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Okay, so it's Wednesday. And the song is 'Manic Monday'. whatever. you know what I mean. Actually, Sunday was such an awesome day, and not really manic at all, more just busy, and sort of random, but crazy fun.... which I've been wanting to post about since ... well, since Sunday night. So let's get to it...

Ben and I woke up early, played, ate a lazy sunday breakfast, and then wandered down the Farmer's Market near our house. It's such a fun place for kids - they have a 'roundy round' as Ben calls it, which is essentially a swing ride that spins the kids around in a circle. And the all-important Bouncy House. He LOVES to bounce, and it’s a good thing they have a time-limit because he could go all day. We go up and down the different farmers tents, buying fresh/organic veggies… I feel like a wanna-be Top Chef while I’m there. Shopping for stuff to make for dinner that night with no real plan, except throwing things together that sound good…. Maybe. I bought yams, Butternut Squash (to cover the ever important *read with sarcasm* carb food group), and literally a pound of Sugar Snap Peas. My FAVORITE snack, and luckily Ben loves ‘em too. What else did I get? Tomatoes, cucumbers…nevermind, what am I talking about, like you care about my shopping list. Sorry.

Anyway, when we got home, Dave was literally walking out of the house because he had something so important to talk to me about – it couldn’t wait until I got inside. “Do you want to go to the Laker’s game?” I look at my watch. “You mean the game that starts in 45 minutes?” He says “YUP!” and I said “OF COURSE I DO!!!” SO just like that, he snags last minute seats and we are off and running to get to the Staples Center by tip-off. The game was fantastic… so exciting, and of course, great that the Lakers started the series off against the Jazz strong. The crowd chanting MVP, the Ben loved the noise-makers they gave us sitting behind the visitor’s basket to try to distract them from making free-throws, the whole thing was a blast.

As Ben was getting a quick nap, I started throwing together his dinner. I love to cook, so it was so fun for me trying something new… I tried to make a healthy version of a Gnocchi. With the butternut squash, yams and whole wheat flower. Ben loves salad, which the gnocchi accompanied. We played soccer outside for a while, and then Dave and I had to get ready for the Duran Duran concert we went to, Sunday night. Yup, back to downtown LA… We rocked out feeling very ‘80’s. Totally rad. They opened with Hungry Like a Wolf and their encore was Rio. They were fantastic, we loved it.
The rest of the week has been a little more on the ‘manic’ side. We’re in production for Biggest Loser again. As Dena mentioned on her blog. What’s up with all my blog competition??? I must tell you, I teased Stuart at length about his blog.

I LOVE this picture. Stuart, and Fran, our other main stage manager are truly life savers. We count on them every day to help us, rescue, us make us look good. They work so hard, and don’t always get the acclaim they deserve. So – feel free to tease Stuart, but go easy. We NEED him!!! :)

Okay CRAZY!!! I am so exhausted today, after our whirlwind trip to nyc. And, seriously, it was windy. Bryan, James and I worked together Monday morning (um… lol… James was making it impossible for me to keep a straight face, with his antics. Can’t explain why, well… EJ gets a little tipsy, let’s just say that, and James was just fantastic…but it was so hard not to break character in the scenes) , and then Bry and I had to rush to the airport (only to wait around for a 2 hour delay, of course) for our flight to nyc. We arrived at 3am. Tuesday morning, we had the most incredible experience. Bryan and I met Nicole, a student in Middle School in Long Island.

Nicole has Autism and Soto-Syndrome. She is a huge Days fan, she watches with her Grandmother every day.

She was inspired by the Lumi Green wedding to dream one day of having a Green wedding herself. But she’s not waiting! She’s making it her mission to do what she can to save the environment today! So, she’s got her whole school active, raising money for Ed Scott’s favorite charity, Save the Earth.

Bryan and I answered questions for some of the kids in the school and took lots of photos. Ed arranged to make a dvd for Nicole, several actors sending our love and thanks to Nicole, from the set. She absolutely loved it, as we played it for her in front of her whole class! She was so blown away when she walked into the library and saw Bryan and me standing there!!! It was kept as a surprise by her teachers and her grandmother. She was so sweet, and nervous and excited! Nicole is an extraordinary girl. We had an amazing experience getting to spend time with the special needs kids in attendance, as well as all the amazing adults who are taking such good care of their students. They are such incredible, giving people. It was a truly inspiring experience.

