i heart ree

for years now, i have been following pioneer woman on her hillarious journey of "high heels to tractor wheels" on her very well done blog. this woman completely amazes me, i am always in awe of how much she can do, and that she does it all so well.

her photos are stunning and she knows exactly the right kind of tweaking with photoshop to make them that much better. she lives on a cattle ranch, she home-schools her beautiful children, she is in love with her handsome cowboy husband, oh AND she can cook. like nobody's business. but all of this goodness isn't what i love the most about her. it's her ability to tell a story and make me feel like i'm a part of her little life out there in the country, like we've been friends for as long as i've been reading. her stories usually send me laughing, sometimes crying, sometimes a little bit of both. she's just so REAL, such a down home cookin', kind of a woman, and i love her! i love ree drummond!

ok, so we've established that i'm a fan, maybe a little too much, but seriously, everyone i know who reads her feels the same way i do. so imagine how excited i was to hear that she was publishing a cook book! yay!

of course i pre-ordered it on amazon, several actually, and i couldn't wait to see it, i knew she would have written and photographed everything in it herself and it would be amazing. and it is by the way.

so imagine how over the top excited i was to find out that salt lake city was on her book tour!!!!

of course we planned a big girl's night out, got there way early because we knew there would be a million people there (even if the tiny little book store had NO IDEA - which they didn't). and it was worth all the waiting and standing in line, and evening buying another expensive copy from the tiny little book store because mine hadn't arrived in the mail from amazon yet. (guess what arrived the very  next day?) all of it, totally worth it, she was wonderful! 

it was great to hear her speak, the question and answer session was a lot of fun - i could tell right away that everyone else in the room loved her as much as me.(we are in the fourth row back on the leftish - you can see patsy waving).

she also brought her sister in law missy who i was thrilled to meet, she's beautiful!

after the Q&A, we waited in another long line that wound through the tiny but delightful bookstore - though not as long for us since we were there super early and got tickets to the signing - woohoo!

but that line was worth it too, because she signed my book for me and chatted for a minute, and chuckled when i told her that she "saved thanksgiving gravy at my house".

i really wanted her to know this. i explained about having my SIL hold the laptop for me by the stove top while i scrolled down to each photo with one hand, whisk in the other, following along to make sure i was doing it just right. then she had a good laugh,  she said, "oh the gravy is so important, i'm so glad i could help!"

i wish i could have come up with something memorable to tell her, like how amazing i think she is.  i just didn't know what to say without sounding like a psycho - kind of like i am now i'm sure. i heart ree.