My trip to see ELLEN!

 

Back in May, I was lucky enough to get to go on a trip ALL.BY.MYSELF.

Meaning, without any members of my family. My best friend Anya had emailed the Ellen Show and told them that all she wanted for her 30th birthday was tickets to the show. We decided to make a trip out of it and spend some time touring Los Angeles. I had the most amazing time on this trip! I couldn't believe we were able to pull it off and make arrangements for all of our kids! Anya also invited her mom (Tanya) and her sister (Katya) to come along as well. (Yes, they are all Russian.) These are a few of the highlights from the trip.

 

 On Sunday, which happened to be Mother's Day, Target had sponsered an event to give makeovers to all the women who visited Santa Monica Pier that day. This is Anya and me after she had her hair done (by Umberto who is a celebrity stylist from Beverly Hills and also has a product line at Target) and me after I had my make-up done while getting tips from Petra (who has a line of make-up products she developed called "Pixie", which is also at Target). We had no idea they were doing this until we showed up at the beach. They also gave us a long-stemmed white rose and a bag of hair and make-up samples.

 This is the four of us at dinner at a restaurant called Il Pastaio in Beverly Hills (as suggested by Umberto himself).

 



 Checking out the walk of fame and the statues outside Graumann's Chinese Theatre

 

On Sunday night we went to a Cirque Du Soleil performance called "Iris". It was an incredible show and had me holding my breath through the entire thing! The performers do the most amazing stunts!

There was a new store opening at the mall near the walk of fame that was called "Carmen Steffens". I don't really ever see my name anywhere so it was kind of cool!  

"BFF" suckers that we found at the giant candy store at Universal City Walk. 

We had dinner at this really amazing restaurant at the top of the canyon. It was similar to driving through the Avenues here in Salt Lake, but when you reach the top you have an amazing view of the whole city! 

Here is the reason for the trip! We were all so excited to see Ellen in person! She is such an amazing person! Being at the show was like being at a giant party. Between every segment (while the "commercials" are happening) you get out of your seat and dance!

These pictures were taken on my IPhone. We were told that there were no cameras allowed in the studio so we left them in the car. Before the taping, Ellen's announcer guy came out and told us that we could hurry and take a picture of ourselves to prove we were really there and put them on Instagram. At the end of the show Ellen gave out a diamond necklace to everyone in the audience. She told us they were worth $150! It was so surreal to be there in person! A total dream come true! 

Me and Anya at the show!

 

A couple other things we did on this trip were: going to the Jay Leno Show (where you can't take ANY pictures, not even of the outside of the studio), visited The Grove at La Brea where Mario Lopez films his show "Extra", went to the Griffith Observatory, and ate at the BEST restaurants!

I totally appreciate David for letting me do this trip. He held down the fort here at home and I even came home to a clean house! He really is the BEST hubby!