Pioneer Woman Meets Houston

It's been an exciting few days down here in our neck of the woods. We really don't have woods down here, just patches of trees actually, but there is an area of Houston called the Woodlands. Yes, that's the name of a city that is just outside of Houston's city limits. But I digress, back to the excitement in our area. The past two days have been awesome but for totally different reasons.

We had SNOW yesterday! Lots and lots of glorious snow!

Snow, Snow, SNOW!!! Snow. It won't be long before we'll all be there with snow. Snow. I want to wash my hands, my face and hair with snow. Snow. I long to clear a path and lift a spade of snow. Snow. Oh, to see a great big man entirely made of snow.

Do you know what movie that song came from? I'll give you a hint ~ it has Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney in it. It's from my favorite Christmas movie.

Today's excitement came in the form of waiting in a crowded store for 3 1/2 hours to meet someone I've never met in person. Ree Drummond, also known as The Pioneer Woman, came to Houston today and did a book signing for her cookbook. Needless to say, I left the family at home! This was time just for mommy (and at least four hundred other women and a few men). The book signing was arranged by Blue Willow Bookshop which quickly moved the location to Georgia's Farm to Market due to the overwhelming response of Ree's fans.

[photo courtesy of Pioneer Woman.com]

I've been looking forward to this day for a few months now. Once Ree's cookbook was ready for publication I told Gregg that he needed to be prepared to buy me one. There were no subtle hints because Gregg doesn't always get subtle, which is okay. He's a man and sometimes I have to spell things out for him, kinda like how he has to repeat directions to me more than once (I can get lost just trying to get home!). Fortunately for Gregg he didn't have to buy me a copy because I won one. Yippie for me!!!

After reading about the crowds/lines at Ree's other book signings I decided to call Blue Willow Bookshop and ask how they were organizing theirs. I'm SO glad I made that call. Blue Willow was handing out Signing Line Tickets, which are basically just different colored post cards that were done in blocks of 50. Their store is just a few blocks from Gregg's office and so he went by on Tuesday and picked up a card for me on his way home from work. Gracious, I love that man! My card/ticket was orange. The cards/tickets ahead of me today were blue, yellow, red, and green.

The lady knows how to make an entrance!

I love her boots (not that I could ever wear them!). Ree was just as charming in person as she is on her blog. Her brief Q & A was rather entertaining as we learned that Marlboro Man (Ree's hubby) prefers boxers over briefs (a very funny moment). Also, we learned that Cowboy Josh is still single and is on board for The Ranchelor (think The Bachelor on a ranch, only it's rated PG) and how he cooks chili for Charlie, the family's trusty basset hound. Of course, there were questions related to cooking (it IS a cookbook signing after all) and grocery shopping. And then the lines were formed! Everyone played nicely and got in line when their card/ticket colors were announced and didn't try to cut in line. There were no brawls on the floor as people tried to climb over one another. It was a very civilized event. Texans can be civilized when we need to be. ;) Overall, I think it was an excellent book signing event considering it's the only one I've been to so far. I had a lot of fun.

I'm the dorky one with the pretty red-headed Ree.

Thank you Ree for coming to Houston. I had a great time today and look forward to your next book, Black Heels To Tractor Wheels, to come out. I'll be there if you come back to Houston.