How long?

Hello people..yes I am alive and thought after over 4 months I had better get my act together and write on my blog! I can't believe I've left it so long.. there have been so many things that have happened over the last few months I'm not quite sure where to begin although probably the best place to start is where I left off and that was really in September and our holiday to Egypt.

Having just got engaged and Steve successfully managing to plot and plan a complete surprise we then jetted off to Sharm El Sheik in Egypt. We were still on a high and looking forward to 2 weeks of total relaxation in the sun. I'd spent ages trying to find a hotel that suited both of us so that I could work on my suntan but have enough activity so that Steve didn't get too bored and we hit the spot with the Blue Bay Reef Oasis. We'd pushed the boat out a bit but it was well worth it. The hotel was fantastic and being on it's own reef we used to spend the afternoon at the beach snorkeling for a couple of hours. The variety of fish were amazing and all the dive boats pitched up near our hotel to dive at the reef. Steve often amazed the shore divers free diving down to their depth with just his snorkel on! We managed to tear ourselves away from the luxury a couple of times having dinner and looking at the stars in the desert and not to be missed - the Pyramids. We'd booked in the UK and this turned out to be in our favour as we ended up with our own personal guide and tour bus - which often proved a welcome escape from the scorching heat of the sun. Cairo was scary as no-one obeys any traffic laws and there are about 6 lanes of traffic trying to drive in 3 lanes! The artifacts in the museum just take your breathe away as do the pyramids themselves - you really don't appreciate just how big they are until you are there.



Sadly the holiday had to come to an end (and so too did my tan a few weeks later!) but we'd lined up a few things to look forward to on our return. One of these was the addition to our family with our 2 kittens - Enzo & Tabitha.

We had seen them at Gables Dog & Cat rescue home when they were just 4 weeks old and decided to give them a home so they were ready to collect on our return. They come fully vaccinated, micro chipped and have just been neutered as part of the terms of taking a kitten from the rescue home. They took about a week to settle in and are now fully at home flying round the room and getting their claws into our leather sofa!!! As they've just been neutered we can now introduce the world of outdoors to them..although this last week when I have tried they have been somewhat reluctant to go out from the warm! - they're not stupid!

October fast approached and soon it was the 25th - my 34th (Arrrghh!) Birthday and our engagement party. My Mum came down from Bedford for the weekend and my brother joined us from London and we had a lovely meal with them and Steve's family at Zucca's before heading on over to Annabel's for our party.




For those of you that came thank you so much for sharing in our night, for Annabel for letting us use her venue and for Sam for organising putting up the pole so that my fellow instructors and my friend and student from Exeter, Nicole could perform for us. Thank you all for such amazing performances which really opened the eyes up of some of the work colleagues and family who were there - so much so that they are now students with us! I had a chance just to relax and enjoy watching everyone - well it was my party so think i deserved a night off!!! I escaped a hangover the next day although Steve and my brother were not so fortunate!

Christmas suddenly crept up on me - as it always does. I think I have loads of time and then suddenly it is upon me. I must admit I didn't really feel in the mood until we actually got to Xmas although I enjoyed some Xmas pressie shopping trips into town (funnily enough Steve doesn't share this view!). After some change of plans Mum and my brother arrived on Xmas day having driven from Bedford which meant I was solely in charge of cooking the dinner. I was a little nervous as I really didn't want to burn the Organic free Range turkey that had cost a fortune but thankfully it worked out well if I do say so myself.


Xmas day turned out to be pretty good. Steve's kids were with us in the morning and had fun unwrapping all their presents and then my folks arrived and we had dinner. I think it was about half eight before we got round to unwrapping our own..oh the control!

I'd planned a nice week off from work to relax and recharge with the family over Xmas but apart from Xmas day it didn't quite work out as I like the rest of the world got struck down by this flu bug. Fortunately we'd planned a romantic night in for new year's eve as this was the first year neither of us were dancing/DJing respectively so we had a nice dinner, settled down in our PJ's watching Jools Holland with a glass of champers (which my lovely boss and team from BT had given us as an engagement pressie) and saw the fireworks going off over the city. The bug and cough eventually shifted after nearly 3 weeks but came back this last week which I was not amused about! Fortunately it's not stopped me doing anything but I've been pretty tired and run down from it. I was partly disappointed that Sam had had to call off the AOD social this Saturday night as I'd managed to find a couple of hours to put most of a routine together - but then the other half of me was glad to be able to relax and put my feet up and have a beer - plus I have a routine I can carry on working on for the next event.

