A Supernatural Experience

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This year we decided to do things a little differently for Christmas and birthdays. Instead of purchasing something that would get lost, broken, pushed aside, or donated later in the year we decided that we would give our kids experiences that will hopefully stick with them for a lifetime.

Our youngest is really musical and almost came unhinged when she discovered that The Piano Guys were coming to the Warner Theatre in March, especially since cello is her primary instrument. For those of you unfamiliar with The Piano Guys, look them up on YouTube; they have their own channel. One guy plays a cello and the other a piano. They write their own arrangements of popular songs, often combining them with classical music, and then create fun videos with stunning photography. So anyway, we got VIP tickets and took Brenna. I cannot even express how thrilled she was.

Our older daughter chose Supernatural Con 2014, which took place last weekend. This was the first year that Supernatural Con has ever come to the east coast, and we were lucky enough to have it right in our backyard – Washington D.C.! Ryan loves Cosplay and Conventions so Supernatural Con was right up her alley.

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Richard Speight, Jr. was a hilarious Master of Ceremonies and Friday kicked off with panels by Osric Chau (Kevin Tran), Kim Rhodes (Sherriff Jody Mills), Corin Nemec (Christian Campbell), Gil McKinney (Henry Winchester) and Chad Lindberg (Ash). My favorite was the personable and hilarious Kim Rhodes. She was so nice when I ran into her in the bar and then later at autographs. Friday night also had an 80’s themed Karaoke Party with a ton of the cast participating. It was a blast!

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Saturday kicked off with a panel by Osric Chau and Gil McKinney, followed by a panel with Sebastian Roche. And let me just say, that man is just as crude and cheeky in person as he is as Balthazar on the show.  There were also panels by Richard Speight, Jr. (Trickster), Matt Cohen (Young John Winchester), Rob Benedict (Chuck Shurley/Carver Edlund) and Misha Collins (Castiel). There was a costume contest, which my daughter participated in. She didn’t win, there were some crazy good costumes, but she got a stock photo of Jensen Ackles.

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Misha Collins also hosted a live Stageit.com webcast airing two of his TSA (Transportation security Authority) web series. The TSA movie shorts were hilarious and the money raised during the event went to Random Acts, a charity Misha feels strongly about. As a bidding incentive Matt Cohen agreed to take his shirt off if the event raised enough money. Let’s just say, that boy has a rockin’ body! There was absolutely no reason for him to be breaking out into a visible sweat as the numbers climbed. 🙂

Saturday night we attended The Saturday Evening Cabaret starring the band Louden Swain (Rob Benedict is the lead singer) and many of the Supernatural cast members. The Cabaret was a great concert and some of the highlights included Osric Chau and Gil McKinney each singing a solo. They were all crazy talented but Gil was a voice major in college and in addition to being even better looking in person—I’m not sure how that’s even possible—holy crow can he sing! And then we hit the exclusive after party where I danced with Osric Chau and hugged Matt Cohen. So. Much. Fun!

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When it was all said and done, Ryan and I had met a ton of the cast members and gotten autographs from Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Misha Collins, Osric Chau, Kim Rhodes, Gil McKinney, Sebastian Roche and Matt Cohen. We took pictures and danced, laughed and met some new friends, including Jen McKinney who is responsible for most of these lovely photos as I left my camera on the counter at home. Grrr… But the best part of the entire thing was spending time with my daughter one on one.

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Tickets                        —                    $678.00

Hotel                           —                    $314.00

The smile on my baby girl’s face – ABSOLUTELY PRICELESS!

11 thoughts on “A Supernatural Experience

  1. Dana,
    How absolutely wonderful! It’s the gift that keeps on giving, huh? As a super big fan of SUPERNATURAL, I’m just a little bit jealous. Okay. A lotta bit. 🙂
    My grandparents used to get us season tickets to the Warner theater in Pittsburgh every year, and I’d get excited about that Christmas present every time I was getting dressed for the evening. 🙂 I was a teen at the time, and I loved it so much. I felt so grown-up and cultural–even once when I wore leg warmers as a fashion statement.
    Those are the gifts they’ll remember all of their lives. And hopefully they’ll do the same with their kids. I took my older girls to see the Glee concert years ago for their birthday. And again another year when we went to see Taylor Swift. I love those kind of birthday gifts–lifetime memories and no junk to throw out. 🙂

    1. Wow, season tickets to the Warner theater is a phenomenal gift. I bet you rocked those leg warmers! 🙂 And I’m sure your girls still talk about the Glee and Taylor Swift concerts. What fun memories!

  2. Dana! I feel like I was just at Supernatural Con with you and Ryan! That was an awesome recap. I know how cool these cons are. Some of my best family memories are of watching the marvel set in on hubby and son’s faces at Comic Con. I’m so happy you two got to do this! And the dancing, oh my gosh, too entirely cool!

  3. What a great mommy!!!

    I love “experience” gifts lately. I try to do that with my parents to – sending them to plays and concerts I know they’re interested in. Love it! 😉

    p.s.
    I’ve never seen an episode of Supernatural *ducks*. Don’t kill me everyone!

  4. Well, you know I wanted to beat you up when I heard you had tickets – and I couldn’t get in…but thank you for SHARING!!! And I agree, smile on your daughter’s face worth every penny, and even my jealousy:)…

  5. Well now that you mention it, I was a little frightened at Retreat when I was starting to think you and Robin were going to gut me and take my tickets. Whew… it’s a good thing I hid them so well! LOL!
    It really was a lot of fun, and now that I’m aware of exactly how serious my blog sisters are about Supernatural I’ll be sure to shout it from the rooftops as soon as I find out that there is another Supernatural Con so we can ALL go. 🙂

  6. Dana, that smile on your daughter’s face is priceless! So glad you had such a good time. I’m not a Supernatural fan, but I still enjoyed reading about your experiences. 🙂

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