P-Dub Woman

For those of you not understanding what "PW" means, it's "Pioneer Woman" and she has a blog. Look at the right side of my blog, see the links under "friends"? You'll see one called "The Pioneer Woman Cooks!". I've been following her blog for a few years, she is incredible at everything she does because she's completely real and honest and super funny!

I thought everybody knew what I meant on facebook when I said I was going to the PW book signing...I was surprised at how many people questioned what I meant.

Here's the story...

The first thing I thought when I blog stalked into her blog one day was This is my kind of girl! She takes detailed pictures of every single thing she is cooking! It's impossible to screw up! Pretty soon I was checking her blog almost daily to see what amazing recipe she was sharing with the world. Then I noticed all the different tabs at the top of her page...confessions, cooking, photography, home and garden...she does it all!

She is called the Pioneer Woman because she used to live in the city and was happy in the city life. Then she met and married a cowboy and moved to a ranch in the middle of the mid-west nowhere. One day her friend called her a pioneer because she created a new life, which was out of her comfort zone. And was successful at it.

Anyway...she just had a recipe book published.

She announced a few months back on her blog that she was doing a book-tour and to my surprise, Salt Lake City was one of her stops! I knew right then that nothing would stop me from attending that book signing!

I just had one problem...at the time I had lost my job and was trying to be uber-careful about not spending money unless it was absolutely necessary. I wanted to pre-order the book on Amazon but didn't think it was life-or-death necessary. I was pondering it one day when Fern called me and said "happy EARLY birthday! I just ordered that book for you so we can go to her book signing in November!" Wasn't that thoughtful??!!?

So, the book arrived last week and on Wednesday night Fern picked me up, and away we went! Fern's daughter Jessica came with us as well as her daughter-in-law, Danielle.

We got there around 6pm. PW was doing a question/answer session at 7pm before signing books. When I saw the line, I knew there wasn't going to be room for us at the question/answer session. It was crazy! Of course, mostly women...mostly loud and over-eager women. At one point I looked at Fern and said "this is why I don't usually enjoy the thought of a girls night out...because this is how it looks to the rest of the world." ha ha!

At 6:30pm they started letting us into the art gallery. When we walked in the employee said "standing room only". I figured we'd have to go to the back and stand up. Fern immediately walked right up front and sat on the floor! I didn't even think of that! So we sat about 6 or 7 feet from the podium! Here is looking back at the rest of the room. This picture doesn't even show everybody that was there and standing around in the lobby. It was a mad house!


At 7pm, PW was introduced and the crowd clapped like crazy! She brought along her sister-in-law Missy, who stood right next to where I was sitting.

Here are the 4 of us. I know my head looks huge. I was holding my point and shoot camera a little too close I guess! See that freaky lady in the background with the glasses? I swear she was stalking
us! Everywhere we went...in line...in the gallery...outside the bookstore...in the bookstore...everywhere we went, she was right next to us. She was loud and opinionated and drove me crazy! Phew, glad I got that off my chest.


Here's PW, she kept saying she was nervous and sweating, but she looked comfortable to me!


This is a picture without any zoom. Nice seats eh?


After 30 minutes of answering questions (her husband's name is Ladd, on the blog she always refers to him as Marlboro Man) and doing a really funny Ethel Merman impression, it was time to start signing books.

While in line at 6pm we were given a card with a letter on it. Our cards said "J". There were 20 cards for each letter of the alphabet. So, the first 20 people in line got "A", the next 20 got "B" and so on and so forth. I had no idea it would take 45 minutes or so just to get through one letter! It was completely crazy!

We went and grabbed dinner at Arby's. While at Arby's, Jessica used something called "Bronco Berry Sauce" to dip her jalapeno poppers in. She then came up with a great idea to give some to PW to see if she could either re-create the sauce, or use the sauce in a recipe on her blog. I thought it was a great idea at the time, but I never would have had the guts to challenge her with it.

Several hours later it was our turn to see PW. We realized why it was taking so long....people were each bringing an armful of books to her for signing! Duh! Why didn't I think of that???? Oh yeah, money is tight. :)


We were told that we couldn't stand up and get a posed picture with her. So, I leaned on the table as she was signing my book and asked Fern to take a picture. PW said "tell me when she is about to take it" so I said "Now" and she looked up so we could get this shot:


She told me to email that picture to her because she is making a book tour scrapbook. So I did. Like a good kid.

Oh man, I got roots to boot. I swear I just colored my hair a few months ago! Oy.

So then Jessica hands PW her book to sign...as well as two containers of Bronco Berry sauce. I got so nervous and anxious, these things stress me out and make me very uncomfortable. :) She explains to PW that she wants her to use them in a recipe or maybe even recreate the sauce in her own recipe. Ummmm, sorry about the booby shot Fern! ha ha!


Here's PW saying "Are you giving me a food challenge?" Then she thanked Jessica and said she'd see what she could do as she placed the condiments into her purse! So funny! Jess, if Bronco Berry sauce shows up on her blog I am totally buying you dinner!

Here's my signed pages...PW and her sis-in-law Missy!



It was a blast and I'm so glad I was able to meet her! Definitely worth being surrounded by all the estrogen-filled frenziness for hours and hours! Thanks for the book Fern!!