Sorry for the long blog but I think I'm pretty up to date now with the main events I've been up to. I think I've caught up with most of you in the Plymouth studio and the Exeter studio on Monday nights. We all experienced a bit of a slow start to the new year with the flu and finances being tight but I'm pleased to see many of my familiar faces back - particularly in Exeter and welcome to lots of my new ladies there - and my gent in Plymouth - Jeremy.
Finally as you are all fully aware the Art of Dance has gone National..and now Global with the recent events over Sam's latest performance - we couldn't have asked for better publicity. I'd just like to add that I too am proud to be an instructor for the Art of Dance and am proud of Sam for being such a great boss and role model in working on removing the negativity surrounding our art form. Go Sam!

Ta ta for now...and I promise not to leave it so long

xxxx

Performance at Annabel's

Here is a video of me performing at Annabel's discotheque in August 2008, Sam is having problems uploading the video of my student's dance so you will have to wait for that one!

Bye Bye

Just a very quick blog to say I'm just about packed and almost ready for our holiday tomorrow. I had a great weekend at my friends wedding in London and spending some time with my Mum. I had a bit of an disaster with the dress I was wearing as despite my long legs the dress was still much longer than me and I managed to step through the chiffon about 5 times! It was an emergency cellotape shop once we arrived in St Pancras as I had my first mishap on the way to get the train. Mia - get your sewing needle ready! Apart from that the wine and champagne was free flowing all afternoon and into the night and we had a fabulous time. Beth looked lovely and the Barbican centre was a great venue as we had a tropical paradise in amongst the plants and the rain was kept outside! It was great to spend some time with Mum as well. After the horrendous journey on Friday we arrived to good home made lasagne and champagne and on the Sunday Mum spoilt us to a fabulous lunch. She is really pleased for us both and is already getting ideas about what we can do for our wedding. I'm sure Sam and Jo will look after you all in my absence and look forward to seeing you all in about 3 weeks.

Ta ta for now xxx

My Engagement!

Well I'm still on cloud 9 and taking it all in..Yes Steve & I have got engaged. He has been secretly plotting with some of my friends for several weeks now and I honestly had no idea what was happening. I'd been expecting to go to the cinema on Tuesday night with Steve and a couple of his mates who were coming up from St Asutell when Jason (Steve's best mate) rang me to say they weren't all able to come up due to car trouble. I tried to talk Jason into coming up on his own as I knew Steve would like to see him but he managed to wriggle out of that as unbeknown to me that was part of the plot. Steve then emailed me to say Jason had just rung him with the same news and that as it was a nice evening he'd booked us into our favourite restaurant The Ship Inn at Noss Mayo. I was quite happy with that as I love it there and Steve had said it was going to be high tide which we both love and the last few times we've been the tide has always been right out. So off we go for our evening meal. We had a lovely time, munched our way through starters and main and I'd spotted the massive Strawberry pavlova which I persuaded Steve we just had to have. Coffee came and I was sat watching our lovely waiter carrying some champagne across the room which I suddenly became aware had been planted firmly on our table. I still had no idea and was asking Steve what the occasion was when out came the ring and he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I had no hesitation in saying yes and was still trying to take it in as I was starring at the most fabulous engagement ring. I was trying to compose myself when I had another surprise and some of our closest friends appeared to share in our night - including Jason. It was truly special and romantic night and I totally didn't expect it. Now I know why our waiter kept smiling at us all night and Steve had disappeared to the loo twice to obviously check on everyone. Apparently he was a nervous wreck all day hoping all the plans would come in place and they did. It was slighly unfortunate that my best friend who had helped Steve arrange a lot of it broke down outside of Exeter as her drive belt went and she had to get towed back to Bristol and never made it. I had a truly fabulous night though and thanks to all my friends who made it. And obviously thanks to my future husband to be Steve for surprising me and proposing in such a romantic way and making a special night for us both..I love you very much. XXX

All the Art of dance instructors were also in on the plot but were not able to join us as was a busy night opening the new Torquay venue and covering back in the Plymouth studio. Not to worry though as we will be having an engagement party and are looking to combine this with my birthday on Sat 25th October. We're looking to hold at Annabel's so that everyone can come along and then stay and party after so watch this space.

