Trip to California

I always wanted to go to California. I knew one day that would happen. My sister-in-law moved there 2 years ago. It was in our plans to go visit her, my husband and I just didn't know when.

When I learned that Oprah was going to have lunch with OWN Ambassadors assisting to O You! 2012 event to be hold in L.A. the time to visit California was set! I bought my ticket to the event in July. My hubby and I sat to plan for our vacation time there.

 The O You! event was on October 20th, door opening at 7am. The only thing I knew for sure was that we needed to arrive to LA before that time! We planned a vacation to the west coast starting on LA and ending in San Francisco leaving October 19th.

Oct 19th - Early that morning we took our Virgin America flight to L.A! The 1st night in LA included meeting the OWN Ambassadors I haven't met before and seeing again some I have, at the Yard House. We had such a great time!! We pretty much took over the outside patio. Nothing like being in a place filled with like-minded people. The energy, the excitement, it was amazing. We could have been there longer but we needed to go to have our beauty sleep to be ready and radiant for the next day to attend the O you! event.

Saturday Oct 20th - I was planning on arriving at the venue at 7am since they were opening the doors at 7:30am, but we realized that we lost the credit card we have used the night before to pay at the Yard House.  It got me a little off track but once I called them to cancel it I was OK and ready for the moment ahead. I arrived at 7:30am the lines were so long! I started talking to the lady in front of me and when the lines started moving I started to see some of my OWN ambassadors friends that were ahead of me. I don't know to how many people I say hi, but there were lots of us around. The ladies behind me told me "Girl, you know everyone." Of course I told them all about  the OWN ambassadors! https://www.facebook.com/theownambassadors.  It was great to know by some of the other ambassadors that we could go by the VIP entrance! I asked one of them for her business cards about us and gave them to the girls I was talking to.

It was great to be greeted at the OWN booth and given some bracelets with the word OWN Ambassador on them and been told that we had reserved seats for the main seating! It was the start of the joy rising moments that would have gotten better as the hours passed. We were escorted to our seats. We danced, took pictures, laughed. It was great to hear words of wisdom from Gayle King, Dr. Phil, Suze Orman, Iyanla Vanzant and Oprah.

Best moment of the day: having Oprah sitting on our table after lunch and taking pictures with each of us!

Sunday Oct 21st - My husband and I did some touring around Beverly Hills, we drove through many of the streets looking at all the huge mansions with manicured gardens and stopped to have brunch at The Farm of Beverly Hills on Beverly boulevard. What a delicious breakfast! After that we went to see the Walk of Fame and toured the Chinese theater. At night we met with one of my husband friend and his wife to have sushi for dinner.

Monday Oct 22nd - We wanted to do some tours on NBC studios so we check out of the hotel early and head to Burbank. When we arrived to NBC studios we were told the tours there had been cancelled. It was 9am or so. We had tickets to go to a taping of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, but we didn't need to be in line until 2pm. (2:45pm the latest) so we have so many hours without much planned to do. We asked the security guard at the NBC parking to suggest a place to have breakfast. He told us about the Big Boy's restaurant a California Landmark http://www.bobs.net/. We went there and ate. We were thinking about going to a park and relax in the meantime but while getting lost trying to figure out where to go we saw the signs to Warner Brothers studios and decided to check if we could do a tour there and if it ended before the time we needed to be back at NBC. We were able to do the tour... It was so much fun! Thanks EJ for all the information you shared with us. The part I liked the most was visiting Ellen Degeneres studio... She was not having any tape but I loved pretending to be her and dancing through the row of chairs she dances and dancing down the stairs! After the tour ended we headed back to NBC. Jay Leno's guest for that night where Halle Berry, Ali Wenworth and Gary Clark Junior. The studio absolutely freezing if you go there make sure to dress like you are going to spend winter time somewhere! I kept myself warm dancing during breaks! I even got myself a gift from the audience director, a The Tonight Show with Jay Leno apron for my dancing!! So cool! I'll keep dancing!

We started driving up North and stopped in several places before we reached my sister-in-law's house. I have a great time taking my niece to the park; playing barbies with my niece; driving through the Golden Gate; having drinks at the View; having dinner at Tiramisu; working together with my sister-in-law to make my niece's Tinkerbell custom for Halloween; etc. etc!! Lots of great memories, I could write a book! :)

Have fun! Create great memories with loved ones, life is is meant to be lived!