Monday Night at Baker's

Well kids... it happened.

I did not spontaneously combust.  I did not self-destruct.  I didn't even embarrass myself too badly.

Yes, this picture is real.  Yes, she was as sweet and kind as I had ever imagined.

On Monday morning, my friend Amy and I drove 3 hours to Omaha (well, technically Bellevue) to wait in line to get our cookbooks signed and to meet this woman.  We waited in line for 3 hours.  It was a 3 hour drive home.  And it was worth it all.

Also, we kinda had a lot of books for her to sign (6 between the two of us).

The signing was scheduled to start at 5.  We had no idea when a line would start forming, so we wanted to get there plenty early.  We even kicked around the idea of leaving Sunday night and staying in a hotel so we could get in line first thing in the morning.  I think we made the right choice, because that would have been overkill.

We knew we were headed for Baker's, but being out of state we had no idea what Baker's was.  I just assumed it was a book store.  Turns out it's a grocery store.  We got there at 11:30 am, and went inside to check things out.  We talked to a staff member who was still setting up to see what we should expect.  He said that his "security people" were going to start setting up ropes for the que between 1 and 2, and yes, he did expect a line to form early because we weren't the first ones to inquire.  We decided to go to Famous Dave's for lunch, then spent a few hours at Target (which was in the same strip as Bakers).  We finished up at Target at 3, and then noticed a line was forming inside Baker's, so we figured we should skedadle on in.  We got in line and the waiting officially began.

Although we stood in line for 3 hours, we had a good time.  The people around us were so nice.

These are our new friends Nancy and Paulette.  They were pretty awesome.  In front of them were two sweet little girls who were (very well-behaved and) excited to meet Pioneer Woman.  They brought along their mom, aunt, and baby (as in, 8 weeks old!) brother for the ride as well.  And they live only 30-45 minutes away from us!  The lady behind us in line was from our area, too.

And Pioneer Woman was not alone!  She brought her boys.  Including this one.

Marlboro Man!  He actually got more cheers when he walked in (they drove, so he dropped her off) than Ree did.  But he was working the crowd a little more. We did get a picture with him, but sadly we don't have it.  The stranger that we met who took it for us never texted it to us :(

Once the signing started, it was about an hour before we got up to her, and I would say we were really toward the front of the line (we got to wait inside, after all!).  The line stretched all the way down to the Target entrance--which was at the opposite end of the store, so we're talking the length of an entire Target store-- the wrapped back and went past the Baker's entrance in the other direction.  The one of the Baker's staff said she usually has 2000 people at her signings.  And she stays until the last cookbook is signed.  Also, there was no limit on how many she would sign.  I think that's really awesome of her... I don't think I could do it.

Like I said, totally worth it.  Meeting PW was great but honestly, I just enjoyed spending all day with Amy.  Roadtrips with friends are the best.