Cute:

Okay--now that photo is just too cute--a Sir Robin bear for Sir Robin.

And now seeing Clay with the jacket on...he really doesn't look "old manish" any more...in fact I think he looks well dressed and just as hot as always. If I had seen that photo from the beginning, I wouldn't have been as concerned about his fashion sense. It simply looks like a suit with a vest...and I think he looks quite handsome.

I think that's his long tan overcoat ...even hotter than a sportcoat. I think he's trying out for the Spamalot narrator. He's got the look down pat.

*sung to the tune of Twisted Sister's "We're not Gonna Take It"*

Oh we just want a tour now!
Yes, we want a tour now!
and NO! We're not taking "soon" anymore!

We've got the right to choose
we'll bug Jerome until you lose
This is our way of life, and we want new songs
We'll fight RCA, Jaymes and even Reed!
anybody with that powers that be
to get you back where you belong.

We just want a tour now
Yes we want a tour now
and you can sing "covers" if you want.

Your banters so condesending
We want L.A.A. to be never-ending
We want "nothing", but glory notes, dancing and thrusting.
Unless you want your fans to start to sue,
Your life is exciting and sequestered
Spam was great, but a tour is long over-due.

We're not gonna take this
No we're not gonna take this
We want a tour this year
right away!

Gonna try and make you
Circulate rumors till we break you
to blog and say
We're coming yaw'l way!

Here's a picture of the Dion Dinner Group with Clay!

Clay and his Harem!!



Here's the list of people in the picture... but not neccessarily in this order!!

angelty
carol520
ClaysFayevorite
claym8
irishbookgal
mercedes
ncwannabe
terter
toni7babe
winkatme

Recaps from the Dion Dinner from the CV:

