Me & Ree

And Missy and The MIL, too!

Tonight I had the privledge of an In Real Life meeting with one of my favorite bloggers...you may know her as The Pioneer Woman, but her name is Ree and she's in Salt Lake City on a book tour.

I've been reading her blog for years. I wish I could remember how I found it, but it was long before she was a household name.

So I planned to buy and have her sign a copy of her new cookbook tonight, but as it turns out, they're completely sold out. The publisher ran out! And while I adore The King's English bookshop, when I heard that she was scheduled to come there for her signing, I knew it was going to be a mob scene.

It was. People lined up at 3pm for the 7pm signing. They handed out "signing tickets" for people, and when they ran out of those, they said anyone else who wanted to stand in line could do so.

People stood. For six hours. I didn't get a signing number, but I got my pashmina's out of my car, and a bag full of M&Ms to share with the people in the line, and found some cold women to share my shawls with, and we chatted while we whiled away the hours together. This was pretty fun, because the kind of people who read Ree's blog are the kind of people you just like from the get-go. We talked and made friends, asked who'd come the farthest (Wyoming, Idaho, Arizona and Nevada...driving. Two women flew in from San Francisco! I drove 10 minutes.) We bonded.

Every 20 minutes or so it would seem to move just an inch or so...but at one point, Ree's Mother In Law (MIL) came out, and she's such a doll that you almost didn't want the line to move. Visiting with MIL was just delightful, and she was as gracious as anyone I've ever met about posing for photos, and answering questions.

Below are some photos. Oh, and Fox News interviewed me, but they told me that they might not run the story because something about a baseball game somewhere might preclude it. Baseball Schmaceball! Don't these people have ANY priorities?! I mean, come on. But if they do put it on the website, I will link to it!


Here she is! I was literally her last visit of the night, and she was one tired cookie. She wouldn't sign my arm though...and I didn't nab one of her cookbooks before they ALL SOLD OUT. Everywhere. Egads! She said she'd mail me one though, so I will be patient.


I love this photo of her! Nice Shirt girlie!


This is Missy, Ree's sister-in-law. She's got a knack for remembering voices. It's really freaky. And she's super sweet and pretty and nice and I like her loads. Too bad she lives a gazillion worlds away or I think we'd be bffs. Wait! most of my besties live a gazillion miles away!

This is Missy and THE CAMERA. Yes, THE camera that Ree uses to take all those delicious, luscious and beautiful photos. Of dogs, and bovines, and chaps and dust and horses and sunrises and food and kids and cowboys. I think it has it's own star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.


This is The Woman. The Woman who is inadvertantly responsible for all of us enjoying The Pioneer Woman. Without her, Ree would be living in a city, drinking Starbucks and wearing black heels while eating sushi. Thank you MIL! We adore you. And your son's chaps.

Ree, you're more delightful in real life than you are on your blog...something I didn't even imagine could be possible. And sharing Missy and MIL with us...well, that was just pure icing. Thanks for bringing them along! ♥

Grateful for:
1) Technology that brings people together
2) Good people everywhere
3) The mild weather tonight...cause there were hundreds of us outside for hours!