It's been a while

In beautiful Bruges for the Christmas Markets


I was showing Nick the sights of London straight after he landed, great effort Nick!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas Day celebrating with family and friends. I celebrated with a few friends and we had a great time. It has been some time since I have updated my blog. I have been over to Italy and spent time with my family learning the language and how to cook the beautiful food. I have been over to Bruges and it was snowing which is very different to sunny Queensland.

Today Nick and I battled the thousands of people on Oxford Street for the Boxing Day sales and it was manic!!! We did get some great purchases. Tomorrow we are off to Berlin for a few days, let's hope the snow holds off so we can land. It has been a wonderful time traveling around and I am looking forward to the next few weeks.

Beautiful Bath

Bath is such a beautiful historic city, it is like a step back into history. We only spent a few days there and I am definitely going back because the area is so beautiful. It also makes a difference on the company and I have to say I was travelling with the funniest group of people, we did not stop laughing! We also ate at Jamie Oliver's Italian Restaurant, and you absolutely must try it when you come and visit, amazing!

I'm off to Italy next week to spend some time with my family so I'm very excited about that, and hopefully will be speaking better Italian after my experience.

Picnic in Paris

I arrived back from Paris just over a week ago and I had a wonderful time! I was with my mum and great friends and it was definately an adventure. This lunch was definately a high light, a picnic in the garden underneath the Eiffel Tower. France has the most beautiful cheese, salami, bread, pastry, everything that you could ever want. We saw a lot and enjoyed the most beautiful food. This is definately a city I will be visiting again, without a doubt!

Bustling London

I have been extremely busy since I arrived and I can't believe that it has already been 10 weeks. I am absolutely loving my time here! I have settled into work and I have been having some great educational days in the Academy. I have been given the role of salon trainer to train the assistants in my salon. I loved training at La Vita so now I will get to pass on my knowledge to the assistants here.

I am pretty excited because I have my mum arriving in just over a week and we will be jetting off to Paris and I will be enjoying spending some time with her and her friends. I also have a few clients arriving over the next 4 weeks so make sure you get my number off mum and give me a call so we can catch up. It is always nice to see a familiar face from home!

Great Day in the Academy!

I had the day in the Hob Academy in Camden today and I had such a wonderful day. This is my model I cut this afternoon and I love her hair. The sixties are playing such an influential part in what is happening in the salon and the fashion is being inspired from that time. My model had the curliest, thickest hair and it looked wicked curly but we finished it off smooth. It is so wonderful to be able to train in such a great Academy, and all I have to do is walk around Camden Markets to find my model.

Exciting Expeditions

I know it has been a few weeks since I have written but I have been so busy. That is one thing, there are so many things to do in London, I love it!

Work has been great, I have learnt so much and I know it will be a very exciting road. I have met some great people so it makes the experience so much more enjoyable. I also started dancing at Pineapple Studios, Covent Garden this week which is brilliant.

I move into my place next month in North London so I am very excited about that.

Wickedly Wicked

I have been in London for nearly a week now and I'm starting to get settled in. I have had a great few days with some friends from home so it has been a great transition. I start work in Camden on Sunday so I am really looking forward to it. I have also been busy looking for a permanent residence and it looks like I have found the perfect place.

One Week to Go!!!

Farewell dinner with the Staff


I finished work yesterday so now I am really starting to get excited! I have had the opportunity to say good bye to all my clients and I will certainly miss seeing you all. I hope that the clients I have in London are as warm and friendly as the ones here at home. If you are planning a trip to London you must come and visit me!

I know that I will always be part of the La Vita team so this is good bye for a short while.

Ciao

London Calling

I have just a little over a month before I make one of the biggest moves in my life! I am off to work for Hob Salons in their Camden Salon. I have been preparing for this for over 8 months and I can't believe it is going to happen. When I arrive in London I will be blogging a little more often so all my followers can keep an eye on all the exciting adventures I will be having.

Hair Expo - Sydney

Waiting at the airport ready for a great weekend.



The team enjoying the Sydney sun!


The British and Australian FAME Team with art directors Errol Douglas and Carole Haddad.



