11/18/09

St. Louis and Meeting The Pioneer Woman

My alarm sounded at 5:15am, but I was already awake. It was like Christmas morning, except that even Santa doesn't excite me that much. We hit the road around 7:30am and it rained all the way to the city.

We started at Saint Louis University, where Kyle and I met with people from the law school and the speech language pathology programs, respectively. Oh, my word was it fun! I found out some really unique opportunities I would have at SLU that aren't available at some other schools.

We then joined Aunt T, Uncle D, and Cousin Steph at the beautiful Four Seasons hotel where they were staying and had lunch. What a gorgeous place it was! It may have been the swankiest hotel I've ever seen.

After lunch everyone wanted to do a little shopping (I had a small chunk of change in gift cards to spend at Anthropologie) so we parted ways. Anthropologie brought their A-game. The store was decked for the holidays, but in a very subtle, Anthro way. Everything was beautiful. For the first time, I actually allowed myself to look seriously at their clothes. Never before had I done this for one simple reason: clothes from Anthro ain't cheap! Since I wasn't technically spending my own money, I went for it, and oh, what fun it was! I tried on many lovely things and had a difficult time choosing what I wanted. I walked away with two beautiful shirts that I hope to use and wear for a long time. I exclaimed to Kyle, "I feel so special!"

We headed back downtown to Christ Church Cathedral where Ree was speaking at 7pm. We got there three hours early.

Christ Church Cathedral

We had second row seats, so it was worth it! We took pictures of everything while we waited.

Christ Church Cathedral

Waiting to meet Ree!

Waiting to meet Ree!

Then Marlboro Man (aka Ladd, her husband) and her two youngest punks, Bryce and Todd, came storming in the room. They were as cute and wild as I imagined.

Marlboro Man

Right before it was time for her to speak, Cousin Steph went to the ladies room and on her way out ran into P-Dub! Oh, I was so jealous. Lucky.

But before long, Ree was standing in front of me. I mean, right in front of me. She was beautiful and tall and thin. Ignore all her "chubby" jokes. They're lies.

The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond

The evening began with question and answer, so I said, "Hi, Ree. Will you pretty please do your Ethel Merman for us?" People cheered. She blushed. Then she did it.

The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond

Then her boys tugged at her jacket, her hair, her microphone, and climbed the podium. It was awesome. They clearly adore her.

The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond

Then, quite sadly, the Q&A was over and it was time to get my book signed.

Waiting to meet Ree!

We stepped up, made some sweet small-talk, posed for a picture (taken by my sweet, ever-patient, ultimate trooper hubs) and I felt complete.

Us with P-Dub!

Marlboro Man gave us free t-shirts and sent us packing.

Pioneer Woman T-shirt

We said our goodbyes and started our drive home. Then we stopped at Chili's for dinner (not-so-exciting, but we had a gift card). Chili's is the place to do business, as in, the business of fawning over your husband and thanking him for joining you on this day that was, more or less, all about you.

IMG_3584

As we were pulling in the driveway at home, Cousin Steph called and said, "You'll never believe who we just saw in the hotel gift shop!" It was Marlboro Man and the punks. They were staying at the Four Seasons. Lucky.

It was, without a doubt, one of the most fun days I've had in a long time!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome post! Your photos turned out beautifully. I'm also jealous of the Anthropologie gift cards. I always turn into SuperCheapLady when I set foot in there and get intimidated out of buying anything but the $19.99 sale rack items :-P

brit said...

Great pictures! I'm jealous you got to sit so close! I knew I should have left work early!

Did you do your undergrad at SLU? I graduated from there in 2007.

Dawn S. said...

Wow, what a fun day to find your blog (I am Jenna's friend up here in MN). Looks like a super fun day! You took great pictures and did a great job of blogging it all so that WE were jealous of YOU!

Unknown said...

Brit, I'm finishing up my Bachelor's now. I've collected portions of my degree at a couple different schools, but I'm finishing up at SIU Carbondale.

Dawn, did you know that she will be in Minneapolis on Saturday?

Courtney said...

It's so cool that you were that close. My friends and I were in the 3rd row from the back, I finally got up to her at 11:05. It was totally worth it!

Good call with the Ethel Question!!

Cora said...

Chelsea,
So nice to find your comment on my blog and then discover your very cute blog too! I have to agree with others, your pictures of P-Dub in St. Louis are great. I may need some lessons with my camera from you! Wasn't she wonderful? I can tell you, she is just as nice when you get to know her as she seems in her blog. And by the way, thanks for the Ethel Merman request. That was too cute!
Cora @ Cora Cooks

Linda said...

I am so glad I found you! I am the lady sitting on the front row who asked the very first question! I enjoyed seeing you there. It was so much fun, wasn't it? Love, love, love all your pics. Mine turned out a bit blurry, so I have to look at yours. Good to "find" you here!

Tim and Faith said...

Great to see you here!! The mister and I were sitting right next to y'all (all three hours early of it).
Thanks for sharing some fabulous pictures!

Tina said...

I was there, too! I posted about it as well. It was SO fun. Luckily, I work in St. Louis and I was able to get there around 5pm so I had an excellent seat. My husband ALMOST came - he was flipping through my cookbook the night before and commented on how pretty PW is. You are lucky your husband went with you! I had to go solo!

Great to find you on here. It is fun to see other blogger peeps from St. Louis!

Anonymous said...

Looks like so much fun-thank you for sharing!
What a cute shirt!

G. B. Miller said...

A little slow in getting to all of the St. Louis blog links that Ree added to her St. Louis post. It was a great evening, wasn't it?? My dear husband drove me the 180 miles up there from SE MO. In fact, in your first photo you can see the two of us in one of the front rows on the right hand side. He got me there by 4:30 and stuck around for awhile. Then he left and came back and got me after all the excitement was over. I just wish I could have actually spoken an articulate word or two to her. =( MM and the punks are precious. I'm so glad we made the trip up!

Kitty Deschanel said...

Oh, I am so jeaolous! I'd love to meet her :)

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