2nd Day of BWC: Barn Owl Primitives and My Christmas Living Room

On the second day of Christmas, Brooke White gave to me (you).... A Barnowl Primitives sign!

I am excited to give you a little looksies into my Christmas living room. As a kid, the most magical day of the year is when we would put up our Christmas tree and my dad would get out the "christmas boxes" from the attic with all of our decorations. We would blast Carpenter's Christmas and Beach Boy's Christmas while we hung ornaments, strung lights, and went wild turning the house into a little piece of holiday heaven. Now that I am grown up with a little kid of my own, I'm still obsessed with these traditions, if not more so! Real trees are a must, as well as a collection of fake trees that I buy on super clearance after Christmas every year. I have five trees this year, Dave thinks it's a tad excessive, I say there's no such thing, can you have to many Christmas trees? Too much Christmas spirit? um, not possible.

Of course it takes me all of December to put it all together with boxes open and strewn about the house (not shown: we pushed them into the dining room aka "the disaster zone" for this picture). It never gets finished with the hustle and bustle of the crazy time of year. Nonetheless, I try, actually I love that it's never finished, I love chipping away at it, one little decoration at a time. 

One thing I love to do is find little pieces of art to hang on the walls during Christmas, however I'm pretty particular, it can be kind of hard to find something not super cheezeball, and the good stuff can be a little expensive for just a month or two. Most of the times I just make something out of a huge canvas or an old piece of plywood. But this year my awesome friend Kristi of Barn Owl Primitives surprised me with this amazing Christmas sign and I was so excited!!! As you can tell I have a thing for black and white, and with the little dash of red for Rudolph's nose, it was just the perfect fit for my space. Seriously, made for eachother.  

Kristi was kind enough to join in my giveaway and is going to give one of these happy signs away!

Here's what you do to Win:

1.  Repost the above picture on Instagram -OR- a picture of your Christmas living room or any room of your house that is your favorite festive space.

2.  Follow @barnowlprimitives and @realbrookewhite on Instagram

3.  You must tag #2DayofBrookeWhiteChristmas

4.  For an extra entry to win you can pin a picture from this post on pinterest. Leave me a comment with the link.

Winner will be drawn randomly and announced tomorrow! 

I wish it could stay Christmas in my living room all year long

the tree... short and sweet

it's a small world garland! Found these little ornaments from target, just sewed their mittens together! 

Dancing with my Loo in our Christmas living room to Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas! 

Nothing more Christmasy than a roaring fire on a 72 degree day! lol.

My new paintings on the wall finally! And that big 'ol pom pom hat, a DIY here

Oh and I almost forgot! The winner of the 2 tickets to my show is: @kezonfire Keziah send an email to @brookewhitemail@gmail.com for your tickets!! woohoo!

12 DAYS OF BROOKE WHITE CHRISTMAS!

Hip hip hooray and ho ho ho! Let the countdown to Christmas begin! I am not one to do give-aways and contests, however this year I thought it would be kind of fun to give to my friends and fans some of my favorite things! These aren't elaborate over the top giveaways worth millions of dollars, but just the little trinkets and treasures and wonderful little things that make me happy that I genuinely use in everyday life. Being an indie gal since the beginning, I especially love supporting small and independent businesses, makers and artists and most of these cute festive objects are in collaboration with some wonderful little companies. Of course there will be some handmade items made by yours truly, I'll even be giving away a painting! 

Of course I wanted to incorporate music, because, music is my favorite!  Every winner will get a signed copy of Brooke White Christmas :)  If you already have one, it could make a nice stocking stuffer for your mother or your brother or your friend?! Every day and giveaway will coincide with the songs on Brooke White Christmas. We will be giving away one giveaway per day, and will announce the winner the following morning along with the next days giveaway! Also, you are free to enter every giveaway!

Follow along for the next 12 days to be a part of the fun and perhaps be the lucky winner of one of these lovely giveaways! Each day will contain the rules for the giveaway. 

