Endless Bliss | Happy Lifestyle Blog: January 2015

Supernatural #HousCon: Day 2

supernatural con in houston 2015


If you're just now tuning in, be sure to check out my post about Supernatural HousCon Day 1!

Even though the first day of Supernatural Con was my favorite, the second day was still pretty dang amazing! I was ready in my fangirl getting, sporting my brand new Winchester Bros. shirt. It's so comfy, and I adore it. 

winchester bros black and white shirt


After Dick and Rob opened the show with their hilarious banter, Sebastian Roche, who plays Balthazar, took the stage for his Q&A panel. I use the term "Q&A" loosely because there weren't many questions or answers. A lot of his panel was spent singing random songs with the band and running through the crowd. It was pretty entertaining. 

rob benedict at supernatural con in houston 2015

rob benedict at supernatural con in houston 2015

kim rhodes and richard speight jr at supernatural con in houston 2015
sebastian roche at supernatural con in houston 2015
sebastian roche at supernatural con in houston 2015


Mark Pellegrino took the stage next. He played Lucifer in Supernatural. He was very poised compared to some of the other guests, but he was still so funny. I was excited to see Mark because I also knew him from Lost, which I loved, even though it got super confusing. He also guest starred in an episode of Grimm, so really I was just pumped about his Q&A. He answered a lot of questions and even invited someone onstage with him. 

mark pellegrino at supernatural con in houston 2015

mark pellegrino and richard speight jr at supernatural con houston 2015


During intermission, Jon and I went to see the infamous Impala, and this time, the trunk was open, so we were able to see all of the craziness inside of it. 

supernatural con in houston 2015


supernatural impala

supernatural impala


The next panel was Gil McKinney! He took the stage for a second time, and I loved it because he's so cute and adorable and fun. He's just down-to-earth, and after hearing him sing several times on Friday, I was absolutely swooning over him. I would love to meet him the next time I'm able to go to a Con. 

gil mckinney at supernatural con in houston 2015

gil mckinney at supernatural con in houston 2015


I knew I was going to love the next Q&A panel, because it had three people in it: Dick (aka the Trickster and Gabriel), Matt Cohen (the young John Winchester), and Rob. There was so much hilarity onstage, including a game of F, Marry, Kill and Dick singing "Let It Go." There are no words for how amazing the three of them are together. So. Much. Laughter.

matt cohen at supernatural con in houston 2015

matt cohen, rob benedict and richard speight jr. at supernatural con in houston 2015

rob benedict at supernatural con in houston 2015


After the Q&A panel, Jon and I got in line for our photo op with Misha Collins and Mark Sheppard. Misha plays my favorite character, Castiel, and Mark plays Jon's favorite character, Crowley, aka the king of hell. We ended up getting to take two pictures with them because Jon blinked in the first one. I wanted to do a fun picture, but I was pretty much speechless and couldn't say anything other than "hi." I gave them each hugs though and squeezed myself between the two of them. They're so lovely. Ah!

misha collins and matt shephard photo op at supernatural con houston 2015


After a quick lunch of hotel pizza and some cake pops from the hotel's Starbucks, Jon and I were all set for Mark Sheppard's panel. He started the panel by eating steak and fries onstage. He answered all of the questions sarcastically. I loved his dry sense of humor and his honesty. 

starbucks cake pops

mark sheppard at supernatural con in houston 2015

mark sheppard at supernatural con in houston 2015


The last panel of the day was Misha's. There were lots of screams and squeals during his panel. One thing I love about Misha is that he uses his status to do good in the world. At the beginning of his panel, he collected tampons and pads to donate to the Salvation Army. How awesome is that?! I hung on Misha's every word because I loved everything he had to say, both funny and serious. He also opened a tampon for the first time onstage...yea. It was an interesting panel. 

misha collins at supernatural con in houston 2015

misha collins at supernatural con in houston 2015

misha collins at supernatural con in houston 2015


After Misha's amazing panel, we got ready for autographs with Mark Sheppard and Sebastian Roche. We met Mark first, and it was just a  hi and bye situation, unfortunately. I was nervous, and couldn't think of anything clever to say. When we met Sebastian for his autograph, he remembered me! Not by name, but still. He said he recognized me, and when I said I did karaoke, it clicked, and he said I did awesome. He also said something about me twerking. Ah! I can't twerk, for the record, but there was some booty popping. Not gonna lie. When at Supernatural Con...