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(toni7babe @ Jan 20 2009, 10:54 PM) From Raleigh from the CV 10 GROUP RECAP Early this afternoon we were contacted by the BAF before it had been announced to the public that the Celine Dion concert had been cancelled. Since we were all from out of town and traveling home tomorrow and unable to attend the rescheduled concert the BAF bent over backwards to work out a beautful evening for us with Clay. We are now back from our 3 hour dinner with Clay, Jaymes, Faye, Jerome, & Cheryl (Clay's assistant). Clay was kind enough to arrange a beautiful dinner for us. Dinner was excellant, the conversation and the company was even better. Thank you Gov. Purdue for declaring a state of emergency *g* because things worked out better than we could have ever imagined. Clay was wearing jeans, that had button pockets on the back, puffy black jacket, gym shoes, dark navy sweater the one that he had on in the recent pic with Ruben and the Broadway Star interview with a gray T-Shirt under it. His hair looked very natural, not styled a little messy with some highlights. He looked adorable, gorgeous, amazing...you get the drift. After a leisurely dinner and excellant conversation Cheryl took with Clay's camera a few group pictures of us all and individual pictures of us with Clay and will forward them to us. He also signed items with some very cute original personal touches on each item. Individually we will share those tidbits and pics when we get them. As you all know Clay called xxx4clay who is in the hospital and was unable to be here with us. We had asked him if he would and he was more than happy to call her. It was a wonderful evening we will never forget. Clay did say several times that our conversations tonight were to stay at the table. We LOVE HIM more than ever and it was a totally unforgettable evening. OMG!!! WE LOVE HIM SO!!! BTW: It is WELL WELL QUOTE (angelty @ Jan 22 2009, 12:14 AM) I think I'm the last one home. I had a 3 hour bus ride that took over 5 hours. Sheesh. And then a 1.5 car ride back to the condo with DH, stopping to eat and debriefing. lol.. It all seems surreal. I miss everyone already. What a wonderful group of fans. Val, you are the best. I can't post what I had signed because my scanner is back in Pa. while we are wintering in Myrtle Beach. But Clay signed a picture of him and me that was taken during Broadway Cares the night I was the peasant and I am holding the foot. He signed it...Shirley, Find Your Grail, Clay Aiken. I'll try to remember to post it when I get back to Pa. in the Spring. I want to send out a huge thank you to Kristy, Clay, and BAF for working with us and making plan B happen. It wasn't an easy job, but the evening went beyond all our expectations. Clay was adorable, relaxed, and extremely gracious. He treated us with respect and it felt like chatting with an old friend. I was lucky enough to sit directly across from Jaymes and Clay was beside her, so my vision was perfect. OMG, he is gorgeous. Clay in a man in charge. And a man content. I got no vibes that he is anything other than happy with the blessings he has in his life. He was surrounded by love at that table and you could feel it. QUOTE (claym8 @ Jan 21 2009, 08:07 PM) Hi CV. I'm finally home. I think I floated from Raleigh to Rhode Island. It didn't even feel like I was in a plane. I feel like I have about 3 million words I need to get out of my brain and into this post. Unfortunately, I'm exhausted and must take a shower, go to bed, and sleep so I can start my classes in the morning (I cut yesterday, hee). So I can only say a little bit of all those words and hope I don't do too badly. I've been reading for a couple of hours all over the place and not linearly, following links from the index thread, focus thread, nested quotes, etc. I did read a lot last night and commented a few times under terter's login. The first thing I have to say is a sincere thank you to all who posted, PM'd and emailed me last night and today. This is such a special place indeed! The second thing I have to say is that I understand how many of you feel who are a little (or a lot) upset about the fact that we can't actually give any specifics of our conversation last night. Believe me, if I had been sitting in my seat refreshing for hours, pacing back and forth, I would have been a little more than disappointed about what I finally read. But I think I would have understood, or at least understood, why it had to be that way. and I'm sure I would have been too chicken to say anything about it. Our group post from last night took over an hour to write, believe it or not. I lost count of how many times Toni read it back to us and how much discussion went on over each word, from all 10 of us! She was very brave (and askeered) to press the submit button! We have all agreed wholeheartedly to keep all conversation among ourselves. So if you ever hear any "insider scoop" about last night, it won't have come from one of us. (I hope) I did have a couple of posts quoted but (of course) lost them all. Rats. there were a couple of comments that were so right on and I am too tired to remember them. So I'll try to badly paraphrase. BAF and Kristy were devastated about the cancellation. They immediately offered us tickets for the following night and promises to defray our extra expenses. Unfortunately I and a few others could not stay the extra time. I told the others to go and enjoy but (being the good CVers they are) refused. All for one. We sang! When I spoke with Kristy she explained their dilemma: legally that have to honor the offer from the auction. They can't do anything else but fulfill their promise. I made it clear back to her that (a) we as a group didn't give a rat's ass about the Celine concert (sorry Celine) (b) whatever they offered had to be yesterday and not today © it had to include all of us and (d) it had to include Clay for at least 2 hours. I suggested a restaurant (most were close due to weather), a meeting room, a board room, Clay's house, and a few other locations. She took it all in and said "I'll have to get back to you" and I thanked her and hung up quickly. This was at around 3:30 or 4 I think. It took her over an hour to get back to