The most amazing thing happened recently and I can’t wait to share it with you all! While I moonlight as a blogger, during the day I’m the Director of Marketing and Social Media for a student housing management company – Campus Life & Style. Back in October, I was gifted two tickets to The Grammys by the CEO of our company! It was such an amazing surprise and one of the best moments of my professional career. You can see how it all went down here! This blog post is just a little behind the scenes look at our trip and the awards show.
HOW WE GOT THERE:
Ben and I boarded a plane to Los Angeles on February 8th and it was a direct flight which was awesome. On our last trip to California {click here for the travel guide}, we only spent a few days in LA and we booked a hotel in the downtown area. We always said if we went back we would want to stay in West Hollywood or Beverly Hills–just somewhere a little more fun and a lot less business. Part of The Grammys package was three nights at The Montage in Beverly Hills, so our wish was granted!
THE HOTEL:
The Montage was gorgeous and located right in the Golden Triangle which meant just steps from Rodeo Drive. It was everything I imaged a swanky Beverly Hills hotel to be; from the level of service, to the quality of the food, to the super soft bathrobes, to the layout of the rooms. It was all perfect.
The hotel also had an intimate and boutique feel, but it in no way lacked amenities. It had two signature restaurants, a rooftop pool with cabanas, a specialized whiskey bar, two-level spa and over 20,000 sq of event space. Outside there was a courtyard where you could mix and mingle with others, or just grab a table and enjoy the view.
WHAT WE DID:
Rodeo Drive: We must have walked up and down Rodeo Drive 8 times in the few days were in town. It was just such a fun and easy thing to do in the morning, after lunch, before dinner–pretty much anytime of day. We loved window shopping, admiring the fancy cars, and just popping into little cafes for coffee and snacks.
Beverly Hills Sign: This iconic sign is in tons of movies and it sits on the outskirts of Beverly Park which is right off of Rodeo Drive. It’s a fun spot to walk around and a cool place for some photo opps.
WB Tour: YOU GUYS. This was one of my favorite organized tours…maybe ever. I bought tickets for Ben and I for our 3 year anniversary and it did not disappoint. You hop on one of those super cool big golf carts and cruise through the studio {and by cruise, I mean you go a casual 8 mph}. They show you the back lots, sound stages, and various other areas where your favorite shows were filmed. There was also a Batmobile exhibit that Ben geeked out at and the highly anticipated Central Perk replica that I fangirled over. The experience was $70 per person and about 3 hours long. See below for us in Central Perk. EEEKK.
Venice Beach: We had been to Venice Beach before, but when a friend suggested we meet there for dinner and drinks we jumped at the opportunity to go again! I’ll share more in the restaurant section below, but definitely make the trip if you can. Walk the boardwalk, relax on the beach and catch some skaters in action
WHAT WE ATE:
The Montage: We actually ate at the hotel a few times and the food did not disappoint! If you can make it to one of the restaurants I would recommended visiting The Cafe for breakfast and getting a latte and the avocado toast or going to The Rooftop Grill and getting the Shrimp Tacos. We also heard that there was an incredible whiskey bar in the hotel called Ten Pound Bar.
Sugarfish: We loved this place to much that we ate here twice. UGH it was amazing. Order the Nozawa, it’s a tasting menu with enough food to fill you up and it gives you the chance to sample a ton of fresh fish.
Alfred: I was so excited to stumble across this coffee chain! The Alfred in Beverly Hills had the cutest interior, a neon “but, first coffee” sign and delicious coffee, tea and snacks.
The Erwin Hotel: Moving out of Beverly Hills, the rooftop at The Erwin Hotel overlooks Venice Beach and it’s the perfect spot to watch the sunset, grab a drink and even a few snacks. Make sure you call and make a reservation because it gets packed quickly up there!
Craigs: This steakhouse was recommended to us and so we saved it for our last night! We pulled up to this West Hollywood location after The Grammys and walked through a small crowd of paparazzi and into the restaurant.
Speaking of the paparazzi, they didn’t even flinch when we walked by lol not sure if the Uber gave us away or the fact that we were b-lining inside for some seafood, but I’m pretty sure I saw one yawn. Oh well, so much for accidentally ending up in People Mag.
Ok, back to Craigs. We loved it in there! The service was great, the food was delicious and we saw Questlove a few tables over, so that was a plus. Ben ordered the Shrimp Diablo and I got the house special which was a chicken picatta with a side of homemade pasta. Yum.
