Getting My Independence and Learning To Drive

A few years ago, when I was 18/19 I started to learn how to drive. All of my friends had passed their test but I never had the money to be able to afford driving lessons, so when my Aunty passed away and left me some inheritance I decided to get myself some driving lessons and a little car to practise in.

I'm a very nervous passenger, and it took quite a lot to convince myself that it was a good idea. My Mum doesn't drive and she's always encouraged me to learn to drive as soon as possible so I decided to give it a go. After a few months of lessons I was doing quite well, but something happened in my personal life which made it difficult to carry on learning. My friend passed away and I decided to move countries. I'm very impatient and wanted to get my test out of the way before I left fir Ireland, so I did a weeks intensive course in Blackpool and took my test at the end of it. Needless to say, I failed as I just wasn't ready, and have had to rely on lists/trains/buses ever since.

This isn't a problem when you're living in London, which I have been for the last 3 years, but since moving back to my hometown of Maidenhead nearly a year ago, I've really noticed how hard it is to get around as the public transport here is not very good and I hate having to rely on other people for lifts all of the time.

As you know, I suffer from anxiety and in my attempts to recover from this disease, I'm attempting to push myself to try new things and grow in confidence. So I've decided to start to learn how to drive again. My partner doesn't know how to drive either so we're embarking on this little adventure together.

We went to pick up our new car last weekend and have spent most of this week cleaning and polishing him to make him nice and shiny - I'm sure the novelty will ware off soon! We named him Gus Gus after the mouse in Cinderella as we think he looks like a little fat mouse.

I'm really excited to start to learn how to drive again. Failing my test really knocked my confidence and I haven't driven a car in nearly 5 years but I'm determined to do it so that I can get my independence back. It will also be a great opportunity for me to expand my business as I will be more mobile.

Did you pass your driving test first time round? Do you have any horror stories?

Let me know in the comments below - And if you have any tips on learning to drive I would really appreciate you sharing them with me. In the mean time, people of Berkshire - stay off the roads!

Hayley xo

 

My new Curious Cat hair flower

My new Curious Cat hair flower arrived in the post last week and I actually love it.

It's a little big for my head (I think I underestimated the size when I ordered it) but hopefully I can wear it when I get a little more confident and outgoing with my wardrobe.

Lou LaLa runs Curious Cat which is a vintage shop where she also sells lots of handmade goodies such as her lovely hair flowers.

Look at these other ones that are in her Etsy shop. Aren't they pretty?

If you'd like to get a hair flower for yourself why not visit Lou's Etsy shop at

http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/CuriousCatUK

Hayley xo

 

WE DID IT! We reached 100% of our funding goal

WE DID IT!

Thank you so much! As we have reached our target 4 days early I have updated our pledges so that you know what any extra money raised will be going towards.

Thank you to all the kind friends, strangers and customers who have helped make this happen.

http://t.co/fpVNHQLU6E

 

 

Music Monday: Grease - Beauty School Dropout

http://youtu.be/0TOxhzAm7fY

The final stretch...

The final stretch.

We have 5 days left and £87 to go to reach our target.

If we reach our £360 goal, I can enrol on a Professional Dog Grooming course and gain an accredited Professional Dog Grooming Diploma. It is my dream to one day own a boutique and grooming salon and this is the first step in achieving that dream.

Thank you to everyone that has pledged so far. Thank you to everyone who has told their friends & family about this project and Thank You for helping to support my new small business.

 

We've got just 5 days left to raise the money we need to start us on our journey to our vintage grooming salon. Can you help? Spread the word or buy our products for as little as £1 through this link and help us reach our goal. http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/poodlesandpompadours/

The end is in sight.

Hayley xo

 

Alpacas, and Donkeys and Sheep! Oh My! BCA (Berkshire College of Agriculture) Lambing Weekend and Open Day 2013

I've been meaning to blog about this for absolutely ages, but somehow this just got forgotten about.

On Sunday 28th April we went along to the BCA Lambing Weekend which is held every year at the Berkshire College of Agriculture. They have a college open day for prospective new students but also a full weekend full of different events such a dog shows, horse shows, feeding the lambs, sheep racing, a food market and lots more.

It's the first time I've been since I was a small chld but I'd definitely go again. I had a great time and met some really love people.

They had a food market and craft market with lots and lots of lovely looking and scummy things. They also had a Dog Show which Bambi & Bear entered.

You could go and stroke and feed the Alpacas, and there was even a stall there selling items knitted and crouched from Alpaca wool. It's so soft!

There was so many things to do with the dogs there. They had the Siberiam Husky Association, Fly Ball, Sheep Dog Training, Agility and of course the dog show which was judged by the students. The fly ball was so amazing. For £1 you could have a go with your dog, but I was a bit too nervous to try. It's definitely made me want to do more of that sort of training with Bear and Bambi though.

