Best 10 Seconds of My Life (Dallas ComicCon).

I know what you're thinking: "Tiffany? At ComicCon? This doesn't make sense!" Even if you weren't thinking that, I definitely was when I was considering attending. I didn't even know there was a ComicCon in Dallas until I mentioned Supernatural on my blog recently, and someone commented saying they met Jensen Ackles there, and I was like whaaaat?! So I decided to check it out and see when the next ComicCon would be and who would be going. Little did I know that it was just a month away, and two people from my favorite book/movie series were going to be there - James and Oliver Phelps aka Fred and George Weasley from Harry Potter. 
Now, if you've read my blog before, you know that my love for Harry Potter runs strong, so this was definitely a huge deal. What was saddening was that I already had plans the weekend of DCC, so the odds of me going were looking slim. But alas, I made it work, and it ended being an amazing day.
I don't think anything could have prepared me for the craziness that is ComicCon. I can't imagine what the big one in San Diego must be like, because this one was pretty cray. I knew to expect costumes, and a frequent question when I told people that I was going to DCC was "Are you dressing up?" Unfortunately, time was of the essence, and it slipped away from me, so no, I didn't dress up, and instead just sported my Hogwarts sweatshirt. I loved seeing all the work that other people put into their cosplay costumes though. A lot of attendees went to DCC all three days of the weekend. My sister and I only went on Sunday because that's when all the Weasley action was going down and Saturday was all about TTBF. 

"Go away, Anna!" "Okay, bye..." Met someone cosplaying Anna in line, and she was so sweet! A little boy came up and sang "Let It Go" to her. Absolutely precious. 

I'm not a Dr. Who fan, but how could I not take a picture with this guy?

When we first got there, we took some time to browse all the exhibitors. I was tempted to buy so much. There was a booth with records, and I wanted to buy at least five. Also, the amount of Supernatural stuff there was amazing, and everything was calling my name! I ended up not buying anything though, but it was really hard. There wasn't a booth that had anything with Harry Potter, which I was really disappointed in, but at the same time, it's a good thing, because I definitely would have bought some Harry Potter memorabilia. I feel like this was just the year for Harry Potter because my sister and I visited Harry Potter Studios in London and went to Platform 9 3/4 earlier this year. The only thing that would set it in stone would be to go to Harry Potter Land in Orlando. Hmm...
After a little browsing, we went upstairs around 10-ish to get in line to take our picture with the twins. Pictures didn't start until 11:15 am, but we wanted to get there early so we wouldn't have to wait as long. There ended up being a ton of people with the same idea. The line went pretty quickly though. They were literally just snapping the picture and moving you along. We still had a polite exchange with the twins with simple hellos. I unintentionally did a little jump when we got into the room. It was embarrassing, and I had no idea where it came from. Oliver started laughing at me. I didn't realize how tall they were! And they seriously smelled so good. It really was the best 10 seconds of my life. Well, probably not, but it's up there!

BEST 10 SECONDS OF MY LIFE! #DallasComicCon #FanDays #Weasley #Gryffindor #HarryPotter

A photo posted by Tiffany Khyla White (@tiffanykhyla) on Oct 10, 2014 at 9:44am PDT

After the picture was lunchtime. We headed outside to the food trucks. This was my first food truck experience, so I had to document it. We decided to go to the pizza truck, but we got gyros. They were so tasty!

We wandered around the exhibits a bit more after lunch. There were so many! If I actually liked comic books, I would have been in heaven. There were 50 cent and $1 comic books everywhere! People were going nuts. 
I thought it would be a good idea for us to get in line for the twins' panel around 1 pm so we could be toward the head of the line and get decent seats. Yea...'bout that. There were tons of people already there, and we ended up being toward the end of the winding first line. The line was so long that they had to move people into a separate area to line up. It was insane. Their panel started at 2 pm, and it was worth the wait. They're so silly and adorable, and I was literally hanging on their every word. They talked a bit about their acting careers and life on the set of Harry Potter. They were so sweet and humbled that so many people came out to see them. 

Waited in line for over an hour, but it was worth it. 

Horrible picture, but you can still tell that they're adorable. 

Also, James replied to two of my tweets, which pretty much made my life. 

