Road Trip to See The Pioneer Woman

If you haven't heard of The Pioneer Woman, please check out her blog thepioneerwoman.com. You will likely never be the same after reading about her life of photography, homeschooling, cooking, and cowboys.  In October, her brand spankin' new cookbook was released, and she began a book signing tour around the country.  I discovered that she would be in Minneapolis at 1:00 on a Saturday in November and decided that I must go on an adventure.  I asked a friend to come along, and we each brought our teenage daughters.  None of the other three had much interest in PW, but the Mall of America and Ikea were enough of a draw for them to agree to join me. Lisa agreed to take the girls shopping while I waited in line to get my cookbook signed.

We drove to Minneapolis on Friday night and stayed in a hotel very near the mall (thanks to my hubby for setting that up).  The next morning we decided to have some fun.  Because our daughters are near look-a-likes with their mothers, we brought along matching clothes and went to breakfast dressed alike.  We felt like total losers, but had a blast watching people look at us.

What were they thinking when they saw this ...?

Dressing alike for breakfast was about all the dorkiness we could take, so we changed into our normal clothes and headed to the mall.

and now back to PW...

When we arrived at the Mall of America at 10:00 (for the 1:00 book signing), I was number 50 in line. I was elated that I would likely get my cookbook signed.  You see...even though I had come to Minneapolis for this purpose, I was missing out on hanging with the gals.  I needed to resume my normal life at 3:00, so that I could continue bonding with my daughter and our friends...  with or without my cookbook signed. (sigh)

The Nordstrom court filled with hundreds of women as the day progressed (we estimated that there were at least 500 people waiting).  We enjoyed visiting with others standing in line around us, since we all had Pioneer Woman in common.

After four hours, it was my turn!  My cookbook was signed at 2:00 pm. After all that waiting, I had approximately 60 seconds to bond with Ree.  I wish I could say we had a deep conversation about all the things we have in common--like homeschooling, photography, cooking, skin cancer, beautiful horses, etc.  Instead, I pretty much blurted out the things that I had rehearsed (so I wouldn't freeze up as my traveling companions predicted), and they sounded ridiculous.  She was ever so gracious, and smiled as she signed my book, and then... it was time for me to go.  Fortunately, we can all get our Pioneer Woman fix by going to her blog at any hour of the day or night.  And if we want to feel particularly close to her, we can just get out the cookbook and head to the kitchen.  I will post more about the cookbook later...