Along with about 20 other bloggers, I was chosen to participate in Ford's "Escape from Boredom" in LA. We were flown to LA, treated like celebrities and given a taste of the Hollywood life.

Day 1 - Tuesday

I woke up this morning at 3:45am EST, snug in my bed, to Mr. Jimbo telling me we were running 15 minutes late.

I'm heading to bed right now, in the swanky Roosevelt Hotel and it's 10:55pm PST (1:55pm EST) and I'm just the teeniest bit drunk. OK a bit more.

It's been a whirlwind. six hours in the air with a stopover in Cleveland and a propensity for clumsiness that left my seat mate and I sloshed with water. Nice.

I was escorted to the Roosevelt by Howard, my stallion in a Lincoln Navigator. We had a very warm conversation where he talked about his girlfriend, their recent joint birthday party and experiences with stars. I heart Howard.

I was welcomed into the hotel by friendly bellmen and ushered into the lobby to meet cheerful Megan (my soul sister - I swear I knew her in a previous life!), and check into my room and headed to the penthouse for orientation!

The penthouse was nothing short of magnificent. Leather couches, silver curtains, a second floor with a fuzzy bed in the middle of the room and a humongous bathroom. The penthouse also had a third level - the roof with a view of the LA skyline and my very first glimpse of the infamous "Hollywood" sign.

I had nummy sammiches and get-to-know you convo with bloggers and Ford peeps were on the menu followed by a quick little prezzo about why we were there (Our group of 20 or so bloggers were invited to Los Angeles to experience first-hand Ford's Boredom Hurts campaign, to drive Escapes round Hollywood and most of all, to have fun.)

I'm in; how about everyone else?

"On The Lot" Taping
From there we hopped into Ford Escapes and careened through the Hollywood hills landing at CBS Studios. Studio 21 was our destination. A real live Hollywood studio. I was beyond excited and nearly bounced out of myself with giddiness.

Tour the studio, meet with execs, happen upon Carolyn Castiglia, a hilarious comedy blogger with whom I felt an instant connection (she had the same Target bag) and within minutes of meeting her I was promising to come down to NYC and see her perform.

Mark Burnett approached our group and he had a lot of great things to say. What an amazing guy. I caught the following quote after being asked about how he deals with negative press: "Lists don't matter to me; what matters to me are my kids."

The taping was amazing - I had never been in a live studio audience before and it was definitely an experience. I got caught up in the clapping, jumping up and down, and whooping and caught a t-shirt. I clap-clap-clapped and smiled until my cheeks hurt.

Meet the Judges
At the end of the show, we headed up to the stage and had pictures taken then met with the judges. First we met Gary Ross and he was a really cool guy. He answered questions and gave the filmmakers in our group some great advice.

The next judge, Penny Marshall is way cool, if a little nutty - I guess Hollywood does that to ya. Still, I admired her spunk and her desire to direct more female-dominated films.

Met. with. Carrie Fisher. She's so tiny. And down-to-earth. And a hoot. And way paranoid about what us bloggers are going to say about her. She got the wrong idea, yo. It's all about the love here!

Met the host, Adrianna Costa who was absolutely gorgeous, articulate and very, very sweet.

Zee Cocktail Partay!
After the show and meet and greet, we all attended a cocktail party with members of the cast and crew we were able to chat with the contestants.

I'm definitely not a fan of reality TV, but once I knew I was heading to LA to see On The Lot, I caught a few episodes. I watched the last one as well as the first two to get the general gist of the show.

Even after watching one episode, I was surprised at how much goes into making a film. I tell you, I wouldn't be able to do it. It really is an art form.

Talking to the contestants, I got a sense for how much they LOVED directing. Their passion is blinding. I just love to experience people who are passionate about what they do, or about anything at all. It's like their true self comes out and they shine. It's kind of like they're a kid again.

When walking through the set and meeting the crew, I stopped by a woman in the control room and asked her if this was her dream job. She beamed and said it was indeed her dream job and she loved it! That's awesome!

The two directors (Jason Epperson and Will Bigham)that I met at the cocktail party were just amazing people. I was both impressed by their talent and artistic ability, but also by the fact that they were really great down-to-earth people and I wanted all of them to win!

Dinner at Social!
Dinner that night was held at "Social", and pretty swank club/restaurant in LA. We had two rooms and were able to chat more with the contestants and the other bloggers.

