Return From My Book Tour

My book tour in the U.S. sponsored by Chronicle Books and Anthropologie was amazing! I am so happy that I got to meet hundreds of readers, sign a ton of books and mingle with so many whom, until now, I've only known online. What a mega opportunity for me to even go on a book tour in this day when publishing houses work so hard to cut costs due to a decline in book sales. Lucky for me, Decorate is still selling well and has remained a leader in the design book category in stores and online ever since it pre-released in March. I have only decor8 readers and friends to thank for this and I'm so honored and grateful to them for making this book a success.

So how did it feel to return to America after having so much distance?

Me signing books in Boston

It felt GREAT. My first stop was Boston, where I lived for 20 years, so it was a bit like going home for me. I grew up in South Carolina but moved to Boston at age 15 so it's home as well. I got to see my mother which was nice, but also many friends and readers of my blog in addition to all-around great peeps in the design world there. The turn out for the Boston store was huge - I signed books non-stop for 2.5 hours and it seemed everyone wanted to hug me and have their photo made with me. What an honor! Afterwards, a big group of us girls went to lunch and I felt so welcomed and happy being back home and part of such a big network of creatives again in America. I think we take for granted this support when we live over there (in the USA) but the moment you come to live in a part of the world where so many are still struggling with what it means to be supportive and interdependent, you REALLY APPRECIATE what you once took for granted!

After Boston, I flew to Chicago - it was my first time ever there and it was a gorgeous, clean and very modern city. I felt instantly comfortable and happy the moment I landed. The vibe is very nice there, lots of southerners relocated up to Chicago and stayed so some of those accents are still noticeable and people are SO FRIENDLY. My hotel was beautiful, I would gladly stay there again, and it was a few blocks from Millennium Park which was one of the most gorgeous waterfront networks of parks, gardens and museums that I'd seen in a very long time. Very "forward" and absolutely stunning. My signing in Chicago was much smaller than my Boston one, I only signed for an hour, but I still felt it was worth it to be there despite the creative community seemingly smaller than the Boston one. Afterwards, a group took me out for eats and drinks and it felt good to just enjoy their company, connect and be in the moment.

Next stop was San Francisco. Gorgeous, curious San Francisco. I love the energy in the city and the gorgeous water views. I met up with my friend, Leslie Shewring, and we rented a car and went all over the city and ended up shopping, eating, at Baker Beach and even drove through a gorgeous Eucalyptus forest. Have you ever rolled down your windows driving through a Eucalyptus forest? Heaven. The turn out for the San Francisco signing was also big like Boston making the trip to the west coast completely worth the time and energy. Afterwards, a group took me out as well - I loved being with everyone during and after the event. Being a part of a bigger piece of the pie is such a great feeling and to know that I'm part of their rich communities that exist in pockets all over the world because of decor8 is truly amazing!

Afterwards, Los Angeles was my next stop! Ah, LA I LOVE YOU! From all of the organic healthy food that Leslie and I enjoyed to the great turn out for my signing at Anthropologie in The Grove, the moment I landed in LA I felt GREAT about being there. My hotel, The Mondrian, was heaven. I would stay there a million times over. In fact, it was my favorite hotel out of the 7 that I stayed out while stateside during the 13 day tour. After the LA event, a small group of us went out and again - making those connections with such creative and enthusiastic ladies was a real highlight for me. Another highlight of the trip was being invited to visit Rachel Ashwell, founder of Shabby Chic and now Shabby Chic Couture, at her private home in Brentwood. It was an amazing afternoon and I have a bunch of photos to share on decor8 this week of that visit.

Me with Leslie Shewring

At this point, I was supposed to go to Philadelphia but due to Hurricane Irene, I had to do a lot of work to get back to the east coast as all flights were booked until Sept 1. That was a scary moment - to find out flights were canceled, I was stuck in LA, and that I wouldn't be able to finish my book tour in Philly + NYC as I had SO wanted to do.

Not one to give up easily, I was able to get a very early flight, non-stop, to Washington, D.C. on a Sunday morning and to my surprise, I got the last seat and it was in Economy Plus, so I could stretch out and relax the entire trip! Once I made it to the east coast, I spent the day in Washington just hanging out, walking around -- went for a nice dinner... and then found out my train to Philadelphia the next morning had been canceled. The drama continued like this for a few days, my train to NYC was also canceled from Philly, but through buses I made it and completed my tour on schedule without interruption. :)

Next stop: Philly. This was a day after the hurricane had passed through and so many trains were down, so it impacted the showing tremendously. I think 30 people showed up, maybe 40 in the end, which was very small but I still felt it was worth it to be there because those who came out were so sweet and happy to be there and a part of my event and that meant a lot to me after they'd gone through an earthquake and a hurricane that same week -- so I feel grateful I was even on their radar after all of that. A few of us went out afterwards for drinks and again, I felt that being there was worth all of the stress and time that it took me to reorganize my travel plans. I can't cancel on Philly, I kept thinking, and I'm SO GLAD that I didn't.

 Me with Grace from Pink Olive

NOW NYC!!! Seems though that the reward of being persistent with my intent to finish my tour paid off in NYC because my event there was packed and we stayed in the store until 10:15 (they closed at 9!). I was there for nearly 4 hours hanging out with some of the most amazing people. And to think that 30% didn't show for whatever reason - had they shown I don't know how I would have handled that! It was overwhelming in a very positive way and I met some incredible people and reunited with others I'd met before. We went to The Yard and then to Lucky Strike after - the night didn't end until after midnight and I'm SO HAPPY I made it to NYC. The next night, I flew home to Germany and well, here I am writing this blog post. :)

My impressions after living here for two years and being back in my home country? I missed it! I didn't realize I had missed American life and culture until I went back, funny enough, but I guess I have. I missed the "can do" attitude, the positive vibes, the supportive creative communities, the great beyond-amazing shopping, the architecture and I missed the smiles. Americans have to be some of the friendliest bunch of people on this planet - welcoming and amazing. I was also blown away by the staff at each Anthropologie store. They gave me such a warm welcome, rolled out beautiful spreads of food/drinks for each event, and truly CARED that I was there. I'll always be a huge supporter of Anthropologie - even more now - because of how they treated me and my guests. There are so many stores in America where I could have had a book tour but Anthropologie was my FIRST pick and I can't believe I was lucky enough to have their support. It's the ONLY store I would have wanted and I'm so glad that everything worked out as a result for them and for me and my guests.


Do I miss America now that I'm back? No, because I'm leaving again next week to spend 7 days in St. Paul, MN so I'll be back soon enough. Plus, I realized flying from NYC to Hannover is a total breeze, only 6 hours to Amsterdam and then and another 45 minutes to Hannover... I can do that once a year if I want to and get my fix so I'm happy about that. America is always in my heart and when I want to hop the pond to visit, I can. I'm grateful for this.

Over all -- I'm so happy my book tour in America went so well. It was deeply gratifying and emotionally touching at times -- some readers would cry, others gave me beautiful presents, still others made very special things for me. I also brought a signing book and so everyone signed my book as I signed Decorate for them - so I have this book of memories to cherish forever. My book tour was the adventure of a lifetime and I'm so happy that I did it.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CAME OUT TO MEET ME! Thank you Anthropologie and Chronicle Books!