Hello! I'm still here!

Wow it's been a long time since I last blogged & soooo much has happened! Thought I'd better get blogging before I get the sack!!!

Well I'll start where I left off! The birthday bash on the 7th of June was a success! I was so proud of my students, amazed by the other students & very proud of the Instructors! I really enjoyed my performance & showcasing all the new moves I had been learning at that time, a great night indeed! Looking forward to watching the footage soon!




My sister soon left for australia after our birthday bash & we had a "last supper"! It was very emotional & I was dreading it, you can see from the picture we were trying to be light hearted but check out the emotional bags under my red eyes! haha! After 2 days of being stricken with grief I soon picked up ready to enjoy my so called 6 weeks summer holiday! I say so called because I was still working for The Art of Dance (which was a pleasure as always!), working for my Mum in her shop in Polperro a couple of days a week & even went back to Tribal Voice to pierce a few members of the public! I was glad to be busy though as I found myself thinking too much when I had a bit of time & that never does me any good! I did have a slight spell of depression for a while but am glad to say I am over it & motivated again!

The highlight of my 6 week holiday was the suprise one to one lesson my boyfriend Nick & Mum had organised with the World Champion Felix Cane! Oh my god, I was so shocked, I thought Mum & I were going to Bristol to get my bridesmaid dress & a bit of shopping in Cribbs but instead I was told in the morning I was meeting Felix & having a private lesson with her! So I had the car jouney to plan what I wanted to get out of my lesson & what I wanted to say! Felix was fabulous, very funny, bubbly, lively, sexy, glamourous everything I hoped for & we got on like old friends, she was very nice & allowed my Mum to sit in on the lesson also! I am usually quite reserved when I meet people & took me about 20 mins to get passed being quiet but after that we had a real laugh & she was so affectionate & sweet! I have taken her advice & teaching away with me & will be a day I'll never forget, I even ended up teaching her a few moves like the 1 armed flag which she was very impressed with! To summerise she was fantastic, so down to earth & a great laugh! I am so in love with her after meeting her in person!




Another highlight of my summer holiday was the chance to go out on a 3 million pound Princess Yacht for a couple of hours! Nick has a friend who works there & we were invited out on a test drive of this brand new yacht which has to be hammered around the sound to ensure it is all in working order for it's lucky new owner! It was a great trip and we were even allowed to take it in turns to drive it! It was very sureal driving such a glamouous monstor but suprisingly easy too! I concluded afterwards that I want one & asked Nick nicely to hurry up and make his millions so I can have one! It was just amazing & the weather was stunning!


After meeting Felix I decided to enter Pole Divas this year! Encouraged by Nick who pushed the submit button on the website I was booked into bristol & ready to go!
Sam & Tamar had also entered & I have to be honest was uncomfortable competing with my fellow instructor & boss as I'm not a competitive person & think we are all amazing on the pole & very different.
I was very unsure if I was ready for this competition & had always said I would not enter a competition untill I had achieved the splits & felt 100% ready!
I wish I had listened to my gut as on the night I did do a "good" performance but lost my sparkle on stage & didn't enjoy it! I was shocked I felt like this & it only hit me once I was on stage, I remember thinking half was through I wish this was over which is very unlike me! I can only put it down to the recent spell of depression & having a skin issue on my legs which I am on antibiotics for still! I wasn't ready for this but am glad to have the experience as next time I know what to expect. Sam & Tamar who have competed before were at there best on stage & delivered fantastic & very individual performances. I felt sorry for the judges as we are all so different! Tamar however bagged the title & one the professional category, I have to say this was the best I have seen her perform & much deserved, she was on fire that night! Well done Tamar, you did us proud!! I believe we got 1st, 2nd & 3rd which is great news for The Art of Dance!


I also enjoyed a night out during the holidays with my friends from tribal voice after a fantastic Burlesque Lesson with the gorgeous Gorgina Gale! (Sue, The Art of Dance) My friends loved it & I enjoyed showing off Sue who I have told them soooo much about & we got all dressed up in burlesque outfits afterwards & hit the town. I was extremley drunk!