Dinner was great! I was so full by the time dessert came, but I had to have a chocolate-dipped cookie! I couldn't resist.

I was one of the first ones to head back to the hotel, being one of the unlucky ones that had flown in from the east coast, I was exhausted from the day and from the time change. I ended up in bed about 11pm (PST) or 2am (EST) and was up bright and early at 7am the next day.

Day two coming right up!

Along with about 20 other bloggers, I was chosen to participate in Ford's "Escape from Boredom" in LA. We were flown to LA, treated like celebrities and given a taste of the Hollywood life.

Read about day one here.

Instead of meeting everyone in the restaurant for breakfast, I opted to eat in my room in order to give myself a little more time to get ready and to relax before the day ahead.

First thing on the agenda - Contestant 51 taping.

Contestant 51 is a mini-series about Colin - he was chosen at contestant 51 out of 50 finalists for On The Lot, which means that he wasn't picked. Of course, Colin wasn't taking no for an answer and decided to follow along with the contestants every week and make his own film to impress the judges. His films are on Ford's Boredom Hurts web site, and Colin's films are appropriately all about curing boredom.

So we headed out in our Ford Escapes to the Disney's Golden Oak Ranch(The Golden Oak Ranch has been seen in Lassie, Beverly Hills, 90210, Charmed, Red Dragon, Murder She Wrote, Diagnosis Murder, Bonanza, Independence Day, and The X-Files) were taping was being held. It was pretty darn cool to be on a movie set and to see how it all works. I've definitely learned a lot about the movie business and I have to say, I think I'll leave making movies up to the ones who love it (and are good at it), because I definitely do not have the patience for it. I get too antsy and impatient. Too much "hurry-up and wait".

Kraft services were amazing at the shoot, though. We were brought snacks and watermelon with lime-chili pepper (mmm! you must try it) and then had a huge lunch with the cast and crew. Dude! I've never seen (and eaten) so much food in my life! It was wicked hot though, and I was glad to hop back into our Escapes and head back to le Hotel.

My co-pilot on many of our Escape rides was (appropriately) Kraig from The Adventure Blog. We had quite the adventure and got along swimmingly! Kraig is obviously into adventure and told me all about his active pursuits including running marathons and hiking mountains (his latest? Kilimanjaro!) Dude!

Back to the hotel and a quick shower to get the dust and sweat off me from the movie set and back into the Escapes for a Photo Road Rally!

We were given a scavenger list of locations with instructions to take pictures of famous LA spots. What a great time! I was concerned that I wasn't going to be able to see the sights, but I certainly did! I hopped into an Escape with Celeste and Liz and saw the famous Hollywood sign, Mullholland Drive (and the view of the city), Rodeo Drive, Pinks hot dog stand, and Mann's Chinese Theater.

And here they are!

Harry Potter

Kermit holding on for dear life

Hollywood Sign

Kermie in the Escape

Kermit takes in the view from Mullholland Drive

Mullholland Drive

Louis Vuitton

Beverly Hills

Rodeo Drive

Rodeo Drive

Palm Trees

Rodeo Drive

Dior

Chanel

Tiffany's

Rodeo Drive Parking Garage

Versace

Rodeo Drive

Me on Rodeo Drive

Average Jane Goes to Beverly Hills

Big chair

Indian Style

Lord of the Rings Dog

Eating our hotdogs in the Escape

Pinks

Mushroom and swiss dog

That's it for day two! Stay tuned for the wrap up!

My experience in LA was nothing short of fantastic. From the moment I stepped off the plane to the moment I stepped back on I was treated like a celebrity! A girl can get used to this!

A big thanks goes out to all the people from Ford for rolling out the red carpet for us bloggers. You guys are the bomb-diggety.

