Young House Love

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The Wild Wild West

Can you believe it’s been three weeks since our last tour update? But even though you haven’t heard much about it, we’ve been on the road (and in the air) quite a lot lately. It took us nearly to the end of our book tour, but we finally made it all the way to the other side of the United States. So let’s dive right in with our recap of our stops in all three west coast states. #warningitslong

We started off in Tacoma, Washington at the Tacoma Home & Garden Show on Friday, January 25th. The people running the show did a great job getting the word out that we’d be there, even scoring this local newspaper article that featured an awesome / hilarious illustration of us which I just had to throw in. We think I look pretty spot on, but Sherry is a little Courteney Cox-ish. And clearly Burger wins.

Tacoma Newspaper

The Home Show was being held at the Tacoma Dome which is this big arena that also hosts concerts and sporting events. We even learned that Lady Gaga had performed there the previous week so we spent a few minutes walking around the backstage areas saying things like “Lady Gaga used this bathroom! Probably.” and striking in a Gaga pose or two. Ok, that was all Sherry.

But the Dome looked quite different than a Gaga concert when we were there. Much like our trip to the Portland Home & Garden Show last year, the place was decked out in vendor booths and awesome gardens displays built just for the few days of the show. I was particularly mesmerized by this water feature. Isn’t it convincingly outside-looking for being inside a big industrial dome?

Tacoma Show Cool Pond

Our favorite section was an area called “The Vintage Market” which was basically a flea market / antique mall set up right amidst all the usual home show fare. Amongst other things, we really liked this vintage classroom map of the United States. It was $50 and the only thing that stopped us from buying it was figuring out how to get it home.

Tacoma Show Vintage Map

Sherry also was obsessed with these old metal, powder blue chairs while I was oooh-ing over a bunch of the vintage letters at various booths. It was probably good that we couldn’t fit anything into our carry-on, otherwise we probably could’ve done some damage to our bank account.

Tacoma Show Vintage Chairs P

After some press stuff and a private meet-and-greet with Ali and her family (which you can read about on Ali’s blog) it was time for the main event: a presentation and book signing. They even let us give a 10-minute warning announcement across the PA system. Apologies to anyone who had to hear it – it was our first time speaking to an entire dome full of people and I’m sure we yelled more than we meant to. I also remember it starting with an extremely smooth: “Hello? Is anyone listening?” Nice, right?

Tacoma Sherry On Mic

The stage for the presentation was pretty sweet and made us feel much more legit than we really are. We were even miked!

Tacoma Talk Kyles Photo

It was pretty awesome looking out at your smiling faces (and various baby strollers).

Tacoma Talk Alis Photo

Following the talk and a short Q&A session, it was book signing time. In addition to books, there were requests to sign fun items too – like a sexy gold spray painted rhino (I think the only rhino Sherry could like more than a white rhino is a gold one). And I got my first ever plunger-signing request. Before you try to interpret the meaning behind me signing a toilet tool, let me explain that there was a booth nearby that was giving them away – so I think it was just coincidentally a home-related item. I hope it was, at least, because I think I signed three by the end of the day.

Tacoma Signing Plunger

Tacoma also knocked our socks off with the thoughtfulness of its residents. Reina and Tina of hello, cupcake couldn’t make the signing but sent over a dozen personalized cupcakes. They were delicious – and we earned points with the home show crew for sharing. Although it was a bit strange inviting people to take a bite of your own face (Sherry ate Clara and I ate Burger because we missed them the most).

Tacoma Signing Cupcakes

Sherry also received her first pair of gifted underwear, which had me cry-laughing. Andrea picked them out for Sherry because of the gold lettering (Jersey represent!) and the “Young” reference, but also because “if Sherry’s underwear situation is anything like her bra situation – the girl needs ’em.”

Tacoma Signing Underwear

In addition to getting our first undergarment in Tacoma, this was also the site of my first baby dental exam – courtesy of baby Ruby who was so mesmerized by my mouth that she had to get a feel. Her mom Jennifer is very apologetic on her blog about it, but I must say that I wasn’t fazed in the least (despite what my face says below). How could you have anything but love for that little lady?

Tacoma Signing Baby Mouth1

When the signing wrapped up around 4pm we were ready to call it a day (we had been there since 9am), but first I made Sherry take a spin in weird contraption. I just thought it looked funny, but I actually had trouble getting her to get out once she experienced it. It was basically a dry hot tub / steam free sauna that, if you’re really curious, is explained in more detail on their website.

