Meeting The Pioneer Woman

So last night I went down to Nashville to meet Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman, at her Nashville book signing. It was a nasty day for driving, rained almost all the way down, but traffic wasn't too bad that early in the day. I arrived at the bookstore about about 2pm and went in to get my "line ticket." I got my ticket and I was in group 11, with 25 people per group, so I figured that wasn't too bad. I had a few hours to kill so I wandered around the mall and went to get a bite to eat, then decided to go on in at about 4:30 and settle in for the wait. When I got down to the area where the signing was going to be, there were a few people there, but not as many as I expected. I found a soft bench and sat down to wait it out and read to pass the time. There was a small bit of frustration as it was very obvious that the folks at Davis-Kidd had NO idea how big Ree was, or how big a crowd she was going to draw. They were totally unprepared and a bit unorganized, but only enough to be slightly annoying, and not enough to ruin the mood or the evening.
Ree got there at just a touch after 7pm, and she is absolutely stunning. She spoke for just a few minutes, saying she'd rather spend the time with people individually, which was very sweet. Here she is at the beginning of the signing.


This is a VERY small portion of the crowd that ended up in the store. They had a taped line on the floor that wound around the book and magazine racks where the line stood to wait.


Here's Ree about 3 hours into the signing. Notice that she still has a smile on her face. And she still looks gorgeous!


Most of you will have read where I've talked about my friend Jennifer. She lives down in Georgia and really wanted to attend Ree's book signing in Atlanta, but she couldn't make it. She was really upset that she couldn't go meet Ree, so when I was about 3 people away from my turn to talk to Ree, I called Jen, and when I got up to Ree, I told her about my friend who had wanted so badly to meet her, and asked if she'd talk to her on the phone, and amazing gracious lady that she is, she took my phone and said hello to Jen. She talked to her for a little bit and then told Jen I'd call her back, LOL. This is Ree on the phone with Jen.


And here's a shot of me with Ree. She really was beautiful and gracious and sweet. It was amazing to meet her.


And here are Hyacinth and Betsy, who were also completely sweet and friendly. They were handing out t-shirts and signing books on their recipe pages.


Here are some photos I took of my book after it had been signed.


It was a really fun evening. Everyone there was really patient and there was no pushing or maneuvering for positions in line or anything like that. I met some really sweet people, including this couple, Greg and April, who were in my group and completely cracked me up. Greg is actually the fan of Pioneer Woman, and April brought him to Nashville to the signing as a Christmas surprise for him. April happens to be the owner of Studio Calico, a paper scrapbooking supply company, so if you do paper scrapping, or hybrid, check out her website!


I just want to say thank you to Ree for her amazing dedication to her fans. There ended up being about 22 groups in the line, and our group was about half way through. I would guess that Ree was there for another three hours signing books after I left, and if I know anything about Ree, she was as smiling and cheerful and sweet for the last person in line as she had been for the first. Ree, thank you so much for living up to every expectation I had of meeting you. And I also want to say thanks to Greg and April who made the SIX hour wait so much easier and fun!