Living The Dream - Day 1 California, Manhattan Beach

Wednesday October 17th, 2012 couldn't come fast enough, I know your not suppose to rush a good thing, but it's California, the excitement was palpable. For months the OWN Ambassadors talked, planned, dreamt, anticipated one of the most biggest moments of our lives...Meeting Oprah Winfrey. On Tuesday October 16th, my dear friend and fellow OWN Ambassadors Jan and Misty made way to my house to sleep over. I am close to the Toronto airport, so it was ideal for the ladies to stay here. It was great my husband offered to wake up and take us to the airport at 5 am. We barely slept the night before, we were like little kids the night before Christmas, this was huge. 

We loaded up the car with all of our bags, and off we went. Closer and closer to the airport the excitement was crazy, we were like little school girls lol. It was a good thing we got there 2+ hours early. It was frustrating at the beginning, Jan and I were getting bounced around from line to line because our names were different between our passport and airline ticket. I have not flown to the U.S. for years, so going through security and customs was a long process. Everything changed since 9/11, but it was absolutely understandable. It is in the security line where we met up with Eliza, it was great, we were all on the same plane headed for L.A.

Once through security we headed to our gate until we were called to board. As we were sitting there we made conversation with a nice looking young man. Turns out he was from the L.A. Kings. We asked his thoughts about L.A and he said you are going to love it. So I could feel myself getting even more excited. Time to board, so up we got, and headed towards the attendants. I showed my passport, headed down the mobile corridor and to the plane. Jan and I found our seats, Misty & Eliza sat somewhere else. The plane was all boarded and the stewardess did their check. Jan and I looked at each other and said yeehaaw there is no one sitting with us. So we loaded up the middle seat and got real comfy. 

It was a great flight, definitely better then the one I had in the summer to Newfoundland. Now it's time to descend and land in L.A, it was only 10 am, so we still had the whole day. Woohoo, super excited. Plane stops, I grabbed my carry on, and off we got. The minute I stepped off the plane, I could feel the warm air. Leaving Toronto where it was cold, to getting off and feeling the heat was awesome. We made our way to baggage claim, and then grabbed the shuttle and headed to our hotel. I was taking in the short drive, I loved the palm trees and the warm air. As we got to the hotel we checked in and made way to our rooms. Jan & Misty shared a room, and Eliza and I shared a room, our rooms were side by side.

We got settled in our room, and then Eliza and I talked and talked for hours. It was 94 degrees so we decided to go to the pool for a swim. It was so nice and relaxing, I enjoyed every moment. Later on we touched based with Misty and Jan, and we decided to take a trolly ride to Manhattan Beach to  look at the little shops and watch the sunset. When we arrived I was in awe with the beauty of the beach, the palm trees and the pier. We walked around and and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant. It was yummy. Once we finished dinner, we headed over to the pier so we could watch the sunset. I stood there snapped away at some pictures and then got totally lost in the water and the sun going down. I went off on my own, and just reflected on being there, my family and the appreciation of me being able to come to L.A.

Once the sunset went down, we grabbed the trolly and headed back to La Quinta Hotel. Once I arrived back to the hotel, I curled up in my bed and started my journal for  California.

Because there is just so much, I will be blogging about each day in California separately, I want to be able to share the magnitude of my wonderful trip.

Attached a few pics :)

Thanks for stopping by...

Much Love,
Shelley

Swimming outside, temperature 94 degrees

Where we ate supper

The Beach as the sun goes down

 

 

The Trolley Ride to Manhattan Beach

Manhattan Beach Pier

Doing a little reflection

Doing The Right Thing

I just came back from California, and my plan was to sit down and try to articulate the magnitude of this past week. I still plan on doing it, but right now I feel the importance to talk about the last couple of days. I am frustrated and I need to just S P E L L it out. How can I go from feeling the most joy I have ever felt in my life to what has transpired the past couple of days.

This past Thursday my son texted me and said he wanted to come home for the weekend, and if I could help him arrange the train and bus, so I said sure no problem. So Friday he made his way to the train station, and traveled the afternoon to get here from Welland to Brampton. Friday we were at our friends Halloween/Birthday party, and we were having a great time. Ryan, Brianna and Kayla went with me, it was so nice to spend time with my 3 kids together. It's not very often I have all 3 kids hanging out with me. After a great evening with some awesome friends we left around 12:30, Kayla was extremely tired so I said we will head out, so I can get her home to bed.

Saturday I spent the day hanging out with my son, running around to second hand stores to pick up pieces to create his costume for a Halloween party at his friends place in Guelph. It was fun! He got what he needed, and later on that evening we picked up his friend and headed to another friends house so they could all drive together to the party. I told Ryan make sure you are home early enough on Sunday because we have plans later in the day, and if you are here in the morning I can drive you back to Welland.

So after trying to get a hold of Ryan, he finally texted me to say he got stuck out in Guelph and had no way back, his friend left in the middle of the night. I said you need to try to find someone to get you here. Shortly after he found someone coming back to Brampton so he was able to hitch a ride with them. When he got back he chilled and got ready to head back home with his step-mother who luckily was going towards Welland to drop off her daughter. He texted me that he got home okay.

