by Carla Louise | Nov 13, 2012 | Memories, Personal Development |
It’s been, amazingly, a whole month since my first ever burlesque performance. Cabaret night had been excitedly planned, panicked over and squeaked about for quite some time, and then crept up on us quite suddenly!
Any of you who know me in real life or follow me on Twitter will be aware that although I’ve loved burlesque, corsets and the pin up style most of my adult life, and have danced most of my life, joining a burlesque dance course was quite a big step. A step that, once taken, I couldn’t understand why it had taken me so long – I think was born to prance about in a corset and high heels with feathers in my hair!!
I dance with some of my closest friends, and lots of lovely friends turned up to watch us dance, among them Lou and her sister, who also ran a Contrariety Rose stall on the night… 
and some of my uni girls who schlepped all the way up from Oxford, Kent and Southend… bless them! Was lovely to see them though I was far too overexcited to actually have a proper conversation!
Here are some more pics of us dancers…
And we made it into the Essex Chronicle the following week!
It was a glorious night (I also had a Ducking Fabulous stall) and I came off the stage wanting to go and do it again, preferably immediately! Definitely have the performing bug back again after so long away from the stage – and can’t wait to start classes again in January!
by Carla Louise | Oct 8, 2012 | Adventures, Personal Development, Thrifting |
So as some of you will know, I finally quit my City job last week and will be starting (work!) at the University of Essex in November. This was a fairly emotional decision as while I have been immensly frustrated, tired and cross for much of my time here, I work with a great bunch of people and it will be sad to leave.
I am incredibly excited about the new position, and the joy of knowing I will no longer be commuting on the train, and instead riding my bike for 40 minutes each way, is fabulous… but after a frankly eye-opening conversation with HR about just how much will be deducted from my final month’s pay, it would appear I’m going to have to be very thrifty for a month or two until I’m settled into the new job and money has resumed making its way into my bank account!
I will of course still be doing the things I love, but will be keeping an eye on those pennies until after Christmas. I will (sadly) be taking a break from my burlesque class until January, but I will continue to practise the routines I’ve learned, and until my train ticket runs out, will pop over and see the girls before class every Wednesday anyway.
They are some of my favourite people in the ENTIRE WORLD and I have no clue what I did before I met them! (not all of them in pic below, but I’ll have some after Saturday! That’s me in the polka dots and cherry buckled corset.)
My blogging should step up a notch, and I might even get time to do the long-awaited overhaul of DF. Between now and starting the new job, there’s the official launch of Inkdrops, my first ever burlesque performance, a huge powerpoint project and some serious work to be done with Escape the City and Free Range Humans. Excellent.
Here’s to a new life – and managing to stay in touch with the fabulous people I am leaving behind in the City!
All photos link back to their original page if not my own.
by Carla Louise | Jun 16, 2011 | Uncategorized |
A random selection this week… it’s been an odd sort of week but there have still been things to smile about!
- Today is Lizzy’s 21st. Squee! Happy birthday chica! Cocktails tomorrow… and blue hair!
- Corsets – I love them! Hoping to order a couple for the Fling and Heather’s wedding
- lying in the sun on the floor at lunchtime, making notes and not caring what people think
- being super-inspired for all my different projects and making tonnes of plans
- BBQing in the rain for my Gran’s 82nd birthday
- Rollerskating… I can still do it! Eeeeee! And flying round the rink is definitely one of the best feelings in the world
- 2 new members for etc – and it’s only our first exhibition! now planning lots of other things to do with it
- dinner with an old friend who now lives abroad – these catchups are glorious but all too rare
- seeing my advert published in an email *pic*
- my housemate finishing an assignment, thus giving us an excuse to go out for dinner
- the Fling is coming…
- hunting for cars for the rally – found a Golf which would be awesome
- have survived the day job for three months this week
- as mentioned in a previous post, the clientsfromhell.net and damnyouautocorrect websites – so much inappropriate but much-needed laughter!
- a girl on the tube this morning wearing the MOST gorgeous vintage lace dress, with her hair in victory rolls, bright red lipstick and carrying a parasol. I wanted to be her!!
- My blackbird popped up on my way to work this morning too – I thought he’d abandoned me since the rain arrived!
- My friends are amazing – able to improve my mood even if I’ve had the day from hell and am all emotional and rubbish. I obviously know this anyway, but it’s wonderful to be reminded.
by Carla Louise | Jun 12, 2011 | Uncategorized |
I’m having so many inspired moments this week I might just explode!
Roller skating makes me really happy… but I need to re-learn how to stop. However, whizzing round the rink at speed after 11 years of not doing so is the most fantastic feeling! Sadly, like my car, the minute I stop I feel distinctly ordinary again – there’s clearly something about wheels!
Have had a fabulous weekend celebrating my gran’s 82nd birthday – we BBQ-ed in the rain and laughed a lot and it was just generally really lovely – although I see a lot of my family, it’s rare to see them all at once for longer than an hour or so, so it was gorgeous. Had a proper chance to talk my latest business idea through with Mum & Dad as well, to get an initial feel for its workability – they seem to approve and threw up some very salient points which I shall go off and investigate over the next couple of weeks, but it was rather encouraging!
I have also been drooling over firebox and Corsets UK – the first is dangerous because I adore gadgets, and the second is dangerous because I adore corsets! Had intended to dye my pink one purple this weekend, but failed due to the rain – I don’t dare get bright violet dye out indoors (especially not in my parents’ abode, lol!)
I really must go and dig out my camera charger so I can get some photos into these posts – they’re not terribly interesting otherwise!
and some of my uni girls who schlepped all the way up from Oxford, Kent and Southend… bless them! Was lovely to see them though I was far too overexcited to actually have a proper conversation!
