Hi there,
I'm back today with my account of what Nichole and I have officially dubbed "The Pioneer Weekend". My sweet friend Nichole came to visit us from Tennessee for a couple of days so that she could go with me to the two cookbook signings with Ree Drummond (aka The Pioneer Woman), who just released a new (#1 bestselling!) cookbook, which is beautiful by the way! Ree was doing two events here in Kansas City Monday and we were fortunate enough to get tickets to go to both events.
I told you about the morning cookbook signing, and now, I've got lots of pictures to share from the evening event. It was held on the Plaza and Ree spoke for a bit before the book signing, answering readers' questions about life on the ranch, cooking, etc. She was warm, engaging, funny and she even did her Ethel Merman impersonation!!! Hilarious......and SO good! Haha!
After she spoke, the event sponsors gave away a few door prizes and then Ree began signing cookbooks for the 500-600 (?) people that were in attendance. Here's what she looked like at the signing table.......classy, elegant and SO down-to-earth. (And she had great hair!) :)
The event coordinators were only allowing 50 people at a time to get in the line to get their cookbooks signed and we were placed in order based on the number on our tickets, which meant that we were going to have to wait for quite awhile before it was our turn. We were sitting in a big auditorium filled with people, so we settled in for some people watching and chatting. We were pretty entertained to see the unofficial line that formed around by Marlboro Man (Ree's husband).....hundreds of women lined up to get The Pioneer Woman's chaps-wearing husband's autograph and to get their picture taken with him.
While Marlboro Man was signing autographs, he was also *trying* to keep an eye on their "punks", as P-dub calls them......their two little boys. If we were entertained by the mob around Marlboro Man, we were reeeeally entertained by The Punks. Notice the UFC fighting gloves? LOL! (I think someone might have brought those as a gift for them.) It gets better....just wait. ;)
Here, they decided to commandeer the microphone on the podium. Just look at the look of glee on big brother's face. They proceeded to make all sorts of little boy noises in the mic. Haha!
Later on, when they had to quit playing with the microphone, they decided to have a UFC match over in the corner. I couldn't resist taking pictures......they were cracking me up! Just look....
Getting ready to kick big brother....
"Put up yer dukes." He's also got sharpie marks on his cheek, though I'm not sure if he put them there himself, or if big brother helped him with that! :)
It was about now that the hollering started. :) So funny, these Punks! And so darn cute!!! They might be little but they're fiesty!
Here we are....me, Ree and Nichole. She couldn't have been nicer and I'm so thrilled that we got the chance to meet her.
In the above photo, I'm sure she was telling me something terribly witty and charming but I was just trying to avoid saying something totally dorky. Not sure I succeeded!
One other really fun surprise that evening was that Ree brought "The Pioneer Woman" t-shirts for everyone in attendance at the evening event!!! How sweet is that? Nichole and I did our best to model the t-shirts for you....
Aren't those cute shirts?? Thank you SO much, Ree.....for coming to Kansas City, for doing both book signing events, for bringing some of your crew with you -- they kept us entertained while we waited (hee!) and for bringing us these fun t-shirts. We're so grateful!
And lastly, in true Pioneer Woman fashion, I leave you with 'the butt shot' so that you can see what these cute shirts said on the back of them.
P.S. Stay tuned for more on the other fun things Nichole and I did while she was in town for our "Pioneer Weekend"! That post is coming later this evening.
