Branded a fighter?

Once people found out about everything I went through as a child automatically I get the response 'You're such a fighter'. However I do not think of myself as a fighter, I think the real fighter is my mum. If I didn't have her by my side then I wouldn't of had any fight in me. I couldn't imagine what life was like for her to watch her first born, at such a young age, go through this horrible disease. She was like a rock.

Then again I did do a lot of fighting with the doctors, resulting in many of them getting a kick in the face...not lying. Obviously back then I didn't understand they was only there to help me. Screaming and kicking you can imagine the looks I used to get bet they thought 'Oh god here she comes'. But luckily my body did fight the disease so I can re-tell my story to help people today.

I remember in my last year of college I had no clue what route I wanted to go down either carry on the dancing or give it all up and get a full time job. My teacher said to me 'Abi out of everyone I really believe you can carry on because you're a fighter'. For the industry I want to go into I think you have to be a fighter after facing rejection upon rejection you need true passion to stick with it. There has been many times were I want to give it all up but I remember that little girl, with no hair, wanting to fit in and take ballet lessons and this gives me the push to carry on dancing. In a way my illness gave me a completely different outlook on life and I believe you should do whatever you out your mind to.

In all fairness the real fighters today are the children/adults still fighting this disease going through hours of chemo or radiotherapy. Honestly no one understands how horrible it is to experience chemo being constantly sick and bedbound when all a child wants to do is to get out of bed and go to the play room to socialise or play with their favourite toy. These guys all fighting for their lives which truly deserves recognition and they are all individually amazing. Let's not forget the doctors who do incredible work every day trying to save lives and trying to find a cure for cancer, they truly are hero's.

From my previous blog post I mentioned I have a extremely bad phobia of needles. I am pleased to tell you I am getting better when having blood tests. No longer kicking doctors in the face! The fear is still vibrant but from seeing younger people being able to do it with no tears I decided I needed to man up and control it. So if you find yourself also battling a phobia with needles, trust me, one day it will become better.

So I guess I can be branded as a fighter but everyone is fighting something new everyday which means we all are truly amazing. I'd like to remind everyone to keep on fighting and pushing on! Also like to thank my rock of a mum for being by my side everyday and keeping that fighting spirit in me. Thank you for reading xx

I'm going to Disney World!!

So last year George and I set our minds on booking Florida for our holiday this year as it will be our last big holiday before we start saving up for our first house together. I honestly cannot say how beyond excited I am, this is literally my dream holiday. I went once when I was younger with my family but so many things have changed over the years and I feel that this time round I will appreciate the experience more. We booked to go on 7th October-21st October which means we still have a lot of waiting to do, but I thought it would be an good idea to help you guys out if your looking to book in the future or interested in going to explain our booking process. 

Before we booked we both had to look at suitable times we could take of work, once we found out the best months we had to choose from were May or October. To legally drink in America you have to be the age of 21 which neither of us are until George turns 21 in September- this led us agreeing on going in October. This also proved to be a very good time to go as you have the Halloween decorations out, Mickey's not so scary Halloween party and Food and wine festival at Epcot. 

Now we moved on to looking at who to book our holiday with. I'd must admit this part took a lot of time and we couldn't make a straight decision. We was looking at booking through the Disney travel company or Virgin holidays. At the time we was booking Disney was promoting a free Disney dining plan offer with free memory maker with all bookings and also park tickets for 14 nights at the price of 7. Virgin was also promoting this but Disney came up cheaper and I felt that it would be easier in the long run to go through Disney. Perfect! We definitely got a great deal and will recommend everyone waiting for Disney to bring promotions out! After agreeing to go through Disney it was now time to choose the hotel! Disney categories their hotels into Value, Moderate and Deluxe. We decided to go for a moderate resort and chose Caribbean Beach resort as we both thought it looked beautiful. We got a standard room and upgraded our free dining plan for the Disney Dining plan that allows us 1 quick service meal, 1 table service meal, 2 snacks and a refillable mug a day. Sorted!

Now we haven't booked our flights yet as we are waiting to find the best price for them but we will 100% be flying with Virgin. We also do not need to worry about transfers as we are staying with Disney so we can get the magical express free. So that's accommodation, food, transfers, tickets, photo passes and almost flights taken care off! 

Obviously we have decided to go to Universal Studios for a few days and also would like to visit Discovery Cove to swim with the dolphins. We booked both those tickets from Attraction tickets who send you an actual ticket not a token and other free goodies. 

We still have a lot to do including making dining reservations, fast passes, plan of every day and actually pay everything off. I will update everyone nearer the time once all of things are done and will give you instructions on how to do so! But I hope this was interesting for yous to read on how we booked our holiday and will join us on this exciting trip! Thank you for reading xx  

P.S If you're looking for personalized Minnie ears I would 100% recommend MainStreet Ears her designs are beautiful! 

Why I started dancing?

The earliest memory I have of dancing is my first dance show, I was roughly 4 years old and was dancing to snow whites dwarfs 'High Ho' song and I was the smallest person on stage. I started dancing whilst I was still in treatment doing baby ballet and tap which started of my love for dance. However like every child something new will pop up which you automatically want to try so I soon gave it up to do other activities like horse riding and gymnastics.

I was bullied quite badly throughout primary school resulting in being pushed into a wall twice in two separate occasions. I lacked in confidence and found it hard to talk to new people, but I attended a workshop in the school holidays at a drama school to perform in Grease and this sparked my interest again and had to audition for the school.

Once I got in to Paul's theatre school my mum and my grandparents had to try and fund my new hobby which did not come cheap.... I cannot thank them enough for everything they did for me (one day when I am famous I will pay you back mum). Every Saturday I would go there to learn how to sing, act and dance. I studied ISTD dance exams in ballet, modern and tap which allowed me to get technique training at a young age. I always believed if it wasn't for my teacher Miss Elizabeth I wouldn't be able to do half the technical stuff I can do now if she didn't teach me. So from going there every Saturday it grew my confidence to talk to new people and become a more out going person.

It soon became obvious that dance was my strongest subject (even though I would have liked to be a triple threat) so I decided to take it as a GCSE. I loved my dance class at school we all grew really close and it was nice to be in an environment where people actually wanted to be there and it was a good creative atmosphere. I came out with a double distinction* which is equivalent to A*. At that time I knew I wanted to go into this as a career and decided to study it at college.

There I learnt more styles of dance a developed a love for commercial dance and contemporary. I gained good relationships with my teachers and really pushed me to become an even greater performer. However not everything went right in my way to becoming a dancer, I remember my first audition for a professional college and I became such a little fish in a big pond which completely made me self doubt myself and for once made me wonder if this was the right industry to go into.

But dance too me takes my breath away, literally. I always get shouted at as I don't breathe whilst I dance but I just get to involved in the movement I don't think about breathing. Dance has allowed me to express myself and is an escape from the normal world. I know I want to choreograph emotional pieces and I know dance can really touch people in different ways. So if you ever feel stupid when you're dancing or want to take the plunge to start a dance class just remember... dance is an expression of who we are and everyone should experience the feeling of getting lost in movement! Thank you for reading xx