Day 2: Saturday, September 2012

After a peaceful sleep and fabulous room service (thanks to per diem! LOVE YOU POPSUGAR!!) that was much neede, we awoke Saturday morning! We were only told to be ready by 8:30ish. Nothing else was told.

I tend to wake up early when I'm excited! Somehow Nathan slept in while I went exploring around the hotel. I took a few photos and sipped some much needed coffee as I strolled through the eclectic hallways (NOTE: Coffee from Starbucks ended up being a MUST-HAVE accessory for the weekend.)

I took a few photos from the pool area. Gorgeous sunrise and The Hollywood Hills!


I got dressed in my very NON L.A. outfit. lol Seeing what everyone else wore I felt like a little school girl in her lace dress from Target. *sigh* hehehe


We were met upstairs by the producer, Audrey, and camera crew (still awkward being filmed at this point!!) and were taken downstairs to the Mezzanine level to meet Lindsay Miller, PopSugar Editor in the L.A. office. LOVE her. Love her clothes she wore the entire weekend, too! Amazing Robert Rodriguez leather dress and Givenchy charm necklace. LOVE LOVE LOVE. See below!


 We had our first sit-down interview on-camera with Lindsay. This being our first action shot, I was sweating bullets and very fidgety! Yikes! So much pressure. It was cool to finally see how production and filming works, with reality based shows such as this one. What you see is very real, but most likely you're saying the same things two or three times so they can get the shot and get different angles. So, yes, it's real, but done many times to get it 100% perfect!

Frankly, I loved it all!

After the interview we hopped in our escort car and headed to my FIRST Britney related surprise!! What was it? I had no idea- and was especially confused when we rolled into a neighborhood. Everyone in the production crew was coming in and out of a residential house, and my super smart deductive skills determined it had to be singing or dancing. Come on, y'all! That's what Britney does.

After waiting in the car with our driver, Curtis, for roughly 30 minutes, we hopped out and headed toward the house (all being filmed!). When we walked in the house, we were greeted by a tiny woman behind a keyboard playing and singing. Great. Right then I knew I was going to sing. And I'm no singer.

The woman turned out to be Lis Lewis who worked with Britney Spears on her "In the Zone" album! OMG...fabulous! She was super sweet and nice and was really understanding when I couldn't hit a key...she did say I did well and had a nice speaking voice, but I KNOW I'm no singer. Still, it was fun! You'll have to wait for the video to see more :)

Once that stress was over, we went to film b-roll near the famous Mulholland Drive- overlooking Hollywood. The views were fantastic!

The rest of the day was b-roll footage gathering and ONE more surprise! I, sadly, didn't get ANY photos from the second surprise of the day....BECAUSE.......I was trying on CLOTHES at BCBGMAXAZRIA, baby! I was going to get an entire outfit for the big day of meeting Britney! When I got back to the hotel I was curious to know how much it all cost- after seeing the price of the leggings alone I HAD to know! Total came to around $1,300 for an outfit and accessories. Talk about being SPOILED! I seriously cannot thank PopSugar enough.

As a Britney fan, I was disappointed in myself that I didn't know she loved to shop there! And what's even more awesome is that it's TOTALLY my style! Loved it! No pictures, but you'll see my outfit in the video. (Do you hate me right now for making you wait??!)

The day concluded with us crashing in the hotel room....and there was still two more days of surprises left....I never wanted this weekend to end and it was only Day 1!

Part 3 to come Friday!

I never ever thought I'd have a Twitter account- I despised it and let everyone know it! Surprise, surprise...I now have a Twitter. So if you're interested in my random thoughts and quirks 24/7 follow me @JennyStripling. I'm pretty cool...I guess. :)

So, today, I thought I would share my whirlwind experience of my meeting with Miss Britney Spears- Princess (Queen?) of Pop, my friends!

Background Info (again!): Those of you have been following me for a while KNOW I love that woman 100% and always have- even through her downs and even more during her "ups." I've followed her since the Mickey Mouse days and loved her immediately when she came out with "...baby one more time." What's funny is that I've ALWAYS always told people I was going to meet her one day. I never, ever dreamed it was honestly happen.

I entered a random contest from PopSugar.com (you need to go follow them on Facebook and Twitter so you’ll be first to see the video series!) called “I’m a Huge Fan” where they hook up a huge fan with their FAVORITE celebrity and a fun-filled weekend FULL of surprises.
Surprises indeed! All-expenses paid trip to L.A. for myself and a friend was amazing itself, but it didn’t end there…

Friday my friend Nathan and I high-tailed it to the airport to catch our flight to L.A. We were actually booked on different initial flights to our connector in Atlanta- Well, MY flight was delayed BIG time…like 4 hours delayed. Nathan got to L.A. about 3 hours before me. I didn’t mind much, seeing as how the end result was going to be worth it!

When I finally made it to LAX, I met up with Nathan and walked down to baggage claim where we were greeted by a camera man and our producer for the weekend, Audrey. Oh…and a personal driver, thankyouverymuch. Awesome! Do you understand how much I love being drove around? Tons.
We started filming immediately- I was asked basic questions from our main cameraman, Travis, about why I love Britney, my favorites things about her, how I came to enter this contest, how I was feeling- the works!

Our drive from LAX to our hotel, The Andaz, West Hollywood, was a short trip, but being that it was dark made it difficult to do any sightseeing from the car windows. I was just so happy to see that nice, fluffy duvet. I was exhausted. Little did I know my weekend activities were only just beginning......the only thing our itinerary said for the day was "SURPRISES!!" and "MORE SURPRISES!"

Stay tuned for Part 2 Wednesday!

(Hotel side note: The Andaz was once a Hyatt and nicknamed The “Riot Hyatt” because of some of the famous rock bands that frequented the hotel. One of my favorites, Jim Morrison, from The Doors, lived there until he was reportedly evicted by management for hanging out a window by his fingertips, dangling over the pavement.

The scene from Almost Famous where Russell Hammond cries out, "I am a Golden God!" is a reference Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant who allegedly said the same thing while looking over Sunset Strip from one of the hotel's balconies in 1975. Pretty cool, right?!)

I WON!

I met freaking Britney Spears- my idol, the woman I've loved ever since the MMC (Mickey Mouse Club) days- I MET HER this past weekend. I know. Please control your emotions.

Sorry it's taken me forever to update everyone on this HUGE news, but along with this awesome news, my grandmother, who had been very sick, died the same week I found out I had won. Talk about a roller coaster of emotions. It was the best and one of the worst weeks of my life. I was very close to my grandmother, but I know she would have been happy for me.

I'm not even sure where to begin telling the story of my adventure, but here's a photo for starters:


I actually had an entire weekend full of surprises thanks to PopSugar, but I'm not sure I really am supposed to tell everyone just yet, since there will footage in their "I'm a Huge Fan" video series. YES! I'm going to be viral! lol. I'm super excited and hope I didn't make a fool of myself too bad...who am I kidding...I just hope that got my good side.

In the meantime (the videos should pop up online around the beginning of October) check out the other episodes from this series by PopSugar!

I've literally dreamt of meeting Britney since she bursted BACK on the scene in 1999 with "...Baby One More Time." Not many people can say they won a contest to meet one of their favorites. I'm still in disbelief.......