Salt Lake Comic Con 2015

Last year, I attended Salt Lake Comic Con with a friend of mine.  I had absolutely no idea what to expect.  I got a ticket the night before, got in the car the next day, and walked in.  Holy cow, was it huge!  I was a little overwhelmed because there was just so much to see!  There were so many booths and so many people and everyone was dressed up!  I had a lot of fun, but I knew that I didn't have the opportunity to take full advantage of everything there.  So, I decided to go again this year.

I bought a ticket before school started for Saturday.  Saturday is usually the day with the most people, but I figured that I didn't have school, so it's not like I would be missing anything.  Then, school started.  And it turns out that not only did I have a concert on the Saturday of Comic Con, but I also had two exams that weekend that were only available on Friday and Saturday.  I was freaking out a little bit.  There was no way I could go to Comic Con on Saturday and get the full experience.  Now, Comic Con tickets are not cheap, and Saturday is then most expensive due to the masses of people that show up.  There are no refunds allowed, so I figured I would beg the ticket company to switch my ticket to Friday with no refund expected.  They agreed(thank GOODNESS) and I thought I was all set.

Now, Comic Con offers a lot of stuff, but the best is the Photo Ops with celebrities.  Before Comic Con, I always thought these were a waste of money.  But not this year.  I found out that the Phelps twins, a.k.a Fred and George Weasley would be attending Comic Con this year.  I FREAKED out!!  I have a serious crush on these twins and I knew there was no way I wasn't getting a picture with them.   I could only afford a picture with one of them, but that was okay with me.  I chose Oliver(George) because he's just gorgeous :)  I was SO excited for Comic Con!  I mean seriously, I couldn't believe that I was going to get to meet Oliver Phelps!

Now, the big celebrities attending SLC CC this year were members of the cast of Captain America.  Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, and Anthony Mackie were all coming to CC.  Now, the only celebrity I have a bigger crush on than Oliver Phelps is Chris Evans. However, considering his photo ops were $180, I knew there was no way I could afford him.  I was happy with Oliver Phelps.  It was still exciting thought to think that Chris Evans would be in the same building as me :)

A few days before CC, I convinced a friend of mine to come with me.  She's my best friend here at BYU, and she had never been to any sort of CC before, so she was excited to see what it was like.  I was super pumped for Friday!  I managed to work my schedule so that I could leave Friday morning around 10 am because my photo op with Oliver Phelps was at 2:15.  It's about an hour drive to SLC, and I remembered that last time, I stood in line for about an hour and a half just to get into the building!  There was no way I was going to be late!  I figured I would leave at 10, get there around 11:30, wait in line until 1:00, then get in.  Tessa and I had planned on staying for four or five hours because CC is exhausting!  Then, I would head back to BYU and take one of my exams that weekend.  Then, something totally unexpected happened.

Friday morning, I woke up at 7:30 and got ready to head to campus for my first class at 9.  However, I always check my phone before I get up in the morning.  I saw I had a couple emails, so I checked them.  Most of them were spam, but one had the subject line
Salt Lake Comic Con Chris Evans Photo Op Winner 
So, a little backstory.  They had a lottery where you could win a photo op with Chris Evans.  I figured I would enter, with no thought at all to actually winning.  After all, thousands of people entered, and no one ever actually wins.  I couldn't even win prizes during the library's summer reading programs, and I read a lot of books!  I figured this email was announcing the list of winners for the photo op.  Here's what the email said.
Hi Johannah,
Congratulations on winning!  We will send you another email tomorrow(Friday) with more instructions on how to claim your prize.  Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.
...
Oh. My. Gosh.  Are you SERIOUS?!?!?!?!?!?!?  I WON??????????  I WON A PHOTO OP WITH CHRIS EVANS????? FOR FREE???????  I"M GOING TO MEET CHRIS EVANS AND OLIVER PHELPS IN THE SAME DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!  IS THIS FOR REAL????  THIS HAS TO BE SOME KIND OF JOKE, BUT IT'S NOT!!!!!!!  OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!
These were my thoughts at the time :)
Yes, I was honestly going to meet Chris Evans and Oliver Phelps, my two favorite celebrities, in the same day, and I didn't have to pay $180.  I was going to meet the two most attractive men on the planet.  I just about died.  My picture with Chris Evans was at 6:30 pm, and I knew there was no way I was getting back in time to take my exam.  I texted Tessa, and told her that there was a change of plans.  I was going to take my exam right now, and we were leaving right after and staying until I got a picture with Chris Evans.  She was just as excited as I was.

