I had such a blast at the MDA telethon this year. It makes me so proud to be a part of such an amazing organization, and do what I can to help them raise money for all of Jerry’s kids. I hope you checked out all the photos…

And please check out the silent auction site. There are major Days auction items available – SAFE vs EJAMI vs LUMI!! Game on!!! All three guys have donated a private vip meeting and special privileges at the Day of Days event in November. NBC also contributed an incredible travel package to the event, with airfare and hotel included!!! So go to www.mda.org/auctions and check it out!!

We are less than a month away from the Jerry Lewis Labor Day telethon!! can you believe it?! I am so excited, I have asked lots of my friends to give on camera shout-outs, so be sure to tune in!!!

I had such a fun time at the flag football game last night launching the new Madden game on x box 360. I met so many amazing, truly legendary players, and they were all so nice. I mean, we're all competitive, but it was so much fun. I have a feeling Bryan, Galen, Josh Taylor, Kyle (Brandt & Lowder), Eric M, oh man... they are all football fans. I promise not to rub it in! :) Brook Burke, Maria Menounos, Kelly Rowland and I were the only girls playing!! It was a blast - but, pictures tell it better than my story right? so check it out:

We are so lucky to be able to celebrate as Ben says "our country's birthday"! Happy Independence Day everyone. I hope you all are enjoying a wonderful holiday with your family and friends.

XO
Ali

There is SO much to say… I don’t know where to begin. First of all, yes, I had to go right to the hospital after shooting a weigh-in at Biggest Loser. So, I arrived not having eaten lunch, or anything. And Megan was born that night! At one point the Dr thought things were moving slowly, and it might not be until 4 or 5am. So I sent my restless husband off with his friend for a bite to eat (I certainly didn’t want them eating in front of me since I wasn’t allowed any food – which I didn’t know until it was too late. Take note! Eat beforehand!) And then seriously, he couldn’t have been gone 10 minutes, my girlfriend and I were chatting away, and everything happened all at once. (euphemism intended for all squirmy people.) Next thing I know, my friend is texting dave – hurry back!!! And the Dr is saying DON’T DO ANYTHING, do breathe too hard, till he gets back. And once he returned, scrubbed in, it wasn’t more than 15 minutes later she was born. She did not want to be born on the 13th! Lol. Which apparently was a bet between Dave and his buddy.
Here’s a funny side story. One of the nurses looking after Megan and I was a long time Days fan. And she got such a kick out of telling me about how her colleagues were all doing double takes as they went to put out the latest issue of Pregnancy Magazine in their waiting area, only to see their patient on the cover! She brought me a copy – since I hadn’t seen it yet – and she was having such fun teasing them all for being star struck. What timing right? That the mag would be released while I was in the hospital?
XOXO
ali

I can’t believe how many people have called, texted and emailed me, my husband and everyone I know to ask about Ellen today. As if she would really leap over a woman in labor to go open presents! Lol. I was a guest on the show yesterday, and they were so excited to be doing the first day of their big 12 days of giveaways.
For me it’s always a blast to be on Ellen’s show. She’s hilarious, and fun to talk to and of course, it was pretty cool, running into Ludacris in the hallway. He said hi to Ben, and ‘pounded’ fists with him. While he was performing Ben was totally rocking out to the music too. So cute.
So, anyway, before the show they asked me if I’d be willing to set up the audience gift portion with a gag. I’m always game, and Ellen thought it would be funny to have me mock going into labor at the beginning of that segment. And be sure to sprawl out as much as possible so she really had to leap over me. Lol. So, I did the best I could. As soon as she passed me, I jumped up and laughed and clapped with the audience so everyone would see that I was okay. But I guess that didn’t make it on camera. I didn’t really think about it beyond that. Next thing I know, my best friend from New York is instant messaging me this morning about it. She wrote that if we hadn’t already been emailing that morning she would have thought something had really happened. Then I started getting more and more calls. My mom had me pulled out of a meeting! I said “MOM!!! Come on! If I’d gone into labor, I would DEFINITELY have called you!!!”
The best are the gossip site “reports”. Uh huh, clearly lots of thorough reporting going on there. One site even claimed I had gone to the hospital. Now they all have retractions up.
So anyway, it’s not true. I’m fine. The baby is fine. I have a check up tomorrow, we’re still looking at mid-January when she’s expected. Thank you all for your concern. I’m sorry if anyone was alarmed! If I had any idea that it wouldn’t be clear that it was a joke, I would have said something, but I just didn’t realize how the story would get so out of control!!
I’m prepping for the live Biggest Loser 6 Finale, Tuesday December 16th. Hope you all tune in. There are so many incredible transformations, and wonderful people I look forward to seeing again.
XOXO

Wow. I am EXHAUSTED. Ben had so many Halloween plans. I was up super early shooting a challenge for Biggest Loser 7, but luckily that meant I was done early, with plenty of free time to celebrate Halloween as a family. Our neighborhood planned a costume parade this afternoon. It was SO CUTE. Ben was an astronaut. And he decided that Jorge (our Chihuahua rescue) was his Astronaut Dog. So, all dressed up in his astronaut costume, we joined the kids gathering for the parade. It was such a fun parade, and there were so many adorable kids in cute costumes.

