December of '12 and February of '14 were not too cold, thankfully. The slightly warm weather was a plus for the thousands upon thousands of people who showed up in costume to Wizard World's Comic Con in New Orleans. From Star Trek, to Marvel heroes to tv show characters; it was likely to spot your favorite superhero or anime character at this convention. Teens, college students, adults and children all attend these events not afraid to show their inner "fangirl" when the 11th doctor from Doctor Who is signing autographs right across a curtain from you. People from all around the world turn out to meet and great their favorite actors at conventions like these, and some even dress up as them. Whether you like Walking Dead or Disney princesses, you're bound to find a booth that suits your personality. Both 2012 and 2014 Comic Con's were a great deal of fun, and leave a lasting impression to just be yourself.

I was fortunate enough to go to this lovely event twice in my lifetime thus far. I think of this convention as an experience to learn to accept new people, be a part of new fandoms, and frolic within a "judge free zone". In 2012, I attended Wizard World with two people that accepted me and were eager to have fun with. I was accompanied by my sister Abby, and an old friend, Victoria. Our main reason for going to the con was to fangirl over our favorite tv show characters. As we arrived with our printed out "Norman Reedus photo op" tickets, our hearts soared with excitement. Looking around, we felt as if we were in a movie scene. People dressed as the Joker, Poison Ivy, Harry Potter, Storm Troopers and so much more. Some people's costumes were so unique, they were constantly having pictures taken of them. Browsing through every artist booth we could possibly get to, we ended up spending too much money on artwork. The selection was amazing! Talented artists painted movie themed work or even their own characters. The event is called "Comic Con", so lets not forget all of the amazing comics that were displayed. Vintage, new, superhero, villain; every type of comic was displayed at the con. Three o'clock rolled around, and it was finally time to get in line to meet THE Norman Reedus, most famous for his work as Daryl in The Walking Dead, and also Murphy MacManus in Boondock Saints. The photo came out amazing, and is currently residing in a frame in my bedroom. Though the photo was quick, I still managed to fit a hug in, while he managed to call me "so cute". Afterward, we went to other actors from the Walking Dead's booth. We met Merle and Shane, and I must say that Merle was exactly like his character in the show. While waiting an hour for our photo to print, we sat on some bean bag chairs and played a game of life size jenga. Jenga in itself is hard, but playing life sized jenga with Poison Ivy and the Joker was even harder. Though I went only one day in 2012, it was still an amazing experience. Thankfully, Wizard World proceeded to come back in 2014, and I was totally prepared for what had to come.

Comic Con 2014, or should I say, one of the best experiences of my life. It all started in early December, when I started preparing my costumes. I created them all myself, other than one dress that my friend Amelia helped me sew. I was very pleased with the way they turned out, looking almost exactly like what I envisioned them to. Saturday rolled around, and I unfortunately had to wait until 3 PM to get there due to the ACT. I raced home and put on my makeup, which was very dramatic to say the least. This year, I was accompanied by two dear friends, Amanda and Caroline. On Saturday we dressed as the "Sugar Rush Racers" from the new and extremely good Disney movie, Wreck It Ralph. I went as Taffyta Muttonfudge, Caroline went as Vanellope VonSchweets, and Amanda went as Crumbellina DiCarmello. As we got to the con, we were again swept away by the amount of people and booths. This year, the amount of space that the con was held in was quadrupled. 2012 was one hall big, while 2014 was four halls big. It was so overpoweringly crowded it was almost hard to get around and see anything. I prefer bigger because like they say, the bigger the better! Dressing up for the first time really made me feel like a celebrity. More than thirty people took pictures with me, while even more took pictures of me. A great accomplishment of this weekend is that Caroline and I will be featured on an upcoming episode of Heroes of Cosplay! This is a show that is on the Sy-Fy network that travels to cons and shows all of the fabulous cosplay work. Cosplay is a blend of the words costume and play, and is defined as dressing up as a character from a book, movie, tv show etc. It was a truly great feeling having children actually believe you are the character you're dressed as. Countless children were calling out our character names and wanting to hug or take pictures with us. Wizard World official photographers even took photos of Caroline and I. This years Comic Con was different than the others because an extremely famous british actor that everyone loves was attending. That's right, the 11th Doctor himself was making his first appearance at a con since his character was regenerated. It was a complete blessing that he was on board for New Orleans Comic Con, and he drew in an immense crowd. The con was overcrowded with Doctor Who things, from t-shirts to decals to props to costumes. You name it, Doctor Who was on it. This was the perfect thing for a girl like me to experience, because Doctor Who is one of my absolute favorite things in the world. I took pictures with countless TARDIS' and Daleks, even though I was dressed as a sweet and innocent Wreck It Ralph character. Saturday, I met the boy of my dreams; an adorable, super tall, around 18 year old guy who was dressed as Link from Zelda. He was extremely handsome, and I thankfully got a photo with him. After the con, we proceeded to go to dinner and to the mall IN our costumes. We got a few awkward looks, but almost every where we went, someone asked us if we just came from Comic Con. We went into the Disney Store, and the workers fawned over our outfits, leading us into the back room to show us a staff picture of them all dressed as the same characters for a party. As we went home, we woke at the crack of dawn to start getting ready for day 2 of Comic Con.

I like to call this day, Matt's day, because I was soon meeting THE Matt Smith. I was already on the verge of tears from meeting my favorite actor. I was so consumed in the thought of meeting him, I forgot to finish my dress the preceding night. I immediately got started on finishing my second day's outfit. I was dressed as the TARDIS, or a police box. In Doctor Who, TARDIS stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space, and is a spaceship disguised as a vintage police box. I put on my British flag shoes, police box dress and my TARDIS/ Van Gogh socks and I was ready to go. Caroline dressed as a comic strip and Amanda did not dress up. We arrived at the con at about 12:30, and my photo op with Matt was for one o'clock. I immediately met up with friends Brandi, Becky and a friend I met on Tumblr, and got in line. Patiently waiting for my row to enter the photo op area, I was on the verge of tears. I mean, I was about to meet THE Doctor, one of the most important people in time and space. As I approached the curtain, I looked inside and immediately started fangirling. I thought I was going to faint at the sight of him. I tried to keep my cool, and slowly approached the fine man. In an instant, I heard myself loudly saying "DOCTOR!!!" and getting into the picture. There was a strict rule of no handshakes, hugs, or putting a fez on his head. I obviously gave him a hug anyway, because I'm that kind of person. I couldn't help myself so I proceeded to touch his face (which was scruffy and inviting), and say "you're so sweet". My statement was true, Matt Smith was SO nice and inviting to his fans. He greeted everyone with a smile. After I left the room, my two friends and I immediately fell on the ground (no exaggeration) and started crying. We were bawling like little girls. It was the most amazing experience and the best celebrity meeting I've ever had. As I was calming myself down, I wandered upon Amanda and Caroline, who bought me a Loki print because I paid for parking. I was so pleasantly surprised that they would do something so kind, and it put the cherry on top of a great day. I will never forget Comic Con weekend and all of the fun I had.

In both 2012 and 2014, I had an amazing experience that made me open up and be myself. I am so thankful I was able to experience Comic Con with the amazing people that were with me. I was able to dive deeper into my interests with Marvel, Doctor Who, and many other shows and talk to people who were also interested in these things. If there was no celebrity meet and greets, I still would have had the time of my life. The actors only add on to the experience I had. Dressing up made me feel confident in things I can do, because I accomplished my goal on my first try. I think I've really opened up these past two years and befriend those who are like me. Meeting Matt Smith really wrapped up a great weekend at the convention center in New Orleans. “We’re all stories, in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?” - The Doctor