So back to work now, I am happy to be back at school doing my first aidy type stuff & looking forward to my new slot teaching in Plymouth on wednesday's!! I will still be in Liskeard on a tuesday @ 6.15pm & now in Plymouth @ 6.15pm & 7.30pm! This gives me more time & energy to be in the Plymouth studio more & take on some of the Uni classes too. I am very excited about this change & have lots of motivation because of it. I am leaving my wednesday lesson in Liskeard in the capable hands of our new Instructor SJ! Sarah Jane has been my student for 2 years & I have taught her from scratch. She is my proudest teaching achievement & has advanced very quicky to a strong Instructor level! The girls in Liskeard all know & love her & I know she will be a fab Instructor!!


Before my blog becomes a novel I would just like to mention the lovely Roasanna. She has had a tough time the last few months but am glad to say she is back to teaching & on the mend! Before our birthday bash she asked me to perfom @ Run to The Sun in Newquay, it was a massive event with thousands of people & I really enjoyed it! It was hard work but the feeling on stage was incredable, I'm gald I took part & would like to thank her for asking me. I spent some quality time with Rosanna & really valued getting to know her better & think the world of her! I'm glad your back hun! Keep shaking that ass!!












I will log off now, I have been blogging for over an hour now & my stretches are calling! Will not leave it so long next time & I look forward to seeing more of you in Plymouth!

Take Care Pole ladies!!

Good Luck Girlies!!!!

Can you believe it's finally here! The 7th of June tomorrow & our 5th birthday bash in the evening!
I am blogging today to wish all the students & instructors the best of luck for tomorrow night, I'm sure you are all feeling the nerves & pressure as am I! But it's all going to be worth it!

I would like to wish a special good luck to my Liskeard girls who I have been teaching for the last 18 months, this will be the first time they have performed out of lessons & I am going to be beaming with pride tomorrow night as they kick off the show!
They all performed beautifully in class this week & I can't wait to see them all looking gorgeous on stage!

Good luck to the fabulous Nikki Brown & Charlie Hancock below!






Good Luck to the beautiful Sarah Jane Wottoon! Aka "Jazz" tomorrow night!





And lastly Good Luck my gorgeous Helen & Lauren!





Being an Instructor doesn't mean that the nerves get any better, I have spent the last 2 days in the toilet, unable to eat much & my stomach flipping every time I think about performing tomorrow! But I also know the buzz & the feeling when you finish your performance is amazing & worth every minute of anxiety!
So good luck girls, tomorrow will be fab!
I am also looking forward to being in awe as usual at the beautiful ladies who taught me how to pole dance! The 3 founders of The Art of Dance Sue, Jo & Sam. I am gutted that Jo is unable to perform this time & it won't be the same without her always astounding performance! But I know she is taking it easy so she can get back to full strength & blow us away soon!!


I would like to say now, rather than tomorrow as I feel slightly emotional & don't want my make up to run! I will always be very grateful to Sue, Jo & Sam. Not only do I admire & respect them as fabulous women but Sue taught me to be confident & to let go, Jo taught me as a student from the beginning & all the tricks & Sam believed in me & gave me a dream job where I can give back to others.


Thank you ladies, I love you to bits!!


I will sign off now, get plenty of rest & best of luck to all for tomorrow, it's very exciting & it's going to be wonderful!! Woo Hoo!!!!!!

Ouch!

After spending 2 hours training today, I just managed to fall from a plank variation onto my head and crushing my calf muscles on the way down! I felt like my brain had detached itself in my head afterwards and I'm aching now, I think it was my body's way of telling me to stop! I'm feeling really motivated by the new moves Sam has been giving us for homework and our birthday bash on the 7th of June but I guess I should stop today, well until my teaching tonight anyway!!

Hope everyone had a great bank holiday?? I'm enjoying the time off especially since starting my new job in a school as I have had 2 weeks off for easter, although I spent the first 4 days of last week on a 4 day at work first aid training course! I passed with flying colours and am ready to go back to work next week as the new school nurse/first aider!!


I spent most of my bank holiday with family and had a really nice time. My mum's sister came to visit us from Essex and we haven't seen them for 13 years! We had a lovely Indian in Looe Friday night and spent Saturday evening at my mums beautiful house in Polperro. We had dinner in their stunning garden and sat around a fire while my brother and cousin played the bass guitar and didgerydoo, it was magical!