The new Australian FAME Team 2010/11


Nick and I at the Hair Expo Awards


One of my favorite looks from Sassoon's


Models from the Sassoon Presentation


Nick with the Sassoon Creative Team

Our team traveled to Sydney last weekend and attended the annual Hair Expo at Darling Harbor. As usual we had a action packed three days and had very little sleep, trying to fit everything in! I spent most of my time while in the trade hall at the Expo stage as there were some great shows by the Australian and British FAME teams.

The judging for the new Australian FAME Team took place on the Monday and I was fortunate enough to be part of the judging panel. We choose a dynamic team for 2010/11 and I am very excited to see their progression on stage at Salon International, London in October.

We were invited to attend the Hair Expo Awards and Nick, Nella and I had a great time! We got to socialise with many of the industry greats, and was a great chance to dress up and enjoy Sydney. It was such a large dinner with over 1200 people in attendance.

The team also was very excited about the workshop we did with Sassoon's from London. Mark Hayes and his creative team put on such a wonderful and inspiring show. Nick was telling me that after attending the workshop, he is even more excited about going to London at the end of the year and training in the Sassoon academy. That is what I love about education, it inspires everyone at every level. This week Nella was tweaking her cuts in the salon due to what she saw at Sassoon.

I will put up more images this week of the inspiration we gained from the weekend.

Sassoon style in Sydney

The Australian FAME Team in London October 2009

In two weeks my team from La Vita Hairdressing will be traveling to Sydney for our annual trip to attend Hair Expo at Darling Harbour. We are all very excited and I can't wait to see Mark Hayes and his International Artistic team from Sassoon's at their seminar over the weekend. I had an amazing experience at Expo last year as I was asked to assist Richard Thompson from Mahogany London on his national tour, so hopefully this year will be just as exciting.

The existing Australian FAME Team will be presenting for the last time and the new FAME Team will be announced, a very exciting moment! I was fortunate enough to travel with the FAME Team late last year on their trip to London so it will be great to see how they have evolved since seeing them present on stage at Salon International in London.

Fashionable Crop

Dada Dolls- Spring/Summer 10
Sassoon Academy

It is so wonderful to see the trend of shorter hair becoming a reality here in Queensland. While I was in London at the end of last year girls were supporting much shorter hair and it is great that the trend is translating here on the other side of the world.

To wear a short style successfully, you need to have the right facial features and the confidence to stand strong. It is an empowering experience to finally have your hair cropped off and once you have made the plunge you will never look back!

Australian Hair Fashion Awards 2010

On stage speaking about my 12 months as 'Young Protege` with Michelle Sewell from the AHJ



With Robert and Karen Bava from Parlour Hair, Adelaide.





At the after party with Apprentice of the Year Nominee, Jules Tognini


This year the Australian Hair Fashion Awards (AHFA's) we held at Town Hall in Sydney and they atmosphere was electric! Nella and I had a busy afternoon as we were part of the team who styled hair for the VIP's for the evening at the Latouff Hair Spa on Taylor Square. I was very fortunate to meet Zoe Foster, editor-in-chief at online beauty magazine www.primped.com.au. and also found that we had a common element to where we grew up.

We turned up on the red carpet before the rain started and we greeted by all the waiters in the foyer. It was so lovely to mingle with all my friends from the industry, it was a shame that the night went so fast.

The Business Awards were combined this year with the AHFA's and a few of the companies we are affiliated with won many awards. Congratulations to Affinage, H2D Australia and Bodyography for all your efforts.

There was not a dry eye in the house as the Australian Master Recipient, Anthony Nader was accepting his award. It was wonderful to see such a humble hairdresser doing so well around the globe. Anthony works between Sydney and New York and I am very excited for the time when I get to travel to New York and spend some time with him.

It was time to hand over my title as the 'Young Protege`' and I was able to briefly speak about my exciting journey over the past 12 months. I have such a strong team around me that has allowed me to achieve my goals and much, much more.

Congratulations to Joey Scandizzo from Rokk Ebony South Yarra, Melbourne for winning the title 'Australian Hairdresser of the Year'. What an achievement and he is so young to win an accolade of this standard. It will be very exciting to see what the next few years will hold for Joey.