Blogging my Adoration

Have you met the Pioneer Woman? I cannot say enough good things about this woman and her blog. She is warm, funny and real. She is the kind of person I want to be but fail at: she bakes, she homeschools, she gardens. I would love to do any of those things, but I don't. I don't even try, really. Unless you count my pathetic attempts at a flower bed each year. Which you shouldn't. I'm pretty sure it's not gardening unless your flowers are more plentiful and taller than your weeds.

In any case, she wrote a cookbook. A cookbook that I looked at with adoration. You see, my grandma has this addiction to cookbooks. She owns an entire four shelf book case full. I'm pretty sure she has a recipe for every food ever invented. Even aspic. *yech* I inherited said disease. I love cookbooks, but my criteria are a little different from hers. My cookbooks should include recipes that I intend to cook (at least one) and should have lots and lots of mouth-watering, yummy looking pictures. I need pictures. That's how I decide what to cook.

Pioneer Woman's cookbook has recipes that I intend to cook, a couple that I already have and LOTS of pictures. Of the mouth-watering variety. My mommy bought it for me for Christmas.

Then, Pioneer Woman wrote a book about how she and her husband (Marlboro Man) met and fell in love and my mom (who will tell you she reads historical fiction but really reads historical romance) went head over heels and HAD to have it. Then PW went on a book tour.

And came to Cincy. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Cincinnati? I really do. It's only about an hour away from me and there is something wonderful about that city. I love the architecture and the skyline and the feeling that everything has just been built sort of haphazardly, wherever there's room. Also, the bridges. If you like bridges, Cincy is heaven on Earth. And I love bridges.

See all those phones, that's
everyone taking a picture
all at the same time.
Trips me out every time.

So, mom and I headed up. We got there early. Really, really early. Because I thought we should. I thought people would be staking out a spot really early. Boy howdy was I wrong. So, we got to spend four hours in a bookstore, which was, of course, bliss. Except for my back. Remember when bookstores had comfy chairs instead of hard wooden benches. Of course it's better than one bookstore I won't name who only has three chairs in the entire freakin' store so you end up sitting on the ground. Will someone please explain to bookstore owners that we like to hang out there and we should be provided with a comfy place to do so. Thanks.

This is the spot we staked
out in SciFi. 

The signing was in Joseph-Beth Booksellers which is sort of a regional independent bookstore. There are four stores in Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. And they are far superior to any other bookstore we have around. Far superior. I have loved Joe-Beth (as we call it) since I was in high school and I can tell you this, they know how to do book signings. You had to get a line letter in order to have something singed. And in addition to giving the store an idea of what to expect, it also gave us time to not be standing. Each letter had about 25 people assigned to it and you didn't have to line up until they got to your letter. So, the standing time was greatly reduced and we got to stake out a nice spot to sit. With a bench, that didn't have a back. Have I mentioned that the one and only downside to this entire trip was my poor, aching back? Oh, I have. Okay, then. Moving on.

Pioneer Woman speaking...
in the pitch dark, apparently.

Anyway. Pioneer Woman finally (right on time) came out and spoke for a minute about how much she hates to speak. Which was precious. She talks just like she writes which is rambly and fun. Then there were questions and answers. And then we lined up for the book signing/personal meeting part. I've never met a celebrity and although I'd like to think that I'm all cool and chatty and just ignoring that you are famous, I was terrified that I would be crazy-fan-girl and never stop talking. So, I kinda never started. I completely froze up. I couldn't remember a single thing I thought I would tell her. About how I had eaten a gallon of her gazpacho by myself because no one in my family would try it. About how I thought her kids were too cute for words, especially Petunia. About how much she inspires me with her photography and her cooking and her willingness to try anything at least once. And her jewelry. I love her jewelry. I don't really wear jewelry, but she makes me want to try.

That's me, Ree and my mom. See how tiny she is.
Don't let all her jokes about Spanks fool you. 

This does not bode well for when I finally meet Adam Duritz or Jensen Ackles. Heaven help me, I probably will just stare and drool at Jensen, unable to form even a single world. "Hi," I may mutter, numbly hoping that someone hits me with a bus to save me from this misery. Of course, I may never actually meet Jensen Ackles, which would be sad, but at least I'd never have an opportunity to embarrass myself like that.