Afterwards, we went to a friend of Ben’s house to trick or treat. It was so cute to see Ben and his classmates trick-or-treating together. We walked up and down the street – he got a lot of compliments on the astronaut costume. The little girl with him was dressed as Hannah Montana, which was hilarious. She was so cute and I was that crazy mom following them like paparazzi taking pictures of them holding hands, trick-or-treating, and in front of great decorations. Man – I thought I was into Halloween? We were in a neighborhood that was Halloween-ed out! We were teasing the parents that they must have put it in the escrow agreement when they bought on that street that you have to spend x on your decorations. The whole street gets into it, and the kids LOVED IT.
We were so exhausted when we got home, that we got home and all just relaxed and watched Ratatouille and Ben loved opening the door for trick-or-treaters. I bought a whole bunch of those mini Play-Doh’s to give away instead of candy for the little kids. Obviously, I got the idea from the promo Ben and I did for Biggest Loser last week. But I thought it was a great suggestion, but I will admit, I was a little nervous that kids would scoff at getting us not having candy. But seriously? It was a big hit! Even the older kids said “Play-doh??!! Cool! “ and the girls were very particular about which color they wanted… it totally worked out. We also doled out the candy that Ben got from his trick-or-treating. Is that so mean?! We let him pick his favorite piece to eat after his dinner, and we gave the rest away. When Dave was growing up his dad would “do magic” with his candy, and at midnight all their candy would disappear… so, along those lines… especially at this age, we were able to distract Ben from the rest of the candy, and abracadabra, it’s gone. We’ll see how that goes over tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow – it’s the big “Day of Days” event at Universal City Walk. It should be so much fun. I can’t wait to see all the fans, answer questions, hang out with the cast. It’s hard, with my schedule to visit with my friends on set anymore… so it’ll be so great to spend the day together.

Hope to see you there!
XO
Ali

P.S… in reference to one fans post about the upcoming storylines… I just want to say that while actors all may have a feeling, or a hint, or a hope that the storyline will go a certain way… we really don’t know what’s going to happen down the line. It’s like anything – I’ll believe it when I see it. So I hear rumors all the time too. The reason I hesitate to speculate on upcoming story or give away spoilers to the fans, is that nothing is for sure until it’s in script form, under your dressing room door. So, I would take anything you hear with a grain of salt. :)

This weekend I went to Las Vegas as a prep for one of the coolest opportunities ever – I am going to be a co-host of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon on Labor Day weekend (go to their website, mdausa.org for info on your local channel). Here’s the catch: Tom Bergeron and I are handling the 12pm – 8am shift! Ha!! Ed McMahon and Jerry have the prime-time shift, Tom and I definitely don’t have the seniority there, so we’re happy working the graveyard stint. Tom and I were at dinner discussing different methods to be the 5am exhaustion. He had plenty of advice to share, and since he’s done it a couple years now, I think we’ll be cool (dear Caffine, please don't let me down! love, Ali). Tom is definitely a crack-up, and of course, I had to tell him how much I love AFV. That show kills me. And frankly, since my own experience with embarrassing-moments-caught-on-video, I don’t feel so badly laughing at other people falling down. But Dave and I definitely had to share a ‘look’ as we were sitting down to dinner with Jerry, Tom, and Ed starts sharing Johnny Carson stories… we were like ‘who are we?’ how did we get here?! So crazy!!! Anyway, the telethon is 20 hours long – scheduled, from Sunday through Monday afternoon on Labor Day, I hope you check it out (and CALL IN to support the cause!) The Muppets are going to be there (and yeah, I am TOTALLY excited about that. Dave suggested we Tivo it too for when ben’s just a little older, the my-mom-met-the-muppets factor.)

As many of you know, there has been a behind-the-scenes ‘shake up’ at Days. I had to email Melody (Thomas Scott, Y&R) to tell her how much we LOVE her husband. Ed is such an awesome Leader. He has shaped up the show in every area… it’s still the Days you love, but it’s a tighter, more powerful way of telling stories. I think you’ll see a clear difference when his first episode airs. Everyone is so enthusiastic right now, and motivated to go above and beyond – but who wouldn’t be inspired by a man who runs everywhere? Ed seriously runs (I think Steve (Steve) mentioned his orange sneakers?) yeah, Ed runs to and from the booth all day. And by all day, I mean, literally from 6:45am until we wrap the show, sometimes 11:30 or 12pm. You hear him coming, and you know he’s going to tweak the scene, make it better, make everyone look better. Dee (Marlena) and Kristian (Hope) and I were chatting after our scenes last week about how fantastic the sets look, the lighting…we can’t wait for his stuff to start airing, because we know you’re all going to love what you see.

