WHAT A LOVELY DAY

There are days that come slapping you in the face with reminders of how lucky you are. Today is one of those days. Awoke in usual semi-grumpy frame of mind not least because I had to forfeit my first run since the 10K last night due to Mr T having a monster pile of work to get done. I'm glad to say the day just got better from there.
Both boys are at their educational centres of choice and I have the day ahead.

My first appointment this morning was with my sister in law for a reflexology treatment. I qualified in reflexology 11 years ago and was working on a part time basis until TJ arrived and we moved. Here I have no "nice space" for me to work from home at the moment and very much offer treatments to friends on a non payment basis. They do have to put up with the chair being placed within the boys playroom (tidied) of course! But I have had no complaints thus far - as if they would dare!

I forget how much practising reflexology chills me out. Even though I am working, it is a very fluid treatment and as I am always using my skills it is second nature to me and I float away into my own little world as well as the person in the chair. I know my sister in law went away very chilled and stress free so I am happy.  The chair sounds a little clinical, it is actually the most wonderful chair in the world. It enhances the feeling of total relaxation as it enables me to tilt the chair and for the feet to be raised. Putting your feet up never felt so good. Sheer bliss.

Part 1 of a chilled out day - achieved.

Part 2 looked a little something like this:

This helped me to gallop along the road to achieve a fast 4 mile run - felt alive and tingly after the run.

Home. Lunch. 6 music on.

As you can see the day looks good so far......

THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC

Music was my first love and it will be my last, music of the future and music of the past as John Miles would so aptly put it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaMApWem9RM

From an early age, music was a part of my life. From the accompaniment of a piano in my ballet lessons at the age of 5 to the contemporary dance routines I learnt for many dance festivals shared with my dance partner, Michelle Sparey. The one that sticks in my mind so vividly is standing on stage with Michelle dressed as a blue toothbrush whilst she was suitably dressed as a pink toothbrush.

The recent find on you tube of the Max Bygraves song brings back visions of Michelle and I dancing our wonderfully choreographed number on stage and getting our picture in the Gloucester Citizen (where I lived until the age of 13). Incidentally, Michelle Sparey is now working within the entertainment industry and has been frequenting the West End as a dancer. Needless to say she was the better performer out of the 2 of us. I was never destined for the bright lights. The fact that I had to wear stage makeup at such a young age is my reasoning for not wearing much make up as an adult!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4l-NrckIJk

I digressed! Recently our household has become ever more musically influenced. JT has started guitar lessons and I happened upon a wonderful find in the local North Devon Hospice charity shop recently in the form of the Yamaha VSS-200. As a child, I learnt both the piano and the violin and was in a local children’s orchestra as well as a choir. I even sang with Richard Baker in Gloucester Cathedral with my school – ahhh happy memories. The song we sang was Music was my first love.

TJ and I have also been attending our local Music Train classes for over a year now with the lovely Mrs Ayres from www.ayres-rocks.blogspot.com TJ has so much rhythm inside him and very much enjoys the singing and playing of instruments in the sessions. There could well be another instrument making its way to our household soon in the form of a ukulele, as TJ wants to learn the guitar like his brother and gets most upset when he can hear JT and his teacher strumming away and he can’t join in! We shall see.

SHE HAS ONLY GONE AND DONE IT!

Well it had been discussed and after a wonderful meal at Tiandi, the name was agreed upon and so the blog of Mrs Ayres has been launched. Ayres Rock. The title is a combination of her name (that bit is slightly obvious) the Rock part being about her passion for music. Mrs A is the lady behind the local Music Train sessions that TJ and I have been attending for 18 months now. Hayley moved into our lives 3 years ago, when her eldest and JT were at pre school together, since which time they have forged a strong friendship as have the mum’s. Within a year, after settling in, Hayley trained to become a music train teacher within the area and has established a fantastic business and given many pre schoolers and parents/grandparents a lot of joy through her sessions.

http://www.musictrain.co.uk/

Follow her blog at www.ayres-rocks.blogspot.com

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

Each year around the world, IWD is celebrated on March 8. Hundreds of events occur not just on this day but throughout March to mark economic, political and social achievements of women. Without even being aware of it, I have already participated in one such event, the Women’s Running Network Exeter Half Marathon was one such event that has taken place to mark the 100^th anniversary. It is documented that 10 years ago in the UK there were a handful of events in the UK. The list this year looks vast and wide ranging, encouraging signs.

I became aware of it through reading an article in the Guardian a few weekends ago, being of interest to me I then went onto the IWD website to have a look at possible events in my area www.internationalwomensday.com. That’s when I came across the WRN event which I took part in on 19^th February and was excited to see so many hundred’s of events listed throughout March.

So make a difference, think globally, act locally, is a slogan used within the IWD website and I really do believe that the more our communities encourage and celebrate women’s achievements on a local level, the more rich and diverse we become from this.

Locally I know many women who are nurturing this way of thinking, many of them being mothers, like myself. A group of mother’s who helps to man the toy library to enable the members of the community to borrow toys to help educate and develop their children, a mother who develops her music business to encourage pre schoolers to have a love of music and use their natural development with sound, a group of mothers who set up an art club within a local church, a group of women who enjoy keeping fit through running within a social, encouraging environment. The list goes on and these are just what my friends achieve.

Bude Area Toy Library, Music Train, S.M.A.R.T club @ Bradworthy, Bude Women’s Running Network.

So today I am celebrating the way women have enriched my life in so many ways. From my first manager, Gerry Cunliffe, who gave me the encouragement and knowledge as a trainee manager to go out there and love a job I did for 11 years. To a district manager, Louise Pettener, who knew how to support a very nervous new manager and encouraged her to achieve things she never thought she could do, by taking her out of her comfort zone. To the friend’s I have who are studying to realise their goals after having their children, who are setting up their own businesses, who are making hard decisions about the relationships in their life, who are supporting other friends to achieve things they never thought possible.

All these women and more help to educate and encourage future generations to know the difference between real role models and those that grace some of the magazines that hit the newsagent shelves. I don’t have daughter’s but I know that if I did I would want to be encouraging a future that is safe, rewarding and equal.