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Carolyn, being Carolyn, is tremendously busy, so we (Katrina, Dianne & Kathy) are going to do her vacation/GH Fan Club Weekend write up for this year. We were there for nearly all of it, so we feel qualified to accurately report to you folks what went on during her trip -- all the interesting stuff, anyway. Now that we have compiled all of the photos, let's experience California through Carolyn's eyes, shall we? At first, as many of you know, we were fairly certain she was not going to make it. We cannot even begin to tell you how bummed we all were at this prospect. Although we have an affection and appreciation for all of our EOS staff members, there are some of us who are long-time friends on the "outside" as well and really love getting together when we can. When Kathy and Katrina get together, as much as we are able to have fun on our own, the experience is just not complete without Carolyn. The prospect of facing a SECOND GH Fan Club Weekend without Carolyn was casting a dark shadow onto the whole thing. Imagine our excitement when, through a last minute phone call, she quickly told us that she could come after all! We did the happy girl dance where you jump up and down and flap your hands and go "Squeeeeee!" Unfortunately, her trip out was delayed briefly while she took care of some minor Eye on Soaps business, but before long, she was on a red-eye out to Cali. FRIDAY Kathy, Delena, Dianna and Katrina had breakfast at Denny's and waited for her to arrive:
Since she was not able to get into Van Nuys until Friday morning, she missed the Kick Off Party (we have lots of photos and reviews coming, though, from other attendees), but Friday was our day to go to Venice Beach, so good times were still to come. We parked in a parking garage that smelled of pee and started our walk down to the beach.
Our first task was to bury Carolyn in the sand. She's always talking about how big her arms look, but I can tell you, they are perfectly toned and gorgeous. I mean, jeez, look at her. She's blonde and beautiful and looks like an infomercial for spin bikes.
Carolyn was having so much fun burying herself in the sand and yelling “Can you see me now?” that pretty soon children up and down the beach were gathering around us burying themselves in the sand, wishing with all their hearts to be Carolyn when they grow up.
Even the seagulls were fascinated by Carolyn, lining up a safe distance away so that Carolyn’s sand antics didn’t rain down on them, but still allowing them to keep a close eye on her.
She and Delena worked on a sand sculpture for a while.
Faced!
After ha-haing our way through the sand play, Dianna, Delena and Kathy wanted to go play in the water, but Carolyn said the salt water would junk up her hair something awful (and you all know how we Southern women are about our hair!) and I'm not a water person (read up on my panic attack at the water slide for evidence), so she and I stayed on the beach soaking up some rays. I burned like a lobster despite SPF50, but she just got Mailbu tanned.
It's important that you notice that Carolyn's shoes are absolutely fierce. They stayed on her feet for the entire weekend as though someone had superglued them to her feet. The other ladies were soon done being mermaids, so we decided to do what we do best: shop!!! If you've never been to Venice Beach, let me tell you, they forever more have a boardwalk. It's miles of tents and shops and everything in the whole wide world is for sale there and listen, I do mean everything. We walked and shopped and walked and shopped and walked and shopped.
Some GUY kept following Carolyn around, sort of creepy stalker-ishy, so she had to lean in and whisper to him that she is - ahem - MAR-R-IED and all. He still followed us around, weeping softly, but keeping a respectful distance. It was sad, really.
Carolyn kicked it with some street musicians for a while. She brought in so much extra business just sitting there that they refused her $5.00 offering when she kicked it into the case and, in fact, paid her $10 commission. The musician cried when Carolyn decided to move on down the boardwalk and begged her to take him home with her. We finally had to do an intervention and suggest that Carolyn might become a bit uuh, testy if he continued and believe me, no one wants to see Carolyn testy. She’s not wearing those fierce shoes for nothing.
As I said, at Venice Beach, you can find anything. Here's Carolyn with the world's largest houseplant watering system. Carolyn reminds kids to "just say no to houseplant watering systems!!!" even if they only cost $20 and come in all sorts of pretty shapes and sizes.
As anyone who knows her can attest, Carolyn is an enthusiastic supporter of our troops. This young man was on leave, demonstrating combat maneuvers to the folks on the boardwalk. He was beyond thrilled for Carolyn to hop onto his back so he could show off his strength. He said, "This time, we'll support you, gorgeous."
She eventually had to be forcefully removed from her private armored transport so we could get moving on the strip, not to mention that there was a line of servicemen forming to also demonstrate their own physical prowess and offering their "support."
Carolyn started to wish she could be "Big," but then thought, "What am I DOING?" Instead, she got her fortune told and was informed that her adventures on this trip would only get whackier. It was the oddest thing. After Zoltar told her fortune, his box started to shake as though he were trying to break free. The owners were amazed and assured us that he’d never done that before. As we walked away, we heard his voice faintly calling out to her, “I love youuuu, Carolynnnnn.” Don't we all, Zoltar? Don't we all?
True enough to Zoltar's prediction of "whacky," just a few shops down, a building was being evacuated. Carolyn shoved LA's finest aside and flew up the ladder, ultimately rescuing four old ladies, a Jesuit priest, 3 babies, 6 dogs, a cat of ambiguous gender, a bowl of goldfish and twelve Snickers bars. The crowd applauded. She did not even break a sweat.
