Bon Voyage

I am off on a little break with the family today; a minicruise to Spain. Pictures and posts to follow...

Friday Three Thirty

I came across this cool site recently; it's updated every Friday at, yes you've guessed it, 3:30pm(GMT). I found myself becoming very quickly addicted to the bubble wrap game and the story about the wind powered art is awesome.
You can sign up at the site to receive the weekly updates by e-mail.

Almost half a year!

I've reached the five month mark today and while I'm not going to post comparison pictures just yet, the change in my hair is definitely noticeable. I continuously find myself with my hands in my hair; if I'm not careful I'm going to wear these locks out!
Apart from my hair cutting nightmare, this month has been pretty stress free. I seem to have found a regime that suits me and my hair at it's current stage; I shampoo once a week and then put my hair into two french plaits while it dries. The waves I achieve with this last for up to a week; if I need to refresh the look I just plait again at night and take them out in the morning.

I'm looking forward to the coming months, particularly enjoying the summer and not having to worry about sweating out my hairstyle!

Hair Affairs

If like I, you have been wondering where SisterlockedLondon has been and what she has been up to - wonder no more! As I have recently discovered, she has been busy developing and publishing her e-magazine 'Hair Affairs'. The mag features great articles on Sisterlocks, natural haircare and wellbeing, documents hair journeys and gives an insight into whats going on in SisterlockedLondon's world and of course the UK; a forthcoming addition to the e-mag will be hair related questions answered by Agony Uncle - Chi, a stylist with 20+ years experience.
I know you will join me in supporting this very exciting venture.
Add yourself to the e-mag mailing list by visiting the Hair Affairs blog; while you are there you can even request back issues!


Tuere is Hair Affairs May Cover Girl.
Independent Recording Artist Tuere can be found on itunes, cdbaby and myspace - www.tuereonline.com
The photographer is Marie Thomas and her website is www.mariethomas.com.

Aaargh!

I woke up in a cold sweat this morning; I'd had a dream - you know, one of those ones you really believe is real. I'd cut my relaxed ends off my hair, I'm not sure if it was me or my hairdresser that had done it. Actually, it was probably me, because ALL of my hair unravelled and I was left with a real mess. When I woke up, I slowly moved my hands towards my hair and was extremely relieved to feel that all was OK.

I have been thinking about getting my hair cut, although I haven't really discussed it with my hairdresser. It's just that the longer my roots get, the more I see the difference between the two textures of my hair and in turn the more I'm not sure I like what I see. I think It's because I have to work doubly hard with the styling and if I don't get that right, it is the relaxed ends that look a state. Perhaps this dream was a warning that I should leave everything alone for a while...

We'll always have Mel.

Which movie was this quote from?

Get your own quotes:

I saw this blogthing on Goodnapps and Chosen Vessel's blogs - bet you can't guess which film this quote is from...

Bop, bop, bop, shoo-wooop

Another school trip, another visit to the theatre.













'Little Shop of Horrors'
Fantastic!

A wash out

So today's Bank Holiday weather didn't let us down; in true British style, it rained and rained and rained. I had been thinking about going to the seaside, Brighton in fact, but that got put on hold when I saw the forecasts yesterday. We then thought about going to the cinema to see Spiderman 3 - sold out! Yes the only two showings we could make it to were sold out, so that will also be on hold for another day.



Eventually I decided to battle through the rain and go out, I popped into my Dad's and saw my niece who I haven't seen in too long. She decided to play me about today by crying each time I held her, but then smiling at me each time she was with someone else; I told her I'd put her on the naughty step a la SuperNanny if she didn't start being nice to me! She came round to my way of thinking and took this picture.



I also managed to get my eyebrows done!

"Your hair is like a cushion, I could fall asleep on it"

No, this was not a chat up line; Parks said it the other day at work when she touched my hair. I took it as a compliment, but now I wonder if she was trying to say my hair needed retightening. This morning while I was preparing to wash my hair, my SO was asking if I was pleased with the decision I'd made to get Sisterlocks - to which I replied YES. As he played around with my hair he said "looks like it needs doing again". Later on at my Mum's, my sister walked into the room and immediately said "your hair needs to be done", my cousin who was also there informed her that I "only had it done a couple of weeks ago". And then they proceeded to debate my hair whilst I sat there, feeling both paranoid and shocked at how much attention everyone was paying to my hair.
The thing is I was actually happy with my wash and go hair today;
I'm not scheduled for retightening for another four weeks, what will they have to say by then!



What everyone failed to tell me, was that my eyebrows need threading!

Where are you Mel?

Nobody actually asked me that, but I know that's what you're all wondering! I haven't kept up with my usual frequency of blogging this week (it's funny how bad I feel about it now).

