My Hero & My Hunky Hubby

Saturday was a whirlwind of a day. I had the tough job of going to a fantastic chocolate tour to celebrate my friend Lisa's birthday. I know, boo hoo for me. Then we headed to this great bar for more celebration festivities. What could possibly tear us away from celebrating the birth of one of my favorite people I've met since moving to Seattle, a perfectly good party w/ hilarious & entertaining people, yummy bar food and a light beer buzz?

Answer: The Pioneer Woman.

I'm not going to go into detail. If you want to know about her, I suggest you visit her website. Millions of people already have. Her pizza has changed my life. And don't start reading her love story unless you want to get hooked. She's a great writer, seriously.

Back to Saturday, we left the bar half an hour before the book signing started thinking I wouldn't be too late.

We get there right as the signing starts.

Pandemonium.

There are TONS of people. There appears to be a line but lots of other people (read: women) standing around w/ books in their hands. I mill around and catch a glimpse over a bookcase.

It's Ree! And her daughter too. Her daughter is TALL. Like, Amazonian tall. She walked past me and I caught the eye of another starstruck PW groupie and whispered loudly, "Was that her daughter?!?"

By the time I realized I had to go to the cashier and get a ticket to get in the queue, I was holding a ticket w/ the letter "I". Group I. Ok, that can't be that bad - only eight groups ahead of me. Right?

How much longer until I was handing her my book? Posing for a picture w/ the fantabulous Ree Drummond?

At hour 2, Gabe's patience was wearing thin.

This is Gabe putting his foot down. Just you wait, honey. Your patience will be worn to the brink of lunacy. That's saying a lot for Gabe.

I wouldn't leave this chair. Having a chair at this crowded bookstore was like having some sort of beachfront real estate in Hawaii or something. My butt didn't leave the plush leather chair for anything.

Half an hour later..the meltdown begins.

Oh, the drama.

Gabe's foot down, for the 2nd and final time. Notice the pointing. All for dramatic effect. This is some time during group E. Group E was filled w/ a bunch of aholes. They took nearly an hour.

Arms swinging impatiently. I swear, sometimes I think I married a child.

The signing started at 5 p.m., mind you.

Ooh! There's PW's Amazonian daughter. Rockin' the side ponytail. I even ran into here when I got there and told her, "Wow - you're so much taller than I thought you'd be!" She smiled and walked by. I felt like a maroon.

This photo? It's my knee. This is what hours of waiting and trying to calm your impatient hubby down drives you to do.

And this.

Hour 4.5. Evil Gabe rears his (ugly) handsome head. No worries honey, they're on group "H" already.

I've gotta say, my patience was wearing a little thin too. Gabe was knocking over books, talking in a super loud voice and doing generally annoying things. I stood in line thinking to myself, had I known I would've been waiting for 5 hours to get PW to sign my book, I wasn't too sure I would've done it..

Then finally, we met. I made some stupid comment about how I couldn't believe her hand was still attached to her body after 5 hours of signing. Then she replied that she was fine and that she only had an indentation in her thumb. Hahaha. You're funny PW.

I made a comment about how Gabe was cranky and she took our picture - just like the couple ahead of us. Bye Ree, you're my hero and I love you. And Ina. I love you and Ina equally. But Ina doesn't go on book tours.

I left and felt TOTALLY redeemed. Gabe was muttering something about how he had to get home and take the dogs out and how I had to wake up early to volunteer the next morning. No matter. I was in a blissful post-PW haze.

Then it was Gabe's turn for redemption. PW posted our picture on her post in a very apropos post. Thanks hon, for being so patient - I love you more than you'll ever know. And judging from most of the comments - most people agree, my hunky hubby sure can melt butter.

Tien: if this blog post is any indication of how crazy GLD's signing will be, we'll have to get there earlier. :D