Momilani's Moments

So much for once a month postings :)

2011-10-06T19:23:00.003-04:00

Well, as

usual, I haven't been blogging (which is no surprise, since I don't think too many people read my blog...) I started this as a way to keep in touch with everyone that I missed , ohana, friends, haumana, etc...when we moved away. Well now, everybody (including me) seems to be on facebook & I barely can keep up with that, let along a blog. I was thinking about just deleting this, or stop altogether, but then I figured...well, I can still try, soooo, still going with the flow!

Today's Hawaiian word of the day (yep. why not give this a try again...)

Imua-(ee-moo-ah) to go forward.

Yep, that about sums it up for today! Not going to make empty promises, just taking it one day at a time!

Got lots to catch up with, so

A hui hou everybody!

Tina

I guess once a month isn't so bad...

2011-02-21T17:59:00.008-05:00

..blogging that is :) my temporary job has finished, so now I can try to get back to the things I have been neglecting lately, family, hula & crafts! So although I haven't been making much stuff, I did make these stuffies for my niece who is expecting her first child in a few weeks. I'm not too great at embroidery,but I put baby's name along with the Hawaiian name of the animal on it's back...

I like the way they came out, but forgot to take the "finished" picture of them both, before I gave them to her...anywho, I was working on a shark (mano) & an octopus (muhe'e) but didn't finish them in time,hopefully I can have them done before baby arrives!

Plus,even though this is rather late...

this is our first attempt at making a gingerbread house....I didn't bake it, it was one of those pre-made kits, but Alyssa, Jade & I had fun putting it all together. I did most of the icing part & they put on all the candies. The gingerbread was kinda nasty, so the kids ate the left over candies, the house lasted about a week, then hubby tossed it out one morning before the rest of us woke up ...glad I got a couple pictures before that happened, because the girls were VERY upset!!! Anywho,other than these things, I did make a few ornaments, some jewelry & baked LOTS of cookies for Christmas, but since I was working most of the time, that was about all I could manage to make for the holidays!

I have started hula back up again for the new year as well. No pics of anything yet, but might have some in the near future. Am looking for new students as well, so if anyone is interested in learning....just e-mail! (keolaboo@bellsouth.net) I'll gladly give more details!

Hope to blog more often, but I'm not making any promises, so far, if once a month is all I can handle, then once a month is enough :)

Have a wonderful day!

Happy New Year!!

2011-01-03T14:43:00.002-05:00

Aloha to all!!

Hopefully everyone has had a wonderful new year! Ours was uneventful, but that's OK, cause so much has happened since I last blogged!!! After mom's passing, hubby lost his job, which led us to move back to Chicago (which would have made some excellent stories here to blog....) Dad had his good/bad times both mentally & physically, but he's doing much better now. So are we, hubby had found a job (thanks to my 2ND eldest brother....) then lost that one too, but now has a new one! I have been working for 2 months now (retail of all things...) Kids are growing fast & changing day to day. Our eldest will be graduating 8th grade this year, middle daughter is moving on up to middle school, leaving the little one to fend for herself in grade school (....3 kids in 3 different schools ought to make for some interesting blogs if I do say so myself!) Hubby's family quit talking to all of us due to his "DEAD BEAT DAD" brother, who caused a major war between the siblings!!! (TOO MUCH DRAMA!!!) His own mother told him that she's more concerned with her "DEAD BEAT DAD" son's problems than what was going on with her eldest son's life (...that being my husband...) I'm sure that will lead to some good blog fodder for this year! On a good note,.... I am going to be a Grand-Aunty this year!!!! & one of my nieces wrote a book!!! MAN!!!! TONS HAVE HAPPENED SINCE I WROTE LAST!!!! Plus my halau has decided to compete again this year (OK, I decided for them, but they still agreed to it....) :)

Looks like I got ALOT to write about for 2011

God bless you all & cheers to a wonderful new year!!!

A hui hou,

Tina

Memories of Mama..

2009-03-05T18:08:00.004-05:00

Sadly on February 23, 2009, my mother Hannah Kainoa Gleason, lost her 5 and a half year battle to cancer...