Have I mentioned how cute the movie ‘Cars’ is? Well, let me just tell you, any movie you can watch/listen to, 956 times, and still laugh, is one heck of a good movie. And we don’t even let Ben watch that much tv… but, ALL he will watch is Cars. “Mater, mommy?” “race cars, mommy?” that’s the only thing he wants to see. And what’s best about this particular movie is that there aren’t any really scary parts that I have to ff past. The whole thing is just adorable, funny and clever. So I happily give Pixar 2 thumbs up for a movie I now know better than they do.

This has seriously been such a crazy week for me. Between Days, Biggest Loser and Ben I have not been sleeping a lot lately. I totally crashed on Friday night – we shot a challenge until 3am. So when Ben woke up at 7:30 it was like the middle of the night to me. My sleep deprived brain barely registered Dave (my husband) explaining to Ben that “Mommy’s sleeping” before I drifted off again. Dave told me later how cute Ben was, whispering to the dogs to be quiet for me. I can’t remember the last time I slept in until 11am, but it felt freakin’ fantastic!!!
Even though it’s been kinda hectic balancing two jobs, it is a tremendous fun. I was talking to my friend about it – she was saying how she would love not working if she could. And that I’m definitely that person that can’t take too much time off… after a weeks vacation, I am psyched to get back to work. So all this crazy high-stress schedule is actually right up my alley.
And really, it only works because both jobs are so lenient about me bringing Ben with me sometimes. Because I’m playing two different roles now at Days, sometimes that means I shoot scenes at the beginning of the day, and then have to change my wardrobe, make-up, hair etc, and then wait for other scenes later in the afternoon. So, those are perfect opportunities to bring Ben with me to the studio. He has so much fun playing in the make-up room while I get ready. And everyone loves it when he visits. Of course, Bryan gets the best reaction – with his “Elmo” voice. Bryan’s had tons of practice when his own son was younger, and he loves getting all silly with Ben.
Today was such a great, relaxing Sunday. Ben, Dave and I went swimming, and played outside. I couldn’t wait to rip into Harry Potter 7, and I haven’t stopped turning pages since. Obviously I don’t want to give anything away – but man, it’s so fantastic. I will have to start over and re-read it as soon as I’m done. Right now, I’m just forcing myself to go as slowly as I can because I want to just tear through it. And wasn’t the 5th movie so awesome??!!! (Is it me or is it like Harry Potter Month? HP is everywhere, not that I'm complaining!) I got to attend the premiere which was just about the coolest thing ever. I felt like I was 13 again… all giddy as the lights dimmed. Afterwards, I was so impressed to see how friendly and accessible the stars were. Emma Watson was just beautiful, and Rupert won me over when he announced that he was wearing a tee-shirt he’d bought yesterday, as he drew everyone’s attention to the ‘Harry Potter’ tee-shirt he was wearing under his sport coat. Obviously they are just really cool kids. Of course, I’m not biased or anything!!
Anyone else downloading Days on iTunes? How cool is that? I just bought a subscription last week so that I could keep up with episodes I haven’t watched because I don’t have time at home to watch lately. So it’s actually perfect for me. And I am having such fun catching up on the other storylines. I think back on how obsessed I was with making sure my vcr was set correctly before I would go to school. And how if my mom or brother changed the channel and I didn’t know it, I would be so upset! There was no internet to find out what I’d missed, never mind tivo or iTunes. Lol – that’s my story for Ben. Like my parents used to say to me “I didn’t have TV when I was little” and I’ll say to Ben “I didn’t have TiVo when I was little!” lol – somehow it doesn’t have the same ring does it?

I have been working more this month than I ever thought possible. My hat goes off to people who have two jobs all year round. Because I have had two jobs for 3 months now and it is kicking my butt! Lol. And this month, Days decided to add to that – because now I am doing two characters on the show. Colleen, Sami’s great-aunt looks “just like Sami!!!”. Isn’t that amazing???? I had a brief moment of sanity when I said, “why didn’t Grandpa Shawn ever mention that I look just like her?”  But, that’s the way it goes sometimes, I guess.
Along with this new character, I’ve spent a tremendous amount of time working on my Irish accent. Someone jokingly said “your name is Sweeney! It’s in your blood!” and I told them they were crazy. Accents are extremely difficult… for anyone. No matter what their heritage. My family is from Ireland, which is fun to think back on… and I have been to Ireland once, which was one of the coolest experiences ever. It is so beautiful there. I hope to go back one day. But none of that was at all useful to me in learning this accent. It just came down to spending hours studying, practicing and then more studying. Ben is now read all his bed-time stories with an Irish lilt. Lol. Luckily, he thinks its funny. (now, having admitted my utter terror at taking on this new character, please don’t slay me with your reviews of my work!)
One of the contestants on Biggest Loser is a big Days fan, and I have been sneaking her dvd’s of the show to keep up with. They don’t have a lot of time to watch tv, mostly they’re at the gym! But on their down time, it’s so funny, she’s been getting a bunch of them to watch, so they all have questions for me the next time we get together. I’m recruiting new fans!!!
I am so ready to enjoy my week off. I can’t even tell you how much I slept last night. I was so dead tired. Today, we had a fantastic late brunch, with Ben and his grandparents. It is so exciting to have nothing planned to do, except hang out, play with Ben…maybe go see a butterfly exhibit with him tomorrow. It is such a beautiful day, and I am enjoying a brief break while Ben is napping to write to you all. I hope you all have a wonderful Fourth of July. Enjoy the fireworks!

