Book List 2012

The books I read and started to read in 2012...

Paris, J'Taime

Today I went to Paris to visit my friend Anna who is currently doing a year abroad from Tufts University. It was so Christmassy and we walked through a few of the markets taking in the sights while we caught up on each others lives.

It's times like those that I realise how many possibilities there are for me to choose from and pursue in life. It was really quite inspirational, and it cleared my head of some difficult realities and decisions I had to face up to. But that's not something I'm ready to openly blog about yet.

Day of the Dead in Oaxaca

Oct 27th - Nov 3rd 2012

A post of photos I took when I spent a week in Oaxaca, Mexico for the Day of the Dead.

NJW Hair & Beauty

My first commissioned project!

Final Year - Term 1

It's Chriiiiiistmaaaaaassss...

Sibling Sentimentality

This isn't the usual sort of thing I'd write about, but recently I've been discovering a lot about myself; my beliefs, my opinions, and the hopes I have for the person I want to be.

A lot of these things have lead me to reflect upon the past that I've come from, and the relationships that I have.

Being a Starlet!

  I have been wanting to write a post all about my recent adventures in Burlesque and discovering my inner Strip-Teaser! So what better time to reveal all than now, I have completed the Starlet Taster course with The Cheek Of It! School of Burlesque and am ready to pursue my tassel-twirling ambitions.

Taught by the gorgeous Lady Cheek herself, in 4 classes I learnt some brief history of the origins of burlesque acts, the basics of bump 'n grind, bared my sexy forearms while perfecting some glove removal techniques, and nurtured my flourishing performer alter-ego!
I found the whole experience so liberating and incredibly fun, I was absorbed in the routines we were taught and spent one week buried in blogs and YouTube videos of current performers on the London burlesque scene.

I also attended my first ever Burlesque show! It was The Cheek Of It's 5th Birthday so they put on an amazing show at Madame Jo Jo's and I went along, glammed up and ready to laugh and cheer. It was as clever, hilarious, dramatic, sexy and inspirational as I hoped it would be and it gave me such a buzz and excitement, I knew that I wanted to be up on that stage and giving it a go myself.

So, if I'm going to go further and learn more, I need a name for my performing alter ego! Lady Cheek set the class homework one week to find a name that encapsulated the personalities of our characters... It was a tough week, with a lot of brain storming and googling to check the name wasn't already in use, but I have found a name that has stuck and feels right....

* Dramatic drum roll...*

Ophelia Bataille

Ta-dahh! My inspirations came from Millais' beautifully tragic depiction of Ophelia from Hamlet, and Georges Bataille's 1928 surrealist novella 'The Story of the Eye' - one of my favourite erotic stories.

My next move will be a bump and a wiggle into the Showtime Beginner's Course at the start of the new year, with a graduation show at Madame Jo Jo's!

Watch this space, Ophelia is out of her box!

Xx