The Big Pioneer Woman Cookbook Giveaway!!

In late 2009, the cookbook I had been waiting for was finally available:

And Ree Drummond - The Pioneer Woman - went on a book signing tour!

I relentlessly stalked her blog, waiting for updates on her book signing stops. Really, who WOULDN'T want to make a stop in San Diego?

But alas, my city did not make the cut.

HOWEVER, she did have a stop scheduled for Torrance California. Really? Torrance?? Over San Diego?? I don't care where you are from - - San Diego trumps any spot in Los Angeles for any kind of stop-over!

But then.......the planets came into alignment and the angels sang ("aaaaahhhhhh.....")....my niece had a cheer competition that coincided with the book signing within a 15 minute drive of Torrance California on November, 22 2009!

We left San Diego at the crack of dawn to attend the cheer competition, after the awards ceremony we all piled into my mom's car (including my niece's unsuspecting friends who thought they were only coming along to watch the competition...MUUUHAAAAAHAHA!) and drove to the Border's Book Store in Torrance, California for a book signing that was to begin at 5pm.

We were among the lucky to be allowed to wait in line for 3 hours, and I am not being sarcastic - - so many people were turned away, I was so excited knowing that I would get a signed copy of the cookbook from the woman who made me a Goddess in the eyes of my husband by using her recipes!

I didn't mind, heck we were in my favorite place, a book store, I could pull books off the shelves and read them to my hearts content.

However, the half hour I spent in front of the book section containing the books about planes sucked.

I am so sorry for anyone out there who shares their life with someone obsessed and interested in all of the technical aspects of planes. No offense intended, but BLECH! Really, I can usually find something interesting in any printed form - - but this section - - NOTHING!

A side note about the other people in line: really, REALLY?? you couldn't walk 2 feet or even attempt to toss your trash into the available recepticles, but instead chose to leave your half eaten croissants and half full coffee cups among the shelves of new books?? That was just nasty! Who raised you? I threw away trash all along the line leading up to Ree.I hate litterbugs!

We got bored in lineSo we just kept taking pictures and it was then I noticed how greasy my bangs were at the end of the day. Fabulous! "Hi Ree! Love your recipes! I just squeeze the grease out of my bangs to cook!"

Well, my sister swears they were not that bad....

She's a LIAR!

We finally got our chance to meet Ree. She really is a cutie-patootie in real life.

And she really is funny - as evidenced by this photo:

She is also quite profound - apparantly - as evidenced by this photo:

What you really need to know is that she is just how you imagine her to be from reading her blog!

Thank you, Ree!!

I bought 2 copies of PW's cookbook this night - one for myself, and one for......WHO?? She was so gracious when signing her cookbooks, here is how she inscribed my books:

Notice the 2nd one??
So there you go. I pondered gifting this to a relative or friend, but really, if you don't know who PW is? Can you really appreciate this??

So I have decided to instead gift it to a stranger. A fan of PW. Someone who will be thrilled to have a signed copy and appreciate it! Someone who loves butter!!

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post naming your fave PW recipe.

I will choose a winner on next Wednesday, April 14th -International posters are okay, too! I am not going to ask that you follow my blog, but I hope this post will make you aware of my blog and decide to check back now and again!