Hooray — our publisher has locked in more tour dates that many of you requested, and even added a few extra stops. We’ll share those at the end of this post. First, here’s our biweekly recap of the last events of 2012 before the tour resumes in January.
After our whirlwind week away in mid-November, we took Thanksgiving week off and then hit the road for two events in Washington, DC and one in our hometown of Richmond, VA. The first stop was at the FLOR store in Georgetown. The shop’s small footprint meant lots of people patiently waited outside in the chilly weather, for which we’re very grateful. The FLOR team kindly provided popcorn, wine, hot chocolate, and truly excellent cookies. If you saw two women slip in before the event opened, that was our cousin Cat and my sister Carrie — insider line-cutting privileges in effect. Update: Sherry wanted me to note that she doesn’t know why she drops her head and flashes that grin like a bull about to charge, so there you go.
A funny moment: if it seemed like I was wandering the line and making phone calls, that wasn’t me — it was our alleged doppelgänger Patrick, who helped organize the event and was mistaken for me several times that night. People kept asking, “Wait, why isn’t John upstairs signing?” One attendee’s account shows how mildly baffling that was for people waiting in line. I don’t see a strong resemblance, but it was close enough that Patrick’s daughter later saw a photo of Sherry and me and asked why her dad was standing next to “that lady.”
If you spot Burger photobombing photos from the FLOR event, that was actually a paper Burger on a stick that Nickie and her friend brought — and yes, we still have it at home.
We met so many great people, including Miss District of Columbia, who even let me wear her crown — a bucket-list moment for sure.
Georgetown Cupcakes is across the street from FLOR, so we were treated to plenty of sugary goodness. One dozen came from Emily, Melanie, and Danielle, some personalized with our initials — Emily works at the cupcakery, so she had an advantage. We also met Jeannette, who once worked as a production assistant on True Blood, which inspired Sherry’s “vampire face” for a picture. She assumed everyone was doing it — we left her hanging with the fangs out.
Being close to my hometown meant familiar faces showed up too. Jenny, who went to my high school, brought a Cat’s Meow wooden keepsake of the school — a funny, nostalgic find even if the building itself isn’t the prettiest.
One memorable surprise involved Katie and her husband Bob. Bob emailed ahead asking us to congratulate Katie on their recent wedding. He planned to write “Bob” on the bottom of the ceramic owl she was bringing so we could know which Katie to surprise. The plan worked perfectly: Katie was surprised and Bob earned major husband points. Oddly, earlier that night we had actually bumped into Katie and Caroline while walking to FLOR, and I nearly asked if her husband was named Bob — glad I didn’t jinx it.
We love that men come to these events too. Jimmy even rode solo to the event and had us sign a toy wrench for his son. Another young fan arrived in a homemade “I Heart YHL” onesie, looking understandably bemused by the attention and camera.
There were plenty of quirky photo requests too. One shot had the direction “there’s something scary in the corner,” which made me look like I couldn’t bear to watch the silliness — and I kind of love that it reads that way.
Sherry collected photos with anyone she dubbed her “twin” — anyone wearing a similar blazer or shirt. These ladies nailed it. We also hosted a second DC event through LivingSocial a couple days later, where the event space at 918 F Street surprised us by decorating their windows based on ornaments we made last year.
LivingSocial’s headquarters in DC hosts lots of classes and events. They created a great space and we were excited to lead two crafting classes based on projects from our book. We taught paint swirl ornaments, holiday-painted hurricanes for centerpieces, and painted wooden candlesticks. Each 90-minute session had about 50 participants, and we were happy to see a handful of guys in the afternoon class. It was our first time teaching a craft class, and we hadn’t rehearsed everything — we wanted to keep things natural and fun rather than robotic.
Everything came together surprisingly well. Despite tight timing, most people completed all three projects within the session and the painted pieces dried enough to take home after the signing portion. Some glass vases needed another coat of gold, but overall folks walked away with finished projects — craft ninjas, indeed.
Sherry did her best to work along with everyone. Her striped holiday candlesticks got one more coat before she surprised a guy in the audience by sending them home for his girlfriend. Our painted ornaments are now on our mini tree at home. Amanda sent a photo of her three projects and some people got creative by using metallic paint on the candlesticks — it looked great against the raw wood.
After two craft-and-sign sessions, a couple hundred more people came just for book signings. It was a busy day — we left Richmond at 7am and were home by 9pm — but everyone was so kind and the LivingSocial staff were fantastic. Sherry even signed spray paint cans and a mirror (in lipstick) — memorable firsts. I signed a copy of my middle school yearbook, courtesy of Jackie, who went to school with me. Thankfully my 8th grade photo was pre-braces.
We also posed with folks recalling Funland at the Delaware shore and staged a few silly group shots. One throwback sketch from my childhood inspired the “bionworks” — a made-up creature from a childhood drawing that combined bear + lion + fireworks — now immortalized in our photo captions.
After the LivingSocial events, we drove back to Richmond for our final event of the year, hosted by Mongrel — one of our favorite local stores filled with cards, books, gifts, and all kinds of quirky finds. They rarely host signings, so we were honored they wanted to try one. The store staff were wonderfully prepared (they even joked about having a bouncer on hand).
Everyone at Mongrel was warm and excited. Anna baked red-and-blue cookies in the spirit of treats served at our West Elm events, and Rachel, a professional stylist, gifted Sherry a box of hair-cutting supplies to upgrade my DIY haircuts — I’m looking forward to wearing a real cape next time.
We signed shirts, sheets, and even sketched a backdrop for a weekly photo project. Sherry drew our book cover on a sheet for Robyn’s son Sawyer’s 41-week photo, and I added the “Week 41” lettering — a small victory for the resident font nerd.
That wraps up our 2012 tour stops. It’s been an incredible few weeks, and while we’re excited to hit the road again in January, we’re enjoying some quiet time at home with the bean and the Burgs. So far we’ve spent 41 hours signing books — not counting crafting sessions, presentations, setup, or travel — which is wild but completely worth it to meet so many of you. We really appreciate each person who came out.
And now for January and February — there’s a lot planned, including Bay Area dates following our Tacoma and Portland stops, and a Charlotte event with an added stop in Atlanta along the way. Unfortunately our planned Grand Cayman stop was canceled due to scheduling conflicts.
For full details on locations, times, and RSVP instructions, check our Book Tour Page. If you already RSVP’d for the NYC event in November, your name is included for the new January date, so please don’t RSVP again. We hope to see many of you at the next nine stops starting in a few weeks. Happy weekend, everyone — and to all a good night!