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Cabaret Night: my first burlesque performance

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!!

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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… IMG_9467and 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!

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Here are some more pics of us dancers…

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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!

Discovering you can be excited for Monday morning…

As a completely fabulous, proper weekend draws to a close, I’m once again pensive. In a good way. For the first time in I genuinely can’t remember how long, I am excited for Monday. The first week of the new job mostly involved meeting people, familiarising myself with the uni’s website and eating cake. But I am looking forward to being there, to the challenge of the first tasks I have, of getting to know my (perfectly lovely!) new colleagues, of discovering the campus and the surrounding areas, of spending the evenings of this week eating good food and making stock for fairs and the fabulous Tea & Sympathy boutique.

This weekend has comprised seeing the Ruby Slippers at the V&A, eating a ridiculous amount of food, catching up with fabulous friends, catching up with fabulous family and walking around in a state of wonder that I can be this happy in normal, everyday life. Read on for more…

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Blustery updates

It’s a properly blustery autumn day – windy, blowy, and this morning I popped out for breakfast and groceries and nearly drowned in the rain! (Actually, I was such a wuss I stayed in Poppy on the driveway for a good fifteen minutes before venturing to my front door with all my bags!)

Just a brief update before I start on the proper blog posts which are long overdue 🙂 This week has been a revelation – and I think in October time each year, I will take a few days if not a whole week off work, and have an autumn-clean… there is something wonderful, even to a chaotic and messy soul such as me, in knowing everything is in its place, and so it is entirely acceptable to come in, put the heating on, don a fluffy dressing gown and spend the whole evening lost in a book or crafting.

London already feels a million miles away – I have had a few calls from the old job, and some lovely emails from my friends there… I hope that carries on as it is always the people you miss most!

The studio is sorted, the fridge is stocked, my suits have been consigned to my fabric stash and new bedlinen has been bought and put on the bed to mark a new chapter.

Yes, I know, I’m making WAY too much of this new life thing – but it’s so exciting, and so utterly lovely to have time to make my flat a home, instead of just rushing through it at the speed of light.

Since I finished the old job I’ve managed to see some of my favourite people in the world, break a Guinness world record, make pie, soup and brownies, drink cocktails, put up shelves, revamp the flat and launch a company… not to mention meet with the fabulous Melissa at Tea & Sympathy who will shortly be stocking my jewellery!

Life is good – the only thing I haven’t done is ring both the Wendys in my life… so I’m off to do that now 🙂

Time, and a new way of life

I feel very strongly that this is a new phase in my life. The opportunity to work so close to home is one that I think I only truly appreciate having battled almost two years of four-hours-a-day commuting. It signifies a change in pace, and a change in attitude. To make the jump to leaving London, there is a whole mindset change. Money becomes less important, and time, though still precious, is more plentiful.

There will be more time to spend with my family, the people and also the animals that are so dear to me, and who helped me so much through the darkest times of my life, and who share these happy ones so wholeheartedly.

Time to take Bluebell for long cycle rides, Poppy for long drives, to ride Jack and Chess (maybe not simultaneously) through the fields, to photograph and record the things I didn’t even have time to see before.

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Long afternoons to spend with friends, chatting, talking, just being. Time to dream and plan for a nomadic future – narrowboats and caravans, visiting friends, a gentler pace of life.

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While still running my businesses and creating my portfolio life, I also want to find time to learn – through the university, evening dance classes, finally getting going on my Universal Class courses, through Free Range Humans and Escape the City (just because I’ve escaped, doesn’t mean I can’t still spend time with fabulous like minded people)…

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All these things I have missed for the past five years. All these things I am so much looking forward to – and all these things and more I will be thankful for. I’ll still be busy but I am absolutely determined to make more of everyday life now I have taken the leap. I don’t want to just live for the weekends – I want every day to be worth something.

I don’t regret my time in London, I’ve met some wonderful people (you really do find absolute gems in the most unexpected places) and I’ve learned a lot, much of it also unexpected. But the time is right to move on, and I am focused on the future. I don’t think I’ll ever return to work in the City – but I will take many memories of it with me.

Whirlwinds of change…

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. 

 

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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.)

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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.

Just checking in…

Goodness, how the weeks are racing past!

I am about to put on a headscarf, put Poppy’s roof down and race off to Helen’s Mad Hatter’s Tea Party… very excited! This morning I had breakfast out with Simple Things magazine (I love it – it could have been written for the life I am now actively working towards), then came home, spring cleaned the living room so I can actually see the floor (it has been doubling as a photo studio for some time now) and went through the catalogues and brochures we brought home from last weekend’s trade fair, for the secret project… which will be revealed very, very soon! We have some final touches and tweaks to make to the website tonight and tomorrow, and our survey and tweets will begin from Sunday/Monday 🙂

So do keep your eyes peeled – I know lots of you will love it!