And, to all of my new blogging friends from the trip:

• Irene from Bitter Tonic (don't forget to email me that info on SEO!)
• Denis from Superblog 5000 (The cigars were darn good!)
• Stefan and Alex from Elephant Larry (Stef-IN!, Stef-ON, Stef-UP, Stef-DOWN & Matt!)
• Carolyn Castiglia (Let me know next time you're standing up in NYC!)
• Emmet from Film School Student (Howard sure does rock, doesn't he?)
• Kraig from The Adventure Blog (Dude, you're the best co-pilot evar!)
• Celeste from Average Jane (The first blogger I met at BlogHer, was so glad to know someone there! love the blue hair!)
• Brian from Welcome to Tardville (hey, did we even talk?!)
• Jennifer Dziura (looking forward to seeing you shake it like a lesbian soon!)
• Josh and Jeremiah from Adventures in Filmmaking (They really made this event for you guys; we were just around for the ride)
• Elizabeth from juicefairy (let me know how your moisturizer experiment turns out)
• Carmel from Josh Spear (Dude, hope you were able to get out of that date!)
• Liz from Everyday Goddess (living the dream! I forgot to beg a sticker off ya! )
  
• Michelle Kenobi Osorio (pawn pwn huh? Denis didn't get it, either!)

(Thanks to Average Jane for the links!)

This was actually my first "blogger event" that included more than a few men. All of the other events I've attended in the past were blogHer events (and while they tend to be packed with women, I have seen more than a handful of men at each event). I really need to expand my horizons.

I really dig bloggers. You know, every single blogger I meet is just so darn down to earth and friendly. They just get it. And this group of bloggers were especially wonderful. I feel like I got a chance to get to know each and every one of them in the two days that we were together. Every time I turned around there was someone new to talk to, a friendly face, and a laugh.

(Dear Ford,

Can we do this again next year?

Love,
Megan)

The whole event was amazing, true to the title (Escape from Boredom), I don't think I had a split second of boredom while I was in LA. From meeting the bloggers and Ford peeps, to driving round LA in a Ford Escape Hybrid! to touring the set of "On The Lot" to watching the taping, meeting the judges(!), hanging with the contestants and crew, boozing it up with everybody, hitting the Golden Oak Ranch for Contestant 51 taping, to the Photo Road Rally, to dinner and hasty good-byes, it was a blast!

Looking back on it, I still don't know why they picked me (I don't have any particular interest in directing or films, or Hollywood for that matter, and I really haven't been actively blogging lately) but I'm certainly not complaining.

I do know that checking out the new Ford Escape Hybrid was a blast. I drive a Honda Civic, so I can't say I'll be buying an SUV in the near future, but if I were, this would certainly be a top contender.

Bite my tongue, but I'm not a huge fan of SUVs for two reasons; one, they tower around my Civic so that I can't see and two, the environmental impact. I think SUVs are a waste of space and gas. But the Ford Escape Hybrid is super-duper green, it gets 34mpg in the city! That's amazing for an SUV. And it's got all kinds of fancy hybrid stuffs packed in there, that is way too technical for me.

I have to say it was a comfortable drive and part of me really liked looking down on the Porsche's and Lamborghini's in LA. Being used to my Civic, I wasn't the best parker in the group. But that's OK. We had people to do that for us!

It's not like a wasn't warned, I've heard the bitter tales of the bitches on The Knot. I guess I just had to see it for myself.

I don't know what I was thinking when I expected support, kindness and support! Boy, I must have been in Mars, because that couldn't have been further from the true.

I'm not going to go into details because it's totally not worth it. Lesson learned. Email send to feedback. Profile closed.

Ya know, life's just too short to get caught up in the drama.

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Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy thoughts. Yeah, I'm turning 32 in four days. Where the heck did that come from?

I ate 56 chocolates today, some butternutscotch pudding (ffsf!), popcorn, some nuts, two cookies, 3 slices of pizza and a glass of champagne. Awesome.

I'm drowning in too much stuff to do.

The FedEx guy made me smile today. I think I was just happy to have someone to talk to.

Belle was ultra sweet and cuddly today. Thanks sweetie.

The new People will be in the mailbox tomorrow.

NPR keeps me sane during the day.

What would YOU blog about a chair?

Tomorrow is Friday, dammit!

Fond of Snape: Friday Fill-In #32

1. My commute is from the bed to the computer. Approximately 10 steps.

2. The word assorted best describes my neighborhood.

3. My neighbors are a little wacky.

4. The Village Inn is my favorite place to eat that's close to home.

5. If there's one thing I'd change about my community, it would be that there would be at least one Starbucks instead of fifty-gazillion Dunkin Donuts.

6. The thing I miss most about the town (city/area/swamp) I grew up in is being so close to the highway.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to hanging with Jan, tomorrow my plans include Krista's night out and Sunday, I want to see about getting a tattoo and having dinner with Jimbo.