We are home

A small but delightful set of JPEGs from SPN Charlotte, starting with this adorable R2M where the instruction was "We're all going to squish Robbie." What is Rich doing? No one knows! But it sure is funny.

Gather round for story time on these next few. I had decided I was going to be brave and do the leaning against the car pose for my Jensen/Baby. Go into the op thinking I'm going to tell the handler this but she walks away right when it's my turn and I'm left to deal with Jensen on my own. Strike one for me being flustered. So I tell him what I want and then get into position against the car and I'm looking down making sure my hands are in an okay spot by my sides and he goes, "No, give me your hand." I do, and he proceeds to place it on his shoulder and hold it. Strike two for me being even more flustered.

I finally look at him and he is way closer and staring way more intently than anticipated and that was strike three. My face immediately starts to break and I am just desperately trying to hold it together long enough for the two snaps and not bust out in giggles. By the time I decided I had fought it long enough I'm curled over with my head practically on his shoulder in embarrassed laughter apologizing, and he's got my arm and goes, "That was so smooth. SO smooth."

The op turned out way better than I was expecting given what it felt like in the moment, but you can definitely see in the close up that we are both trying not to laugh.

Took me a while after that op to recover myself. And then I start panicking because I had already selected another pose for my solo that involved looking him in the eye and in my head I'm thinking, "He's going to think I'm nuts trying this again."

So I go in for the solo with a reference photo and after the handler shows it to him, I walk up and go, "I'm going to keep my shit together this time." And he says, "I don't believe you." And then I proceeded to stare him down like a pro. And after the photo was done he went, "You did it! Look at you!" Yes, yes, I did, thank you very much.

Is it just me or does it look like he is staring extra intently trying to break me?

Finally, moving on to Sunday, we've got this adorable Misha/Alex with kitty ears and bouncy pumpkins. A'int we all cute?

Just one more con for this year, so a few more ops from Chicago coming soon.

SPN DC was very low key compared to the events of my last couple of cons. But still had a cute little batch of ops.

Uncertain how much of this was a misunderstanding on what exactly we were doing for this pose and how much was just Misha being a chaos demon but a) it's hilarious and b) that man is not light and I was struggling not to tip over.

This is the result of me walking up and holding my arms out and saying, "Hugsies?" Moose hugs remain the best hugs.

Not really a fan of how this one turned out (my fault!) which serves me right as Jensen's comment on my pose explanation afterward was "I feel like that was more complicated than it needed to be." :-P

I told them one of them got to hug me and the other was gonna be mad about it and they could choose which was which. Jensen immediately volunteered to be mad. And then one of the handlers goes, "you've been waiting to be able to do that all day." LOL

For context on this one, you need to know a few things... 1) I have been a They Might Be Giants fan for many years and have seen them in concert more than 200 times, 2) I have known Val through the TMBG fandom for more than ten years before either of us discovered SPN, 3) the very first time I got an op with Misha at my first con, Birdhouse in Your Soul was playing in the op room, and 4) I have a tattoo based on a lyric from the song that features the bird I am holding in the op. So when Val suggested we do a Birdhouse op with Cas, it took zero convincing on my part. And Misha was even familiar with the song when Val was explaining the op and started reciting the lyrics. Could not be more pleased with how well this turned out <3

On to Charlotte...

SPN Indianapolis was a bit of a rough one for me. Was supposed to have this fabulous fan week doing SPN Austin, then both Radio Company shows and then Indy with my friend Jordan. And it all went great through the first RC show. But at the second one, my body gave in to the blazing inferno that was that venue and I collapsed and had to be take to the ER by EMTs before the show even started. Missed the whole thing. And everything after that was kind of a messy emotional and physical struggle. But you wouldn't really know it from the photos. Unapologetically stole Billy for myself in this Louden Swain op.

For context on these two you need to have watched the Misha panel and seen the interaction with my friend Jordan. https://x.com/timxoc/status/1827392136305897705 The Cockles op was right after the panel. And, yes, Misha stole Jordan's glasses in the Mishalecki.

This was one we were excited about from the moment it was announced and it came out so friggin cute with the were-pire lovebirds.

This was absolute chaos to get the hands arranged correctly and I am clearly still panicked laughing about it in the photo.

