My Buds & P Dub

Crazy how reading all about one's life makes you think you know them.

But that's kinda how I feel about Pioneer Woman.

aka P-Dub (short for PW)

Haven't heard of her?

Well, crawl out from under that rock go to your computer right now

and check out her website!

She writes about her life.

A city-born, city-raised girl.

Now finding herself homemaking on a cattle ranch.

In the middle of nowhere.

Somewhere in Oklahoma.

With her husband, whom she affectionately calls

'Marlboro Man.'

(you'll see why in the pictures below)

And her 4 kiddos.

And various dogs, cats, and horses ...

not to mention the cattle.

Besides the day-to-day, 

she also has delicious recipes on her website.

And photography tips.

And homeschooling posts.

And she's even written a cookbook 

and a book about how she and Marlboro Man met.

Which brings us to last Friday.

She was in Atlanta for a book signing.

My buds and I had to go.

Had to meet this woman that we've laughed at,

laughed with, and read from for over a year.

Yes - I even decorated my car.

Pretty obnoxious, huh??!

The crew ... ready to roll ...

I was so excited to learn (thanks to Twitter) that 2 of my new favorite DIY/decor

bloggers were there to meet P Dub too!

On the left, Layla from Lettered Cottage

and on the right, Shaunna from Perfectly Imperfect.

I was star-struck, can you tell??!!

I tried to act normal, but I'm afraid I may have come across as a crazy stalker-fan.

Oh well.

Check out their blogs asap ... its seriously worth it!

And there he is ... Marlboro Man.

Dont'cha think P Dub named him accurately?

(He does have a real name, by the way.  It's Ladd.

And so does Pioneer Woman.  It's Ree.)

Sweet Stacey ... I love how she's never satisfied to ask the simple questions.

She asked if he'd ever imagined, when he'd married Ree, that their lives would be like this.

He told her he hadn't.

But that all 'this' didn't happen until they'd been married 10 years.

So they had had some time together beforehand.

Those cute boys are their 2  sons.

When we arrived at the bookstore, 

they gave us a bracelet with a letter on it.

Our letter was I.

We were in for a looooo-ooooo-ooong night.

So we sat down and made ourselves comfy.

Side Note:  most of this group was part of the Jimmy Fallon/NY trip incident.

What is it about getting a wristband every time I'm with them??!!

After waiting in line for about 4 hours, 

zig-zagging through the large book cases in the store,

laughing out loud at a book about painted cats

(for real - no lie),

solving all the problems of the world,

dreaming/drooling over the burgers to come ...

WE MADE IT!

This was our stack of books for Ree to sign.

And here we are with her.

She was very gracious to us.

Asked how we all knew one another.

We asked how long she'd be in town.

Just chatted for a few brief minutes.

My buds are (l to r): Mandy, Pamela, Amy, Haley, Alisa, Stacey & Kim.

Of course a woman that can run a household,

homeschool, 

cook,

blog,

take pictures

can also sign books while talking.

Pretty impressive!

By this time, it was close to 10.

We were famished.

Mandy & Amy had already picked out a restaurant called 

Flip Burger for us to eat at.

Of course, they picked it because the chef was on Food Network.

I love 'foodie' friends!!

It was absolutely delish ... 

I will be going back with Bowdie.

Just a little sampling of what we had at Flip Burger ...

a Nutella & Burnt Marshmallow shake ...

it was a beautiful thing.

Fun night ... fun times ... great memories!