I have gorgeous twin cousins who were 3 the last time I saw them and they were very excited about my pole dancing and had been watching me on you tube before they came to see us. After a lovely afternoon shopping I treated them to a look around the plymouth studio and a pole dancing lesson on Saturday and they loved it! They were excellent for their first time on the pole and shocked by how hard it was! See below for Francessca on the left and Chloe on the right.

As you can see I got them posing and they looked great! I was quite tearful when they left on sunday as it has been such a long time since we saw them and my sister is moving to Australia in July which is going to be here before I know it and I'm dreading saying Goodbye to her! She is my best friend as well as my sister and she is great! I've been helping her move out of her house recently as she gets ready for the move, stressful and emotional as you can imagine! But it will all be worth it especially when I'm sat on a catermaran next summer watching humpback whales in Hervey Bay!! Can't wait!!!


Below is my sister, her husband Mark and me on a night out dressed up as pimps, I think you'll agree Mark really looked the part! Good Times!



Nick and I enjoyed the rest of the weekend chilling out at home and visiting his mum and dad. It's been nice spending some quality time together, especially just at home as we are both always running around and busy with work. We were also making plans for our neglected garden as we hope to transform it before the summer! Poor Nick had to go back to work today and I think most of you will agree with him that the weekend went sooo quick and wasn't long enough!



Looking good though baby!! And plenty more good times to come!

















On a final note I would like to wish Jo and Nixi better! I have been thinking of you both and hope you are resting and getting better. I keep getting updates from Sam and look forward to seeing you both soon! I am only up the road from you in Stoke if you need anything Nixi, so don't hesitate to call me!! Lots of love to you both!!

Lots of Love to Sam too just because she's fab!!

Catch up again soon, take it easy and don't fall on your heads if you can help it, it bl**dy hurts!!

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!!

I couldn't resist posting this picture from Christmas night at my house last year. I bought some joke thongs for Nick and our friends boyfriends who were not shy about putting them straight on and giving us a good show on my pole!

There has been plenty to celebrate recently. I lost my job 2 weeks ago and have been very worried about getting another one due to the current state of this country and the fact I have been trying to get a job, specifically in a school for the last 8 months with no luck! But last week I got a call from one of the schools I have been pursuing and have been given a Teaching Assistant position at John Kitto Community College which I start tomorrow! I have been quietly stressing but I just knew if I kept going I would get somewhere! I'm one of those people who doesn't give up and when it's what I really want I have to make it happen! I am so pleased as it means I will be better off for time and money, can give more to The Art of Dance and my own training plus, and very important I can save up and visit my sister next year during the summer holidays who is moving to Australia in July this year. (That's if Sam will let me have the time off of course!)

I was poorly on the morning I had my interview and after they told me I got the job I left and burst into tears! It has been a long time trying and worrying about losing my piercing job and getting another but it all just happened at once! I collapsed on the sofa when I got home and Sam was kind enough to cover my Wednesday night lessons and let me stay on the sofa all night! I think the stress and relief got to me as I was quite poorly for a while! But I'm back to normal now and looking forward to seeing my students this week!

I enjoyed a good meeting and pole jam with Sam and the other Instructors last Friday, the main topic of conversation was the fab BBC Three documentary which I'm sure you have all seen. I think it clearly portrayed Sam in a positive fitness light, separated her from the glamour/seedy industry and showed the extent of what she's up against! I am beaming with pride for Sam as usual and thought she was a natural on the camera as was her husband Sid whose character came across really well!

So, new job, celebrity boss and my sister's 30th birthday coming up this weekend means that life is all good at the moment and there is plenty to celebrate!!

I did a bit of celebrating on the weekend by holding a 70's birthday party for my friend Gemma. The main attraction was my pole in the middle of my living room which I turned into a little disco with UV lighting and a disco ball! Watch out for full details on my next blog including lots of pictures of half naked men loving the pole!!

Until next time fellow pole dancers!

H x x

Vestival 2009

Here are my two performances from today's exhibition at the Vestival Event in the Piazza, Plymouth City Centre.

Mad Cow??