Hey, all! What’s up?!

Hope you all had a great weekend. I did! I just finished an amazing novel, Nineteen Minutes by, Jodi Picoult. I am a great admirer of hers, she is a tremendous author. I snatch up each new book she puts out, they are always a gorgeous, breathtaking read - often with challenging, controversial subject matter. It has never taken me more that 3 or 4 days tops to read her books, because they are the definition of a page-turner! You just can’t put them down. And this latest is no exception. I have a little section of my message boards on my site – www.alisonsweeney.com – called “Ali’s Book Club”. If you want to stop by, share what you’re reading, or get some ideas of new books, and then talk about what you’re reading, stop by! I love to read, and it is so fun to share what you thought about the book with other readers.

There is so much good tv on right now. I decided to download some of my favorites to watch on my iPod while I work out. (anything to make that dreaded cardio go by more quickly, right?!) So I was all settled with my water, and towel ready to catch up on Grey’s Anatomy, when I realized I forgot an important step. You can’t just download it to your laptop, you have to then remember to update your iPod with your new purchases! Oops. So, there I was pedaling away, as I scrolled through my contents to see what I hadn’t seen yet. And I had two episodes of The Office!! Yay. Except it took me only about 30 seconds to realize why I hadn’t planned on watching The Office at the gym… because it’s embarrassing to laugh out loud at the gym! I have encountered this problem watching comedies on airplanes too – unless everyone’s laughing at the same movie, I’m very self-conscious about laughing or even snickering in a public place like that. I don’t know why – is that weird? And the way The Office is written, and Steve Carrell is so hilarious, it always catches me off guard, and I can’t help but laugh. However, the time went by so quickly because I was completely distracted by the show, that I didn’t even notice how hard I was working out, so that was really good! But, I was covering my mouth with my hand most of the time, to try and prevent the odd looks I would get when I couldn’t contain the giggles.

As a small aside, I was very frustrated by the art/craft supply store I went
to for the crafts I made for Easter. Martha Stewart’s website had the cutest suggestions that totally inspired me to be all ‘crafty’ last weekend. So I was very disappointed by the very unhelpful people, and not super selection. They didn't have crepe paper so I had to make do with construction. As I was asking one of the above- mentioned contrary employees where there might be crepe paper another woman approached me and said “Were you watching yesterday too?”. Confused, I responded with “excuse me?” and she clarified “Martha Stewart’s egg baskets!” and she held up her list. I looked in my hand and we had the exact same list of supplies! I laughed and said “I didn’t see the show, but I was looking on her website.” And we compared notes, and she explained to me how to do one part of the egg dying that I wasn’t sure about, because she got to watch Martha do it. What are the odds of bumping into someone else doing the exact same project as you?! We also shared frustrations with how poorly stocked the store was, though I did see stuff in the floral section which inspired me to make a little spring wreath of dried flowers and then hung two finished eggs from. Yup - I am all Martha-ed out. Even though Easter is over, it is still fun to see all the Spring stuff around the house.

I can’t believe I haven’t talked about this yet, but can you believe the last Harry Potter book comes out this summer???!!!! I am so torn up over this. Obviously, I can’t wait to find out what happens, but it is also so sad to know that HP is at last coming to an end. And I’m not a pessimist or anything, but part of me is already sad as though it’s already over. I was talking to Kyle (ex-Philip) and my friend Carrie about it, because we are all HP fans. And they both feel the same way. Like the day JKR announced the release date of Book 7 was the beginning of the end. Back when it was book 4 and 5, we were comfortably in the middle – YEARS away from the 7th year. And now, here it is… this summer. I haven’t loved a series of books like this since I was a girl reading Little House and Anne of Green Gables. The best part about Harry and friends, is that I know these stories will still be so wonderful to read again and again – and I am so looking forward to the day I get to read them with Ben.

Well, I said I was going to make some more recipes from the Biggest Loser book and I did. (I had a major baking morning on Saturday – see my post on my website - www.alisonsweeney.com. The Portobello “Pizzas” were delicious. If you like mushrooms. My husband doesn’t, so I got to relish them all by myself. I also made the Raspberry Bran Muffins. And as Ben said, “yummy muffins!” They turned out really moist and even though they are mini in size, I found the substantial flavor to be really filling. And you automatically feel so spoiled getting to eat carbs like that!

All full and happy from our muffins, Ben and I ran some errands together. And Ben loves going into stores because he loves saying “Hi” and “Bye” to everyone we see. It’s so fun to see the look on people’s faces when he talks to them. Usually everyone says “hi” back with a smile.

