You've probably heard women say before that they have a 'girl crush' on some other woman (in a totally non-sexual way -- more of admiration), well my girl crush is on Ree Drummond AKA The Pioneer Woman. If you haven't heard of her, don't feel bad, 4 months ago I didn't really know who she was either (Sorry, Ree!).
One day in November, my mom told me this lady Ree Drummond
was coming to a local Wal-Mart to sign autographs to promote her new
cookbook. My first thought was: perfect birthday gift for my
sister! She loves cookbooks; I'll go real quick and get her an
autographed copy.
Fast forward to the day of the event. My mom and I get
there at 10:30 AM (Ree was supposed to start at 11) to get in line. We
grab a couple books on the way to find the line, and then about stopped dead in
our tracks. The line wound up and down isles and then up and down and
around more isles in the middle of the store. With nothing better to do,
we got in line thinking, "Oh, it won't take long at all." We
were wrong.
The lady in line in front of us actually worked for that
Wal-Mart and explained that Ree had gotten there early and started signing
autographs around 9:30, and said she would stay until everyone got through the
line.
Fast forward 5 ½ hours.
F-I-V-E AND AN H-A-L-F H-O-U-R-S! That’s when we got to meet Ree. Now, call us crazy, but once you are standing
in line for an hour, and you don’t know how much longer it’s going to take, you
are kind of committed. It ended up going
fairly quickly; we were in Wal-Mart after all, plenty of people watching to
do! It was also nice to spend time with my
mom.
I must say, once we finally got up to meet this infamous Ree
Drummond, I was intrigued by her. We had
learned some about her from reading the cookbooks we were holding (now, a copy
for me because, well, if I stand in line for 5 ½ hours I want some proof of
what I did) and from the fans around us.
The lady in front of us had all the cookbooks, and they were bookmarked
with her favorite recipes. We learned a
lot from her about Ree.
Turns out this Ree is a real sweet lady; I can tell that from
the minute I spent with her. As I walked
up with my cookbook ready, I thanked her for taking the time to stay for so
long. She responded so kindly with, “Hey,
we’re in this together.” She was so genuine. I smiled for a picture, and then took a
picture for my mom, who gladly told Ree she had fun today because she got to
spend time with her daughter. Awe! : )
Then a picture with Marlboro Man (Ree’s cowboy husband), and
then the day was sadly over. All that
build up for a little moment, but it was a changing moment in my life.
Ree and me, Marlboro Man and me, and my autographed cookbook!
When I got home, I did some more research on Ree, visited her
website, and fell in love.
She’s from a small town in Oklahoma, which makes me feel
close to her since we’re only a few hours apart. That also means she is a southern girl, which
in turn means she cooks southern food, which means it is my kind of food, which
also means it is not in any way, shape, or form healthy. She’s hilarious! Not only does she have a
blog, and cookbooks, but she also has a show on the Food Network. I’ve never been one for the Food Network, but
now, I record all her shows. I also
refer to her as Ree like we’re real friends.
Check out her blog over at thepioneerwoman.com, or on the Food Network.
She has been a great find for me and my husband- I’ll explain
more in my next post. Right now, I need
to go find out which recipe I’m going to make next. : )
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