The end of 2010 was another joyful affair... Not only was it the end of a shitty year, but New Years Eve also happens to be my bezzies birthday. So for two long days, that meant me trailing around after him trying to find him an outfit for his birthday party which would be held at Starlight’s studio. Now, we live in Kettering. And as anyone in Kettering with a pair of eyes will tell you, the shopping is rubbish. We pretty much wasted a day walking round the three shops and inevitably came back with nothing. New Years Eve rolled around and I arrived back at Jacc’s house at around 10.04am to jump up and down on his bed waving presents in the air! I had also made some delicious fairy cakes for his party as he had kindly made me a ‘beef stroganoff’ for my birthday. (it definitely wasn’t beef stroganoff!) So, after the present giving ceremony was over, we made our way to Corby; home of a new theatre, Primark and other such delights. After following him around for several hours, we made our way back to the first shop we had visited and found something appropriate. 
I finally realised what it must be like for blokes to go shopping with their girlfriends! Poor lambs!
The party was as always fun! This time, with it being Jacc’s birthday, the alcohol was flowing while there were children around, although we had to sneak into the kitchen to get it. Thanks to Jacc’s sister, I was quite merry on a quarter of a bottle of Sambuca and various other shots provided by other friends. My fairy cakes went down a treat and a good time was had by all! I woke up the next morning in my usual hangover spot (Jacc’s sofa) wondering how I got into my pyjamas...
I decided that to kick start my new year, I would have a huge clear out of my bedroom. I had no idea where to start- I had gathered up so much rubbish in my 25 years of living and I hate throwing anything away so this was going to be tough. I began with my desk which had been a Christmas present from my parents when I was about 7. It had seen plenty of better years. I knew I had to be brutal so I picked out a new small bedside cabinet and began throwing anything out that wouldn’t fit. I found photos, letters, exam results certificates... so much stuff that was just sitting there not being used. And then the bin bags came out. Apart from official documentation things, everything went. It was hard because everything seemed to have a memory or significance, and it took me a couple of days but I did it and it felt good.
That meant the next stage was constructing my flat-pack bedside cabinet. My brother had been intrigued by the strange noises coming from my bedroom during my clear-out and kindly offered his services as my assistant in the construction. He had helped me put up some shelves the week before so who was I to say no. Turns out I would have been better off doing it myself. The instruction leaflet said that it should take no more than an hour. We were there for three! Partly due to the fact that our family were having a hideous run of luck, and partly because the cabinet was cheap and mass produced, nothing was fitting together properly, and we were getting angry not only with the furniture but also with each other. Rob ended up walking away leaving me to finish it by myself after he had drilled a hole all the way through the side. Brilliant.
A couple of days after the cabinet incident I received an email from my boss saying that one of the boys from my tour had dropped out and we needed a replacement quickly. By this time, we were three weeks away from starting the tour again, and obviously had to rehearse again. I knew one f my friends was out of a job so I rang him to ask if he wanted it, and plastered the social networks with big flashing ‘attention’ signs... but no-one wanted to work with me. The next day I had another email saying they had found someone called Pete. It was all going to be fine!
The day we found Pete also happened to be the first Friday back at Starlight for rehearsals for our next show, ‘Say Cheese’. We were definitely worked hard, everyone was practically one big sweaty mess on the floor at the end of the night. But I can say now, a few weeks later, that things are definitely shaping up nicely and I’m quite excited about it!
My spring cleaning continued, and I ended up getting rid of my wardrobe and having one that was in my nan’s house. And that’s where things got tricky. We went down on the Sunday morning to begin the removal process. My dad and brother went upstairs to fetch it and begin the manoeuvre. My nan’s staircase had a corner at the bottom and for a few hairy moments, it looked like either my dad or the wardrobe wouldn’t make it out in one piece! Thankfully everyone was fine, and the wardrobe made it back to our house poking out the back of my parents car and into my bedroom.
The next day I received another email from the boss... Pete had dropped out of the tour. I couldn’t believe it. Were we actually cursed on this tour?!?! Once more I bombarded every suitable boy I could think of on Facebook- people I’d been to university with, actors that I had worked with, actors I had met whilst touring... not one single reply. Thanks guys, I know who to turn to in my hour of need next time! But a couple of days later, we had Adam on our team. So of course he was swiftly stalked on the internet and I tried to find out any information I could before we started. Psycho, me? Never!
January also happens to contain the birthdays of both my parents and my brother. After my fairy cake success for Jacc’s birthday, I decided that my mum should get the same wonderful treats. Yet again, they were a roaring success. Three days later, my dad’s birthday rolled around but I had decided that fairy cakes were not the way to go. I was going to make a cheesecake! My dad is a fan of Toblerone so it would be topped with that! Sorted! My cakes had come from a recipe by Nigella, so I turned to her again for another recipe. I found a very simple one, bought my ingredients and I was off! My dad woke up on his birthday and I raced to the kitchen to present him with the delicious treat! “Dad, I’ve made you a birthday cheesecake!” “Oh, thanks. I don’t like cheesecake.” Brilliant. But it turned out that he in fact did like cheesecake, he just didn’t know what it was! Fool. I even got an extremely rare compliment from him saying it was ‘lovely’. I almost fell on the floor! 
