Brittney Loves Bob: April 2014

I am a carnivore.

I love meat! Unless it's fish... but I won't get into that right now.

I also happen to be an animal lover. I don't like seeing people wearing real fur, I despise seeing deer heads on people's walls and just the idea of hunting is enough to make me sick. I HATE animal abusers and I feel nauseated when I see the video's of animals locked in small pens and despicable living conditions until they are sent to the slaughter house. I just haven't had the dedication to become a vegetarian before. It didn't even help when I read about all the health benefits! Like lower blood pressure and cholesterol, better overall heart health, better digestive health and a higher metabolism which also makes it easier to lose weight. Everything sounded so good on paper, but then I would sit in a restaurant and the smells would waft through the air... and the cravings would hit! Steak, chicken, hamburgers, BACON! They are all so tasty!

Luckily my sister Kelsey was in the same boat as me. We decided that it would be easier to try vegetarianism if we had the support of someone else doing the same thing. We decided to take it slow and try it for just one month. If the month was easy then we would discuss doing it again, but if it was hard we could remind ourselves that it wasn't permanent. We chose April. As soon as the clock struck midnight April 1st, we cut all meat out of our diet. That meant a special trip to the store to buy food that was meat free, and of course reading labels to make sure there was no hidden meat or meat by-product in our food. You would be surprised at how many seemingly "meat free" meals have grease or fat from animals hidden in it.

Somehow we both not only survived, but we thrived! We did so without really craving meat either! Eating vegetarian was really easy at home when we cooked for ourselves. Ordering pizza was a breeze, and I highly recommend the Domino's veggie pizza!

Easter dinner was harder since we could see and smell the ham but we could not eat it. There were enough vegetarian friendly dishes to choose from though, so even that didn't faze us much. I think I speak for both Kelsey and I when I say the hardest part of being vegetarian is eating out. There aren't many vegetarian options at restaurants and fast food places. I had to resort to asking for normal meals without the meat several times. This usually resulted in puzzled looks and the occasional critical glare. As difficult as it was for me to eat out, I think Bob struggled more. He tried so hard to accommodate my vegetarian diet while still filling his meat cravings. I'm so grateful for his patience and support in accomplishing my goal!

At the end of a successful month, Kelsey and I went to a cute little vegetarian restaurant in downtown Salt Lake called Sage's Cafe to celebrate. We both got Bella Burgers (essentially a hamburger with portabella mushrooms to replace the hamburger). It was pretty good. At least until Kelsey started comparing the consistency of mushrooms to that of worms! After that I had a hard time finishing my meal! We also had the truffle fries with garlic aioli, the blueberry blast smoothie and of course some desserts with ice cream, cookies and brownies! The food was all really good (except the cookies were a little too hard...) More importantly we really enjoyed spending time with each other and trying to sneak a picture of the cute waiter so we could show it to Savannah. I hope he didn't think we were total creepers, cause that's how we were acting! It was a great night!

Kelsey at Sage's Cafe

Enjoying 1 of the mushrooms that
fell off my bella burger

Sage's Cafe

What was left of my Bella burger
after Kelsey grossed me out!

Kelsey overly proud of herself for
grossing me out....

Sister dinner

Dessert #1

Dessert #2

To top off the weekend, it was my Sister-in-law Tessa's 40th birthday! I went over to her house Friday night to celebrate and to give her a birthday gift from me and Dani. I was exhausted from slaving away at my work's Kids At Work Day, so I spent most of my time there observing the party or letting my nieces play with my hair. Bob had to miss the party because of work, so we went back over Sunday morning for him to wish his sister a good one and give her a picture he had drawn for her. It was bright and early in the morning so we were tired but really happy we went. It was fun talking with all the kids! The highlight of the day was watching Corey stuff half a waffle in his mouth in one bite! Crazy boy!

Accepting the challenge

Eating the waffle...

His "What have I done?" look

Katie showing off her hair tied
in a bow

My niece is as much of a poser
as I am!