us. We were all sitting in Toni et al's room all this time. All 10 of us. It was a trip! She called back with 2 options: (1) go tomorrow night; we'll cover costs or (2) We can spend one hour with Clay eating and talking. The group gasped at the one hour, from 6-7). I asked for 1 1/2 hours. Problem is Clay and Jerome are timid about driving in "weather." Hee Southerners. [who knew I was such a good negotiator? not me]. I selected Option 2 and she said she'd get back to me if they could find a hotel. Waited and waited. And waited and waited. And waited and waited. At 6:05 she FINALLY called back. OK you can have your option: Dinner at a restaurant (I don't know its name but it's not a secret as far as I'm concerned; I just don't know it but it starts with "M" IIRC), Clay will sign one thing, Jerome will take pictures and send us a CD. No cameras, No recording devices allowed. No cell phones. Kristy said Clay wanted it to be intimate and not all distrupted by media collection and he wanted to just be able to relax with us and be ourselves. Finally I had to sign a waiver accepting the "lesser prize" [did she forget about the rat's ass???] OK. We agreed bundled into cars and off we went! So that's the back story. Clay really didn't want to have to analyze anything he said. He just wanted it to be fun and "extra special" for us because of what we were "giving up." We were a little upset about the cameras. We got over it. FAST! I didn't bring anything (to Raleigh) to sign! Never thought of it. So I have an IOU. I'll scan and post it after I finish this. ----------------------------------- So the only other thing I have time to add is this interesting bit: while we were recapping and eeeee-ing et cetera, Someone remembered something. Repeated it. About 4 people remembered 4 different versions of the exact same thing. We had a lengthy discussion and finally agreed to disagree on two different interpretations. And we were all there and all heard it. YIKES!!!! we said. Can you imagine if we actually posted the actual words how hard it would be for anyone on the boards reading it to "get it?" So much of Clay is facial expressions and vocal expressions. We heard it; we couldn't agree. You see the problem? In this way, I'm actually kinda happy he made his rules!!!! (and HE made the rules; not Jerome. Nothing was stated as off limits and nothing went un-answered IMPORTANT PIECE I FORGOT: There is a distinct possibility (in my and Toni's opinions) that Clay was actually on the line the Kristy when I was doing my negotiating and "rat's assing" OK. Here's the scan. He actually signed the back of my copy of the "waiver" document. And YES, that IS a wink!!!!!! Reduced 83% 850 x 1169 (99.97K) Toni Good Morning CV!! Have a great day everyone! Seems like Monday to me. CV10 Miss y'all already claym8 Thank you for everything and just love you and thanks again ------ I just wanna move on and forget about some of the nasty IMO PM's I received at various places and I have. But thank you to many who sent some wonderful kind supportive PM's. So appreciated them! After sleeping and letting everything sink in I still can't get over how wonderful Clay was to us all. Those moments after we heard the concert was cancelled till the next day and most of us already had flights leaving that day were moments where all our hearts sank. BUT Kristy was absolutely wonderful! Initially she couldn't reach claym8 and was calling me so I know first hand how hard she was trying to make everything work. claym8 was magnificant negotiating with her. And we wanted to wait till she claym8 got home last night before we talked of how it all came back and some other things and let her our organizer talk of that and other things first. I do want to just say to everyone Clay was incredible. He was funny, talkative and open, kind, snarky, adorable, ...............everything all rolled into one. He was the most gracious host possible. He had preordered everything food wise for us and when something wasn't at the table food wise noticed it right away. Jaymes who I sat next to and Faye, Cheryl and Jerome were also so wonderful and gracious and very interesting to talk too. No rules at all but what claym8 said already....which was no cameras, recording devices or video. Clay brought his own camera for the pictures. I thought he looked so happy and at ease with us and what was initially suppose to be 1 1/2 hours stretched on. Never did he not respond to us about something we asked him. He was wonderful. Open and honest, friendly and snarky and kind and YES GORGEOUS!! Clay and Jaymes and Faye all treated us like they were so comfortable talking to us and made us feel very special. I think he sincerely wanted to make this a special evening for us and everyone felt bad that the night was not what we initially had thought it would be. BUT the night turned out to be more than we ever thought it would be. Spending 3 hours sitting and talking to the man was wonderful. He is a delight but y'all know that. Sitting next to Jaymes offered me the opportunity to have many conversations with her. She was very kind and easy to talk too. She looked great in jeans and a dark sweater. Sometimes when Clay and I would be talking, he would lean back in his chair as he was next to Jaymes on one side and me on the other and I would lean back and we would talk behind her back as she leaned forward to talk to who was sitting across from her. One time in my mind I was just like OMG here I am sitting like this talking to Clay. He gave everyone his complete attention. Anyways, those who know me know...I suck at writing, truly do.... but I have to say that Clay & group and BAF just so went out of their way to make this something special for us and OH BOY did they ever!! It was wonderful and Clay sure looked happy and so cute! Oh and the hair............. it looked so cute. Casual, not styled, sticking up a bit. A rich color with highlights and maybe a bit of a trim he had as it looked a weeee bit shorter to me, but maybe I was in the fog. Ok, enough of my ramblings........ seems like Monday and best get to work, but after a good night sleep I wanted to put a few things into words. Others will I am sure do so MUCH better than me. Much to love to the CV10!

