I should be...

Tonight I should be:

• 
  
   Packing
• 
  
   Preparing
• 
  
   Showering
• 
  
   Getting myself ready

As I am headed off to London. I'll be in transit for about 24 hours and then I'll be spending a week in London before making the journey to Glastonbury and then finishing off with 2 extra nights in London before the Dubai stopover on the way home.

I apologise in advance if the posts slow down or stop for the next 3 weeks - I don't know how much internet access I'll have and quite frankly I'll be looking forward to the break. Not so much from this but just from everything.

I'll leave you all with yet another shot of my changed hair. I took this shot with my iPhone and I'm covering my face because of my lack of make up at some unholy time of the night.

Until next we meet my friends

Glitter Sparks & Happyness

x x x

Brooke

Music Mondays: British India

So I'm using one bullet to hit two points today with Music Mondays - both an update on band photography and introducing a band I've been going to see live well before they released any of their albums or EP  - British India.

*As always - click on the above image to be taken to the gallery for more shots*

On Saturday night I had the pleasure of photographing British India at The Corner Hotel for Rave Review. British India are a 4 piece hailing from the suburbs of Melbourne. I first stumbled upon this band when they played support act at a show in April 2005 and it was instant intrigue. Their music had an energy and fervour that I hadn't yet experienced in a local band and their shows soon became a regular feast on the local live music menu.

We were lucky enough to catch them near the beginning of their journey (and get a little thank you on their first EP) and have since seen their shows transform from 20 people in a small room to selling out venues around Melbourne with crowds of people singing along.

I've seen them too many times to keep track of anymore and the thing that keeps me coming back for more is that every show is fun. It's a simple reason but a true one. I always have a blast when I see them - even though I can no longer dance around and jump around with space at their shows anymore, it's nice to sing along and have other people singing along too.

It's still amazing to me to see the different reactions that some of the newer fans have to these guys - on Saturday night while the support band was on I heard some girls squeal when they saw some of the members of the band show up on the side of the stage. These girls were decked out in British India t-shirts and were bubbling with anticipation (I'd guess it was their first time seeing them live). It makes me smile to see that these guys are getting the recognition they so greatly deserve.

They've just released a new album (the reason for the tour) and are still travelling around Australia. Tour dates can be found on their myspace page.

They're the one of few local bands who I can always rely on to put me in a good mood. I can always guarantee that I will have a fun time at their shows and I will always be at the front singing along. It was a different experience to photograph them this time around - but it was nice to be able to capture a little piece of their show to share with everyone.

Find them on:

Myspace

Facebook

Twitter (but I don't think they really use this)

If there's one thing I'd like to see in their current setlist is just a little taste of their first EP - those songs brought so much dancing and so much joy into my life and it'd be nice to see how the new legion of British India fans react to a real "old" song played live. Just a little bit of "Counter Culture" next time boys and I'll be going home very happy.

Glitter Sparks & Happyness

x x x

Brooke

Travel Stories: Heart attack

*From doug88888 photostream - click image for more*

Today I received an email from the hotel that I have booked for my sister and myself for our trip to London. Actually it was sitting in my inbox at work after I came back from a day off.

Basically it stated that they had a problem with my credit card and if I didn't reply to their email within 24 hours then they'd cancel my reservation. I replied 32 hours later because that's when I got the email.

I am now waiting (impatiently) for a response and will be heading back to work to call them when it hits 9am local time in London (which is 8pm here).

I'm sitting here staring at my gmail inbox hoping for an email to confirm that my reservation that I placed in November is still ok and that we have a place to stay for the first 6 nights in London. I don't know why anyone would book their holidays direct themselves.

Being a travel agent I'm faced with disaster stories and problems and "oh I can get it cheaper online" everyday it baffles me when people are unwilling to pay someone else to stress for them. I know I would - but I can't. I booked this apartment direct with this hotel as I couldn't book it through my suppliers at work. It's the only thing for this holiday that I have booked direct and it's the only thing that I have had a problem with.

I don't want to worry about my reservation 8 days before I'm due to fly out. I don't want to get an email saying they'll cancel my reservation. I don't want this stress.

I want to be excited that in 8 days I'm returning to this magical city that I love and I can shop and run around being a tourist in the sunshine.

I sometimes wonder if these hotels understand just how much stress and heart-ache they can cause from one simple email.

Fingers crossed lovelies - I'm sure it'll be fine (I know when I say 24 hours, I sometimes mean 48). In the mean time I've just downloaded the season finale of Glee and will watch it once my sister gets home.

Glitter Sparks & Happyness

x x x

Brooke

**** EDIT - Update on the accommodation: It's all fixed. I called them and it turned out that they tried to "pre-authorise" my credit card for 1 night but because I didn't have enough cash on it, it declined. I transferred money into my credit card and it's all now fixed. HOORAY I have somewhere to stay for the first 6 nights. Morale of the story - always book with preferred suppliers (or hotels) or make sure your credit card has cash on it before you're about to travel ****

Sharing the HP love

OH MY GOODNESS.

This movie cannot come soon enough!!!!! I don't even have words to describe how good this clip makes this movie look - RON, DOBBY, HARRY, VOLDEMORT, THE DRAGON!!! The list goes on.

