OMG You Guys!

September 29, 2014

As if life wasn't exciting enough with a wedding and building move in play, I decided that doing another show seemed like a fun addition to the chaos! It seems like no matter how crazy things get, I can't resist getting up on that stage. When auditions for Legally Blonde: The Musical were announced, I just knew I had to be a part of it. I auditioned for the role of Brooke Wyndham, the sorority sister turned exercise mogul who is on trial for killing her husband. The role is incredibly demanding with a song that requires singing and jump roping simultaneously! I was so excited to be cast, and quickly learned that it was going to be more than I bargained for! Seemingly over night I learned a ton of jump rope tricks that I never thought I'd be able to do. I began rehearsing not only in rehearsals, but just about every spare second I had outside of work I was working on that routine. I was so intent on making it absolute PERFECTION! Up to this point, all of the shows I have done at the Athens were alongside my good friends, and my main purpose for doing the show was to not only perform, but to spend time with my friends and have some fun! This show had a cast of people most of whom I didn't know. They were all so great, but many of them very young. So very early on I just began throwing myself into the role and realized that this role was about more than just performing and having a good time. It became about proving to myself that I could do it! The stress level was higher than any other show I'd done before. In most shows, if you screw up it's pretty easy to make sure the audience never knows. But when you're executing jump rope tricks in front of 400 people with all eyes on YOU, it's a real make it or break it kind of moment! In the end, my hard work really paid off. I got through 10 shows with only one minor rope hiccup which was likely not apparent to people who hadn't seen it before. I felt so good about the work that I did (although my body didn't feel too great!), and that was only magnified by having the family there once again! It was so awesome having Mom, Dad, Kristy, and Bart all in the house opening night. As per usual, we didn't do much during their visit except for the show, hang out at home, and we did get to show them our new building! Over all it was a great trip and a great show. By far my biggest challenge ever on the stage and I was able to conquer it! And what's even better? We sold out nearly every show of the run! This show was not projected to do very well, but we ended up with some crazy numbers in the end. It was such a positive experience although when it was over, I felt quite relieved. :) Once I saw the video, I was a little disappointed with my lack of character development. It was pretty clear I was REAAALLLYY focused on those jump rope tricks. But the positive response was overwhelming, and I'm choosing to hold onto that!

Once the show wrapped we pretty much entered full blown wedding mode! While I definitely had a bit of the post-show blues, I didn't have much time to feel them with all of the last minute planning going on. It was nice to finally be able to let go of the Brooke Wyndham worries and allow the excitement to creep in! We didn't want to do the normal Bachelor/Bachelorette thing so instead we did a night out on the town together along with many of our friends. We had SO much fun hopping from bar to bar in downtown Deland. It's been so great to have so many friends out here be so supportive of us and so excited for us to get married! Since we can't have all of them at the wedding, I'm glad we were able to get a chance to celebrate with all of them.

Enjoy some photos from these events and get ready for the next blog post: THE WEDDING!