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Carol Well I'm home and still pinching myself to believe that it actually happened. Thanks again Val for being our leader and getting it to happen. You are the best!! He was amazing ... he looked gorgeous, was charming and ever the gracious host. I had Clay sign the On My Way Here CD … he asked me if I spelled my name with an "e" and I told him no "e" … so now he writes Carole … why would I put an "e" right after you told me not to? I'm stupid! Use your voice. Clay Aiken. He said he was sorry that he made the mistake … kept apologizing for it. My name is actually Carolyn and I said are you able to make it read Carolyn instead ... and he did ... came out fine. My printer/scanner doesn't work so I am unable to scan it. If I am able to do it from work I will scan it then. Terri I am not a recapper AT ALL, so I appreciate the amount of time and detail you put into your post. I want to just add a couple of things that happened on our end of the table. As ncwannabe said so well, there were different conversations going on at the same time. I spoke with Faye quite a bit. She was very gracious and friendly as she always is. It was just so cute to see her sitting there beside Clay. I just couldn't believe it! Also, Jerome was sitting beside Faye and let me tell you he is a sweetheart! He was very engaged in conversation, laughing with Clay and us. He is so nice and has such a warm personality. We are SO lucky to have him looking after our BF. He truly is wonderful. As we got ready to leave we were putting on our coats, etc. we all thanked Clay, Jerome, Faye, Cheryl and Jaymes. Clay asked who was driving and I sort of raised my hand to let him know that I would be driving one of the cars back to the hotel. At that point he was still putting on his coat and I was at the other end of the table where we had all gathered to leave. He came towards me as he exchanged goodbyes, etc. with everyone. I held out my hand to give him and hand shake and my 'thank you'. Before he shook my hand he sort of grabbed my sleeve near my wrist, looked directly into my eyes and said "Please be careful". GAHHHHHHHHHHH!! His look of concern almost made me cry. How sweet is he?! OMG! I promised him I would. Then he gently squeezed my hand and left me standing there drooling. When it was my turn to have my pic I was nervous, but only because I've ALWAYS wanted a prom pose with him. I've never had an individual picture with him, so I promised myself if I ever had the chance I would ask. I did and he said "Sure!". EEEEEEEEEEE!!! So I put my arm around him and his very soft sweater and he put his arm around me. He took my other hand in his and then stood cheek to cheek with me. Here's the best part! Something happened with the camera, so he and I kinda kept our pose until Cheryl could get ready for us. Without moving anything but my lips I said "Oh, please take your time!". Clay thought it was cute I guess because he gave me a little giggle. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! It was just the best moment ever!!!! His cheek was sooooo soft and his hand was very warm. I can't WAIT to get the picture! As Notice the "wink" for winks signed item made it home and I'm sooooo tired, but it's a VERY happy tired. *heavy contented sigh* Since claym8 posted her signed item I'll go ahead and post a pic of mine. Clickable Terri Toni I brought my I Will Carry YOU CD. It was the one sent to radio stations when the song was released for a single. I had bought it on Ebay. It's my fav professional pic of Clay after the All is Well CD cover pic. I told him that and he said All is Well pic he liked also. Jaymes had never seen the CD and wanted to see it and asked questions about it. He signed To Sam, All My Love Always, Clay Aiken Note: Sam is my real name not toni that's my board name OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How sweet!! Clay took a lot of care with signing all of our items and wrote some cute funny things on every item. All different I think. And guess what you can read his signature well haha!! I LOVE HIM!! QUOTE (claym8 @ Jan 21 2009, 10:59 PM) OK. I'm gonna post this last post and then I'm going to sleep. Be forewarned. It might be a doozie. (I don't get mad often, but when I do, watch out. Just ask Kristy ) I just might post this in almost-ADMIN GREEN I'm so SERIOUS about this. This post can and should travel throughout the Clay Nation. Here goes: Please Please lay off toni7babe immediately. She is getting slammed in PMs all over the place (not just here). I have no idea who is sending them, but if they're all llike the sampling she read to us last night they are NOT fun. So I need to state clearly I hope: TONI WAS THE MESSENGER LAST NIGHT. SHE POSTED FOR ALL OF US. WE WROTE THE POST. SHE DID NOT. SHE ONLY TYPED IT. WE ALL HELPED WITH WORDING AND SPACING AND EMOTICON CHOICE. SHE CLICKED SEND. IT CAME FROM ALL OF US. Anything else you get from us will be filled with eeeee and gleeeeee. We are comfortable now that we set the limits and within the limits we can now share. Please do not ask for more. Don't PM any of us for more. Don't "hint" for more. Ask your questions if you must, but don't ask why we might not respond. We will give you want we can. From here on out, each of will post what we're comfortable with or not post at all but it will be all within the guidelines of our CV10 agreement. If you don't like it, scroll. Don't pout. Talk about us ALL behind our backs but LEAVE TONI ALONE.

