To also say that I was a fan of this individual also wouldn’t be fair. My big sistay Amy asked me to go along with her… So I went thinking no big deal, right? Boy Howdy was I wrong!! But she can never doubt how much I love her, love spending time with her, love seeing her smile & laugh… Amy – you were worth it!! That being said, after the hours I spent cold, hungry, tired, uncomfortable, etc can be attributed to my becoming a fan.
So with Diet Coke close at hand to keep me awake this morning, let’s get this Blog started!!
Hot Chocolate $1.49
Blueberry Pop Tart $0.89
Cookbook $27.50
Spending the evening with your best friend/sister to meet The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond – Priceless.
Ree Drummond, thepioneerwoman.com, has published a cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl. Salt Lake was on her list of cities to visit on her book signing tour; she was here last night, one night only, at the King’s English Bookstore. Amy and I decided to meet there to save time as she was scheduled to speak at 6:30. I raced there after work to find a line going from the Gallery (where she was scheduled to speak) down to the corner of the block, turned and headed up the street… oh dear. I made a few rounds until I found an empty neighborhood street to park in. I walked to the bookstore and stood in line to purchase a book, as did many other fans. The lady in front of me bought 7 books!! Sheesh! I bought one for Amy and I, then headed back to the distant, very far away, end of the line. One of the workers came by, stopping every few people to give info & tickets.
This painting was worth $14,500!!! That’s more than my car! Anyway, moving on…
Amy finally arrived, but to our dismay they refused to let her in as the Gallery was at max capacity. I gave up my position to get to her, when the vultures (the workers) had their backs turned for a split second she ducked in and we lost ourselves in the crowd… here’s the Gallery:
Here she is!! She talked very briefly but was sooo excited to see how many people came, told some great stories, answered questions, and successfully made us all laugh and smile and forget the annoyance with lines, standing in the cold, miniscule room and the vultures. When done, she was escorted from the room to the bookstore just down the street... snapping pictures while she walked by felt like a total paparazzi moment!
Now we come back to the tickets… ah, the golden tickets as they were. A’s were first, obviously, B’s and C’s lined up out the door to await their turn. We found a few other L’s to hang with, take jabs at the vultures, share love for the blog & Ree, give line-cutters a hard time and brave the coldness. This is also the point where we really thought about where we were in the scheme of things. L is the twelfth letter in the alphabet so even if we were in the very from of our little group there would still be 220 people in front of us… oy!
After an hour they were only at B…. A woman with and A had gone in with 28 books… I figured, one ticket = one person = one book to have signed, apparently I was wrong! So we waited, waited, ate the snacks in my purse, waited some more… slowly but surely they moved inside: D… E… F… G… the crowd applauding each time a new letter was announced. As the night progressed and the minutes clicked by our group of L’s dwindled to just Amy and I – we’re not quitters! Troopers we were! They came out and told people that were R’s that they might want to seriously rethink staying. There were even people that didn’t have tickets that were told that when the ticket holders were all done, they would be allowed inside on a first-come, first-serve basis. I was very grateful to be an L at that point!! However, I was starving, thirsty and freezing so we decided to walk to the car, hit the gas station for hot chocolate and “dinner,” and race back. We found a much better parking spot upon our return and got back in line just as L’s were at the door – perfect timing!!!
This is the front of the book store.... The next one is the line behind us...
Once inside the bookstore, however, you get a better feel for that line… you weaved around stacks of books in the center, up 3 stairs, down the hall into the kids room, around the pillar at the end, back into the hall you were just in, up 2 more stairs… and right to the table Ree Drummond was perched to smile, sign, laugh, repeat.
We were told she wouldn’t pose for pictures so I snapped what I could, but think it’s so cute that she’s signing Amy’s book in the picture.
(I was carrying too much stuff and was too excited that I didn’t realize until after all was said and done that I didn’t get a single picture of me… duh.)
She was oh so very sweet, when I told her I was excited to start using her book – she was going to teach me how to cook, she laughed and said, “Hey, if I can make gravy – you can make gravy!” I hope she’s right!
We maneuvered our way out of the bookstore, through the group of people still waiting and back to our cars. I got home, scrubbed my face, brushed my teeth and fell into bed around 11-11:15... I think…
All in all, it was a crazy, fun, tiring, amazing, first time experience. I don’t know that I’ll ever go to one of those again, but it was fun, something I’d never done before and I certainly enjoyed spending time with my sister. And I got to meet a fabulous woman and get a very cool cookbook. It was worth it!
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