After bragging to everyone about my new-found success as a baker, Jacc decided that he too would like a cheesecake making. So the week after, he too got one. I’d had to take it to rehearsals with me, and it caught the attention of a few people who liked the look of it and were all after a piece! I thought I could start a cheesecake business at this rate! Jacc and Craig said that they both enjoyed their cheesecake, but a week later I found half of it still in their broken fridge covered in mould. Mmm! 
I found myself sat in front of my computer for about three days, working hard on ideas. Jacc had decided to offer different workshops for Starlight to give people lots of different opportunities, and I had offered my services to create an acting workshop. As I was going back on tour, I had to get moving, we set a date and I was off! I’m not going to tell you what we’re doing as I want it to be a surprise for everyone but I’m very excited about it! It’s got loads of interest so fingers crossed it will be a success! We shall see...
My final week in Kettering raced by in a flurry of Starlight classes, milky cocktails (don’t ask!) and plenty of sleep. As hard as I tried to wake myself up early to get back into touring mode, my duvet always won and I rarely woke before noon. I was looking forward to Sunday. Although I hadn’t packed a single item to take away, and had a mountain of tasks to complete before departure, I had one more piece of Starlight business to complete. February 6th was Starlight’s 2nd birthday, and a few days before I left, Jacc had received a phone call from the local paper who had found out this info and wanted to do an article including a photo, with as many students as possible. So on the Sunday morning, I walked myself into town ready to be bombarded with almost 100 children to help organise into groups, keep them entertained and then help to organise into a wonderful display for the photo! I was surprised how smoothly the whole thing went! I had to raise my voice at a few children to behave a couple of times, but on the whole everything went to plan, and photos of us all were cropping up on Facebook later that day from parents with camera phones! Needless to say, it all seemed to be a complete waste of time as when the article went in the paper, they used a photo from 18 months ago because they didn’t like the one that had been taken. Brilliant. There was just enough time to make on final cheesecake for my brothers birthday which I would miss, and I was quite sad, it was an amazing cheesecake!!
As usual I made my way to Jacc’s on the Sunday night to say my final goodbye and it was spent full of laughter and watching reality TV and shock-docs (our new favourites!!) and then it was time to do final packing. I wasn’t quite as sad leaving this time, I knew that it wouldn’t be long before I was home again, it was only 3 weeks til we got a whole week off for half term! I always miss everyone when I’m away, but I knew that things wouldn’t have changed and as soon as I returned, things would go back to normal straight away!
Monday’s alarm was a beast. 6am. After 7 weeks of waking up at noon. I wasn’t happy. The train journey wasn’t actually too bad. I’d made that journey enough times to know exactly where I was going, so armed with my iPod, I sat down and enjoyed the gentle swaying of the trains while caressing my ears with soft tunes and Facebooking and Tweeting occasionally as I spotted things along theway.
And then I got to Crewe. Eden picked me up in his little blue car and we made our way to the freezing cold hall which was beginning to seem more like home. We met Adam, said a quick hello and plunged straight into ‘Of Mice and Men’ rehearsals. I was quite glad we’d started with that one as I didn’t have a great deal to do in it and I was ridiculously tired. We plodded through, went home and just sat. It was lovely! We probed Adam for information about himself and I got the feeling that it was going to be a very happy tour indeed. He was chilled, relaxed and a lovely genuine down to earth guy. I was chuffed! Tuesday brought us another morning of ‘Of Mice and Men’, before we plunged forward with ‘An Inspector Calls’. I don’t really like the play as a whole, but I LOVE playing Mrs Birling, the bitch was back and I loved it! As with all rehearsals, I burst out into laughter at inappropriate moments but that’s what I do! Wednesday gave us ‘Macbeth’, and Thursday brought ‘Romeo and Juliet’ which I couldn’t wait for! It’s by far my favourite play out of the four, and of course I got to do some kissing with a new boy! Haha! The boss delighted in putting in lots and lots of kissing in the ‘balcony scene’ and I didn’t mind at all!
I had to give myself a talking to a few times during that week. Every day I found myself being more and more attracted to the new boy and I could feel myself flirting outrageously. Bad Natalie! I’ve said it before, I always find myself attracted to work colleagues, before Christmas it was fine as I was working with 2 gays, but now I had a straight one and I was falling fast! I had to push the thoughts of kissing him out of my head as I woke up on the Saturday with a hideous cold just in time for the tour to start... Brilliant.
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