Hard to believe that today is the fifth anniversary of this little blog.  I had no idea when I sat down and wrote my “Hello World!” post that I’d still be here, five years down the road.  (If you look closely, you’ll notice that the link is actually “hello-world-2” which makes me think that I must have deleted the first one!  Who knows!)

I love writing about theatre and travel, and I hope to continue to do so (especially about travelling!).  I hope to continue to grow this blog and my readership, and to continue to provide interesting and useful content.

So in celebration of five years, here are five lists I’d like to share with you!

My 5 Most Popular Blog Posts of All Time (Thus Far!)

• Theatre Etiquette: Concerning Rehearsals
• Treated Like Royalty: Medieval Times and Renaissance Hotel in Toronto
• Theatre Etiquette: Concerning Costumes
• How to Deal: You Want Me To Do WHAT Onstage?
• Audition Advice for Young Actors

5 Quick Pieces of Advice for Young Actors

• Learn your lines as soon as you start rehearsing.  Don’t wait until the last minute to try and cram them in your brain.  Save yourself the stress.  (I speak from experience here.)
• Don’t be afraid to take risks and look silly.
• Choose an audition song and monologue you actually enjoy performing.  I can tell that “My Favourite Things” is definitely NOT one of your favourite things.
• Practice speaking loudly and projecting your voice from the start.  It’s easier to bring your voice down than to try and push it up once you’ve moved from the rehearsal hall to the theatre.
• Don’t be a diva.

5 Places I’ve Travelled

• New York City (four times!)
• Chicago, Illinois (for my 30th birthday)
• Morpeth, Ontario (to go camping in a tent with Shawn for the first time)
• Orlando, Florida (for my honeymoon!)
• Toronto, Ontario (for everything from Medieval Times to the Santa Shuffle to Blue Jays games!)

5 Things I’ve Learned About Blogging

• If you want to run a successful blog, you have to MAKE the time to write.
• Write ahead and pre-schedule your blog posts as much as possible.  It will save you so much stress in the long run!
• When inspiration hits, stop everything and write the post.  Don’t save it until later.  By that time your inspiration will have dried up, or you’ll second-guess yourself and think the idea isn’t as good as you thought it was originally.
• Always include at least one great photo in every post!
• Be consistent.  Try to post at least one new article every week.  (I’m still working on this one!)

5 Goals for the Remainder of 2015

• Post one new article each week on the blog
• Finish my theatre scrapbook
• Clean up my two youth theatre plays and get them up on the blog
• Declutter the house
• Learn to say “NO”