Meeting Ms. Cakeball Herself!!!!

Well, I'm a little obsessive over Cakeballs.  Have you had them? WHAAAT? You haven't? Holy man... you DO NOT KNOW what you're missing!!!! Where have you BEEN?

Hey, I warned you I was obsessive.  If you haven't had Cakeballs, you certainly haven't me me IRL. In fact, Midwest girls? I should totally make Cakeballs when I'm at Jen's! Addie will help, right!?

I first found out about Cakeballs from my sister-in-law who found them off of Pioneer Woman's blog.  In fact, I helped her make her first batch.  They're pretty fool proof, really.  She did a post on her blog about them and then it was all history.  Now, I make them for most family birthdays and any other special occasion.  I just followed the tutorial from PW for the longest time until I realized that the real pioneer (ha!) of the cakeball was in fact Bakerella!  Heck, she has TONS of delicious recipes on there! I made my other SIL this Chocolate Peanut Butter cake for her birthday this year... WOW!!! Delicious!

So, when my BFF Shandy asked if I wanted to go with her to Bakerella's Cake Pop book signing, I didn't hesitate! Better yet, it was on Shandy's 25th birthday! See, she even got #25 in line! Sweeet!



We had to drive to a Snotty Potty town a little east of Seattle to meet her, but no big deal. Once at the big gorgeous mall, we all huddled into William Sonoma (holy snotty store, btw!) and listened as Bakerella answered various questions about the perfect size for cake balls/pops, etc...



Then we were pushed back out into the mall and let in to meet her by groups of 10.  At this point, Nickolai was OVER meeting Bakerella! Ha! I had been wearing him in his Bjorn most of the time and we both were sweatin'! His stroller was used mostly for storage of our Starbucks, purses, cupcakes, Harry & David goodies and Lululemon loot! But, at one point he was happy and smilin' in his stroller! .



We were pretty close to the beginning of the line so we really didn't wait long.  Then, the snooty William Sonoma lady sneered at us to come inside the store to meet her... and then when I asked if we could have a picture apiece she snarled at me again! Good LORD! You can bet I bought my damned Cakepop Cookbook and that was IT! No $20 muffin mixes or $200 crock pots for me! Sorrrrrry lady! Haha!!!



I have to say, while the WS staff ticked us off a tad, Bakerella was really so sweet... so was her photographer that she had with her. 



So, there you have it! I've now met both PW and Bakerella and they were both so gracious and sweet! Both of them spent a good amount of time answering questions about their recipes and techniques and other random stuff too!!!

Now, don't forget to remind me to tell you the story about the day that BFF Liz and I met Lady Gaga... Oh.Lord.  Thankfully, it was pre-meat suit days. Geeze, she's weird!

I think I forgot to mention...

I met Pioneer Woman!

Yes, it's true. I am a follower of the one and only, P-Dub.  She cracks me up every time I take the time to browse her posts.  I fell in love with her step by step instructions that are included with her recipes long ago.  Then, she introduced Tasty Kitchen, which is similar to All Recipes and the like.  However, I just have a thing about supporting an every day mom type of gal that has put so much time and effort into something like this!

Anyway, she released a cookbook sometime last fall and I remember being very disappointed when I realized there were no book signings close to me.  Thankfully, after the holidays she finally came to the PNW!!! Then, my heart sank when I realized she would be in Seattle on a Saturday night. *gulp*  I work each and every Saturday night and there is no way that my husband  my boss would be down for the idea of me having to cover a shift to meet P-Dub.  He'd say... P-Who? In fact, he did say that.  I had to remind him kindly that she is the famous blogger that writes about her ranch, cows and her basset hound! Then, he remembered.  He has a soft spot for farm animals.  Well, it must have been my lucky week because she was coming to a suburb of Portland that same week on a MONDAY which happened to be my full day off that week.  Whoooo Hooo!  So, I coerced  asked my mom to join me on my two hour trek south and she obliged.  But, she had the same reaction that my husband did:  P-Who?

We arrived at the Powell's bookstore in Beaverton, OR a whole three hours early as I had read blog posts from the signing in Seattle saying that the lines were outrageous.  Lucky for me, we ended up being the 19th & 20th people in line! My mom patiently waited with me, running for Starbucks and also reading her new cookbook that I bought as a thanks for coming with me. :)  There ended up being a LOT of people that turned out to see her so I was so glad we showed up early.

I have a couple of pictures to share... but unfortunately my camera died RIGHT BEFORE I went up to meet her.  A nice lady a few seats down offered to take my picture and email it to me, but I have yet to receive the email.  :o(  Oh well, I still met Ree, listened to her talk to all of us about her regular ol' life and shook her hand. Oh, AND she signed MY cookbook! Ok, I had her sign three cookbooks.  Whatever, they weren't ALL to me... and who is really counting?

Here are the few photos that I have of the day:

Mom holding my Starbucks... so I could take a picture of her!

From April/May/June 2010

See? Lots of people love P-Dub! We were at the very FRONT of all these people! Yessss!

From April/May/June 2010

She took about 15 minutes to answer a bajillion questions from the audience.  She was so gracious!

From April/May/June 2010

Thanks Mom! I had fun! I'm glad you love P-Dub now too! :o)

From April/May/June 2010

Now, if you haven't heard of her... or read her blog I suggest you do.  It's worth it, I promise. :o)