being near my hometown meant seeing some familiar faces too, like Jenny, who went to my high school. To commemorate that fact, she brought this Cat’s Meow wooden keepsake of our school. I can’t believe they actually make one (it’s not the prettiest building in the world by a long stretch) so bravo to Jenny for finding it.

DC Flor 6 5 2 Jenny From TJ

We didn’t know Caroline or Katie before that night, but we had been expecting Katie. Her husband Bob emailed us ahead of time to say it would be great if we could surprise her by congratulating her on her recent wedding. We told Bob we meet lots of Katie’s so we’d need a clue to know which one to surprise, so he devised a plan of writing “Bob” on the bottom of the ceramic owl she planned to bring. The plan went off without a hitch. Katie was shocked (and no longer confused why her husband had graffitied her owl with his name) and Bob earned some major husband points. The weirder part is that we had bumped into Caroline and Katie as we walked to the FLOR store earlier that night. When they introduced themselves I almost asked “is your husband named Bob?” but bit my tongue when I considered how unlikely it would be that we’d run into the exact Katie we were on the lookout for that night. Psst- Nice photobomb Burger.

DC Flor 6 Bob Girl

Speaking of guys, we always like to point out that men do come to these events! Heck, Jimmy even rode solo for the evening and had us sign this toy wrench for his son. That’s not his son pictured next to him, just another young fan who came sporting his homemade “I Heart YHL” onesie. I believe that look is “who put this shirt on me and why is that man pointing a camera in my face?”

DC 6 5 Guys

In addition to interesting people, there were also plenty of interesting pictures to be snapped. And by interesting, I mean weird. This one was by request. Our direction was “there’s something scary in the corner.” To me it was so scary I couldn’t even bear to look. But I kind of like that it looks like I’m avoiding the ridiculousness that’s going on around me.

DC Flor 7 Scared In Corner

Sherry also wanted to get a pic with anyone she dubbed her “twin.” Aka they were wearing a blazer and/or similar shirt. These ladies got it pretty spot on though. Although technically the one of the right is from our second DC event through LivingSocial. But before we move on to that, here are some links to other people’s post about the night in case you wanna read from a non-Sherry and John perspective: here’s Becky, Rhiannon and Ms. Adams.

DC Flor 8 Twins

The FLOR event ran until after 11pm, which meant our drive home to Richmond afterwards didn’t get us home until about 1:15am. To say we were tired would be an understatement. So initially the fact that two days later we’d be doing the drive out to DC again was a bit tough to get excited about. But as soon as we rolled up to the LivingSocial event space at 918 F Street, how could we not be excited? They’d surprised us by decorating their windows based on the ornaments that we made last year.

DC Living 9 Outside Window

LivingSocial is headquartered in DC so it’s here that they created a space for all sorts of events, classes and fun group experiences. The building itself was awesome and we were kinda jealous of all the DC folks who have art workshops, cooking classes, and even live sumo wrestling (whilst eating sushi, mind you) at their fingertips. We were there because in addition to signing books, we were going to lead two crafting classes based on projects we’d done.

DC Living 10 Craft Set Up

We did lots of planning with Living Social ahead of time, so everything was ready to go when we arrived. In addition to making the paint swirl ornaments that we did last year, we were also doing a holiday twist on two projects from the book. Instead of gilding a lamp base with gold paint (#187 in the book) we’d be painting hurricanes for holiday centerpieces. And instead of painting wood for art (#140) we’d be painting wooden candlesticks for a holiday table-setting. Each 90-minute session had 50 smiling faces – and there were even a handful of guys in the afternoon class! Not that I don’t like being in a room full of ladies, but it was nice to have some guys backing my up in the second class.

DC Living 11 Crafting Crowd

Sherry and I were a bit nervous going into this because (1) we had never taught a crafting class before and (2) we hadn’t practiced what we were going to say at all. Eep. We just wanted to be natural and have fun and not be all robot-y and rehearsed.

DC Living 12 People Crafting

In the end I think it actually went pretty smoothly. And by some miracle the timing of everything worked out pretty well – so, although people had to work somewhat swiftly, we were able to not only get through all three crafts in 90 minutes, things were able to dry pretty decently before people had to take them home after the book signing portion of the session. Other than some of the gold paint needing another coat on the glass vases, nearly everyone whipped everything out. #craftninjas

DC Living 13 Crafts Drying

We probably could still stand to work on our talk-and-craft-at-the-same-time skills. Sherry tried to execute the projects along with everyone else and did a pretty decent job. Here are her Christmas-tastic striped candlesticks below (they got one more coat before being called done – at which point Sherry sent them home as a cute surprise for a guy whose girlfriend couldn’t make it to the event). And our painted ornaments are currently on our mini tree at home.

