operation: REE DAY on v-day

so on monday, february 14th, 2011, i decided that i would spend my evening.... standing in line at a bookstore for a book signing cuz i'm lame like that. :P

after all, ONLY one of my favorite bloggers would be there signing copies of her new book! ever heard of the pioneer woman, ree drummond ? i love her so.

i was struck with this thought while there: doesn't saying "oh, i'm going to a book signing" and the showing up at home around 11pm on V-Day Night sound like a sorry excuse for doing something bad? like, in actuality i was really having a secret rendezvous with some secret guy?!? 

HA! but no, i really did hang out at a bookstore that long. true story.

so, let's cut to the play-by-play:

4:20 arrived at le bookstore! traffic was a dream to drive through... really, no sarcasm! got there in 20 min, bought the book and picked up my wristband that gives me access to stand in line later

5:05 arrived in car to enjoy dinner. went to a nearby hole in the wall pizza place and they took forrrrrrever to give me my takeout slice. i think the cook forgot me!

sweet girl behind the counter had him throw in an extra slice (SWEET!) And a free coke (SCORE!) all for $2.17.... oh wait. eating healthier and no carbonated drinks... oh whatever. i'm being bad today.

5:24 ohhhh my word. a black Tahoe passed by and the redhead driver looked like Ree! i popped out of my car to see if the SUV had Oklahoma license plates but it disappeared into thin air.

what?!?  it really did! i promise!

i'd like to take this moment to declare my love for red hair. it's a pretty awesome hair color.... although my nitpicky-ness always thought it should be called "orange hair" or something because really, how many fire engine colored heads have YOU ever seen (besides the occasional angst-y, non-conformist teenager)???

yup, that's what i thought.

ok ok, i also love brown hair and blond hair and black hair. oh and grey too! Oooo and salt and pepper is nice on ladies and Quite becoming on men! but i digress.

the redhead at the bottom is not Ree, but yes those Are really women sitting indian-style

5:42 stepped inside Border's again to see the absolute madhouse that i knew it would be. hilarious! tons of middle aged women wearing pink & red sitting on the floor cross-legged, standing in lines, giggling and playing puzzles on their IPads.

6:25 yayyyy so Ree came out at 6pm, did a 17 minute Q&A and started signing books.my wristband color is blue and i think i'm the 4th color group soooo i have lotsa time to kill!

incredible....

i walk across to McD's to use their facilities (long line over at Border's!). i considered hanging out here b/c the place looks like a hotel and it's nice and peaceful but it's HOT and i'm thinkin' i'd prefer hanging out in the 70 degree breezes outside!

6:59 still hanging tough! the "somebody stole something" alarm keeps going off every few minutes and the clerk at the front is saying, "don't worry about it!" and shooing them through the door.

I BET some kleptomaniac is having a hey-day!

see the man in the cowboy hat? that's Ree's husband and people surrounding him to sign their books before they were corralled into forming an orderly line.

7:48 so the group in front of me and behind me in line are hysterical! Makes the "journey" bearable!

the group behind me are from a candle company {Jimmy Belasco Candles}. in a nutshell, Ree did THIS POST about how awesome their candles are while Jimmy was in New York. he had no idea that a post was just written about his candles. he was down to his last few dollars and couldn't afford to pay for his hotel room for the next day of his business trip. 

all of a sudden, he starts to see all of these invoices begin to pour in on his Iphone and he was afraid some poor old lady was getting her credit card run multiple times. then he saw that they were all different people's cards! 

so Jimmy and the ladies in his office came to get books signed and to gift Ree with candles!

8:35 just popped outta line to make a quick purchase! must resist anymore urges to load myself with anymore items. all calendars/planners are $1! can't beat that with a stick!

9:45 my mother isn't happy with me for being here but i figured she wouldn't be. i picked up a cute planner for her, though! ;)

near the finish line!!!

10:25 there is only one of my new friends in front of me and Ree had to take a bathroom break!

she's so perky and there's literally about 300 people behind me, give or take, waiting to get their book signed.

10:33 free at last!!! And Ree is the sweetest lady!

i told her how i used to read her story during a horrible boring class and how it kept me sane and entertained. she asked if i passed the class and i did! how horrible would it be if i hadn't?!