Top Moments of 2013

Wow 2013, you've been quite a year! I can hardly believe that another 365 days have passed as I lived the year of serendipity. And serendipitous it has been, in so many ways. Here are some of my favourite things that happened this year. 

I started off the year with a super fun trip to Ottawa to visit my bestie, Mel. I'm so thankful that Mel and I both work hard to keep our relationship strong and it was such a blast to visit her in snowy Ottawa. I can't wait to go back - hopefully sometime this year! 

This year included being on the cover of The Grid, being auctioned off for charity, being on the cover of a magazine highlight women in the arts and co-hosting a cooking show in my home. Really neat and a whole lot of serendipity to make it all happen. 

I discovered the Lovebot and have since become an unofficial ambassador of sorts to this incredible project. 

It's so lovely to see them all over the city and great to get into conversations with people that start with "So what's the deal with these Lovebots?!" I've since gotten to meet Matthew Del Degan who created the Lovebot and am thrilled for what's in store in the land of love for 2014!

In other love news, my sweet friend Lindsay got married in June and her wedding was absolutely one of my favourite moments of the year (if not my life!) It was so special to be a part of their day and all of the festivities leading up to it. I'm thankful that our friendship strengthened as a result. I will also never look at fuchsia the same way. 

I got to interview two of my favourite bands from my childhood - New Kids of the Block and Hanson!! Also got to see both of them in concert. 8 year old me and 13 year old me would have died (or at least started screaming their faces off) if only they knew what was to come 15+ years in the future. I also saw a slew of other great concerts including the Joni Mitchell tribute at Massey Hall, James Blake, Natalie Weiss, Jason Robert Brown and Rich Aucoin x2. 

I sold out my first solo cabaret, raised $1000 for CAMH and was asked to revamp the show for 2014 to be performed at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. 

Putting the first Life is Sweet show and blog series together was an incredible experience and I'm so proud that I get to do it again this year as a result. 

I also had an amazing time with my second solo cabaret I Know it's Today where I talked about boys, dating, relationships and everything that has happened since that time I was engaged. 

Speaking of boys, 2013 brought some ups and downs in my love life (hence the cabaret) but was so lucky to connect with my incredible boyfriend, Corbin, towards the end of the summer. I've fallen so head over heels in love with that man and am so excited to be heading into 2014 with him next to me!

In addition to performing in a bunch of shows, I saw 32 shows, which will become 33 after I see Les Miserables this afternoon. From plays at Fringe to cabarets by friends to huge musicals, I've seen a bit of everything and continue to love supporting the theatre community in Toronto and being inspired by shows in New York. I can't wait to see what's in store for 2014!

Oh yah, I went to New York. It was pretty magical. I still need to blog about all the wonderful things that happened. It's coming, I promise! 

Today I'm celebrating the end of 2013 and new beginnings for 2014 with a lovely friend date this morning and a sweet Corbin date to see Les Mis this afternoon. I think I'll have a quiet evening, but I'm looking forward to what's in store for this new year. 

Happy New Year - see you in 2014!

That time I was on the cover of The Grid

February was a crazy, awesome, intense ride. The Life is Sweet project was so gratifying and kept me extremely busy amid the usual work/play. While I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's Day normally, this year it was a tonne of fun with a couple of really neat things happening in my world.

In early February I saw a tweet from The Grid (my favourite Toronto weekly newspaper) about a photo shoot they were having for their upcoming dating diaries issue. I inquired and decided it would be fun, so the week before V-Day, I found myself in a loft with about 50 Toronto singles mingling and getting photos taken! I ended up finding one person I knew (Karen, who I hadn't seen since we had done another photo shoot together two years before!) but had a blast meeting lots of new people who also weren't sure what to expect from the event.

Throughout the event we were encouraged to write something that we look for in a person that we're dating... I wrote assertive. And then later had a good giggle when Karen and I took a selfie right under where someone had written "doesn't take selfies" and "doesn't have a blog". 

Looks like it just wasn't meant to be with me and whoever those people were...

The day before the issue came out I got a message from a friend who had seen the cover of the new issue and told me that I was on the cover! Lo and behold, the next day my face was all over the city

It was kind of hilarious and flattering to get all sorts of messages and texts and instagram notifications about my face popping up everywhere. 

Yaw finds me... 

I even got a message from an ex-boyfriend stating that he didn't realize how many Grid boxes there were in Toronto until that week. I had to laugh. 

Shannon made me grab her a copy and then took this photo

Apparently my "move" is my laugh

I'm glad that I went to the event and it was definitely awesome to land on the cover. Also awesome? Sharing with the GTA that you're single by appearing on the cover of a dating issue and then disclosing that if you were a Muppet, you'd be Miss Piggy "because she wears dresses and squeals a lot"

And let's be honest, it was the ONLY suitable answer for me. 

More to come on my ridiculous V-Day week...