DC Living 14 Sherrys Candlesticks

The crafting session was really about hanging out, meeting people, having fun, signing books, and messing around with some paint – so it was a bonus when things came out really nicely. Here’s a photo sent to us from Amanda of her three projects. We were loving the folks that went rogue and used their metallic paint from the glass project on the candlesticks too. Doesn’t it look good with the raw wood? And here are a couple posts from the view of a couple of “students” – one with hilarious drawings and one with amazing cookie skills.

DC Living 15 Other Crafts

After each crafting session we spent 30 minutes doing the usual book signing part, and then after the two crafting & signing sessions we had another couple hundred people come just to get books signed. It was a busy day for sure (we left Richmond at 7am and got home at 9pm) but everyone was so nice and the LivingSocial people were super awesome. We had a great time. Plus, Sherry finally got to sign someone’s spray paint can! Two, actually (the other pic sadly didn’t come out). Talk about a momentous occasion.

DC Living 16 Signing Spray Paint

She also got to sign her first mirror… in lipstick form. Apparently Jenny said all the right things to get Sherry in that hot pink lipstick.

DC Living 17 Makeup

I didn’t get the chance to kiss any mirrors, but I did get to sign a copy of my middle school yearbook. This embarrassing moment was thanks to Jackie, who went to elementary and middle school with me (our older sisters were BFFs). Thank goodness my 8th grade picture was taken before I got braces, which inspired a closed-mouth grimace in my 9th grade picture. Good thinking, John.

DC Living 18 Yearbook

As for funny photos, we did this one with Mia and her friends who also shared fond memories of Funland, the amusement park at the Delaware beach where many DC-area-natives grew up visiting. This pose was “pretend you’re on a Funland ride.” I could clearly work on this look (though in my defense, the hand I had up was just cut off in the shot). No idea why my instinct was to just put one hand up. Maybe the other hand was being sensible and holding on in case of an emergency?

DC Living 20 Funland Ride

Speaking of hands up, here’s another one where we were posing as bionworks. What’s a bionworks you ask? It’s a fictional animal that my 10-year-old self invented, at least according to a drawing that Sherry and I found a few years ago. It simply said “Bear + Lion + Fireworks = Bionworks” and showed a lion-ish creature with fireworks for a mane. So yeah, now you’re in the know the next time a bionworks comes up to you at a cocktail party or something.

DC Living 19 Bionworks

After all the fun at the LivingSocial events on Saturday, we drove back home to Richmond for our last event of the year – and boy were grateful to only have to travel 15 minutes for it. It was hosted by one of our favorite stores in RVA called Mongrel. It’s filled with awesome cards, books, gifts, ceramic animals, and just about everything in between. In fact, the wrapping paper that we used for the first project in the book was from here. They don’t typically do book signings so we were flattered that they wanted to get their feet wet with us.  They were awesome and sweetly over-prepared for the event (for example, there was a bouncer in case any of you blog readers got rowdy).

RVA Mongrel 20 Bouncer

Fortunately the bouncer’s services weren’t required and everyone was fun and excited and incredibly kind as usual. For example, Anna baked us red and blue cookies in the spirit of the ones we had at every West Elm event. They were delicious. The plate, not so much.

RVA Mongrel Cookies

And how’s this for a thoughtful gift? Rachel is a professional hair stylist here in Richmond so she gave Sherry a box of hair-cutting supplies to upgrade her DIY haircuts for me. I’m excited mostly because next time I’ll get to wear a legit cape. Oh yeah, who fancy now?

RVA Mongrel 23 Haircut

This picture also cracked me up because Jon and Randa both happen to share a birthday with me, so in the vein of the “Pregnant / Not Pregnant” photo Sherry took with a mom-to-be in Toronto, we took this one. I also kinda wanted to do a “John / Not John” version but I guess Jon and I spell it differently so maybe it’s best that we left it at this.

RVA Mongrel 24 November 15

I also had the unique opportunity to sign someone’s shirt. I felt bad doing it, but Mary said she’d gotten spray paint on it so it was out of commission anyway. I connected the spray paint dots into what resembled a Christmas tree with a crescent moon over it.

RVA Mongrel 22 Signing Shirt

And Sherry one-upped me in the drawing game by taking on the challenge to sketch on a sheet for Robyn, who is doing a weekly photo project inspired by the one we did for Clara. Sherry’s masterpiece (which ended up being a sketch of our book cover) would act as the backdrop for her son Sawyer’s 41 week photo.

RVA Mongrel 25 Writing Backdrop

If you’re wondering how the photo turned out, here’s Sawyer in his 41-week-old glory. I did get to add the “Week 41” detail to the sheet, so I guess Sherry didn’t get to have all of the fun. You know me and fonts. #typegeek

RVA Mongrel 26 Baby 41 Weeks

And as for blog posts by others for the Richmond stop, you can see our friend Brittany’s recap or check out Megan’s hilarious post about the day.