@tiffanykhyla thanks
— James Phelps (@James_Phelps) October 20, 2014

@tiffanykhyla =D
— James Phelps (@James_Phelps) October 20, 2014

I must say that DCC was my favorite part of the weekend. It was so exciting to see everyone's costumes and meet these people that I have idolized for so long. Simply incredible. The next DCC is in February, and if they bring some more awesome people in, I might make the drive back up to meet some more of my favorite celebs.  Oh, and on the way out, we passed a Chevy Impala with a sun visor that had Dean and Castiel on it. Duh, I had to stop and snap a pic.

Have you ever been to ComicCon? 

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Guest Post: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Today, one of my first and favorite blog friends is guest posting for me. Nina is a fellow Harry Potter lover, and I think we all know how much I love Harry Potter. After visiting the Harry Potter Studios in London, Nina decided to share her HP experience at Harry Potter World in Orlando, which I'm totally envious of. But you know what they say, there ain't no bond like a Harry Potter bond. Oh, no one says that?

Xo, Tiffany Khyla

*****

Hi Friends! I'm Nina from The Grand Adventures of Me. I'm a lifestyle blogger who loves to laugh, drink coffee, and read books.

Tiffany and I are a lot alike. It's kinda creepy. We might be twins separated at birth, except that I'm as albino as a ghost and it's really not fair that she got all the melanin. We'll have to speak with our estranged mother about that one day when we find her. Meanwhile, we both have this crazy obsession love for all things Harry Potter. She actually got to visit the set of Harry Potter when she went to London, which just adds one more thing I'm jealous about. It's a happy kind of jealous though, ya know? I'm thrilled that she shared her adventures with us a few weeks ago. I, however, visited The Wizarding World of Harry Potter when I was in Orlando back in 2011. My experience was just magical, and I am here to not only encourage, but implore you to make the trek to this wonderful place purely for the joy you will experience in your hearts upon arrival.

    1) Do speak in a British accent the entire time. Remark on how fantastic everything is, and refer to everyone else as Muggles. You, my dears, are wizards and witches in disguise. And now, I'd like it if you read the rest of my points in Hermione's voice.   

  2) You simply MUST go with Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Yes, it usually has a 3 hour wait, but if you are as in love with Harry as I am, then it is 100% worth it. There was one particular moment between Aragog and I that made me scream just a bit. If you survive, then 10 points for Gryffindor!

3) Do try the Butter Beer. It's rather tasty! But don't try the Pumpkin Juice. It's dreadful.

  4) Eventually, all the touring you will be doing might leave you a little hangry. Now I enjoy a savory meal myself, and the Leaky Cauldron is the place to eat. Just looking back on this makes my mouth water. It's a bit pricey, but you can't really put a price on the Harry Potter experience.   

5) Experience what it's like to visit Ollivander's. Remember, the wizard does not choose the wand, but the wand chooses the wizard. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to meet my wand. Instead, some children who I'm sure did not appreciate the experience as much as I would were chosen by Ollivander. I'm not bitter, but perhaps I will return until I get the chance to be chosen.  

6) The Hogwarts Quartet is quite marvelous! They sing in perfect harmony many of the haunting songs we have grown to love. My personal favorite is "Double, double toil and trouble." Oh, and the frogs join in. How exciting!  

  7) Venture through Hogsmeade, and explore the wonders. Zonko's is magical. But be warned of the puking pastilles.  

  8) When you go through the castle, you'll notice the pictures on the wall move! Some of them talk, and a few of them run away if you try to take their photograph.  

  9) Remember to take lots of pictures. You never know when you might see someone special. ;)  

  10) And last but not least, cherish the memories. If you're afraid you might forget one, put them away in a pensieve.

Oh, and here's a selfie of me with a cupcake in case you wondered what my favorite food is in case you wondered what I look like. 

  

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If You Love Harry Potter So Much, Why Don't You Marry It?

My love for Harry Potter is undeniable at this point. My boyfriend thinks I'm certifiably crazy (for more reasons beyond my HP obsession, but that's another blog post for another time). I think anyone who grew up with Harry Potter like I did would understand. Harry Potter pretty much defined an entire generation. There is no book series like it. I was around Harry's age when the first book came out, and I grew up with him, Ron and Hermione through both the books and the movies. Some may think that my love for HP is just a phase, but I assure you, it's not. It's like abandoning a friend that I've known my entire life even though they did nothing wrong. It just wouldn't be right.

