YHL in the ATL {Young House Love Book Signing}

Last week I had the chance to meet the folks behind the first blog I ever fell in love with-- Sherry and John from Young House Love.  They wrote a book that was published last November, and it included tons of projects that were kept "secret" from the blog so the projects would be new and fresh.  Since their book tour didn't originally include Georgia, I figured I probably wouldn't have a chance for them to sign it.  Lucky for us Georgians, they tacked on a few extra stops and made Atlanta their book tour finale!

My friend M (also a YHL reader and proud book owner) signed us up for the Atlanta book signing as soon as it was announced.  I was so glad to have a buddy to dork out wait with!

It was at the Atlanta FLOR store (haha... that rhymes), which it turns out is tiny.  Like not much bigger than my living/dining room tiny.  So that meant there was a line outside the store that wrapped into the nearby parking deck.  Here's the front of the store...

 ...and we were just around the corner.  So glad we got there an hour early!  There were tons of people behind us in line.  M and I guessed it must have been a few hundred (including at least 100 strollers-- whoa babies).  We were wishing that the beautiful weather from the previous day had stuck around, but instead we had a chilly, humid wait.  Ah, Georgia.  Your crazy weather never disappoints.

On the plus side, there was a precious cafe next door that had warm, tasty coffee.  If I'm ever back in that part of ATL, I'd love to try the West Egg Cafe for real.  Their decor was industrial and loverly, especially the old card catalog they use for coffee condiments (that image is from their website, btw). M and I swapped places in line so that we could each get some good-to-the-last-drop refreshment.

About 15 minutes before the shindig was supposed to start, we heard cheerleader yelling from the back of the line-- it was John and Sherry!  I figured they would have snuck in a secret back entrance, but guess they had to park in the deck like the rest of us.  :-)  Once they got settled, the line finally started moving.  FLOR had goodies for us to munch and sip on while we waited (like pastries from West Egg and adult beverages), which felt pretty fancy for a book signing.  M and I gladly took them up on it!

I was glad to know there were other people as geeked out as M and I were.  I don't tweet, but I bet there were plenty of folks who did that evening using the handle on display in the store.  We did make friends with some gals in the line behind us, which was fun.

The Meeting (it deserves capitalization) was short and sweet, just enough time for M and I to meet the Petersiks, have them sign our books, and move on.  M had them sign a note for her good friend who was preggers at the time, and I also asked them to sign a Pinterest Challenge pic I had printed and framed.  And since I'd heard of people gifting fun things at other stops, I made a "Virginia is for {Young House} Lovers" print for John and Sherry to take home.  I hope it made it back with them, since I'm sure they had a pile of goodies by the end!

When I printed the Pinterest Challenge picture, I crossed my fingers that Katie Bower would be in attendance.  After all, we were in her home turf!  We lucked out again and got to chat with Katie and her handsome hubby.  The poor things were actually trying to cut and run, but someone cornered them beside the entrance and a line formed....  Jeremy was being awfully gracious by keeping an eye on newborn Weston and even agreed to be in a picture with us ladies.  (M, I'm very sorry there wasn't a picture that included your eyes open.)

Here's a close up on that Pinterest Challenge picture.  I just grabbed the graphics Katie made for the Challenge, then put them together in a Word file to be printed.  My sweet hubby had it printed at a local shop for $0.60.  Add the IKEA Ribba frame, and the whole thing cost less than $6!

Now I just need to travel to Texas to get Cassie's signature!

What a pleasure to meet my blog idols.  I realize that does sound strange (trust me, even my husband thinks it's weird), but I've been reading both YHL and Bower Power so long it feels like they're family.  To top off a great evening, M and I went to Yeah! Burger, which was tasty and good for the planet.  And the humid chill left the skyline looking foggily beautiful as we left.  It was a great adventure.

Here's a close up of the Lovers sign, which is a twist on the original Virginia is for Lovers slogan.  For the "Young House" part, I found a font on DaFont that was as close to their blog title as possible, then I used the hearts from their blog background in lieu of the original heart.  I just spent a little time playing around with it in Word (I don't have Photoshop or anything fancy like that) and then gave it the same treatment as the Pinterest print.  Another $6 project!

Chewy approves, too.  He also said "Ruffruff," which I think translates to "Hello, Burger!"

The YHL signing brings my signed-design-book tally to two.  Watch out.