I had such a wonderful time this weekend!! What a terrific, event-filled, whirlwind weekend it was.

I got to meet Jess on Friday morning. She saw me right before I saw her. She had a grin on her face. She is very sweet, and has such a soft voice. We went to Universal Studios soon after, and had a great time on the Studio Tour and Jurassic Park and the Revenge of the Mummy Ride. We went on that one three times. Then we went back in for their Halloween of Horrors night...man, that was awesome! There were hundreds of creatures, some with chainsaws, popping out at you all over the place, in the fog. It was so much fun. We went back on the Studio Tour and got dropped off in the middle of it near the Psycho house. Norman Bates was on the front step. We also went through the Texas Chainsaw Massacre maze...oh man, that was something else! LOL. Jess could anticipate where the people would be jumping out at us, but I never could. They kept coming after me - easy target, I guess.

Then on Saturday, we met up with Erica (emelch78), her husband Kent, who was in LA this week for business, and Erica's aunt Sue who loves soaps. They were all so much fun. Erica's aunt was a riot, telling us all about how she got Kristoff St. John to give her the dish on one of his co-stars in the middle of a grocery store once.

We all went to the Celebs Go Ape event at our hotel. There weren't very many fans in attendance, so there was a ton of time to mingle with the stars. We met the Passions ones who were there early and got pics with them. Eric said he thought he remembered me. He asked my name and if I was the one who sent the Evian water out there. I couldn't believe he knew who I was! He said Ben would always ask him if he had had any of his water yet. Awwww. Eric said it was the most creative idea.

I told Christopher I had read some of his poems on his myspace and he thanked me and asked my name. He said people think they are dark, and I said yes, but they are good.

We ate lunch, and while we were eating, Ben and Tracey arrived. Ben had his favorite suede jacket on. He was so handsome. And Tracey was just beautiful with her hair up. She had on a white top. They ate with the rest of the cast, and then Tracey brought her cheesecake over to eat with us and chat, which was so sweet. She met everyone. I accidentally introduced Sue as emelch's sister. Of course Sue didn't mind that at all.

Tracey said there was a big football game out there and the traffic on the freeways was terrible. (It was UCLA and Cal). Ben was apparently not fond of the traffic. (Which is understandable, LOL). But he was a trouper for coming, as was Tracey. She talked with us for quite a while. Sue asked about Liz and why she wasn't on the show anymore. And we talked about Vincent and how Tracey had researched hermaphrodites. I told her about Skybus too, with its $10 tickets. I didn't get one of those though, LOL, but it was still a good rate. Ben came over for a hug during this time too. Tracey signed things for us too...Erica's and my copies of the Evian book, some pics for me, including this one I had brought to show her how crazy my printer was - where she was all pink. But Jess and Tracey liked the pic, and likened it to an Andy Warhol work of art. LOL. And she signed the back of Jess's shirt, which Jess had designed with an awesome Evian pic. We got pictures with Tracey. I told her it was the first one I ever had taken with her alone, and she said yeah, the others had all been group ones. So I couldn't wait to see how it turned out!!

Then we went over to see Ben. Everyone got pictures with him too. I told him Jess was the one who drew the picture of him and he said he had it in his dressing room. He saw this picture I had of him from when he was in his 40s...the one with all the curls, and he asked me what I had that for, and I said because he was going to sign it for me. He did. He told me it was from a pilot he did 16 years ago called "The Keys," I believe. When Tracey saw that photo of him earlier at the table she remarked on what a great picture it was of him with the curls in his hair, how handsome he was. I told Ben Tracey liked the pic too and then told him I loved his hair longer like it is now. LOL at his reaction to that. I think he knows I love it!!

Tracey asked if we wanted a picture of her and her son. We got one with her and Phillip. It was cute.

I had the chance to talk to Ben for a while about the show. He said he has to basically block Evian's history from his mind to play Julian the way he is now, and that's just so sad. I wish they wrote for him and Eve better. I told him how much they were rocking in their scenes though. They have been awesome despite the crazy storyline...and ugh to the fact that it looks like it is only going to get even crazier!! Valerie is apparently pregnant, and it's not hard to guess who the daddy is. They announced this later at the Halloween gathering too, so I am not letting the cat of the bag here. But man...how horrible is that! LOL, Ben patted Phillip's stomach there too when he told me Valerie aka Vincent was pregnant. I also learned Eve will soon be a patient in the hospital herself.

Tracey was talking to a fan who liked Evian during this time. She gave her the URL for Evian Dreams so she could come check it out, which is so cool. Hopefully she will come and check out the site.

We got pictures with Ben and Tracey together then, which was awesome. And we took some wonderful pics of them together as well. I mentioned not having one of Ben kissing Tracey, and he did, and then Tracey kissed him. My camera is so slow because of its red-eye reduction light, which Ben pointed out was one crazy light, LOL, that I missed his kiss and most of hers. But Jess got them, I think, and maybe Erica too.

Before Phillip left, he came over to tell Ben goodbye, calling him "Daddy." Phillip was very sweet. I mentioned to him about how I loved those revelation scenes with Eve and how I had written to SOD about their acting in those scenes, but they hadn't published it, and he thanked me for writing. He was very complimentary of Tracey and what he had learned from working with her.

We said our goodbyes to Ben and Tracey then. They were just so wonderful to come and spend time with their fans.

Tracey and Ben stopped to pet Seamus, the official mascot for apeaction, a large fluffy dog, on their way out, and we snapped some more pics.

Then we headed over to Universal City Walk to see the Halloween gathering. Tracey had decided not to do that too. She said it was easier for the young ones to do a bunch in one day. They had to leave the ape event and go back to the studio to get made up and then head over to the City Walk.

We got to see a lot of the cast walk in in different groups...Kathleen, Colton, Eva, Kim, McKenzie, Amy, Hannia, Heidi, Marianne, Andrea, Phillip, Eric, Christopher, Juliet, Emily and Erin. A highlight was getting to see Lindsay walk through the crowd right beside us with Justin and Isabella. He was carrying Isabella, who was so cute all dressed up. The only person we didn't see come in, I think, was Nicole, but she was there. We got to see her later in her little witch's costume, carrying a stuffed cat. Awww.

We watched the highlights of Passions on the giant screen there. There was some Evian - both good...their hot couch scene, and bad - Eve slapping him hard. We saw Tracey doing her 101 commercial too. We didn't join in to help set the world record, but we watched it all. Those in costume then got to go in and meet the cast. Thank goodness they handed out hats and capes to those who needed them, because many would have been disappointed if they didn't get to see them.

We then set out with Kent at the wheel, on a vendetta to get to the top of the Hollywood sign. We didn't quite make it, but we did see some gorgeous homes and got some awesome views of both the city skyline and the sign. They were great to take us sightseeing around Hollywood.

What a wonderful weekend it was. I loved getting to meet Jess, emelch, and her husband and aunt. I had so much fun at Universal with Jess and sightseeing with everyone. And, of course, I loved getting the chance to see Tracey and Ben again. They are just two wonderful people, plain and simple. It's easy to see why we love them so much!!

Ben and Tracey!!