Win win

#epicwin about sums it up. The last month I mean. & not just for MCFC! I've done so many of my favourite things - I'll list them later all later, to be sure. But I begin with a shout out to a fantastic dancer I had the great privilege to work with on friday, one Miss Cat Foley. I link to her blog here as she has just been booked to stage manage for the Herrang dance camp. Swing dancers of the world will instantly know this is a BIG deal. Non Swingsters, take a look at the link if you want the background, but it's basically the biggest Swing camp in the world, occurring in Sweden yearly since 1982 & everyone who is anyone has been or is going.

Well, except for yours truly that is, you'd think that my 'year of dance' would have to include said festival, wouldn't you? But due to other travels, events & work, I simply couldn't fit it in this year. I am often a bit hesitant to do things when I hear 'you must go, everyone else is going'. I'm so not in with the in crowd, & never have been. That's not necessarily always a good thing perhaps, but I am what I am. Cat will fly the flag for @vintagedancers for me I have no fear.

So, on to this month's learnings & the list of my favourite things 'bagged & tagged' this month. That means done, mum! ;)

I laughed, I cried (with laughter & with sadness), I danced to loads of great music. I caught up with old friends & made new ones, I witnessed generosity & kindness from many quarters... I slept!
I ate well, I sampled fine wines & national drinks (60% Slovakian plum liquor to be exact - #notforwimps),  I contorted my body in new ways (see below please), I had a spa day, I went to the pictures #avengersassemble.

I made it halfway up my first climbing wall, tried my first off ground assault course (you're tethered on a rope storeys up, & you swing, jump & balance yourself across tightropes, moving logs, rope walls etc. All in the name off fun. Apparently. I literally did cackle my way around most of it, have one actual panic, & get stuck in properly for the rest of it (honestly! ;) )

The night before we had partied til 8am (not a typo) and this video is of an impromptu social dance 'performance' with a lovely guy from Kilkenny. I'll post the video in the comments box below when I get a copy. I'd met him that day as he'd attended the day of workshops I was delivering for JiveInferno. What a crowd! They really embraced the bluesFusion we did.

I loved having the time to stay a few extra days & attend one of their weekly nights. An afterparty til 5.30am with dancing in the front room brought the last night of the weekend to a perfect close. A BIG shout out to my 2 awesome chauffeurs for the weekend - you know who you are!

Learnings? Well, they say you get out out what you put in - I think I'd rephrase & say you get what you think you deserve. Harsh perhaps, but true. This is all at the subconscious level ofcourse. I'm sure when it happens most of us don't consciously believe we deserve to be messed around, ignored or used. Yet we can let that happen if we're not consciously demanding better. I'm speaking both professionally & personally here. As per. You'll know what I mean if I explain it thus...

You know when you go into someone's house & if it's really spic and span you're on your best behaviour to keep it so? Then there are those times when you go somewhere & it's frankly a tip. Some people 'do a Monica' and try and clean up the tip, but most people will be tidier in the tidy house than they will be in the tip - we naturally preserve the status quo, unless our values (or OCD) are stronger!

So, I urge anyone that hasn't already - figure out how you want to be treated & set the standard! And as I often say - always, always seek to upgrade, every time you can darling! Oh and ALWAYS be brave and ask that gorgeous guy or gal to dance!