The Gratitude List: Week ending 01 Dec

WOW, it's really December - DECEMBER YOU GUYS!!!! I'm excited for so many things this month. I have lots of Christmas parties, lots of bands and lots of big things happening, but I want to remember and be happy for the little things too.

Here's what rocked my world this week

1. NEW HAIR CUTS: I got my hair cut this week and it feels so good. After spending two days at the Blogcademy with two amazing women (Kat & Gala) who were both rocking the hell out of straight fringes (or "bangs" for those in the USA) I knew it was time to bring it back. My hairdresser Courtney is such an amazing person. She puts up with all my crazy whims and is always willing to try anything with my hair. This time I asked for shorter at the back and longer a the front - I knew my hair needed a good cut but I didn't want to lose the illusion of length at the front - she did it without blinking and I love it. 

2. Dinner dates with amazing friends - On Saturday night I caught up with a friend I have known for a VERY LONG TIME (read: about 15 years ++) and it was so nice to be able to sit around eating delicious Indian food (naan bread = yum) talking about life. It's such a nice feeling to have people who know you so well and that you can still connect with after 15 + years of friendship.



3. I CAN'T STOP BUYING CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS - So far this year I have purchased a bunch of new decorations (a snow globe penguin, silver bell stars, a quilted "Merry Christmas" hanging sign, a collection of cute wooden hanging ornaments and a wooden Christmas tree). I'm so happy that the stores have out really cute affordable decorations this year.



4. Getting tickets to bands I love who are touring next year - This week alone I have bought tickets to see The Lumineers, Arcade Fire, Bastille and Arctic Monkeys. I was really lucky to get a text message from my friend Jeanine asking me if I wanted her to buy me a pre-pre-sale ticket to Arctic Monkeys - I said HECK YES! She works for a touring company and had staff access to tickets - how amazing is that?!?!

5. Relaxing and taking time for me - I slept in, I read books, I relaxed and caught up on some TV shows, I just took some time out and breathed. It's so nice to be able to just stop for a bit and have a "nothing" day where all you do is bum around at home in your pj's.

This week is chock-a-block. I've got 2 x gigs plus my Dad's birthday and a Christmas tree to decorate. I'm also going to introduce my nieces and nephew to a Christmas movie they haven't seen before.

What are your plans for this week? What are you looking forward to?

 - Brooke

The past couple of months

One of the things I had on my 50 things list this year is to take a photo a day. I'm proud to say that I have managed to do this everyday this year so far! Normally I get bored or distracted and lose interest but I've been able to keep doing this because of the Photo365 app that I downloaded on my iPhone. 

To catch up on things that have been happening here's a quick photo collage of a bunch of things that have been happening in my life the past few months.

It involves multiple hair colours, black milk, going to the football, adventures with my family & friends, lots of different nail polishes and many many other things.

Consider yourselves caught up in my life. Coming up next - NEW ZEALAND

 - Brooke

P.S My hair is purple again - it feeeeeels sooooo goooood!!!! 

#11 of 50 things: Dye my hair blue

So, I did something different. I'm now a blue haired girl (instead of purple haired)!!! 

I've had this Special Effects Electric Blue hair dye in my cupboard for AGES but have only (finally) worked up the courage to take that leap into the world of blue hair. 

My hair started out very blonde (it wasn't hard to get it down from the pale purple I had in it - I used a Loreal box lightener and it was on my hair for about 20 mins and my hair was almost white) before leaving the dye on my hair for about 2 hours. 

It turned out SO much brighter than I anticipated and the response I have received from people has been so positive. 

And of course I had to wear shoes that matched my new hair.

I've had such a fun time having blue hair that I've just purchased more blue hair dye so I can keep this for a little longer. A couple of months as a blue haired girl should suit me perfectly.

#11. Dye my hair blue

Big smiles

 - Brooke

P.S I have also not had a chance to take big camera photos of my new hair but I will soon. For now iPhone photos will do

Hair post - everything is purple

About two weeks ago I finally took the plunge and dyed my hair a brilliant purple (deep purple by Special Effects). I've done partial purple previously but have felt in recent months that I wanted to do more. 

After waiting almost a month for the hair dye to arrive I'm more than happy with the results. It started really dark purple but is beginning to fade/get brighter - more like Hitgirls purple wig in "Kick Ass". 

I've never had a full head of super unnatural hair colour before and I've noticed the stares and whispers when I've been walking around - what outweighs those stares is the lovely compliments I've received from people who I pass during the day. 

Two days after I dyed my hair this colour I was at the AFL (Aussie Rules Football) and as we were about to leave a lady came rushing up to me and said "I saw you from way back and wanted to come and tell you how much I love your hair, it looks beautiful". 

It's always nice to try something different and it's even nicer when it turns out exactly how you'd hope.

I've had a day off of work today and it's been a nice relaxing break. I went and watched my niece Kyla at her swimming lesson, then had lunch with my older sister before heading home. After that I went shopping and managed to pick up a new coat and this dress on sale. 

Right now I'm watching "The Crow" before doing some cleaning. I bought this movie on blu ray when I was in Sydney on my Andrew McMahon trip but hadn't watched it. I decided that with all this talk about a remake (YUCK - don't get me started) I needed to watch the original that I love so very much.

Later skaters

 - Brooke

NEW LAYOUT

I've been wanting to update my layout for a little while but have found it a daunting process every time I try to change it. After reading Amy's post over on her blog about getting rid of negativity and loving the place you blog I decided to throw myself into it and make a change. I loved my old layout but I don't think it suits me anymore - the colours were all bland and I need something fresh and bright.

It'll be a work in progress and I know I'll adjust the header (that I have had made up for MONTHS but never used) because I don't look like that or have brown hair anymore, but for now I love it. 

