Yesterday I met “The Pioneer Woman”

Earlier this summer, Kelley thinks it was in September but I think it was earlier than that, The Pioneer Woman announced she was publishing a cookbook.  Kelley and I couldn’t have been more excited!  Kelly had introduced me to PW sometime well before that announcement and we’d both been following her blog:  http://thepioneerwoman.com/

The cook in me LOVES the recipes she posts on her blog.  I love them because they are real food with ingredients I can pronounce.  I also love them because she posts them with great photos of what things should be looking like along the way. 

I also love the blog for her tutorials on photography.  I adore taking photos and using them on some of my greeting cards. 

All in all I’ve learned a lot from PW and plan to learn even more now that I’ve met her and, hey, she probably simply adores me now too, right?  I’m sure we’ll become BFFs soon!

A fan synopsis of the day standing in line at the Mall of America:

10:00am, meet Kelley in line outside Nordstroms to get a wrist band enabling us to stand in the real line a few steps away.

10:03:  meet the ladies in the immediate vicinity and strike up a friendly conversation. (hey, we’re going to be hanging with these chicks for a bit so we may as well get to know them a little, right?)

11:00:  the line to get wrist bands promptly opens and we begin to move into “the shoot”.  This is the zig-zaggy-roped-off-area where the cattle women are held until PW appears.

11:08:  yes, we were that close to the start of the line that we actually sat in our places (on the floor) in the shoot right in front the stage! 

11:09:  more talking to the ladies around us.  Immediately behind Kelley and I was “L”.  (L, I’m using your first initial to protect your anonymity.)  Hi “L” – waving!!  Visiting with “L” was fun because she shared that one of her favorite parts of the blog was the home-schooling tab as she home-schools her children right now.  It was fun to hear that the tab I sort of ignore was the most prized by someone else.  “L” was sweet.  Hey, “L”, don’t forget to connect with me about all your special holiday card needs!!! 

11:30:  we have another hour and a half before PW is scheduled to appear.  The crowd is well in hand due, in part, to the filming of TLC’s show “Mall Cop.”  The Mall Cops were milling around and stopped to ask our little group what the excitement was all about anyway.  Kelley engaged them in some conversation and the film crew took advantage of the opportunity.  As a result, both Kelley and I had to sign releases for the show.  Ha!  When I told Jeff he was only a little excited…  because we don’t get cable. 

12:10:  more chatting, a Caribou run, talking, standing, sitting, the making of grocery lists, thumbing through the cookbook, reading the “no guarantee” information on our wrist bands, sharing blog addresses. 12:52:  Barnes and Noble assistants come around with post-it notes to place in the book.  This is so PW will be sure to not waste time asking about the spelling of your name, but rather, have time to look deeply into your eyes and convey her deepest appreciation for being there and be ready to pose for a photo with you.

1:00:  PW enters the immediate area!

1:01:  PW is visibly a little freaked out, nervous and yet extremely gracious with the crowd of nearly 600 people waiting to meet her.  Honestly, I thought she handled herself very well.   See?  Look how close I was!  I didn’t even have to use my fancy pants zoom!

1:20:  My turn to have my book signed.  I get up the steps of the make-shift stage and move to the table.  Barnes&Noble assistants have grabbed both my book and my camera.  The book is handed to PW and my $1500 camera is now in the hands of some Barnes&Noble part-time employee who knows nothing about taking a photo.  To give her some credit she did make my butt look smaller.  Thank you BN part-time employee.  I appreciate you taking my photo but would have much preferred to have me smiling next to PW while she signed my book!! 

Look, there is PW and she is getting ready to sign MY book!  And look, there is an empty chair where I should be…  and look, there is a little slice of heaven my butt!  Look closer…  there it is!! 

1:30:  Now Kelley is done with her turn and we spy PW’s husband in the crowd with the boy-flavored punks.  Kelley tries to get him to sign her cookbooks but the man was not prepared with a pen.  He is a heavy duty cattle rancher after all so no signature but I was able to shoot some photos of him with Kelley’s camera.

1:45:  I was at IKEA across the free way buying easels and a lamp.  That quickly the excitement was over and it was on with your normal lives.  Within 45 minutes I had a roller coaster ride that was pretty dadgum exciting!  (Dadgum = a PW word!)  See!  Told you I learned a lot from her!

It was a fun day!  Honestly, I wouldn’t get out of bed early for another celebrity like Tom Cruise or even either of the Obamas,  but for someone like PW whom I can easily relate to and thoroughly enjoy, I’d roll out at 6am at the earliest!

Thanks to Kelley for asking me to spend the day with her!   I had a blast Kelley!!