More fun with the natives for Carolyn & Kathy. We might have visited longer but the guy, while cute, was walking around in a blue spandex bathing suit and Carolyn said that blue spandex was definitely a fashion no-no this year.
And now a musical interlude:
While other women were hawking products or hooking themselves to make money, Carolyn just stood in front of this billboard for 15 minutes and the company paid her $471 in sales commissions. They said she was the best physical endorsement for Botox they'd ever seen. (The people who got Botox that day did not realize that Carolyn has never HAD Botox. She just looks that good.) (The naked woman on the ad is not Carolyn, but wishes she was.) After that long day, we hauled our tired self into Marie Callender's for a lovely dinner and then rolled home and slept the sleep of the just until time to get up at o'dark thirty the next day for the GH Fan Club Main Luncheon.
SATURDAY I guess it comes as no surprise that Carolyn was the star feature there as well, GH cast be damned. She was thrilled to connect with many of her long time friends. You all know how it is when you have very special people in your life and only see them once a year. Here is Carolyn with her special buddy, Paula:
They chatted forever. Carolyn made plenty of new friends as well, just like she does every year, everywhere she goes. We all just sort of follow along in her wake, hoping some of the sunshine of Carolyn will find its way back to us. The poor little newbie stars didn't know what they were in for. She barely got to see any of her old favorites because the show's newcomers monopolized her time.
Here she is with GH's own After School Special themselves, Kristina and Keifer. They begged her to adopt them, but she laughed them off, saying that she had plenty of teenagers of her own at home. Of course, they didn't believe she could possibly be old enough to have kids their age and were only playing the "adoption" card to hang out with her full time. As she left, Christian Alexander (Keifer) said, "I'm never washing this hand again" and Lexy Ainsworth (Kristina) agreed he should not...ever.
Dominic Zamprogna (Dominic/Dante)...fuhgetaboutit. He walked around with Carolyn and refused to acknowledge anyone else until we finally got her away from him. He was crushed.
Ronnie Marmo plays Ronnie on GH and is the guy who looks like John Tuturro whom Dominic meets with on the docks. I can tell you two things about Ronnie. A) He's an amazing actor and such a sweetheart and B) He loves him some Carolyn. (I guess that's actually 3 things) At first, he did the classic fan photo you see above.
Then they started talking and the guy was just HOOKED by her charm and her beauty..
Oh boy. Here we go again. *sigh* Ronnie, give us the Carolyn and nobody gets hurt. After THAT incident, we decided to keep her with the veteran actors.
The Cheetwood boys (Max & Milo) were so excited to hang out with Dianna and Carolyn. Pretty soon, Dianna had flitted off like the social butterfly she is, but Drew - who is a personal trainer to the GH stars -
was fascinated by Carolyn's physique and pretty soon, we were all standing around...waiting...waiting...waiting...freakin' waiting some more...
while Drew went on and on about how fit she looked, even going so far as to ask her for training tips. It got to the point that even Derk was "shame shaming" his brother for his obsessive behavior. Carolyn finally had to promise to write down her best exercise tips and send them to Drew just so she could get away and visit a few more friends.
Carolyn and Dianna spent a delightful time with John Ingle (Edward). He even invited her to the GH set and declared her an honorary Quartermaine. In fact, he guaranteed that should Leslie Charleson ever leave the show, Carolyn can be the one who periodically says, "IT'S MY HOUSE." The power of Carolyn just astounds us.
Carolyn Hennessey was totally ruined over Carolyn's shoes and demanded on the spot to know where she got them. She was shocked to learn that they are actually part of the newly expanded line from Carolyn A. Jewelry (and accessories) Designs. I now remind you of the fierceness of the shoes:
Phewy! Things almost got ugly over those shoes! Good thing those puppies were glued on or she might have lost them then and there.
John J. York (Mac) and Stephen Macht (Trevor) took a good, long look at Carolyn as she walked away, saying something about wanting some fries with a shake or something.
Carolyn had a similar effect on these guys. Ingo kept saying, "I totally hit that," and you can see that Sebastian knew good and well he hadn't. When you walk behind Carolyn, you hear all kinds of things she misses. After an exhausting day, we were ready for 4pm and the end of the event to roll around. We gathered some friends together and dove into the hotel room for our own "After Party."
Carolyn fell into a carbohydrate coma after pounding down more pizza and cheesy breadsticks than an army (all with hot women riding around on their backs) could consume. We knew what was coming next:
Oh yeah. She passed out hard. Time to send our revelers home for the night. Don't look up her dress here. It's a true Paris Hilton moment and if you notice it, it'll be on TMZ in no time. Nothing to see here. Move along.
SUNDAY The next morning, we checked out of the hotel and all too soon were headed home. Before we went to the airport, we shared one more wonderful meal together at the Olive Garden.
I swear, I am hungry again just looking at it. Smoked mozzarella fonduta, anyone? Carolyn had her own idea of fun, though:
We let the staff of the Olive Garden know what a miracle it was that Carolyn had made it to our annual vacation, despite all odds, and they wanted to celebrate this blessing along with us:
In the blink of an eye, our time together was over, tearful goodbyes were said and Carolyn was settled back in her seat on her plane, napping her way home. I'm sure she enjoyed herself as much as we loved having her with us. There absolutely is nothing like having true, loving, forever friends. Carolyn. That gal is such a doll. We just adore her.
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