A Ginormous Dork and Her Cool Friend Meet Ree Drummond

There is no other way to start this post except to just say it and get it over with.

I am totally in love with The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond.

Somehow I stumbled across her blog shortly after Abby was born, five years ago, and was tremendously blessed by it. I loved her down to earth, self-deprecating sense of humor, her unique city girl turned ranch wife perspective, her tremendous love of butter in cooking, and her inspiring photography. She is almost singlehandedly the reason why I have put this tiny, basically inactive blog out there on the web.

So when I heard that she was coming to Atlanta to do a book signing, and I realized that Atlanta is only four short hours from Charlotte, I knew that I had to go meet her. I had to thank her for inspiring me, making me laugh and making me buy a TON of butter over the years.

I was blessed to share this  “TMI Tour” to see Ree with my friend Beth. Beth is the mommy of Abby’s BFF at preschool and a terrific friend that the Lord put into my life. Like me, she has no problem with TMI, which is absolutely liberating to find in someone. Nothing was out of bounds as we two stay at home mommies laughed, cried and shared life stories together in one car for eight hours round trip. Eight hours! Uninterrupted by whining, fighting, cleaning up or dinner to make! Seeing us cruising down the highway, any onlooker would have seen two women at the height of unrestrained freedom. Like Thelma and Louise. Minus the murder and Brad Pitt.

After stopping at Borders to get our wristbands for the event, we made a quick pit stop at the hotel to freshen up. This whole time I am thinking to myself, “Ginormous Dork, you absolutely cannot be yourself this evening. Stay calm and tell Pioneer Woman how great she is and how much you admire her. DO NOT blow it in the ten seconds you have to talk to your hero!” The pressure I can put upon myself is intense.

I had to find an outlet for all this pent up anxiety. My outlet is doing something that seems funny at the moment but in retrospect, is totally dippy.

So when Beth was in the bathroom, I thought it would be funny to take a picture of myself in the mirror of our hotel room, just like Ree does sometimes. Because I am nothing if not a complete imitator when I feel nervous.

When Ree does it, it is cute. She always has her gorgeous flowing blouses and her “Ariel Hair” (that is what Abby describes it as)  is cascading in beautiful curls all around.  At this point, as you may notice in the picture, I don’t have Ariel Hair or a flowy blouse. It may surprise you, as it surprised me looking at this picture later on, that guess what? I am not Ree Drummond! Like I said, in retrospect, I think the word dippy totally describes this picture.

Eventually Beth and I went back to Borders for the big event. Everyone in line was just totally abuzz with enthusiasm. It was a complete and total estrogen fest and it was glorious. Waves of laughter and joy and many fashionable shoes floated through the store. Suddenly, someone called out, “THERE SHE IS!” Everyone was on their feet. I dipped and dived around the women in front of me, and then I finally saw her!

Have you ever finally come face to face with someone that you have admired deeply but never met? Someone who has absolutely NO CLUE who the heck you are, but their talent has been meaningful to you or has blessed you in some way? I mean, obviously, in your rational mind, you know that this person still puts their pants on one leg at a time, just like you do.  In some irrational recess of your brain, however, they have been elevated to a position in your mind where perhaps they actually can miraculously put both legs in their pants at once? Well, my brain saw this super talented writer who has shared her fantastic life stories and the world’s best salsa recipe ever with the world and for some reason I just could not process that she was really right in the same room as me.

I felt my heart start beating wildly. I actually lost gross motor control and dropped my books. Nothing says, “I sure think you are a fantastic writer!” like dropping the authors books all over the place. Do you see how this is quickly turning into another story of me embarrassing myself?

Beth. Thank God for Beth. She picked up my books and handed them back to me. Suddenly, I felt them in my hands and was catapulted back to this true reality. I was up next to meet The Pioneer Woman and have her scribble her totally cool autograph on these now dented literary masterpieces.

The nice man at Borders took my books and handed them to Mrs. Drummond. I felt just like a six year old who is about to sit on Santa’s lap. I felt myself approaching her table with incredible excitement and a good dollop of bewilderment. My tongue was tied! Where was the eloquence? The well thought out thanksgiving and gratitude I was going to lavish upon my bloggy hero? Oh, oh, oh. It was absolutely gone.

She smiled at me and said, “Hello! How are you?”

Do you know what came out of my mouth? Do you even want to know?

Because it is painfully awkward.

Here we go…

I looked at the gorgeous and talented Ree Drummond and said…

Oh, dear sweet Ree. She has obviously had experience with Ginormous Dorks. She was sort of in mid-snicker in this picture. She looked up at me and in a sweet voice full of humor, she said, “We’re all real!” I think I back peddled at this point and tried to save face after realizing that I just accused her of not being a real, living breathing person. I mumbled something most likely incoherent and rambling about how I loved her blog. She said, “You are adorable.”

Did you just read that?

Did you?

Ree Drummond, the infamous Pioneer Woman, found my Ginormous Dorkiness adorable.

Wow.

She then asked when my baby was coming and told me that she is always nervous asking about a lady’s pregnant belly because you just never know if you are going to insult a non-pregnant woman.

Then Beth took a nice picture of my hero and I together.

Oh man. Do you see my happiness? I am so happy that I think my cheeks are going to rip.

I thanked her for coming. Then she thanked me for coming.

I was so glad I came.

I was so glad Beth came too.

After we both got our books signed, we were just giddy with excitement. We had met our favorite blogger and she was just as sweet, funny and lovely in person as she is on her blog. We had her new book, with her lovely signature on the cover. The day could not get much better.

As we walked out of Borders, we saw that Ree did not come alone though! There was another, much less formal and organized book signing. Lots of swooning ladies were waiting in line to get the autograph of this guy too:

The infamous Marlboro Man was also in the house! Beth and I briefly debated whether or not to get his signature too, but after the emotional rush that was meeting Ree, I wasn’t sure if I could hold it together to ask for his autograph as well. So instead I took a picture of him with a random sister in the Pioneer Woman fan club.

Surprisingly, the events were over almost as soon as they started. Beth and I floated out of Borders just thrilled with our experience. As happy as I was to meet Ree, I was equally happy to share this awesome experience with Beth.

Also, Ree said I was adorable.

And I do firmly believe, especially after meeting her, that she can definitely put both legs in her pants at once. She is just that special!