I flew through my exam, which I actually did quite well on, and flew home.  I curled the heck out of my hair, and put on the Hogwarts shirt I had bought weeks earlier for my Oliver Phelps picture.  I knew I would need to buy a Captain America shirt too, because I couldn't wear a Hogwarts short in front of Chris Evans!  Tessa picked me up, and we were on our way.  We made a quick stop at the mall for a shirt, which we didn't find, but we did find a Cinnabon.  Boy was it tasty!

Once we'd made it to SLC, our next impossible mission was to find parking.  So many people attend Comic Con that they have actually broken the front runner's record for most people in a day every year.  I was worried about finding parking and then getting through line in order to make it to my picture on time. But by some miracle, we found parking.  Then, I found out that the number of people in attendance on Friday versus Saturday is significantly different.  We didn't have to wait in line at all.  We went right in to the convention.  Once again, it was a little overwhelming.  And before we went in, we got some good pictures with our troll friends!    They were pretty hungry, but I guess we didn't look appetizing enough!  Maybe he didn't like the smell of Cinnabon :)





Tessa and I walked around a lot, and we tried to get pictures with some really good characters.  But I was there for two things(two men actually) and Tessa was totally happy to be dragged around.  I don't think I've ever taken so much time to make myself look good.  I was determined that these pictures were going to be the best ever.  I brought a curling iron, toothbrush and toothpaste, moisturizer, foundation, altoids, deodorant, and felt no shame.  I had curled my hair that morning, but I was making sure that it didn't look limp.  I did all of this in line, which probably looked super goody, but who cares?  I was meeting Oliver Phelps!  Turns out, not many people bought a picture with just one of them, and when I got in line, they were actually about to finish the single pictures.  I almost missed it!  The upside?  I got to skip the entire line!  I was even there fifteen minutes before the pictures were supposed to start, and I was still almost too late.  And man, he was everything I dreamed.  Handsome, tall, and so friendly.  I walked up(well actually kind of ran) and I could barely say anything.  He held out his hand and said "Hey, how are you?" in his beautiful british accent.  I was seriously in a state of shock.  But I snapped out of it soon enough to remember to suck my stomach in, keep my squinty eye open, and smile.  And man, I am in love with this picture.  I look at it every night and it makes me smile every time.  It's slightly distorted because this is a picture of the actual picture, but it's good enough to post on Facebook.  I have the actual copy of the picture and it sits on my desk.  Again, I love this picture.  He's the perfect height!
Now, I had four hours to kill.  We met up with my friend Adam, and we chilled for a while.  One of the most fun things to do at CC is to people watch.  There are so many incredible costumes, and it is so fun to sit back and watch them all pass by.  We also walked around and bought stuff, some of which made the perfect birthday gift my My Little Pony buddy Glo!  Comic Con is the best place to find MLP merchandise.
Finally, the time had arrived.  I was going to meet Chris Evans.  I found the perfect shirt, again went into the bathroom to make sure I looked okay.  Turns out, we started lining up at 6:30.  I didn't actually get to him until 8:00.  A lot of people were complaining about the wait, but I kept my mouth shut.  This was a dream come true for me, and it was free.  There was no way I was complaining.  And he didn't disappoint.  He was so cute and so friendly.  The moment lasted about 1 second, but that was enough for me.  I love this picture too, and when I said thank you after, he looked right at me and said, "Thanks honey."  I just about died.  He called me honey.  I'm sure he called everyone else that too, but it only mattered that he called me that.  Ah.
This experience was unreal.  It might seem silly to get so worked up about celebrities, but I mean, really, it was so crazy to me.  I'm not sure I would believe it if I didn't have the pictures to prove it.  And I found that they really are as wonderful as they seem in their movies.  And of course, Tessa was a doll through all of this.  She waited alone for me the whole hour and a half I was in line because she was so happy for me.  That's the kind of best friend I've always wanted, and I am so grateful for her!



We're basically a couple now

                                       I've joined the Dark Side.  Their guns are pretty sweet.

                                                       Yes, this is made of balloons

                                                  One of the few women in Lord of the Rings

I actually saw this the next day on my way home from Women's Conference.  I think he's following me:)