I am a big fan of Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman. I forget who was the very first to clue me into her existence, so I’ll fling out a blanket of thanks towards all my friends in hopes that I catch the right person with it.

I started poking around her website to try out her recipes, which she writes out in hilarious detail, with step-by-step pictures so newbies like me can figure out what we’re doing. So far, the few recipes I’ve tried have worked out great, and I intend to tackle her famous cinnamon rolls one of these days, but I think I’ll need an entire team in my kitchen to pull it off. She’s also got sections on her blog about photography, home-schooling her kids, and my favorite: her life on the ranch. If you ever have a wedge of free time, pop over to her website and start reading through her “Confessions” section. She’s a very engaging and entertaining writer and you’ll probably get hooked like I did.

On top of her profuse blogging, she’s managed to write a book. Well, three, actually, if you’re including her cookbook and her children’s book, but I haven’t gotten to those. And I think she’s got a show on the Food Network now. Which I can’t watch because I don’t have cable, but maybe it’s on their website?

Her “memoir” is a lot of fun. Black Heels is her story about her transformation from ditzy LA party girl to a ditzy ranch wife after she meets and falls in love with a very stereotypical cowboy. Well, ok, not ditzy, but she’s got no problem making fun of herself and she comes across as a real person, whose fluffy love story is really fun to read. Falling in love and leaving the old you behind to try on a new version of yourself is something I can connect with, even if my move and transformation wasn’t as dramatic, and my telling of the story wouldn’t be nearly as engaging as Ree. I’m not saying this book is great literature, but if you’ve got a rainy weekend to kill, give this a shot. It made me smile and I kept flipping pages to see how it ended, even though I already knew they finished off happily ever after.