No not me! or the disease, well maybe me! but the name of a modeling agency I have recently signed up to.
In august last year I applied to a new agency via the Gumtree website and was contacted by them some time after who informed me that I was one of 200 picked out of 3000 applications! This meant that I would be listed on their website, can apply for assignments and was given the opportunity to a photo shoot in order to create a portfolio if I didn't have one. I was a bit skeptical at first but decided to bite the bullet and go for it.
I did a three hour shoot on the 24th of November and decided of course to take my pole! My pole at home is 10ft long and I had to borrow and extra piece from Sam to reach the ceiling in the studio making it over 13ft! I had to climb it with 2 men holding it up at the bottom while I attached it to the ceiling! For anyone who has put up an X Pole you can imagine how scary and difficult that was to do! I styled myself for the shoot and went with an idea I had to pose as three different types of dancer, Pole, Podium and Burlesque. I signed up to this website as I was interested in getting a professional portfolio done just as a keepsake and wanted to have some quality photographs on the pole of some of my favourite tricks (well the ones I can do at the moment!)
I don't know if any work will come out of this for me and didn't sign up to it with that realistically in mind but you never know?? After a long wait I have finally received my photographs and have to pick 10 for editing for my finished portfolio. Even though I am extremely self critical I was really pleased with the pictures and was given a Cd with almost 100 images. I have picked a few of my favourites to put on my blog and will update some of the older pole trick pictures soon. Here are a few for you to have a gander at in the meantime:




If you ever get the chance to have a professional photo shoot I highly recommend it! (Always check it out first though, my Mum and Nick were concerned about me doing this especially having never met the Mad Cow people before so Nick took me to the studio and left me to it when he felt comfortable.)

The experience of a professional shoot has always been on my to do list and I was surprised by my confidence on the set! Just goes to show the powerful influence of the Art of Dance, I would never have done this 3 years ago!!

Moofu, Me and the Dragons!

I don't know where to stat today as there is so much going on at the moment! I have posted my views about the recent controversy with Sam and the College on her blog page so you can enjoy reading my rant there! Despite the issue I certainly enjoyed seeing my fabulous boss on the News at Ten last night!

I guess I should start by explaining the title of my blog today as it is a bit random! Moofu is the name of my boyfriend Nick's business, me is me! and the Dragons are as you can see in the picture Peter Jones from the Dragons Den.
I have just got back from London after attending the BT Essence of the Entrepreneur awards with my boyfriend Nick who was one of twenty winners out of thousands of applicants nationwide. I mentioned in an earlier blog that he had a photo shoot last year with a famous photographer called Rankin and the pictures of the twenty winners were on display at the OXO building in Southbank wednesday night hence my not teaching in Liskeard this week!
Peter Jones is the famous face of the BT Entrepreneur Awards, he gave a speech and presented the winners with their certificates. I had joked about getting a picture with him before the event as he is soooo tall and I am tiny but didn't think we'd get the chance but after a few glasses of wine and the event being very intimate the opportunity presented itself and he was happy to have a picture taken with me. He took the mick out if my size by crouching down so you can't really see how tall he is next to me, I got a good grope of him though and have to say what a lovely man he is, very inspiring and he had a lot of time for everyone at the event.

Nick is well over 6ft tall and you can see him and Peter in the next picture when he was presenting Nick with his certificate how tall he really is!












Duncan Ballentine also attended and again was kind enough to sign Nicks certificate and allow us to take his picture.

Nick and I had such a great time at this event, we made a good networking team and enjoyed talking to the other nominees. Nick made some good contacts and we left quite drunk as the staff kept topping up our drinks every 5 mins so we don't really know how many glasses of free wine we had!
We were also celebrating our 2 year anniversary so Nick booked a very swish hotel for us to stay in and we enjoyed breakfast and a stroll around Canary Wharf the next day.

Again I am beaming with pride for Nick and his business and appreciate him involving me and taking me to such wonderful events. He always introduces me to everyone he talks to and tells them what I do with pride, we both enjoyed the reaction from the photographer Rankin when I told him I'm a Fitness Pole Dancing Instructor, he must have said wow 3 times and seemed very impressed! Moofu is doing well despite a rough end to last year and I have nothing but respect and admiration for Nick for all the hard work he puts in and what he is achieving (even though I do moan sometimes when he is soooo busy! Sorry baby!) He really is something special, a true Entrepreneur and the love of my life! Well done babe, in your own words, "Keep going and don't stop to look back!!"