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Wednesday, December 11, 2013

December 2013 Blog Hop: Best of 2013...

I have been avoiding this blog hop, mostly because I didn't know if I had a bunch of things I loved about 2013.  Did I love my foot being injured and having surgery and losing strength and gaining weight and feeling crappy?  Not really.  But when I look back, I really didn't have a terrible year.  So, I thought I would go through my posts for the year and pick some of my favorites to re-share with those of you who may be new or may have missed them.   While I will discuss some posts at length, others I will just list so you can decide if you want to read them or not. 

Random stuff about me:

I posted in January about sweating and magnesium.  Sweating is still an issue for me.  I sweat from my head, which can be gross when flipping around wet hair, and I can't run my hands through my hair otherwise I will slip on the pole.  It's not super sexy.  My hands and body, however, are generally overly dry.  I have Dew Point for my legs and Mighty Grip for my hands.  Just to make life interesting, if I flip over in some way, into a handstand or inversion, my body suddenly gets nervous, and then my legs will sweat.  It's super awesome to be a pole dancer with these weird problems.  I have been taking magnesium this year and I feel like some days it helps and some days it doesn't.  I have contemplated taking medication to help with hyperhydrosis, but am worried that it would cause more issues in my body NOT to sweat (we sweat for a reason!).  If you have any tips on this issue, I would very, very much appreciate it.


My foot injury made its debut in February.  

The mini documentary about me and pole dancing!

I joined UPA's Sexy Back Week.  Kinda.

Twirly Girls on TV! No really, we were on TV!

Defining myself in the pole industry.

Blog Hops:

My very first pole post for 2013 was a PDBA Blog Hop!  It was listing pole goals.  Did I hit my goals?  Yes and no.  I was on track until my foot derailed me.  Not only could I not take a class each week, I couldn't even teach my own class for a couple of months this year.  It has been a very frustrating year in the physicality department and I am very much looking forward to setting (and attaining) the same pole goals in 2014 that I set for 2013:  Take a weekly class, work on flow and get stronger.  I have not yet made it back to taking a weekly class on top of teaching my weekly class, but that is on the list for January.  I also feel like taking workshops with Tracee Kafer helped reignite my desire to dance again.  And I have been a beast at yoga so I am already feeling muscles in my arms and legs again.  I got this.  I know it.   (I later updated old pole goals with photos but haven't progressed in any.)

The February Blog Hop discussed our love of pole.  

The March Blog Hop was about pole products.

The April Blog Hop was about PPC.

The May Blog Hop:  Questions for a Pole Dancer.

June Blog Hop:  Things I wish I had known when I started dancing...

The July Blog Hop is about a day in the life of a pole dancer. 

The August Blog Hop is all about social media.

Perfect timing for the September Blog Hop.  We talked about wellness.

October Blog Hop...I had to do two!  First up:  stripping the stripper out of pole.  Second up:  the sanitization of pole.

November Blog Hop:  Gratitude.

From a business perspective:  

Music in the Pole Studio.  

How much does it cost to run a pole studio?  

How much does it cost to put on a pole show?

Pole in General:

If you share a pole at your studio, how do you find your grease-mate?  

I posted about Derby Skinz shorts in January as well.  Still my favorites because they are fully customizable!  I think I have three different pair now and I love them all for different reasons. 

Do you train on both sides?

Twisted Grip?

Pioneer of Pole:  Anna Grundstrom.

As I watch all of us age and get injuries, I wondered...how many years can you pole dance anyway? 

For those who have never pole danced.

Pole dance is for everyBODY.

The History of Pole Dance, Part Three.

Discussing the crazy complex moves people are doing in pole lately...

Poletry in Motion - visiting other studios, pole events and/or meeting pole friends:

Studio Botan in San Francisco.

Entangle & Sway in San Francisco.

Nadia Sharif rocks!

Pole Expo.

Meeting Angela of Ascending Slowly.

Aeriform Arts in Hollywood.

Poletential's 7th anniversary.

California Pole Dance Championship in Los Angeles.

Roz the Diva.  Nothing else needs to be said.

Kitty Kats' Korner in Vacaville, California.

Kinetic Arts Center in Oakland.

BadAzz.

Volare Variety, a burlesque show in San Francisco.

Cowboy Wild's Un-Pole-Lievable Pole Show in Walnut Creek, California.

So, did I REALLY just list every pole post I made in 2013?  Shockingly, no.  But I did list most of them.  You know why?  Because every single thing I do in the pole world makes me happy.  These are a lot of the awesome things that happened to me in 2013, and this post serves as a reminder to myself that I am blessed.  

I feel very fortunate to surround myself with a lot of amazing people.  I am so happy to be part of the Pole Dancing Bloggers Association.  Valentina, Sheena and Nina (ummm, do all of your names rhyme and I JUST figured that out?!) are awesome at pushing me into being more aware of myself and my writing and I am so happy to have been invited to be on the Board.  I didn't list any of my posts here, but I am grateful to be a writer for Vertical Art and Fitness Magazine, and although I haven't been asked to do a post in awhile, I appreciate that The Pole Dancing Shop gave me writing projects for a very long time.  Non-pole related appreciations include joining the Chunky Girl Comics family this year and having a job to pay for all of my adventures.   

Thank you to everyone who was part of my 2013 and I look forward to what 2014 has in store for me!  Please share your highlights for this past year in the comments section below.   


2 comments:

  1. Wow, you've been busy this year!

    I can't believe you missed that--I even said you need a nickname to match. Um, Loreena? Lina? I'm still working on it, haha. :) We need to even out; I'm healing, losing weight, and trying not to feel like crap about it.

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    1. This year has been crazy!! So much going on...you had a big year too! Hopefully life will balance out in 2014. I can't keep up this pace, especially since I believe I am now going to be dealing with a bone spur in my "good" foot and may have to put a lot of my goals on hold. :-/

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