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Mercedes Sherri's recap was spot on.. I had the worst seat but to be honest, I didn't really care. I had a perfect view. I loved watching his every movement. I never once felt out of the conversation even though I was at the end of the table. His assistant was lovely and I had a nice conversation with her. I was the first to take a picture with Clay. I put both arms around him and I just wanted to hug him. He felt so good to hug... Carol was next. He checked the camera and decided we both needed a redo. Very fine with me!!! The second pic I opted not for the hug. I didn't want to overstep... He was so generous the entire evening.. Warm, friendly and funny. He certainly takes charge and commands the conversation. As we already know, he is so gifted... He definitely has IT!!!!!! NCwannabee I think some of you have read my recaps before. I love writing recaps and usually attempt to bring in as many details as I can. This will be my attempt to help you get a feel of how wonderful our dinner with Clay turned out to be! First, when we found out the concert was cancelled, we were mere minutes away from heading out the door to go out to eat before getting to the concert. Kristy had given us instructions to make sure we headed out plenty early due to the poor weather conditions and the fact that people in the south "don't know how to drive in snow." We were scheduled to be at will call at 7:00, and our M&G with Celine was to be at 7:30. We were all very excited, were full of anticipation and were pretty giddy at the prospect of a very unique evening. Therefore, when we got the phone call that the concert had been cancelled, it was deflating to say the least. However, for me, I remember thinking from the get-go that everything would turn out okay. I knew the BAF would find a way to make things right for us. Many of our group are from the north or midwest, and we were looking out the window in disbelief that this had happened because by this point, the snow had stopped and the roads that we could see looked fairly clear. Where we were from, this would have been a laugher and certainly would not have prompted a "state of emergency." But, that's what happened and now we were faced with the reality that our night at the concert was no longer possible. I'll skip the whole 2 hour scenario when we were back and forth in contact with Kristy. It boiled down to the fact that we had 2 options. Try to stay over another day and attend the concert on Wed. night, or do dinner with Clay tonight (Tues). Since the majority of the group could not stay another day (even though the BAF was willing to work with us in assisting with travel arrangements and paying for extra costs), we had work responsibilities that could not permit us to stay. As a group we made our "All for One" decision that we were in this together and so we chose to go with option B (dinner with Clay), even though at the time it was offered it was to be of a shorter duraton than the concert would have been. However, we determined this was the best option, and off we went with excitment which was, albeit, tempered just a bit by some concern about our limited time frame and whatnot. (as an aside, Kristy told me later that she was looking into all kinds of options (since many restaurants had closed and she had an extremely difficult time finding one that could accommodate us) including bowling (as Claym8 mentioned) as well as ice skating.) We piled into two cars for the cold and potentially icy trip to the restaurant, with me driving my trusty Subaru following Terri blindly (I still couldn't tell you where we were!) to the restaurant. I can only speak for my car, but as were we getting closer to arriving, our spirits really began soaring as we realized the full impact of what we were about to experiece. It began to sink in that we would have Clay's undivided attention for as long as we remained at dinner. We vowed to eat sloooooowly LOL! When we parked, I think we all began to giggle a bit with nervous anticipation and several of us mentioned how nervous we were beginning to feel (and that we had to pee!) Maggianos was perfect, and they had a long table set up for us that was located away from the general seating area by a wooden partition wall that went up to about shoulder level. Thus we could have our privacy, but yet not feel cut off from the rest of the restaurant. We filed in and took our seats, with 8 of our group sitting on one side of the table, while Toni and I sat on the opposite side. Faye and Clay's assistant Cheryl had arrived just moments after we did, and they graciously welcomed us. The restaurant had everything all ready for us, with bowls of salad and some appetizers already waiting on the table. They told us we could start, but we wanted to wait for Clay (and, of course, prolong things -- we're sneaky that way!) Shortly after, Jerome came in and gave us the rules (very few -- no cameras of our own and no recording) and then Clay came striding in with a big smile, followed by Jaymes. He sat down on my side of the table, and from the very beginning he was the Man in Charge! Before I get ahead of myself, I'll tell you the seating arrangements. On my side, it was Cheryl, me, Toni, Jaymes, Clay, Faye, a skipped seat and then Jerome. Opposite from Jerome and starting the other side it was Ibg, ClaysFayevorite, TerTer, Wink, AngelTY, Claym8, Carol, and Mercedes. Thusly, let me tell you, I spent the entire evening apologizing to Cheryl that she saw my back the whole time (which we laughed about and said she understood completely) and literally I draped myself halfway across the table so as to be able to see the man while we all conversed. I had to look past Jaymes as well as Toni in order to be able to see Clay. But it was no problem, really, as Clay truly made every effort throughout the entire dinner to meet us eye to eye constantly. If one of us asked a question, he addressed you directly in response, and then made sure to look at us all as the conversation would progress from that point. In other words, we all got plenty of eye contact throughout the evening, whether we were the ones asking questions, or he was freely talking on his own accord. I'm sure every time he looked my way he was met with this unwavering stare coming from me while I propped my head on my hands as I was leaning forward. Goodness knows, I probably had drool coming out of my mouth along with the vacant stare!!! He treated us all with the utmost of respect and he was an extremely gracious host, always making sure we had enough food and we were okay. (and, trust me, the food was delicious and very plentiful. The main courses were spaghetti, chicken parm, fettucini Alfredo and lasagna -- and all were yummy. Dessert was cheesecake and chocolate cake -- to die for!) Clay's manner was totally charming and very engaging. As I said, he was in charge. Conversation flowed