The Frames.....I waited 8 years for this night

The Frames  - Live @ The Marquee, Cork - Saturday 11th June 2011

the final hurrah

really really special moment....trust me



I'm a Virgin......

A colour virgin that is....

For my whole life, I have been a brunette.....a solid mahogony shade of brown....slightly lighter in the summer...but largely just brown....

My poor tortured hairdresser.

I say tortured because this colour debate has been ongoing for at least 3 years.... I've been patch tested....and then patch tested again....and the colour books have been put out and then put out....the magazines have been strategically laid out and styles and designs picked and then shied away from.....need I go on.....my poor hairdresser (the best I've ever had by the way....pardon the pun).

At the grand old age of 26, I finally made the leap of faith and granted my beloved tortured hairdresser the permission to add a splash of colour to my locks.

The confidence had been building in the lead up...some of you may have seen that about a month ago I had opted for my first ever full fringe. That settled well with me, and the compliments from friends and workmates had boosted my confidence. And lets face it flattery does wonder for a girl's ego....

I always knew I never wanted to go lighter. Ofen the times passed when some poor naieve hairdresser would dare suggest blonde highlights only to get the head bitten off her.

I wanted red. Always knew that was what I wanted eventually. But as the decision came closer, I was wary of the Rihanna red.....due to the nature of my job. I wasn't too sure what my employer might make of it either. Then I saw THIS in the window of Peter Marks. It was love at first sight....

This was my ambition.....

Who knew that my hair wasn't to be so compliant!!! 

I was a reluctant first-timer so the colourist suggested not going for a permanent colour, rather to opt for a quazi...which apparently is a strong version of a semi. But what do I know. 

When I emerged from under my towel, I was a radiant shade of foxy copper....

4 days later.....I was pretty much a brunette again....

This pic shows evidence of my fading foxiness.....

I was so disappointed....

In a random turn of events, less than a week after "my first time", I was back in the hot seat again!!!

I had gone from colour virgin to colour expert.

Apparently as a first timer the colour hadn't really taken.....understandable...so I got a second FREE dye job!!! And by god was I red....

I'm in love but I've no pictures to prove my ...ahem..."beauty"....

Imagine my face when I realised while watching Eastenders last night....I had the same colour hair as Mercy!!!!hahahahaha. Ok so you've got to picture my Caucasian little face under Mercy's hair and minus the under layer of black in hers. Photos of yours truly will  follow.

But save to say, I am addicted to hair colouring!!!!!! And totally in love my new look if it's not too egotistical to say!!!!!

Back with a bang......or at least a slow jog....

I'm back....


A bit of normality is gradually being restored...  I  am making a come back from a month of assignments, end of year presentations, group projects, starting an internship, finishing up my in place of work for the last year...not to mention a few personal bits and pieces.

I decided to start back by documenting my second attempt at "From Couch to 5k".

6 weeks ago, I had never even heard of "From Couch to 5k". In fact the whole concept of 5 kilometres in itself was pretty foreign to me. Basically it is a programme which should take you from being an immobile, puffed out, stiff laydee, to someone who can jog for the distance of 5 kilometre. Do not underestimate the extent of this challenge!!!!!!

Moving faster than my usual brisk jaunting pace was something I had aspired to for weeks. An early attempt at this proved that I had no clue of even how to run, as ridiuclous as that may seem. I needed a plan.

After a wander through the world wide web, I came across this website http://runningintoshape.com/ which documents "Carli's" attempt to move from a couch potato to being able to run/jog 5km without stopping. This seemed like something I could do. I needed guidance and Carli provided that.  Success is achieved through building up gradually the length of time for which you jog/run; for example in week 1 you run for 60 seconds followed by a walk for 1 min 30 secs and so on. I think those in the sporting way call this interval training.

So off I jogged....or half walked/ran/hopped.

Disaster struck 2 weeks in.....as bizarre as this may seem, an arm injury interfered and I was forced to stop running. I know what you're thinking.....what a cop out...what has an arm injury got to do with one's legs. But it was medic's orders. Who was I to argue.

So a few weeks on and I'm now 'back' to week 2 again.

The world of "walk/running" as my friend affectionately calls this process of interval training is a whole new one to me.

Sports bra's, slimline running pants, 'running' runners, impact injury, shin pain.... who knew there was so much to exercise.

So far I'm going to highly recommend this website. It's podcasts are the single reason why I've kept going at this. The music is motivational and upbeat as well as current. And Carli literally talks you through your jog, telling you when to walk, when to cool down, when to jog.

Who knew that the world of jogging was directly correlated to the world of fashion.

I am currently the owner of a far prettier version of the Asics runners below.

I have learned NOT to run in my sorta ugly Reetones which look like these ones:

 

Word of wisdom: Leggingss. Leggings all the way. Make you look and feel skinnier than the massive fat man pants that only an amateur like me would start out in........

That leaves the god-damn bra. I have absolutely no experience in this field. What in the name of god is with the price of these things, how much padding exactly is necessary, and surely 1 bra is not enough when one will be running 3 times a week!!!! Oh the dilemma. All suggestions on this dilemma are welcomed!!!!

Week 3 here I come....