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.)
Jen @ RamblingRenovators
November 27, 2012 at 7:57 amAck, three of my favourite bloggers all together! So fun that you finally got to meet each other after all these years. I met John & Sherry at the Toronto tour stop and they were so nice and humble and such troopers for meeting all their fans.
Making it Lovely
November 28, 2012 at 12:53 amSuper nice and humble. (Meeting you earlier this year was pretty fantastic too, by the way.)
Chloe Moon
November 27, 2012 at 8:07 amOOOooo i gotta check out their blog! How funny that you guys talked for years but never met! Awesome that you finally met! =)
Kathleen
November 27, 2012 at 8:17 amI totally OWNED Trapped In The Closet 1 AND 2. (I took them to a friend’s house for a watch party and never got them back… it’s probably for the better).
XO
Making it Lovely
November 28, 2012 at 12:55 amHa! We have it, but just the first one. If a friend “borrowed” it, yeah, that would probably be OK.
jenn
November 27, 2012 at 8:31 amAw…my top three favorite bloggers! I love that YHL house-crashed you! I love your beautiful home. So, I’ve got my YHL book, now when are you putting out a book so I can buy it too? (I vote “For the love of Pink” as a title :))
Making it Lovely
November 28, 2012 at 12:55 amExcellent title! I would love to have a book. I think this is the year I’m going to try to make that happen.
jenn aka the picky girl
November 27, 2012 at 9:09 amAgh! I love when I see these pics of favorite bloggers together. So fun!
I was so sick when they came to Houston, and I was mighty disappointed not to get to the signing. Glad you guys had fun.
Catherine
November 27, 2012 at 9:56 amI bet that was so much fun! And ditto, jenn! I can’t wait to read YOUR book. :)
Jessica
November 27, 2012 at 11:17 amHow very cool and inspiring! Yay!
Emily
November 27, 2012 at 11:19 amI KNEW it was you! Who else could rock such a cool outfit, though there were a lot of wonderfully dressed people there! So sad I didn’t speak up and get to at least say how much I appreciated your blog and how beautiful your home and family are! Also, I had to pick up my jaw, because MY HUSBAND IS INTERNET FAMOUS (In the good way) and wearing that awesome grey and white striped sweater in your pic above! So glad you got house crashed, and I’ve been waiting for it over on YHL!
Making it Lovely
November 28, 2012 at 12:57 amYou’re so sweet! I wish you would have said hello; I’m shy, but I love meeting readers.
Jen @ Bungalov
November 27, 2012 at 11:21 amHoly moly! I LOVe all three of you! And together??? Like magic. I am sure you guys had so much fun meeting one another. I have a MUCH smaller blog thans yours but it is so great meeting new friends through it! It’s been my favorite part :)
Making it Lovely
November 28, 2012 at 12:58 amMeeting new friends is definitely one of the best things about blogging.
jbhat
November 27, 2012 at 11:26 amHow wonderful! I am looking forward to greeting Sherry and John at a signing in January. And I have to say that Iam so glad to know about of all of you….your blogs regularly make my days.
jbhat
Making it Lovely
November 28, 2012 at 12:59 amThank you. And have fun at the signing!
Sherry @ Young House Love
November 27, 2012 at 11:33 amAhh, it was so much fun to meet you! We had the best time. Thanks for having us over and showing us around. And I’m sorry we didn’t impress upon you how hilarious that Trapped In The Closet tidbit was for us. That was one of our first jokes when we started dating (John even gifted me a burned CD of that song because of the hilarity). Just don’t ask me the words. All I remember is “a rubber, rubber, rubber” echoing at the end of one “chapter.”
Can’t wait to share the photos of your beautiful house!
xo
Sherry (& John)
p.s. Clara agrees, she and Eleanor would have been toddler besties for sure.
Making it Lovely
November 28, 2012 at 1:00 amI totally know that chapter. Glad you got to see where some of the magic was made then, ha!
Megan @ Rappsody in Rooms
November 27, 2012 at 11:58 amOooo fun! I love to see the blogging community get together. I can’t imagine how odd it must have felt to “see” people for the first time but have known for years. Crazy!
Jessica
November 27, 2012 at 12:53 pmSweet! Can’t wait to see their house crashing post! I think I originally found their blog through yours when you both did the front porch makeovers. I’ve been reading both your blogs for a while now :) How fun to finally meet!