They even had little ducks and chickens for sale. How cute! I really wanted to buy them but I wasn't allowed :( When I have my own house I can't wait to have all the animals I can possibly cram in. There'll be ducks and chickens and pigs and god knows what else.

The sign from one of the food stalls really made me laugh. Everyone was stopping to take pictures of it and laughing. Great but of business marketing too ;)

I had a really great time and I think they have another event on during the summer holidays so if you have a chance to attend you should.

For more information about the college and what they do there you can visit their website at http://www.bca.ac.uk/

 

Poodles and Pompadours Day Out: Maidenhead Relay Marathon

On Sunday we were lucky enough to have a (very last minute) free stall at a local event.

We attended the Maidenhead Relay Marathon to promote our small business, and as it was in Braywick Park, which is where we usually walk our dogs, I thought it would be the perfect place to attract some doggie walkers to our stall.

 

Unfortunately the area where people usually walk their dogs was cordoned off for the race, so my cunning plan failed, but we still had a really nice day and met some lovely people.

Maidenhead Relay Marathon happens each year and local businesses and teams get together to run a marathon for charity. Each team can consist of up to ten people, each completing a lap of 2.62miles, making up to the marathon distance between them. You can have a team of 1 (running the whole marathon) up to a maximum of 10 people.

 

Thank you to Craft Coop for letting me know about the availability.

I met one of their members who also had a stall there.

Karen Jones makes really lovely handmade felt gifts. I fell in love with her little felt sock monsters. I wanted to get one for Bambi and Bear but they would be ruined within minutes so it seemed a bit of a waste.

If you want to see more of Karen's work you can find her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/feltsogoodgifts

 

The day was fun but quite quiet and the sun was refusing the make an appearance all day so it was actually quite chilly. Not a good day for the runners who were in their little shorts, but I guess you wouldn't really feel the cold whilst your running around like a crazy person.

Hopefully the next event we do will be a littler busier sales wise, but at least I'm gaining in confidence each time I do a stall, so it's all good experience at the end of the day.

Hayley xo

 

Betty has a makeup makeover.

Hey everyone.

Whilst I was blogging about The Red Lippy Project the other day it suddenly struck me that Betty - the face of Poodles and Pompadours - doesn't have red lips. I don't know why I haven't noticed this before as I have been looking at her face everyday for nearly a year.

It didn't seem right that Betty was without her red lipstick - something that should be a key part in any pin-up girls make up bag, so I changed her a little bit and gave her a makeup makeover.

P.S Thanks to everyone on Facebook and Twitter for helping me decided which shade of lipstick she should have.

Much better, don't you think?

Hayley xo

 

 

The Red Lippy Project

I was reading about this in the paper the other day, and if there's anything that will get me to pay attention to a cause, it's red lipstick, so I thought I'd share this with you as I know most of you love red lipstick as much as I do.



"Cervical Screening Awareness Week

9-15 June 2013 Put on your red lips and make a mark on Cervical Cancer

In the UK, cervical cancer is largely preventable thanks to the successful National Cervical Screening Programme and more recently, the HPV vaccination programme in schools. It is estimated that screening saves up to 5,000 lives every year and yet 20% of eligible women fail to attend screening when invited.

The Eve Appeal is delighted to join forces with The Red Lippy Project during Cervical Screening Awareness Week, to highlight the importance of attending screening when invited, especially in the younger age groups. Nearly 68% of women aged between 25 – 29 missed their screening invitation in 2011/12.

What can you do to help?

Don the brightest red lippy you can find during the awareness week, pucker up and spread the word about screening, and make a donation to The Eve Appeal to raise funds for vital research.


Text Giving details: Text TRLP80 £10 To 70070

Be bold, be glamorous, and join the Red Lippy Project


Red Lips Say:

“We wanted to make the little talked about cervical test less taboo.

The campaign is celebrating femininity and the importance of looking after ourselves and each other.

The initial idea was to create a platform that talked openly about the importance of cervical screenings and cervical cancer with a fun, bold, visual language that women and especially younger women can relate to."



Pucker up, ladies! Xxx

Poodles and Pompadours win Pawsome Pet Business Award

We won!

We won the Pawesome Award! Woohoo! I'm so pleased. As a really new small business I'm delighted when we win these types of awards.

"The Pawesome Service Award celebrates amazing pet related businesses who strive to provide the best service for their customers and their pets. The Pawesome Award is only awarded to one pet business per month, making the award a more valuable accreditation for the pet businesses who receive them.

We understand how challenging it can be to run a business and our Pawesome Award looks to reward our winners with some amazing offers from some fantastic companies who are willing to help."

xxx

 

Berkshire Dog Walks: Cookham Moor & Cockmarsh

I thought I'd highlight some of the lovely dog walking spots that we have in our local area so I'm going to be blogging about my walks each time I go to a new place.