Comic Con this weekend turned out to be everything I wanted it to be and more. Bob and I had a blast! Bear with me, cause this post could get out of hand...

Thursday was my short day since I didn't take work off. We got there around 12:30, but the crowds trying to get in were so large, we didn't actually get in until nearly 2! Since I had to leave for work by 3:30, that didn't give us much time to do anything so we wandered the booths and vender's aimlessly while stopping to take pictures with anything we thought was cool and chowing down on some highly over priced pizza. One of the booths had the author of the Michael Vey books signing posters for free. Since my nephew Robert is a huge fan of the books, Bob and I stopped to get one for him. The author was super nice, and asked if we wanted more for anyone else. Since we got one for Robert, we decided it was only fair to get one for the rest of Ryan's kids. We were both impressed with how nice he was!

Too soon, it was time for me to go. Bob had taken work off, so he was able to stay longer checking out the rest of the booths and sitting in on some panels. Thursday night, a special announcement was made! Patrick Stewart was going to be attending Comic Con, giving autographs and doing photo ops for Saturday only! I found out while I was at work and got so excited! I knew I had to meet him!

Ghost busters car and bumblebee

The Batmobile

The doctor from Doctor Who

Batman and Poison Ivy

Daenerys

The Delorean

Umbrella Corp.

Catwoman and Wonder woman

Balloon Transformer

Poison Ivy

Bob getting signed posters by the Michael Vey author

Friday my sisters Kelsey and Savannah tagged along with Bob and I. We didn't have to wait as long to get in since we showed up about an hour before the doors actually opened. Bob wanted to sit in on some panel right at 10, so my sisters and I browsed all the booths I hadn't gotten to the day before. Since I had dressed up as The Flash, we had to stop a couple times for people to take pictures with me, but otherwise we maneuvered the crowds effortlessly. Occasionally we tried to be sneaky and see the celebs at their booths through the crowds. We didn't realized that you could do free meet and greets and we didn't want to pay for autographs from everyone so we looked from a far instead. Finally 12 rolled around and it was time for our photo op with Karl Urban. I knew who he was and I knew he was a good looking guy, but I had never really given him much thought before. However as soon as I went into the photo op booth and saw him in person, my heart may have skipped a beat. He is absolutely GORGEOUS in person! After our photo op, we went searching for Bob. While we had been away, he had seen Julie Benz (Rita from Dexter) as she had been walking from her autograph booth to her photo op. He shouted to her that he recognized her, and she could have waved and kept on walking but instead she turned around and walked back to him in order to shake his hand and say hi to a fan. Not only did we all think that was super nice of her, but Bob was practically drooling over how beautiful she is in person for the rest of the day as well. After our celeb encounters, we headed to Olive Garden to eat lunch since we were all starving! While there we looked at the schedule for the rest of the day. Right after lunch, Julie Benz had a panel. I was jealous of Bob meeting her so we decided to go so I could see her too. She was so funny! I really enjoyed listening to her talk. After her panel we wandered some more booths and took pictures with more people who were dressed up before I took my sisters to their photo op with Karen Gillan (Amy Pond from Doctor Who). While they waited for their picture, Bob and I met up with my cousin Amy and her kids in another panel. It was nice to sit and rest my feet while talking to Amy about her adventures at Comic Con so far. She also let me in on an awesome secret, we could meet and greet the celebs for free! Once my sisters were done getting their photo op, it was time to say bye to Amy and head home.

My sisters and I with Karl Urban. This picture doesn't even do him justice.

Breaking "Bath" bath salts

The pic says Hulk no smash with him holding
a kitty, awe!