After a quick dinner, Jon and I met up with Sammi, who was my best friend in middle school. It had been over a year since we last saw each other, so I was happy to be able to catch up. We met up at the only bar in that part of Houston, which was the Hoot County Saloon. It's hard to describe the strangeness/awesomeness of this place. It was just this little bar with a giant horse in the corner. No exaggeration on the giant.

hoot county saloon


When we left Sammi, we headed back to the convention for the Saturday Night Cabaret! It was basically a Louden Swain concert (amazing!), and then they invited some stars from the show to come up and perform a song or two. We got there a bit late, so we missed Mark Pellegrino's performance, but we managed to catch the rest of the show. It was a blast!

rob benedict and louden swain at supernatural con in houston 2015

gil mckinney at supernatural con in houston 2015

richard speight jr at supernatural con in houston 2015

richard speight jr and louden swain at supernatural con in houston 2015

sebastian roche at supernatural con in houston 2015

mark sheppard at supernatural con in houston 2015

gil mckinney at supernatural con in houston 2015


After the show, Louden Swain signed autographs for anyone who bought Louden Swain merch. I bought a picture for them to sign, and was among the first few to get an autograph. Rob complimented me on my karaoke singing from the night before. I was so humbled that he remembered me and had kind words to say. I'm officially a super fan. The guitarist, Billy, complimented my hair, which was so nice. The bassist, Mike, is Filipino, and we had a little conversation about how we're both Filipino, and he signed my picture with "Pinoy Power!"

I was so sad to see Saturday come to an end, but both Jon and I were exhausted. We pretty much passed out after going back to the hotel room. 

Check out the highlight video of all of the Saturday fun on my YouTube channel:



Also check out the highlight video from day 1, and be on the lookout for day 3 of Supernatural Con next week!

Are you a fan of Supernatural? Who's your favorite character?

read more " Supernatural #HousCon: Day 2 "

Supernatural #HousCon: Day 1

supernatural con in houston, texas


I think the great thing about Supernatural Con is that it kind of bridges the gap between the celebrities and the fans. There were so many chances to interact with the stars of the show, whether you were asking questions at the Q&A panels, meeting them during autograph sessions or photo ops, dancing on stage at karaoke or even just bumping into them accidentally on the elevator, it was like the stars were your friends. Supernatural fans are a different breed of fans. Yes, there was lots of crying, overwhelming feelings, and squeals, but when people talk about Supernatural, stars included, there's a sense of familiarity, which is why #SPNFamily is a popular hashtag for all Supernatural lovers to use. 

All of that said, my first Supernatural Con was crazy awesome! I say "first" because I would love to go back and experience the whole thing all over again. It was incredible, and I was sad to see it come to an end. 



Jon and I drove about four hours from Shreveport to Houston to go to the event, and we went to pre-register as soon as we got there. We browsed the booths and bought a few things. I really wanted to get the Supernatural Clue game, but I couldn't afford to dish out $45 for it. Sad day. 

chevy impala at supernatural con in houston, texas
With the infamous Impala.

We had to take pics, of course.


When we checked in to our hotel, we were starved, and the front desk agent told me about a Chinese place that delivered till 1 am! We took advantage and ate some sesame chicken before we crawled into bed. 

I felt so many amazing emotions the first day. I fell in love with the hilarious Richard Speight Jr. (called Dick from here on out) and the adorable Rob Benedict. They vibed off of each other onstage, and there was so much ad lib and improv. The band that Rob heads up is called Louden Swain, and they were awesome! They even cracked a few jokes themselves.

richard speight jr at supernatural con in houston, texas
"Ma'am. Ma'am. Ma'am. Sir. Ma'am..."

rob benedict at supernatural con in houston, texas


The first Q&A panel was with Gil McKinney. He played Dean and Sam's grandfather, Henry Winchester, in the show. He is freaking adorable, and he was humbled to be loved by so many Supernatural fans even though he was only in two episodes. There was a girl who came up to ask him a question, and he recognized her by name from another convention. I thought that was so awesome, because it really showed how much he loves his fans!

gil mckinney at supernatural con in houston, texas




The next Q&A panel was with Rob, who play Chuck and Carver in the series. I also knew him from the horribly amazing movie, Waiting.  Rob was adorably hilarious. I just wanted to run onstage and hug him, which I did (kinda) later on, but more on that later.

rob benedict at supernatural con in houston, texas


The last Friday Q&A panel was with Kim Rhodes. who plays Sheriff Jody Mills. I also know her from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. I had no idea how awesome she was. After her panel, I became obsessed. I love her so much. There are no words for how much. She's just so honest, and she puts all of her cards out on the table for you. There's no second-guessing. During her panel, she talked about funny things like being a dog trainer, random things like wanting to be a writer, and deeper things like being sober for six years and having a daughter with autism. She was such an inspiration and a joy to watch. When I go to another convention, I would love to have a meet and greet with her and just laugh with her (maybe with some wine). 