So that officially wraps up our tour stops for 2012. It’s been quite an adventure these last few weeks and while we’re excited for more action come January, we are enjoying having a month to spend mostly at home with the bean and the Burgs while sleeping in our bed. We calculated the other day that so far we’ve spent 41 hours signing books so far – and that doesn’t count crafting sessions, presentations, set-up time ,or travel. Crazy, huh? But totally worth every minute to be able to meet so many of you and bask in your awesomeness. Really, we dig you guys. A lot.

Oh, and speaking of that action in January, there’s so much that it extends into February. So here’s the official tour update for ya!

Book Tour Dates 2012

Yep, we’ll be hitting up the Bay Area of California on the tail of our Tacoma & Portland trip. And when we’re headed to Charlotte we’re gonna keep driving down 85 and stop in Atlanta as well. Woo hoo! Although sadly some scheduling issues got in the way of our planned Grand Cayman stop so that has been canceled. Boo.

You can get the full details on where, what time and how to RSVP for each of these dates on our Book Tour Page. Oh yeah, and if you already RSVP’ed for the NYC event in November, your name is already included for this new January date. So please don’t RSVP again. Thanks, guys! Hope to see some of you at our next nine stops that start up again in a few weeks! And happy weekend to one and all! Suddenly I feel like Santa or something. And to all a good night!

Comments

  5. Casey says

    Any plans for more Richmond events? I worked during the November event at VisArts, and then was sick for the last one! :(

    Reply

  6. Madeline Kronfeld says

    I’m one of Sherry’s twins!! (in the yellow striped top). It was so great meeting you both at FLOR in G-Town. You claim to be goofy but seemed so cool, calm, and collected. Meanwhile, I geeked out :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hah, yeah right! You saw these pics of me with my fangs out, leaning awkwardly forward, pretending to be riding a roller coaster, etc. I don’t think cool and calm have ever been words used to describe me. Haha!

      xo
      s

  10. Justine says

    Yay! I was so wishing you’d be adding a CA stop that I had to skip to the end of the post and I was so excited to see Palo Alto added that I did an actual fist bump!
    Now I have to go back and read the rest of the post :) Can’t wait to meet you guys!

    Reply

  11. Sarah@SBrandesDesigns says

    Awwww man I would totally drag my hubby to Palo Alto from SoCal except I don’t get back to CA until the 29th! *sad face*

    So jealous of the DC peeps. That living social event looks like it was a lot of fun!

    Reply

  13. Koliti says

    I think the bouncer was texting for emergency back-up cause he knew there’d be an avalanche of LOVE!

    Love the “Burger on a stick”! (everything’s better on a stick)

    Love, love, love all of the CRAZY, FUN, WEIRD pics – super!
    Everyone is so creative! Sherry, have you taken acting classes?

    Thanks for sharing your book tour stops. YAY! Nice breather for you now. Happy Holidays!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hahahahahhah! That must have been what the bouncer was doing. And as for acting classes, nope. I’m just naturally a very good vampire/roller coaster rider. Haha!

      xo
      s

  14. Rosemary Palmer says

    Can’t wait to see you again in ATL (saw you at Haven). Sorry you will miss Grand Caymen but I will take an extra picture while I’m there just the week before this event.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Really?! It’s so funny because in this picture I think we look even more different than we do in “3-D” – so I thought everyone would say “yeah you look nothing alike.”

      -John

  16. Stephanie says

    OMG OMG OMG!! Heck YEA!!! Palo Alto!! The day after my birthday!! The Best birthday present would be too meet you guys! OMG!! Im doing the Clara dance right now!(to “Cameras” haha) YEah!!!! can you tell Im too excited? yaaay! :D

    Reply

  17. Mamaw says

    Just realized y’all will be in Austin, Texas on my 42nd wedding anniversary! Hmmmm. Me thinks I will gift myself with a trip to Austin! Hope to see you there!

    Reply

  19. Kearney says

    there was no link to rsvp for charlotte or did i miss it? either way, i’m all in & can’t wait to meet you guys!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hmm, there doesn’t appear to be one. Maybe they’re just a first come first served event? They all end up being that way (you just get in line in the order you arrive) so RSVPs are just for them to get a general head count so they hopefully know what to expect :)

      xo
      s

  20. Lisa Taylor says

    So very excited to see the January Portland date! I will be in town so I’ll be there! I can’t wait to make incoherent noises and stammer in front of you. I’m comforted knowing I’m not the only person who will do this.