Life has been very busy but rather lovely recently, not counting a day of illness. Last night I was out at Proud Cabaret with girls from work – most of them had never seen burlesque before and I’m still not sure they’re convinced, but I had a wonderful time and stole some costume ideas too 🙂

I have a whole stack of blog posts drafted, waiting to retrieve photos from various bits of technology to go with them… perhaps that should be tomorrow’s job. With a cup of tea, in the sunshine… yes, that sounds like a way to spend a morning!

Until later, lovelies – I would linger, but there is cake to be eaten and tea to be sipped!

xx

Just like a champagne cork…

Title borrowed from something Mimi said to me earlier today. It summed up perfectly how I feel right now – tense, bubbly, ready to explode with all the exciting things that are happening but also slightly reluctant, nervous, apprehensive. And yet much more so, positive, forward looking, decisive and determined. It’s wonderful but slightly unnerving, feeling all these things at once.

I’m on my way to a meeting to talk about one of the many exciting ventures that are currently building and falling into place in my life. I do feel, despite some ups and some serious downs, that I am shortly to be exactly where I am meant to be, where I have been leading to both deliberately and unconsciously, for all of my adult life.

The Olympics are over and the Paralympics don’t start for another two weeks – London is in limbo, but we truly have inspired more than a generation.

For me, watching the games, experiencing the atmosphere and observing the grace, belonging and dedication of those athletes, doing something they truly love – it made me realise that I need to stop waiting for my dreams to magically happen, and go and get then instead. This means creating something rather than looking for a compromised version, making it happen instead of hoping it will fall into my lap if I wait long enough. In short, stop watching, start doing – my dreams will only happen if I make them.

I also tried to take up running, something which I’m almost certain will be quite short lived. I prefer wheels to feet. But can’t hurt to try something new, right?

So I am considering, planning, weighing up options. The response I’ve had from the few, varied, people I have whispered my tentative plans to has been overwhelmingly positive – I wasn’t looking for validation but support, and I have cried more than once at how lucky I am to have these kinds of friends and family. Unwavering, loyal, but also honest – and help me see things I may have overlooked about myself.

I have a definite timescale, defined by things outside my control. But that’s no bad thing. It adds to my focus, makes me even more determined.

This is a hazy vision of my future, I know, but watch this space – my custom-made life is about to develop like a photograph in a darkroom…

This week’s happy things

Bit of a mish mash, wordy, linky post, as I’m having one of the busiest weeks ever and am running around like an entire flock of headless chickens. And then some. So here goes, stuff that has made me happy this week…

–        Discovering all over again that I actually have the best friends a girl could ever possibly wish for. I am very, very lucky.

–        Fluffy white bread for the first time in ages and Ben’s cookies from a colleague at work

–        Emily coming round and cooking for me – this was the most luxurious thing ever, quite aside from the loveliness of seeing her

–        Exciting snippets of other people’s news – new chapters all over the shop

–        That feeling you get when opening a brand new document in InDesign and knowing you can create almost anything you want

–        Planning outfits, shoes and accessories for the boudoir shoot next weekend

–        Discovering a Bauhaus exhibition, which we hope to go to tomorrow, to assist the lovely Lou with her research for an application she’s doing

–        Business course with Startup Saturday tomorrow, WordPress course on Wednesday for work and plans for my future

–        Making lists and feeling a bit more in control of my workload, finances and life

–        Plans for blogger meetups with Annastasia, a PPU store (more of that later) and expansion of Ducking Fabulous (more of that later too), among other things

–        Unexpected commissions – and selling a necklace to my director, which was a very weird but very nice feeling! Unfortunately I neglected to photograph it, but will recreate it for the shop soon 🙂

–        Val telling me that she saw an advert for a burlesque show and immediately thought of me, “just like when I see horses and ducks”. It’s becoming a part of me in a way I never expected, but I love it!

–        Reading proper chick lit again – I’ve read nothing but non fiction for a couple of months and it was very good to lose myself in a couple of Fiona Gibsons novels (go and read them if you haven’t already, they’re funny, poignant and I identify with the characters so much – even the ones I’m not yet!)

–        Planning the 100 day challenge, or a version of it, to get a bit of stability back into my finances (thanks to Sophia at Tattooed Tealady for the inspiration)

–        Boutique Baking and Jamie’s Great Britain– I am so looking forward to choosing things to make and bake from these books

–        Deciding, after last Sunday’s #bbloggers chat, that my blog is a place for me to indulge my many passions and hobbies and loves – it might get more readers if it was more focused, but I prefer it to be a true reflection of my character and personality – chaotic but lovely!

