It’s hard to believe it’s already been three weeks since our last tour update. Even though we’ve been quieter than usual here, we’ve actually been traveling quite a bit — by car and by plane — and finally made it to the West Coast. This recap covers our stops in the three west coast states: Washington, Oregon, and California.
We kicked things off in Tacoma, Washington at the Tacoma Home & Garden Show on Friday, January 25th. The show organizers did a fantastic job promoting the event; a local paper even ran an illustrated feature of us that we couldn’t resist sharing (I think the likenesses are pretty accurate — Sherry is a little Courteney Cox-esque and, naturally, Burger steals the spotlight).
The Home & Garden Show took place inside the Tacoma Dome, an arena that hosts concerts and sporting events. We even joked about Lady Gaga having used the backstage facilities the week before while we wandered around with a few Gaga poses on the side. When the dome is converted for a home show it feels nothing like a concert — the floor was filled with vendor booths, displays, and garden vignettes built just for the event. One indoor water feature looked surprisingly like an outdoor installation and caught our attention.
Our favorite area was “The Vintage Market,” a flea-market-style section full of antiques and unique finds. There was a vintage classroom map of the United States we loved — it was priced at $50 and the only thing stopping us from buying it was the logistics of getting it home in our carry-ons. Sherry also fell for a set of powder-blue metal chairs while I lingered around booths stuffed with vintage letters and signage. It was probably a good thing we were limited to carry-on baggage.
After some press and a private meet-and-greet with Ali and her family (you can read about that on Ali’s blog), we gave a presentation and held a book signing. The show organizers even let us make a 10-minute PA announcement beforehand, which was equal parts thrilling and nerve-wracking — apparently I started with “Hello? Is anyone listening?” which is a smooth way to begin speaking to an arena full of people.
The presentation stage made us feel official — we were even miked — and it was special to look out over so many friendly faces, including plenty of baby strollers. The signing that followed included some creative requests: a gold spray-painted rhino, a few plungers that someone wanted signed (there was a giveaway booth nearby, so it was an appropriately themed memento), and other fun items. People always surprise us with what they bring to be signed.
Tacoma residents were incredibly thoughtful. Reina and Tina from hello, cupcake couldn’t attend but sent a dozen personalized cupcakes that were as adorable as they were delicious — and sharing them earned us brownie points with the show staff. Sherry even received a humorous gift pair of underwear marked with golden lettering, which made us both laugh out loud.
One memorable moment involved baby Ruby, who was so fascinated by my mouth that she gave me an impromptu “dental exam” — her mom Jennifer wrote about it on her blog. I wasn’t phased at all; how could you not smile at that little lady?
When the Tacoma day wrapped up around 4 p.m. (we’d been there since 9 a.m.), we tried out one last oddity: a dry hot-tub-style contraption that looked amusing and turned out to be oddly relaxing. Sherry had trouble getting out of it once she tried it.
The next morning we drove the two-plus hours to Portland instead of flying, since we enjoy road trips and wanted to skip airport hassles. Once in Portland we signed at Rejuvenation, a store we missed finding during our visit last year. This time we got to explore their production lighting and furniture plus a fascinating half of the store filled with architectural salvage — I could have browsed for hours but had to cut it short for the signing.
We started the signing with a short talk from a small “stage” by the stairs. Cupcakes arrived again — this time from Lindsay at Undercover Cupcake — and they were delightful. Portland also brought some unique signing requests: Ellen had us sign the inside of her black blazer as a nod to Sherry’s “uniform” blazer, and someone asked us to add speech bubbles over our photos in the book (Sherry’s was enthusiastic; mine was sarcastically honest). We also reconnected with readers we’d met before and had fun taking goofy, staged photos with people who wanted to make the moment memorable.
Portland also delivered a sweet engagement story: Veronica’s fiancé rearranged his proposal plans so she could attend the signing and still get engaged — she left with a ring and a signed book. Unfortunately our post-signing sightseeing was cut short when I accidentally shut the trunk of the rental car with the keys inside. Instead of exploring more of PDX, we spent 90 minutes waiting for roadside assistance. Annoying, but at least it made for a story.
That night we flew down to Northern California and stayed in Palo Alto. The following morning we spent time with my Aunt Liz before our signing; she even made a sign for us. Friends Jamie and Ashley managed to sneak a photo with us before the lines opened, which was a nice surprise. Fans also traveled long distances — one group drove up from Los Angeles wearing DIY shirts shaped like houses with hearts — and other readers brought handmade gifts, like a penguin toy dressed in a Burger costume. Several folks brought their dogs, which was a welcome remedy for missing our own pup at home.
After the Palo Alto signing we had lunch with our friends Matt and Kristin (who recently moved to San Francisco) and they even drove us by a street with a fun name nearby. We spent one more night in the area and woke up at 4 a.m. for our long trip back across the country. Even though we left at sunrise, time zones meant we didn’t arrive home in Virginia until sunset.
We’re so grateful to everyone who came out to the West Coast signings — for the laughs, the thoughtful gifts, and the creative photo ideas. We’d love to visit more of California in the future (Los Angeles, we’re looking at you) and hope to keep meeting readers wherever we go. Thank you for making this part of the book tour so memorable.
Psst—If you want to read about some of our previous book tour stops, you can check a round-up of them here.