Atlanta

The past few days have been a whirlwind. I am in Atlanta right now, and yes, I will admit....I'm at TwiCon. For those who dont know TwiCon is short for Twilight Convention. It's much like the ComicCon kind of thing. Why in the world am I here??? Meghan's birthday was July 2 and they got tickets for the weekend for her birthday. I wasnt going to be able to come, but then we discovered you can get day passes so I came up late on Friday. I got a day pass yesterday and went to the Q and A for Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene (Emmett and Alice in Twilight). I'm not going to lie it was kind of cool. It was also neat how much like their character they are. But I would like to clarify for all those people out there who are worried by the mere thought that I attended a TwiCon or who think I am wasting time. I am here because it's for Meghan's birthday and so the 4Pack (Meghan, Tori, Joy Beth, and I) would be complete. The fellowship has been so good, and it is rare that we are all together. The twilight stuff is cool sure, but one day is enough. I think Tori and Meghan kind of feel that way too.
JB LOVES Kellan and so got her picture made during the photo ops thing....we all opted out of paying 40 dollars for a picture of someone...he is in fact just a human. But we did sneak some video footage of JB actually getting her picture made. For the fans of Kellan out there, we also got a little dancing action in, which is kind of funny.
Things I discovered at TwiCon:
1. The Hillywood Show:
I had heard about The Hillywood Show before TwiCon, but had never seen it. I am a HUGE fan now. The show was created by two sisters, Hillary (Hilly) and Hannah Hindi. It was originally just Hilly and thats why its The Hillywood Show. They are on youtube and now have a website http://thehillywoodshow.com/ They do parodies of movies and their Twilight parody was their big break. It is so good. These girls write, star in, choreograph, edit, and produce their own stuff. Their grandmother even makes all of their costumes. When they started making the Twilight Parody they had actually never read the books. They are INCREDIBLY talented...and INCREDIBLY nice and open about who they are and what they do. Literally after watching the Twilight parody and then The Dark Knight parody I am in awe at the mad skills of these two girls. They aren't sponsored by anyone and both of the girls work as dance instructors. All the money they make goes into the films. Hannah is the oldest and is 23 and Hilly is 19. They are touring with TwiCon and hosting the events. You guys should really check them out.
2. TwiMoms:
I am very disturbed by the "Twilight Moms" who are here. We sit in front of them. These women straight up shocked me. Meghan, Tori and JB warned me about them but I guess I just thought they were exaggerating....they were not. These women, who had drinks in their hand before even noon, were completely inappropriate, most of the time, in language and in dress. It was pretty sad. During Ashley Green's Q and A someone commended her for being a good role model for girls and for not getting caught up in questionable scenes like most "20 somethings" stars. The moms behind us applauded loudly in aggreeance. I was also shocked at this. Moms...be the role model you want your children to have. Dont pass that off on some celebrity. If you dont want your child "partying" or "hanging out with the wrong people" dont be blind and dont let them. I am so thankful that my mom was not only a great role model but she was also not the blind kind and we knew that. I'm all about Moms reading Twilight. My mom has. I am 100% for moms being involved in what their children read. I remember my mom reading Harry Potter at the same time as Jameson, and I'm all for that. I am also all about moms bringing their kids to these things. Meeting actors/actresses is a big deal to kids. The kids here are also just eating up being in TwiWorld for a few days and that's great. However, moms if you do this…stay clean and stay appropriate. Because of this and other things, we saw the 4Pack is going to try and get a video of "Things that are appropriate and things that are inappropriate at TwiCon." Look for it as well as other videos by the 4Pack at thepa4ck on youtube. (We havent made it yet so it wont be up for a while....there wont be anything up until that video goes up...then it should be fairly regular)
3. Character Development: (a happy random finding)
I have gotten back into writing and recently come up with a great way for character development. I am very excited about this as it was something I really struggled with. I can’t wait to get back and get started on some projects. Sidenote: JB and I both like to write and we discussed our latest stories with each other at dinner last night. So fun!

This weekend has in fact been very fun hanging out with the 4Pack. I am very excited about the upcoming week as well. I only have to work Monday and Tuesday. Then starts a week of very fun events… Tuesday night I meet the 4Pack, my mom, Jamis, and several friends for the midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The 4Pack will be bringing that to you as well. Interviews, Costume Contests, even the telling of JB's first date that happened to be at the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban midnight premiere. That is an excellent and slightly painful story. I hope to get it up next week and once I do, I encourage everyone to watch it. She is a great story teller and the fact that this was in fact her first date...you'll just have to watch it. On Wednesday, we, the 4Pack are hoping to have a photo shoot for our Vlog, our opening video and our website, which is coming soon. Then MELINDA SEARS gets back from her year in France with Campus Crusade!!!!! I cannot even begin to explain how excited I am about that!! I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE HER!! She hasn’t seen Twilight and so we'll all watch it again, which will probably be a little weird after seeing the actors in it. We are also going to watch HBP with her again. I am so excited about this next week!!

Pics are up on facebook, they'll be up here soon hopefully.
Peace~hillary