So without further ado let the 12 days of Brooke White Christmas begin!

DAY 1: CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE! 

GIVEAWAY:  2 awesome tickets, to my upcoming Christmas Show at The Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. Of course a hug and meet and greet is included :) Obviously you will need to either live in Southern California, or take a plane, train or automobile to get here for the show! 

HOW TO WIN: 

- This giveaway will be held on Instagram 

- Quite Simply repost the show flyer below

- Tag a friend on your post, as well as me, @realbrookewhite : )

- you could include a cheezeball caption like "christmas time is here, Brooke White show and cheer"

- must include the hashtag #1dayofBrookeWhiteChristmas and tag @RealBrookeWhite in your post! 

- Winner will be chosen randomly, and will be announced tomorrow morning here on the blog! 

HELLO HELLO AND A CHRISTMAS SHOW... OR TWO!!

Greetings my friends! Can you believe that we are in the midst of the Holiday season?! Getting really excited (and hungry) for Thanksgiving! And then it's Christmas! Holy smokes, this is happening!

I just noticed my last blog post was back in October, such a slacker. Well not really, actually I am blogging up a storm over on The Girls with Glasses and Disney's Babble.com as a style contributor. Can we talk about how much work blogging is? That is it's own post. Anywho, I do have a great deal of catch up to do here. The deal is, you can expect a fresh new face here soon on BrookeWhite.com as I am getting ready for a brand new, prettier, higher functioning site that will encompass everything I love, music, motherhood, real life talk, style, art (i've been painting a lot these days... another post), home stuff etc. Until then, there's not a whole lot going on here, and I'm bummed about that.

But there are a few wonderful festive and lovely things in the works. First, this fun show that I am so happy to be putting on for the folks of Southern California on December 18, 2013. This is the one and only live show I am doing during the Holiday season, and I am going all out. It is going to be at a gorgeous venue in Thousand Oaks, The Civic Arts Plaza. There will be a grand piano, a full band, the works. I am practicing everyday cause I don't get out there and play like I used to (another post) so I just want to be ready and really deliver something special. If you live around these parts I would love for you to join us for a merry night of music! Tickets are available now on Ticketmaster.com! 

Okay, so my plan was to play a show in my home state of Arizona and then one somewhere in the heart of Utah, however that plan just didn't come together! Bummer! Maybe someday I'll make some money and will take this whole show on the road and get over to the east coast. Until then, I found a way to come to you and be everywhere in the world at the same time and play a little show for you! Have you ever heard of StageIt.com ? Basically it is an internet venue, where you log on, pay what you want, it can be as little as 10 cents to a dollar or whatever you wish, and you can join me where you are for an acoustic Christmas show with my three piece band! I will also be chatting with y'all and it should be a lovely time. That will be Tuesday, December 10th at 5:30 pm PST. Click here for all the details!

London's first time to Disneyland!

All in all, life is just a feast, so much to partake of everyday, sometimes I am so full and don't feel I can take another bite, but I do, because I am grateful for the abundance of opportunity, love and creative inspiration. My family is at the heart of my existence, I am trying with diligence to make them first, it is a substantial part of the reason I am not on the road, in the studio everyday or on a set somewhere. Of course I am still creating everyday, but I do what I can, and I keep it close to home. Close to my London, who turned 18 months this very day. How is this possible? This time is short. Being present in my marriage and my little ones life over the last year and a half has been worth the sacrifices, and that is what I am most grateful for this Thanksgiving.

Thanks to you for caring, reading, watching, listening and connecting with me as I travel along this interesting and challenging terrain known as real life! I wish to you the happiest Thanksgiving filled with people you love, and food that is delicious. 

Love,

: )Brooke 

PS- Oh yes, and check back soon for my "12 days of Christmas"! Also follow along over on Instagram

GOODBYE SUMMER...