THE GRAMMYS:
Ok, onto the good stuff! So our day started really early on the 10th. We woke up around 8am, grabbed that infamous avocado toast at The Cafe and then it was time for hair and makeup.
HAIR AND MAKEUP:
I booked an appointment through the Priv app which I ended up loving. I heard about the app through a friend, but I was a little nervous to try it out and wasn’t sure what to expect. You basically login, pick your service{s} and your stylist and they come to you! The pricing for hair and makeup in Beverly Hills was crazy {close to $500 for both}, so this was the perfect alternative for me. The cost was on par with a standard salon and you didn’t have to leave your room.
THE DRESS:
After hair and makeup we put on our fancy clothes and headed over to The Los Angeles County Museum of Art for a quick photo shoot {basic, I know}. My dress was from Revolve and I LOVED IT. It was fitted, but not too tight where I couldn’t move and had a funky top and high leg slit, both held in place by beige mesh. It would be perfect for a fancy event or a black tie wedding, so I’ve linked it for you at the bottom of this post!
FLYTOGRAPHER:
You all have heard me rave about Flytographer over the past few months and so you know how much I love the company {read the full review of them here}. I decided to book a quick 30 minute session with them to commemorate the experience and just get some photos of us all glammed up.
Initially I had this vision of Ben and I all dressed up and roaming through the light display outside of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The sun would be out and the photos would be magic. Well, things didn’t happen quite as planned. It started pouring on our way to the venue and the temperature dropped into the low 50’s–for two Texans, that was freezing. Also remember that I was sporting a super long and ultra thin dress. Burr.
We made it to the museum though and decided to make the best of it. Just to paint you a little picture, imagine us in our formal attire with rain and wind blowing in every which direction, holding onto our umbrellas just trying to stay dry. Thankfully we had a few minutes of sunshine and we were able to grab some great shots. Also, props to Ben for being such a good sport and for helping me blow dry my dress once we were done!
Even though the shoot didn’t happen as planned and my hair pretty much deflated, I still loved the way the photos came out. At the end of the day, it’s all about the experience.
GRAMMYS:
Next up was The Grammys! We grabbed an Uber to the event and rolled up to the Staples Center around 3pm. We were quickly ushered onto the red carpet and instantly became star struck. The red carpet looked different in person then it does on TV. It was actually a huge carpet {I keep calling it a double wide} with a small divider separating the press area from the general walkway. Those without a claim to fame stayed on the left hand side and those with celeb status stayed on the right. We were able to walk through and see some of our favorite artists being interviewed!
Once we made it down the red carpet, we entered in The Staples Center. We grabbed a pizza and a wine from the concession stand {I mean, how else do you Grammy?} and ate it up at the bar as people made their way in. The whole experience was much more down to earth then I thought it would be. There were celebrities rolling by with their own pizza, chatting with fans and just mixing and mingling in the bar lines. It was really cool to see another side to the glitz and glam of Hollywood. A few of my favorite moments from the pre show were running into Florida Georgia Line, seeing Ryan Seacrest interviewing on the red carpet, spotting Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys and Ben legit bumping into Heidi Klum and her massive dress on the way to the bar.
Once the doors opened, we took our seats and we were in awe at the location. We were on the left of the stage, 17 rows up and mixed in with a slew of industry people. We had an amazing view of the stage and the celebrity seating area so we were quick to pick out our favorites as they walked by.
As the show began, we got to see a lot of the behind the scenes action that you don’t see when you’re watching it at home. One of my favorites was the constant shuffling of celebrities around to make sure those who were related to a performer or up for an award were in the front. Every time there was a commercial break it was like a mass exoduses and they had staff members running around swapping celebs from the front to the back.
Overall the show was amazing! It was basically a three hour concert with a few awards in between. Lady Gaga performed Shallow and I almost died, Janelle Monae killed it with her performance and JLo looked hot as ever doing her Motown tribute.
When the show wrapped up, everyone was quick to exit the building. The Grammys do have a sponsored after party, but that was a whole separate ticket so we opted for a nice dinner at Craigs instead! The whole night was just amazing and I’m still in awe that we were able to experience it.
OUTFITS:
All outfits from the trip are linked below! Everything is exact and TTS except for the white jeans. The ones below are out of stock, but I linked another pair of favorites!
