2011 A Year in Review

Last week on the 31st I did a little outfit roundup for your viewing pleasure. I thought it might be nice to take one more look back on the events of 2011.

  January 2011 found me working my last month at Urban Barn (unknown to my bosses and co-workers). I was eagerly anticipating quitting my job and getting back to stage managing again.

   …Well, actually the beginning of 2011 found us in a ditch on the side of the highway on the way to the lake, but that’s details really…

As far as the blog was concerned, the year was off to a good start with quite a few posts.

I did a little dressing room organizing that month,

did some thrift shopping,


talked a lot about snow (we had so much more this time last year!)!
 

  In February I publicly revealed that I was going back to work in theatre. I was so excited! 

The prior 7 months were difficult to get through. I had decided upon leaving Ricki’s that I was returning to theatre, but had to wait as there were no available jobs at that time. Working at Urban Barn was fun. I made some great friends and bought some beautiful furniture, but I was ready to start my career.

   

 I took a few weeks off in February in order to get ready for my career switch before apprentice stage managing for Theatre Projects Manitoba on the premier of Armin Wiebe’s play TheMoonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz.


 The cold winter months drove me to do some more thrifting

 

and more tweaking around the house.

Oh yeah, and my Step-Dad turned 60 (60's themed of course!).

  In March  I officially started work on “Blatz”. Life really kept my away from the blog that month. Getting back into the swing of stage managing was an adjustment, but my grandfather ended up in the hospital as well that month.  

 April found me working two jobs at once for a little while. During performances for “Blatz” I also started rehearsals for Talk with Winnipeg Jewish Theatre. Those were some long days! Rehearsal all day and performances at night. But after all I’d been through to get there I would have it no other way. 
 When "Blatz" closed I headed to Ottawa for the PrairieScene Festival for Talk performances. 

It was my very first business trip! Unfortunately I was hit with a nasty bought of food poisoning while there, but managed to have a great time regardless.


 At home we finally bought a chandelier with a mid-century modern touch for our dining room.

  By May my stage managing jobs had ran out and I was forced to look for regular work. As luck would have it my former employers at Harlequin Costume and Dance were looking for someone to work over the summer, so I worked for them until until September.

  On the stage managing front I did manage to get an assistant job for the Fringe Festival for a prominent independent musical theatre company in the city. I kept busy at rehearsals every Monday and Wednesday nights.

 I also did a tribute to Mom,

and did some more decorating.

 June was an exciting month in the ol’ blogospere for me. With my less than stellar post schedule in May I challenged myself to post an outfit every of June regardless of what I wore. Despite one little glitch, it was a huge success! And I have been posting fairly regularly ever since!

 June also found me using some of my free time to start hemming some of my dresses.

 

And more shopping.

  July was Fringe time! As always. It was just too bad that the company I was working for had a less than stellar year for attendance and I walked away from this job in the hole. Those are the breaks in independent theatre. After this I vowed never to work for a company who was paying me out of profits again. Stage managing is just too much work for that!


On the bright side, July is also my birth month! I treated myself to some vintage hats!

I also shared some tips on getting that pesky smell of mothballs out of vintage clothing.

  August found us at the lakealmost every weekend. 

Posts slowed down as we packed up the truck and headed out to enjoy the amazing weather with The Boy’s family. I even managed to get a little bit of a tan!


Around the 'ol blog I showed you some more dressing room/clothing storage ideas.

And shared my favourite blogs with you.

 In September I bid Harlequin adieu for probably the last time as I headed back to work for Winnipeg Jewish Theatre again. This time for the Canadian premier of Juan Mayorga’s "Way to Heaven". It was good to get back to work after the break for the summer.

I also reviewed my Begonia Dress from Banana Republic's Mad Men line, which ended up being too big.(It's being altered right now! I'll be sure to let you know how it turns out!)

 October was a continuation of rehearsal, tech and performances. I was working and life was good! 


This month I also revealed my new old Schwinn bike

And for Halloween this year The Boy and I dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood and TheBig Bad Wolf. We went to a few parties that weekend and our costumes were a big hit!

 I finished working for WJT in early November and my next job with Manitoba Opera fell through due to scheduling conflicts. So I was looking for work again until the new year. Thankfully The Boy’s Mom came through and saved me from a job in the mall. She got me a job doing some faxing and filing in her office for the remaining weeks of the year.

 Being off work allowed me to get some unfinished projects around our house finished. Mainly painting and wallpapering our dining room shelves.

 December was more of the same. Working in the office and getting some more projects finished around the house. 
I whittled down my mending pile 

and did some DIY projects for the holiday season.

 

 Naturally Christmas came and went with too much food and a lot of family time.

 Then we headed off to the lake again for the New Year like we have for the past couple of years.

It was a good year. As always, I learned a lot about my work, myself and my relationships. I’m so excited about 2012. There are so many opportunities on the horizon. I’m looking forward to gaining some balance in life, getting into some healthy eating and exercising habits, advancing my career and doing some more renos on our house.
And as always, I can't wait to share it all with you!
Thank you so much again for visiting my little corner of the internet. I can't say it enough! You guys are awesome!

Lisa.xo