Saturday, March 12, 2011

If you need me...

Spring break is in session. If you need me, I'll be on the couch.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Meetin' Someone Famous

Once upon a time, I started reading this blog called "Confessions of the Pioneer Woman." I stumbled upon it because I have a friend who posts pictures of these amazing-looking dishes and always gave credit to "The Pioneer Woman" for the recipes. I was intrigued. I had to find these recipes. So, I googled.

I was shocked by what I found. It is this massive blog that includes a page for her random blogs about daily life, a page with recipes she has made that include step-by-step pictures for each recipe, a page with photography, a page called home and garden where she blogs about everything from favorite products to hotel room tours, a page about homeschooling, and a site called Tasty Kitchen, a recipe-sharing site. Wowzah!

I was hooked, addicted, in love, with this lady who called herself The Pioneer Woman.
Who is she? Her name is Ree Drummond. She is a rancher's wife who lives in Pawhuska, Oklahoma.


You may remember my Christmas blog post in which I explained how incredibly excited I was to get Ree's cookbook from my grandma. If not, you can read it here. Well, she recently published a new book. A novel of how she met and married her husband. Along with the new book, came a book tour. She made an appearance in OKC in February, but it was in the middle of that ugly ice storm, so I didn't go and I was sad.

Friday night, she was in Norman. My friend, Rachel, and I loaded up in Rachel's Hyundai with our cookbooks and novels and headed south. We arrived at Hastings in Norman considerably earlier than we needed to, probably around 3:00. The signing didn't start until 6:00. We shopped around awhile, then decided to get our tickets. There were orange tickets for
the first 100 or so people. Then blue tickets for everyone after that. They split us into groups of 25. We got blue tickets.



Around 4:00, we started getting a little bored. We were also getting a little excited. Rachel has a fancy new iPhone, so we decided to make fools of ourselves in front of 100 PW fans by taking ridiculous pictures. Enjoy!

Waiting happily!


Waiting creepily.


This is Cowboy Josh.
He lives on the Drummond's ranch.
I will marry him someday!



Rachel takes a picture with Cowboy Josh, too.
She will not marry him someday.

I won't allow it.


By this time, I have gone crazy with waiting.
In case you couldn't tell.


Well, it got pretty close to 6:00 and there was a crowd forming. So, we went to the area to secure good spots. Unfortunately, I'm short, so there really wasn't a good spot. Rachel, the giant, took this picture of the all the people before Ree got there.

There she is!!!!!! Boy, were we excited! She brought her second daughter, Paige with her. She is tall. She told us that when they did the Dallas signing, they stayed until 3:00 am. CRAZY!!!


She did a short little Q&A. Again, I am short, so this is the best picture I could get. She didn't talk for very long, before she got down to business!



Finally, our numbers were called and we made it to the front of the line. She was so sweet. She took the time out to have a mini-conversation with everyone. It was definitely mini, because I apparently lose the ability to speak when I am in the presence of someone "famous."

Don't I look so happy!


Rachel looks like she is sitting on her lap.
Haha! Precious!


"Black Heels to Tractor Wheels"
The Novel

"The Pioneer Woman Cooks"
The cookbook.


It was a great adventure! I loved getting to meet someone "famous," even though I became somewhat mute in her presence.

Oh, by the way, in case anyone else is a fan...Ree is working on a second cookbook!!!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Sister of the Heart

God didn't bless me with a sister. I got a brother - a smelly boy. Now, my cousin, Rachel, and I were sure that we needed another girl. So, we pretended Josh was a girl. See...

Josh is the cute girl in the middle!

Don't get me wrong. I love my brother. I even blogged about how much I love my brother here. But still, a sister would have been nice.


However, the Bible says "...there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." And I found her! I'm not sure how or when it happened, but somehow my family adopted Mary Tran - my sister of the heart.
Isn't she pretty?


God obviously knew what He was doing, because I could not have asked for a better big sister. We have a relationship that I would assume is pretty much like most "real" sisters, except we don't live together. We have great fun. Most of the time when we are together, we laugh hysterically. People stare, but we don't care. We're having fun. The following pictures are all proof. We were in Garden Ridge.

I don't know what she was doing here.


I wanted that camel. And the flamingos behind it.
If I pushed it, it swung back at me. It was awesome.


This was right after I said she would be married in a year.
She collapsed and took her pulse.
I was wrong. (Thorry, thithter.)

Even with all of these great fun times, I know without a doubt that sometimes I annoy her to death.

See, I took this picture. She looks annoyed.


I know, though, that if I ever need anything, I can call her and she will be there. I can call her to ask for help with a project (because she is so much more creative than I am). I can call her in tears because I just need to talk. (Usually, I cry over dumb things, but it doesn't matter she will still be there.) And she always knows just what I need. The last time I called her, she showed up with a card and a Dr. Pepper. Boy does she know me!

So, I want to thank God for giving me the perfect sister of the heart.

And I want to thank my thithter for alwayth being there for me! I love you, thithter!