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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 aboardEndeavor
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 sideshowseems 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 thatisn’tcurated; 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.
