Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!!

This is it everyone. Today is the last day of 2010. Some really fantastic things have happened to me this year, and I have had so many firsts that I almost don't know where to start! So, to take a page out of Kristina Horner's book, I think the only way to explain what this year has meant to me is to take it one month at a time.

January: January, while nothing extremely life-changing appeared to happen, really was the month that held most change for me. I started the second half of my freshman year of college. I started regularly watching fiveawesomegirls, I discovered wizard rock, I found out about the greater Harry Potter fandom and all the things that comes with that. I also started getting a lot more involved in the Youtube community. My three best friends from childhood and I started our own collab channel called Follow the Butterflies. We honestly had no idea what we wanted to do with the project, but we got off to a great start =]

February: I participated in my first mainstage production of college through the backstage, not something I'm usually accustomed to, as an Assistant Stage Manager. It was a fabulous experience and I really came to appreciate the importance of the backstage team. I will never, ever disrespect the Stage management crew (not that I would have, but now I have first hand experience). I also got my hair cut with fringe bangs, something that isn't really that big a deal, but I hadn't had them since I was roughly six years old, so that was big to me.

March: For spring break I went to Seattle to visit family, and it was so amazing to reconnect with my cousins and aunts and uncles that I hadn't seen in a very long time. I forgot how much I missed them all. The weekend after I got back I went to see two of my favorite artists live in Gulf Shores, Mat Kearney and Ingrid Michaelson. They were utterly incredible, and it was so much fun to take a road trip with friends that I don't spend a lot of time with.

April: This was actually a really busy month for me. Will Grayson, Will Grayson came out, which I promptly bought and read. I had two auditions, one for the first play of fall semester, and one for the Summer show. We ended the month with a huge Broadway variety show called Auburn Pops! that took a lot of planning and rehearsal over the course of the semester. It was a really big deal and we raised a lot of money for Auburn's art programs. As it turns out, I also started this blog in April, a decision that I have constantly supported for myself. I think it's so important to document your life as it happens.

May: With May came my second finals week, the first time I've ever stayed home alone for an extended amount of time, and the end of Lost, which was highly upsetting. I also went to Anime Central in Chicago with my best friend Meredith! It was the first time in almost an entire year that I'd seen Meredith, and I had missed her terribly. It was such an amazing experience to share, and it was our first convention. So. Much. Fun. ACen was such an amazing environment to be in. It was just like acting, everyone was dressed up in a costume and walked around in character. We felt right at home. When I got home I started my first ever summer school, taking Costume Construction and the Summer stage show.

June: Basically this whole month was taken up with sewing and rehearsal. We put on the collection of scenes at the end of the month and then the cast and some other theatre majors all went to Six Flags to celebrate being free. It was a fun day, and I hadn't been to Six Flags in years. Over the course of this month, too, I watched Avatar: The Last Airbender in its entirety for the second time, and loved every second of it. Because it's amazing.

July: The movie of The Last Airbender however was laughably bad. This month by far was one of the best in my life, and I couldn't believe how much I packed in to five days. I spend the first part of the month slacking off and preparing mentally for the epicness that was about to happen. Kelly, Jennie, Amy and Caitlin and I all went down to Orlando together. We explored all four Disney parks in two days, and it was my first time to go to Animal Kingdom and Epcot. Then we went to Infinitus, which was easily the best day of my life. Meeting Team Starkid, my favorite wizard rockers, seeing the premier of A Very Potter Sequel, partying all night with some of my favorite people. It was incredible. The next day we went to Wizarding World of Harry Potter which was probably a tie with Infinitus for best day ever. Walking through Hogwarts, eating lunch in the Three Broomsticks, finally buying my very own wand, riding the rides for the first time. Everything was just so amazing. I couldn't believe my life. And then the day after that I went to my first wizard rock concert and got to see All Caps live. It really was the best month ever.

August: August was filled with stress and new beginnings as well. I blogged almost every day as part of BEDA, I went to Savannah, GA for a mini holiday with my parents and it was great to soak up the history there. I started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and became instantly addicted. I started school again with easily my most difficult schedule in all my years of school. Youtube lost a really amazing soul and we rallied to help her parents out in their time of need. I started my first ever job working in the costume shop of my theatre. I started taking Japanese.

September: brought my 19th birthday. I am currently in my last year of being a teenager and it's the weirdest feeling... I started becoming more obsessed with learning songs on the piano. We made a really big and awesome decision to add my friend Kelly to our collab channel! I made my presence on Youtube slightly more well known. School picked up in speed and difficulty. I didn't get cast in any shows again, but it was ok.

October: I did my first SETC audition. It was extremely nerve wracking, and even though I didn't get passed on, I felt really good about my audition and I don't regret doing it. I went to my second wizard rock concert with one of the awesomest people in the world, my friend Elizabeth, who is as obsessed with Harry Potter as I am. I got increasingly frustrated with my core classes. I geared up for NaNoWriMo. Halloween was scary with my Pope's Farm adventure with Sarah-Jean, Emily B and Ben.

November: I actually succeeded in writing over 50,000 words in a month. It actually only took me until the 28th actually, but there was a week in there that I had no motivation. Kelly was very important in keeping me on track. xD In the space of a week, so much amazing Harry Potter-ness happened. I went to the midnight showing of Deathly Hallows Part 1 with a whole group of friends and we all sobbed our eyes out. It was amazing. Then I went to NYC for a wrock festival and got to have real conversations with some of the people I respect most in the music business and in the Youtube community. I walked around SoHo, Little Italy and Chinatown, as well as Midtown Manhattan. Thanksgiving was shared with my Grandmother, whom I had not seen since I graduated high school. I auditioned for both mainstage shows in the spring, and had callbacks. It was a fabulous month.

December: I got cast in my favorite show on earth, I got deathly sick, I went through finals week and almost hyperventilated from my math final. It was that awful. It's a miracle that I got all A's and still maintain my 4.0 average in college. I finally finished hell semester with an amazing feeling and so much to look forward to in the spring. Project for Awesome was even bigger and awesomer than any other year, and I felt so good donating so much to so many different charities. Christmas came and went spectacularly and was another success. I started watching Doctor Who and re-reading Lord of the Rings.

And now here we are. It's New year's Eve, and my parents and I are munching on fun seafood hors d'oeuvres and watching our favorite old British comedy, To The Manor Borne. Penelope Keith is a comic genius. I've been working hard to prepare for Piazza, and now I've just found out that I have a callback for a show this summer, due the same day I start back at school. I have so much to be happy about from this year, and I have so much to look forward to in the new year. I really couldn't be any more excited for what's to come and what 2010 brought me. So, for the last time in this year:

HPRT: I've been reading an awful lot of Ron/Hermione fanfiction lately. I don't even care if you think that's weird or stupid. There are some great stories out there!
Current Book: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Current Song: Say it Somehow from The Light in the Piazza