Tag: blogs

Young House Love

The Day John and Sherry Showed Up at My House

I’ve ‘known’ John and Sherry Petersik of Young House Love since 2007. We started our blogs around the same time and we’ve chatted plenty of times via email over the years, but we had never met before. When I read that they were going to be in Chicago for their book tour, I sent them an email hoping to find a little time to meet up. Sherry wrote back and said that they were down for one of their infamous house crashes, and so we set a date.

Do you know how weird it is to meet someone you’ve known for five years by them coming to your house? I mean, it was awesome, but it was also a little surreal to see John and Sherry walking up to my front door.

They came in, we all hugged, and then they house crashed. Brandon and August were home the whole time, and John and Sherry met Eleanor for a few minutes too after Brandon picked her up from preschool. Clara was back at home with her grandma, but we all agreed that she and Eleanor would have been toddler besties.

I drove John and Sherry to their hotel when they were done taking photos of the house, and on the way I tried to point out interesting things around Chicago. “There’s the Sears/Willis Tower, over there is the Trump Tower” and so on. And of course I blurted out “here’s where R. Kelly shot Trapped in the Closet!” I’m not sure if they were into that (but man, “En Vogue… with a new lead singer” had me and Brandon cracking up in the latest installment). Later that night, Sherry and I realized that we (professional bloggers that we are) forgot to take a picture of “Young House Love and Making it Lovely” together with a decent camera. We made sure to get one with the three of us the next day, but of course I only had my phone with me. Behold!

(Pics or it didn’t happen.)

See all those people behind us there? The line for them at their book signing was crazy long, with people wrapped around the store and waiting out in the rain. It was a dedicated (and really sweet) group of people. I’ve worked and attended a lot of book readings, but this was a particularly good one. A few people in the crowd even recognized me and had me sign my page in the book (I contributed project #199), which felt really cool.

John and Sherry are now New York Times best selling authors for their book, Young House Love, and I couldn’t be happier for them. (Congrats, guys, and thanks again for coming over.)

November 27, 2012
Blogging Your Way 2.0

Holly Becker of Decor8 has expanded her long-running course, Blogging Your Way, with a new 2.0 class for bloggers past the beginning stages. Holly is a supportive, open, and honest teacher, and I’m proud to be joining her along with Jeanette Lunde from Fryd + Design to teach the first session this June.

I’ll be showing how I create layouts for Making it Lovely, talking about advertising and monetizing your blog, and more. The full list of course topics covered can be found here.

Join Us!

Registration has begun and you can sign up here. I also have two spots to give away! You can enter by leaving a comment below with the class’ hashtag: #byw2.

Rules: The giveaway is open to international entrants until midnight CST, May 20. One entry per person. Two winners will be chosen at random and notified on May 21. Seats are non-transferrable, and those who have already registered and paid for BYW 2.0 are ineligible. Valid only for the June e-course. Comments must include #byw2 to be eligible.

* The winners are Sarah A. and Kate S.

May 17, 2012
Teach Me, Teacher

I’m teaching a few classes online for Alt Summit.

I’ve already taught my first, on Growing a Readership, and I’ll be teaching my second this afternoon about Understanding Analytics. Both will be repeated in March in the evening, so there’s still time to sign up if you’re interested. Each class is just $15.

Understanding Analytics
February 23, 11am PST & March 13, 6pm PST
Page views, subscribers, and unique visitors, oh my! Learn what to use and how to use it when it comes to keeping track of your site’s stats.

Growing a Readership
February 9, 11am PST & March 28, 6pm PST
Looking to grow your blog? Of course you are! Learn tips and get concrete steps to grow your readership and create a true community for your site.

I’ll be honest; I do get nervous before these things. I’m introverted and shy! I love talking about the business of blogging though, and I have so much information to share. Really, once I get past seeing my face staring back at me during the class (oh yeah, there’s video), I’m very comfortable. Plus I’ve put together some awesome powerpoint presentations (which is something I never imagined I would be typing), and I’m proud to be partnering with Alt Summit on the whole thing.

Besides, I’m going to pretend you were all listening to this before class. It’s my version of imagining the audience in their underwear; much less intimidating.

February 23, 2012