I just have to get this out of the way: Billy Burke and Peter Facinelli are freaking FANTASTIC.

Okay, back to work. After three hours of traffic on I-20 and getting lost in Atlanta (who thought it would be a good idea to name every street some variation of Peachtree?), I finally made it to the convention just in time to grab my press pass (which is quite possibly the best thing ever) and get to the first event! I met some awesome people right off the bat, including Alison from Awesome Twilight Musings who has become my press buddy for the weekend!

The con started off with the hilarious cast of the Hillywood Show who are hosting the weekend… then came [fangirl moment] BILLY BURKE!!!!!! [/fangirl moment] Completely cool, shades on, tattoos showing, Billy charmed the pants off of every fan there. (He even apologized for swearing, haha!) If we weren’t in love with him before today, we are now! Billy took pre-written questions from the fans, and here are some of the highlights:

» If he could play another role in Twilight, he’d choose Edward… but he doesn’t envy Rob all the chaos it’s brought him!
» Some of his favorite scenes were cut from New Moon, but he wouldn’t tell us which ones!
» He did the famous “Charlie halo” at the fans’ request and confessed that it was his idea, not Catherine’s!
» He admitted to having an “intense stomach situation” which marked his least favorite day of filming!
» He called his Twilight co-stars “really talented” and “good, genuine people”.
» Joked about having Rob on his speed dial… “We have our own secret thing going… I think he might be pregnant.” Fans went wild!
» Would he want his daughter to date Edward or Jacob? “I wouldn’t wish what goes through [teenage boys'] minds on my daughters for anything… I would choose neither, I’d choose for her to be a nun!”
» He admitted that his first objective in life was to be a rock star!
» My favorite quote of the session: “My idea of camping is a bad motel.”

After Billy left the stage (to much fangirl screaming, I might add!), the Lexicon girls took the stage and did an awesome presentation on Twilight in the media and how to debunk fandom rumours – nothing surprising to those of us who have been dealing with rumours for years! ;)

After a game of Twilight trivia (I didn’t do so well!), Hillywood came back and did a Q&A about their movie parodies – they are so cute it’s not even funny. Apparently “Edward” hasn’t finished all the books, and “Jasper” started to talk about Breaking Dawn…

Before I fangirl straight into the last (and best) part, I have to confess that when he first walked on stage, I thought, “That’s not Peter Facinelli! He looks totally different!” BUT IT WAS. AND HE IS FABULOUS. I’m so used to seeing him with super dark hair or all costumed up as Carlisle that I seriously didn’t recognize him – I’m so ashamed! But once he got started, I forgot all that… I almost forgot to take pictures, I was so enthralled! Some of Peter’s highlights:

» He turned every woman to mush when he talked about his daughters. (Awwww!)
» He jokingly whined that Rob never answers his text messages!
» His wife (Jennie Garth) called him right in the middle of the session and he put her on speakerphone… “Why is there so much screaming?”
» He answered my question (!!!!!) about the effect of the media on the filming of Twilight and on his personal life… told a hilarious story about fans not even recognizing him!

Over 200 pictures from the day’s events! See them all here!

Tonight there’s a concert with The Twilighters and Will Champlin, hosted by Billy and Peter (!!!!!!!!!!!!!), so I’ll be writing on that tomorrow morning (I have a feeling I’ll just be falling into bed tonight!). Tomorrow’s agenda includes Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene (can’t wait!) and another panel with the Lexicon girls!

If you’ve got questions you think I should ask Kellan and Ashley tomorrow, send them to me via twitter or email!

ETA: I totally forgot to mention the chick who smelled Peter. It was horrifyingly awkward and hilarious… and I totally got a picture of it.