It's Been Quite The Week!

Oh Hi, 

Well, what a week eh? I feel like the last few days have been huge and special and exhausting and exhilarating and so it feels fitting to round it all up here, like a digital scrapbook or memory box. 

First and foremost, I wanted to say. 'thank you'. In 7 years, I have never felt let down by you as readers and viewers. I've thrown some pretty big sh*t at you and yet, always, you've been amazing. I also want to say, for those that have even a crumb of confusion, I'm NOT leaving!!! Argh that would be terrible!! I'm still me, I still love glitter and girliness, but yanno, I'm an adult. I'm evolving, I'm growing up. 

Last week I announced that I was closing a chapter of life and beginning a new one. Gone is the 100% sickly sweet perfect princess vibe, and welcomed is a more honest version of my life, still glittery but also peppered with the occasional swear and some real life humour. 

I'll let you in on a secret- I've been doing it for a while. I've been making slightly older videos and getting into my new groove all summer (you might have noticed I've been a bit more 'me' in my Chatter channel videos) and the new artwork was always gonna happen (that's still coming btw). I almost didn't make a video. I was going to just slowly transcend into a more 'me' vibe, but I felt a chatty video was a good idea- I like to keep you in the loop. 

Please don't take it too literally. This is not a sad time, this is a brilliant time! The future looks bright. 

Turns out, that kind of announcement causes quite a stir with a lorra lorra news outlets picking it up and for the most part, being super supporting. The BBC wrote a lovely piece and even The Sun got involved (although I prefer not to link them as my heart belongs to Liverpool). A couple of media sites really went to town with the 'Louise Pentland Vows to Make Adult Videos' which made me chuckle. Don't worry, I won't be making those kinds of adult videos any time soon. Honestly, you'd have to gouge your eyes out with rusty spoons if you were subjected to that kind of visual. 

A few of you have asked if there will be any more 'Sprinkle of Glitter' merch or projects (like the books, clothing lines, posters etc). The answer is YES. Deep down I will always 'Sprinkle of Glitter' and I'm happy to still be called it and have it beautifully emblazoned on things, I'm just being a more honest version and it feels more natural to start using my name, Louise Pentland, a bit more. 

My 2017 Diary is available to buy and you guys have been going gaga for it. Hooray!

I've loved seeing all your pictures and hearing how much you like it. Keep them coming! You can pick up your copy from all major supermarkets, bookshops or Amazon. Click HERE to get yours. I'm planning on talking about this a fair bit more in the future too so keep your eyes pealed for that! 

Less than a day after all the hub-bub about me not being the new youtube porn star (please get that, re the above para, don't be confused. I should stop this joke asap), I was back on the road (again, not in the 'adult' street worker sense, theatre darling, theatre) for my basically amazing theatre show, Louise LIVE. 

We toured 5 UK cities, I meet so many of you, I laughed a lot at my own jokes and, in one of the shoes, my shoes hurt so badly that my left big toe bled into my shoe- huzzah!!! One lovely lady called Lucy, wrote THIS review.

In all seriousness, aside from the blood-toe-shoe-fiasco, I bloody (no pun intended) LOVED this tour. We raised the age limit for the tickets (something I want to do again next year but even higher) and I felt so free. The content was aimed at women my age and the humour was a little more racey than I'd normally allow. I definitely want to develop this. If you didn't make it to the show but would like to watch it, the DVD (made by the BBC no less!) is available to pre-order on Amazon, HERE. 

Such a huge thank you to all the theatres that hosted me, the wonderful staff at each one, my amazing team who sold merch/handled tech/made everything run so beautifully and of course, huge thank you to all of you who came along and made the shows so full of buzz and zizz. Roll on 2017 for the next one!!

After such an intense few days (and actually, a pretty whirlwind summer), I was craving homey normality. I'm big on routine. It makes me feel safe and so having spent almost 2 months with little to no structure, Sunday was bliss. We went to church (where I snapped this adorable shot below of my Dad and Darcy), had a mini photoshoot outside (the first photo in this post was taken by Darcy!) and then, quite spontaneously hopped over to MuMu's for pizzas and giant milkshakes. I sent a text round to the gang (my local mummy friends) to ask them to lunch and in a wonderful stroke of luck, they were all free and up for it- this NEVER happens! Once you pass a certain age and/or push a human out your fanny, you can never ever get all your friends together at once without some sort of military style planning weeks in advance. 

And so, me, Darcy, my friends, their small humans and menfolk, sat and ate and laughed and sometimes a little bit shouted, 'Sit down! No you cannot have my phone! MIND YOUR DRINK', and it was brilliant. I felt so relaxed and like my roots are so deep where I am. 

If ever you're in Northampton, head to St Giles street and order a 'pimped milkshake'. You can thank me afterwards.

Monday was back to work normality and so I went to the world wide premiere of Bridget Jones Baby. Hahaha. I know, I sound like a real dick. Let me have my moment. <3 p="">

I've been Bridget's biggest fan since I first read my Auntie Jackie's battered old copy of the first book when I was 16. I felt like finally I was reading something that I related to. Bridget is charming and clumsy and compassionate and basically, my hero. So, the premiere was not something I was going to pass up. 

The film was fun, I laughed til I cried and cheered with joy at the end. I won't say anymore because I don't want to spoil it but really, go and watch it whilst it's in cinemas. I want to buy the soundtrack to it too. 

My dress to the premiere was from ASOS and felt amazing. What didn't feel amazing though was the beige fortress of control underwear I was wearing underneath. Honestly, you've not felt 'support' until you're wearing what is essentially a swimming costume of turgid beige fabric that sort of acts as a damn against all your fat. Taking it off in the toilets afterwards felt greater than I care to describe. 

Next day was the inevitable yearly panic of, 'oh my f*ck I haven't bought Darcy's plimsoles' and 'When did you grow 8 sizes out of your ballet kit?'. A day of shlepping round spending hundreds of pounds ensuring that everything on the list was ticked. Going to school these days is quite the feat. No more rocking up in your polo shirt and grey skirt with some shorts and tee-shirt in a bag for PE. Oh no. Get your judo kits ironed kids, it's September!!

Actually, aside from a little part of my soul dying as I spent £90 on smart shoes, plimpsoles and trainers, I loved the day so much. We mooched round Milton Keynes shopping centre and enjoyed everything it had to offer. I like to try and make shopping days as much fun as possible for Darcy so that she doesn't feel like she's being forced to walk round doing errands (which she is). We watched pennies whir round the charity thing that makes pennies look cool (descriptives on point), had lunch at Wagamama's (I have the regular katsu curry and she has the children's version and we like that we match), she coloured worksheets in kiddie corner, got all her wiggles out running in the open spaces and, my favourite bit, experimented with bath bombs in Lush. I was so impressed with the customer service and how much they made her feel like she was special and gave her that little experience. Also, I had a little shop so perhaps a haul soon would be good? 

A big week. I've loved it. 

Autumn feels like it's upon us and I'm glad. I'm finding my feet with routine again and throwing myself into work and motherhood after our summer of whimsy. 

Feel free to write an essay in the comments about your week, it's cathartic lemme tell you!!

Toodlepip!

xx