My Evening with the Pioneer Woman … and 600 other crazies

Last night I got to meet the world famous Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond.  She was in town for a book signing at the Borders in Fairfax.  I debated on whether I should go, because coordinating handing off the kids would be a hassle and I knew from reading her blog that her signings are madhouses.  But Mike, good hubby that he is, encouraged me to go, so go I went.

She was scheduled to talk/sign at 6pm and I managed to arrive by 5:30.   I received a colored slip to designate the group I would line up with to sign, and then joined the throng around her podium.   It was already several hundred people crowded and it looked like I would be stuck in the back.  But, when I went to use the restroom, I saw there was an alcove off to the side of the podium that was underpopulated, largely because you couldn’t get to it from the back.  But, I climbed over a few people and made my way there, and found a great spot up front, only about 10′ from the podium.  I had to laugh at all the women with cameras taking pictures of the madness.  And of course, I stepped up to document it as well.  This is the view from the podium around 5:45.

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I realized our little nook was right by the staff entrance where Ree would come in.  This staff member took his role as bouncer quite seriously (not really, he was just being funny).

Right on time, Ree entered the building and the place was all a twitter (figuratively and literally).

The first thing she did was snap a picture in each direction.  I was probably front and center when she shot our way, but my brain didn’t process what was happening.  I imagine I looked like a tool (if she even chooses to post it).

Then I crawled in front of the front row fans to snap a few.   Not the most flattering angle to be photographed from, but she was still lovely.

She spoke very briefly, then opened it up to questions.  Someone from my corner asked one so I took another pic.   However, at this point, my flash started emitting a faint puff a smoke when I snapped, so I’m not sure what’s going on with my camera.

Another shot from my vantage point.

After a few minutes she headed past us again to head to the back of the store to do the signings.

At this point, I knew it was going to be a while.   There were at least 8 color groups ahead of me, so I decided to duck out and get Chipotle next door, thinking the line would have died down some (ha!).   While dining on the patio, the other tables began to fill up with other women wielding colorful cookbooks.  At man sitting near me asked another patron, “Do you know why the parking lot is so full?”  I laughed and the woman was like, “Let me tell you about Ree…”  He seemed a little dubious about the appeal, so then of course I had to start in, “She tells great stories about her country life, takes beautiful pictures, great recipes, etc. etc.”  I think he left the restaurant better educated

After my meal, I headed back to the store to see how the line was coming.  My group had already been called, so I fell in line and waited.   And waited.   And waited.  I think I got in line around 6:30pm.   My hubs called at 9pm to see how it was going.  “I can’t talk now, someone’s singing to Ree!”.  There were tons of cute babies there – I was amazed at how well they tolerated the wait.   One mom had her 7 month old twins in line ahead of me, but at some point she decided they had  had enough.  While her friends waited, she took them home, put them to bed and came back, to see we had only moved about 5 feet.   The ladies in line behind me came all the way from West Virginia.

It was interesting to see the cross section of people there.  Mostly women, for sure, but from all age brackets.   The ladies next to me during the talk were a group of older women, grandmas and what not.  They had arrived at 3:30 to wait.

Anywho, as the wait dragged on, I did what anyone in a bookstore would do.  I picked up a book.  I was near the reference section, so I grabbed a book on child rearing that I had at home but had never bothered to read.   I managed to finish it while in line.

Finally, a little after 10pm, my shining moment finally came.   I met Ree, and even after 4 hours of signing, she was still utterly charming and warm and gracious.   I had all these ideas of things to say, but I couldn’t bear to add any more burden to her already long night and just thanked her for coming out.

She signed and smiled and was super cute and sweet.

Although we barely interacted, she is gives off such a warm vibe, she feels like a friend you’ve known forever.  Even tho the wait was crazy, it was fun to be part of the event and get to know her.

Thanks Ree for coming out!   Maybe we’ll catch up when you come back in the fall!

ps – I was curious about the crowd.  I thought there was at least several hundred people there, but had no idea.  So I called the store this morning to see if they had a crowd count.  The guy I spoke to said it was at least 600 people, maybe up to 1,000!   The DC area loves you Ree!  Come back soon!

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Tags: around town