16th Birthday!

Bonjour!

So as I mentioned in my last post, I celebrated my 16th birthday when I went to America with my family and it was the best birthday I've ever had! My birthday was the 1st of August and on the 31st of July, I carried out my yearly tradition of staying up till at least midnight. My friend in America, Hannah, had been to see Justin Bieber that night and ran into my room and pounced on me to wish me happy birthday at 12.30 when she got home... that was the first of many lovely moments.

In the morning, I woke early and facetimed my two best friends Ellen and Laura (HEY GUYS) and had a good chat and laugh with them. When I got up, happy birthday was sung to me and we all had breakfast together- waffles, eggs and bacon. MMM! I then opened some cards and presents off my family (putting up a post after this one about a few things I got). We then all spent most of the early afternoon getting ready to go into New York which was entertaining enough in itself (3 teenage girls trying to decide what to wear etc).

Shirley Temples at the view with Reagan and Hannah.

 All of us then hopped into the cars and drove into NYC, parked up and walked to 'The View'; a restaurant near times square, 48 floors up, that slowly revolves, giving you a 360 degree view of the city. The food was amazing, the waiter we had was hilarious and asked if he could be adopted by us and the experience was so worth it. I'd definitely recommend it, 100%. 

Once we'd finished eating (and had gained about two inches around our bellies), it was absolutely pouring it down with rain outside. Literally, POURING! We were off to the theatre to see Wicked (my favourite ever musical) which was just round the corner. But, one of our friends (Judy) had just had foot surgery and was being pushed in a wheelchair by David (another friend... I HAVE FRIENDS). It was quite entertaining actually looking back, except for the fact I was in sandals!

We soon arrived at the theatre and got to our seats. The show began and I was transported into this heavenly musical land that felt like a dream *sighs*. If you read my first bucket list post, you'll know how I feel about musical theatre and wicked especially. If not, it's basically my dream to be Elphaba (the wicked witch) in wicked. I cried.. quite a lot.

If that wasn't enough, everyone agreed that we could go to the stage door atferwards and look what flippin well happened....

 

Fiyero- Derek Klena

Glinda (the good witch)- Katie Rose Clarke

Elphaba- Lindsay Mendez. Such a talented woman.

 Finally we had a wander through times square and before I knew it, it was no longer my birthday.

We then drove back to the house and ate ice cream cake (which was INCREDIBLE). I then curled up on the sofa with Hannah and Reagan watching something American- and quite forgettable to be quite honest- until 3 in the morning, at which point I strolled off to bed for my last night's sleep in the US of A. 

So that was my birthday! Quite a long winded story but I wanted to blog about it as it was such an amazing and lovely day with people who I love ever so much! We all love birthdays don't we?! (I hope you do!)

Thanks for reading and have a lovely day whatever you're up to :)

Charlie x

Bucket List #1

Today I came up with an idea that's not necessarily original, but I think quite a fun and interesting thing to talk about: things I want to do before I die (aka. my bucket list).

I started making my list a few months ago now and thought it might be a nice idea, maybe once a week/ fortnight, to share some of the things on it. I thought writing these bucket list posts might give other people some ideas and would give anyone who is giving up their valuable time to read this a little more insight into what goes on inside this brain of mine!

#1- Perform on a West End Stage

 

Since around the age of 10/11, it's been my dream to train in musical theatre and be in the west end performing to packed theatres every night. Seeing musicals, plays and ballets has always felt magical to me (as cheesy as that sounds) as I can watch people who are doing precisely what I want to do with my life.

In March last year, I went to see Wicked for the first time, after wishing I could see it for around 2 years. It was honestly one of the most important days for me in my life so far. When I walked out of the Apollo Victoria theatre, humming 'Defying Gravity', I felt the most inspired I've ever felt. In that moment I told myself I wasn't going to give up on my dream until I'd made it a reality.

 I truly believe that if you want something hard enough and you're willing to put in the hours of work and effort to get there, you will get there. I don't care how long I have to persevere, I'm determined to get there one day and be able to tell people that I achieved my dream even though the odds are most definitely against me in such a tough business.
 

Where it all began!

To anyone reading this who knows me, I want to apologise to you for all the times you've had to put up with me playing/ singing/ humming songs from musicals, as I know I annoy the hell out of some of my best friends in particular!

Thank you for reading and have a lovely day, whatever you're up to (I've adopted this as my closing line for my blog posts now!)

Lots of love

Charlie x