Met Carolyn Woodward of PR Matters for lunch at The Great House today. We sat in the sunny Orangery and sipped Rose wine whilst we discussed the success of hens dancing to date and how we can promote it to grow the membership even further over the coming months.  A lovely way to spend a Friday afternoon.
We met at the Kent 2020 networking event last week and plan to go to the exhibition on 22 April.

http://www.hensdancing.com/

Sunny day!

Today feels like the first day of spring!  There's a real warmth in the sun and I'm wearing a sleeveless top!  I've been up to Sevenoaks to meet up with other business women over lunch and came away motivated to write my blog. 

Now that Hens Dancing headquarters and my home, of course, is based in rural Hawkhurst we have quite a large garden with a greenhouse at the top.  We planted some seeds at the weekend tomatoes, peppers, courgettes, basil and poppies and I've just been up to look and see if any shoots are appearing. Of course it's early days and nothing has come up yet but they did need watering.

Lots of interest today in the inspirational talk happening next Wednesday, 14 April.  I'm always thrilled when  image consultant, Katie Day, agrees to come and talk to us.  She is such a great speaker but also a lovely lady.  You have to make the most of these opportunities - she's very successful and so very busy! Still time to book on if you wish here's a link to more information. 

Read on? Or back to http://www.hensdancing.com/

Do you love your job?

I was reminded last night of how lucky I am. For much of my career I was gainfully employed in jobs I didn’t like.

I worked hard and had great ideas and wasn’t appreciated. Often I had the most ridiculous commutes taking up 3 to 4 hours of each precious day. The longest I ever stayed with one company was 5 years and 1-3 years was more like it. Now I run my own business from my spare room and OK, the highs are very high and the lows are very low but overall I can honestly say, I love my job.

So back to last night. I met a woman who's career profession was chosen by her parents. (I’d just like to add that this woman was great company, intelligent, interesting and looked much younger than she must be.) She perserved with this profession for many years and hated it. Eventually she decided she'd had enough and managed to change her career.However it was still a heavy compromise and her ideal job eludes her.

So this got me thinking and I was driven to write an article. To read it in full click here.

Sleep a feminist issue?

Interesting article on sleep in The Times this weekend. 70% of us have trouble sleeping – I know I do! Looking at the famous I was amazed that the amount of sleep varied from 1 hour: Salvador Dali and 4 hours: Madonna (something to do with her new lover?) to 15 hours: Mariah Carey – apparently necessary to sing the way she wants to.


Penelope Cruz clocks up 12 hours a night in the belief that this helps her to keep her weight down. How wonderful it would be if that was true. Does it work because she has less time to eat?


Apparently sleep is going to become the next big gender issue because women need more sleep than men. This is because they work their brains harder – not sure if that’s a compliment or not?! But what is keeping us awake? A male partner that snores is the most likely reason for a disturbed night.

Back to http://www.hensdancing.com/

Does lateness irrate you?

I read this article in Psychologies Magazine this month and thought you might be interested ...

It was poignant to me as I went to a wedding recently and the bride kept us waiting in Church for over an hour. Better not publish how I felt about that!
Anyway in the mag they say: 'We assume that other people frame choices in the way we do. But for the other person what is at stake is often very different from what we think is at stake. Apparenetly this is down to cultural differences. Also some people have such a deep seated fear of having to wait that they make sure they're late!

Mmm. Interesting. Let me know what you think.

Visit the hens dancing website.

New Year, new website!

I'm really chuffed with the new hens dancing website! Especially the members area which has so much great content with the free legal helpline provided by Helen and Estelle at asb law (planning to phone them myself later!) and 'Life Matters' with some really measured and useful advice from Katie Day - good for people like me that need to apply a little patience to problems sometimes!

We have some brilliant events coming up - perfect for the new is: Re-discover your Sparkle! which is next Wednesday 13 Jan.

Gosh I'm so excited!

Pink hens

Tunbridge Wells hens (and a few Sevenoaks) enjoyed festive food at the 'aspirational' boutique hotel, The Brew House last night. Seventeen of us (the table was endlessly long) were were bathed in pink lighting as we sipped Champange. The staff tried to deliver the food we had pre-ordered five days ago but for some unfathamoble reason lists and desires didn't quite match. However, the food when it did arrive was good. Two wore the same dress (Phase 8 25% off dresses) and I was grateful I'd left mine in the wardrobe. We caught up, came up with some great ideas as to how the world would work better and discussed festive plans - travel winning over traditional pursuits. Next meeting 13 January we Rediscover our Sparkle!