Spiderman and Deadpool

Lady star trooper

Kelsey and the Tardis

Supergirl

Chewy

Harley Quinn and another Daenerys

Falcon

All terrain scout transport from Star Wars

R2-D2

Jessica Rabbit

Daenarys again, she was the best one I saw

Kelsey and Hagrid

Star trek green screen photo

Julie Benz panel

Kelsey and Savannah with Karen Gillan

Saturday Savannah stayed home, but Kelsey tagged along with Bob and I to the final day of Comic Con. We were determined to get pictures with Patrick Stewart, but the online purchases weren't working. We went early to get in line and found an entrance that was less crowded so we could book it to the Photo Op booth as soon as it opened to purchase our photo op. Luckily we made it in time, and they weren't sold out! Once that stress was gone, Kelsey and I began shopping for X-Men shirts to wear in the photo. Bob had to leave to make his car payment so it was just the two of us. Kelsey couldn't find one she wanted, but I found an awesome Phoenix shirt that I bought and wore the rest of the day. After I got my shirt we decided to try some free meet and greets with the celebs. Kelly Hu from Vampire Diaries didn't have a line so we went to her first. After one meet and greet, we were hooked. So we went to Sean Patrick Flanery's booth next. I have liked him a lot ever since I saw Boondock Saints in High School so I was excited and nervous to meet him. Luckily he was really nice! The people in front of us asked if he would talk to their friend on the phone who was also a fan, so he called her and left her a voicemail in his sexy Irish accent. When he was done with the message, the friend had text back asking what the phone call was for. So he responded with a selfie of himself and the friends in the background. I thought that was so cool of him. Next it was my turn, I stammered some nonsense before finally asking him if I could have a hug. He said of course, and came out from behind his booth to hug me (It was amazing!!). I finally made some coherent sentences about loving him since Boondock Saints and enjoying him in Dexter too, before I stumbled away in some happy shock. I told Kelsey I thought I might start crying tears of happiness, and then Bob called. As soon as I told him I got a hug from Sean Patrick Flanery, the happy tears started and my face turned red for the rest of the day! Bob brought back pizzas from California Pizza Kitchen, so we went and ate with him before the three of us headed to the Cosplay contest. Cosplay was our first disappointment. The MC's were awful and trying to turn it into a stand up comedy show, but they weren't even funny at all. They also kept having breaks for musical numbers. I think we only saw 15-20 minutes of Cosplay in the entire 90 minute show. It was disappointing, but at least I got to see my friend Jeanine in her costume! After Cosplay, we ran into Wade and the twins and chatted for a while until we saw Julie Benz in her booth. I had to meet her after how nice she was to Bob so I went in for a meet and greet. She was really nice, and very pretty in person. Her eyes are kind of mesmerizing. After meeting her, Kelsey and I met Laurie Holden (Andrea in Walking Dead). She wasn't very nice to the guy in front of us who asked for a picture but she was nice to us and she talked about how tired she was and how dreadful she must look by now. We reassured her that she looked great, but we understood how exhausting three days of autographs and pictures must be. Finally we met Jon Bernthal (Shane in Walking Dead), before heading to our Patrick Stewart photo op line. Kelsey and I were easily part of the first dozen there, but they wouldn't let us line up since it was too early. As more and more people showed up, they got frustrated and kicked everyone out of the photo op area. When we came back, Kelsey and I were able to work our way to the front of the line, where Amy and Wade met us. We visited for a long time (a lot longer than we should have, because the photo op volunteers messed up the lines and while we were in the first line there, we ended up being nearly last...) But I enjoyed spending the time chatting with my cousins. Finally it was our turn to meet Patrick Stewart. They rushed us through, since they had so many people to accommodate, but it was so exciting seeing him in person. He looks exactly the same as he does on the big screen! Now I can officially say I've met Charles Xavier, as well as I've officially met someone knighted by the queen. Imagine that! We were all really happy to see him, but none more so than Amy! She had some wicked funny giggle going on after we got the picture, and as much as she protested our teasing, she couldn't stop! It was hilarious! Finally we headed back to Bob and the kids, and headed home for the night. I can't think of a better way to spend my weekend!

Patrick Stewart!!

Kelsey and the mini tardis

Yes that's a tarantula on my head... The guy
didn't ask if he could put it there, he just did it.
I figured it was too late to avoid it so I might
as well get a picture of it.