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| Me and my mom at the People's Choice Awards! |
As 2013 kicked off, I got to cross two items of my bucket list: visit Los Angeles and attend an awards show. I’ve always been a pop culture buff and a loyal watcher of all awards shows––from The Academy Awards to the Teen Choice Awards. When I saw a posting for two tickets to the People’s Choice Awards on the Delta SkyMiles® Online Auction website, I had to bid. Let met explain.
If you have a Delta SkyMiles account, you can bid your miles to win once-in-a-lifetime experiences—award shows, movie premieres, sporting events. Basically, Delta puts together entertainment packages you can’t necessarily buy tickets for. I heard about the auction last year and have been keeping an eye on the site since. In mid-December I saw a listing for the People’s Choice Awards in Los Angeles. I immediately bid all of my SkyMiles. Once you put in your maximum bid, the system keeps track of everything for you. I received an email each time someone else placed a bid higher than mine. I thought the chances I’d actually win were small, so when I was notified that I had the highest bid, I was shocked!
The win included two tickets to the awards show on January 9. I told my mom to pack her bags! Neither of us had been to LA, so this was going to be a memorable experience for us.
For the first two nights, we set up home base at L.A. Live. If you’re in downtown Los Angeles, this is the place to eat, sleep and play. The huge entertainment and sports district is brimming with restaurants, two hotels, a movie theater, the STAPLES Center and Nokia Theatre. We checked in to The Ritz-Carlton the night before the big show. If you’re a music buff, you’ll definitely want to check out the neighboring GRAMMY Museum.
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| Sandra Bullock accepting her award. |
To get red carpet ready, mom and I headed for The Ritz-Carlton spa to get our hair and makeup done before the show. Now we felt like celebrities! When we entered the Nokia Theatre, I was happy to see that our seats were about 30 rows from the stage! A few minutes before the show went live, one of the stage managers talked to the audience and went over a few rules about the different hand signals that should reflect different levels of applause. Yes, sometimes, they only wanted a 20 percent level of applause. Once the show went live, I got an extra jolt of excitement.
One of the most interesting aspects that you don’t see at home is all that madness that ensues during commercial breaks. As the camera pans the audience, they never want any seats to look empty. And many of the celebrities don’t sit through the entire show. Enter the seat fillers—people who sit in empty seats when needed and get up if a celebrity needs to sit close to the stage when his or her category comes up. Let’s just say a lot of craziness happens in those two-minute commercial breaks with stage managers wildly shuffling people around.
Otherwise, no major catastrophes happened behind the camera. Rachel Leigh Cook almost fell seconds before the camera focused on her to present an award. Host Kaylee Cuoco from The Big Bang Theory held her own. The three musical performances of the night included Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera and Jason Aldean. Alicia Keys was our favorite part of the show. What an incredible voice! And Christina Aguilera sounded better than I thought she would. Another favorite part of the night was Sandra Bullock accepting a humanitarian award. She is as elegant and stunning as she is on screen. Other people I was happy to see win awards included Taylor Swift, Naomi Watts and Jennifer Lawrence (and not just because they are former Sky cover stars).
After the show, we grabbed a bite and at the Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill—the perfect place to toast to a star-studded night!
The next day, we headed to Beverly Hills and checked into the Beverly Wilshire, which is right on Rodeo Drive. If you’re looking for a good brunch in that area, I recommend a charming little place across the street called 208 Rodeo. Sit on the patio, soak in a little sun and dig into amazing eggs benedict.
Next up, shopping! While we enjoyed browsing the shops on Rodeo Drive, if you are looking for a more affordable option, head to Robertson Boulevard. I recommend a stop into celeb-fave store Kitson for fun accessories, gifts and clothes. While I didn’t have any celebrity sightings on Robertson, I did run into Emma Stone eating brunch with two friends at The Beverly Hills Hotel. Love her!
If you watch Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, you’ll probably recognize Sur Restaurant & Bar. Co-owned by the fabulous Lisa Vanderpump and her husband Ken, this West Hollywood hangout on the corner of Melrose and Robertson has an exotic Mediterranean vibe. While it wasn’t quite everything we were expecting (much smaller with cramped space), I will say that the drinks were killer.
We wrapped up our last night in LA with a nightcap and dessert at The Blvd Restaurant, which is right off the lobby of the Beverly Wilshire. Sit up to the gorgeous illuminated onxy bar and people watch with cappuccino or tasty sorbet.
For a first-timer in LA, I had an amazing time. Here’s to checking off more of those bucket list items in 2013.
Anya Britzius is Sky's assistant editor. She's often found jet-setting between Minnesota and Arizona.