YOU WENT TO THE MIDNIGHT MOVIE PREMIERES AND/OR BOOK RELEASES I'm happy to say that I did both of these. Even though I didn't read Harry Potter until after the second book was released, after I read it, I was hooked, and there was no way I was going to get off the Harry Potter train (or Platform 9 3/4, if you will). For the last few books, my friends and I made it an event to go to the midnight book releases at Barnes & Noble. We participated in the crafts, mingled with the muggles, and even played a little dress up (not to the extreme of an entire Gryffindor student get-up, but we drew the lightning bolt on our foreheads and wore the glasses. We were in middle school after all. We had to keep our reps in tact). 
Of course, midnight showings of the movies were a must. My friends and I would always run into other people we knew and be surprised by all of the unexpected Pottheads we encountered. A love of Harry Potter creates a bond like no other.
YOU'VE VISITED A WORLD CREATED FOR HARRY POTTER FANS (or you've at least fantasized about the idea) Granted, you only have two options here: Harry Potter World at Universal Studios in Florida and the Harry Potter Studio Tour in London. Or three if you count Platform 9 3/4 in London as well. If you're a true HP fan, surely you've at least started to plan a trip and got depressed about your bank account if you haven't already made the commute. While I have visited the studio in London, I'm itching to get to the HP World at Universal Studios. Nina and I are planning a double blogger blate to Orlando. Anyone wanna join? 

YOU'VE LISTENED TO MUSIC INSPIRED BY HARRY POTTER I recently introduced my sister to the band, Ministry of Magic, and she still judges me. While I don't listen to a lot of Harry Potter based music because the execution of most of it isn't that great, some of the songs are so accurate and hilarious.

YOU OWN SOMETHING HARRY POTTER THEMED We're talking a wand or a necklace or a broom or a shirt. Something beyond the entire movie and book collection, because surely every true HP fan has both of those. I have four Harry Potter shirts and a sweater. I also have a pair of Harry Potter glasses that I got at one of the midnight book releases. I have a Harry Potter mug that I won from a giveaway. I also bought a Butterbeer cup at WB Studios and a postcard from the shop next to Platform 9 3/4 in Kings Cross. If anyone were to get me anything Harry Potter themed, I would be giddy with excitement. Yes, I'm approaching 25, but that's irrelevant.

YOU KNOW WHICH HOUSE YOU'RE IN You may have taken the Buzzfeed quiz or another quiz found with a Google search, but for the die-hards, you found out the real way by signing up for Pottermore and getting sorted into your house. What house am I in? Go, go Gryffindor! Getting sorted into Gryffindor just really reemphasized the fact that Hermione Granger and I would be besties. 
YOU HAVE A HARRY POTTER PINTEREST BOARD There are just too many good Harry Potter memes and such that it's impossible for me not to have a whole board dedicated to Harry Potter. Some of my favorite pins from my board:

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YOU HAVE (or have had) A PET NAMED AFTER A HARRY POTTER CHARACTER I used to have a hedgehog named Flitwick. Yes, used to. I had to give him away because Jon's dog and Flitwick wouldn't have gotten along well. In either case, it still counts. I had him and named him Flitwick, which totally suited him. He probably has some vanilla name now like Bob (oh wait, that was the name of my first fish). 
YOU'VE USED A HARRY POTTER SPELL DURING A NORMAL, EVERYDAY CONVERSATION Sometimes, it's more fun to say "Riddikulus" instead of "ridiculous" or to yell "Avada Kedavra" when you're just done with someone or the conversation. Those who understand appreciate it, those who don't...stupify!
YOU RECEIVED YOUR LETTER Thanks to one of my college roommates, I finally did receive my letter to attend Hogwarts: The School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Too bad it was a few years too late, and I was ultimately unable to attend. Bollucks. 

HARRY POTTER MADE YOU CRY AT SOME POINT Whether it was when Sirius died or when Dumbledore died or when Harry realized that Snape was on his side the whole time or when Dobby died or when the series ended or just because you love Harry Potter so much it brings tears to your eyes, if you cried because of Harry Potter, then I suppose you can be considered a super fan.
BONUS: YOU HAVE A HARRY POTTER TATTOO (or you've at least pinned the HP tats on Pinterest) This past Sunday, I went to Scaredy Tatts in Bossier and got inked. Again. This time, I got the Deathly Hallows symbols, and I absolutely adore it. I think it suits me, and it's something I know I'll love forever. 

So how many of these are true for you?

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A Harry Potter Nerd's Dream Come True.

Most people go to London seeking fish and chips, laughter from the Queen's guards or unrequited love from the Prince. But I'm not like most people. What was I most looking forward to in London? Experiencing everything Harry Potter. I bought tickets for my sister and me to visit the Warner Brothers Studio where actual filming took place, but our time slot wasn't until our last day in London. In  the meantime, we visited Platform 9 3/4 in Kings Cross Station where I got to fulfill my dream of acting like I was a Gryffindor (which I totally am, by the way). 

