Sept. 4 Meet and Greet with Renee Elise Goldsberry Recap

A Day Trip to meet Renee Elise Goldsberry

Well Folks, I drove up to Harrisburg this morning with my daughters to share our love with Ms. Renee Elise Goldsberry. We started out -- nearly on time at 7:50 leaving north Baltimore and arrived with only minor confusion to meet Deborah and her friend Lois for breakfast just after 9:00. Deborah posts here and both she and her friend live near the site of the meet n greet.
I had a delightful time. Deb is such a winner. She is everything we JoVan knights are accused of: bright, professional, intelligent, interesting. No surprise there!! She made lovely certificates for Renee and for JoVan to give her the honors that the mags won't.
And her friend Lois is Llanview Lois!! (which was also exciting for me. LOL!!) She is very interesting and she told me about all the different columns she writes, her long-term appreciation of Mr. Easton's work and her hope to turn this skill into a true free-lance profession. So I am praying that she will achieve that goal. I am sure good things will come to her.

After breakfast (around 10:30) we were all eager to meet Renee. Deb had met her at the August fan events and Lois covered them for her column. Of course they reported that she was very personable. We drove to the Rite Aid and hung around. After 11 passed and no Renee, someone eventually came over to report that she would arrive closer to 11:30, since they had gotten turned around. There weren't a lot of people there waiting to se her -- around a 20 with the five of us were waiting (counting kids and spouses, etc.) so we waited in the shade of the building.
She arrives and is beautifully decked out in jeans, a short, hot pink poncho, a pink print top -- halter I believe -- that was bearing a bit of midriff and pink high heel sandals. She also wore little silver drop earrings with a pink stone --possibly a rose quartz with some inclusions or something earthier .   Her hair was up in a ponytail. She is as slender as you imagine she would be in order to look so fit and slim on screen.

There was a local radio station there and they announced her and noted that Evangeline had been having a steamy summer with John McBain, then they asked about Nat. Renee said there would definitely be more heat coming then demurred and provided the requisite triangle talk -- that it is a soap, so there would have to be some drama around the relationship and some involvement of John and Nat (do not trip, knights -- I didn't even pay that any attention). Then she said something about Evan and Nat maybe getting closer when they work together. We waited for those lined up to thin out a bit before going over to the tent they had set up. Renee was being so sweet with everyone -- picture a visual/verbal version of her emails. The girl ahead of us was all (I love you with ME, he is so hot, you are so lucky. I hated him with Natalie. hahahaha) Not the precise words, but you get the feeling. She had her 3 kids with her. They were cute (OT -- there was a person in a cat in the hat suit, so kids had more to do, but JoVan fan kids love JoVan too. LOL!)

She recognized Deb and Lois right away from the August events -- before it was their turn at the table. She was just so thrilled they had shown up. A bit of those rays of sunshine she beamed to them were shed in my direction -- very nice!! Deb presented the certificates she made, then Lois and Renee chatted some of Lois' column business and they took some pictures.   Renee said that John would be playing football with Evan and teach her to throw a ball (Renee knows how already, of course! LOL!).
My girls were salivating to get their turn with Ms. Renee, and their turn came. (I was even excited at this point) I presented Renee with three items. First, the OLTL-LOTR list.   She said she a bunch of people onthe cast would get a hoot out of it, especially TDS. That cracked me up, so I pointed out we had triple cast him as Elrond/Witch King of Angmar and the King of the Dead (since all will get in Aragorn's face for one reason or another and the we had cast John as Aragorn. LOL). She said TDS would love it and that he is a big nerd.    So am I, obviously (named my kids after SF TVcharacters!! LOL!) (I'll upload it to the list later tonight)

Second, I gave her copies of my poems. She is so cute, I had sent the haiku and she remembered those.. She was like, let me read them, and flipped to the first page. Then she was -- oh, I'll read them in the car on the way back. LOL! Other people were waiting and there was a bit of that in-drawn breath of oh no. don't read those right now. lol!! (but there were not that many people, so all knew they'ld get plenty of her time).

Then I gave her some brief info re: an agency where I am on the board--we promote youth development and serve youth in crisis, including short term shelters for runaway, homeless and youth transitioning through foster care or juvenile justice situations. I have been lobbying to get a soap star involved with our fundraising and 35th anniversary (next year). I mentioned my interest in Kristen Aldersen and the Mannings because of the runaway storyline from last year, but I like the idea of having someone involved from the get-go who I actively support. Then (I think, may have been earlier or later) she said that they had been at Jimmy and Kassie de Paiva's place last night and how sweet they are and how they were working to get Max back --mainly Kassie, of course!. [So if you liked Max, help them out in your email.] She said how sweet and wonderful they were.   I had planned only to ask Renee where to contact her officially regarding this, but she was down with it immediately -- the focus is similar to some volunteer work she did in LA! So she said count her in. I LOVE OUR GIRL!! Can't wait to tell my smug co-board members. They have been teasing me and laughing at me since I brought up the idea in May or so when I saw Grant Alexander on local news and got the idea -- long before JoVan for me. LOL!! (all good hearted, we are a big family. lol).

Then I remembered in my giddiness to tell her hello from this MB and that we love her and want everything good for her & her storyline & JoVan. I told her that we were lobbying for getting her a home. She said just a piece of a home would do. I said we were starting with the bedroom and everyone laughed -- Renee the loudest. :^D I asked if she would like to have Todd and Blairs' penthouse and she said she would. I told her i was determined we get her a place by December.

So then I was asking if there was anything else she wanted and she said yes. Since we are writing, she wants to sing on the show. I told her we had already talked about some scenarios -- told her about she would be playing piano in the hotel and singing and John come in and listen. She said of course then she would be embarrased that he heard her. LOL. She can join our writing team anytime. (FYI, I as going to ask her about singing, but forgot in my personal glee. glad she brought this up).

So then I took pics of my ladies with her (will upload later tonight). I didn't take a pic of me cuz I hate to be in photos, but I did go and get a big warm girlfriend hug. I told her she portrayed the only characer on daytime who was truly like me and my friends, who was strong and professional and knew what tough girls do. She laughed and then sort of did a double take and said "I said that" and I reminded her it was in this week's show, which she shot 5 weeks ago. lol!

Then I got out of the way. Our line was short, but loyal and Renee was truly glad to be meeting the fans.

Oh yes, she invited us to contact her if ever in NYC -- and she will organize to bring us on the stage. Hmmm...haven't been to my fav dim sum place in a while.   I wonder if I can fanagel any meetings in NY in the next cpl months.

It was really worth the trip -- I also went to my favorite weaving school and didn't even feel the need to spend a lot of cash to make the trip "worthwhile".
I had a great time and so did my daughters (who loved meeting Ms. Renee!!). I forgot to ask tons of things, but it wasn't an interrogation and my main goal, to show our love and support was achieved.

love and light

geri/insight spinner

Pictures from our visit
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