Steve and I are off to my Mum's in Bedford today as I have my best friend from school's wedding in London on Saturday. I know my Mum will be feeling a little sad today as it is her and Dad's wedding anniversary so this is the first anniversay since losing Dad last November. I'm hoping though she can think of the fond memories they had and I know she is looking forward to seeing Steve & I tonight. She is really excited for both of us and looking forward to seeing my ring. As some of you know from class last night I wasn't able to show anyone yesterday as unfortunately despite choosing our design together a few months ago and having the ring specially made for us they still managed to make it 2 sizes to big! I was able to wear it on the night but we had to take it back to Exeter on Wednesday to resize it. We are hoping it will be ready today so we can collect on the way through to Bedford this afternoon so I can show my Mum tonight and some of my frieds who will be at the wedding on Saturday as well. I'm looking forward to that as I haven't seen my friend Beth (the bride) for a few months now and I love a good excuse to get dressed up. The weddding is being held in the Barbican centre in London and looks like it will be a lovley venue - good job it is indoors as I think the weather is going to be pretty horrendous.

Once back from the wedding I only have a couple of days of work before Steve & I head off to Egypt for our 2 week break. We are both so looking forward to relaxing and spending a well earned break together. I am teaching in Exeter this Monday night and then that is me done for a few weeks. I'm not sure who will be covering in Plymouth but I'm sure it will be either Sam or Jo - so ladies watch out as they will work you extra hard! I'll be back in Exeter on 29th Sept and then it will be October when I am back in the Plymouth studio.

I think that is most of my news for now. As you know I danced at the recent social at Annabel's and one of my Exeter students also performed a stunning routine that she had in the main choreographed herself. She used the music beautifully and we were all really impressed and she has agreed that she will show case at our birthday event that Sam is trying to organise. There is some video footage of our performances so I will get a copy and put up on my blog for you all to see.

Must go now as off to town to get my hair trimmed.

see you all soon

xxxxxxxx

Full Monty & More Pictures from Devon Car Show

Firstly a big congratulations to Phil, Mark, Mick, Mike, Tony and Brian (aka) the Full Monty for their show stopping performance last Sunday night. You'll have seen from our blogs that I had been choreographing their routine for them with expert help from Sue in the art of seductive clothing removal and I'm pleased to say that all the hard work and rehearsals paid off - they never even needed my prompt cards I'd written up for them! Sue, Sam and I were all in the front row to cheer them on and they did us all proud. Steve had also come down with me to support the night but I think he was secretly a little relieved when they started early and he was able to lurk at the back whilst I rushed to my front row viewing. We each received a lovely bouquet of flowers for our support which are stilling looking great in my living room. Thank you guys. I've also now heard that the guys are in hot demand so you never know there may be a Full Monty on tour....

As promised here are some more photos from the Devon Car show last Sunday. I'd like to say a big thank you to one of my Exeter students, Nicole Windley who came down to support us all and for the lovely photos she has taken. Nicole has quickly progressed since coming to my Exeter classes and shares the love and passion for pole dance like I and my fellow instructors do. It is great to see such enthusiasm in Nicole and indeed many of you that come to our classes and to know that you enjoy it so much and give us such support. Nicole even braved the wobbly pole on Sunday as she just couldn't resist showing off her moves. Well done Nicole!

The day turned out to be great fun for me in the end. I was a little worried about where we were pitched originally as we were at the far end of the event so I wasn't sure if people would come down and get to see us, but as the day progressed we were drawing the crowds and getting some great comments. So much so that we got moved to the main stage in the afternoon where Sam & I got up and strutted our stuff. My performance got slightly interupted by one of the Fuel girls dominating the front of the stage with not a lot on! - but otherwise it went well and I loved being up there in front of the crowd. Jo has taken some video footage of Sam & I so hopefully this will come out ok and we'll be able to post for you..naked lady and all!

All in all it was a good day as the weather was the hottest and sunniest it has been for ages and it was great to spend some time together with Jo, Hayley, Sam, Sue and her lovely daughter Rose. My sunburnt shoulders were still giving off heat on Tuesday morning and I've discovered are now peeling this morning. I think we all got a little bit burnt from being out in the sun and not able to wear sun tan lotion and were all a bit achy from the day's performance. My back in particular has been quite sore and playing up a bit more since Sunday so have been back to the osteopath this week to help work it out. I know Sam & Jo were especially feeling it as they had performed the previous Saturday and then again on the Thursday night in Raffles as part of the fund raising week. I managed to catch their last performance when I came over after teaching and what a performance they gave on the spinning pole - both very different but stunning, fluid and inspirational - I felt a bit green watching especially Jo's "out of control!" sitting spin combination - Wow! Sue as ever was sensual and stunning performing her routine - loved the feather tassles!

