Ellen 12 Days of Giveaways

Can't believe I actually got to go back to the Ellen Show for her 12 Days of Giveaways. Back in May, when we went (remember that?) Ellen was SO nice, and invited us back at the end of taping, and our whole audience went WILD! This time, was no different. We agreed that was even funner this time since we knew what to expect once we got there.

Haley and I drove to Burbank on Wednesday afternoon. We were going to pick up Sheena from the Burbank airport since she was flying in from Utah. During our drive, my brake light came on the dashboard, but nothing felt different while driving. I called Ryan about it, and we decided to just keep driving and see how it felt once we got into California. As soon as we got into town, and we were driving to the airport and using the brakes, we realized they had really gone bad and they were grinding horribly! After we picked up Sheena, we headed to the hotel to check in, then Wendy's for dinner. I called to get an appointment for the brakes the next morning with Midas. 

Back at the hotel, we chatted and laughed all night, it was so much fun to have a girls night and laugh and laugh! We didn't sleep very well since our hotel was right by the freeway, but I don't think any of us cared since we were too excited about the next day! 

Thursday morning, we got up and got ready (TOO ready for a brake shop!) We headed out to get the brakes fixed, Midas didn't end up taking us, even though we'd had an appointment, so we ended up at Discount Tire, and they did a fabulous job! So after a couple hours of NO fun in a car shop, we FINALLY headed to Studio City! I dropped the girls off at Chipotle to pick up lunch, (no parking in Burbank. Gag.) We ate in the car, and finally made it to the parking lot and check in area! YAY!

We got all checked in, got our ticket numbers, and arm stamps, and then sat down to wait to go across the street into the studio. While we were waiting, taking pictures, and being overly giddy, a couple Ellen employees came over and chatted with us, then said "ok, well when we ask for the 'focus groups' in a couple minutes, that means you guys since we've talked with you." WHAT? We were so excited and didn't even know why! A little while later, they called for the focus groups, and we went outside, they had us line up, and then came and talked to each group, and picked one person out from each group. They picked Sheena from us, and she got to go with the cute employees! She said that pretty much it meant she was a potential contestant for any audience participation Ellen might need. And they'd asked her questions like, "where are you from? are you married? do you have kids? what's your favorite part of the Ellen show?" She. Was. Dying.

Since Haley and I were with Sheena, we got the VIP treatment too kinda. They took all of us who were with the other group of people, and had us seated first sporadically throughout the seats. We got THE best seats again, right across the aisle from our May seats, on the dancing row! I got to sit on the end this time (so look for me in the red pants!) 

After everyone is seated, it still takes about 30-40 minutes until the show actually starts, so they show you what they do when they want you to cheer, go over what will happen, what you can and can't do (shout, stomp, phones, etc.) then they play music and it's a giant dance party....this is when they record the 'dancer of the day' that she sometimes shows on the way to commercial break (the audience members dancing alone on the stage.) SIDENOTE: I kid you not: not even an hour earlier I told Haley and Sheena "There is no way I'm going down on the stage to dance if they ask me to!" Low and behold, they came up to me, and said, "Do you want to go down and dance?" and without even thinking I said "YEAH!!!!!" and ran down to the stage! AHH! I honestly do NOT know what came over me, and I can only pray that it isn't aired on TV! There were 4 GIANT cameras in my face, and I attempted to recreate the 'Gangham Style' gallop, and I even the the bend over booty slap....oh my. As soon as that happened, it's like something clicked in my brain and I realized what I was doing, and WHERE I was doing it, and I ran back up to my seat. I honestly to thing minute, do. not. know. what. came. over. me. It was an out of body experience! Haha! ....But at least I got a free tee-shirt for it!

Once the show started, we were exhausted from dancing so much, but somehow got a second wind, and cheered even louder and harder than we did in May. The show was great, Ellen was so nice, her guests were Jessica Biel (even more gorgeous and teeny in real life!) and Damon Wayans Jr. They were both so fun, and were promoting their shows, "Playing for Keeps" and "Happy Endings". Then of course the 12 Days of Giveaways! Oh my heck. I literally cried as she was unvieling them. Not because I wanted the items soooo bad, but because I couldn't believe she was really just giving them to us. It was so surreal! The gifts she gave us were:

• $300 Mastercard gift card
• Netflix 2-year streaming membership ($200)
• Black Playstation Vita 3G with wifi system ($299)
• Executive Beats by Dre Headphones ($299)
• Nike White Ice Fuelband ($150)
• $100 Nike gift card
• Gemesis Canary Diamond Necklace ($1500)

We were SO spoiled! I still can't believe it's real, and I still can't believe that after the show, as we walked out of the studio, we held open our bags, walked down a hallway towards the exit, and had the bag filled with all of these things. It was crazy. and so much fun. I feel SO lucky that I was able to not only go back for a second show, and second chance just to see Ellen, but that it was also her 12 Days of Giveaways show. 

We headed home right after the show, stopped for a yummy dinner at Chick-Fil-A. And then played with our new stuff and chatted the whole way home. It was a great girls trip, and I feel so lucky that I was able to go with Haley and Sheena. I'm lucky that I've found such close friends in a short time since we moved to Las Vegas. Love love love them!
The show airs on Monday December 3 2012 and is the first of her 12 Days shows. 

Got this in the mail at the end of October....such a great piece of mail!

Got my ticket!

My gorgeous friends

In our seats waiting for the show to start!

Canary Diamond Pendant. So SO sparkly!