The Price is Right {My Free Trip to Los Angeles} Part 4

Our last day in Los Angeles was planned ten minutes after I called Bradley with the news that I had won the trip.  Bradley immediately got online and got "in-line" tickets for The Price is Right.

I owe my love of this amazing game show to two people: My grandpa (Jack Nelson) and my college roommate (Marissa Gonzales Garza).  My grandpa had a regular viewing schedule of TV programs that he watched everyday: Price is Right, Matlock, Perry Mason, nap, news, prime time.  Mixed in were regular cigarette breaks, meals, and extra naps.  My roommate on the other hand was OBSESSED with Bob Barker.  She had a serious crush on him.  When I say serious, I mean serious.  Like the girl scheduled her college classes around being able to watch The Price is Right daily.

Between the two of them, it is fairly accurate to say that I love the Price is Right.

So, even though I was up sick most of the night, come 5:30 a.m. we were up and checking out of our hotel so that we could take two buses over to CBS Production Studios.



It. was. the. longest. process. ever.

We got to CBS by 6:50, and there was already a line.  We then found out that people with "priority" tickets would have until 8:30 to show up before any "in-line" people could get in.  So we waited and waited, and we watched the stack of orange numbers that they were giving out to people going in get smaller and smaller.




Rumors rippled through the crowd that there were only 250 seats in the audience and they were already on number 200.  Bradley stayed positive throughout the process.  He was convinced that we would get in.




We met a couple from Pennsylvania and another group from Michigan.  The man directly in front of us in line was from Florida.  He was really cool.

They finally started handing out tickets to the "in-line" ticket people.  When they got to us, we were numbers 260 & 261.  Thank goodness they didn't stop at 250!!




It was after 9:00 when we finally got into the gates.  We thought we were home free at that point, so imagine my disappointment when I saw the giant line waiting for us when we rounded the corner. 

From there, we had to stand in line to turn in forms (in case we won for tax purposes), we had to stand in line for our super cool yellow name tags, we stood in line for pictures (individual and group), and we stood in line for our interviews.


You might think that they randomly choose people to be on the show.  If you think that, you would be wrong.  They do six second interviews with EVERYONE in the audience.

I felt like I nailed my interview.  When he started talking to the person before me, he found out that she worked at a daycare.  He said that his job was kind of like babysitting. (Haha)  So when I told him that I was a 9th grade English Teacher, I told him that I was kind of a baby-sitter too. HAHA (or so I thought).  Unfortunately, I must not have been as funny as I thought.  Either that or I was too young and/or attractive.

The person they picked from our group to "Come On Down" was the most annoying person in the world.  Fortunately, she didn't win any money so I don't feel as too bitter.

My favorite part of the show was all of the jokes and improv that Drew Carey did on the show and while they were changing sets.  Every time they would be ready to announce the next contestant, my heart would leap and I would think "Maybe it'll be me." But it wasn't.

Overall, it was a lot of fun, and we were lucky enough to be seated down front.  There were a lot of BIG winners, so the show was really exciting to be a part of.  I can't wait until May 17th so I can watch it back.

After the show, we were a little let down, but as we rode the bus back to the hotel, I realized we were already big winners.  This trip was exactly what Bradley and I had needed to lift our spirits.  So although it would have been nice to win a new Ford Focus, the experiences that we had on the trip were just as nice. (Although a Focus would save lots of money in gas ;) ).



We got back to the hotel, checked on our bags, and went to the Promenade.  I wanted to buy my sisters and mom something from H&M.  I instantly found tons of stuff that they all would like, and I had to narrow it down.  This will definitely be a store that I want to visit frequently.






We got to the airport with an hour and a half to spare.  We just hung out, played on our phones, texted back and forth with Mom and Emmy, and relaxed. 



Our plane was on time, and by some miraculous grace, we managed to score three seats for the two of us.

We napped on the way back, and finally we were back in God's country, Texas!  Our trip was amazing, and we are so thankful to the best radio station in Houston/Texas/America for giving us this awesome opportunity.