kim rhodes at supernatural con in houston, texas

kim rhodes at supernatural con in houston, texas




After Kim's panel, Jon and I went back to the hotel to charge our phones (and my camera) before we went out to eat. Being near the International Bush Airport, I thought there would be plenty of places to choose from, but that would be a negative ghost rider. There was nothing. We ended up finding a place right down the road called Gumbo Jeaux's. Jon and I each had different kinds of burgers (mine was actually a creole chicken burger), and we chowed down on our food. 

gumbo jeaux's in houston, texas near interncontinental bush airport

gumbo jeaux's in houston, texas near interncontinental bush airport
gumbo jeaux's in houston, texas near interncontinental bush airport

gumbo jeaux's in houston, texas near interncontinental bush airport


The last event of the night was the karaoke party. In order to sing, you had to sign up between 5:30 and 6:30 pm in the vendors area, and then they went through them and picked random ones. Some of the cast sang songs by themselves, like Gil McKinney who is super talented, Rob and the rest of Louden Swain sang a song, Sebastian Roche jumped onstage and sang a solo, and Gil and Rob also did a duet of "Faithfully" that was so good!

I had a drink from the bar that cost $10 and tasted disgusting. I don't know how you can mess up a vodka, sprite, and cranberry, but they somehow managed to. I ended up getting picked to go onstage to sing "Baby Got Back" with two other girls. We all jammed out to it along with Rob, Gil, Kim, Sebastian, Dick, and Matt Cohen. When the song ended, Dick complimented me on my dancing, saying something along the lines of my dancing alone was reason enough for him to come out and do karaoke then he gave me a hug. Sebastian addressed me several times by name onstage both before and after the song, and he gave me a hug before I left the stage. Rob was standing by the stairs as I was leaving the stage, and he said I did awesome before giving me a hug. It all happened so fast! It was crazy awesome, and I still smile just thinking about it. 





Friday was by far my favorite day of the entire weekend, which says a lot because my favorite character, Castiel, didn't come until Saturday, and the stars of the show, Jensen and Jared, didn't come until Sunday, but even so, Friday was the best day!

Stay tuned for posts about the rest of my Supernatural-filled weekend! You can also check out my Supernatural Con Day 1 highlight video on YouTube!


Have you ever been to a Con? 

read more " Supernatural #HousCon: Day 1 "

Frozen Vanilla, Strawberry and Pistachio Yogurt Bars Recipe.

This is a sponsored campaign on behalf of POM and Millennial Blogs. All opinions are 100% mine. 

Frozen Vanilla, Strawberry and Pistachio Yogurt Bars Recipe


When I was in middle school, we had something called a "Greek Mythology Day" where everyone in our grade was assigned a Greek god or goddess, and we had to come to school dressed up like them and give a short presentation about them in front of the whole grade. For Greek Mythology Day, I was assigned the goddess, Persephone, whose primary symbol is the pomegranate. Becoming Persephone for a day inspired me to try a pomegranate for the first time, and I loved it. 

Flash forward to today, and pomegranates are still one of my favorite fruits and flavors, which is why I'm a huge fan of POM Wonderful. Drinking POM makes it easy for anyone to live a crazy healthy life on the go. 

POM Wonderful


Today, I want to share a simple healthy recipe that's the perfect companion to a bottle of POM. 

Frozen Vanilla, Strawberry and Pistachio Yogurt Bars

Ingredients:
2 cups vanilla Greek yogurt 
4 tbsp. honey
1 5 oz. bag of pistachios, coarsely chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1 1/2 cup of strawberries, blended

Frozen Vanilla, Strawberry and Pistachio Yogurt Bars Recipe


Directions:
1// Mix the Greek yogurt and honey together
2// De-shell and chop (I put mine in my Ninja blender)
3// Blend all of the strawberries together (Again, I used my Ninja blender)
4// Mix the yogurt-honey mixture with the pistachios and strawberries
5// Put a piece of parchment paper in a long, glass pan
6// Pour the mixture onto the parchment paper
7// Place in freezer overnight
8// Cut into pieces or break apart like bark

To enjoy:
1// Take out of freezer and let thaw for 5 minutes
2// Pair it with a bottle of POM Wonderful

Frozen Vanilla, Strawberry and Pistachio Yogurt Bars Recipe


How do you live a crazy healthy lifestyle? 
Share how you live a crazy healthy lifestyle using the hashtag #CrazyHealthy on Instagram, Twitter, or by uploading directly to the Facebook app and win some awesome prizes! 

POM box
 Ready to get #CrazyHealthy? Save $0.50 on any 12 oz or larger POM Wonderful beverage.

read more " Frozen Vanilla, Strawberry and Pistachio Yogurt Bars Recipe. "
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