Afterwards Bry and I took some time to walk up 5th Avenue. Was so much fun, and of course, hilarious with Bryan along making wise-cracks the whole time.
A nap was needed by late afternoon, especially since we were going out to meet Farah (ex-mimi) for her birthday dinner. Her birthday is today (5/1) , technically, but we celebrated with her Tuesday night. Everyone had so much fun, and it was so great to catch up with FF, talk about her new role – Gigi, and her love interest is Rex. What are the odds? Lol.

Wednesday came way too early. Ha. My call time was 5:45am. Bry and I were on a nyc morning show, and then headed to The View for rehearsals. We don’t often get the chance to hang out with actors from other soaps these days, so this was a fun morning. Rebecca is so sweet, as always, Cameron, cute and funny. Farah was there with her co-star, Jean Paul. Marcy was so cute too. She and Van were presenting first, right before us, so we were whispering backstage last minute warnings – don’t trip on the stairs, don’t walk to fast… you know, helpful stuff! :)
Can I tell you how THRILLED I am for Rachel, Darrin, Judi and Thaao!?!!?! WOW!!! So awesome!!! And they totally deserve it, they are such great actors, and it is so exciting to see Days get some recognition. I was also so delighted to be the first to congratulate our Make-up and Hair depts. for their nominations! They didn’t know yet, so I broke the news. They were SO excited, as of course they should be. They work so hard (you have no idea what they put up!!!). lol. They really are the best.

Okay, so then we’re off to the airport again, flying back to LA. I got to tuck Ben into bed! Aww, I missed him SO much. I thought he’d be running to the door, but he wasn’t there, I called out “Ben? Where are you?” and he shouted “MOMMY!! I’m in the BATH TUB!!! I’m ALL WET!!” ah ha. So that’s why I didn’t hear his little footsteps. I got a big, sloppy, wet hug when I went into the bathroom. Yay. Best homecoming ever!

Why am I humming that old song “My boyfriends back and you’re gonna be in trouble…” ha… because BRYAN’S BACK!!! Yay!!!!
Bryan, James and I shot some photos for Soap Opera Digest today, so that’ll be out in early May. It’s so great having him back, but uh… OMG – the scenes around Lucas’ return are… (insert adjective here – correct answer? All of the above)!!! So total classic soap. I have so much I want to say about this… seriously? I’m dying to tell you all about it right now… but of course, you know me… I’d hate to spoil it for all of you. So, you’ll just have to watch and we can discuss when you get caught up! :)

It’s been so fun working with Dee and Drake more lately. They are so AWESOME and fun to do scenes with. And the ‘new’ John just cracks me up. It’s so fun to watch Drake working on the character, and all his ideas. I love how even in the middle of disaster, or emotional turmoil, John will just say something that has everyone turning to him thinking “wtf?!!”. Lol.
How GREAT was Jillian on the show today??!!! We had so much fun working with her. Though it was total ‘worlds colliding’ having her on the Days set. She knew all her lines, and was totally professional and fantastic on set, and yet she was nervous. Which was so cute and un-Jill-like. I was reassuring her “you’re doing great!” and she said she felt her best when she was yelling at me to get my hands off the treadmill. Lol. No doubt. In rehearsals she kept mistakenly calling me ‘Ali’ instead of ‘Sami’. P.S. that was real sweat. During rehearsal of the scenes where I was on the treadmill, she kept upping my speed and incline to make sure I was ‘getting my heart rate up’, you know, while I was at it.

Ben is SO fantastic. Growing so quickly. He goes on all these playdates with his classmates. And it’s just so crazy cute to hear him talking about his ‘friends’. I don’t know why this makes him seem so mature to me. I love seeing/hearing every new thing he learns, and yet my heart aches to see him grow so quickly!!!

p.s. to the unhappy 'anonymous' fan -- me, Ali, the actress, happy that Bryan, the actor, is back, working, is a slap in the face to a fan base? I'm not sure I understand that. And, of course, am so sorry that you feel that way. I hope when you see the scenes, you'll understand my post better, and see that I meant no offense to either fan base, or, for that matter, to give away story one way or the other.
As a lover of good soap drama, I am extremely enthusiastic to sink my teeth into great dramatic material, which is exactly what lies in Sami's future. I hope this makes more sense. I blog here out of my excitement to share what's going on with all of the fans who want to read it. It is always upsetting to see when my words are misunderstood.

