so if you're reading this you probably know that i'm a big Days of our Lives fan... namely a Lucas and Sami fan or... Lumi. I had a the great luck a few months ago to meet Ali Sweeney who plays Sami of Lucas and Sami on Days. She was awesome. sooooo sweet! here's the post i put on the Second Chances board when we met: and the pictures from that day. just had to share.

anyway... we had this great conversation about books and i'm currently reading The Nanny Diaries (highly recommend) and am now on this big chick lit kick (hey, that rhymes) so... anyway... now i'm really wishing i could remember some of the books ali had suggested i read. i trust her... it was like talking to a friend for an hour when we met. anyway... so i decided to be a BIG fan and send her a letter (real smail)... wonder if i'll ever hear back from her. also sent her a PM on her website. i know i'm a BIG geek! anyway... i'll keep you posted on that. and here's the post from back in may:



May 16, 2004

I met ali tonight! ok... i said that already. You'll have to bare with me. i'm still reeling from my outting to the bookstore. i'll try and remember as much detail as i can. and i have to thank Cindie for her heads up on Friday. without her shout to me, i would have never known that ali would be hanging out in a totally cute bookshop 10 minutes from my apartment. so... on with it.

I heard she was going to be doing a book signing (by the way, i've already read the first little bit.). i had no idea how big this "thing" would be. how much time i'd get to spend with her (aside from a "nice to meet you. will you sign my book?") how many people would be there... etc.

So i drove down to downtown greenwich (which by the way is totally cute and quaint.) parked the car and set out for Diane's Book Shop. Turns out it's on a side street. Very cute, very tiny place (well, i think it's tiny. think... the tavel book shop in Notting Hill) Alittle nervous, very excited... i walked in and looked at the cop at the door, and then the woman by the counter and then another woman by the counter in a pink sweater set and then did a double take. ALI! She looked at me and smiled and said hi and i did the dumbest thing imaginable. I said, "Oh my G-d. You look like... you look." and she does, for those of you who havent met her. she looks exactly like she does on tv. she's tiny too. my height (about 5'3") and thin and BEAUTIFUL. with the most arresting bright blue eyes. and freckles. :) So she laughed at my comment and introduced herself as Ali, shook my hand. i think i was alittle delayed in telling her what my name was. alittle shell shocked, and i'm sooooo NOT like that. (I was very cool when i met Kathleen Turner—in her dressing room when she was on broadway 2 years ago) but i digress. So she asked me if she could sign a book for me. of course. so she wrote "Paula, Thank you so much for watching! (heart) Ali Sweeney." Then the woman who owns the bookshop asked me if i wanted some champaign. well... of course. There were only 5 of us in the store (the owner, the chick at the counter, the cop and me and ali). So Ali and i are standing around drinking champaign and talking about Days and the board. I thanked her for being so good to us at SC. And she got excited and said "You're from the board?? What's your screen name?" So of course i told her. and we talked about the board a bit. and the pros and cons of spoilers. (reading EE but not Pam's until after the show airs). We're both harry potter fans (as well as K2) so we were talking about not being spoiled for the book (apparently K2 wouldnt let her read ahead of him when they were reading book 5 last summer) and that WANTS to know what's going to happen, but at the same time loves the surprise of seeing things unspoiled. So to told her that i read EE but i usually wait until after the show has aired before i read Pammy's (she laughed at your "blow by blow" pammy! loves your dedication to detail) because although i really want to know what's going to happen, i don't like soooo much detail because then i'm apt to be disappointed because of the expectation of what a scene will look like, or how she or bryan will deliver a line. and i find that i enjoy it more when i don't know verbatum what's going to happen. so we agree on that. :)

so we talked about sami and lumi's history. and the anticipation and expectations of the stuff we just saw. found out some interesting info. Apparently they filmed the sex right after the Janet Jackson fiasco, and Howard Stern's bit about daytime television. so because of janet, we didnt get everything they'd planned. Ali said that the producers were terrified, so they started cutting things here and there. so the sex was supposed to be more than it was. and she and bryan thought silly how they cut some of the sex, but then did the voice over of kate hearing them going at it through the walls and the scene were we only saw the head board a knockin' against the wall.

Oh, i asked if bryan getting his shirt stuck was real or planned. definitely real. so cute!

