The Great PW Book Signing

I have read blogs for a number of years, but have never had the courage to start my own, until now. One of my favorites is The Pioneer Woman. She has become quite popular and has written a cookbook, been on talk shows, and even went on a book signing tour at the end of last year.

A few of my friends and I decided that we HAD to see her in person. So, when we found out she was going to be in Skokie, IL, which is about 2 hours North of Farm Country, we decided to go and meet her! YAY! And, if we were lucky, maybe we'd get to meet Marlboro Man and some of the Punks.

We started out in Farm Country...that includes wind farms....


Made our way through Chicagoland traffic.....


....and finally got there around 6pm. We got our numbers to see her and we waited and waited and waited. Finally, the time came and Ree appeared and had a question and answer session before the book signing.


Once the Q&A session was over, we took our places in line (up the stairs and into the balcony of the book store) and started to entertain ourselves while waiting.

Here is Cheryl...


Brooke taking a picture of me taking a picture of her...


Brooke and Cheryl people watching...


Becky and I still waiting...


And then, finally, around 10:30pm, we made it to the front of the line! Here is sweet Cheryl chatting with Ree.

This may have been when Cheryl admitted that she was there to see Marlboro Man and PDub told her to stay away from her man! ;)

Brooke....she was so nervous and when PW told her that she loved her hair, she got verklempt and smiled and nodded...


Then, it was MY turn. Ay yi yi....I suddenly got diarrhea of the mouth and wouldn't. shut. up. I think in the short amount of time that I sat there while she signed my 5 books, I told her my entire life story. Imagine ME talking like that? Hard to believe, right? Right.

A member of the B&N staff took many pictures of the two of us (with my camera) and this is the
only picture that I didn't have my mouth open. Seriously.

Next in line was Becky. I only got pictures from her from the back (sorry, Becky!) I was visiting with Marlboro Man and...well....that's my story and I'm sticking to it.


Marlboro Man was a great sport. He signed all of our books and even had his picture taken with the four of us.


They even gave away t-shirts to everyone. How sweet! Here is my book, signed by PDub, proving I AM her biggest fan. ;)


It was a great trip. We got back to Farm Country at 2am and had to be back to work bright and early the next morning. We were dragging quite a bit, but it was worth it!

The best part? Spending time with my friends!