*WARNING-I am a Jabber Jaw especially on Monday’s! This might be a bit long winded*

Meet Homer Simpson. Are you slightly confused? Let me explain. This past Friday I hit the road to meet some other bloggers and attend my first book signing in Charlotte. My darlin’ could not come with me due to his work schedule so he loaned me his GPS. It talks to you. It is Homer Simpson talking to you. Do you get the irony yet? Homer Simpson was my go to guy on a long distance trip flying solo. I’ll give you a minute to let that sink in and for the laughter to subside.

Whistle…sipping coffee…flipping through channels…tap,tap

Alright moving on. Not only does Homer talk to you he Moo’s at you as well. Oh yeah! He moo’s when you go to fast. Let me just tell you, I arrived in Charlotte with a whole mess of cattle in the back of my mini van for the book signing. Which is actually pretty ironic seeing as how this author lives on a cattle ranch.  Have you guessed who it is yet? Wasn’t the cattle ranch reference a big enough hint? Okay here is another…

” Ms. P Dub! Are you missing any cattle darlin’ because my van is mooing like crazy over here? No? Are you sure that they didn’t get loose again?”

Yes indeedy my good buddies. I went to the The Pioneer Woman’s cook book signing at Joseph-Beth Booksellers. Now let’s just assume that you don’t know who I am talking about, it is possible. Ree Drummond is a blogger, an author and just a laugh riot of a lady. She has been blogging for four years about her life on the ranch, delicious recipes, nifty photography tips, exceptional homeschooling references and her multifaceted family. I discovered her by accident just this past Thanksgiving about a week after I started playing around with Tickled Red.

You see I love to visit southernliving.com because you can find some fabulous ideas on the website that are not always in their magazine. I know cool huh! As I was on there goofing off and looking for some neat last minute Thanksgiving recipes, this image came across my screen.

At Home with The Pioneer Woman

What was it about this photo that made me stop and read more you ask? One: She’s a redhead. I hate to mention it but there are just not that many of us out there. Two: I loved her black and white shirt. Yes I know, frivolous and completely unrelated to the title of the article but I have a thing for black and white. It borders on the obsessive. Then I read the article and discovered that she is a blogger. Whoa? A blogger in Southern Living, whatever for? Do you get the idea now about how little I knew about the world of blogging. I still don’t know very much.

Of course after I became intrigued with the photo I had to click on her blog and see what this fashionably dressed redhead was all about. Once there I  scrolled down and discovered this on her site…

Black Heels to Tractor Wheels

Reading the love story about her and her cowboy was it for me. I was hooked. I became engrossed for hours trying to catch up and read it in its entirety. Here is a woman who has absolutely no problem gushing about her man. I can relate 🙂 Her self-deprecating humor, love for her family and the ability to embrace life with laughter and fun resonated with me on many levels. Not to mention she is, in my humble opinion, a talented writer. If you haven’t visited her blog you should check it out.

Homer finally talked me safely into Charlotte and let’s just say in the general vicinity of Joseph Beth’s. Homer is not the sharpest tool in the shed as you well know. Thanks Homer for the 10 minute hike through the parking deck. Fortunately I didn’t mind so much since I was excited about meeting some of the other ladies who are putting themselves out there in cyberspace. Especially one in particular that I have talked to a little bit online. Ms. Amy of She Wears Many Hat’s, whom I hold in high regard with her mad photography and blogging skills. Her site is beautiful, sweet and always has something on there that will make you smile or drool.

I met another lovely lady Wendy of Wenderly she is new to blogging as well she started her blog last month. She and I are are going to hold each others hands as we stumble along through all of this. That is us in the photo together. Wendy from Wenderly, Amy from She Wears Many Hats and goofy ole’ me. Aren’t they just gorgeous 🙂 These two warm, friendly, open ladies were hilarious. We had the best hour chatting and laughing while we waited to see PW. It was worth Homer and all of his mooing.

Let’s not forget the spouse’s. Amy and Wendy’s husbands tagged along for the estrogen ride and were just as genuine and sweet. My surfer had been looking forward to meeting them and would have enjoyed talking with these two gentleman. I know exactly what they would have been laughing about if they had been able to put their three heads together…us 🙂  Thanks to Wendy’s Yanni for snapping the photo of the three of us.

I love this photo of Amy behind the camera. I think that she is a photo wiz and like me, she prefers being behind the camera rather than in front of it.

Here is Amy’s darlin’ 🙂 who serenades her, I know too sweet! Check out his chops on her blog. I wish that I had gotten a better photo of  Amy’s Frank Sinatra for her.

Wenderly and her Yanni 🙂 They are such a sweet, fun couple.

I also meet Beth of Old Thyme Marketplace, Wanda of Interior Concepts by Wanda S. Horton and Davetta of Davetta Moore Designs. All fabulous, design savvy, NC (technically) ladies having a good time. I wish that there had been a little more time for us to get to know each other.

As the evening progressed we all had a chance to meet Ree, chat for a moment, have a picture taken with her and get our cook books signed.

I have to say that it was a pleasure meeting Ree The Pioneer Woman. She was as you would expect very sweet, poised and gracious . You can tell that she is a very witty, genuine and sincere woman. She is one of those ladies with whom I would enjoy having an in depth conversation. The random nonsensical trivia that we have each accumulated during our lives would probably take up most of that conversation 🙂

It was overall a wonderful trip. I have always enjoyed meeting new people. I did miss having my surfer along though for the trip as well as my other two redheaded gal pals, Kate of The Quirky Redhead and the Pie Mistress of Pie Pans and Pigtails. Don’t worry ya’ll I am fine flying solo on occasion.

Now as you all know Monday is Giving here at TR. Ree The Pioneer Woman was gracious enough to sign two books for me. I realize that a lot of you could not make it to some of her book signing locations, even though you truly wanted too. Life is funny about getting in the way of our fun sometimes isn’t it? Since I was fortunate enough to be able to go I am giving away the second signed book. You all are so fantastic and have been so wonderfully supportive of me it’s the least that I could do, I just wish that I had one for each of you.

I made sure to run it by her first. I am sort of freaky proper that way. To be honest writing about meeting her has been a little unnerving for me. Not because I have celebrity-itous or anything but because she is a wife and mother. I am respectful of that. Since it was a very nice traveling adventure for me to meet some new friends I had to write about my trip, so there you have it.

All you need to do is leave a comment between now and Friday at midnight PST. It doesn’t have to be about PW either. You can tell me about some of your traveling adventures if you like. I would love to hear about them 🙂 Rules are listed below.

Thanks ya’ll for letting me ramble on today and in case you were curious about the time showing on GPS up there I wanted to let you know that I did not get home at 1:54 am Saturday morning. I arrived home at 1:09 am. That’s right more mooing from Homer. “P-Dub my dear, I still have some of your cattle  in my van. Give me a shout and I will get them back to you ASAP”.

Love,

Tickled Red

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