Next morning (Monday), is when it all started. Ryan texted me in a panic for me to look around for his Mac Laptop, I said Ryan you never brought it here. Soon he realized his Mac Laptop (Brand New), professional camera, and XBOX wireless controllers were stolen. I had a gut feeling of who was involved but I never said anything. After Ryan pressured his room-mates, he discovered one of the girl roomates had some sketchy guy over. The girl roomate had been asked to leave, because all the kids were complaining about her, so Danielle told this guy George, lets stick it to Ryan, they broke into my sons room and ran sacked his room. The locks were a joke, you can get in with a credit card.

The sad part is, my son's whole life was on the laptop, his portfolio, everything, he can't attend classes without his laptop (He is in Graphic Design). He didn't have an external hard drive big enough, so he hadn't backed up anything. They were going to take the T.V. and his surround sound system. But I guess they couldn't get it off the wall. My son worked his ass off for over 2 years to buy the things he wanted. We teach our kids to work hard for what they want, and when this happens, for a moment I thought the lessons were meaningless. I am a firm believer that there is a lesson in everything. My son after 5 years has finally found something he likes and is doing excellent and now this. We are so frustrated, we just want his stuff back. I knew the guys name, number, and where he lives, but holy wow, talk about feeling helpless.

So for the past 2 days I have been living on the phone getting bounced around from two different police departments in two different cities. The sketchy guy lives in Hamilton, and my son lives in Welland (Just outside of Niagara). I was thinking about going to the Media, but now they have given the case to the Street Crimes division. They weren't even going to touch my sons case until next week. I called back and told them, that was not okay. The stuff will be long gone. There is almost $5000.00 worth of items that were stolen, and my son cannot go to class without his laptop.

The latest is, George was suppose to turn himself in tonight (Tuesday) with the items he stole. He never showed, up, and then ended up making arrangements to come to police station on Thursday. So I am not feeling victorious yet. When my son has the items back, and everything is okay, then I will be happy. Also Danielle, the roomate/accomplice has been evicted.

To Be Continued....

The lesson;  To teach & show my kids how to act in certain situations, this is just one of those situations...Everything will be okay.

Much Love,
Shelley

Update: Nov 1/2012 - George the thief returned my sons laptop, but not the camera or XBOX controllers. I am very happy about the laptop, that was the main thing, he can resume classes. However we are pressing charges against George and Danielle. Hopefully over time we will either get the other items back or the dollar value. The court will order him to pay back what he has not returned.

My daughters in matching Minnie Mouse Costumes

My son was dressed up as a Team Rocket Thug from Pokemon

Kayla - The Meteorologist

There is something about Kayla, she has got the "It" Factor. She dances, sings and loves to look at herself in the mirror ALOT lol. My older kids were not like that, Kayla wants to be a superstar, she wants to stand out, and loves being the center of attention. There are alot of musician's in my husbands family so I am thinking she is going to have an ear for music. If you come to my home, or drive in the car with us, she will show you just how much she likes to sing. If you take your eyes off her, or she feels you are not listening, she will give you heck and then start over. She is so funny!

One of the things Kayla loves to do, is to pretend she is a Meteorologist. Each day when the weather comes on with Natasha from City News in Toronto, Kayla will go to the T.V. and act out her version of the weather. So I thought one day I am going to record her and send it in. Once I recorded it I sent it via Twitter,  and shortly after that I received a Tweet that they would like to use it on the news. I was all for it, turns out they invited Kayla to come in and do it live. Once I told Kayla she was so excited she couldn't wait. On Tuesday October 16th we traveled downtown Toronto so Kayla could do the weather live with Natasha.

When we arrived at City News, it was neat, to see where all the different broadcasts were filmed. The receptionist called to let Natasha know we were there. Shortly after, Natasha came down with her camera crew ready to go outside and shoot some weather outside. At this point we just stood back and watched. Afterwards Natasha directed us to her department where all the weather magic happens. We were introduced to Adam Stiles, and the Graphic Designers who were also stationed in the room with her. They made us feel so welcomed. Natasha put the mic pack on Kayla and had her get ready for her debut lol.

When it was time for Kayla to go on with Natasha, she did but she was shy, which I figured she would be at first. In between the segments Natasha took us downstairs to show us Gord Martineau in action live. We looked around, met Roger, Hugh, Avery Haines (Who was so wonderful), Kayla really wanted to see Gord but obviously he was busy. So we went upstairs again to prepare for the closing weather news, and Natasha briefed Kayla on her lines. Once we got to the rooftop garden, Kayla went out with Natasha. When they went live again, Natasha asked Kayla the prepared questions and Kayla was so much more comfortable, she answered her questions no problem. Kayla then looked at me and did a thumbs up and tried to wink, it was so funny.

Once the news was over, Natasha took us back downstairs so Kayla could meet Gord, she knew how much Kayla loves him. Once we got off the elevator, Kayla went running right into Gord's arms, and Gord sung out oh Honey Boo Boo, I am not sure if that is good or bad lol, I've never watched the show. He was so great with Kayla, while everyone was standing there, Kayla broke out into a dance, doing the "sprinkler" in one dance. The producers came out, and everyone laughed and cheered on Kayla, it was such an awesome moment. Kevin and I were certainly proud. They invited her to come again, so exciting!