The Journey Into Life Coaching: 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