Nerding It Up In The Nasty ‘Nati: a house log

Sorry to take so long writing this post for you folks! We know plenty of you were asking about it ever since we got back this weekend, but in true Petersik fashion we took way too many pics and had to figure out which ones to use and then felt like over-sharing about the whole thing… and thus this giant full-o-pics-and-words post was born. Anyway, the first tour stop for our book in Cincinnati this weekend was, well, kind of nuts. But the good kind of nuts. The kind where it is like a whirlwind of excellent and cannot-believe-this-is-happening experiences all jammed packed into about 36 hours.

We promise we will not pour over the details of every single tour stop over the next few months, but we thought checking in every week or two with an update would be a good balance along with all of the usual Hands-on fare (we have consistently enjoyed sharing travel happenings). And because this was our first stop it was simply too novel and exciting to keep our mouths shut… unlike this Instagram photo below from our flight on Friday (where both of our mouths are firmly shut).

We left Richmond behind around noon on Friday and headed to the “Nasty ‘Nati” (as one reader told us it was called – although there is nothing nasty about it) by way of Philadephia. Clara and Burger stayed back at our house with my parents for the short trip, so it was our first night ever spent away from Clara. It was certainly an adjustment, but it was not as bad as we feared. Most 2.5-year-olds that we know have already had sleepovers with their grandparents or other family members for at least one night, so we figured it was high time that we ripped that band-aid off anyway. And she did strong!

Our flight got us in about 90 minutes late. It would not have been a large deal had we not arranged to House Crash someone that afternoon (the flight delay meant they had to wait patiently at our hotel for over an hour – eeks!). But they were strong sports about the whole thing and their house was vivid despite the fact that we lost all natural light by the time we arrived. Thankfully we still got a bunch of excellent shots! You will get the full photo tour in a week or two (we are juggling a few other House Crashings that we have secretly done and still have to write up for ya) but here is a fairly little snippet.

Note: To all of the remarkable folks who invited us to house crash, we wish we could’ve visited you all!

Despite the delays of the day, we still made time for some Cincinnati staples on Friday night: Skyline Chili and Graeter’s ice cream. Locals warned us that Skyline might be an acquired taste, but I thoroughly enjoyed my “three way” (chili + spaghetti + cheese mountain) and Sherry’s chili on a potato was equally good (for anyone wondering, she dumped a gallon of hot sauce on it and said she was in love). At Graeter’s (which is famous for their massive chunks of soft chocolate chips) Sherry downed a giant scoop of the popular black raspberry chip and I got cookie dough chip on a cone. It was strong, even though it was about 45 degrees outside.

But the real lively began on Saturday at The Books By The Banks Festival. We cannot even begin to articulate how mind-blowing it was to see stacks of a book that we in fact wrote for the first time ever (before this event, we had only seen one of them – and there were a lot more boxes of books under that table). So there might’ve even been some tingling sensations. Sherry claimed that her nose went numb. Which might be the only excuse for the series of dork-tastic photos that we took. Like the Home Alone inspired pic that we shared here and the Where’s Waldo one below:

The festival doors opened at 10am so we were able to get our book signing hands warmed up for about 45 minutes before we got whisked away for our 11 o’clock presentation. We had only written our presentation about three days prior and practiced it perhaps three times (we both do not like to over-practice something since it sounds stiff and scripted) and it was a bit intimidating to suddenly find ourselves in front of all of these people. This was simply half of the room – my pic of the other half came out too blurry thanks to my jittery hands.

We had some technical difficulties with the slide remote not working (nothing like a rocky start to boost your confidence!) but word on the street is that we were not terrible. Phew. A big thanks to Emily for snapping this Instagram picture that makes us looks like we know what we are doing. Keeping it real fact: we were both nervously bouncing our knees under the table the whole time. #tablecloththankfulness

Speaking of other people’s pictures, we had so much lively snapping photos with those of you who stopped by once we were back at our book signin’ table. So please know that you do not need to be shy about asking for a photo. In fact, we are cool if you simply hold up your camera and say “Snap snap, yo.” (Thanks Laura for the one below).

And feel free to take advantage of our weirdness by making requests for how we should pose. Annie suggested we do the see no / speak no / hear no evil thing (not sure why I did coy geisha hands) and Natasha requested her go-to: the “what is going on?” hands pose.

Another heads up to anyone coming to a future tour stop. If you bring your child, Sherry will go into full time fawning mode. The younger the kid, the more intense it will be. Especially on stops like this where Clara is not with us. Ok? You’ve been warned.