Tomorrow I’m with Lou in London, planning for the future, and Sunday hopefully collecting my new bike (squeee) so more posts to come!

I wrote this last Thursday. I am a terrible blogger!

I know it’s now Monday, but I was so enthused when I wrote this post, and having been to Startup Saturday I’m even more determined, so I thought I’d share it anyway. I promise the next post will be relevant. Or at least up to date 🙂

Wow, how is it already Thursday?!

Feel like I need more than a week’s round up… I had last week off following the Jubilee, with the intention of spring cleaning. Instead I passed the week in a delightful blur of family, friends and making, with so much inspiration along the way!

I spent time alone and with people, at home and out exploring and with family and friends old and new. I made plans and dreamed, created and experimented, and felt my drive and ambition return – they took a hike a while ago and I was left somewhat floundering.

I was inspired, delighted, busy, saddened, gloriously happy and newly determined – and that was a snippet of how I feel my life should and could be. Will be, if i can only work out a few small details like financing it.  Changes shall be afoot!

So what did I get up to?

Did quite a lot of helping parents to move house – and we managed to have a bbq!

Dyed my pointe shoes, did some sewing, finished first burlesque routine… and laughed a lot with friends. Had brunch with two fab people I don’t see often enough, and wrote letters to some I see even less often! Carbooted (on a Wednesday, which felt delightfully quirky) and came home with a sewing machine and two vases.

Had a whole day in London with Lou and talked and ate and talked and ate – and made friends with the lovely couple who run Lily and Lush / Fairy Gothmother in Spitalfields.

Then Friday I met Louise Craftyguider and the fabulous and very well behaved craftyguidelets (I wonder, if I have children will they be ducklets or ducklings?!) for a gorgeous pizza express lunch and borrowing of badge machine. It was so nice to meet in person after lots of tweeting!

My Gran turned 83 so we did lots of eating to celebrate, mostly of cake.

Miraculously, the bridesmaid dress still fits. May have to get some Spanx to go underneath, but at the moment it looks just fine 🙂

I spent a fabulous Saturday shopping and lunching with my mum, then decadent afternoon cocktails and food with Annastasia and Dan – so inspiring! Blogging workshops, crafting, a fair at which we hope to share a stall, burlesque and just the general goodness of life… Wonderful. Must do that more often.

Sunday I did attempt to go to Pulse London to look at expanding what the DF shop offers, but unfortunately the trains broke so I went home again.

And now I’ve done almost a whole week at work, spent the first two days in a state of emotional exhaustion and now the sun has come out I feel like a different person. Also started a new burlesque routine last night which is fast, fun and has the added benefit of an.old friend joining us 🙂

So let’s see where these days have led me, and how I can change my life to match my dreams 🙂

This weekend I have mostly been… (post contains ballet, cake and sewing… so a pretty damn good weekend!)

Rediscovering my pointe shoes…

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Makeup trial for the wedding (done by me) – this is look one, neutral eyes with sheer-ish red lips. Shocking phone photo and my glasses obscure my eyelids, I know. More of these to come before the actual wedding. Skin’s looking clearer though – Nars illuminator is magical stuff!

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Challenging myself to sew something for the Popular Crafts Union Jack swap… here’s my finished needle book 🙂 Will be posted with a treat and a cross stitched card!

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Munching the cake I bought for a friend’s BBQ that was abandoned due to rain. I suspect the diet will be back on when I’m back at work, I’m maintaining weight but there’s so much yummy food involved in this week… lol! These cakes, stocked in our local Wyevale (Colchester Stanway and Braintree) are my favourite fallbacks if I don’t have time to bake, they taste homemade!

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Sorting bookshelves and installing a ballet barre *cough perfect height clothes rail cough* in my living room – if I’m going to be ready for this burlesque cabaret in October, I need to strengthen my long-neglected dance muscles and improve my flexibility. Removing my glove with my foot is, as expected, somewhat trickier than it looks on stage! My intention is to try to do 10-15 mins of stretches and barre work each day even if I manage no other exercise. Combined with burlesque each week and hopefully cycling when my bike eventually arrives, plus skating which I do whenever I can but usually once a week, I should be trimmer, fitter and more flexible in no time. Yeah. I live in hope. But I’ll at least enjoy myself in the process!

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Also managed to paint my toenails (my feet are not fit for photographing so here are the colours I used) and ogling the Pashley Poppy on the front of this month’s Homes and Antiques. Cannot WAIT for mine (it’s the blue, rather than the pink, version) to arrive – hopefully in a little over a month. Squee!

