My LA Adventure

Well, I Did It! 4 days away from my boys and Im still in one piece. To say I missed them would be the understatement of the year. I am sitting on the plane and cant not count the hours until I see them. Yesterday afternoon we had a little bit of down time and I got really home sick and emotional when I thought about how much I missed them, but once we left the hotel and got back outside and touring venues, it helped to pass the time and temporarily help me forget.

We video chatted every morning. I do not know how working moms were able to travel before the days of video chat. Even though it made me miss him even more, I was able to start my mornings talking to him and watching him play.  Nick and Sister were both great about keeping me updated throughout the days and sending lots of adorable pics of Asher.  If it were not for all of these pictures I might not have emotionally kept myself together.

MONDAY:

TUESDAY:

WEDNESDAY:

TODAY:

Now, more about my LA adventure:

We got a lot accomplished on our trip and I think that we are well on our way to a fantastic RIMS 2013. We covered a lot of ground and did a TON of walking, I wish that I had downloaded a pedometer app or something like that.  No exaggeration, I bet we walked over 20 miles this trip.

LA is beautiful and the weather is magnificent. Similar to Atlanta weather but without the humidity. What a different no humidity will make.  We got to tour a lot of the hotels and event venues while we were here, so I was able to snap some quick photos of the skyline. I love looking around and seeing mountains and palm trees all in the same skyline. Of course none of my pictures actually showcase this since they are all taken from up high.  The best part about this tour was that we were visiting nice hotels and got to see all the hospitality suites and pent houses!  Pretty Cool

You cant see it in the photo, but the Hollywood sign on the tallest mountain in the background
(this was the view from my hotel room)

Being in LA on business definitely had its perks. Great food, great sites, and Incredible Sushi 

Spicy Tuna Nigiri but the bottom of the rice was seared....the fish absolutely melts in your mouth, and it was the perfect amount of spice.  My mouth wasnt on fire after eating it. mmmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

A big part of our tour (and the main focus for my company) was scoping out event space downtown at LA Live. It worked out to be a great time to be down there because it was the America Idol season finale. I was lucky enough to be down there both days for the live shows. I didnt get to go to the live shows but still down there with all the media set up and the "buzz". 


One afternoon we got to tour all of the event venues at LA Live.  The Conga Room was a really cool venue and so was Club Nokia- especially the VIP area, which is actually on the backside of the balcony level.  We had a reception on the Target Terrace which is rooftop space on top of the Grammy Museum.  Part of the reception included admission and free reign of the hall of fame.  There was TONS of cool stuff to listen to and see. We didn't have an abundance of time (maybe a half hour or so), but I could have spent the entire day touring the 3 floors of the museum.

Ray Charles and CeeLo Green's Costumes from grammy performances

 The second night we ventured away from the group to check out a possible site for our Client Dinner, WP 24. It is a Wolfgang Puck restaurant on the 24th floor of the Ritz. We dined in the lounge which had floor to ceiling windows and incredible views. (one of the pictures posted above)

As we were ordering our hor'dorves, I look up and less than 3 feet in front of me was Stephen Tyler. EFFING STEPHEN TYLER. I was speechless. LITERALLY. I stopped ordering, mid sentence, jaw dropped and just kept whacking my boss, Kelly, on the leg over and over. I could not believe my eyes. I have never really seen anyone famous, or at least anyone worth getting excited about. So this was a BIG deal for me. Randy Jackson was there too, but after seeing Stephen Tyler I could have cared less about Randy, (sorry dawg). The shock of seeing Mr. Tyler was too much and I was way too slow to have snapped a picture, but knowing that Idol had let out and that we were at a restaurant where "people go" I was ready for the next one. And sure enough, about 20 minutes later, in walked Ryan Seacrest.   He didnt take the same path right in front of me, and again not nearly as exciting but still pretty cool. This time I was ready and snapped a picture...not a great one but still...Proof. 

Yesterday was another day filled with more site tours and LOTS of walking.  The highlight was again when we ventured away from the group to go back to LA Live to taste some more food at another Wolfgang Puck restaurant. This one was the Wolfgang Puck Bar and Grille. It was about 4pm so it was a limited menu but the 2 Ginger Mohitos I had were incredible (as was the tuna tartar). We sat outside at this restaurant which pretty much gave us a front row seat to the American Idol Finale Red Carpet and PRIMO people watching.

We didnt have tickets so we couldn't really get up-close and personal, but after they walked the red carpet had their photos taken in front of the "american idol backdrop" they had to walk over in our direction to get into the Nokia Theatre. Not as many stars as I would have expected...or maybe from our view I just couldnt recognize them, but I for sure saw Carrie Underwood and Jane Lynch. There might have been an Usher sighting but I couldnt be sure... Again it was neat to see all the action and we had great seats to people watch. There is some GREAT people watching in LA. WOW! Some of the things that we saw, words can not even describe.

So although it was incredibly difficult to be away as long as I was, it was also a nice little break and it was a treat to eat such delicious food and enjoy such tasty drinks!

But now that its over, Im ready to get back to MY life in the REAL world. 



Flight trackers says 1 hour and 07 minutes to go before we land in ATL. 
IM READY!