The Pioneer Woman

Ree Drummond's new Cooking Show started Sat. on the Food Network. Did any of you see it? I think it will be a huge success for her and I wish her well.

How many of you have ever heard of or keep up with The Pioneer Woman's blog? ( http://thepioneerwoman.com/) She has giveaways that are incredible, and I mean incredible! WARNING--this post is a bit lengthy and has more pics than normal. Grab a cup of coffee. lol

She has been blogging three years and is such a hoot as she writes about her life on a cattle ranch. She's the daughter of an orthopedic surgeon who was on her way to law school when she met the "cowboy", better known as Marlboro Man and her life changed forever. She found herself out in the middle of a western ranch with cattle and hundreds of wild mustang horses that they care for. Four children later she decided to write a cookbook with recipes she has developed and feed to her family, friends, and ranch hands. They are tried and true.

I can attest to how wonderful they are! I have her cookbook.

The rest of this post is a revisit from 12 '09.

On Sunday a friend e-mailed and asked if we wanted to go to Atlanta to her book signing at Borders. I saw the e-mail after church and right before I went to a funeral in the afternoon. I called her in the car and said, "Wow, I'd love to meet her but this is such short notice!" (The book signing was Monday evening.) I told her I would have to think about it. After the funeral it was back to church for the Children's Christmas program. We came home and didn't talk much more about it. I was having company on Tues. evening for 7 people and had many things to do.

Monday a.m., Hubby and I went through the house, did some laundry, & banking and sat down to eat some lunch at 2:00. We both looked at each other and said let's leave and meet Debbie, my friend) in Atlanta. I got on Priceline at 3:00 and secured a great room for a great price (I always bid my own price) and we took off. ( Hubby was grabbing a few things and throwing them in the car while I was on the computer .)

Here is Ree Drummond's new cookbook. It's made the New York's best seller list.

Ree is a fantastic photographer and all the pictures in the book are taken by her. She loves to go step by step doing her recipes and documents them with pictures. Very easy to follow that way.



This page tells of her life and the silhouette is of her cowboy husband.

The next few pics are of the crowd gathering hours before the signing.

Here's my friend Debbie who got our wrist bands ahead of time for us so we would have a spot in line. Thanks Debbie!

Hubby and I with Debbie and the crowd.

Ree just came in and was thanking everyone for coming and making her book a success. She' s holding the mike.
Her blog has won several blogging awards in 2007, 2008, & 2009. In 2009 it was awarded top prize as Web Log of the Year.

She travels with different people. Sometimes her kids and hubby and other times friends or family members.

This is Ree and I while she was signing my book. She is friendly, and very personable and will not leave until the last customer has their book signed. They were estimating that she would be there till midnight on Monday. She started at 6:00. We actually talked to her for a few minutes, while my hubby was kidding about staying at their "Lodge". (They have a guest house built on their ranch for family and friends). You must go to her site and see the pics.

Debbie and Ree.

She had her sister and a good friend with her that night. Their job was giving out T-shirts. They thought my husband was hoot, which he is. They were calling him night in shinning armour because he ran down the escalator to catch a lady that left her camera behind.

Ree's friend starting taking our picture with Ree's sophisticated Nikon. It's a dream camera.

We were tired from our two hour drive and standing in line for two hours so we went for a bite to eat at Houston's in Buckhead.

Remember I said Hubby got a few items together while I was making priceline reservations-- wellllllllll, he forgot a few things----like pj's. I know what some of you are thinking--but I rest better with them. We ran to Target at 10: p.m. Have you been to a two story target before?

Actually, I have once before in Los Angeles. They're BIG!

We passed the Lennox Mall which is always a nice shopping experience.

We checked into the Grand Hyatt and crashed. If you haven't booked through priceline, I would recommend it. We get 4 Star Hotels that run up to $400.00 a night for 65 to 70 dollars a night. Unbelievable I know.

Some night shots of the city.

The hotel is just beautiful.

The breakfast bar was fantastic.

This is Hubby's plate, notice all the meat. lol

We sat next to doors leading outside where they had a waterfall to look at.

On the way to check out I snapped some of their chandeliers.

A lounge to relax in.

Time to drive home and for a pic of the outside.

I know some of you live in large cities and have lots of traffic and traffic lanes. We don't so I thought I'd snap a pic of the six lanes of traffic leaving Atlanta in the rain, no less.

On our next trip to Atlanta, I'd like to go to Ballards. Have any of you been there? I read about it on some of the blogs.

Thanks for hanging in their till the end.

She posted about her Atlanta book signing here and our getting to meet her. http://thepioneerwoman.com/blog/2010/01/memories_of_atlanta/

Hope you've had a great weekend!