MTV Movie Awards {My Free Trip to Los Angeles} Part 3

I don't really know that I had ever watched the MTV Movie Awards.  I knew about them and that they had "different" kinds of awards, but I am not really sure that I ever really sat down and watched an awards show. So, you can imagine my surprise as the awards show unfolded in front of my eyes. But I am getting ahead of myself, so let me start at the beginning.
I was still not feeling well when we got back from the beach around lunch time, so I decided to take a little nap hoping it would lift my weary spirits (because I am nothing if not slightly melodramatic when I am sick).  This "little nap" turned into a three hour snooze fest.  Brad had to literally get in my face and tell me that I would never be ready in time if I didn't get up.  I still tried to bargain with him in semi-consciousness and explain away his reason that it was imperative that I get my butt out of bed.

When I finally woke up, you can imagine my horror when I discovered that there was something wrong with my Chi hair straightener.

It would not come on no matter what plug I used.  I even had the hotel "engineer" come up and check the plugs.  They worked.  It was my beloved straightener that wasn't working. 

Bradley finally got it to come on if he held the cord in a certain place, so I tried the best that I could do dismiss the frizz that I had brought on myself with our jaunt out in the ocean breeze that morning.  It turned out okay...but I wasn't really happy.  After that, I sat down to put on my makeup, but all I wanted to do was go back to sleep.  I even told Brad that maybe he had better go to the awards without me.  He gave me a decided "NO" on that one.

I finally managed to get myself together enough to put on make-up and get dressed.



Here are a few pictures of us, all GLAMed up for the event.  At least as glam as I was going to get feeling so sick. 











We met our group of winners from other states in the lobby and drove to the Sony Theater on a party bus.




When we got there, we were in the last of the people to get off the bus, so we were last to get our tickets.  This turned out to be a major bonus for us.  Our seats were in the fourth row of the risers on the side closest to the stage.  Our group only had six seats on that row...everyone else ended up around 10 rows further up. BAM! Courtesy wins again!





Once inside, we went through security, and then made our way to our seats. It's a good thing that we hurried too.  Once we got inside, we only had an hour and twenty-five minutes to spare before the show started.



While we were waiting, we took some pictures with the stage in the background.  (Even though we had been warned that no cameras were allowed...In the words of Matthew McConaughey, "I see a lot of lawbreakers in the crowd tonight" so we jumped on the bandwagon too.)







But start it finally did, and it was awesome!

Rebel Wilson came out and sang a song with the other members of Pitch Perfect.  I loved it.  She told lots of jokes and had the whole crowd going the entire time.



There were lots of other cool celebrities that spoke and got awards: Adam Sandler, Emma Watson, Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, Jamie Foxx, BRAD PITT, the guys from Avengers, and many many more.









One of my favorite parts of the whole show was definitely the sneak peak of the new Hunger Games movie.  You could feel the excitement and anticipations run through the crowd when the giant Mockingjay pin that they had on the stage ignited.  Then they introduced the clip, and I got to see all of the Hunger Games glory on two IMAX sized screens.  It. Was. Awesome.



The only downside of the entire evening was the fact that there was a vent above us raining down hurricane level "winds" aka air conditioning.  I was beyond thankful that I had decided to wear that blazer.



After the event, we went back to the hotel.  I was still feeling okay so we decided to go out and explore the Promenade (an outdoor mall area) that was a couple of blocks from our hotel.  We walked around and looked at all of the stores that they had and tried to find somewhere to eat.

After searching out all of our options, we chose a hole in the wall pizza place.  They had all of these really cool pizzas by the slice.  I got one that had Gouda cheese and spinach. I could only eat part of it, and I knew it would probably make me sick BUT I HAD TO HAVE IT!





All in all, it was a fantastic evening, and I really enjoyed everything that we got to do.

Santa Monica Beach {My Free Trip to Los Angeles} Part 2

As I previously stated in Part 1, our hotel was located right across from the beach.  If you know Brad and I very well, you know that we love the beach.  Unfortunately, there were several factors working against us this trip.
1. I was not feeling well and stayed up half the night sick as a dog.
2. The weather was still very overcast and coldish.
3. The Pacific Ocean is freezing all the time.