Enjoy

Glitter Sparks & Happyness

x x x

Brooke

Music Mondays: Muse Madness

*Image from Victor Ayala Limon photostream - click image for more*

Today I freaked out and thought that I was going to miss out on tickets to see Muse return to our shores in December - luckily the second show was announced and we got general admission tickets for their stadium spectacular.

This video is in celebration of this fact and also to help get myself excited (not that I need much help) for Glastonbury in 2 1/2 weeks where I'll most probably be up to my knees in mud dancing, singing and screaming to this song.

It's all far too exciting. I'll be in the beautiful city of London in 10 days.

Glitter Sparks & Happyness

x x x

Brooke

NEW HAIR - take 2

Today I spent a nice chunk of the day getting my crazy hair to change colour again. This time with the help of my lovely hair dresser we've created something we'll probably never be able to do ever again.

It's still not quite where I want it to be - I think next time I'll just use old lady "silver toner with purple shade" colour to try and get the light purple (anyone else have any suggestions - I've tried Special Effects toner with pimpin purple and/or virgin rose but each time it's come out much brighter and not light purple). I love it anyway. This is the first time I've had the majority of my hair an unnatural (apart from bright red) colour.

It wasn't easy getting my hair bleached down enough from the mega red I had previously but I think it was worth it.

I didn't use a flash for these photos and I didn't edit them in any way (except make them smaller). The colour is a little more of a purple than what shows up in this light but I think you get the picture.

I'm happy with this hair adventure!

Glitter Sparks & Happyness

x x x

Brooke

Why I love: Becoming a GLEE addict

Welcome to another edition of Why I Love - Today is all about GLEE

It's official.

I have posted about this show months ago when I was competing on the My World Tour competition and to say my feelings for this show have intensified is an understatement. It's quite simple - I'M OBSESSED.

The past week I have watched every episode of GLEE again and even downloaded the newest episodes so I can watch them over and over again whenever I want. I promised myself I wouldn't get ahead of what is showing on our TV (which is about 2 weeks behind the USA) but I broke that promise this past weekend and used up all my download limit.

Tonight I realised I'm in a bad shape when I went searching for all the songs that aren't on any of the soundtracks - I found them and am now listening to them. This takes my collection up to the 88 song mark - 5 hours of Glee music that I can quite easily force upon my work mates (I have been this week but come on - they are classic songs and amazing versions).

The episode that is airing on Australian TV's tomorrow night is quite possibly my favourite episode so far. For anyone playing at home it's the episode that features Neil Patrick Harris - and surprisingly it's not even his storyline that had me hooked. It's Arties.

I think out of any of the characters on this show, the character of Artie is my favourite - he's sweet, smart, resilient and a dreamer. His story is heartbreaking and this episode broke my heart a couple of times over. His "Safety Dance" is by far the best choreography the show has seen and boy can that boy move.

** If you haven't watched this episode yet – WAIT and don’t watch this youtube video **

This show is all about being yourself and dreaming BIG. This is the message that I love – it’s always about the “outcast”, the underdog. It’s about showing that you can do whatever you want as long as you are true to yourself and don’t be someone else because it’s easier.

It’s a brilliant show with an amazingly talented cast - each week I’m intrigued to see what songs they’ll sing and what is going to happen to these characters.

The show was recently signed for a third season – which is crazy, we’re still on season one. I’m stoked that I know I have a whole bunch of episodes still to come.

Am I the only Gleek around or does everyone else love this show as much as me??

Glitter Sparks & Happyness

x x x

Brooke

P.S I want one of these please

P.P.S My hair is currently light pink - I'm waiting til tomorrow to re-bleach and apply purple. But that's another story for another time

Birthday madness

On Sunday it was my niece Bridies' 4th birthday. We all headed over to my brothers house to help celebrate with a bbq lunch and lots of Tinkerbell cake.

We got a call in the morning saying that poor little Evie had been sick and did we still want to come over? I figured that Bridie would never have forgiven us if we weren't there so it was worth the risk of illness to attend.

I got there around 1pm - which was apparently late as everyone was already eating lunch. Bridie had already finished her first serving of lunch and came running over to say hello and let me wish her a Happy Birthday. It's funny how people say kids grow up so fast - I always used to think this was just old people being funny but it really is true. I can remember my first cuddle with Bridie when she was only 1 day old.

But I'm digressing

Bridie opened her gifts from the Aunties (and already had the book we bought her so we have to get her a different one) and loved her new copy of Toy Story on DVD (she actually went "aaaahhhhh TOY STORY") and immediately tried on her Tinkerbell PJ's.

We let the kids play for a while - I watched Kyla and Bridie jump around on the trampoline outside while Bridies other cousins (from my sister in laws side) bounced around them too. They also dressed up in Bridies fancy dress and danced around to the Chipmunks singing Katy Perry's "Hot and Cold".

After the kids had worn themselves out we had Tinkerbell cake and mini pavlovas.

The other cousins left not long after cake was eaten and then Bridie decided she wanted to run around outside and that I was a "monster". I chased her and Kyla around the backyard until me feet started to get too cold. We then went inside and started to do lots of different puzzles in her play room.

I took Kyla home around 5pm where she crashed on our couch before her Mum got the chance to come pick her up.

It's absolutely amazing to me how much of a real little person Bridie is now. I know that sounds weird but it's true - she has her own personality and knows what she likes and doesn't like.

It was a fun day spent with the most adorable nieces ever!

 

Glitter Sparks & Happyness

x x x

Brooke