I am normally not the "travel to meet people" type person. If a band I love is in town, I might go. If an author I admire is in the area for a book signing I probably won't go. Unless of course I personally know the person, like Steve. When I found out The Pioneer Woman was coming to St. Louis to sign her new cook book, I got really excited. But then I found out she was going to do a Q&A session and book signing in Kansas City, and I just HAD to be there. So I called up Tami and begged to crash at her place. I didn't really have to do much begging, even before I volunteered Mason to baby-sit Tucker. I figured with a Playstation, Xbox and Wii, there would be plenty to keep them entertained for a few hours. We didn't think we had to tell Mason about bed time, surely we would be back before then...
We underestimated just how popular Ree Drummond really is. The Q&A started at 7pm, Tami and I left immediately after she signed my book at 11:30. And there were still people waiting when we left. Poor Ree, I hope Marlboro Man gave her a nice hand massage afterwards, although he did his fare share of signing too. How someone so shy is okay having his wife publish a best seller with a picture of his butt in the book, I'll never know. Of course after he took the boys back to the hotel for the evening (at least that's where I'm assuming they went) I had the great idea to get a picture of just our butts for this lovely little blog. It's probably best that I didn't think of it sooner.
The boys were so entertaining. Someone gave them boxing gloves, and soon a showdown started on the stage. And you know the stage amplified the sounds of their little feet running and tripping. The microphone was also a great source of entertainment for them. After a bashful "Hello" from each of them, they snuck over when no one was looking to make as many sounds as they could before the organizer, who we named Book Lady, of the event stopped them. And since Tami and I were growing sick of each others company (not really, but it makes for a better story) this was incredibly entertaining for us.
As for The Pioneer Woman herself, so incredibly nice. Well I knew she would be nice and friendly and cute. And she was. Even though she refused to sing for us when she was asked, Marlboro Man made her. He's my hero. I genuinely enjoyed my 30 second chat with her, and I loved the fact that she didn't really want to stop talking. If the book lady hadn't rushed me along I'm pretty sure we could have had a nice long, up into the wee hours of the morning talk. I would love to tell you that we had this great connection and it was only me that she wanted to keep talking to, but that would be a total lie. It was clear that she wanted to talk to and know every single person there. Such a friendly soul.
So was it worth the 8 hours of driving? Well, the weekend was worth the drive, heck the trip to the Half Price Book Store (where we bought a boat load of books which I can't wait to dive into) was worth the drive. But was the The Pioneer Woman herself worth the trip? I'm not 100% sure. If she wasn't in St. Louis the very next day, then it would have been absolutely worth it. If KC offers a Q&A in addition to the book signing when she releases her love story and St. Louis doesn't, there is a good chance I will make the trip again. Next time though, I will plan a little more in advance so I can make plans to see ALL of my KC people.
Pictures to come...
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