Pinch, Punch First of the Month

And what a hectic start to the month it was, of course I am talking about work and not my hair (which has been fine!). Tuesday was our Dance Showcase, a roaring success, it was totally sold out. Students (and staff) had worked hard to produce the school's first evening of dance. Over the last couple of weeks, we really had used every waking (non lesson time) moment to rehearse and prepare. It was worth all of the hard work; expectations are now high for next year...

Uh-Oh, I don't feel well

I woke up on Wednesday morning feeling quite unwell, you know, sore throat, aching joints and a headache. I decided I'd go in to work, I had lots to do and so told myself that I didn't feel that bad. My day was brightened by my Year 13's who had performed in the showcase; they bought Parks and I chocolates and cards. When I read what they had written in my card I became rather emotional and shed a few tears and then so did they! I continued feeling ill throughout the day and didn't stay late after work; needless to say I was in bed by 5pm.

Music to my ears

Another day, another event at school. This time it was to highlight the exam compositions of the music students; professional musicians are hired to form an orchestra to play the music that has been written by the students as part of their examination courses. Although I was still under the weather I thoroughly enjoyed this concert, the pieces the students had written were outstanding. Quite rightly they received a standing ovation at the end of the night.

Finally
Friday arrived, although I still wasn't feeling any better I went in. JayKay is about to go on maternity leave, we needed to moderate coursework and do a department handover. I armed myself with tissues, painkillers and the chocolates my students had bought to help make me feel better!
As soon as I got home I went to bed and I didn't get up until 3 o'clock this afternoon. Wow, almost 24 hours of rest; I must have needed it because whilst I don't feel 100%, I do feel a whole lot better.

Flakes away (hopefully)

A while back I promised to post pics of my two french plait set the next time I did it - here they are! Before washing my hair today I did an ACV rinse; I 've been suffering from some flaking recently, no itching, just flakes. I left the ACV on for 45 minutes while watching the second half of the Arsenal v Fulham match (YES!) and then rinsed it off before shampooing; I then spritzed my scalp with Witch Hazel and Tea Tree Oil before putting the french plaits in.
I hope that these measures will help to alleviate the flaking; we'll see...

A far more relaxing day

After the madness that was this week, I'm pleased to say that today was a lot less hectic. It was a lovely day and I made the most of it:

• Got up bright and early and went for a jog
• Freaked out by man trying to chat me up whilst I was jogging (too many episodes of CSI where female jogger is murdered)
• Drove younger Son to his friend's bowling party
• Met Parks and went to buy costumes for dance showcase
• Went to Starbucks with Parks and my SO and had a mocha choca frappa cappa caramel light with cream
• Picked Son up from party
• Went to BBQ at Waterboy's house and ate lots
• Ran for bus to burn off calories piled on at BBQ
• Arrived home and chilled out with my SO

A welcome change to the past few days!

It all went to my head

Yesterday the chaos of the week really caught up with me. Whilst teaching my second lesson, I found myself in the onset of a migraine; I used to suffer really badly from them, but over the years had managed to get things under control. This one took me by surprise and I was in no position to do anything about, I couldn't leave the students alone and I was starting to feel quite nauseous. Then, one of my older students was walking past and looked in through the door; he must of noticed that I was looking a little 'rough' as he came in to see if I was OK. He left the room and returned shortly afterwards, having bought me a bottle of water from the canteen and with painkillers he had got from another teacher; I was most appreciative of this act of kindness. I really didn't feel any better as the day progressed and went to bed as soon as I got home, not getting up until my alarm woke me this morning.
The extended sleep did me well, I felt much better and ready for the day ahead. And what a busy day it was, as well as teaching, I had to visit another school to see a play, rehearse for next week's dance show, sit it on auditions for next year's 'big' production, speak to travel company about forthcoming trip to Italy, invigilate an exam and this was all before lunchtime! Well it wasn't really, but the day was very intense; we didn't leave until 6pm when one of the caretakers came and asked us to leave so that he could lock up!

An evening at the Theatre

Our school runs an award scheme that recognises the effort, endeavour and achievement of young people. Each month students are nominated for the accolade; the winner receives £300 to spend on something school related. One of our Performing Arts students recently won and chose to spend the money on taking some of her classmates to the theatre. We had planned to make a real evening of it, leaving school, going for a meal and than heading for the theatre. However, we were so busy rehearsing for a dance showcase that takes place next week, that we left school with enough time to grab a sandwich before jumping on the tube and arriving at the theatre just in time for the show. I hadn't seen Les Miserables before and enjoyed the story of love and hope; I have to admit to nodding off momentarily, but I was very tired!

