Happy New Year! I hope everyone is having a fun time celebrating the coming of the year 2012! I can't believe how fast this year went by!

2011 was a great year with many fun highlights:

* Ringing in the New Year with my sister Eileen and my friend Kim! We had a great time dancing at Union Jack's and braving the Metro at 3am on NYE..yikes!

Me & Eileen! :)

I love you Kim, haha!

* Visiting NYC with Caitlyn to see our wonderful Kim!! We had such a fun time with Kim as our tour guide! We also got to hang out with our friend Jenny, another fabulous JMU girl! :)

* Having a super fun Harry Potter baby shower for Brittany and getting to meet adorable Avery soon after! I love that little baby so much! :)

* Going skiing for the first time, with my cousin Matthew's Boy Scout troop. I'm glad that my dad came along with me on the bunny slopes because all of the boys were zooming down the intermediate slopes in no time at all...

Me "zooming" down the slopes..yeah right!

* Seeing Bon Jovi in concert with my mom and sisters! He is a phenomenal performer! We had a great time!

Girls Night Out! :)

* Having a fun Pajama/Reading Day at school!

Yea, they definitely put this photo in the yearbook, hahaha!

* Going to Richmond twice with my friend Tabitha! We went for the CAA basketball tournament so we could both see  our colleges play (VCU and George Mason--JMU was already out of the tournament unfortunately!And then we went a second time to see VCU play in the Final Four! Very exciting!!) We also got to see friends, which is always fun too!

We met up with Caitlyn and Rachel for lunch!

Good times in Richmond! :)

* Going on a totally awesome spring break trip with Tabitha! We went on a cruise to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, which was SO much fun! When we got back to the US, we went to Orlando and went to Disney World and Universal Studios, where we spent about 7 hours hanging out in the Harry Potter Wizarding World--sooo cool!

In Jamaica!

Climbing the Dunn River Falls!

Harry Potter!!!

* Going to Rebecca's (my good friend from college) bridal shower and then wedding! So glad I got to celebrate those happy days with her! :)

Caitlyn, Rebecca, and me!

Such a beautiful wedding!!

* My younger sister graduated with her Master's degree from Marymount University! Yea Molly! We had a fun day celebrating her graduation!

The family (minus Eileen :( who was finishing up her own grad program in Colorado)

* We had a big family reunion with most of the relatives on my dad's side in Pennsylvania to celebrate my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary! That number is mind-boggling, to say the least... Haha...it was a really fun weekend, although we missed the cousins who couldn't come! :(

My grandparents and some of the grandkids! One of these days, I will crop out that random chair, haha!

* My older sister Eileen graduated with her Master's degree from the University of Denver! Yay Eileen! Sadly, I could not make the trek out to Colorado because of school obligations (grr), but our dog Bella and I were cheering her on in spirit from VA! :)

* I went to the New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys concert with my friend Tabitha! Oh my gosh--what a totally awesome, fun concert! We had the BEST time! I could barely talk the next day, haha...

* I went to Ocean City with my family! We had a great time walking on the boardwalk, hanging out on the beach, playing miniature golf, relaxing, and eating lots of seafood! (Well, until one fateful night of eating crab legs sent me to the ER with an allergic reaction...yikes! Just adding to my list of states that I've visited hospitals in...ahhhh...)

I love the beach!

Sisters in front of our favorite palm tree, haha!

* My whole family went to see Wicked at the Kennedy Center---soooo awesome!

* I saw Taylor Swift in concert (for the 2nd time!) with my mom and sisters! We had a great time--she's such a good singer/performer!

We heart Taylor!

* We went to many Redskins games, which is always fun, even though the team did not have a great year! :(

* My family had a fun, relaxing Thanksgiving at home and then went to PA to see relatives for Thanksgiving Round 2!

I made these cute place cards!

Some of the cousins! :)

* I went to NYC again with my friends Tabitha and Kristen! We had a great time shopping, walking around the sights, and seeing Daniel Radcliffe perform in How to Succeed in Business!! Such a fun trip!

Since I couldn't get a photo with the real Daniel, his promo photo was the next best thing!

* My family had a nice, relaxing Christmas at home and I got lots of cute gifts!

My sisters and I,  plus our crazy dog Bella who would NOT sit still for a picture. This was the best we got! Haha..

Overall, 2011 was a great year! I'm excited to see what 2012 has in store! :)

Wicked!

Picture of the program that I bought...it even came with a FREE (no additional cost) poster!

A few weeks ago, I was able to fulfill a life-long dream of seeing the musical Wicked (well a life-long dream since 2003 when the show was created, haha)! When the show first came out, it became popular fairly quickly. I was a Theatre major at James Madison University at the time and one of my friends lent me her copy of the soundtrack and I loved it so much! My mom gave me the soundtrack for Easter and ever since then, I have been dying to see it live!

The touring company of Wicked came to Richmond, VA about two years ago but unfortunately by the time I heard about it, it was all sold out. Earlier this year, I found out it was coming to the DC area and would be performed at The Kennedy Center. I was SO excited! My family and I got tickets and although we weren't all sitting together, we each had a fantastic experience. I loved the scenery, the music, the actors--everything! It's run in DC is just about over, but if comes back another time, I am so seeing it again!

The only thing that could have made an already perfect experience even more perfect would have been if the fabulous actress Kristin Chenoweth had been playing the part of Glinda. I did like the performances of all of the actors, but still, Kristin Chenoweth is sooo awesome! Besides being the original Glinda on Broadway, she is:

1.) On Glee--one of the best shows on TV!

2.) Incredibly talented!

3.) 4'11''--just like me! :)

If you haven't listened to the soundtrack to Wicked, you must check it out! If you haven't seen the musical, see it if possible--it is a FABULOUS show! :)