Seriously, he was so amazing. What a fantastic person, he was so genuinely enthusiastic about helping the contestants. And so committed to making their ‘make-overs’ the best experiences possible. I just love how he embraced Dan’s rock-and-roll side. His haircut is so FAB! And showed Roger a fabulous suit, right off the rack. And ultimately, the best moments were when they all saw their make-over clothes and how small they are!

Last night, Dan protecting his slice of cake was cracking me up. He is so funny – and that cake sitting on the treadmill was classic. It reminded me of that classic high-school project where the kids have to carry an egg around with them, and take care of them like a baby.

I have to admit, I agreed with Ali. The boys’ behavior at that challenge this week came across a bit arrogant. And I didn’t get the concern they had about jeopardizing their friendship by playing against each other. My friends and I would SO have fun piling up on each others tables. They key is you have to be fair, and gang up on everyone equally… play to win! The ‘snacking’ as they played definitely added to that impression. I think in retrospect the guys saw that. Roger, Danny, Mark, Jay, you know I love you guys... am I the only one who always finds myself rooting for the underdog??
And after everything, not only did Ali and Kelly survive another weigh-in – they kicked @ss! They came in 1st and 2nd! How rad is that?! (okay, I know I have pulled ‘rad’ directly out of 1987, but I can’t help it.) I was sad to see Danny go. He’s a good guy, and it’s been so amazing to see his inner growth as well as the outer loss.

Am working at Days today. yay! As you may have noticed, I haven’t been in a lot lately. Which, I must admit, has been nice for me personally. I have been playing with Ben… being my old wanna-be Martha Stewart mom. We had such fun with our Easter crafts!! And Ben has been growing so much lately, He started pre-school!! Can you believe it? It’s so weird to talk about Ben being on Spring Break.
Back to Days – Ari is BACK!!! YAY!!!! You know how much I heart Ari Zuker. She rocks. And we have SO MUCH FUN working together. SO, I can’t wait to hear your feedback of Soul (Sami/Nicole) the sequel. I think Nicole is coming back just in time to remind Sami of who she really is. :)

XO

p.s. Please check out Dan's music!!! http://www. myspace. com/danevansmusic

Days ‘adopted’ a park last weekend. A whole bunch of actors and crew from the show met up at a local park, and we planted trees, raked leaves and generally got the place looking pretty good. (I must say!) It was part of NBC/Universal’s campaign to bring awareness to being ‘Green’. And not in a Kermit kind of way.

Actually, this has been quite a ‘Green’ year for me! This spring, Lucas and Sami got married in a eco-friendly wedding. And that was such a big awakening for me. I learned there are more ways to help the environment than just recycling. During the Lumi wedding, Bryan and I had a bunch of scenes about ways the ceremony and reception could be more earth-minded. And it was so cool how we got all these local vendors to help us make the event really special.

I’ve participated in a number of Green events since then, planting trees, and such. Supporting charities who are focused on saving the environment. Even the Oscars were green this year!

Bottom line, we learned that every little bit helps. I read one poster saying something like planting a couple trees isn’t going to make a difference. But I don’t agree with that. Ultimately, our goal is to bring awareness to a growing problem. And encouraging everyone to be more environmentally conscience is exactly what we have to do. So go – plant trees! Support local growers at your farmers market. Carpool. Recycle, recycle, recycle. Spread the word that every little bit helps. There are a lot of things I’ve learned in the last year about how to be part of the solution. Using cloth grocery bags. I sold my gas-guzzler and bought a hybrid. Solar panels. Basically, I guess we’re all learning how to be more aware of how our behavior affects the planet.