    Reply

  21. Akiyo says

    I’m ECSTATIC that Palo Alto’s been added!!! We live in Southern California but we’ll be moving up to the Bay Area a couple weeks before you’re there!! :D

    Reply

  22. Heather says

    Thank you so much for posting my link! My book finally arrived this week, I’m like a girl studying for the coolest final ever tabbing pages and writing notes all over it!

    Reply

  25. Abigail says

    Hooray for Palo Alto!! I live in LA but my college roommate who INTRODUCED ME TO YOU GUYS years ago lives in the Bay Area so I’m flying up and we’re going to come see you together!

    Reply

  26. Melanie says

    Bummer about Grand Cayman. I hope after your signings are complete you treat yourself to a vacation. You totes deserve it!

    Reply

  27. Nicole says

    OMG, OMG, OMG, you’re coming to Palo Alto. EEEE!!! I just emailed my husband to cancel our weekend, out-of-town trip (for my birthday), so I can stay in town, stand in line and stammer nervously in front of you. Please forgive me if I vomit or faint on/near you. Random side note: I saw this video yesterday and thought of you – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_NspDWssIY.

    Reply

  28. Shellie says

    OK, I totally just left my office and starting jumping up and down like a teenager girl at a Justin Beiber concert about the Palo Alto stop addition. In front of my boss and coworkers. I dont even care, I’m THAT excited!
    Besides its not like I’m the head of HR and need to be professional…..ohh wait….. :)
    I can’t wait!!

    Reply

  31. Tania says

    Oh my gosh! I was so excited to read yesterday that you’ve got another toy project in the works for Clara (btw, totally helpful list of toys you posted, we’ve got a lot of first birthdays to attend in next few months) and now to read that you’re coming to the Bay Area!! Can’t wait to finally meet you guys and introduce my sweet little one to you — she loves to gnaw the cover of your book :)

    Reply

  32. Veronica says

    Nooooo, Portland on January 26th? My boyfriend has a special weekend planned for us then. I don’t know if it’ll trump meeting you guys though… haha!

    Reply

  34. J. says

    I don’t see a link to RSVP to the Charlotte, NC book signing on the book tour page? Is there somewhere else it needs to be done?

    Thanks!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      They aren’t taking RSVPs right now (it might just be first come, first served or they might add one down the line, in which case we’ll link to it). Hope it helps!

      xo
      s

  36. Joy says

    Alas, I am only California dreamin’…..Palo Alto is an 8-hour commute from me (sniff sniff).

    Any chance you guys you will visit us here sunny San Diego?

    Reply

  37. Melissa van Herksen says

    Tried AGAIN to RSVP for the Miami Books and Books event and I couldn’t. They didn’t have it on the calendar. I sent an email to their events person to make sure you were still going. I just want to make sure I don’t need to RSVP.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      So sorry we don’t manage RSVPs at each store (with so many events, each individual shop is in charge of that) but in many places it has just been first come, first served. So I might try calling a few weeks ahead (we’re still a ways out) and then maybe just show up if they still don’t have an RSVP system. They might just not have one (our Mongrel signing here in Richmond didn’t have one and it was all good, people just showed up and got in line and we had a grand ol’ time!).

      xo
      s

  38. Darbi says

    First off, I am so pumped that you guys are coming to Atlanta! I can’t wait! Also, you know that store is near the Ikea so maybe Sherry and Katie B. can do a lovely video through there a la the Goodwill ones. And then finally, did Sherry get that blazer at Target?? Because I got one from there and it totally looks just like Sher’s which means I will have to wear it when you guys come to ATL just in case! :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We don’t think they have one, so either it’s just “show up and get in line” or maybe they plan to add one later? Maybe check back on the tour schedule page in a few weeks or give them a call?

      xo
      s

  43. Staci H says

    You guys are coming to Cali!!!!! YAYYYYYY!!!! I saw the star over the Bay Area and did the happy dance in my seat. Looking forward to the 27th to have my book signed by my two fave bloggers. Sweeet, better rustle up a black blazer…hee hee.

    Reply

  44. Patricia says

    HOORAY!!! I am so happy you will be coming to the Bay Area! I’ll be sure to don a Sherry-esque ponytail and black blazer… ;)

    Happy holidays to you guys, and can’t wait to get a chance to meet you in January!

    Reply

  45. Kim Wethe Rily says

    Totally bummed that you’re not coming to the southern half of the state. :( L.A. does crafts too, PUBLISHERS!!!

    Reply

  46. Rachael Watson says

    You’re coming to California!!! YAY! I’ll be on maternity leave so we will be taking a drive to the bay area. YHL and an Ikea stop in one weeked, it will be amazing!

    Reply

  47. Lauren says

    Greenville, SC is a great place to visit and located between Charlotte and ATL…let me know if you need a place to stay/crash ;-)

    Reply

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