And then there's this. Like I said, I was in a rough place. not finding a lot of comfort in the aftermath of something traumatic. Walked up to the boy and said, "I need the best hug you can muster." He said, "I got you." He most definitely did. Closing my eyes was involuntary. I knew it happened in the moment but wasn't sure when Chris snapped the picture. As usual, he nailed it.

Ended up buying an extra auto to get this signed the next day, so I could say thank you because I needed that hug so badly. And he just grabbed my hand and squeezed.

Here's hoping the next con adventure goes a little more smoothly.

Quite possibly the fastest JPEGs ever from Austin.

Squishes for the birthday boy.

Lil Bro, Jared's screen used car, is clearly the star here.

Jensen gave me such a strong double thunk on the back after this op that I think he knocked all sensible thoughts out of my head for a good hour afterward.

I let him pick the pose for this one and the totally botched the instructions but not at all mad about the results.

Couldn't pass up the first opportunity for an op with Misha and Baby.

Just your typical family photo op. (I assume... I don't actually have siblings.)

This one is just super cute.

Misha understood the assignment here almost too well.

"Do you have bigger cups?" This op was conceived of over a year before Austin ever took place. Moose got it instantly and complimented the good callback.

Had to get these up quick before Indy. More to come soon... and I'll maybe try to throw out some mediocre phone shots from Radio Company in the meantime.

Columbus JPEGs have made their landing!

Robbie squishes <3

Happy Pride! Was pleasantly surprised to realize that MishMish picked up on fact that his sign was a speech bubble :-)

Jensen definitely understood the assignment on this one (even if I can to reposition him a little to get Jordan in place).

Awkward family photo. So on point.

I think this is my fav. Mark is such a sweetheart.

And finally... If anyone can clue me in to what I keep doing in ops that makes Jensen pull away from me like this, please do because it's starting to give me a complex.

Full disclosure, I'm struggling with how I look in these ops. I don't seem to be my best self. But I feel like sharing anyway is important.

And while we are catching up... New Jersey!!

Super cute Kimmie hug with my friend Jenna.

For some reason rejected the hug he wanted to give me in favor of this...

Halfway attempt at the distracted boyfriend meme with Jensen's actual Hero One Baby <3

Jensen's face in this close up sends me :-D

Intense stair is intense...

Somehow in all my years of con going I'd never gotten a solo with Mark... he's such a sweetheart.

This op was the human highlight of my whole con. Moose saw me next in line and just gave me this "Oh, you..." look and then held out his arms and said "Get in here!" And the op is just pure joy.

This op with anonymous friend was chaos to get lined up but came out pretty cute!

Randomly acquired this free op with DJ and dragged my friend Liz along.

And closing out the day with angel snuggles.

Also adding in some photos of the non-human highlight of the con... Baby. I was literally vibrating in this first photo I was so excited... absolute core memory.

Had to go back and see the girl again on Sunday and brought one of my green army men I got in the prop auction to visit.

I promise I won't wait so long to share Columbus ops :-)

I am so behind on sharing ops here! I came with the intention of sharing my NJ ops while I wait for Columbus JPEGs but apparently I never shared Burbank? So have some Burbank ops first!

Bunch of beautiful ladies... including me and my friend Shanda.

Adorable R2...

The very charming karaoke master, DJ.

In this birthday op for Cindy we discover that I am TERRIBLE at doing heart arms :-D

What's that? We actually got my dude to smile? Miracle of miracles.

MishMish squishes.

This is my favorite of the weekend, I think.

Hello, I do not not know what to do with my arms.

Angel hugs <3

And thus concludes this blast from the Burbank past.

SPN DC, aka #KristaCon, was pretty heavy on the heart emotionally but the ops came out fantastic.

This is absolutely the cutest MishMish op I've ever had.

This came out even better than I hoped. "Can we do hug from behind? And you... just fawn over the car." (He understood the assignment.)

After testing out the selfie pose with Mish last con, I took it for another spin. Also Jensen's shirt was ridiculously soft.

Philemon Chambers (Gus from Walker:Independence) was an absolute delight. He brought his mom to the con!

Even though I cried my way through SNS and left on Sunday feeling pretty deep in the emotional thinky thoughts, I am so glad I was there to experience this con. It was a demonstration of all that is good and beautiful about the #SPNFamily. <3

First con since April! I know that doesn't seem like very long, but it's a long time for me after averaging one a month for a while. Charlotte Con was a blast and a bit of a unique experience with the strikes ongoing but that didn't put a damper on ops!