freely and easily -- not stilted or awkward. He didn't seem to mind any questions, but we were also respectful and didn't venture into any what we considered "private" areas. He appeared to be totally at ease, as did Faye, who, from what I was told from others (as I was too far away from her) also joined into the conversation at times as well as conversed with others down at that end of the table. Jaymes was quiet initially, but later joined into the conversation as well. And I know she also had some very nice separate discussions with others. So, there was cross talk and several conversations going on at once at times. It truly felt like going out to dinner with a bunch of friends. Despite our group's initial nervousness, I think I can safely speak for all of us that we relaxed within minutes of Clay arriving. He truly just puts you at ease. I remember that at times Clay would be eating and someone asked a question or he wanted to inject something, he would hold his hand in front of his mouth while holding up his other hand in that universal signal of "wait till I'm done chewing a bit and I'll say something profound" thing. Oh, and here's a fun and interesting tidbit for y'all. Clay did this unique and unusual thing with the straw in his drink. He flattened and folded it down against the edge of his cup facing away from him. However the end of it he folded back up so that it extended out at an angle. So, when he reached to take a drink, he would always grab his glass in such a way that he held down the flattened portion of the straw against his glass while that end was sticking out at the angle which was just past his hand. He did not use the straw to drink, obviously. (This is kind of hard to describe in words and I invite the other members of the group to contribute to this description to help make it more clear!) Anyway, as dessert was winding down and coffee ordered (ha -- are we good at extending or what????), we were asked to bring forth our items we wanted signed. (and, btw, even though I'm joking about extending the time, Clay in no way whatsoever seemed to be in a hurry to leave.) I wasn't prepared (just hadn't thought about bringing anything to be signed) but I happened to have my ticket to the last Spam performance in my purse, so I had him sign that. Cheryl collected the items from us and took them to Clay, making sure to get our names spelled properly. Of course, that didn't happen sometimes (I'll let Carol expand on that one!) Then it was time for pics. We scouted out the best place, and Clay "assumed the position." We, one by one, went up and had individual pics taken. This is where I've fallen into the fog before, and I kept telling myself to try to make sure that didn't happen. He started on the other side of the table from me, but then as "traffic" clogged a bit (as they attempted to pass each other and it got further down the table), in the lull he called me up ('Sherri, get up here") and I obediently jumped to my feet to take my rightful place (hee hee) by his side. And I remember it!!!!! I put my arm around his back and I distinctly remember holding it there and thinking "hmmm, this sweater is thick and soft." Cheryl, who was taking the pictures, seemed to have a tad of trouble getting the camera to click so it took just a bit of extra time. I was really upset about that -- NOT! Anyway, soon the individual pics were done and we were told to "arrange ourselves" for the group photo. We congregated against the wall and he walked up and just kneeled (or is that Dennis'ed) in front of us. His shoulder was right there -- just right there --- in front of me and it was an involuntary and natural inclination to put my hand on it. I did so, then realized what I had done and I think I even said "Oh! Can I do that?" The answer was affirmative and soon I think he had several more hands on his broad and totally capable shoulders!!!! Gah!!!! Alas, pics were done and all good things must come to an end. We all shook hands (everyone included) and with final admonitions for careful driving given to us, Clay and co. were off into the sunset (well, moonlight, but you get the drift) with Clay in his puffy coat, I might add! We all hugged and EEEEEEd and squeed and (finally!) peed and stole some roses (with permission) and floated off to our cars for the drive home. We made a beeline for our spot in the hotel restaurant/lounge area and commenced our looooooong attempt at a post. We so wanted to share with our loving board home our excitement and our joy. Eventually they kicked us out of the restaurant and we moved to the lobby in front of the fireplace. There we stayed until about 3:00 AM!!! I think we were still floating, and we read with gratitude some very wonderful and supportive posts by many of you. Some posts were not so supportive, but I understand wanting to feel a part of and the frustration that can ensue when one feels excluded. That was never our intent in any way. I put myself in the shoes of those of you at home, waiting with joyful anticipation to hear about our evening and I know I would be just as anxious to hear something. But, as the evening turned out, it was just intended to be a dinner where the conversation flowed freely without any thought of us needing to parse what was said, what wasn't said, what could be reported, what did that remark mean, what did Faye say, did you all hear that or did I hear it wrong, I don't know what that meant, did Jaymes say this or that, etc. As Claym8 remarked, just as we talked amongst ourselves, we realized that our interpretations of certain very generic remarks were completely different from each other. Imagine trying to come to agreement on conversations made throughout the length of the entire dinner. Totally impossible!!!! Anyway, I hope this helps to paint a bit more of a picture of what the evening was like. We're thrilled to be able to share our experience with you all. You are our CV family. Thank you sincerely for your support, care and true concern when our initial plans fell through. We felt that, we really did. It was a magical evening. An unforgettable evening. An evening with special, special cv friends. An evening in which I was reminded that Clay is just a guy, a down-to-earth regular Joe, in addition to being a mad-talented singer and actor. Sometimes I think it helps to be reminded of that for me. That he and his family and the BAF were all gracious enough to, at the last minute, go along with the change of plans to make sure we were happy speaks volumes as to the type of individuals (and organization) they are. It meant the world to us that we could still experience something all together. And it turned out to be better then I think any of us could have imagined. I'll never, never, never forget it. And, finally, I'm not sure you'll understand this, but, for me, the evening was almost like reality suspended in time, except for the fact that it was so very real.

