2018 highlights

I cannot believe we are nearly at the end of 2018, it's been a mixed bag of a year so here I thought I'd share the highlights of the year.

Winnie the Pooh exhibition

To start the year the first thing we did was go to the Winnie the Pooh exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum which is such a beautiful building. The exhibition was beautifully detailed and we loved going around it and learning and seeing the origins of Winnie the Pooh that AA Milne started. We also loved the merchandise in the shop afterwards and bought a couple of pieces.
You can check out my full detailed blog post here: Winnie the Pooh Exhibition

 Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire

I really didn't know what to think when my friend bought us tickets for this last Christmas, it was a virtual reality Star Wars experience. We needed to help Captain Cassian Andor from Rogue One, infiltrate a base on Mustafa and retrieve some information to help the rebellion. It was so much fun, we had such a laugh and as massive Star Wars fans it was everything we wanted. I'd highly recommend doing an experience like this.
You can check out my full blog post here: Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire

My birthday

I don't have any photos to show but my birthday was back in March and for the first time in my life as far as I can recall I'd never had snow on my birthday and this year for the first time we had thick fluffy snow across the whole country. I somehow managed to get a train to Darren's but it was nice to have that and for the first time ever, I thought it was worth a mention. Originally me and my mum were supposed to go to London but it wasn't worth the risk in the end.

Thirty Seconds to Mars concert

At the end of March I went to see American band Thirty Seconds to Mars at Arena Birmingham. Thirty Seconds to Mars are my best friend's favourite band ever, so I wanted to share in this with her so me, her and her boyfriend went and it was probably the best concert I've ever been to, too be fair I've not been to many. We spent the whole concert standing and it was just so much fun and very crowd inclusive. They had a rectangle stage in the middle so everybody could see them, they had people up on the stage at various points as well. It was great value for money and so was the merchandise, I bought a long sleeve top which only cost about £30 ish. 

Wicked

After a year or so the wait was finally over when one of my favourite musicals arrived at the Birmingham Hippodrome which I also love as a venue. I loved it, I've seen it three times now, Alice who played Elphaba was incredible, I loved her version of No Good Deed. Aaron who played Fiyero surprised me so much I didn't expect to sing as well as he did but he nailed it. I love this musical, it'll be timeless to me and I obviously enjoyed it again, always worth money.
You can check out my full review here: Wicked Review

West End Does: The Magic of Animation

This has to be one of my favourite things I watched this year. West End Does is a company set up by West End star Rob Houchen (Les Mis and Eugenis) and this was their first concert which they performed music from animated films, mainly Disney, at Cadogen Hall in London. A whole host of West End stars took part and it was honestly incredible to see these talented people perform such magical stars. We had Rob himself, Carrie Hope Fletcher, Celinde Schoenmaker, Fra Fee, Bradley Jaden and many more, I absolutely loved it and I love the idea of West End Does. Since this they have done West End Does: Bond, Halloween and Christmas, I cannot wait to see what else they have in the pipe line.
You can check out my full run down and review here: West End Does: Magic of Animation

Tom and Giovanna Fletcher Book Signing 

At the beginning of June I'd book tickets for Tom and Giovanna Fletcher's joint book signing for their new sci-fi dystopian YA series called Eve of Man. I love both of them individually I grew up listening to McFly and then since Giovanna started writing I have loved her books. The event was at Waterstones in Birmingham and it was such a well organised event yes the queue went outside but there was noone waiting on the stairs of the building and they were only letting so many up at a time to the floor it was on. I took an extra book each for them to individually sign, I took one of my copies of Billy and Me for Giovanna to sign and The Christmasaurus for Tom to sign and they both joint signed Eve of Man. They were both incredibly lovely and they really spent time talking to everybody. Also the book is really good and I can't wait to see where they took the story and the world.
You can buy Eve of Man here: Eve of Man

West End Live

Every year in June there is an event in Trafalgar Square called West End Live, so this year as it fell in line with my boyfriend's sister's birthday we decided to go. We got an early train into London and found our way to the back of the queue eventually which went back quite far. We waited over an hour but once we were in we had a good view by standing behind the walk way they had cornered off at least this way noone would stand in our way and if anybody did then they were moved along. It was a hot day, we were all sunburnt by the end which we didn't expect at. It was a fun day, majority of the shows we saw where really good, espeically Aladdin, Wicked, Kinky Boot, Les Mis, Phantom of the Opera and many more, it was enjoyable and I'd recommend it to anybody who loves musical theatre but can't always afford to go to shows because West End Live is free. 

European Premiere of Christopher Robin

Possibly the most amazing and magical experience I've ever had. I won a Facebook competition run by Walt Disney Studios for four tickets to the European Premiere of Christopher Robin at the BFI in London. I won on the Friday and the premiere was on the Sunday, so for once I did something spontaneous and we went, it was a whirlwind day, packed a lunch and off we went to London and it was so worth it. Before the film the entire cast came into the room and had a little talk, so we are talking Hayley Attwell and Ewan Mcgregor which is insane and I loved the film so much. Winnie the Pooh is so special to me and Darren, it was the perfect day.
Check out my full blog post on the day here: European Premiere of Christopher Robin

Corfu

At the end of August me and Darren and two of our friends went on a 10 day holiday to Corfu and it was absolute bliss. We had temperatures of about 30 degrees everyday, the hotel was lovely, we were right by the pool it was amazing to be able to chill all day everyday and not have to worry about anything. The island itself was so pretty especially Corfu Town, it was so lovely. I'd go back again to where we stayed which was the Smartline Nasos in Moratika which is on the East coast of the island. We did some trips but mainly stayed at the hotel and chilled and played in the pool, it was incredible and much needed.

Heathers the Musical

The last highlight is Heathers the musical which I saw at the Haymarket Theatre in London back in October. I got completely swept up in the hype for this musical mainly down to one Carrie Hope Fletcher, but also I saw how much the musical theatre world loved this musical and the hype that came with it. However, I'd never seen the movie so the musical was going to be a complete surprise to me I tried to keep what I found out about it to a minimum and thankfully this worked. Unfortunately on the show day Carrie wasn't very well so we had her incredible understudy Olivia Moore who did not disappoint. This show was everything I wanted and more and I cannot stop listening to the soundtrack, however I need the London cast recording version like now with the new songs on. I hope it comes back to the UK in some capacity again because it was incredible.
You can read my full review here: Heathers the Musical Review

I hope you enjoyed this post and please check out all the corresponding blog posts if you want to hear more detailed thoughts of some of these highlights.

Until next time,

Stacey x