Our Big Trip to L.A. Thank You PopChips!!

 

As I was saying in my last post I was on the way up to the zoo with the girls after  Snowmageddon was over and was listening to Movin' 92.5 when they announced that if you called in you could win a $25 Gift Card and possibly a trip to L.A. I figured...why not, I'll call in! I got through and was told that there was 5 others that they would be picking between for the trip and would let me know! 

On Monday I got the call that I had won the trip!! It was one of those really?? REALLY?!? moments. It was a 3 day trip to meet Jillian Michaels and do other L.A. related activities yet to be determined. I wanted to milk this trip and alone time with my hubby for all I could! So we checked to see if we could extend our stay at the hotel and leave a few days later. I did alot of research and procuring of tickets before we flew down to make sure this trip was EPIC! 

My mom and Joe's mom were SUPER nice enough to watch Jack while we went on our trip. It was and still is the longest the two of us have been away from him. I wasn't worried about him freaking out that we were gone because he loves his grandmas SO MUCH and it was only 6 days. I was definitely going to miss him and I know Joe was going to as well. We had a few pictures of us next to his bed and out in the front room...just in case.

After getting Jack settled we went to the airport and were on our way! We arrived in L.A. and they had someone waiting for us with a few Cadillac SUV's to take us to our hotel. 

  

The Renaissance is a pretty neat hotel! It has a shopping and convention center attached to it along  with being right next to the Kodak Theater and across the street form the Jimmy Kimmel Live Show and The El Capitan Theater where they have all the premiers for Disney movies! The first day we got there was just walking around and checking out the place and the next day we would meet Jillian Michaels! 

I was a bit nervous to meet her... I thought we were going to be in a giant room and she was going to MOTIVATE us like being on a speaking circuit!  We walk into this tiny room and there is maybe 10-15 people in the room so we sit down and they put a chair in front of us and in walks Jillian Michaels and sits right in front of us!

She was SUPER nice! She told us about the area and some fun things to do while we were here and about her start and what she had been doing since The Doctors! She also told us what was next for her including adopting a little girl from haiti and working an a book about the questions she gets all the time from mothers along with healthy recipes for you and baby!

Here is our picture with Jill. Yeah, we call her Jill.. hehe and the one on the right is us talking about babies and their tendency to roll off things. She was so easy to talk to and such a nice person. 

The person that you see in the middle of the collage is the woman that started Stroller Strides in San Diego! She still teaches Body Back and we talked with her and her husband alot that day! 

Here is most of the people that were there. There was two other guys there and one was playing hooky from work and didn't want to be in the photo! lol

After the meet and greet we were whisked off to lunch with the PopChips crew and then it was across the street to the green room at the Jimmy Kimmel Live show! His guests were Kirstin Chenoweth and race car driver Jimmie Johnson and music by Neon Trees! Of course being backstage there wasn't any photography allowed BUT Kristin's manager came out and needed a marker and being miss prepared I happened to have one along with a copy of her new cd! Unfortunately didn't give him the cd but he came back with a scrap of paper signed by her. It is sitting inside of her cd...lol. We also hung around and got to meet Neon Trees! It was a really fun day to say the least! 

The rest of the trip was us painting the town red! We went and saw IRIS the next evening. It was such a beautiful show. All the music was done by Danny Elfman and kind of had that feel to it. The picture in the middle was taken from our seats which were a level up and front row! Like I said I had a couple of months to get tickets to things. :)

Venice Beach and Two and a Half Men was the next day and we got to sit in on the episode where Kathy Bates guest starred and won an Emmy for that episode! (Once again, no cameras) The link here, showcases part of the episode. It also has the part when they revealed that it was Kathy Bates and I was the first one to yell and really loud, at least I can hear myself! I guess that's my 5 second of fame. NOTE: To anyone going to a show taping it's a really LONG process. Take snacks and water!! We got there at 4pm and got out at 10 or 11pm! They do give you at slice of pizza at intermission but that's about it. Considering the taping is free it was really nice of them to do even that. :)

The day before we left we went and saw American Idiot on broadway and met up with my friend Danica for dinner and The Hunger Games! It was really good to see her and the Hunger Games was awesome! 

This was the view on the way to the airport after our trip. We were sad to leave the sun but also excited to get home to see our Jack Jack! It is a trip we will never forget and will always be grateful for the time we got to spend together as a couple.