My Life in Pictures

Recently, I've been spending some of my Quarantine time going through old files on my computer. Clearing out duplicates & files I don't need anymore as well as organizing my files into folders so I can actually find ones I'm looking for! I've been going through my thousands upon thousands of pictures and came across loads that I had forgotten about.

I thought I'd share some of them for lols:

 A rather Grainy picture of Issy, Louise and I having SUSHI in Birmingham for my birthday one year. It's kind of become a tradition for me to want to just eat good food surrounded by my friends on my birthday and more often than not it's Sushi, because I LOVE sushi.

My Dad giving the kids 'Flying' opportunities. I want to say that's my niece Kaylee in the picture but I'm not 100% sure. I remember dad doing this for me when I was a little kid. He also used to take me (when I was little) and the grand kids 'surfing' when we were on vacation. When we went to a swimming pool, he would dive under water, we would 'stand'/float on his back while he coasted along the bottom of the pool. 

Rob giving my niece Hailey a ride on his shoulders. This was when we went home for Christmas one year and he kids were helping 'Uncle Rob' find clues during the Christmas game.

Another time we were in California, Rob reenacting the Lion King with my poor old kitty Twister. Still funny to this day.

One of the things I found adorable when moving to England was the idea of a 'kissing gate'. It's just a swing gate that lets people through fields but prevents livestock from getting through. The kissing thing is just because the gate doesn't latch and only 'kisses' one side of the gate post or the other depending on which way it swings. Still...I couldn't resist this artsy 'Kissing Gate Kiss Shot'.

 Me and my fellow High School Thespian Society Officers: Shawnie, Victor, Rachel and Ryan.

Me Performing The Box monologue from 'Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead' at an acting festival in high school.

 Me(In red) as Emilia from Othello I remember the actor who played opposite me as Iago was SCARY good. We did just the one scene for a festival in high school, but his energy was unbelievable. I felt exactly how Emilia would have...terrified and yet so in love with him.

One of my absolute favorite scene performances. It was a scene called 'Sure Thing' and I spent a lot of time yelling into this poor guy (Robert)'s face when rehearsing one monologue bit in this scene. In the script, we were 2 people on a date and whenever either of us said something the other didn't like we tapped a bell in the middle of the table and the scene would reset as if nothing ever happened. The scene would keep playing out further and further as we got 'better' at saying the right things.

One of the things I miss most about theatre besides the acting and crazy shenanigans was tech. I wish I had done more of it because I really did enjoy that side of the theatre. Although I think I found my true theatrical calling when I was Stage Manager for our 'kids' show in High School --orchestrating taking a whole show with sets and equipment to the local primary/elementary school was a Mammoth task that I will never forget.

 What I see as my crowning achievement in Theatre...when I auditioned for and got the lead role of Nancy in Oliver!

 It may come as a surprise, but I was not the best dancer when it came to musical theatre and not the most musically trained when it came to singing either. Although I auditioned for local musical productions, I lacked the training to even get into the chorus. :(

There was a production company that did musicals for under 18s that someone told me about. I didn't think they'd allow me to audition since I was a senior in high school and turned 18 that year. I auditioned and low and behold, I got in. The production company always double cast roles, since it was a cast of all children and the production would run for a whole week's worth of shows--6 shows total. When I auditioned, they ended up triple casting the role of Nancy BECAUSE OF ME. The directors said that my emotion when singing the audition song was so good they had to give me a shot.

There were 2 other girls who got the role, Valerie and Francesca, who were both FAAAAAAAR more technically trained than I was so it was a real confidence booster to be told that I had something special. Valerie was on the rise to becoming a pop singer so her voice was phenomenal and Francesca was one of those stereotypical theatre girls who ALWAYS, and I mean always, got the lead role that they wanted because they were a powerhouse triple threat.

Funny Story...the week leading up to the show, we were running blocking on stage for the show and because we were short on time, all three of us Nancys needed to run through a number at the same time on stage. At one point we had to walk up a set of stairs to the top of the platform, stand and sing our part, then continue off the other side of the platform and back downstage centre again. The platform rise was at the back of the stage and probably 12-15 foot high. 

Since the three of us were all walking the stage at the same time during this song there wasn't much room. I was so afraid of getting in Diva Francesca's way that I took a step back when we were at the top of the platform to let her walk past me to exit the other side and I stepped OFF the platform!!!!!! Luckily I fell onto the crash mat that was behind the platform, used during the 'bridge' scene in the actual play, so I walked away uninjured but it was something I have never forgotten. 

I think I've gotten away with story time....But it was fun having a walk down memory lane. Let me know if this was fun, if you want to see more random pictures from my life. Until then...here's one last one. Circa 2013....