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Bridgett/IrishBookGal Mom is Claysfavorite Fortunately I don't think any of us spilled or dribbled. We did good! LOL, we may have drooled a little though! I was amazed that I didn't spill something because I was so nervous at first my hands were shaking. I'd been a nervous wreck since we started getting ready for Celine that afternoon and even more so once it was determined we were going to dinner with Clay. Going to dinner with Clay was something from a dream, not something that could really, really happen. It did though and I had to keep pinching myself (and ClaysFayevorite in the car while we were on our way to make sure it was really happening. As nervous as I was, the moment Clay walked in and we introduced ourselves and shook his hand (oh so warm even though it was oh so cold out), all my nerves subsided and I was as calm as could be. I was amazed I could sit there with Clay and actually eat! Clay, Jerome, Faye, Jaymes, and Cheryl were all so friendly and welcoming and made us all feel so completely comfortable. Jerome is the sweetest guy and Faye is just adorable. And then there is Clay, as charming and gracious as ever...gah!!! Even if you weren't the one talking to him or asking him a question, he drew you in, smiling and making eye contact with those sparkling, dancing eyes! I am hopelessly in love with the way his nose crinkles when he laughs and smiles. I was fascinated by those long fingers and the way they curled around his glass each time he took a drink. The thing he did with his straw, folding it over each time he took a sip, was the funniest, cutest thing! I'd taken my Peasant foot along just in case we were able to get something signed at the concert. LOL, I'd even put a sock on it when I packed it to protect it and keep it from getting scratched. I'm so happy I was able to get it signed with a little message for me to "find your grail". Jerome asked me when I was a peasant and he was impressed that my peasant foot was still in one piece. When it was time for our pictures, I started to get a little nervous again; too nervous to ask for a special pose. He did put his arm around me and I put my arm around him. His sweater was very soft and his cheek, even softer! I wasn't really sad when our time with Clay came to an end as it was more than I ever imagined it could be. It was so much fun to relive everything over and over with the group once we got back to the hotel. claym8, ClaysFayevorite, terter, toni, Wink, mercedes, carol, angelty, and ncwannabe, you are all so amazing and special to me . I'm so thrilled we were able to do this together! I love you all!! While I wasn't sad when our evening with Clay was at an end, I was sad when it was time for all of us to go our separate ways. I will never, ever forget that night and treasure every memory from our time together. I am eternally thankful to Clay, Kristy, the BAF…everyone who scrambled hard to make something wonderful happen for us that night. xxx, my heart melted when Clay called you on the phone. He was so precious! You were there with us in spirit the entire night and Clay's calling you made the night even more magical. I thought of you many times throughout our dinner and I'm sure the others did as well. We had one lone empty chair at our table and it stayed there the entire night. No one tried to move it away or put something on it. It felt like that was your chair and you were right there with us, grinning from ear to ear, laughing...maybe drooling just a little. You were there. WINK Okay…now for the fun part! Dinner with Clay!!! I had been dancing on air at the prospect of being with Clay at the Celine concert and the fact that it turned into dinner with Clay because of the weather was just as exciting. I had no expectations on what would happen in either scenario so I was basically "along for this amazing ride". We walked into the restaurant and Faye greeted us…she is so sweet and just a beautiful woman. We remained gathered in the foyer, pinching ourselves as to what would happen. When the hotel staff brought us to the area where we would be having dinner, there was no clue as to how to sit. It was a very long table with 16 seats dressed in red and white checkered linen cloths and filled with a bounty of appetizers. Huge bowl of Caesar salad and garden salad, bread with little plates of olive oil for dipping, platters with fried mozzarella, and platters of onions with mozzarella and tomatoes dressed with basil and olive oil. This was all set as one for each four people. OMG! We stood around the table a bit because Faye didn't want to sit since she didn't know where to put Clay when he arrived. I stopped walking around the table at a spot halfway through just in case he sat at either end. We all gathered in but remained standing. Then Faye selected 4 seats together in the middle of the other side of the table for her family and we sat. We were told to begin serving ourselves and drink orders were taken. No one wanted to eat until the rest of our party (Clay) arrived. Jerome came in smiling and giving us the little rules about cameras and recording devices and had Claym8 sign a waiver accepting this dinner as a replacement for the original prize of the Celine concert. She happily signed and off Jerome went to get Clay. I think that may have been when I began pinching dear Angelty's leg. ( sorry…hope you don't have bruises). I was beside myself with joy. Jerome, Clay & Jaymes strolled in and took their seats. Clay sat right across from me…..EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! I am never that lucky. The table was so narrow, I could have reached out and touched him. (Again angelty…sorry about that leg squeeze too). He asked us each of our names and shook our hands before sitting down. He is an amazing looking man. Dressed casually and very clean looking….shaven and hair combed but not styled. He was so cute and relaxed right away. One cute thing….As he was looking over everything already out on the table, he was encouraging us to start eating. He looked at the fried mozzarella in front of the two of us and wanted to try it. They were in squares and cut diagonally across and meant to be able to take a triangle at a time. He tried to pick up a piece but the melted cheese had started to gel together and it was tough to pull a piece off. I reached my fork over and held the part that he was trying to pull away from but only the little corner of his piece wound up on his fork. He placed it on his plate and didn't try to retrieve the rest. Now, what guy does that? His first batch of sweet tea was the best….the rest he needed to add more sweetener to. I think he left that straw in his glass as a stirrer but didn't want to drink out of the straw, thus the bending it over to drink from the glass. And a chance for us to see those long, clean-scrubbed fingers. He was so gracious. As he was talking, he made sure he faced Claym8's way a lot who was diagonally across from him. But he would look around to all of us and make eye contact. He enjoyed his spaghetti but actually ate little since he talked a lot. He doesn't talk with food in his mouth but as he swallows, covers his mouth with his fingers as he thinks about what he wants to say when he is finished. He certainly admired the yummy cheesecake several times but refrained from taking any. As we got up from the table, Claym8 went over to Clay and spoke quietly asking if he could make a phone call to our dear friend who was unable to attend. Clay was quickly happy to do it and was so sweet. As he spoke with xxx, I began tearing up. It is an image I have frozen in my brain…he was standing sideways from me so I could see his profile and he had on a nice smile, as if he was actually seeing her as he spoke. I will never forget that special glimpse. I don't want to repeat what others have already shared so I guess that is it. When the last picture was taken, the reality that it was over was coming over us….no one wanted to leave. But it was clearly over. The restaurant staff offered for us to take a rose from a huge display and I did…I think he knew it was a special time for us. I cannot thank Clay, Kristy, Faye, Jerome and Cheryl enough for making this happen. Kristy worked very hard and was involved in making arrangements for hours. They are all truly remarkable. When they could have easily said that they needed to stick with the prize offered, they tried hard to make us happy with a resolution to the problems. They went against their fears to go out in what for them was bad weather to meet us. Clay is a man….the man…and while he still has his sweet quirks and can look boyish at times, he is a MAN who looks content and is just plain gorgeous inside and out. I admire him more every time. This of course was a once in a lifetime but I am so impressed I could just cry. He is not a celebrity to me anymore, just an amazing man who happens to be given a gift from God to share with many people. He is a very special man!

