Shave for a Cure

So last night I had about a dozen close friends around for my house-warming/head-shaving party... at this moment in time I have raised $810 for the Leukaemia Foundation, and last night my head was shaved to a number two, and dyed purple with pink stars.... it's rather fabulous if I do say so myself!!

The shaving part was a bit scary, not least because I had 12 people in my little loungeroom all staring, laughing and exclaiming with many cmaeras clicking repeatedly as the one with the clippers gleefully removed all my hair... the first touch of my head with it's short shorn stubble made me yelp and laugh with something approaching hysteria, and I nearly died when I made it to the bathroom to look in the mirror, myself with a crew cut was just so completely alien and strange!! now that I've had a bit of time to get used to it I must confess though that I love it very much and may even keep it this short for a while :o) I was very relieved to discover that I have a good shaped skull with no strange lumpy bits, and my ears sit close to my head... it actually suits my quite well I think!

The dying process was quite long, as we bleached it first, then dyed it all pink, then painted the purple over the top leaving pink star shapes, and there were hundreds of photos taken at all stages of the process... so I can't wait to see those!! I don't think I've ever had that many cameras taking that many photos of me ever in my life, in fact I know I haven't, it was a bit strange!!

A very good fun night with friends, lots of laughter, and a truly unique experience (for me at least).... and now I'm just having to learn to deal with people staring at me!! The choir sang at a commitment ceremony this morning which was great fun, but my rather outlandish head earnt quite a few stares which was a bit disconcerting, and a friend and I then headed off to Newtown for coffee and a bit of a window-shop, and you'd think in Newtown a purple with pink stars No. 2 wouldn't earn THAT much attention but I was still very conscious of more people than usual staring at me... and the friend I was with found it quite amusing when she watched someone walk into a wall because she was so busy ogling my head!

I'm off to a twilight concert at Taronga Zoo tonight with some other friends, which should be an interesting venture, the concert is Monica Trapaga and Frank Bennett doing Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra songs, which should be fabulous, but I'm tipping this will be a crowd not at all used to seeing a chick with a purle and pink crewcut, bracing myself for more staring! The reaction at work on Monday will also be quite interesting I think, although I work in a cancer centre, and they've been hugely supportive of me in this fundraising venture precisely because of the type of fundraising it is!

I'll see if i can get some photos up here when they are all emailed to me :o) YAY!!!! 'tis fabulous, and makes me very happy indeed!!!

Ella & Frank

Just home from the Taronga concert, which was FABULOUS!! S&T picked me up and we had an adventurous ride in the car, which had overheated on teh trip from Wollongong, and proceeded to do so very quickly again, so the whole 30 minute trip was fraught with anxiety of the "will we make it or will the engine explode?" kind... but we made it and found a fairly good spot in spite of being quite late... they had brought all the picnic as this was my Christmas present from them, the ticket and the picnic and the whole night out... it was really lovely to be just treated to a night out without me having to do any organising or thinking or doing, I can't remember the last time I've been that spoilt :o) so we had our gourmet picnic overlooking Sydney Harbour as the sun slowly sank on perfect blue skies, with the general happy festive air of lots of people picnicking in a beautiful spot in excited anticipation of a great concert, and it was indeed a fabulous concert! the band was Swing City, who are a fabulous "big band" style band, led by the flamboyant and incredibly talented John Morrison, and all the music was Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald classics, sung by Frank Bennett and Monica Trapaga respectively, both fabulous artists in their own right! It was gorgeous, the weather was perfect, the company excellent and the music divine, one of those intensely happy moments in life when everything just seems really good!! After the horror of last weekend this one has just been the complete opposite... it really reaffirms how much I LOVE my urban family and how incredibly important they are to me.... I'm very full of love and appreciation for the fickle finger of fate or divine intervention that surrounded me with such an abundance of wonderful friends who really are my family, it's nice to have people in my life who i love unreservedly, and by whom I feel loved in return... maybe the world isn't such a bad scary place after all :o)