I also asked her how she cries. i mean, she's been crying so much, and the scenes she delivers are heart wrenching and beautiful and i know it's hard to cry on demand. So she told me that she is really close with Deirdre and Drake. And that Drake is like a 2nd father to her. So when she stops and thinks about the storyline (really stops and thinks) it makes her cry. She also sometimes runs a monologue in her head. I think she was appreciative of my compliment on her ability to cry. She said that it's hard to go (she said she lurks at about 6 boards) and see people write that they didnt by her crying and thought it was fake. She said that's damn hard to do. I don't blame her. I can't cry on demand. and she's like the QUEEN of crying and emitting emotion! I havent seen friday's show yet. or tomorrow's obviously since i'm in conn. not canada. :) but she said that the scenes airing tomorow were really great to film, very emotional.

Oh, we also talked about how crazy everybody gets around here with speculation. she loves reading our stuff and seeing what we think of scenes. nitpicking things for hidden meaning. i don't think this is spoilerish, so i feel comfortable talking about it here... the 4:20 on the clocks. It's NOT anything big. She saw that there was alot of discussion around the net about the fact that all of the clocks in salem have been set to 4:20 for the last several months. She went to the prop guy and shared our paranoia with him, and apparently he had a good laugh about it. Just one of the set dressers quirky sense of humor things. But she does laugh at how much we read into stuff. Oh, we talked about her request last week for the link to Operation Lumi Lockdown. she didnt say anything specific, about why she wanted to see the story again, i just got a "you never know." So that's not a spoiler, just something to think about. She had a twinkle in her eye!

So we talked about not taking the show too seriously, and just enjoying it. i told her "i have enough drama in my life already, i watch days because it's fun and relaxing."

We talked for almost an hour. It was mostly just us and every once in a while the lady who owns the show would pop in and chat for a few. a woman showed up who didnt know ali, we all talked for a few. I got to meet Ali's Aunt Jane. :) It was so relaxed and really great.

We talked about Chris and Bryan alittle. How Chris is growing like a weed. And she and bryan were doing a scene recently ("just like you and i are talking") and apparentlly Chris was standing between them and Ali couldnt see over the top of Chris's head, and made a comment to Bryan about it. She says Bryan is only like 3 inches taller than she is. We laughed about Chris's growth spurt, i said "you're kid's gonna be huge." Apparently also Gabe's pediatrician says he should be in the 97th percentile, and bryan seems to be pretty excited about that. "He's into all sports" she says.

Oh, also, for those of you tri state area lumi fans, Ali will be staying through the week and attending the daytime emmy's next weekend, she's presenting too. But Bryan can't fly out. He's got Gabe this week since his ex (edited) will be out of town . So Bryan can't come. I'm sure he doesn't mind spending the week with Gabe anyway. :) but we'll miss him here in the city none-the-less.

what else to tell? She loves reading fic, but worries that the show will never live up to what we write. I assured her that we (at least, i) have NOT been disappointed with the Lumi stuff we've been given. I thanked her several times for being so good to us and for such wonderful scenes.

then we talked a bit about fan events and trips and stuff. she LOVES the fanfest they do in nashville. said it's alot of fun. So we talked about country music for a bit. that was cool. She said that invites haven't gone out for Greenville yet, she jokes that she doesnt think they like her anymore cause she causes trouble. (nobody freak out here) i'm sure she'll be there. she's "Ali Sweeney" she can't NOT be there!! but it was a funny conversation we had.

She get's to have no fun while she's here. work work work. she's doing a signing later in the week and then something else (i don't remember) then the emmy's on friday. Busy woman!

I took 2 pics. one of her alone, and one with us together. MAN i hope they turn out! I'm hoping i can use up the rest of the film before i leave for isreal because i'd like to have them before that. hmm... what can paula take pictures of to wast 22 pictures so that she can have the 2 on the role that are like GOLD! By the way, speaking of gold, her engagement ring and wedding band are BEAUTIFUL! not gold. platinum. I told her we found her ring in the scene on thursday.

Hmm... what else to tell? (man, this post is probably pretty long right now. sorry!!!) We talked about books. she said she was thinking of doing a summer book reading list. i told her it's a good idea. she gave me a bunch of books to read, but at the moment i can't remember what they were.

also, she says, she's here on the east coast all week, so no access to the site. So nobody panic! She'll be in touch with us all when she gets home. :)

I decided i'd taken up enough of her time when someone else walked in and seemed to be there for the same purpose I was. So she thanked me for coming and seemed genuinely happy to meet me. gave me a hug too!

