#KatBlog: 2011 Kat Recap

I will remember 2011 as a year defined by Spring Awakening and travel. I traveled a LOT this year (for me) and while I like to pretend it was in honor of it being my 10 year anniversary of Semester at Sea - a lot of it happened...almost by accident.

In January I saw the 2nd National Tour of Spring Awakening in Tacoma, WA - sitting on stage for the first time. I watched the show twice in one day (hey, they were only in Tacoma for one day) - I LOVED IT! I already knew that I loved the show, but I fell in love with the cast and a couple of weeks later, I realized I needed to see them again, so I flew to Phoenix and then drove to Tucson to see them two more times.

I thought that was the end, I really did, but in March I found myself in Charleston, SC for two more shows. It was the farthest I had ever traveled completely by myself, and I had a blast. I adored Charleston and could've easily stayed longer than the 3 days I was there. After the second show I said my good byes to the cast (again - since I had already told some of them that Phoenix was my last show) and went home, content with my little mini tour of the US.

However...the day I got home I saw that Broadway in Chicago was holding a contest - the prize being 2 on stage tickets to the opening night of Spring Awakening, plus a meet & greet with the cast. My immediate reaction was that I was *not* going to enter - you had to make a 1 minute video about how you were the biggest fan of the show. Well, *obviously* that was me, but I was NOT going to make a video of myself pleading to be picked as a winner - plus, I had never made a video before. But....what if I didn't enter....and then other people won....people that weren't "good enough" fans?!? How could I live with that!?!? Over the next few days I came up with an idea that would allow me to create a video without actually filming myself and ran with it.

My Ultimate Guilty One Contest Entry: http://youtu.be/9PRKa3sI2qU

Thankfully, I was chosen as one of the winners and that's how I ended up going to Chicago for a week in May with Lindsay! Oh...My...Goodness - I LOVED Chicago! What an amazing trip! We saw everything we wanted to see and then some! Chicago was REALLY the end of my Spring Awakening Tour - but what a perfect ending it was. We actually extended our trip by a day to see the cast perform a benefit cabaret. It was totally worth it. It was great to see them all in a relaxed environment and gave us time to chat and say proper good byes.

Spring Awakening Cabaret: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB4EC52A47C2CA0A4

Other trips this year included:

Disneyland twice (once with my mom, my aunt Laurie and Jill and another with just my mom)
Cedar Rapids, Iowa for work
Las Vegas for Lily's bachelorette party
Sitka, Alaska for my Goddaughter's high school graduation
Maui with my parents

Here are some other stats for the year:

Weddings Attended: 3
Spring Awakening Performances Attended: 7
Other Live Performances Attended (Dance, Concerts, Plays, Musicals): 21
Flash Mob Performances: 15
New [to me] books read: 18
Number of weeks it took to watch all 6 seasons of Bones on Netflix/HuluPlus: 5
New [to me] shows I started watching: 7 (Mostly Sara and Jared's fault!)
Miles Flown: 26,936

Flash Mobs continue to be a huge part of my life. I'm so grateful for this hobby and the wonderful people I interact with as a result. A highlight of this year, in addition to the Glee Flash Mob being on my birthday AGAIN was being able to assist with teaching at some rehearsals, which is something I've always loved to do!

No year is free of trials, but I feel blessed to look back upon so many great experiences and memories of 2011!