Nate Torrence was a delight. One of my favorite parts of the weekend was listening to Rich fanboy over Nate TO Nate on stage - just absolute joy.

I love Drake so much, I wish I got to enjoy his presence at every con. The mini-moose brings me joy <3

I will forever call them "the kids" because they are almost young enough to be mine - such a delightful group of talented young people.

The incomparable Jojo showing off some lovely art my friend Jordan made for them

I had the joy of surprising my friend Christine with this op with the boys and the Impala. Her first Jared squishy hug <3

I do not like selfies at all so I always avoided the selfie pose, but I keep seeing other people's photo with the pose and they are always so flattering so I decided to use MishMish as a guinea pig and try it. Pretty happy with the results, I gotta say.

Running out of cute ideas for ops with my favorite dude. Please send help :-D

On the other hand, I apparently no longer even need to ask for my squishy hug... the moose saw me coming and just opened his arms <3

EDIT: Late arriving JPEG featuring so much cuteness <3

In all the times I've been to cons since they started offering ops with the Impala, I've never actually done them, but had to make an exception here for this exceptional restoration.

All in all Charlotte was up there among favorite cons, not the least of which was because of these wonderful ladies that I had the pleasure of getting to know.

Onwards to DC!

SPN NJ is somehow never my favorite con despite being the one closest to home but this year was made so much better by wonderful friends <3

Friend number one chooses to remain incognito and graciously invited me to join their Misha/Ruth op.

I have always wanted one of those Dean hug ops but I never liked that he always looks so somber in them. So I walked up and said “Can I have a Dean hug, but like a happy one?” Jensen contemplated this for a second, like he was trying to figure out what that would look like. And then gave this tiny little smile and said “Yes.” And then I had to basically snuggle and his hand was in my hair and my brain absolutely separated itself from my body, because I walked the wrong way out of the op.

Absolutely adorable Winchester kids photo with my wonderfully talented friend Liz.

Jordan drove all the way from Ohio to join me in NJ just to hug this man. I think it was worth it.

Some serious adorableness going on in this one. 

Jordan needed an “I don't understand that reference” op. Misha delivered. And then promptly broke character to wink at me. Because Misha. 

My big take away from this con is “do more ops with friends” because I’m more relaxed and less in my head and everyone looks so happy. Good times <3

NOLA Con JPEGs are in!

Met first-timer Jordan at pre-reg and made instant friends. But she didn’t have a Misha op so we HAD to fix that. 

Wasn’t entirely happy with how this op turned out and Jensen’s hair was so beautifully floofy at this con that I couldn’t bear to not have a photo I wasn’t happy with so of course I bought another one (can you hear my wallet crying?)

Last year at my birthday con in Indy photo ops were still “no touch” so I had to have Misha stand in for me in my birthday hug. This year I got to play myself. <3

Jensen: Looks at me with this ‘what’s up with this, why are you back again?’ gesture

Me: “We just have to make this one super cute because the last one was NOT cute.”

Jensen: Completely understands the assignment

Me: Promptly dies of embarrassment because I just told Jensen TO HIS FACE that he didn’t look cute in my photo. *face palm*

Moose hug to tide me over since I won’t see him again until August. 

Side note: The Moose was SWEATY. This is a picture of me with my face pressed up against damp t-shirt and the musk was definitely in action (I am not complaining).

Jeff Pierre is officially the happiest man to ever be in a photo. And such a sweetheart. 

I also have to share an autograph story.

In the Gold panel at Atlanta last month the boys were talking about props they got from set and Jared asked Jensen if he had gotten any of the green army men, and Jensen said no. 

Well, as it happens, I have a little batch of the green army men from props. In the prop and wardrobe auction after the series ended, I purchased the little tin soldiers from LARP and the Real Girl (the ones on the map table in Charlie’s tent that Dean and Charlie are doing battle strategy with). When they were shipped to me, they were all packed up in a rubbermaid box, labeled with the episode. And I opened it up only to discover, not just the tin soldiers I had purchased, but also 13 of Sam’s green army men. No WAY the auction house knew the significance of them or they wouldn’t have been tucked in as the best ever bonus to my purchase. 

