Days Fan Weekend 2003: Arianne Sparkles!

The Days fest in May/June 2003 was another opportunity to see my Arianne Zuker Lowder. There were many events over the course of the weekend, and Arianne fortunately appeared at a number of them.

First we saw Ari at Kevin and Patrika's Last Blast on Saturday night, then we saw her at the Ladies of Days Brunch on Saturday morning and then finally at James Reynolds charity basketball game. It was great to see her appearing at so many events.

There was a lot going on for the whole weekend and if I wrote a total recap, I will be here for about a week..but I think I will just talk about some of my favorite moments with Arianne. I really enjoyed hearing her sing this time
around..she had taken lessons and I was really impressed how much she has grown as a singer.  But I think Tim is going to talk about this in his event recap..so I will move along and talk about the breakfast which occured on Sunday morning.

We were all excited to see that Arianne was going to be at the Days breakfast, especially when we realized her birthday was only two days away. We wanted to surprise her with something special..but what? My friend Diana and I were talking on line one night and trying to think about what she likes..and of course, we remembered Friends and we did get her a little Friends book also. But we needed something else. We were thinking of a cake, but I remember reading that Kyle and Ari are not too big on sweets. And then it hit us..artichokes! When she was interviewed for SOD , she mentioned how much she loves to cook and that her favorite dinner that she has every Thursday includes artichokes. I said.."that's it, an artichoke cake!" And Diana said, "they make cakes out of artichokes?" And I said.."No, silly, let's get an artichoke and put some candles in it and pretend it is a cake." hehe

So when we got to LA, my friend Tracie and I went shopping and bought two artichokes (one for Kyle for later). We also bought candles, flowers, a nice little pink bowl and a little platter. We put the artichoke in the bowl, which is turn sat on the platter, surrounded by flowers/leaves and the we stuck candles in the middle. We had it all set up at our table.

First they introduced the actresses and they sat on the stage to answer questions. She sat next to  Ali Sweeney and Kirsten Storms. We were thrilled to hear so many questions directed at Arianne..so many people wanted to learn more about her. People asked about her singing, her storyline and what character besides her own she would like to portray on Days  - she said Abe..cause he is
smooth and calm and has a very sexy voice.  

After the question and answer section, the actresses came down to speak with people at the tables. It was kind of late as there were a lot of questions and so they did not really get a chance to visit all the tables. It was lot
easier on Friday night with the men because that event was the end of the night and no one was racing to go elsewhere. The time was more limited at the ladies
event.

Ari fortunately was directed to start at our side of the room and our table was the third that she visited. When she came over, we lit the candles and we all sang Happy Birthday, as she giggled seeing her "artichoke" cake. She said, "This is incredible" and gave us some hugs. (She also said she heard Tim scream on Friday night before she started singing so she knew where our little group was sitting but she could not see us because of the lights.) We also gave her a little bag with a few birthday goodies inside...and a card signed by about 14 Arianne fans. I wish she had time to open her stuff there, but she was
being hustled from table to table, as she was actually on her way to rehearsal for a play she is performing in next week. So off she went.

The next time we saw her was at the basketball game. We knew she and Kyle were scheduled to attend but they did not arrive on time. Jim Reynolds mentioned that a few actors were delayed...we found out later that Kyle and Ari had to go to the airport to pick up Kyle's brother and his plane was a little late. Anyway they arrived at half time. Kyle and Ari  were both scheduled to be on the blue team but as they were creaming the other team, they moved Kyle to the yellow team to help out.

Ari sat on the sidelines for a while but then she was picked to play. She was running around trying to get the ball and trying to guard mostly Ali Sweeney, but mainly she kept putting her hands up around her nose. People around us were asking why she was doing that..we remembered that she was afraid of breaking it again. A few years ago on the Days set, she was in some active scene with Jensen Ackles as Eric I think...and somehow her nose got broken. I don't remember the details but she did not want that to happen again!  So she was a little nervous.

Anyway...she is in and out of the game and right near the end of the game, she gets hold of the basketball, and shoots it across the court. The ball hits the hoop, circles it a few times, unsure of whether or not it should fall in..but of course, it does. Ari makes a three point shot..whoohoo. Kyle was watching from the sidelines. After the shock registered, he got the biggest grin on his face I ever saw. A proud moment in the Lowder family.

After the game, all the actors came center court and took photos with fans and signed some autographs. Someone asked Kyle and Ari were asked to take photos
together so they hugged to get really close and posed. Of course, more people were asking them to "look here" and "turn this way."  It was not so easy to please everyone. So Kyle finally picked Ari up, carried her in his arms and just turned around in a circle so people could get them their photos from all angles. I heard her say to Kyle at one point,"Are you ok, how is your back?" I guess he was fine..he didn't put her down right away.

It was a fun afternoon. I was really pleased to see how much Arianne popularity has grown over the years. People asked her so many questions and really were clamouring around to see her. She is of course..the antithesis of Nicole She is friendly, charming, funny and made so many people smile by just being around her. She sparkles.

Thanks Arianne for the time you spent with us. We really appreciate it.