and the award goes to...

early last week, while sitting on my lazy bum on vacation, i checked my gmail account to find an e-mail from ticketbastard, offering 1/2 price tickets for this year's people's choice awards. there were seats available for as low as $20 (not including their exorbitant fees, of course)! so after checking with the hub to see if he was interested (he wasn't) and then if he was free to hang out with the bean on the evening of the show (he was) and with the teen to see if she was even interested (duh), i pulled the trigger and bought two tickets.

i love going to awards shows - back in the day, i went with my aunt florida to the soap opera digest awards (yes, totally lame, i know - but i loved it). and of course, last year, the teen and i went to the teen choice awards. so i was stoked to be going to the PCAs for the first time, as was the teen.

ticketbastard offers an option (for a fee, of course) to receive your tickets electronically and print them at home. but i'm kind of dorky in that i like getting "real" tickets - you know, the kind you can save as a souvenir afterwards. the paper tickets are super convenient and all, but they're just not the same, nor are they nearly as fun. so i'd chosen to pick them up at a retail outlet, knowing that there was one just down the street from home.

on monday, i drove my happy ass to get our tickets with my temporary debit card in hand - bofa's fraud department had shut down the card because they detected "unusual activity" on it, oy. and when i explained this to the chick at the register, she eyed the card and my I.D. dubiously and said "i'm going to have to call this in, because i don't think i can give you these tickets."

WTF? okay, so the temporary card didn't have a name printed on it, but i'd also shown her the e-mail confirmation from ticketbastard with the order number and the last 4 digits of the card used to buy the damn things. seriously, how much of a stickler did she need to be? ugh.

and of course, when she called in and spoke to a ticketbastard (i don't think i can say that enough times, really) rep, she was told not to release the tickets and have me call in to customer service and provide a different form of payment. i exploded: "the tickets are paid for. they have my money already!" man, i was pissed. i tried to take a step back and remember that it wasn't her fault, but still - bah! she wrote down the phone number for me to call and i stomped out of the store like a petulant 4-year-old who'd been denied a lollipop.

i went next door and treated myself to a big ass pastrami dip from the hat, took it home, inhaled it, and then called. i waited on hold for ten solid minutes before i got ahold of an actual live human being - who happened to be the very same rep the clerk had spoken with. how lucky am i?? she informed me that i'd called the wrong number and proceeded to rattle off a different number - the one the clerk should have given me. instead, the dumb hobag had given me the number she'd called. i got mad at her stupid ass all over again, took a deep breath, and dialed.

i ended up having to switch the damn transaction to the print-at-home method anyway. and i had to cough up another $2.50 for the stupid fee. but i needed those damn tickets and i was so over talking to people on the phone.

and then, of course, the teen and i waded through my pitiful wardrobe and found that i didn't have shit to wear. i couldn't decide if i wanted to get all dressed up (i.e., bust out that adorable kate spade dress i'd worn last month) or, knowing full well from the seating chart that we'd be out of range of t.v. cameras anyway, just wear something semi-cute but comfortable.

i ended up racing through several stores yesterday afternoon, finally ending up at ross (which i absolutely abhor - i lack patience for rummaging through unorganized racks) and was shocked to find a pair of cute gray slouchy boots i liked, in my size even, for a whopping $16.99. i also scooped up a cute little sweater/wrap thingy that i knew i wouldn't wear that night, but would come in handy another day, for $8.99. there was also a super cute purple sweater dress for $12.99 - but it was a medium, and i'm always a large in junior dresses. i took a chance and picked it up anyway, knowing i could always return it if it didn't fit and the teen didn't want it.

the boots (which the teen informed me i'd be sharing with her) went perfectly with my one remaining pair of skinny-ish jeans, but the dress was a bust. oh, well. then i got a wild hair up my ass and decided to try curling my hair. after receiving the teen's approval on the 'do, i put on my same old purple top that i've already worn a zillion times and refreshed my make-up.

and then i decided i didn't really want to wear that top and ended up throwing on the one i'd snagged from the teen's closet for work that day. heh.

eh. it wasn't perfect, but it was comfortable, perfectly acceptable, and it was time to get out of there and head downtown.