Because of these things, there would not be any actual swimming or sunbathing.




We were not to be put off that easy though.  Bradley found a CVS a little under a mile from our hotel, and he walked there to get me some medicine.  After taking a healthy dose of Pepto Bismal and drinking some Gatorade, I felt up to walking across the street to the pier.


There were lots of things to look at there.  We walked around and browsed the stores.



We took some pictures in a photo booth at an arcade.




A machine like the one from BIG tried to coax us into getting our fortune told, but we were not about to fall for that one.



Bradley wanted to walk down to the beach and dip his toes in the water.





He soon learned that the water really is very cold.





We took some more pictures on the beach.









There were lots of kids out flying kites.



Bradley insisted on taking a picture with this canon...I wonder why.



Check back later for Part 3...The MTV Movie Awards!

Hollywood {My Free Trip to Los Angeles} Part 1

In my head, the musical stylings of Miley Cyrus could be heard blasting loudly. "I hopped of the plane at LAX with my dreams and a cardigan..."  Well maybe it wasn't anything quite as dramatic as that, but we were really excited when we finally go to Los Angeles.

We left El Campo around 6:00 a.m.


Brittany came and spent the night so that Emmy would not have to get up early to go to Nana's house.  I felt pretty sad when we left her sleeping.  This was the longest we had left her!



On the way to the airport, we saw the prettiest sunrise.



We flew out of Hobby Airport, so we didn't have any trouble making it through security quickly.  Then we waited.  And waited.  And waited.  We definitely didn't need to get there two hours early for that flight.



Finally we boarded the plane.  We got seats together by the window!



There was a baby on the plane across the aisle from us, and I was reminded why I will not be taking Emmarie on a plane for a long time.  The baby was miserable, and the parents were not doing much to try to calm her down.  Brad of course managed to take a nap through it all.



When we got to LAX, there was a car waiting to take us to our hotel in Santa Monica.

There were people in the baggage claim area giving us sidelong glances trying to make sure that we weren't someone important being picked up.  They quickly realized that we weren't. :)





Our driver dropped us off at the hotel, and it was even prettier than the pictures online.  It is directly across from the Santa Monica pier, so you are greeted with a beautiful picture of the beach and water from the lobby. 

They did not have a room ready for us when we got there, so they offered us an upgrade to a junior suite for $20 a night.  (The junior suites have a partial ocean view)  I, of course, took them up on the upgrade!  I took a picture from our bed and you can see into the shower.  That was one of their "cool" features that they advertise- glass showers.  (There is a privacy screen that you can have come down though if you don't want anyone looking at you.)



We dropped our luggage off in our room, bought tickets for the hop-on/hop-off bus tour and made our way to the bus stop.  I knew that Saturday afternoon was really our only chance to explore Hollywood, and there were several places that I HAD TO SEE.



The Starlight Tours picked us up right in front of our hotel in Santa Monica and proceeded to take us through the illustrious city of Brentwood.  They showed us several places where you can usually see stars out shopping or eating.





Next we drove through Beverly Hills.  I made sure to get a picture of the iconic sign...there are only five of them in the whole city.





After that, we drove down Rodeo Drive.  All I could think about was how much Brittany would enjoy stargazing at all of these stores.
















Next we went to HOLLYWOOD!

We strolled down Hollywood Avenue and looked at all of the stars.






We walked around the mall at Hollywood and Highland.  From the observation deck, we had a great view of the Hollywood sign.








BUT my favorite part was the Chinese Theater.





I put my hands in Shirley Temple's hand prints.  They were so tiny.







I put my hands in Marilyn Monroe's hands as well.  Her fingers were just a hair longer than mine.





Bradley tested out Jack Nicholson's hand prints.



And I made sure that I took a picture of the two sets of Hollywood Trios: Harry Potter & Co and the Twilight Bunch.




I put my hands in Reupert Grint's for my friend, Lauren.



After that, we caught the first bus that we could back to Santa Monica. It was really cold outside, and I was not feeling well.

This concludes part 1 of my Los Angeles Adventure.