the night i met the pioneer woman

Yep, your looking at myself, Blair, and Sarah with none other than the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond!!! Last Friday we met her and she told us, “you guys are such cute girls!!!”. We had the best time!!

Ree made the trip all the way from her Oklahoma cattle ranch to Davis Kidd Bookstore in Memphis to promote her new book Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. None of us had ever been to a book signing so we all felt a little silly at first. Ree apparently did a reading from her new book, which was to occur at 6pm, we arrived right at 6pm but missed the reading somehow. Davis Kidd had released line tickets weeks in advance that were in alphabetical order. We picked up our tickets about a week ahead of time, which I recommend and will remember if I ever do this again…they were at letter “Q” when we left!  There were 25 tickets per letter and we were letter “F”, so we had some time to kill. Thanks goodness Davis Kidd has wine!!!! A couple of glasses later and we were in line to meet this awesome lady!!!! I was a brief but super fun moment!!

The Pioneer Woman was just as pretty in person as her pictures show and she dresses fabulous! However I was shocked at her accent!!! I guess being a “pioneer” woman I expected a little twang to her verbs, but nope…I’m such a Southern girl!!! In our 10 seconds with her, Ree signed our cookbooks (The Pionner Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl), took a quick pic, and we were off…giddy (nothing to do with the wine) and heading to a delicious dinner at Flight and some great girl time!

Sarah and Blair. Blair and I work together at Le Bonheur and I've met Sarah through Blair! Such sweet and wonderful people!

Ree Drummond, thank you so much for coming to Memphis!!!

Blair and Sarah, such a fun night!!! My wittle welk was dewishish!

alyson*

the pillars of the earth

A few years ago I read The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett and as time as gone by and the weather gotten colder I have found myself recommending this book to MANY people. If you haven’t read it you should. Although this book is approximately 1,000 pages you will not regret picking it up. Set in the Middle Ages this book is full of war, love, famine, emotion, excitement… oh my gosh I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!

 So, I thought heck, I’ll reread it! I have not reread many books  but I’m glad I’ve picked this one back up. I’m currently in Part I but I’m loving each page all over again!

The Pillars of the Earth is one of Oprah’s Book Club books. Here’s the link to her Reading Guide and other info.

http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/Your-Guide-to-The-Pillars-of-the-Earth-by-Ken-Follett

the girl with the dragon tattoo

First of all this book was unlike any book I’ve read in a while. I liked it, but did not love it.  A murder mystery that was at times cheesy and ended pretty raunchy.  (Probably not grammatically correct but it’s  my blog and I’ll be grammacital incorrect if I want to).

The book’s auther Steig Larsson has written two other novels to follow this one: The Girl Who Kicked and Hornets Nest and The Girl Who Played with Fire.  What I find facinating is this guy died after he finished these three novels. Seriously! I haven’t research the exact cause of his death, it could be some easily explainable reason, but I’m entralled with thinking it has something to do with these novels. If you know, please don’t tell me. Why?…The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was not the best book but with the my mysterious theory on the author’s death I’m only being led to read the last two books.  Frankly if he hadn’t died I would probably not pick up the next two books.

With all of that said you ask why I didn’t love the book. I don’t think I’m much of a mystery reader (I love mystery movies) but more than that there is a lot of  inappropriate sex and RAUNCH to end the novel! Not to be a goody goody the ending took away from the mystery.  Further there were times when the book would not get on with it! There were chapters that I was just hoping to get through. Another reason that the book was just a “like” is the author is Swedish and the monetary values he uses, character names and places are Swedish. It’s hard to get through the Dradens, kornors, Mikaels, Lisbeths, and  holidays (instead of vacation)  for the first few chapters but once your past all that it’s a little easier.

I’m not going to say don’t read this one, more than anything I’d say read it and see what you think…let me know!

the help

Although this blog is meant to be about my husband and I, I still feel there are things and I want to share about… things I enjoy. When hunting season arrives I promise I’ll share some of Stuart’s loves!! But for now I love to read and have read some REALLY GREAT books lately. I want to have a place to have book discussions and see what other people are reading. PLEASE post any suggestions/discussions!! I’d love it!!!

Recently I read The Help by Kathryn Sockett and LOVED IT!!!!!!!! If you haven’t read it, you must, especially if you are southern. Written about civil rights and the relationships that develop among members of the Jackson Mississippi Junior League and their help this story warmed my heart but also made me cry…like sob. This book is a glimpse into an era when discrimination was obvious and cruel, however it made me reflect on today in ways I will not get into. It’s a beautiful story and was one book I can say touched and changed my life.  Have you read it and what did you think?

Can you believe this is Stockett’s first book!?