Ok, i'm sure there was more, that i'll think of later... but for now, that's a pretty accurate summary of my experience. I walked in at about 6:35 and walked out at 7:30... pretty damn cool!!

I'll have pictures to share, when possible. I'm just.... exctatic that i had this amazing opportunity. She's so sweet and nice and EASY to talk to. i felt like we were just meeting randomly. I can honestly say, from first hand experience that Ali Sweeney is one of the nicest people i've ever met. Not an ounce of pretention to speak of, kind and at ease, just like you'd expect a friend to be. Absolutely BEAUTIFUL to boot. and all around wonderful.

So thank you for listening to me ramble on about my experience tonight and

Ali, if you read this by chance, meeting you was a wonderful experience, which i would love to repeat sometime.

Thanks!
Paula

so i made this banner last year... probably the middle of november (right after the episode aired). I spent WEEKS obsessed with this sweater ali wore... come to find out it was like $240 Juicy Couture and obviously not in my budget but i loved it anyway... so i used it and made this great banner. what a great episode this was from. so tentative and new... ok... you know you're a dork when you're waxing poetic about a damn soap opera couple... but they make me feel good about my wacked out life and hell... they're GORGEOUS! anyway... enjoy the banner. i wanted to place it to see if i could post it to other pages or not... either way, it's fun to show off.

the holidays are coming rapid-fire and i'm tired! rosh hashana was great with the family but busy... and then a week of running around to fast for yom kippur. which was good and i even got in a 2 hour headache filled nap, but also, exhausting. sunday i got up and went home from white plains (where i'd been up until 2am the night before watching Pirates of the Caribbean with my family and then reading) i'm not complaining, i LOVED spending the downtime with them... but back to sunday. ran home, colored my hair and showered and ran out to lord and taylor to use up some chanukah gelt from uncle ben and joni (yes i realize it's nearly october)... i ended up spending more time there than i'd antipated and then rushed off to hamden for a bbyo staff meeting... which went WAY longer than i anticipated and rushed home to dinner at laura's. which was great. we watched calendar girls and ate but i didnt get home till past 10 and then of course i didnt go to bed till late because i was reading... my own damn fault.

i know i'm bitching... but i guess i just need to get it out of my system. last night i was home for 30 minutes between work and my bbg board meeting which i think went really well but wasnt over till after 9. tonight i came home at 6:30 and got right to making beth el phone calls. and in the middle of that fielding IM conversations and emails with bbg kids. so i feel like my whole evening was full of youth group stuff... at least i'm getting paid for one of them. it's alot of work and i'm exhausted! hope this first beth el event is good. i REALLY need it to be good.

at 10 pm Mr. Shitach called (we'll keep names out of it for the time being) to ask how late he could call because he was at a movie premiere but wanted to talk to me... so i told him he could call till 11. he called at 11:25 and we talked till almost 12:10. good conversation until he was telling me about making fun of liberals when he was in college... so i asked him if he was a right winger or republican... he is not... thank goodness! but he is pro-bush which is a big red flag for me. i think he's one of those people who votes on one issue only... israel. personally, i think that's irresponsible and i know quite few people who plan on voting on that issue only. it's misguided... but whatever. we agreed to disagree and moved on. but you know me and politics. i have a feeling this guy is alittle too observant for me, but i won't pass judgement till i've met him and get to know him a little more.

anyway... i have to admit that little conversation put me in alittle bit of a bad mood and all i want now is to go to bed. but i think i'll read alittle bit of the Nanny Diaries first and call it a day.

maybe i can haul my ass out of bed early enough to beat Wynn too the office. then i'll be outta there by 4 and can relax tomorrow night and the rest of the week too. no youth group stuff to do during succos!! but friday i'm driving home to maryland which is sure to be a whirled wind trip home!

ok...i'm done ranting and raving. nite nite!!

Paula

well... it's been a bit of a stressful busy time this past week... but i have a few minutes so i'm updating.

last week rolled by like a flash with minor blips on the radar to recount. thursday night i got a call from a very random woman in NJ who wants to set me up with this guy... so friday i'm rushing home from work because i'm late for shabbos dinner at laura's and the phone rings just as i'm getting ready to run out the door (i was literally home for less than 5 minutes)... so it's this guy... and i was soooo rude because i thought he was a telemarketer! damn telemarketers!! anyway, apparently i wasnt soooo rude because he offered to call me on Monday. and he did! but i wasnt home. anyway... we managed to talk tonight after i got home from my first BBG meeting. which by the way, was a success i think.