Ree's Book Signing - MOA, MN

Wow! What a day! I didn't know what to expect....

The Pioneer Woman - Ree Drummond - was at Mall of America (MOA) in MN on Saturday November 21, 2009 as part of her book tour promoting her new cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Love her blog and love to try new recipies. When her book was available for preorder, I jumped on the bandwagon and ordered two - one for me and one as a Christmas gift for my good friend. Once I found out one of the stops for her book tour was Mall of America in Minnesota, I had that day marked on my calendar over a month in advance.


Her book signing was only scheduled for 1:00 - 3:00pm. Got to MOA about 11:30am. Found the location of the signing and got a wristband in order to get in line for a signature. At that time there were plenty of people in the roped off area.

 I later heard that some were there as early as 7:30am. Absolutely crazy! When I came back after lunch about 12:30pm to get in line, the line had wrapped around behind the stage and around the fountain and escalator and just kept going. So we stood in line and moved about 4 feet in the first hour! Then I knew this was going to be a long day. I'm there in the bright green shirt next to my new friend, Dani, in the yellow.

Of course the closer it got to 3:00 the more worried we were that the line would be cut off somwhere and we would be out of luck. But I never should have doubted. Ree just kept signing and smiling. There was no chance she would walk away until we were all taken care of. What a trooper!

For over 5 hours Ree sat there, the. whole. time. No breaks at all! She is as real and genuine in person as she is on her blog. Love her. Don't even know really what I said to her, but I did thank her for continuing past the deadline. She  joked and said something like "Of course, like I was just going to walk away and say sorry...." Love her.

There was still another hour of people behind me at least, but there was light at the end of the tunnel. I think by then everyone was inside the roped area. I don't know if this was what Ree expected when she first decided to do a book tour, but I can tell you this was so much bigger than I expected.

Of course another highlight was being able to see Marlboro Man and their two boys. Boys will be boys of course. I can't believe how good they were for as long as they were.

Dani was nice enough to stand in line for Marlboro Man to get our books signed. She told him that he was a good husband to be doing this. His repsonse was that he had a wonderful wife. Got to love the cowboy. I don't know too many husbands that would be this supportive of an endeavor like this. Especially when the time frame of 2 hours is long gone....

My husband thought the whole idea was a little wacky, but he stuck it out there at the mall with minimal fussing. He was in charge of our little 2 year old daughter who was also such a trooper. She did manage to nap for a little bit that afternoon too.

Little one even got a t-shirt for all the waiting. One day she will fit into it a little better! By then she might be old enough to start reading Ree's blog herself!

Oh, and Ree, I want to come to the ranch! I miss the country life. I miss being able to ride horse and be around the cattle. I want to see that lodge in real life. It's amazing! I want to cook as well, but I really just want to visit.
 

I hope you enjoyed your time in Minnesota. I definitely enjoyed the afternoon and our brief interaction. You are real and genuine. Redhead or not, you were awesome and looked great. Now make sure you ice that hand! I can't believe you were in LA doing this all again the very next night!

P.S. Keep an eye out for the next episode of Mall Cops: Mall of America on TLC. They were filming that whole day we were there. Dani and I were even quickly interviewed while we waited. I know I will sound like a dork, but it was still fun! Ree, I'm sure you will be on it, how could they leave you out when your book signing was such a big part of the day. Everyone understands crowd control - I mean what happens when a bunch of mothers/women (There were a few guys there as well - Such dedication for their women) get together and wait for hours to have their cookbooks signed by such a well known author? Things can get a little wild and crazy!

Here is the Fox 9 News version:

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/minnesota/blogging_sensation_draws_huge_crowd