On a Friday morning in early June, Charlotte, carrying her hot-pink sequined backpack loaded with stuffed animals and pacifiers, and I, carrying EVERYTHING else including a car seat, boarded a plane and headed off to Newark for our annual vacation to see my mom. We happened to pick this week to go for one very specific reason, however... COMIC CON!!

We woke up earlier than usual, but it wasn't a problem since we were both so excited about our vacation. For once, I was completely packed and ready to go the day before I left. This is quite the accomplishment for anyone in my household. Seriously, the number of missed flights between my husband and I is ridiculous. Anywho, I made a giant banana, spinach, date, cacao smoothie for Charlotte and I to drink on the way to the airport, and we were off. Traffic wasn't too terrible, considering it was a Friday morning in Nashville, and we made our flight without incident. Char made lots of new friends along the way. The ladies working security thought she was the cutest thing ever, and I must agree. After much excitement about riding the "flat escalator" and answering the question "Is that one our plane?" about 15 times, we made it to our flight.

After a short 2 1/2 hours, we landed at Newark Liberty and walked about a mile to the front doors to find my mom waiting to pick us up. After carrying two suitcases, a backpack, and a toddler car seat through two airports, I was parched. We began the terrifying, traffic-laden drive back to South Bound Brook and tried to decide where to eat lunch. We settled on The Healthy Garden in Piscataway. I've eaten there on my previous visits, and they never disappoint. At that point, I'd been eating 100% raw since April 15th, but I resolved to be more relaxed on my vacation. I ordered a green juice while we perused the gigantic menu. These guys do it all: pizza, salads, Mexican food, Mediterranean food, sandwiches and wraps, etc. Charlotte saw a picture in the side margin of the menu and said "I want that one!" I tried to talk her into a raw salad to share with me, but she wasn't having any of it. One thing I can say about my kid is that she knows what she wants and she sticks to her guns. ;-) So, "we" ordered the International quinoa salad. It's described as "Organic quinoa, chickpeas, red pepper, scallions, tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley tossed with Atlantic dulse flake (organic seaweed), avocado, sesame seeds, Herbamare." When they brought it out, it was HUGE! We definitely got our money's worth. The salad was fabulous, too. Charlotte stole most of the avocado and chickpeas. Turd. It was such a satisfying meal. Once again, I left completely happy with my experience. If you're in that area of New Jersey, check them out. The staff is always super friendly, too.

My first cooked food in 8 weeks.  Delicious! — My first cooked food in 8 weeks. Delicious!

That evening, after getting settled into Mom's house, we went to a local restaurant that my mom and her husband frequent. Ovations is a rather nice spot that overlooks the canal separating Bound Brook and South Bound Brook. They offer Italian food and sushi, oddly enough, along with a full bar. Since I was still fairly full from lunch, Char and I shared an avocado roll and a seaweed salad. I forgot to get a picture, though. Bad blogger! The salad was pretty standard to most sushi restaurants and luckily didn't contain fish eggs. Yay! The sushi roll was just as good as my favorite local spot, so I think I'll call that a win. I wish I'd been hungrier so I could've tried more of their menu. The owners were extremely friendly and offered to make anything I wanted, so I hope to return on our next trip and see what they throw together. Something tells me they can be quite creative with all of the ingredients found on their menu.

After dinner, we headed home for some relaxation and packed a bag for the weekend trip to Philadelphia. I threw together a huge green juice for the next morning with whatever I could find in my mom's fridge. We packed a cooler with lots of fruit, as well. It was difficult to fall asleep that night, since this was going to be my first Comic Con, and my best friend has told me how amazing they can be.

I suppose this is my "coming out" post: I'm a total nerd. I love Star Wars and Star Trek. The X Files is my all-time favorite show, and I've had a crush on David Duchovny since 1994. I was involved in theater in high school and loved spending my lunch hour in the drama classroom watching Veggie Tales with my fellow drama dorks. Yup, that's me. Before falling asleep, I was wishing I'd had the time and creativity to put together a costume for the experience, probably Rey from The Force Awakens. (Can we just take a moment to appreciate the strong female characters in the new Star Wars movie? I love that Charlotte gets to grow up with those types of pop-culture icons.)