There are a ton of great websites about this. I am so glad to be a part of this solution – and proud that NBC is really making an effort to get it out there on the mainstream. Biggest Loser has some great Green facts in our episode on Tuesday night, along with a pretty cool challenge. Check it out, and start finding ways you can be Green. XO

How awesome is it to have the DiMera’s back in Salem?? We were all getting ready in the make-up room one afternoon last week, when the scenes where we see Stefano’s face for the first time started to play. Kristian (Hope) said “wow. That gave me chills!”. I totally agree – Joe was playing Stefano when I first started at Days and he plays such a marvelous villain. I love being in scenes with him.
I can’t wait to see how this storyline plays out this summer. The DiMera Vendetta against the Brady’s has been such a big part of Days’ history – I am so excited that Hogan is tackling this storyline. And in such a unique way. There is a fun new twist in the story that will take us back in time…

My dad came out to watch us shoot a challenge for the Biggest Loser yesterday. We were shooting at the Venice Pier, and it was so cool for my dad to come see how it’s done. The challenges are the best day for guests - Heath is the guy who designs the challenges, and comes up with the rules, the safety issues, etc. And he had his parents there too. It was fun until my dad started telling embarrassing stories about me as a kid to the contestants. Lol. He was teasing but still… everyone knew I was nervous because my dad was watching so they were able to rib me a little for it.
Speaking of family, we also did a location shoot recently where Ben got to come too. It was so fun to see him interact with everyone. By the end he knew the contestants names, but his favorite was Bob. It was hilarious to see them together – Ben and Bob were immediate friends. At one point, Ben didn’t want to get out of the pool, and he was being very stubborn about it (imagine that.) And I said “well, Bob’s getting out of the pool now…” and immediately Ben changed his tune and was ready to get out too. So cute.
We are almost half-way through taping this season. It’s been so amazing. I have so much to say about everything that’s happening, but I’m saving it all for when the shows air because I’m not allowed to give anything away!

Yesterday, Kyle Brandt (ex-Philip) and I went to see the premiere of EVAN Almighty. I was so excited to see it – even the billboards are hilarious. And I just can’t get enough of Steve Carell. He just cracks me up. And who better to see a movie with that the ‘movie king’, KB. He has a ‘BLOG” too. I can rely on Kyle to spend the time and effort necessary to memorize every movie quote verbatim, how ‘bout that life?!
Oh and… Kyle has taken on a new project – he just produced his first Podcast (shout out to my super-talented, and supportive Brother, Ryan for making this possible!). Kyle asked me to co-host it with him, so the two of us had a great time putting this together. If you want to see what I mean about Kyle, and hear our relationship in person, you gotta check it out. Go to Kyle's (www.kylebrandt.com) or my site (www.alisonsweeney.com) for the link to the podcast.

Okay, I seriously have tears in my eyes reading all the posts about the Lumi wedding. The first time I saw the completed montage, I was so choked up. When we were shooting the scenes, we only saw the still photos (that picture of my and Bryan during the “Spring Fling” story is SO embarrassing!!! We were so young, and I just look so goofy!!!) and the editors added the flashback scenes into the show later. Obviously, Bryan and I had to participate – helping the prop department find old photos of us, and the writers asked us to help remember classic, Lumi moments (I knew that hopscotch scene existed, and needed to be aired!!!) for the montage. Even knowing all that, it still caught me off guard seeing the whole show completed. Bryan and I have been through so much together, so many crazy storylines… I thought this weeks scenes are the ultimate and perfect culmination of a story 14 years in the making!!! 

As you may know, we certainly had our work cut out for us, shooting all those scenes. It was a long, difficult day due to the all the special wedding details, not to mention Bryan’s last minute illness. But even though everyone was exhausted by the end, every single cast & crew member gave 100% in each scene. In some ways, it felt like such a momentous event on a personal level for me – with Kristian (Hope) and Dee (Marlena) and Josh walking me down the aisle – you’d think I was really getting married, I was so emotional about these scenes! Lol!!

The song that’s being played during the Lumi montage was performed by Whiskey Falls. I am friends with the lead singer, Seven, who is married to Mackenzie Westmore (Sherridan, Passions). His songs are so beautiful, and the one they choose to play during the montage just seemed to fit the Lucas & Sami story perfectly. It’s entitled “I Can’t Stop Loving You”.