You're lucky I'm Sisterlocked!

I was at the gym today, happily working out on my favourite machine; I'd been on it for about five minutes when I felt a trickle of sweat on my scalp. I felt it again, this time a lot more; I touched my hair and then looked up at the ceiling, thinking there must be a leak in the roof. It happened once more before I realised what it was; one of my colleagues from work, who goes to the same gym, was standing behind me and pouring water onto my head! Of course I had a few choice words to say, but what struck me was that had this occurred in my pre-SL days, I would have drop kicked him (not that I'm a violent person, but it would have been "my hair!"); instead, I just kept on stepping...

The results...

This is my hair after I took the canerows out this morning. I pinned some of my hair back into a little quiff to keep it out of my face. I was pretty pleased with the results as you can see!

Easy like Sunday morning.

Having recently taken up jogging, I watched this year's London Marathon with keen interest. Now I'll be very honest with you, I am VERY far from being able to sustain running for 5-6 hours (about average for the Joe Bloggs marathon runner). I have managed to get myself up to about 25 minutes and this is a real achievement for me as I used to give up after about 2!

Anyway I started to watch the Elite Ladies race at about 9am and found myself really captured. According to the commentators this was the hottest London Marathon to date. Chunxiu Zhou, the winner and the first Chinese athlete to win the London Marathon, never looked as though she was under any strain. She finished the race with ease, leaving the favourite Lornah Kipligat to come in third.

Of course, having watched the race I was off to the park for a run (with stopwatch!); my SO is a keen runner, usually going everyday and he has finally convinced me that I can jog. For the past two weeks I have been alternating between going to the gym, which I still favour, and jogging. It's early days yet and a little to early for me to give a life long commitment to pounding through the streets and the park; we'll see how things go...



All of the exercise, watching and doing, left my hair needing a good wash. I'm really into my new Tresemme Vitamin C Clarifying Shampoo with Grapefruit Extract (what a mouthful, to say I mean, of course I don't eat the shampoo!) and love washing my hair with it. I don't love all the plaiting and banding that goes with hair washing and sometimes (only sometimes) don't do it; I do however still plait my hair and tuck the plaits in, so far I have not had any issues with this. This pic was taken after I'd washed my hair; I was tempted to leave it like this to dry, but then worried I might get that dodgy tight curl I had a while back. So I took the plaits out and having separated each lock, put my hair into medium sized canerows.

Spring is in the air.

We've had some great weather lately, which has helped to make the first week back to work a lot easier. Why is it always so hard to go back after a break? Still, only five weeks until the next one!
This half term is going to be a pretty hectic one with several performances taking place over the next few weeks and then we have the start of the public exams. And of course JayKay leaves us soon to go on maternity leave; I am so excited for her but not sure how we'll cope without her...
I managed to fit two evenings of chilling out with friends into this week; we dined alfresco on both occasions, one of the things I love about the hot weather.
Now it's Friday evening and I am absolutely shattered; I have decided to spend the weekend in bed! Of course I won't be doing that, I'll probably just treat myself and get up at 9am.

Four Months

and still smiling!

For Sunsail

A while back Sunsail revealed her penchant for funky socks, a little passion I share myself! As promised, here are a few of my favourite pairs...

1. The duck pair, what can I say? I'm quackers!
2. The grey pair are great as they have little feet shaped grips that stop me from slipping.
3. You've got to love Winnie...
4. I love the light blue pair, they are so comfortable. However, if I have them on when I am teaching dance, my students say they freak them out!
   

My colleague, The HoF, goes one better; not only does he wear funky socks, he has novelty ties as well!

Oh yes, Turin

Sometimes technology drives me mad! I spent ages writing a post on our day in Turin and then my laptop messes about and it's lost. I'm not sure that I can recreate the post with same flair it was first written; so here are a few images instead.




We had a very late flight back to London and decided to make the most of things by spending the day sightseeing. We left the apartment early in the morning and drove across the Alps, arriving in Turin in time for lunch! I love going to Italy and a day really wasn't long enough, especially as it was Easter Sunday and lots of places were closed.

What's yours?

M	Magical
E	Exhausting
L	Loving

You can generate your very own name acronym here . It's funny, I actually agree with this description of myself; and that includes 'exhausting' - I know that at times I can be hard work, but I think that's part of my magic!

Chilling with my Dad.

I spent the day out and about with my Dad and my youngest Son today. My Dad is going to St. Maarten via New York for a wedding next week (lucky thing) and I offered to help him get his outfit. He doesn't really share my passion for shopping; he made his purchase in the first shop we went in to and was then ready for lunch!

Here's to next year!