A big gust of wind came through this week and started blowing leaves off the trees and into the streets. 

The sun is starting to fade around 6pm and with each passing day, it gets darker earlier and earlier.

It's Falling... The days are still warm, but it won't be long till we are turning on the heat.

Wow was that fast or what? I am trying to let go of Summer, of these days at the beach with London running into waves with big little laughs and not a smidge of fear. Watching her grow was the highlight of my summer. We walked, talked, read stories and spent a little time at home for a change. These were the days, days that feel like they go on forever... and warm evenings without sweaters or coats. I loved my summer Artist way group, enjoyed the visitors that came to stay on vacation, and I couldn't get enough of wearing my mumu, Dave however, could. I am a summer girl, and I always will be.

We went for a family walk this morning and the air was crisp, and I thought to myself "well, this is pretty nice". I know it will get colder and these early mornings have been dark making it just a little bit trickier to pull ourselves out of bed. But October is really the magic month of the season. I know everyone loves fall, with it's boots and apples, (y'all, I've become apple crazy, writing a post on that)and pumpkins and Halloween. I am going to fall into it all, I even put out my scarecrows. 

Goodbye Summer, until next time, thanks for everything, you were the best.

 

YOU KNOW YOUR READY FOR A HAIRCUT WHEN...

Seems like old news, but I cut my hair this summer. Seems like we all cut our hair this summer. Something in the air?! If you followed me on vine (remember vine? do you still vine?)  six months ago I posted this silly six second ramble about my incurable urge to chop my hair... like a virus.  I battled that urge for six months, me against the scissors, and exhausting all my weak resistance, the scissors took the win. And I am okay with that...

I've had the same 'do for nearly a decade now, with the exception of a impulsive emotional chop to my mane that I gave myself in the first year of marriage. I admit it wasn't my finest look, but I was 21 and everything about life was changing. We often take it out on our hair when we feel like we are out of sorts with ourselves, or feel out of control. Being a beauty school drop-out I still have a pair of old shears in the closet just waiting to lop off some hair. Usually I just go for the bangs, once a year, every winter when my skin gets dry and my forehead gifts me a few extra wrinkles, it's cheaper than botox and more natural. But every once in a while those scissors give me a good stare down and I have to put them in a high place and walk away... 

JAMM: SOMETIMES LOVE...

Hello there! You have two options, you could either, one,  just watch the JAMM above and move along your merry way, the more time efficient option. Or two, you could watch the JAMM and read my 2 a.m. attempt at breaking down my productivity issues. Totally up to you, choose your own adventure : )

Sometimes Love, track 10 on High Hopes and Heartbreak, my full length post idol record. Can you believe that it's been over four years ago that I put it out into the universe? I love this old song, it's probably considered a B-side, it sits quietly near the end, those are always my favorites. I wrote it with Kelley Lovelace in Nashville. This song felt so right when we wrote it. It was a one take wonder in the studio. I remember sitting down at the piano with a microphone in front of my face, surrounded by the band. We hit record, I counted to four and played it and sang it, all of it happening all at once. One take, that was all it needed. I'll never forget that magic moment. Lucky to have had it. This song is special... listen to the words. Proud of these ones...

HOW TO SURVIVE A FRIEND BREAK-UP....

About six months ago I quickly scribbled a bunch of thoughts I felt inspired to share on a piece of paper, then I folded it in half and stuck it behind a box for a time I was ready. I found it tonight, so I think it's time. It's probably going to be long.

They say that breaking up is hard to do... there is a wealth of information out there on how to deal with the end of a romantic relationship, divorce or a separation with a lover. But what about when something goes wrong in an important friendship? It's a topic that I haven't seen a lot of talk about. I am ready to talk about it.

A friend break-up can be just as traumatic as the unraveling of a romantic relationship... we are left with a lot of loose ends, and the end of a friendship can dramatically change the landscape of your life, particularly if you live far away from your family...