Ivanna Spank You hangs up her fishnets?

To all my fans, I dedicate this blog to you.....

 

In light of the season premier of Full Throttle Saloon last night and the overflowing amount of responses and comments on facebook, I decided the best way to express my thoughts, feelings and opinions is to create a blog for those people who want.....the dirty details.  I believe there is a truth to be told that no one wants to tell.  It is not my intention to bad mouth anyone but only to speak the truth that I feel my fans deserve. 

I would first like to make the announcement that after spending the months since the rally pondering where I personally wanted to go from here, I came to the decision that I felt was best for me.  I have decided to leave Flaunt and move forward with new adventures.  It was a very hard decision but in the end the right one.  I will truly miss all of the fans who have taken the time to interact with me on facebook and in person.  You are all amazing and I have been very blessed to be a part of it.  I will always hold Flaunt dear to my heart and I am saddened that the time has come for Ivanna to hang up her Flaunt fishnets. I truly wish my fellow Flaunt Girls all of the success in world!

But Why?

(insert sobs)

It comes down to two basic principles, SELF RESPECT and INTEGRITY.  Those are two things that I take very seriously. Flaunt started 5 years ago as a small burlesque theatre show in Deadwood, SD and has evolved to an amazing touring burlesque variety show.  Over the course of this journey we have grown as a team, learned many new things and dealt with a lot of growing pains and personlaity conflicts.  We have also been faced with the cost of fame (however slight it may be) and everything that comes with that.  You see fame can cause people you thought you knew to turn into something entirely different.  When you are constantly dealing with this and are unable to see an end to the maddnes you have to know when to say "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH".  I reached that point after the Sturgis Rally this year.  I made a vow to myself never allow it to happen again all the while knowing that just might mean me leaving the group SELF RESPECT.  Well unfortunately, that is exactly how things unfolded.  The group decided to say "bygones" to everything that happened.  I don't hold that against them, that was their personal desires and they are certainly entitled to it.  I, however, was then faced with a decision....go along with the group or stick to my statement "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH".  This is where the INTEGRITY part comes into play.  You know they say the test of one's integrity is always in times of difficulty....that's when you know if you truly possess it. 

"Honesty is telling the truth to ourselves and others. Integrity is living that truth and being the kind of person you want to be regardless of the situation."

You see I found myself constantly complaining to my husband and friends about things going on.  They could all see how upset and frustrated I was.  Then I said to myself....

"Don't complain about what you allow!"

And that my friends, is the period at the end of the sentence. 



Sometimes the fear of the unkown keeps us from succeeding and moving on in life to become bigger and better than we could imagine.  You think about things you want to do but you are afraid to do them for fear of what might happen next.  The lesson here is take a leap of faith....believe your gut...believe in yourself.  Without change, you will not grow.  Live your life with self respect and integrity and no matter how hard the decision will be, when you are able to make it you will feel peace with it.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way.....let's get down to business.  Stay tuned for more on my thoughts, comments, truths etc. 

Until next time.....Lay it out and ROCK it!

Nichole