Hey everyone!
I have a wonderful story to share with you all today. For once when someone asks me how my weekend was and how I am doing, I can respond enthusiastically saying I’m doing GREAT and actually mean it! Whenever people ask out of pleasantries and politeness how you are, you generally just dish out a vague response. “Oh I’m doing good” or “Okay” or “I’m alright”. None of those generic responses apply to me today because I am in a great mood. A brilliant high carrying over from yesterday. The residual emotions still pumping through my veins.
I met TWO celebrities today. Two actresses who I love and stalk follow religiously. And one of them was Lana Parrilla.
I met Lana Parrilla.
I met one of my favorite, favorite, FAVORITE actresses from one of my FAVORITE TV shows. Lana Parrilla, who plays the Evil Queen Regina on Once Upon A Time. The other actress I met was Rose McIver. She plays Tinkerbell in Once Upon A Time as well as Liv on iZombie. Both TV shows are incredible, and have really enticing storylines. Watch them if you don’t already!
Okay, lemme backtrack to the beginning.
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| One of our many visits to Steveston where Once Upon A Time is filmed. This was from 3 years ago. |
My sister and I are huge fans of the show Once Upon A Time. The show takes place in Maine. However, they happen to film in Steveston, a town near Vancouver, Canada. As Steveston is located quite close to us in Seattle, we venture there occasionally in the hopes of running into the stars. I also should mention how only my immediate family lives here in the US. All our relatives and extended family lives in Canada, specifically Vancouver. Because of that, we already visit Canada on a regular basis. It is such a coincidence how our favorite show films so close to where we already go. But that was as far as luck carried us. We saw the set of OUAT, and walked through the buildings and shops featured on the show. But we never got to meet any of the actors in person. Specifically Lana Parrilla, whom we are both obsessed with.
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| Image Source: Instagram |
There was one time where we happened to catch them filming. Who knew filming ONE scene in an episode would take an entire day?! They were also incredibly far away, so it was hard to actually see them.
However, back in November, we found out that Lana Parrilla would be attending 2016’s Emerald City Comicon, which takes place in downtown Seattle. It was fate. Not only was Lana there, but also another one of our favorites, Rose McIver, would be there as well. We just HAD to seize the opportunity, and so we bought tickets. We have been counting down the days until April 10th since mid-November. Yeah, I know. We are crazy, and our obsession is insane.
Comicon was a completely new experience for us. We didn’t know what to expect. Because we religiously follow our favorite celebrities on their social media, we knew Lana Parrilla and Rose McIver were going, but also a few other celebrities we knew of as well were attending. David Anders, also from iZombie, went. As did the actors who played Fred and George Weasley in the Harry Potter franchise. Our priority was to go to Lana’s panel and interview, get photos with both Lana and Rose, and autographs from the two as well. We hoped to have the time to go to other panels and do other activities, but in the end there was no time for that. We spend the majority of the time standing in line.
There were two times for us to get autographs from Lana. We tried going to the first one, but the line was so incredibly long! She was also 20 min late. We had to rush to get our photo with Rose, which we pre-ordered online beforehand (along with one for Lana) to ensure we would get it before they were sold out. Luckily, we made it the second time around. If we hadn’t, I seriously would have punched someone. Lana was THIS close, in the SAME building, in the SAME city. We were fangirling to the extreme. And I got no shame in admitting that.
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| Our awesome photo with Lana. We were both doing the “Evil Regals” hand gesture, but my sister on the left side was so starstruck at the moment she did a Hang Ten instead. |
If you have ever met your favorite celebrity, then you will understand the nerves and surreal-quality that overwhelms you in the moment when you actually come face-to-face with them. Our hearts were pounding so hard. We were jittery and restless.
Many Evil Regals, the name for fans of Lana/Evil Queen Regina, do a particular hand gesture in their photos. We both planned to do so, but my sister was so nervous in the moment she messed up and did a hang-ten instead. When we got to get an autograph from Lana later on, we ended up telling her the story. She laughed so hard! This is how we could tell she is very genuine, kind, and real. She actually threw her head back laughing, and showed a real reaction.
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| Our autograph from Lana |
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| We got to meet Rose! |
Besides that, I gotta say spending all that money going to Comicon was definitely worth it! We also got to meet Rose McIver. She is so incredibly sweet in person! Her accent is really cute too. I love accents. It’s weird I know. Whenever I meet someone with an awesome accent, I get mesmerized. It’s probably because I don’t have one myself. I mean, yeah I have an American accent, but that doesn’t really count. Because I live in America. You know what I mean?
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| Our autograph from Rose |
Meeting Rose was amazing. She was also so real with her fans as well. The group ahead of us in line had two little boys, and she was so sweet to them.
We got a photo with her first. Later on in the day, we also got an autograph with her. I wish to have talked to her longer, but it wasn’t a meet and greet. We also had a conversation with her and asked her how she was liking Seattle, and she told us she wanted to stay longer because she really liked her stay here. What really struck me was how when she signed the photo, she thought she had messed up or something and was concerned about the Sharpie ink drying. She told us to make sure it dried so it won’t smudge, and that was just so sweet and considerate of her! Things like this makes the experience so memorable. I really like how she was very real and authentic.
You could see that sparkle in her eyes, and feel the energy in the air. It was such a surreal moment meeting our favorite actresses in person. One moment you are watching them on screen and seeing them in a photo; next thing you know, they are RIGHT in front of you. In real life. Looking exactly how they do on screen, only slightly different. It’s really surreal.
I am so thankful to have had this opportunity. I wish I could replay it, relive it over again. Sure I get to visit the actual town where they film, but with things like this you are always at the wrong moment at the wrong time. You can miss them by just a mere hour. Fate had it that they came to Seattle. And we actually were able to buy the tickets to attend and meet them. The line could have been too long that we missed the chance, or tickets could have been sold-out. Instead, everything fell into place perfectly, and we had an incredible experience.
I really wish to have another opportunity to meet them. It’s like a drug. Once you get a small taste of it, you just want more. Nonetheless, Sunday was amazing, and I’m still riding that high. I look back on the photos, and I still can’t believe it. Surreal indeed.
Have you ever met your favorite celebrity? What are some of your obsessions? Lemme know in the comments below!
Thank you for reading! I hope you all had fantastic weekend like I did, and that you will have a lovely week.
Til next time,
~A