We skied ('til we couldn't anymore), we ate (not always what we wanted), we drank (an awful lot), we laughed ('til are abs hurt), we broke bones (not me), we cried (well, very nearly), we refused to move whilst halfway up a mountain (OK, that was me), we got sunburn (some more than others), we missed the cable car down the mountain (it was very, very close)
But most of all we had a fantastic time.
So to
OP, Haze,The HoF, Hale, HRH, The Doc, TimTom and Robz
Thank You all - I had a ball!

Be careful what you ask for...

One of the great things about my little holiday was that I got the opportunity to practice my French. I did French many many moons ago when I was at school and haven't really needed to use it since. So I took all available chances and spoke (probably quite badly) French whenever I could. In our apartment we really got into two game shows that were on in the early evening; we had a great time trying to translate the questions and then choose the right answer.

On an evening out The HoF asked for help with the translating of the menu - think he'd been impressed by my ability to ask for my skis to be changed. Now I was very clear in my explanation "the first two are steak, the third is duck, the fourth is lamb. I know the fifth one includes beef but I have no idea what the other words mean, sorry." We all place our orders and The HoF goes for the beef...





I must admit we were a little cruel, as we all laughed when his food arrived. You see, somewhere amongst the words I didn't know must have been RAW!

Jeremy et Moi

We decided that it was probably a good idea to have lessons - something about trying to teach yourself to ski at the top of a mountain really didn't appeal to me anymore. Last Tuesday several more people we knew arrived in the town and one of them was also a beginner. He, OP and I booked the services of Jeremy for a few sessions. We were able to use our new found skills on the nearby slopes at Villeneuve and Chantermerle; which had much better snow on the 'easy' slopes.

Right place, right time

I made it to the hairdressers for my third tightening session today. Whilst there I found myself envious of two people with SL's; my hairdresser and a lady waiting for retightening. Both women were sporting beautiful and healthy heads of Sisterlocks. I often find myself jealous of other's SL's as I read blogs, but this was my first in the flesh experience. I continue to love my hair and the decision I made to lock; my hairdresser also expressed her approval of the way my SL's are coming along, which was a bonus. I do wonder what my mature locks will look like, but I guess I'll have to wait and see...

Is it too late to turn back?

Briancon is the highest town in Europe and as a result of the mild weather the snow on the lower slopes was disappearing fast. Having finally settled into our apartment with the proprietor compensating us for the cost of the hotel rooms; we hired our ski equipment and headed up the mountain. We took the long cable car journey up to the first station; the more experienced skiers amongst us decided that the snow there wasn't good, so we got back in and continued up for a further ten minutes. Now it's important to remember at this time that neither OP or I had ever skied before and I had no concept of the colour coding of ski runs, but we were heading for blue. To cut a long and at times very funny story short, I spent an awful lot of my time on the floor, I removed my skis several times and uttered words not becoming of a lady. When OP and I had had more then enough we took our skis off, walked back up the mountain, got the cable car back to the first station and had a very large hot chocolate with lots of cream.

Snow Lag?

Well I must be suffering from something...
I got up early this morning, had a shower and washed my hair using my new shampoo (more about that at another time), got dressed and left the house. I drove for fifteen minutes and found myself a parking space; I put several £'s into the meter and put the ticket on the car. I walked the ten minute journey and opened the door; I smiled and said hello to my hairdresser. She replied with a somewhat perplexed look and told me my appointment is tomorrow!

Oh, for a straightforward journey...

We arrived in Turin, Italy late last Sunday night; although we were skiing in France, this was actually the closest airport. Having travelled across the Alps in what can only be described as 'horror movie' fog, we arrived in the town of Briancon in the very early hours. It was at this point we realised that we didn't know where the apartment we were staying in was, yes you have read correctly - WE DIDN'T KNOW WHERE WE WERE GOING! Now, this town was beautiful but hardly the party capital of the world; so at this time of night it was totally deserted. And so we did what most sensible people wouldn't do and drove around hoping to find our residence. After close to an hour, intelligence set in and we realised that this was perhaps not one of our better ideas; we stumbled upon a well known brand of hotel and the receptionist came to our aid by obtaining the address and directions from the internet. On arrival at the apartment block we let ourselves in with code provided by the proprietor; we then used the second code to get into the safe where the key to the abode was being left for us - to find NO KEY! So we made our way back to the aforementioned hotel and much to the amusement of the person on reception booked ourselves some rooms. It was, ooh let's see, about 5:30am by the time we got to bed; and so began my first skiing holiday...

To the slopes...

I am going away today!
I will be off skiing for the first time and have been growing both excited and nervous as the date has drawn nearer. I look forward to sharing my pictures and stories when I get back...