the pictures that were supposed to be in with the recaps....

please figure out where they go!!

WOW....just WOW.....to all these recaps. Thanks cha cha, for posting them here. I've definitely turned a shade of green reading these stories - so green I could probably play the part of Alphaba in "Wicked!" Makes me sad, tho, that various fans sent nasty PMs and emails to some of the ladies involved - how petty and childish can you get?

Sooooo...here's my plan. The NEXT time some auction is taking place that involves being with the man....let's do what the CV gals did and bid together. We'll throw our large bid out there and win and have a great adventure together. We could get 10 of us to bid, right? Oh yeah, I forgot that even divided by 10, it has to be a very large amount that each person bids, yes? Like a few grand each? Oh well, my fantasy was nice while it lasted!

P.S. Who is this Terri person to whom Clay wrote: "I'll love you forever." I want to be her.

Read this because it confirms why we follow this man!

WHAT IS THE TRUE MEASURE OF A MAN?

Is it the hip-hop singer who cries foul when he doesn't win?
Or the pop-singer who came in second and was nothing but happy for the friend who won.

Is it the man who dances half-naked in semi-pornographic videos?
Or the man who gently picks up a lady from her wheelchair to dance with her on stage.

Is it the man who yells at a child for crying?
Or the man who sings softly to a child to calm her fears.

Is it the man who laments "Why me"?
Or the man who asks "Why not?"

Is it the star who won't share the stage with anyone who might take the focus off him?
Or the star who is excited to show off the talent of those he calls friends.

Is it the star who is three hours late, then can't understand why his fans are upset?
Or the star who holds onto a stool for dear life so he wouldn't disappoint his fans.

Is it the man who tells the world how great he is?
Or the man who gets embarrassed when others tell him how much he means to them.

Is it the man who owns 300 pairs of jeans, just because he can?
Or the man who recycles clothes so as not to be wasteful.

Is it the man who demands to be waited on hand and foot?
Or the man who believes in a life of service to others.

Is it the man who writes a memoir to brag about his accomplishments?
Or the man who bared his soul about his early life in hopes it would help someone else.

Is it the man who blames others for his failings?
Or the man who keeps trying until he succeeds.

Is it the man who holds a press conference to announce he is donating a new wing to the hospital?
Or the man who quietly visits a sick child in the hospital, with only the family and a night nurse to witness it.

Is it the rap-star that begs the Arab oil-producing nations to give him a break because the gas for his private jet costs too much?
Or the UNICEF Ambassador who travels to dangerous areas of the world at his own expense, to bring awareness to the deplorable conditions children face.

Is it the man who doesn't want to have to deal with fans?
Or the man who lets his fans verbally abuse him, then quietly sings he will be right here waiting with open arms, if and when they are ready to come back.

Is it the man who won't take responsibility for the children he's fathered?
Or the man who risked everything to be able to live an honest and open life for his son.

Is it the size of his ego?
Or the size of his heart.

If you took all those other men and rolled them together, they still wouldn't measure up to 1/10th of the man Clay Aiken is.

I'll take No. 2 every time!!

thanks patti!

Thank you Cha Cha for all the pics and news of the "Dinner"! Lucky women indeed! Glad you liked that the comparison of Clay and others..he is truly a man among men. Someday others will know it too. I will never stop loving this man.

golf pix!!
http://findingclayaiken.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=578&st=400