9. The Itinerary
Friday 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.: Arrivals 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.: Cocktail hour/hors d’oeuvres
7:00 p.m.: Dinner on the deck Saturday 8:00 a.m.: Yoga by the pool/continental breakfast
10:00 a.m. to noon: Shopping in town Noon to 5:00 p.m.: Beach, lunch, pool 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.: Get ready for dinner; cocktails and snacks 7:30 p.m.: Dinner at Nautilus (suggested colors: black and/or white) 10:00 p.m.: Maxxtone at the Chicken Box!
Sunday Free morning, continental breakfast Noon: Lunch at Galley Beach (suggested colors: hot pink or
orange)
2:00 p.m.: Sail aboard Endeavor 7:00 p.m.: Pizza party 8:30 p.m.: Ice cream truck and fireworks on the beach
Monday Departures
Hollis sends her newsletter subscribers an e-mail that includes the weekend’s itinerary—and oh, do they have opinions. A weekend studded with shopping, sailing, dancing to live music, and incredible meals at Hollis’s
beautiful beach home and elsewhere?
Yes, please!
They yearn for more details. The Corkboard messages flood in: Please post menu for “dinner on the deck”! How did you manage to get a reservation at Nautilus? Which hors d’oeuvres will you serve? What will the continental breakfast include? Will there be vegan options? Is the pizza at the pizza party takeout or homemade (I’m guessing homemade!)? Will you post recipes, recipes, recipes?
The free spirits among them feel the weekend is too scheduled. They picture Hollis shepherding her friends from one event to the next, tapping on bedroom doors, hurrying the other four stars along if they’re running late for the cocktail hour. Why not just let the weekend unfold organically without so many places they have to be?
A virtual skirmish breaks out over the “suggested colors.” Aileen Blankenship of Dubuque, Iowa, thinks it’s juvenile and silly. Why do grown women have to match?
But Molly Beardsley of Twain Harte, California, says: What’s wrong with a little fun? Besides, the pictures will look so much better.
It’s a grab for attention, Aileen says. Hollis will inadvertently turn her friends into a circus sideshow.
Circus sideshow seems a bit mean-spirited, some of Hollis’s followers think, but then Bailey Ruckert of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, chimes in with a deeper concern. This is a pretty jolly itinerary for a woman who just lost her husband. It feels like dancing on his grave.
Womp-womp-womp. The comments grind to a halt as Hollis’s fans consider this point. Hollis lost her husband in December, seven months ago.
There are some people who question the curated aspects of the weekend, including but not limited to the frivolity of matching colors. Others can’t imagine Hollis hosting a weekend that isn’t curated; delicious food and gracious surroundings define Hollis Shaw’s brand. But hasn’t the death of her husband changed her? Hasn’t she stopped being so concerned about appearances?
Bailey Ruckert presses her point. I just think there should be time built in for introspection, she says. For honoring the deceased.
Molly Beardsley disagrees. Hollis is circling her wagons. She’s gathering the best friends she’s ever had as a way of celebrating life.
If we criticize her for making delicious food and treating her friends to meals at fancy restaurants, aren’t we the ones too focused on
appearances? I’m sure there will be a lot of meaningful moments that we’ll never know about, nor should we. I’m prepared to die on this hill; Hollis has been through a tragedy and she should be free to throw exactly the kind of weekend she wants without being judged by us.
Bailey writes: She should wait a year. Let some time pass.
Molly comments: Are you kidding me right now? Who made you the
grief police?
Bailey doesn’t respond.
A woman from Tallahassee, Paige Sweezey, posts this: My best friend from my Florida State days, Moira Sullivan, invented the Five-Star Weekend!!! She invited us all to Destin six months after her husband died, and it lifted her right out of her funk. It was life-affirming not only for Moira but for all of us. Paige adds the link to the Motherlode article about Moira Sullivan’s weekend in Destin.
It does seem that Moira Sullivan originated the idea of the Five-Star Weekend. Hollis must have read the article and adapted it for her own purposes. Some of her followers think Hollis should come clean about this and give credit where credit is due. (Paige muses that Moira ought to have copyrighted the idea, but how would that work, exactly?) The wonderful thing about the Hungry with Hollis website, they all agree, is that every thoughtful, carefully considered opinion is valid.
Hollis leaves a message on the Corkboard a short while later. It’s pretty clear she hasn’t read any of the comments, or if she has, she’s chosen not to engage.
It says: Because I want to give Tatum, Dru-Ann, Brooke, and Gigi my undivided attention, I won’t be posting until the weekend is over. I’ll provide a full recap next week—and yes, I’ll post recipes.
A collective gasp rises from the ether. Gigi? Did Hollis invite Gigi Ling, a frequent visitor on the website, to her Five-Star Weekend? Gigi Ling is always commenting on Hollis’s posts, and (they can’t help noticing) Hollis responds as though she finds Gigi the most fascinating creature on earth.
They can only presume that Hollis did invite Gigi.
Now they’re all a little jealous.
Still, it seems risky, doesn’t it, inviting someone you met through a website to a weekend like this. How will that go?
They can’t wait to find out.