I also posted on my website about the book club I’m in with my girl friends. We at the beginning of the year, and we’re on our third book. It’s been so fun to have dinners and discuss the novels we’ve read and hear everyone else’s thoughts. I love to read but it’s so easy to get distracted or too busy. So the deadlines and the meetings are a perfect motivator. If you want to read along with us, you can check out my post about it and join in the fun.

And with the two week hiatus at Days, I have plenty of time to read, bake and hang out with Ben. What could be better???!! And I’m going to enjoy every moment. Because I know we’re going to be so busy when we get back to work. There is a huge storyline that we are shooting in April – to air in May. Believe me – it’s really good stuff!!! I got all teary reading the scripts.

XOXO
Ali

I had such an awesome Ben-filled weekend. It was so nice not to have plans for once, and just to hang out with family. Ben started saying “Gamma” for Grandma and “Gampa”. Which made everyone just melt. This is such an amazing time in childhood development. I am constantly shocked by the things Ben remembers, and thinks of. He is still obsessed with this his basketball, and he was giving his Gampa lessons in how to shoot the ball.

I would guess Ben’s favorite part of the weekend was getting to share some of Daddy’s ice cream cone, though. I watched with envy as Ben and Dave ate a chocolate ice cream cone with gusto. Ben’s never had ice cream before, and only a few sweets at all from time to time. Mostly “dessert” for him is grapes or fruit. I am working so hard to instill good eating habits from the beginning. It’s a tough battle because there are so many handy, snack foods that are just filled with sugar, but I enjoy cooking for him and I think it’s paying off – because he ended up putting his little mini-spoon down when he was full, rather than continuing to eat the ice cream until it was gone. That seems like such a key aspect to healthy living – eating a reasonable amount, not eating until you’re “full”. I grew up having to “finish my plate” which is such a difficult mental block to over come.

Speaking of which, I just got a copy of the Biggest Loser weight loss program. I was really interested in the shows approach to healthy living, so I thought this was the perfect way to find out more before starting work! And it is awesome!! The suggestions and guidelines are so helpful – it was a great refresher for me. Even just leaving the book on my kitchen counter motivated me to get up and take my dog for a long walk through the dog park near our house. It’s a great hiking trail, and Winky and I jogged most of the way. We were both worn out by the time we got to the top of the trail. Where I ran into Heidi (Kay on Passions). We chatted for a bit, exchanged sweaty hugs (lol) and then Winky and I headed home. After the solid work-out, I decided a hearty dinner was needed, so … I checked out the recipes, which seemed pretty tasty for healthy cooking. So, for Sunday night dinner I made the Curry Vegetable Soup. (I added skinless chicken to the recipe) and both my husband and I loved it. It takes a while to prepare, so it was lucky that I made it on a Sunday afternoon rather than right before dinner. So filling and yummy, while totally nutritious. So, if you’re looking for a little inspiration or motivation, or just some new recipes, I say try their books. Tomorrow I’m making the “Portobello Pizzas”. How good does that sound???!!!

XOXO,

Ali

Did everyone remember to change their clocks forward on Sunday? I love Daylight Savings. It’s so awesome to have the sun out later at night. But it’s always tough giving up that hour of sleep. And it’s hard explaining to a 2 year old that it’s really bed time even though it feels earlier. I have finally gotten over the horrible cold I had for what seemed like forever. I got a ton of people sympathizing with me – seems everyone is going through the same thing!

I had a super busy weekend. I drove down to Palm Desert to see a friend who was visiting from Toronto. She interned at nbc in 1995 and we became friends when we worked together. She moved back home to Canada and we only see each other once in a while but we keep up through email and phone calls. Anyway, I drove out there (2 ½ hours) each way and to spend the afternoon shopping and hanging out with the girls. It was such a fun day, even with the tough drive.

Sunday, Kyle (Brandt, ex-Philip) and I went to a Clippers game. Don’t bother looking up the score – they didn’t have a great game. But Kyle and I had so much fun. And guess who was at the game? Farah! (Fath, ex-Mimi) and her sister, Tory. We met up afterwards and got to meet one of the players from the Detroit Pistons – Nazr Mohammed knows Farah, and is a Days fan. He is so cool and nice and it was awesome meeting him. And it was fun catching up with Farah, I haven’t seen her since her last day at Days which was in January. Farah was so excited for me to be hosting Biggest Loser – she and Tory told me all about how they love the show and cry at every episode. So she can’t wait for me to report back to her about my experiences on set at BL. Ha – it’s going to be tough keeping what happens a secret. It’s hard enough on Days to keep the stories a secret for a month before they air! But I do hate ‘spoilers’. So, I’ll just have to stay strong!! J

After the game Kyle, Dave and Ben and I hung out at our house and enjoyed the 80 degree afternoon. Dave is still dealing with this cold, so he wasn’t up for the game, but we hung out on our deck and Kyle got a chance to play a little basketball/tee-ball/soccer with Ben. Ben is still obsessed with playing ball and creates an odd combination of all three games. Though lately he’s beginning to incorporate a golf swing with his tee-ball bat, since he saw Dave practicing his swing. I wonder if he’s going to be competitive like his mother? You think???!!!