Sitting In A Box

The next morning we hit the road for Portland. Since the drive is only a little over two hours, we opted to rent a car instead of go through the whole airport rigmarole. We like road trips so it was much more our style. Heck, if had the time and energy I probably would’ve been happy to drive to every stop on this tour.

Tacoma John Driving

Once in Portland, we headed to Rejuvenation for our signing. It was our first time at the store ever, because during last year’s visit we actually got lost trying to locate it. So we were really glad to get to experience it this time around because in addition to all of their new production lighting, furniture, and accessories (which is how I always think of them), they also had another half of the store that was filled with architectural salvage. I could’ve spent hours browsing there, but again the whole getting-items-home (plus the gotta-go-start-a-book-signing thing too) cut our shopping adventure short.

Portland Rejuvenation Salvage

We started the signing with a quick talk from this “stage” at the bottom of the stairs. I hope no one who came was disappointed when they realized we weren’t selling snacks like the sign above our heads indicated. If you’re curious as to what we talked about, you can watch a video of the one we did in Austin earlier this month.

Portland Rejuvenation Snack Bar

As the signing started, we were again greeted by some amazing personalized cupcakes (this time from Lindsay at Undercover Cupcake). I ate the Burger after the signing and he was incredible.

Portland Signing Undercover Cupcakes

In the “unusual items signed” category for Portland, we can’t forget Ellen’s request to sign the inside of her black blazer in honor of Sherry’s book signing “uniform” (Sherry changes her earrings, shoes, and the shirt under her blazer, but she has rocked the same blazer the entire time, which I appreciate to no end because there’s not a giant “what should I wear?” debate before each of these 22 events).

Portland Signing Blazer

Someone also requested that we sign their book in the form of speech bubbles over our pictures. Sherry wrote something normal (with lots of exclamation points) and I wrote something obnoxious. I wasn’t actually hungry, but I just figured that’s something I think a lot. So, in short, I was going for accuracy.

Portland Signing Im Hungry

These signings are also great because we get to put a lot of faces to comment-names. We also get to see familiar faces, like Katy who we met in Portland last year. At that meet-and-greet she broke the mold by asking us to pose with her laying on a nearby model-home bed so we had high hopes for her photo concept this time around. She delivered by suggesting we do a cheesy 80’s sitcom pose. She’s playing the role of the wacky neighbor.

Portland Signing Katy Sitcom

We love when folks, like Katy, come up and say “let’s take a funny picture.” And since we’re running out of weird facial expressions to break out, we’ve started doing extremely strange off-the-cuff things. Like this. Sherry swapped places with Amy so that she and Ben looked like excited fans. I love how much Ben committed to the role. Amy even did the Sherry head-tilt.

Portland Signing Switch Seats1

We also got a great engagement story out of the visit. Veronica’s now-fiancé had originally scheduled a weekend getaway the day of our signing in order to propose to her. But when he learned how much she wanted to come to the signing and a business trip got moved, he rescheduled the engagement plan for a few weeks earlier so that Veronica could get her ring and her book signed. Sounds like she snagged a good one.

Portland Engagement1

The signing actually wrapped up a couple of hours before we needed to leave for the airport, so we were excited to take in a couple more Portland sights that afternoon. So excited that I wasn’t paying attention while chatting with someone and closing the trunk of our rental car… with the keys in it. Yup. So instead of enjoying PDX, we spent 90 minutes waiting for the rental car company’s roadside assistance to come rescue us.

Portland Locked Out Of Car

I’m glad we had been in Portland last year so at least we didn’t feel cheated out of learning about the city (for anyone visiting, you have to check out Pine State Biscuits, Por Que No, and Salt & Straw – all of which we loved last year). In fact, Portland is the only city on this tour that where we didn’t spend the night (well, it happened in DC too, but that’s local-ish). Since we drove from Washington that morning and flew out that night to Northern California, we actually managed to visit three west coast states in a matter of 12 hours. And that’s not just a layover situation, we actually had breakfast in Washington, drove to Oregon for the signing and most of the day, and then flew to California that night to check into the hotel and sleep there.

Portland Flight

After getting some much needed rest in our hotel in Palo Alto, we were up bright and early to spend some time with my Aunt Liz before our book signing. She lives in nearby San Jose so she and her friend Joan came down to hang out for a bit. For the sake of my other aunts, I should note that Liz made the sign.