i'd tried to prepay parking, but of course, it was through ticketbastard - bleh. an already ridiculous $25 parking fee ended up being $32 after all of their fees, and i hit "cancel" and decided i'd just pay when we got there. of course, as we arrived just before 5:30 (when the doors were scheduled to close, according to the tickets), the lot was only allowing those with prepaid vouchers to enter. eff! we raced around the corner, totally tailgating the doofus in front of us, and turned into the alternate lot. of course, all of the self parking was full - which left valet. valet! i wasn't excited for the price tag that would come with, remembering $50 signs at concerts at staples center across the street. i asked the attendant how much it'd be, and he said "well, it's got a max of $30, depending on how long you're here." ugh. but that was still a couple of bucks less than prepaying. yay.

we scampered up the escalator and then we were finally there:

we could hear names being called out on the red carpet, where cheering crowds were gathered, but we wanted to get inside and to our seats. i got to put one toe on the magical carpet as we hurried to the entrance. inside, we eyed the concession stands hungrily, but scurried on up to the loge section.

i wondered what this was, but we didn't have mezzanine seats for me to find out. i found that odd, since i'd always thought mezzanine, being one level up from loge, was the shittier section.

we snuck a peek outside towards that red carpet again, but saw nothing but a long line of ticketholders waiting to enter the venue.

there was quite an interesting variety of attire present - some chicks were dressed to the freakin' nines. and then lots of others were just dressed as casually as i was, which made me feel a lot better. i hate feeling like i'm underdressed.

here's my seat! yay!

the stage was all set up and ready for the show.

do you love my freebie sephora metallic clutch and $16.99 ross boots? i do!

i still need to read up on my little point-and-shoot camera. i can't seem to figure out how to get my pictures nice and clear vs. super blurry, like this (and pretty much the rest of the pictures you'll see next).

the announcer came on to tell folks to clear the aisles and take their seats, as the show was about to go live within minutes. it was at this point that i realized we'd forgotten to set the damn tivo at home so we could see everything up close. i hurriedly texted the hub, but despite the full service my iPhone registered, i couldn't get it to go through, nor would any of my apps function. i was so bitter.

and then, as i was snapping photos (with the flash turned off, of course), an usher came up behind me and said "sorry, no picture taking." jigga wha?? i watched her and her fellow camera nazis walk up and down the aisles, telling everyone else to stop snapping photos and then stationing themselves to keep watch and make sure we played by the rules.

fuck that. i just kept waiting till they turned their heads and snapped as often as i could. but we were sitting just far enough back that i couldn't get the damn camera to focus for shit, and so my shots are all crap. i actually took quite a lot of photos, but you can't tell who they are. sucks. so here's just a handful of the ones i got.

we cheered wildly for taylor lautner - such a baby, but ah, so easy on the eyes.

i love me some ll cool j. so OG, but still so hot.

he presented taylor swift with her award for favorite female artist. she just seems like such a sweet girl. and good god, is she skinny.

our beloved glee was awarded the trophy for "favorite new tv comedy show." and as they accepted their prize, they sent out a crew of aproned servers with digiorno pizzas on silver platters. of course, we were too far up to get a slice, which made our stomachs growl even louder. kinda bizarre, though, huh?

demi lovato came out with someone i can't even remember anymore to introduce cobra starship, who performed their song "good girls go bad" without leighton meester, but nicole scherzinger from the pussycat dolls. i actually thought she sounded better than poor leighton anyway.

sasha baron cohen came out to give johnny depp a little roasting and then presented him with an award for "favorite movie actor" and "actor of the decade." i was stupidly excited to be under the very same roof as captain jack sparrow. seriously, i was all aflutter.

and then with a burst of sparkly confetti, it was over.

before we exited the theater, we stopped at a stand to check out t-shirt prices. i was surprised to note that tees were only $20, and as the teen requested one in her size and paid with some christmas money, i decided to grab one too. i love souvenir tees.

we'd had so much fun!

across the street, the lakers/clippers game was in full swing.

um, where the hell was our invitation to the after party?? never mind that it was a school night and the teen was under the weather as it was...

as we descended the escalator into the garage, i pulled out my valet ticket, dreading the next part - paying for parking.

and when i inserted my ticket into the machine, i couldn't believe what i saw - only $20! hell, that was less than the original lot i'd tried to get into, and i stuck my card in quite happily. yay for discounts (sort of)!

it seems that in-n-out is our go-to for quickie dinners after fun events just like this. and this night was no exception:

a perfect way to end a super duper fun night out. and we get to do it again in 20 days, when we head out to hollywood to see nick jonas. yeah, the teen's on total lockdown, grounded for all eternity - but what can i say? we already have the tickets in hand. heh.