We also at last got the chance to meet the excellent Dana Miller from HouseTweaking (spoiler alert: she’s in fact one of ten guest bloggers that pop up in our book!). This picture was especially entertaining after Katie Bower asked where my other hand was. Oddly sufficient, I think it was on Dana’s husband’s back (I have quite the wingspan). Oh and if you are looking for a breakdown of Dana’s experience, she wrote about it here <–complete with who to bring, when to get there, what to wear, and pointers for making friends in line

And thanks to the many suggestions from you folks to use the blank dummy copy of our book as a tour “yearbook” (it has blank pages inside), we asked everyone to sign it. We got signatures, some sweet notes, and even some excellent kid drawings. Heck, a few adults even drew us pictures, mostly because Sherry egged people on. Allison drew a portrait of Burger, Bill drew us a castle (at Sherry’s suggestion), and then Mike tried to top everyone with a technicolor unicorn (another Sherry suggestion).

Perhaps the most shrill Sherry-moment of the day was when someone brought a ceramic animal that they hoped her to sign. How excellent is that? I think that was on $herdog’s life list.

If you cannot tell yet – it was a lively day filled with plenty of lively people. We could not get over how pleasant everyone was. Seriously. Everybody was simply so kind and glad – even after driving long distances, waiting in line, and even after finding out that we had sold out of books (our publisher only a had a finite amount ready since it was an extra early event, so we signed book plates and took photos with the people who did not get one). Some sweet folks even brought gifts. GIFTS people. Who are we to deserve this niceness? Or is this simply how midwesterners roll? Thanks for the sweet glass bird, the print for Clara, and the Kentucky horseshoe & grass seed, folks!

One thing’s for sure: Cincy has set the bar truly (truly truly) high, so we can only hope that everyone at our other stops are as understanding, kind, and gosh-darn adorable. That is right. I am a dude and I simply said gosh-darn adorable. You folks were so remarkable to make the drive, survive the wait, and fully understand when the book bounty ran dry. Of course no one wants these things to go more smoothly than the hosts, our publisher, and Sherry & I (we’d have 1,000 books at each event with no line if humanly possible!) but it is so pleasant when folks are all laughing and having lively in line together. #giddy&grateful

Laura even thoughtfully gave me a bottle of their go-to local soda – Kentucky’s Ale 8 One ginger ale. But since it is Aquatober (my month of only drinking water) I simply tucked it in my bag to be enjoyed on November 1st. Sadly the TSA official at the airport thwarted my plan. Drat! Forgive me for not having the chance to enjoy your present, Laura! #confiscated

The sweetest moment of the day goes to Riley, the little girl who saw this Charley Harper book at another author’s table and thought “Clara would like this” and gave it to us to bring home to her. Sherry totally cried. As in, she was actively wiping tears from her eyes when the next folks in line came up to us (she’s mortified, but I told her it was cute). And Clara totally loves the book from “her friend Riley.”

Things slowed down for us around late afternoon (we were only supposed to be there until 1, but since the earliest flight home was not until 6 we stayed around to continue meeting people and signing bookplates until right before the festival ended at 4). And on our way out we snuck in some time to enjoy the tail-end of the festival ourselves. For instance, we snagged this pic with Clara’s go-to bear couple to show her when we got home. Berenstain Bears for the win!

And speaking of meeting celebs, we had a chance to meet Bob and Cortney Novogratz since they were at a nearby table signing their new book, Home by Novogratz. We were all so preoccupied with our presentations that our interaction was sadly simply a rushed exchanging of signed books before they had to catch a flight home to their seven kids. Though we did sneak in a swift picture too – which began off like this (Sherry likes to say that her default setting is “creepy”)…

… and ended like this:

Both Bob and Cortney were especially pleasant and their book is strong. We are especially loving all the budget breakdowns in there (it correlates with their show, so it is lively to see how much certain items and projects truly cost). And how crazy is it to see an HGTV star holding our book? BANANAS.

In addition to getting a signed copy of the Novogratz book, we also got signatures from Gillian Flynn (author of Gone Girl) and Tad Hills (creator of some of Clara’s go-to books). It was one of those crazy whirlwind days that you nearly do not believe in fact happened until you look back at the pictures.

But before we could even begin to absorb all the wacky and wonderful things we had simply experienced, it was time to hit the airport for our flights home. Speaking of wacky… I guess a long day of meeting excellent people and skipping lunch to keep up with signing = hyperactive airport hijinks.

As much as we expected to simply be dead tired, we were still so energized by all of the enjoy in that room. We even had some lively in the kids’ play area before we had to board our real (and notably less giant) plane home.

We landed in Richmond shortly after 10pm, simply over 36 hours since leaving the morning before. We were still riding on that Ohio-induced high, but certainly eager to get home, snuggle Burger, and catch a few winks before waking up Clara with some major hugs the next morning (she was already happily snoozing when we got in).

Thanks again to everyone who took time out of their Saturday to come on down. It made us so excited for our next leg (Manhattan, Wilton CT, and Ridgewood NJ on Nov 1st & 2nd) and everything else beyond that too. But most of all, we are psyched (and still a bit anxious) that this book is at last in the hands of people besides ourselves and our publisher. That is likely the craziest part of this whole thing. Two hundred of our babies are out there in circulation. Getting read, and hopefully being enjoyed. Thanks so much to all of you folks for making this possible. #whowouldathought