Monday, January 19, 2015

Then We Danced...with Ellen (Our Trip to Hollywood - Day One)

Last week, I checked something off of my bucket list - going to Ellen!! I expected it to be fun -  but it was beyond fun.  There really isn't a word to describe it except maybe supercalifragilisticexpealidocious?  Who cares about the spelling!!!

Once upon I time, I took a job at Fox 26 KNPN in St. Joseph, MO.  It just so happens that we carry Ellen in our lineup.  So I mentioned an upcoming trip to Los Angeles to our Sales Manager, Chris Schmitter (aka that crazy Northwest Fan from the Chamber Meetings aka the sweetest woman in the world).  I asked her "is there any chance I could get Ellen tickets?"  She replied "I don't know, but I will ask around."  Fast forward about 5 weeks and an email arrives - I have two VIP tickets to the Ellen show on the very day I land in Los Angeles.

Two things to mention here:  1.  Never ever be afraid to ask a question.  The worse thing that can happen is you get a "no."  2.  I have never prayed for good weather as hard as I did when I realized the small window of time I had to get from LAX to the Warner Brothers Lot, Gate 3.

I had two tickets to all my events in Los Angeles, so I invited my husband.  He had no interest in attending any events requiring "fancy clothes", so he stayed home and I took my first born, Jessica.  It was the fairest thing to do.  We go in order of age, just like Christmas.

We land.  We take a cab to our hotel.  We freshen up.  We take another cab to Warner Brothers and make a ROOKIE mistake.  We don't give the driver the exact address of Ellen, so he drops us off at the main entrance of Warner Brothers, which is a far cry from Ellen.  So we walked for quite a while and found Gate 3.  We checked in and then went looking for lunch.


Honestly - we ate - we didn't just drink wine.  Honest.  I promise!

Back to Gate Three to for Ellen.  We were SO excited!!  We had VIP tickets!!


Now you may be wondering - what does that mean exactly? It means you have tickets into the audience - for certain.  No chance you will be stuck in the Riff Raff room.  It also means you sit in this cute little roped off area of the parking garage.  Yes - you wait in line in a parking garage.  Its quite lovely, though.  There are vending machines and shade.  And a little Ellen kiosk.

Jessica works for a Charitable Group called #GoShoutLove.  They are all about loving and lifting up families with babies born in medical crisis.  Her goal was to connect Ellen with #GoShoutLove, so she wrapped a beautiful package full of #GoShoutLove Swag for Ellen.


Isn't it just adorable?!?!  (Meaning the gift.  But I know we can all agree, I do make adorable daughters too!)  We made lots of noise and acted like crazy fun girls and made great new friends:



Amy, Mindy, Kristal & her cutie husband, Ryan



Ryan again - and let me just tell you.  He does the Carlton like nobodys business.
He took this selfie with my phone when I wasn't looking.  So this was a sweet surprise!

Now you may be wondering - "why isn't Jessica in these pictures?"  Well that is because the producers fell in love with her and whisked her away - straight out of the VIP section!!!  She gave her gift to a producer who promised her it would make its way directly to Ellen!!  #GoShoutLove




Can you Shout Love!!!!!!

Jessica was gone FOREVER!!  I was so happy the new friends we met in the VIP section took me in as one of their own.  I could hardly contain my excitement.  She finally came back as we were being led into the Riff Raff Room.  And then guess what happened?!  Those new friends we met - gave #GoShoutLove a $50 donation!!!  We all hugged it out and cried!! #GoShoutLove!!


Let me remind you - all this happened before we even got into the studio!!

Once inside, we were amazed at how cozy the studio was - they split up our new "family" but we kept giving each other thumbs up throughout the show and had the time of our lives - so much dancing and laughing - it was amazing!  The guests for the show were Mariah Carey, Dax Shepard & Sharon Von Etten  

And then this happened:



Be sure and watch the video to see what happened!!  And then our facebook pages BLEW UP with screenshots of our reactions:


And THEN - there was yet another surprise!!!  We were asked to tape one more segment - with Jennifer Lopez!!!!  Now, this segment will air tomorrow so I can't share any pictures with you - but I will tell you this.  Jennifer Lopez is the most beautiful human being I have ever met in person.  She is stunning.  And so nice!!

After the taping, the announcer asked for Jessica Santo to wait in the studio to speak with a producer.  They invited us back to tape again the next day because they thought Jessica would be super fun for an on air game - but we couldn't do it because we had the Critics Choice Awards the next day.  Darn the luck!  But they have Jessica's number and all the information about #GoShoutLove.

It would mean the world to us if you could contact Ellen via your favorite social media and post this picture:



Use the #GoShoutLove Hashtag and tell Ellen to pick #GoShoutLove Babies for her next big giveaway! Oh, and be sure and tag Jessica and I!!!

Honestly, I am still recovering from the Ellen experience.  It will be a memory I will treasure for the rest of my life.
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I will blog about the rest of my trip to Los Angeles later this week  - I just thought the Ellen experience deserved its own post.  It w as INCREDIBLE!!!









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