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
No year is free of trials, but I feel blessed to look back upon so many great experiences and memories of 2011!
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| This is [almost] everyone who sat with me on stage at Spring Awakening in Tacoma! |
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| The gifts I delivered to the cast of Spring Awakening in Charleston "Fans From a Fan" :-) |
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| Saying good bye to cast members Devon and George at the Spring Awakening Cabaret in Chicago |
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| Chicago - The Bean |
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| Pondering things in Disneyland with Jill |
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| Angels in Sin City! |
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| Flash Mobbing at PrideFest |
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| On a boat celebrating Byron's birthday |
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AJP on Ice!
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| Christmas time at Disneyland. This may be my most favorite picture EVER of my mom and me. |