Lea
November 27, 2012 at 3:37 pmThat’s the exact same way I found YHL too!
Rachael
November 28, 2012 at 8:37 amMe too! Small world!
Making it Lovely
November 28, 2012 at 1:01 amThat was a while ago (and a fun project)! You guys rock.
Carla
November 27, 2012 at 1:42 pmHow cool! I love when blogland spills into real life.
Tristan B.
November 27, 2012 at 2:01 pmHow fun!!!
merylrose
November 27, 2012 at 2:05 pmSo cool! When my boyfriend and I went on our “Renovation Roadtrip” in October and visited bloggers we’ve been “internet friends” with for 3-4 years it was SO FUN meeting them in person and getting to work on their houses with the. Seriously, the trip of a lifetime
http://www.picardyproject.com/2012/11/now-that-its-over.html
Making it Lovely
November 28, 2012 at 1:10 amWoah, your Renovation Roadtrip sounds like my idea of a really good time. Such a good idea!
Heather / It's So Suburban
November 27, 2012 at 3:35 pmNicole, I think everyone would agree that we’d love to see you write a book as well!
Making it Lovely
November 28, 2012 at 1:10 amThanks. I hope it will happen for me.
Dawn
November 27, 2012 at 5:23 pmits mind-blowing seeing you both in a pic together. i read both of your blogs religiously every day, right after reading my morning emails. power couple! WHOOT!
Dana {five30three.com}
November 27, 2012 at 5:46 pmThat’s my neighborhood West Elm! What a fun time you must have had meeting one another. Adore you both!
Amanda
November 27, 2012 at 6:42 pmOk, this is going to sound crazy but when I first looked at the picture, I thought Sherry was Paula Broadwell. Yikes! She really looks like her with her hair held back like that.
Making it Lovely
November 28, 2012 at 1:12 amOh no! Yikes.
Shoshana
November 27, 2012 at 9:12 pmIt’s my favorite blogger meeting my sister’s favorite blogger! Kismet (she c/o the amazing http://shoesoffplease.wordpress.com/ )
Making it Lovely
November 28, 2012 at 1:13 amAwesome.
Maria @ Inspiration Affirmation
November 27, 2012 at 10:30 pmI’m so glad that you all got to meet up! I hope to meet some of my blogger friends in real life someday — it seems like it would be wonderful! Thanks for sharing these fun photos with us. The book was on my Christmas list, so I can’t wait to see what project you contributed! xo
lana @ making a house a home
November 28, 2012 at 11:34 amthat’s amazing! it’s been so great watching you both grow so much!!! <3
Brittany Lauren
November 28, 2012 at 12:52 pmThat’s awesome! I’ve followed their blog and have always enjoyed posts and videos from them! Such a cute couple! Now its time to write your book girly! :)
Lisa
November 28, 2012 at 1:25 pmThis is so cool! Love their blog, love both your styles, love that they’re from the DC/MD/VA area and that YOU are from the Midwest and I’ve relocated to Southern Illinois. Good karma all around!
Happy to see you three together!
Kim @ Yellow Brick Home
November 28, 2012 at 2:17 pmI love this whole post, and I love John and Sherry, but can we just take a moment to talk about Trapped in a Closet?!
Nicole, watching the installments is a Thanksgiving tradition for us in Chicago – one of my good friends is an opera singer, and she was asked to sing for R Kelly one Thanksgiving about 4 years ago while he ate dinner (with this “girls”)! Ha! Ever since, we make sure to watch all the chapters after dinner, and we sing along – and usually end up in TEARS of laughter.
We still haven’t seen the latest one though, since it came out the day AFTER T-giving! I’ll be sure to keep a listen to the En Vogue reference (since they were one of my favorites as a young girl).
I LOVE that you watch TIAC.
kate
November 28, 2012 at 10:14 pmMy favorite 3 bloggers too! Loved that you had a meet up!
Beth
November 30, 2012 at 7:32 amThat’s so awesome. I’m fans of both blogs.
Can relate somewhat – I’ve been corresponding with Kim Myles for a couple years now and have a lunch date set with her about a month out from now. Ack! :-)
Keeks
December 3, 2012 at 1:20 pmI saw you at the West Elm event snapping photos, but I didn’t want to be a creeper and say hello from across the parking lot (even though I love your blog!). I did find myself in one of your pictures above though!