A Snow Day in Houston and The Pioneer Woman

So far December 2009 has been a pretty exciting month.

A couple of Fridays ago it snowed in Houston(!!!!). Snow is a pretty big deal in this hot, humid, bayou-city. On the news they said it was a record-breaking snow in that it had never snowed that early in December in Houston before. Compared to most areas of the country it was not a lot of snow, but for Houston, it was pretty special. Even the next day you could still see it stuck to people's rooftops.


At the elementary school I work at the kids were thrilled to see the snow - and so were the teachers! A Snow Day makes for a more fun, relaxed day. About half of my students didn't come to school at all and the other half were picked up early from school. By the end of the day I only had about 5 kids (out of 16) left. Boy, do I love Snow Days!


In true Houston fashion, less than 48 hours later, it was in the 70's again. As much as I love Houston (it will always be my favorite city), the snow did make me think how nice it might be to live in a part of the country that actually experiences 4 distinct seasons. I think I would like that.


The next day after the snow I trekked to the other side of Houston to see the Pioneer Woman at her Houston book signing. Initially her website said the book signing was going to be at a bookstore in the Memorial/Beltway 8 area, but when we got there no one was there and the bookstore was tiny. Clearly we were at the wrong place. The location had been changed to an organic market off of I-10 (really close to the bookstore).


In my head, I had had visions of waiting in line to meet the PW, having her sign my cookbook, and telling her how much I loved her site (and Charlie!). In reality, that place was PACKED. And I mean PACKED. I knew PW had a following, but whoa. I found out it was going to take HOURS to wait in line and meet her. They actually had us divided up by colors; they told me I could go eat lunch and come back in a few hours when they would call my color.


I said "no thanks" and settled instead for a couple of blurry pictures of her from afar. At least I feel like I kind of met her. Sort of. I've been in the same room as her. That sounds kind of psycho and I'm not even a person who really cares anything about celebrities. It was just neat to see someone in real life whose life I so regularly read about on her blog.


If you're at all interested in getting her cookbook (which I highly suggest - her recipes are amazing) then definitely go the Amazon route. I almost bought her book last night at a Borders where it was $27.50. I decided to check on Amazon before I bought it and on Amazon it is only $11.50. That's a $16 savings. Amazon makes a book lover's heart feel happy and peaceful.