Anyway, flash forward to NOLA. I’ve brought two of the little green guys with me to give to Jensen. I go up to him at autos, nervous as hell, and start blabbering while he’s signing for me. “You were saying in the panel in Atlanta that you didn’t get any of the green army men from set, and it happens that I have some of the army men from set, so I thought these belonged with you.” And I hand them to him. 

He’s just staring at them for a bit looking absolutely stunned and not saying anything and I keep blabbering about how I got them kind of accidentally with something else I bought in the auction. And somewhere in there he looks up... and the look on his face... I will live off that for a long time. It was the most beautiful, delighted smile and he said “I will gladly take these off your hands.” And I said “I thought you might like them.” And then I walked away and it took a good ten minutes for my heart to return to beating at a normal speed. 

And then the next morning in the gold panel, this happened. I am so, so grateful to have been able to bring him this little moment of joy. Kind of made the whole con for me (and it was a REALLY good con). 

And then, to make things even better I had a whole conversation with Drake about filming locations for The Winchesters and all the ones I had visited in the last couple of days, and he went “Wait, are you the one who posted that photo of Dean from the Pilot” because apparently he saw one of my location photos on Twitter? WHAT? He also tried to give me directions to one of the locations I still can’t find, but as yet I still haven’t been able to find it. 

But anyway, yeah. Best con yet? Yup, I think so. <3

Dallas Con JPEG day! 

I have done dozens of ops with the guys and I still came out of this one shaking. But also Misha said “Nice to see you!” as I was leaving the op so that may have contributed ;-)

I brought a reference photo for this one and gave it to Shelley. She showed Jensen and he seemed unexpectedly excited about it (actually went “Oh yeah!” when he saw it). Then I had to stare at him for like five seconds which is legitimately like staring into the sun. And then he gave my hands a little extra squeeze before he let go <3

I LOVED meeting The Winchesters cast! Got to do meet and greets with Drake and JoJo and they were so lovely and genuine and just excited to be there. And then look at Drake and Jensen’s faces in this op - it's like mirrored bookends. 

JoJo is just a beautiful soul, inside and out. 

I asked Drake if I could have a hug and he said “Of course!” and then proceeded to put his head on the top of mine just like Jared does when he hugs me. I was a puddle after.

After the Drake op, I had to go get a Jared op so they could be set side by side and demonstrate the son/father synchronicity (he’s done this head thing, regardless of the pose, in nearly all my ops since the plexi went away - I think it’s just our thing now). And also Moose hugs are the best kind of therapy. He gave my arms a squeeze before I walked away and I could feel it for like five minutes after <3

This beautiful soul being added to Dallas was a tipping point in me deciding to go. Calian is absolutely my favorite character from Walker:Independence. 

All in all, don’t love the way I look in all of these, but they were some of my most positive experiences in the op room that I’ve ever had. 

NashCon ops! This was a last minute addition to me con schedule once I lucked out with a Radio Company concert ticket. 

Walked into this op and Jared ducks out to say hi to someone leaving me with my arm around Jensen. 

Me: “He abandoned us.” 

Jensen: “It happens” *said with the resignation of someone who has spent countless hours of their life waiting on a Moose* <3

Op came out super cute (but it was so cold out there)!

This is a photo of me getting all the air squeezed out of my lungs. I asked for a squish and was not disappointed. After Chris took the photo, the Moose squeezed even harder before he let go and I swear it took me a couple minutes to get my breath back. It was exactly what I needed. :-D

This is the fifth photo I’ve had with Jared in the last two months and he’s leaning on me like this in every single one. I think it’s just our standard pose now. And of course the other dude is just perfect as always.

Had a blast at Rhode Island Comic Con! This team up photo was EPIC!

A little quality time with the Moose who was sorely missed in Vancouver. And got to meet the missus!

Keegan was a total sweetheart and even snapped a photo of this op with his phone when I went to get it signed. 

I didn’t get photos but also picked up autos with Mitch Pileggi and Rick Worthy for my SPN collection. Plus Sam Ferris since I somehow didn't get hers the last time I saw her at a con. And college-age me was very excited to get to meet Loretta Swit and Jamie Farr from M*A*S*H - I did one of my big college terms papers on that show! All-in-all and excellent weekend :-)