Speaking of which – I hope you check out Kyle’s website… www.kylebrandt.com he is so funny, he talks about his favorite shows and basically whatever occurs to him. I have it on my favorites list and always have to see if he’s updated ‘The Hate List’ my personal favorite part of his site.

I’ve got to get back to memorizing my lines! Catch up with you soon!!!

XO,

Ali

Hi Everyone!!

It’s been a while since I blogged. Sorry about that. Well, I have a ton of good news to share. First of all, I am thrilled to announce that I am going to be the new host of the show The Biggest Loser on NBC. I absolutely love watching that show, so I am really excited to be a part of it now. The message of the show and the way that it helps so many people, both the contestants and the audience really inspire me. It’s going to be a pretty hectic schedule for me this spring! I will be shooting a complicated, deep story at Days in the next couple months as well as shooting the next season of The Biggest loser. This is such an incredible opportunity for me, and I can’t wait to tell you more about it as I go through this experience.

Secondly, Ben is great. It’s his second birthday on Sunday and I am planning a small party with our family. My father-in-law is baking his birthday cake again… chocolate! Always a crowd pleaser. Anyway, Ben still comes to work with me occasionally. He sits in the make-up room and colors or visits with people while I get my hair and make-up done. Everyone loves having him hang out. He gives out high-fives all morning, and it didn’t take Bryan too long to teach him to say “Bry-Bry”. So now everyone else is jealous because he says Bry-Bry and Margie (my hair-dressers name). Ben’s face cracks me up when he sees James, too. I need a picture of James and Ben standing side by side. He stares up at him, so fascinated by how tall James is.

Ben is talking all the time now. He has a ton of words in his vocabulary, and picking up new ones every day. He said “bless you” when I sneezed today. So I guess now comes the part where Dave and I are going to have to start brushing up on our spelling skills. Haven’t you ever heard parents of young kids spelling their way through a conversation. It’s hilarious, and when you’re out-of-practice, it’s kind of hard to keep up. Lol.

And last of all, DAYS!! It’s so crazy right now, isn’t it??!!! I love watching the other stories right now and there are a lot of cliff-hangers and awesome twists in the storylines that are going to surprise you. I love the stuff I’m shooting right now.

And, I owe a lot of ‘thank you’s. James and I received some fabulous Valentine’s day gifts from the EJami fans. Thank you for the adorable stuffed tiger for Ben, it’s from an animal rights charity, and Ben hasn’t let go of it since. And thank you for the delicious truffle-Hershey’s Kisses. The crew and production offices loved the snacks – and many out of fair-play, felt it was only right to take an EJami Kiss as well as the Lumi Kisses. They were both displayed in places of honor so that everyone could enjoy them. Thank you Lumi fans for the cool Lumi personalized containers for the kisses – I will continue to keep them filled as a little treat for everyone, too!

Xoxo,
Ali

I am so beyond excited, I am thrilled to have the first trailers about In Tune up on intertube.com.  You'll see them listed under behind the scenes on the left side of the page.  I'm not sure if I've mentioned it on this blog yet, but I've been working on this project for more than a year... it took longer than having Ben!!!  LOL!  Anyway, I came up with the idea of a creating a show specifically for the internet and have been developing it with my partners SafeSearching.com.

In Tune is about a group of friends who work together in a record store called... In Tune.  Over the next couple weeks we are going to launch a bunch of different trailers and special features to help get you familiar with our characters.  Working behind-the-scenes is so different from the on-camera career I'm used to.  When we began editing the footage I saw a couple of out-takes of me backstage, working with the actors.  And it was so weird - seeing such a different side of my personality - 'the Director' side of me.  I have definitely taken advantage of my 13 years at Days to work with and study the directors that we have at Days as well as the directors I've worked with on other projects like Las Vegas.  All that education was instrumental in helping me feel more confident taking charge on set.  Every part of the process was such a challenge. Having spent so many years on the other side of a casting session, it was so difficult for me to have to judge other actors based on a 3 minute performance.  I wanted to help everyone who came in the room.  But in the end, we got a fantastic and talented cast.  They all work so well together and have great chemistry.  Being a producer and director required me to make decisions about all aspects of the project.  As an actor, you really don't have any control about big decisions... you just act out the scenes you're given.  But with In Tune, I was deciding who was going to write the show, developing the stories, hiring the crew and trying to stay within a budget (eek!).
 
I came up with the idea of putting together an internet show after getting to know all the fans online.  I truly feel like I have a whole bunch of friends on my message board as well as some of the fan sites I visit.  And Days fans are nothing if not opinionated!  I love reading all the feedback we get about the Days episodes and characters that people love as well as hate.  And I have worked hard to develop a show that the soap fans are going to love.  It's been such an incredible experience, working on In Tune.  And I am so proud of the project.  