PAlto Aunt Liz

And if anyone saw people cut the line and sneak a picture in before the event started, it was my friend Jamie and his fiancée Ashley who live in Berkeley. You may recall Jamie from this uber-thoughtful gift that he gave Clara last year, so now you know why he got special privileges.

PAlto Jamie N Ashley

When the signing doors opened for real, we were first greeted by these lovely ladies who had driven up from Los Angeles that morning and – if that didn’t prove their dedication enough – had also DIYed these awesome homemade shirts. How cool is that house with the heart in the middle? Sherry wanted one.

PAlto Girls With YHL Shirts

We also met Emily (left) and her friends Abigail and Jillian who brought some of their finds from completing the Macklemore Challenge earlier that weekend. You can read more about them on Emily’s blog.

PAlto Friendship Mugs

Tasneem and her husband Asif (who, by the way, drove 300 miles from LA even though it was his birthday) arrived with a white ceramic dog for us to help us cope with the still fresh loss of this guy. I think our matching faces say it all.

PAlto Ceramic Dog

And how cool is this? Akiyo makes these stuffed penguin toys and she made one for Clara that’s dressed in a Burger costume! It’s not ceramic, but it ranks way up there with one of my favorite animals in the house.

PAlto Burger Penguin

Palo Alto was also fun because we had our first canine visitors. I wish I had the mental capacity to remember their names now, but regardless – they were enough to soothe the missing-Burger ache we always have on these trips.

PAlto Dog Daschund

PAlto Two Dogs

After the signing wrapped up, we met up briefly with our friends Matt and Kristin who have made several appearances on our blog (here’s one of ’em) thanks to their stylish place in Charlotte, NC. Last year they actually moved to San Francisco, hence our meet up on the other side of the country.

PAlto Friends Matt KK

We went out to lunch with them (Oren’s Hummus was awesome!) and caught up on the life they’re loving out there in the Bay Area. Oh yeah, and they even drove us to a street nearby with a very special name.

PAlto Clara Street

We then spent the night back in our hotel and got up crazy early (4am) for our flight back to our side of the States. It’s one of those days where you wished the time zones worked the other way, since despite leaving at sunrise, we didn’t get home until sunset in Virginia.

PAlto Early Morning Plane

But we’re so so glad we got to spend some time on the Pacific Coast with a bunch of you guys. I’m sorry we didn’t get scheduled elsewhere in California, but hopefully an LA stop will happen someday for some fun event. And if that happens, we’d better get to meet a celebrity or else I’ll feel cheated. Someone get Matt Damon on the phone!

Psst- If you want to read about some of our previous book tour stops, you can check a round-up of them here.

Comments

  4. Gabriella @ Our Life In Action says

    Contrats on all your success you guys! I love when you share these posts and everyone who blogs about meeting you tells how genuine you both are.

    Anyways – don’t know if you guys are going to get any of Winter Storm Nemo craziness but we are in the thick of it. Stay safe and enjoy your weekend. :-)

    Reply

  5. Jackie says

    WOO HOO!!! So excited to see our picture on the blog this morning! We had so much fun on our road trip to meet you guys! We LOVE our shirts too! =)

    Reply

  8. Breanna Reish says

    Yay! Thank you for putting my girlfriends and I on the blog. They worked hard on those tshirts and to get first in line. It was a fun turn around trip and it was great to meet you. p.s. the west elm snacks were a nice perk as well.

    Thanks again!!

    Reply

  10. Ade@fortheloveofpainting says

    Oh my gosh…I love the looks on your face when the women brought you a ceramic dog. That is SUPER special. What fun adventures….you still need to come to Sacramento!

    Reply

  13. Mary Kate says

    You guys do such an awesome job with keeping up with everyone’s names and details from all your tour stops! Do you write special info down or do you just have super memorization powers?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      People are very kind about posting pics on FB or emailing us (which reminds us of their names) and we like to write their names on the treats they give us if they forget (ex: we enjoyed some fudge from a gal named Lindsay, so we’re glad we wrote down her name to toast her while we stuffed our faces, haha!).

      xo
      s

  14. Jess says

    Ok, I think I’m just overly emotional in real life right now but I totally teared up when I scrolled to the picture of y’all under the Clara street sign. I just imagined Clara all grown up & hanging it on her college dorm room wall or something. Totally gonna have to find a street sign with my son’s name on it!