I've always been an action movie fan, but since Charlotte discovered her love of all things Marvel, we have become super fans of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Her favorite character from any of the movies, though, is Bucky Barnes a.k.a. The Winter Soldier from the Captain America series. Last Halloween, she insisted on dressing as him, and I made her a pretty adorable costume, which she's gotten plenty of use out of, even wearing it to the grocery store on occasion. For her birthday back in March, I bought our tickets, plus a photo-op and autograph with "Bucky," who goes by Sebastian Stan in real life, though she refuses to acknowledge that fact.

Comic Con attire?  Check.  Green juice?  Check.  Ready to go! — Comic Con attire? Check. Green juice? Check. Ready to go!

We awoke at 6am on Saturday, and I started the morning by unrolling my yoga mat in the kitchen floor and performing a few sun salutations to get warmed up. I then did some lunges, squats, and push-ups. Nothing gets the blood pumping quicker for an early morning wakeup call, in my opinion.

We were off to Philly by about 7am. The drive went by in no time and before I knew it, we were looking at the skyline of Philadelphia. Charlotte was crying from the back seat "I have to pee!" by the time we reached downtown (Have I mentioned that we're now potty trained? Finally!), so we tried to find somewhere with a bathroom for mom and Gary to grab breakfast that was close to the convention center. Turns out, there's a Panera right across the street. Yay! After answering nature's call, Char enjoyed a fruit cup before we headed back to the car to get her ready for the Con. Mommy may not have had a costume, but Charlotte was going to be the cutest little Winter Soldier ever seen. She was dressed and painted just in time for the opening of the front doors. Walking from the garage to the convention center, there were heroes and comic-related shirts everywhere. The nerdom was in full force that day. We received many comments of "Awe, she's precious!" and "Oh look! A little Winter Soldier!" on our way in, which made me super proud. I mean, I did make her costume. ;-)

I don't think the real Winter Soldier ever smiles, but this one sure does.

We walked at least 1/2 mile inside the convention center to find the entrance to the hall, and when we did, it was overwhelming how many people there were. We saw countless Deadpools and other Marvel characters. I was amazed at how many women were dressed as the Winter Soldier, but we definitely didn't see any other kids dressed as him. After waiting in line to get our wristbands, and another line for our autograph voucher, then getting a picture with Iron Man, we finally entered the main hall.

Probably the only time you'll see these two embrace.  ;-) — Probably the only time you'll see these two embrace. ;-)

Walking into the main area, it was a carnival of color and people. Everywhere I looked, there were more costumed characters perusing t-shirts, art, or comic books. I lost count of the number of scantily-clad Harley Quinns. We walked straight to the back to get the info about our photo-op with Mr. Stan. It's a good thing we did, because we had just enough time to get our voucher and go to the restroom before it was time to line up. And it was a loooooong line. Oddly, most of the people in line for his photo-ops were young women. Hmm... ;-) There were almost no kids. Being that Bucky is sort-of a bad guy (although it totally isn't his fault!), I suppose most kids would rather see Captain America instead. So when we reached the curtained area for our picture, "Bucky" seemed extremely excited to see his youngest fan. "Oh my god! Look at the little one!!" was his reaction to seeing this pint-sized Winter Soldier. I seriously got tears in my eyes seeing the cheesy grin on both of their faces as they met. Charlotte, my little jabber box, was completely speechless. With so much going on, it's really tough to not feel rushed. We walked up and said hello, then I picked Char up and we moved in close for the shot. We quickly moved out of the way for the next person, saying "thank you". On our way back out to the main area, they had a table where we would pick up our picture. Upon our arrival, a really nice guy behind the table said, "Do you want a do-over? Her eyes are closed." and showed me the picture. Sure enough, Char was smiling, but her eyes were completely closed. Bummer. "Yeah, can we do that?" I asked. His response was to wave us to follow him back to the curtained area. He moved us to the front of the remaining line, told the photographer that we needed a redo, and left. We walked back in to Mr. Stan saying "Hey, you're back." Without thinking, I just looked at him and asked "Do you want to hold her this time?" He looked surprised, "Sure, can I?" Well, of course he could! This was her big moment, 2.0. We ended up with the cutest darn picture!

After our photo-op, Char was getting pretty tired, so we found a nice quiet couch in the halls of the convention center. I'd packed some Larabars and fresh medjool dates to snack on, and after a quick bite, Charlotte went right to sleep in my lap as I finished reading Queen of the Damned on my Kindle.