 

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Footnote: I’m aware that wearing pointe shoes while not a trained dancer can damage your feet; I’m also aware mine should have ribbons attached for support. They’re mostly decorative and I intend to wear them for a photoshoot. I doubt I will ever again dance that level of ballet!

Cycling, brownie tins, revisiting the Royal Albert Hall… and the dress fits!!

Ooh, I’m back. The last nine days have been utterly glorious – but I’m having issues with technology so there may not be as many photos as I’d like. (These issues would involve me having lost my phone charger & transfer lead. Oops.)

So last weekend, I headed up to London to meet the fabulous Hannah for a production of Swan Lake on Ice by the Imperial Ice Stars at the Royal Albert Hall.

The tubes were, as usual at weekends, completely useless, so I went up early and planned a bike ride through Hyde Park to get there instead. Here’s my first ever Boris bike.

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The ride was fantastic – I can’t wait for my Pashley to arrive 🙂

Here’s me being a blogger and taking a sort-of outfit photo, before I got on the bike:

London reflections

Last time I went to the Royal Albert Hall, I was performing. So it was bizarre in the extreme to be walking round the normal parts instead of sprinting round the underground connecting tunnels, half in and half out of my costume, panicking because a crystal had fallen off my hat/boot/face.

Here’s Hannah and I outside… (I’m on the right)

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And Hannah and her lovely mum Sue, who also came with us:

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We had Prezzo for lunch so I abandoned the diet (the dress was loose by then, woohoo) and had honeycomb smash cheesecake 😀

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The performance was utterly brilliant, blending skating, ballet and trapeze seamlessly. I could happily have watched it for several more hours!

Then Sunday was a packing-for-holiday and chilling out kind of a day, punctuated by buying a ridiculous amount of snacks in Asda for the boat, and coming across (and yes, buying) this – butter with a free brownie tray. Why wouldn’t you?!

lurpak & brownie tin Most excitingly, I had a proper sense of achievement when I tried the dress on and found it was actually loose. So having completely stuffed myself for a week on the boat, I shall now be trying to maintain this weight for the next seven weeks until the wedding. 🙂

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And I shall continue in a separate post for the pics I have of the boat trip 🙂

Not-quite-mid-year goal review

I made my goal/resolution list at the end of last year in a bit of a haze – 2011 was such a momentous year in so many ways, good and bad, that I struggled a little to find clarity in what I actually wanted from 2012. Here’s how I’m doing with that list so far…. I’ve removed the ones I haven’t done yet!

Personal goals

Build confidence rollerskating – do a LNFS skate before December 2012 – haven’t done an LNFS yet but am definitely more confident on my skates.

Focus on work while I’m there and my own life when I’m not – try not to let the two cross over – getting much better at this.

Meal planning – for budgeting and health – Probably wouldn’t have done without the diet, but have been really good for most of 2012 (holiday excepted)

Ireland rally (this has been replaced by canal boating, which is exciting!) – boat trip is in less than three weeks!

Sort out routines during working weeks so I have time to do stuff I want to – this is progressing, so I can fit in DF, skating, burlesque and stuff like friends, food and sleep

Dance class – yes! burlesque! now I’ve started I don’t think I’ll ever stop 🙂

Go to at least 2 ROC meets – if Rob’s birthday counted as a mini meet (there were 6 MR2s outside!) then I’ll have done this by end of July.

Learn to say no occasionally!

Do the Harry Potter studio tour – Julia and I are booking this for October

Creative goals

Learn a new skill, maybe on a course (sewing?) – have expanded my range for Ducking Fabulous, but haven’t yet found a course to do

Business goals

Learn how to photograph products well – I don’t know about well, but my photos for DF are certainly a lot better than last time round, and a few people have commented that they’re good 🙂

Have a stall with Louise by end of 2012 – we are in the process of shortlisting our fairs

Stock and launch an Etsy shop by September 2012 – yay!! one that’s actually fully done!

Go to Autumn Fair (with Lou, parents, Chloe…) – Autumn Fair I won’t manage, but will do Pulse this year and Spring Fair & Top Drawer next year

Blogging/social media goals

Post more than 100 times to Ducking Fabulous over the year (roughly 2 posts a week) – on average I think I manage around 2 a week, in bursts!

Promote DF and PPU blogs via Twitter, Facebook etc

Wishlist

Tablet for on-the-go blogging – yup, bought with Christmas money and has changed my life (well, the commute part anyway)

Sewing machine – I have a gorgeous one from Kim and one I’ve borrowed from my aunt temporarily. Mum and I are going to buy one later in the year to share.

25mm badge making machine – lovely Louise Craftyguider has one which I hope to hire at some stage this year

 

Not bad, considering it’s not quite May!