    Reply

  15. Gray says

    I have definitely locked my car keys in the trunk of the car before (along with bags full of need-to-be-refrigerated groceries)! All it takes is one incident and you will forever be extra aware of the location of your keys while loading up!

    P.S. I loved meeting you both (& the Bowers, especially cute baby Weston!!!) at FLOR last night, despite how awkward I was. It’s kind strange when you actually get to meet people in person, when you feel like you know their life story from a blog/book! I hope y’all had fun in the ATL! (I’m expecting rapper puns when you post about that trip!)

    Reply

  16. Christi says

    We just returned from Portland and LOVED it! I was such a nerd because I kept saying “that’s where Sherry and John went” then I would take a picture! Example: Queen Bee, Voodoo D, Keep Portland Weird… and lots more. We almost went to Pine State but went to Tasty and Sons and it was Awesome…. Think breakfast tapas served family style. And Hopwerks pretzel and cheese sauce, OMG!!! And it was only $3.

    I think our cousins think I am a stalker! Glad you had fun, if you guys ever make it to NM or AZ I will be first in line!

    Have a great weekend!

    Reply

  17. Kristi says

    I LOVE LOVE LOVE your guys’ facial expressions while receiving the ceramic dog! That was totally awesome! I hope he/she settles in to your home nicely!

    Reply

  18. Christi says

    Also, thank you for linking other blogs on this site. I love finding new blogs and the ones you reference never disappoint!

    Reply

  19. Kim says

    Fun read, as always! I love your expressions at the new ceramic dog! It looks like you and Matt are wearing the same shirt.

    Reply

  20. Katy @ The Non-Consumer Advocate says

    I was super bummed to hear about how you missed checking out the main Portland Goodwill in exchange for waiting for the locksmith guy.

    HUGE missed opportunity!

    It was fun to see you two again, even though it was surreal to wait in line to do so.

    Your wacky 1980’s sitcom neighbor,

    Katy

    Reply

  21. Anele @ Success Along the Weigh says

    1) Burger in the toolbelt is TOO funny!

    2) Love the looks on your faces with the white ceramic dog.

    3) How do you get all of the gifts from signings home? Do you bring an empty suitcase? Ship from the UPS store? Teleportation machine that you guys are testing for NASA?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      The store very sweetly ships it to our house, so we don’t have to worry about bringing them on the plane and breaking stuff in our crazy travel. It’s so nice of them!

      xo
      s

  23. Devon @ Green House, Good Life says

    I apologize in advance for being that girl, but I’ve seen it around the interwebs several times lately and I just gotta: you weren’t FAZED in the least by the baby dental exam. You may also not have been PHASED if she checked out all your teeth at once (e.g., not in phases), but that’s a different issue.

    Reply

  24. Phuong says

    My husband has locked our car keys in the trunk. Twice! John is not the only blockhead! :) Thanks for keeping your life so real!

    Reply

  25. Liz says

    I had to snicker at the Sherry head tilt comment. I do that too for photos. We call it the “dip and tilt,” and it’s supposed to be flattering. I’m not a fan of getting my photo taken so anything to help!

    Reply

  26. Rebecca @This Nest is Best says

    I know it’s been a whirlwind and I’m sure you’ve missed Clara and Burger and home like crazy, but I must say I’m so jealous of your book tour adventures! Congrats on everything the book has brought you – you guys truly deserve it!

    ps – Can’t wait to see you again for book #2 ;)

    Reply

  27. Brittany D says

    I was wonderful to meet you guys AND the Bowers last night, in Atlanta! You were all fantastic! We felt very special when we learned it was your last tour stop. I hope you are able to make use of your Valentine’s Day stationary :)

    Reply

  28. lisa says

    i just thought—–how do you bring home all of the items that people have given you? do you bring extra luggage with you, or do you just place them in shopping bags to bring home? extra fees right to bring them home?

    congratulations on the nding of your tour and the ones before it.

    Reply

  30. Karen C. says

    Hey John and Sherry,
    I have been wondering if you guys have been keeping up your tradition of sending yourself postcards from each city you have traveled to on your book tour?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We actually have one more in the hopper (coming up in two weeks) about the last three stops with a crazy breakdown of how many flights and road trips we’ve squeezed into four months!

      xo
      s

  32. Whitney says

    I need that map!! $50- what a steal!! They have those same (or very similar) metal letters at Class and Trash! I have an “&”…

    Reply

  34. Brenda says

    I definitely “awww!”ed when I saw the pic of you and the ceramic dog. And that costumed penguin is ADORABLE! Sounds like a great leg of the book tour.