Done.  Even brainwashed, chemically altered soldiers need a rest. — Done. Even brainwashed, chemically altered soldiers need a rest.

That afternoon, once Char was refreshed, we made our way back to the main area to check out all of the products on display. There were some incredible artists present, vendors selling shirts and Funko Pop toys, plus many, many opportunities to have a picture taken with famous cars, like the General Lee and Ecto 1, and even a tattoo parlor! (That just doesn't seem sanitary to me.) I had such a great time walking around with Char and answering all of her questions about what she was seeing. I realized that I'm grooming a future uber-nerd, and that makes me pretty proud. After looking at all of the Funko Pop displays, she picked out with one she wanted... A stormtrooper. (So proud!) About that time, she also decided she was hungry. As you can probably imagine, there weren't many healthy options, let alone vegan ones, available at the convention center. I had packed some snacks, but Charlotte wasn't interested in another Larabar or an apple. We walked around the outer edges of the room and discovered a little stand in the back that sold fresh-pressed lemonade which you could get muddled with fruit, and right beside it was a popcorn stand with a sign reading "cooked in pure coconut oil" and "dairy-free options". Score! The kid LOVES popcorn, so this was the perfect find. She chose the diary-free kettle corn and a lemonade with muddled peaches. Since we wouldn't be there much longer, I figured this snack would hold her over until we left. We grabbed our bounty and headed to the autograph session with "Bucky".

We ended up pretty far back in the line right beside a guy who was dressed as what I'm assuming was his favorite comic book character, but he just looked like Freddy Mercury to me.

My inconspicuous shot of "Freddy."  Ha! — My inconspicuous shot of "Freddy." Ha!

We finally made it to the front of the line after Charlotte took ANOTHER snooze in my lap. Comic Con is pretty tiring for a toddler, I suppose. She was pretty stoked to see "her Bucky" again, and had him sign our picture. She also gave him a picture of herself from this past Halloween wearing her Winter Soldier costume, painted eyes and all. We had written her name and age on the back, so he could remember her always. He seemed pretty happy to receive her gift and told her she was "so sweet!". She beamed at this. There is no greater feeling in the world than seeing that huge, genuine smile on your kid's face and knowing you are responsible for giving her that happiness. As we walked away toward the door, Char carrying her signed picture, she turned to me and asked, "Mommy, can I keep this? Forever?". Mission accomplished. I have no idea how I'll top this birthday present, but we'll see what happens next year.

That evening, before heading back to our hotel for the night, we stopped at Whole Foods in an adorable downtown area that reminded me of East Nashville. I couldn't have picked a worse time to go to the buffet... I was STARVING! After loading up a to-go plate with salad, raw veggies, chickpeas, and tahini dressing, and packing up a little box with tofu, rice, and asparagus, I found some black bean soup. Yeeeah... I grabbed some chips and salsa from the shelf and a bar of super dark chocolate, as well. I think I spent about $35 for one meal. Oopsie!

We made it to our hotel around 7pm, the Marriot Navy Yard, which was lovely. It's only a couple of years old and very artistically designed. The room was spacious, bathroom top-notch, and service at the desk quite good. If you're in the Philly area, it's a nice place to stay if you don't mind being away from the hustle and bustle. It struck me as a nice place to stay if you're working in Philly, very business-like. We settled in and brought the food out. Well, Charlotte and I were so hungry, I forgot to take any pictures, but trust me, it was delicious. The black bean soup was my favorite thing. After eating all raw for two months, I realized how much I missed beans. So good! We ate almost everything except the chips and salsa. Like I said, starving.

I sat back to check in with social media after eating dinner, and I discovered that Charlotte was going viral. People were tweeting our picture and posting it on Instagram over and over. Apparently, lots of young ladies have dreams of Mr. Stan being a dad. LOL! Some even cut me out of the picture and just posted the right half. I can't blame them, that IS the best part. ;-) It was such a crazy experience knowing that strangers all over the world were looking at my kid's picture.

This girl Instagrammed a tweet.  That's a double whammy.  Haha! — This girl Instagrammed a tweet. That's a double whammy. Haha!

The excitement died down by Sunday evening, but for a few moments in time, Charlotte was famous.

We had such a great time at Comic Con, and Charlotte's already asking when we're going back. We are considering going to Chicago in August. We'll see. I may have a future Cosplay girl on my hands. I love my little nerd!