I woke up this morning and it wasn't a dream!

I love taking road trips. One of my favorite road trips is to a taping of the Ellen DeGeneres show in Burbank, CA. Yesterday was my 4th visit to Ellen. Some of my friends give me a hard time, but I love Ellen. Something about her wit, sincerity, charitable heart, and just the way she cares about people really humbles and inspires me.

Every time I've had tickets to the show, it's always been on a first come first serve policy. I haven't been extremely lucky getting good seats, so when the intern called me to tell me my tickets were GUARANTEED for the studio audience, I was STOKED. I invited my friends, Sue, Deanna and Steph; 3 girls I used to play softball with growing up. They had never been to the show, and I LOVE being around them, so I organized and made it a ROAD TRIP!



Stephanie drove, and we were able to get in a good amount of "catch up" time on the 2 hour drive up. As we approached NBC studios we noticed a LARGE amount of people standing on the sidewalks with picket signs. "Oh yeah...that writers strike!!" We all forgot about the news of thousands of writers in LA walking out on their jobs in hopes of a better contract. Since Ellen shares a studio with Jay Leno we thought they were probably just protesting the "Late Shows". We decided we should ask. So I rolled down my window at a stop light and asked a lady holding a sign who they were picketing... she said "everyone in the studio". I said "EVEN ELLEN?" She said yes, and then proceeded to tell me that the Ellen show was canceled due to the strike. We pulled away, my road trip mates shared a few expletives, and I decided to call the show to see if what the picketer told us was true. Thankfully she was lying, and just trying to prevent us from crossing their picket line! Being part of the grocery strike a few years back, I did have sympathy for the writers on strike, but there was NO WAY we were going to pass on our guaranteed tickets to Ellen. Once we found the studio, we grabbed a bite to eat and headed to the line that formed outside Ellen's studio. I cannot tell you how excited I was to NOT be in the "standby" ticket holders line. Soon after we received our seat numbers, we were escorted through security and placed in a holding area where we watched Ellen Show reruns on flat screens. A Starbucks van was parked in the parking lot serving free drinks for all of us. After quite a long wait and lots of coffee, it was time to be escorted into the studio. We had seat numbers 39-42. We weren't the first ones into the studio, but we were VERY excited when my group of four was escorted to the FRONT ROW! We had the absolute BEST seats in the house! The show interns came out and gave us instruction on cheering, and after a few dance contests, out came ELLEN! Everyone went crazy. She greeted us all before they started taping and then she began her monologue. She let us know that Hayden Panettiere from Heroes would be on the show,


as well as Allison Sweeney, host of The Biggest Loser.

The cast of soap opera Days of Our Lives was there also.

If we weren't excited enough to be in the very front row, Ellen then informed us that the entire audience would receive:
"Scene It" - A Video Game for XBox 360

also

"Guitar Hero" - Another Video Game for XBox 360


and...YES...you guessed it...
she also gave everyone in the audience XBOX 360 Game Consoles! Sweet!!


I don't even remember what happened for the rest of the show, and I don't even play video games.... I was just so stoked to get a gift from Ellen! SOOO COOL.

After watching a few more segments, Ellen thanked us and said goodbye. I managed to ask one of the camera operators for a copy of their production schedule. He was totally cool and I was so honored to walk away with a show script in hand. We parked about a half mile away from the studio, so I'm sure the four of us looked pretty goofy walking through burbank in heels with XBOX 360, Guitar Hero, and Scene It in our hands. We piled our stuff and ourselves in the car, got some dinner to avoid traffic and then headed home. We chatted for a while longer and then in our giddy moods, blared the stereo and sang all of our favorite songs on the way home.


I really couldn't tell you what the highlight of our trip was because it was all amazing, but I can tell you that in a couple months, I'm definitely going to miss road trips and Ellen, and Steph, Deanna and Sue. At least I get to take my XBOX!



Oh...and if you're interested...the show we were on airs today, Thursday, November 8th at 3pm on NBC. We're sitting right next to "Stryker" the DJ in the front row.