Jo the lucky devil has escaped to Egypt to go diving with hubby - so jealous but then it is only 6 weeks before Steve & I head out there. We're waiting for the MRI scan results for Steve's back so not sure we'll get so much diving in as his back isn't right but hopefully we'll be able to manage some dives. We're looking forward to our trip to Cairo as well as we've booked to fly there to see the pyramids - neither of us have yet seen this spectacular sight so we're looking forward to that and relaxing in the sun.

Sam is covering Jo's classes this week and I'll be in on my usual nights of Exeter on the Monday and Thursday in Plymouth. I'm also taking the Friday night class this week so hopefully get to see you then.

Good luck to Sid today for his open day for Plymouth's first Cage Den.

see you all soon

xxx Rosanna

Devon Car Show 27th July 2008 - Exeter Racecourse

Thanks Street-Stylers-southwest..a couple of great pics.

Now ladies what do I always say in class?...Point your toes! At least I listen to my own advice.

Full blog and more great pics to follow soon.xx

Rosanna

Still Aching!

Well if you've already read Sam's blog, you will know she had us on a staff training event on Friday with Rob Green trying our hand at Parkour I wasn't really sure what to expect especially being our first attempt at it but Rob soon had us all warmed up and rolling onto the floor in safe landing positions, jumping over hurdles and running up walls. It was a great team building session as we had plenty of laughs watching each other run like mad at the obstacle either to run into it, half land on it and roll off or sort of get over it and disappear down the other side in some sort of heap. After a few attempts though we were all pretty much there and flying over the box and up the wall. I felt quite invigorated from it ...then I sat down when I got in and realised that maybe I wasn't as fit as I thought. My back was aching and my right knee had a very slight twinge. Turning up at the studio on Saturday morning and comparing notes with Sam, Jo and Mia we all were feeling the after effects and Sam also had a strap on her right knee! It's Sunday morning now and my back still hurts and my left shin is now aching! Still really enjoyed the session - thanks Sam.

As mentioned I was in the studio Saturday morning to take the second part of a hen party. We had a great time as we learnt some of the Ashanti routine I have done with some of you. Sue and I were then putting the gentlemen from Raffles through their paces. I've been choreographing the Full Monty routine for them along with Sue's expert help and advice of how to take articles of clothing off. We are getting there but need a few more rehearsals to get the routine a bit more slick and in time!! Still the guys are doing a great job and Sue & i are having fun working with them. They will be performing at Raffles to raise money for St Lukes on Sunday 27th July from 8pm - hope to see some of you there.
The art of dance have a busy week that week as some of the staff will be performing at Raffles on the Thursday evening, (I'm teaching that night but might pop in and say hi after classes if you've not all worn me out!!) we are off watching Flash Dance on the Friday evening, there is a pole Jam on the Saturday 26th from 12noon-4pm, we are performing at the Devon Car show on the Sunday and then the Full Monty on Sunday evening. Check out the events pages for full details of what we have lined up - going to be a good, fun but tiring week. I'll have also been to Gatwick for work on the Tuesday so that usually means I get about 3 hours sleep on the Monday night and spend about 10hours or so on the train for the day - not looking forward to that as it takes me all week to recover!
I've had the decorators in this week and they'll be back to finish off next week. I'm having a radiator moved to free up one of our walls and getting some of the dodgy electrics sorted out. There are some real bodgit DIY jobs that we are discovering. When my plumber went to fix the new radiator to the wall all the plaster just fell off to reveal lovely art deco type wall effect. Seems that the plaster had just been slapped on the top and not sealed so as soon as you touched it, it all came down. As it's behind a door we'd not had a need to use the wall so hadn't discovered the problem til now. There is also a blank plate where the light switch should be in the living room and we've discovered that the whole cable has been ripped out rather then just isolating the switch so we will need to run a whole new cable in which means taking floor boards up. Think we'll live with it a while longer til we look at doing upstairs. Hopefully when these are done we'll get the room looking nicer and I'll look to get new carpets for the living and dining room.

I've been having a fairly quiet weekend so far (mainly because of my aching muscles) which will continue this afternoon. Steve & I are thinking of going to see Hancock tonight - which I will enjoy as I'm a bit partial to Will Smith - although of course he isn't a patch on Steve. It will be a good excuse to pig out on popcorn and sweets which will be just as well as I'll need all the energy for my busy week ahead. As well as the day job, I'm teaching in Exeter on Monday, back in the Plymouth studio for my normal Thursday and I'm taking the class on Friday night this week and a hen party Saturday morning.
Hope to see some of you during the week. Have fun til then.

xxx