Speaking of new experiences... I was asked to be a part of St. Jude's Runway-For-Life charity gala last Friday.  I agreed to participate because St. Jude's is such a wonderful worth-while charity and I believe in what they do so strongly.  But as I was walking down the red carpet, one of the camera crews asked me if I'd ever been on a runway before.  And then it hit me like a ton of bricks - I'd never been on a catwalk or modeled or anything remotely like that before.  And seriously, I all of a sudden realized how nervous I should be.  And that I should have, oh, I don't know, practiced or something!!!   Well, backstage I asked Cindy Crawford for advice - nothing like going right to the top, right?  She was so nice, but she basically said to just relax and have fun.  lol - I settled for making sure I didn't trip and embarrass myself.  And I was successful.  Hopefully I didn't look as nervous as I felt!  I ended up having a blast, and getting to know such fabulous women.  Dee was there, looking fabulous and glamorous as always.   And she brought her digital camera, so I'm hoping she'll email me some of the great photos she took and I'll post them here and on my site.  Lisa Rinna was a part of the fashion show too.  She is so sweet - she had Harry and Louis with her.  Harry is doing so great on Dancing with the Stars... be sure to vote for him on Tuesday!!

Ben has learned so many new words.  It's so cute to hear him 'talking'.  He plays with his cousin all the time, she's 6 months older than him.  And they are so adorable together.  It kills me how quickly they are growing and changing. Sometimes Ben will be playing while I catch up on Days.  And it is so funny when he sees me on TV.  He always points at the screen says mmmmmom and laughs out loud.  He thinks its hilarious that I'm on TV.

I have been involved with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for many years now.  They are such a wonderful organization and are on the leading edge of incredible research.  Especially since I became a parent, I have looked forward to participating in any way I can to help their cause.

Last week I did some on-camera spots to help promote their latest fundraiser.  It's a really cool concept too - it's called the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway.  It's kinda like a  raffle, where people reserve a ticket for $100 and there are tons of prizes they are giving away, the best being a Dream Home.  You should go to www.stjude.org and check out all the details for yourselves. 

I was asked to do these commercials for the local LA Giveaway with a beautiful little 8 year old girl named Elizabeth.  She is a part of the St. Jude family and was so sweet and brave!  She had no trouble being in front of the camera, and she did a great job.  I really loved meeting her and her lovely family.  With patients like her at St. Jude it's no wonder that the volunteers and staff are so dedicated to doing everything possible to find cures for these horrible diseases.  I was so glad to be a part of this project, and I am so excited about participating in another event they sponsor next month as well.

On another note, Days has been really exciting lately, hasn't it??!!  I was absolutely glued to my tv during the Jennifer/Frankie/Jack stuff.  Ashley (Abby) was so fantastic in those scenes at her dad's bedside, wasn't she?  She is such a talented young actress.  And, as always, Missy and Billy are so fun to watch. 

I mentioned on my website how fun it was to do those scenes with Bryan (Lucas) and James (E.J.) in the hallway outside Sami's apartment.  I think it was the first time James had seen Lumi in action... ha ha ha.  Bryan and I always have to let new actors know, that when Sami and Lucas get to fighting - there could be an earthquake and they wouldn't hear it.  The other characters have to remind them there are other people in the room!  Sami isn't anything if not one-track-minded.  Am I right?  Hee hee.

James has definitely fit right into our Days family.  He's such a nice guy and a really good actor.  I so enjoy our scenes together.  I think E.J. is a v. interesting character and I can't wait to see where this story goes.

I briefly met our new head writer, Hogan Sheffer, last week.  He was so nice and definitely enthusiastic.  I had to tell him how thrilled we all are to have him on board.  He's just begun writing for us, so we won't see his scripts for a few more weeks.  We are all anxiously awaiting his material!!  It's such an exciting time at Days - wondering where this new writing will lead us.

Xoxo,
Ali

p.s. Ben is fantastic - growing so quickly.  He was at a super fun birthday party this weekend, and has not been able to stop making train noises since.  I guess we're heading towards a Thomas The Train birthday party too, in February.  

p.p.s  If you notice me limping around the set in upcoming scenes - ha!  I just had the toughest workout ever and I am so sore.  I am dreading putting on high heels.  Yikes!!!

This was the 6th year that NBC Daytime had participated in the Fan Fest that the Country Music Association holds every year in Nashville, TN.  It is such a fun event for all of us to be a part of.  This year Bryan (Lucas), Christie (Carrie), Darrin (Max) & Rachel (Chelsea) from Days attended.  From Passions it was Galen (Luis), Mark (Fox), Adrian (Miguel) and Emily (Fancy).  We had such a fantastic weekend together.  We always have so much fun together - and Fan Fest is basically one long party! 

 

Friday night we all traveled together to the Coliseum to introduce each act on the main stage.  It really is incredible to stand there and speak to a crowd of 35,000 + people.  It's funny - millions of people watch Days, but it's such a completely different experience to be live in front of such a huge crowd.  We were standing back stage as Kenny Chesney and Wynonna performed - the crowd just loved them!  It really blew me away to see what incredible performers they are.

