So last night, Haley & I {along with our Saintly husbands} ventured over to Borders to go meet Ree Drummond, THE Pioneer Woman, in the flesh. {Dear Ryan went earlier that day to pick up my wristband.} H & I stood in line with fellow readers {while our husbands wandered} for a 2 & half hours and only got about halfway through the line. It was nuts... people everywhere, devoted followers, and basically the world wide web blogosphere.
So now, I have a confession, I am ashamed to say, we left. {gasp.} After truckin' through it for almost 3 hours, we gave our combined 7 cookbooks to one of my bestest, dearest friends, Sarah, to get our cookbooks signed & booked it outta there. I know. I know. Ree would have been awesome to chat it up with, but Mrs. P-dub herself was talking forever.
So, in lieu of not getting to speak personally with her { I took pics of her though & will load later} I thought I would get Mrs. Stone to be my first guest blogger on fff and give you the run down: { I do love her dearly for doing this.} Take it away Sar.
"Last night Mrs. Frazier and I were at the same place. We both stood in line for a long, long time. But only the most patient (and slightly crazy) one of us got the prize!! Let me back up. I read blogs. I don’t have a blog, but I read blogs. Some of them are written by people I’ve known forever, some are written by acquaintances, and some are written by complete strangers. Yet somehow, in the alter universe of bloggy world, they have all become my friends. My husband thinks it’s silly when I try to tell him stories about people I have never met. But that all changed last night.
If you don’t know about the Pioneer Woman, stop reading this blog and go read hers (sorry Mrs. Frazier). You’ll probably need to pretend to get sick at work and go home so you can read, cry, and laugh hysterically in private. She is so real, and so funny, and an AMAZING home cook. But the best part about her is that she signed books in Dallas last night at Borders, and waiting almost 4 hours to meet her was completely worth it.
I went by myself due to a shortage of available husbands, mom, and friends. The people in line passed the time chatting and laughing and comparing knowledge of Pioneer Woman lore. Now, to be honest, there were some major crazies there. People drove from hours away, and spoke OPENLY about this woman’s life as if they were her BFF. They took pictures of her, her daughters, and her random nephew. But the craziness just gave us more to laugh about. A certain blog/real life friend (who shall remain nameless) couldn’t take the heat and had to go home. I graciously took her books to get signed with mine, much to the dismay of the hundreds of people waiting behind me. That turned out to be perfect for me cause PW and I got to chat the entire time she signed my mountain of books! She seems honest, genuine. The reason it took so long is because she talked to everyone. She saw my wedding ring and asked how long I had been married. She told me how special these early years are. We took a picture together that I may or may not be thinking about framing.
As stupid as this may seem, last night was a great reminder that people really are good. I stood around with a group of strangers for hours, talking about our lives, laughing, and making connections. We were all there because we appreciate the recipes and laughs and pictures that the Pioneer Woman provides for us. To sum it up, the first words I said to my husband when I left the store were, “I feel like I just met THE Santa Clause.” Merry Christmas!"
Love you P-dub & Sarah. Thank you.