Please bear with me as I work through this re-design - I don't have the $$$ to get a pro to do it but I'm happy to sit down and spend the time working it out for myself. I found a great template that I love and I'm going to get it right if it kills me.

I realised today that I haven't really taken any new hair shots which is weird. I have had super purple hair for about 2 1/2 weeks now and I love it to pieces but since daylight savings has ended it's hard to get home from work while it's still light and all the photos I take with the flash just don't do the colour justice. I'm pretty sure I have a day off this week sometime during the week so I'll make sure I get dressed and do my makeup so I can take photos outside.

Peace out lovelies,

x x x

Brooke

Dreaming of Purple

*Source*

I've been dreaming of super proper purple hair again. This time I want super purple hair all over not just partial purple hair.

*Source*

The best way to get myself excited about this is to look all over the Internet and find other purple haired beauties. I've ordered some Deep Purple Special Effects hair dye so while I wait for it to arrive I'll just keep dreaming.

*Source*

Finding these pictures helps keep my resolve to do this. I have purple hair now but it's just not quite right, it's not a true purple so I'm ready to get the bleach out and get it right.

I've also got some turquoise hair dye (arrived TODAY!) so I'll have purple hair with a strip of turquoise.

It's been a hell of a week. I can hardly believe half the things that have happened at work. It kind of sucks when your job is directly affected by world events - with the state of the world today it's not making my job so fun at times. This week has been truly shocking.

But I've had some good news this week though - it hasn't all been doom & gloom. I've got my name down to photograph MGMT at their show when they hit Melbourne next month (just waiting on confirmation) and I'm very excited about this. They'll be the most "known" band I'll have had the chance to photograph live so far *eek*

Happy *almost* weekend

- Brooke

Purple Again

If you couldn't tell already I get very bored with normal coloured hair. Even though over Christmast it felt festive and fun to have bright red hair I had gotten to the point of boredom once again. Add to that the fact that everytime I went anywhere I would see a whole bunch of people with the exact same coloured hair as mine and it was time for a change.

Last night I put a packet mix purple hair dye directly over the red. The last time I dyed my hair red I used the Schwarzkopf new Excellence range and I was happy with how even it came out so I decided to try my luck again and purchased the Brilliance Luminance in the Ultra Violet.

Purple feels like my go to colour when I'm feeling bored. I usually only dye the underneath or a partial chunk of my hair purple but this year I'm going to be brave and embrace the whole head of purpleness.

I love it. It came out so much more even and vibrant than I expected and has mixed so well with the existing red that was already covering my hair. It'll be interesting to see how long this colour holds and what colour it fades to. I think next time I might have to invest in some SFX hair colour but for now this is perfect.

I really would love to put a streak of turquoise in the side of this hair - maybe that will be step 2.

What do you think? Do you have a go to hair colour?

Peace out

 - Brooke

P.S It appears the only place inside my house that I can get great lighting is in the bathroom with me sitting in the bath or leaning over it. Does that happen to anyone else? What are some tips for getting better natural light in your shots? What do you do?

P.P.S That necklace was a Christmas gift that my sisters bought from Shanalogic.com - you can get your own HERE. The silver stars in my hair are Christmas card peg clips that I bought from Big W super cheap. I have a whole bunch of them just laying around. I use them to display my instax mini photos but I think the silver goes well with my new hair colour.

Blue hair re-do inspiration

I'm at the stage in my hair dying that I need to re-do the blue so I've been looking at flickr for inspiration. Here's what I found.

*As always click on the images to go to the source*

I'm so ready to get rid of this hypercolour pink/purple hair. I'm going to dye it this week and then redo it again before my next super fun adventure in November that I'll tell you all about soon.

  

Glitter Sparks & Happyness
x x x
Brooke

Blue is the new purple

I've been wanting to try a different colour with my hair and after seeing Scott Pilgrim it was pretty easy to decide that that colour had to be electric blue.

I ordered the hair dye and then had to wait a painstaking week and a half (thanks Australia Post) but as soon as it arrived the adventures began.

First process was to try and bleach out the left over purple - when I took the bleach out my hair was flourescent pink! I didn't think it was a good idea to try and bleach it down anymore without fear of my hair snapping off - so I put the blue on and waited. I worried that the mixture of blue and pink would turn it purple but once I washed it out I had electric blue hair - exactly what I wanted.

It's taken me about a week to try and get photos - basically due to the fact that when I get home from work it's already dark and the flash distorts the colouring - I wanted to get photos that show this colour as close as it possibly can.

Today I had success. (I haven't edited these photos like I usually do so that you can see the actual colour rather than a manipulated colour)

I've washed it a couple of times and already I can see that the pink is trying to shine through - so I have some end bits that are turning this beautiful purple colour.

I also dyed the top part a chocolate brown because the colour I had it before just didn't go so well with the blue.

I really really love this colour and I know it'll be a while before I change it to another colour (I'm already plotting for summer).

Glitter Love & Sparkles

x x x

Brooke

P.S - I would have waited to post this until tomorrow so that it wasn't two posts in a day, but I couldn't.

Brilliance in the form of a video

Best opening sequence for an awards show ever!!! Well it's as good as Hugh Jackman at the Oscars IMO.

Brilliant!!

Also I dyed my hair - the bottom half of it is BLUE!!! I'll take proper photos soon but I got home and it was dark and the photos never turn out as good so here's an iPhone taken photo.

It's turned out to be a fabulous colour. I love it so much I'm going to add more blue & darken the brown a little. That will happen Thursday night since vie got a work function tomorrow night. So that puts proper photos back until the weekend - so bare with me.

Glitter Sparks & Happyness
x x x
Brooke