I thought the whole green wedding theme turned out spectacular! The flowers were gorgeous, the ceremony, the reception… it was all fantastic. Last night, I was getting my make-up done for the Biggest Loser, and we were all completely caught by surprise when we saw a segment on Extra about “Sami & Lucas’ Green Wedding on Days”. Such a surreal moment for me… worlds colliding and all that… lol. We all loved seeing our first glimpse of all the hard work that went into the wedding on tv.

XOXO
Ali

So, you’ve all heard so much about the upcoming Lumi Green Wedding! It was so much fun to shoot even though it was so complicated. There were so many different people involved with making the wedding so beautiful and special. The dresses Monique Lhullier sent over for me to try were gorgeous – it was so hard to select which one to wear. I’ve never seen St. Luke’s look so beautiful with all the gorgeous flowers by The Hidden Garden Floral Designs. The place was literally overflowing with blooms. Shooting weddings are always time consuming and complicated… and believe me I know! This will be Sami’s 10th!!! But this one was made even more complicated due to Bryan getting extremely ill on the day of shooting. While many grooms may look a little green around the gills, that isn’t really the story Days is going for. Lol. So, we had to re-schedule the wedding to give Bry a couple days to recover. It was so brutal too – Bryan is such a trooper, he came to work and was trying to do the scenes without any complaint. But he couldn’t hide it for long, and was eventually taken to the Doctors. When I spoke to him later, he was so drained… he needed to sleep it off. So after a few days delay, we got the scenes done, and everything from there went off without a hitch. Well, there’s always a ‘hitch’ or two in a Sami wedding! But, as far as production went, it was a really long day, but the scenes went according to plan. I just got a sneak peak at one part of a show, scheduled to air at the end of next week that got me choked up a little… I can’t wait to read what you all think when you see it. Well, anyway, while we were shooting the scenes of Sami getting ready to walk down the aisle, the nbc.com cameras were close at hand to shoot some behind-the-scenes footage - XO ali

So, who knows the “rabbit, rabbit” superstition? That you have to say “rabbit, rabbit” first thing when you wake up at the beginning of every month. I forgot to say it this morning – but I think I should get a free pass. Here’s why, I was working on the set of Biggest Loser until 1:15am this morning. Got home at 2am, went to sleep, and woke up at 6am to get to Days. So, when was I supposed to say it? Right at midnight??? But I thought it was supposed to be a first thing when you woke up thing... and all the ‘talking’ I’d done the night before, but after midnight would nullify any good charms stemming from the phrase. And really, where does this superstition come from anyway?? I mean, here I am a grown adult, admittedly operating on >4 hours sleep, and I’m dwelling on the proper protocol for a superstition involving a rabbit the first of every month.

Happy May everyone!! I hope you all are having an awesome spring. I am! Days is going so great right now – the story I so fun and crazy. Bryan, James and I shot some awesome scenes this morning, they are both such good actors. It’s so great to see them face off. I can’t wait to see what the reaction is to the next couple weeks of story – the “Green” wedding, etc. (for a list of vendors who helped contribute check out the Days site - Tacori provided the jewelry!) We learned so much about hosting an eco-friendly wedding or party from this storyline. I am definitely planning to use some of the techniques in my parties in the future!
Isn't it funny that Sami planned a Green Wedding because she's superstitious? I think that's so in character for her! I love all Sami's crazy superstitions... obviously, I am a bit superstitious myself! *sheepish*. Some things are just habitual, but seriously, whenever Dave or I are in the car together, we never say "oh good, there's no traffic!" because then if we do hit traffic we will automatically blame the person who jinxed it, even though that is completely unreasonable.

I just started working on Biggest Loser last week. It’s so exciting and fun to do such a different type show than what I’m used to. And as a big fan of reality shows, and certainly BL in general, I am already in love with my new job. The contestants are AWESOME! You’ll love them!!! The premiere episode was so incredibly exciting and emotional, I really think you’ll all love it. I know I do. Some of the contestants are Days’ fans so, I’ve been telling them what’s happening on the show right now. Ha – I even gave a few spoilers because they don’t have access to tv etc. I’ve also been giving updates on Idol voting and some of the other shows. Lol… I’m an excellent recapper. Maybe from learning from all the excellent Days recaps that I’ve read online??