    Reply

  35. Kristin says

    Note to self. Should’ve brought a ceramic dog! :) Precious. So great to meet you both for a quick moment last night. You’re as “cute” in person as you are online. Enjoy your weekend in the ATL! xo – Prego # 327 from the Atlanta signing (ha!)

    Reply

  36. Meredith says

    John, I think it’s only appropriate that you would sign the tool that’s meant to be used in the john. :) (I must say, I’ve never understood why it’s called that…)

    Reply

  37. Ashley @ 7th House on the Left says

    Totally know the feeling when it comes to locking your keys in the car! The same thing happened to us the same week… Though, we were at the Hollywood sign in LA. We jumped out of the car to snap a quick photo… like any good tourist must do… and locked the keys in the car. We ended up stranded for 3 hours while waiting for AAA. But, hey, at least we had an awesome view while we waited, haha.

    Btw, Class & Trash in Ashland has an identical metal P (all the way in the back on the wall).

    Have a great weekend you two!

    Reply

  38. Danielle says

    Love these recap posts! I clicked the link to the story of John’s friend Jamie’s gift to Clara and all I could think was that shirt needs to be framed and hung in her big girl room. It could be like a retired jersey and the colors could work. Not sure if anyone has already suggested this or if you have already done something with it, but I felt like I had to comment.

    Have a great weekend :)

    Reply

  40. Cassidy says

    Love this post! Every picture I kept saying, “ooo I love that! No I love that!” The cookies? Yum. The penguin- chihuahua for Clara? Ridiculous. You guys are having so much fun!

    Reply

  42. Charlotte says

    WHEN are you guys coming to the San Francisco Bay Area? You HAVE To go to the alameda flea market. I think you might pass out from the amazingness of it. When we moved out here we went there with a truck and furnished our entire apartment in awesome inexpensive vintage scores!!!!!

    Reply

  43. Sarah says

    Sounds like you guys had a blast on the West Coast! Can’t wait to hear what you thought about Atlanta and the Dirty South. ;) (I submitted my pics from last night’s event to your submissions email and your youngsters email addresses because I wasn’t sure which one to use) My friends and I had so much fun! Love you guys!!!!!!!

    Reply

  44. Amanda says

    Hi John and Sherry! Love these tour updates you share. We met in Houston and I e-mailed you about some atlases. If you really want a map…I have a bunch of those too! You can have it if you want it. I “inherited” several with my very old elementary library!

    Have a fantastic weekend!
    Amanda

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw you’re so sweet! We actually have a few maps that we’re still waiting to frame and hang, so we’ve put a cap on any new ones until we get the old ones on the wall! Haha!

      xo
      s

  45. Cassidy says

    Hey, guys! I love this post, especially, since my mom stood in line for me and got my book signed…for me…even got her picture taken with you…for me… at Rejuvenation in my hometown of Portland! I live in Georgia, but wasn’t gonna make it to your Atlanta signing, so my mom was a lifesaver! Thanks for signing my book! Take care!

    Cassidy

    Reply

  47. Denise Armbruster says

    You two are so cute and funny and awesome. I am addicted to your blog. I have several projects I’m going to work on thanks to you two while my husband is gone for five weeks. I have to stay busy or I’ll be bonkers.

    Reply

  48. Anna Kristina says

    LOVE the reaction to the ceramic dog!

    On another note… did you change RSS feed settings? I read through Google Reader so I don’t ever miss a new post, but noticed sometime this week posts haven’t been showing up until they day after they go live. In case anyone hasn’t mentioned it yet I thought I’d let you know!

    Reply

  49. Nicole Y. says

    I’m so super bummed I couldn’t go up to Palo Alto. It was the first weekend since December that I got to be at home and take care of stuff. My husband was totally willing to make the trip with me, but I felt bad dragging him 300 miles north. I should’ve hitched a ride with the girls who had matching shirts! haha At 10am the morning of the signing, I leaned over to my husband in church and said, “they’re signing books right now.”

    Anyway, enough of my sad story! Glad to hear the West Coast treated you well! :)

    Reply

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