Sorry for being so cute. This was after a 10-hour direct flight from Houston to London and a two-hour car ride to the hotel, where we were informed that we couldn't check-in to our rooms yet, so all we could do was freshen up in the public hotel bathroom. This was all that could be done. There was a person there whose job was to flip the scarf so it looks like you're moving into the wall. My initial thought, "dream job." My secondary thought, "that has to be freaking boring." Regardless, I love how it turned out. 

There was also a little store in Kings Cross Station where you could purchase the professional picture that someone takes of you at the platform. There's also a bunch of other goodies. I just bought two postcards for my collection. 

Fast forward to two days later when all of my Harry Potter dreams really came true. Touring the Harry Potter Studio in London should be every HP lover's dream. Visiting the actual sets where scenes were filmed, touching the actual props that were used in the movies, learning all of the secrets behind filming. There's so much more that went into those movies than I could have imagined, and now all I want to do is have a Harry Potter movie marathon and annoyingly point out all of the things I learned on set.  It took us one taxi ride, two tube changes, and a bus to get there. London is pretty dang huge. The bus we took was a double-decker Harry Potter bus. While we were the last ones to get to the bus stop, we were the first ones to get on the bus because the bus pulled up to the end of the line. Sorry we weren't sorry. We got prime seating - top floor, front seat. It was awesome. 

As soon as we pulled up, my stomach was in knots with excitement. The studio looked huge from the outside, plus there were these three huge chess pieces in the front. Pieces from the actual set when Ron won the ultimate game of wizard's chess in The Sorcerer's Stone. 

I could go into detail about every little thing we saw on our 3 1/2 hour tour, but that would turn into the longest blog post ever, so I'll just let the photos do the talking. Apologizing for my quality of photos from here on out. The lighting was weird in there, and my camera takes awful pictures in the dark, even with flash. I took a few pics with my phone too, but iPhones can only do so much. The entrance and waiting in line:

Harry's room under the stairs

When it was finally our turn to enter, a number of us were shuffled into a large room where we watched a short intro video with the famous trio then the screen went up, and we entered into the front doors of Hogwarts.

Gryffindor uniforms. Look at little Harry's hat!

Ron's dress robes. How tragic.

Hogwarts gates.

The Leaky Cauldron.

Gryffindor boys' dormitory

Gryffindor common room

Pendulum from the clock tower

A few of the horcruxes

Entrance to Dumbledore's office

The sorting hat

Dumbledore's office - one of my favorite sets to visit. There were just so many interesting things to see. Too bad the lighting was quite horrible, and I couldn't get any decent pictures.

Hagrid's hut

Entrance to the Chamber of Secrets

Very important textbook from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Potions classroom

Umbridge's office. So pink and full of cats. A girl walked by and said that this is what her dream bedroom would look like. I almost threw up. It's so creepy.

A lot of the props were hand-drawn and hand-painted. There were so many neat things on display, and it's crazy to think that all of these things took so much time to design, make and decorate and they're barely seen in the movie.

Taking a ride on the knight bus

Tom Riddle's grave

Visiting Harry's first home on Privet Drive

We ate lunch about mid-tour when we took a Butterbeer break. Butterbeer is not my favorite. It has this strange caramel-y taste with marshmallow foam. It's just not my cup of tea, but at least I can say that I've had it! There are only two places in the world where you can get it - at the Studio Tour in London and at the theme park in Orlando. It's so ironic to me that I live in the US and haven't been to the theme park, but I somehow managed to go to the tour in London. 

In London, if you order a burger or a hotdog, instead of asking if you want ketchup or mustard, they ask if you want sauteed onions. My answer was always 'yes.'

Here are more pictures from our post-lunch continuation of the tour.

Hogwarts bridge

This textbook was just lying there when I went to take a picture, and then it jumped out and scared the crap out of me.

Diagon Alley! Or as Harry says," Diagonilly."

If I could dream up the perfect dollhouse, it would look like this.

Tripod pic.

Daniel Radcliffe and I have the same size hands. 

I already want to go back! Sorry about my squinty eyes.

If you ever find yourself in London, you have to visit the studio. It's totally worth the money, and you can spend as much time as you want there.  Are you a Harry Potter fan? Have you ever visited the London studios?

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