Ranch Meets East

After a very busy weekend of organizing and cleaning and unpacking and getting together for a Christmas dinner celebration with our college friends, one of my dear friends and I, who have recently bonded even closer over our adoration for the PW cookbook spent a VERY rainy Pennsylvania Sunday afternoon at the Chester County Book & Music Company.  We. Met. Ree. Drummond.

I just couldn't wait until later in the post to show you the picture. 

She was just as sweet and down-to-earth as you could imagine.  And she had a fanTAStic singing voice!  The Pioneer Woman in the flesh.  We couldn't contain our excitement. 

Check out Ree's cookbook - The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl

We got to Chester County Book & Music Company at 1:30 PM, and Ree was scheduled to address the audience (okay, PW Philadelphia Fan Club) at 2:30 PM.  As number 142, we somehow still got seats for the Q&A session.  In the third to last row, but hey, that was okay with us.  We met a cute baby and her mom sitting in front of us, and a very nice woman who's husband had come early to save her a seat until she could get there.  My friend and I had a chance to get caught up on all things new in our life as we anxiously waited.  And at 2:30, all eyes were glued to Ree, who hilariously addressed the crowd and took many questions from the audience.  Halfway through the Q&A time, my friend and I realized that we were the last book-signing on the tour.  Bittersweet for Ree, I'm sure.  *Note: I just visited her site and realized that more signings have been added.  So if you live in Oklahoma, go to meet her.  It's definitely worth your time and money. 

After the Q&A session was over, Ree began to sign.  And sign, and sign and sign.  You could tell that Chester County Book & Music had hosted a book signing or two before.  They had a system that worked so well.  They called a range of numbers to join the line so that there wasn't a thousand-mile-long line wrapping around their HUGE store.  So my friend and I were able to enjoy a vanilla latte and mocha while leafing through some magazines and doing some more catching up.  It was great!  I had visions of being the last people in a very long line, and we barely had to stand in line at all.

At around 5:00, they called numbers 141-160, and we jumped in line, waited for about 10 minutes, and then the moment of judgment came.  We introduced ourselves, Ree signed our books (which we decided how she should personalize with sticky notes ahead of time) and I gave her a torn piece of paper with a link to our blog, for her to check out in all of her down time.  HA!  We got our picture taken with her, and that was the end of our adventure.

 

Thanks for coming to Pennsylvania, PW! We'd love to see you again for your Black Heels to Tractor Wheels signing... and this time, you will know what you have gotten yourself into.

And a special thanks to our photographer, who was also our chauffeur and was a good sport indulging us for oh, about 5 hours.  Ree even said he was a good sport.

Also, thanks to my friend for bringing an iPhone that was charged, so we had something to use to take our picture.  iPhones are great, but I really need a better camera.  I really hope Santa read my Christmas list!