My favourite and probably most frequented place to walk the dogs is along the river in Cookham.

I grew up here and know the area, and I'm always happy when I get to walk through the fields along the river.

There is a car park just at the entrance to Cookham Moor and it's just before the high street. The Crown is right next door so you can go there for a spot of lunch and a drink before you start or before you go back to the car on the way home. You can also walk along the River and stop half way at The Bounty in Cockmarsh, Bourne End which is lovely but always quite busy, especially at weekends. It's about a mile from the car park through the Moor and it really is a lovely little pub.

The Crown is an independently owned pub, offering drinks, dining and bed & breakfast accommodation, situated on the village green in the idyllic village of Cookham, near Maidenhead in Berkshire.

http://www.thecrowncookham.com

The Bounty is located right next to the Thames at Cockmarsh on the stretch of the river near Bourne End.

http://thebountypub.com

The river walk in Cookham is a great place for dog walks - there are fast amounts of open green space, plenty of spots for your dogs to go for a dip in the river and lots of other dogs for you to socialise with. There are also numerous different routes that you can take so you never get bored of walking the same way.

I'm trying to up my fitness levels so I've just started walking from Cookham Moor (although I'm not too sure what the official name for it is?)/Cockmarsh all the way to Marlow. We then stop for a Picnic in Higgins Park and get a lift home. It's nearly 5 miles but I'm hoping to build up to walking there and back again.

Bambi and Bear love it here, and it's probably one of their favourite places to walk. They can sometimes be nervous of big dogs because of their size, but we don't have any problems here as there is so much open space that they never feel threatened.

Avoid going at lunch times or really early mornings, especially on weekends if you want a space in the car park. It's a very popular destination! It's also only a short walk from Cookham train station which is handy. Dogs are allowed on the trains and there is roughly one every hour from Maidenhead (they even run on Sundays!)

Does anyone else walk their dogs here? Let me know, and be sure to say hi if you see me there next time.

Hayley xo

 

 

Poodles and Pompadours at Maidenhead Relay Marathon

I know this is incredibly late notice, but we were given the opportunity to have a free stall at Maidenhead Relay Marathon in Braywick Park tomorrow.

If you're a Maidenhead local or in the area pop down to Braywick Park from 1:30pm tomorrow (Sunday 9 June 2013) to join in the fun.

 

 

My Collectif Wishlist

So every now and again I decide to torture myself by looking on the Collectif website and choosing all the things I'm going to buy with my imaginary money. This month is no different...

I want...

This.

And this.

And this.

This.

These.

These little guys over here...

And this one also this which is from the Sirens and Starlets ebay shop.

 

Getting sponsored to buy clothes is totally a thing now right?

Which one is your favourite?

http://www.collectif.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/SirensAndStarlets

Hayley xo

 

Tattoo Tuesday: Our first ever event: Croydon Tattoo Convention 2013

Tattoo Tuesday is a bit different this month, it's about a Convention rather than an artist.

So at the weekend I attended my first ever trade event for Poodles and Pompadours.

I was at the Croydon Tattoo Convention all weekend at Fairfield Halls, Croydon.

As I'm sure you know, I suffer from an illness (anxiety & panic disorder and agoraphobia) which makes it extremely hard for me to even go outside, let alone go to events and market my brand, but this is something that I have to do if I want my small business to succeed so I went armed with my self help techniques, medication, my trusty sidekick (who I can't be without!) and boxes full of goodies for me to sell.

I had an amazing time and was so pleased to finally meet the lovely Vicky from Stars and Scars, after talking to her online for god knows how long! We shared a stall for the whole weekend and had such a laugh.

Vicky makes amazing handmade jewellery, and each piece is hand illustrated by her. Aren't they cool!? I really want a mermaid necklace (she can make them to look like you!) and a bunting necklace, which was really cute.

If you want to have a look at her stuff you can visit her Etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/starsnscars

It was also lovely for Sharon to pay us a visit on Sunday. Great to see you again!

Saturday was our first day, we were upstairs with most of the other traders and it was very quiet as unfortunely there was no signage or anything to say that we were up there. We still had fun but it was the quieter of the two days.

On Saturday night we decided to move our table downstairs and got a space right in front of the entrance to the artists booths, which was a much better spot as we caught everyone before they went into the the artists area.

Wendy stopped by our stall on Saturday afternoon and picked up two handmade bananas for Mr. Sizzles. Doesn't he look adorable?

Sunday was filled with lots of fun stuff. We spoke to loads of people about their furry children, ate cupcakes and watched some burlesque performed by Dave the Bear, Aurora Galore and Chi Chi Revolver.

We had a great weekend and I didn't want it to end. It made realise just how much I miss living in London.

 

Thanks to everyone involved for making the weekend such fun.

See you again next year?

Hayley xo