Saturday we signed autographs at the convention center during the day.  Galen and I signed together, and we got through a couple hundred people on our shift.  We heard some funny stories from the fans who had been their earlier with Bryan and Christie.  Galen and I had so much fun together - we learned so much about each other's storylines from the fans.  Soap actors always get such a kick out of swamping stories about the crazy scenes we've been through recently.

(While I was getting my make-up done for the event Saturday night, I finally caught The Cable Guy with Jim Carrey on TBS.  Austin has been after me forever to see it and he was right... it's hilarious.)

 

Saturday night is the big NBC After Hours party at the Wild Horse.  It is this great evening that NBC puts together every year.  There were about 1300 people there this year (Thank you to everyone who attended for making it such a successful event!)  This year Darrin and Mark sang - I never knew how talented Darrin is!  He was so fantastic. They both were.  Galen and I hosted the whole thing, doing Q&A's with all the actors, a Deal or No Deal game where we gave out some prizes to audience members and we showed some highlight reels from both shows.  The sound system made it a bit difficult for the audience to hear us during the Q&A's, but when Bryan got out there and teased the audience by beginning to unbutton his shirt, he won them over without a doubt.  Lol.

 

Sunday we wrapped up the weekend with another autograph session and some good, old-fashioned BBQ.  Yum.  We met a lot of fans on the streets of Nashville as we did a bit of shopping too.  (I got a fun cowboy hat - of course!). 

 

I wrote in the blog on my website on Friday morning before I left on the trip.  I was so sad to be leaving Ben for so long.  I can't express how excited I was to see him when I got home.  He had such a big smile on his face when I walked through the door.  Our scenes wrapped up early on Monday so I got to spend the whole afternoon with him.  Ben has this little fire engine that he LOVES.  He gets inside and turns the wheel and everything while one of us pushes him around.  He makes hilarious 'siren' noises too.  His legs are finally long enough that he was beginning to push it a little bit himself - Fred Flinstone style - but he can't really get enough momentum yet.  But he's working on it!

Remember when I was on Martha's show back in February?  I still have the photo of me and Martha laughing on set as my desktop wallpaper.  When I was there she gave me a copy of her 'Baking Handbook' with a note in it.  I have decided to try as many recipes as possible!  And I'm going to chronicle my experiments.  I'm not going to re-print the recipes because that's a lot of typing, and I don't think I can, legally, anyway.  Lol - get the book!  It's fabulous! 

Saturday is now cooking day.  Ha!  Ben loves helping me cook too - he has one cupboard he can access - the one with the Tupperware and unbreakable stuff.  He loves pulling everything out of the cupboard, and then he puts it away again.  And he's an excellent taster of my finished products!   

Anise-Almond Biscotti 

I had most of the ingredients in my pantry.  (which always gives me this weird sense of pride, you know?  That I have the right things in my pantry.)  Anyway, I had to run to the grocery store for the Anise extract & anise seeds the recipe calls for.  Which I suppose defeats the purpose of having all the other stuff handy, but all that aside, I finally had my ingredients lined up and ready to cook.  (It's a bummer to be your own soux chef, but, it helps so much when baking to have everything a ready to go.  I highly recommend the prep work in advance.)I couldn't find Anise seeds at the market.  Which was weird, I went to a nice store.  Oh well, I bought Fennel seeds since they have that similar black-licorice flavor... which I don't really like at all, but Dave loves.  I often bake things that I don't like to avoid the temptation of the nibbling at the batter.   I don't like nuts in my cookies either, so this recipe was made for me. Lol.  (Dave loves nutty cookies too.) 

Alright, I got the nuts toasting - that did make the kitchen smell yummy.  Always a good sign when baking.  I went to work sifting the flour & cornmeal together.  Hmm.... My cornmeal just wouldn't sift down.  On Martha's show, she always sifts with a nice bowl shaped sieve, and she makes it look like a careless flick of the wrist.  Well, the flour went through quite nicely, but I was left with a pile of cornmeal.  Perhaps cornmeal was not intended for that type of sifting.  Me being me, (Martha don't read this -) I just dumped the remaining cornmeal into the bowl and continued to the next step. 

The butter/sugar became light and fluffy easily.  I love my Mixer.  It's honestly the best kitchen tool ever.  I remember my babysitter when I was a kid making us mix cookie dough with a wooden spoon - such an exhausting exercise!  My KitchenAid is used frequently.  I put the almonds into the freezer to make sure they were good and cold before adding them to the mixture (ha.  I've made that mistake before.  You can't come back from melted batter. Trust me) 

I followed all the instructions about shaping the dough with no problem.  But as I tried to slice the logs into biscotti shaped pieces, the ends kept braking off.  I'm not sure what I did wrong there - the biscotti turned out tasting great, but only a few actually had the perfect biscotti shape.  And again, the kitchen smelled great as the anise flavor heated up.  It doesn't call for it in the recipe, but I dipped them in melted chocolate just for fun.  Dave says they turned out delicious.  And the best indicator of all?  The fact that they are rapidly disappearing from the cupboard.  Lol. 

Happy baking!

Xoxo

Ali