She fought it well, up until her last couple weeks, when, we think, her body just couldn't take it anymore...

we were surrounded by Ohana & friends who actually celebrated her life! She will be greatly missed, but at least we know she's no longer in pain.

Here's a little video the funeral home put together for her...hope you enjoy it!

Malama pono, Mama! We hope you are surrounded by those who have already left us & hope you all watch over us still here, & some day hope to see you again! We will love you Forever!!

Oh my, twice in one day???

2009-02-10T12:47:00.003-05:00

Yes, couldn't help but post twice today (must be the coffee...) Anycrap!!I'm sure some may have seen this on other blogs or on a "Facebook" type of site, but I figured, what the hey, I'll give it a go

the list

The idea is you're supposed to bold the things that you have done (I also changed the color to blue...so those aren't links to anything...) There are lots of things I haven't done. I'm not sure what that says about me... but anywho, if you like to tag someone with this feel free to do so, I honestly don't know the origin of this, but it's interesting all the same...Have a wonderful day!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii (even lived there...)
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland( & Disney World...)
8. Climbed a mountain (does a volcano count???)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo (only at karaoke...)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight(MANY!!!)
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
(what's the fun in taking a sick day, when you're sick??)
24. Built a snow fort (again...MANY)
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
(solar & lunar, & no, I didn't look directly into the solar one....)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset (done both, many times!)
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (just on my mom's side...)
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karoke (even use to run it for years...)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant (if McDonald's counts as a restaurant, then yes...)
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight (many times...mostly alone though...)
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
(tried snorkeling & I can't stand having masks on my face or breathing through a tube!)
52. Kissed in the rain (YES!!!)
53. Played in the mud (who hasn't??)
54. Gone to a drive-in theater (yes & to actually watch the movies...) :)
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies
(actually doing this right now, for the first time, thanks to little miss Jade...)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check(...not by choice...)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (only to have my children destroy them...)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial ( a few times...)
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper (a couple times)
85. Read the entire Bible-
(3 times & I get something new & different from it each time I've read it...probably the hardest book I've EVER read...)
86. Visited the White House. (stood outside of it a couple times...does that count???)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (yes, hubby brought home lobsters from Boston once & I will NEVER do that again....they actually sounded like they were screaming!)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (yes, if an animal's life counts)
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous ( a few people...)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby (3 babies, that are growing like weeds...)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day (quite a few & still do...)

alrighty, go on & tag someone (cause I'm not...) & if you happen to do this on your own blog, let me know so I can go & be all nosey-like!
Laters,
Tina

Yet, another giveaway...

2009-02-10T11:55:00.003-05:00

OK, I really need to stop lurking other people's blogs, but they are quite addictive...like this one I found ( & you might ask ,how did I find it...while lurking on yet another person's blog....I told you I'm addicted!) :) anywho Melanie has an etsy store & sells on ebay as well...& is doing a giveaway ( as well as having a moving sale on her etsy store..) from what I've seen so far, alot of CUTE Japanese fabric ( which I LOVE!!!) & some beautiful items she's created as well, so what are you waiting for??? Go check it out (I'm heading back there as well...) Maybe some day soon, I'll actually post some of the things I've been up to lately..if I ever stop lurking, that is!
a hui hou,
Tina

anyone interested in a free sample???

2009-02-04T19:58:00.001-05:00

fill it out & you'll be good to go!
Enjoy!

Good morning!

2009-02-03T09:38:00.002-05:00

Aloha everyone! Just adding a quick post today to catch up on the last couple weeks here. Had some ohana from up north & to the east of us come down for a visit. Mahalo Dave & Daph ( #4 bruddah & sis-in-law...) & their sons, Paul & Adam came to stay for the weekend. Paul finished his Army basic training here in Georgia (Ft. Benning...) & we proudly went to go see his "Turning Blue"/ graduation ceremony (which was AWESOME!) & Bruddah (#1) John came too. (I hope to post some pics soon...I know, & you should too, how terrible I am with posting pictures here...) Even though it was a short visit, we LOVED having family here & hope to see them all again soon. Actually Paul will be heading overseas soon, so I wish him all the best & he of course will always be in our thoughts & prayers! (I'M SO PROUD OF YOU PAUL!!!) It takes ALOT for anyone in today's world to join the military. I wish you all the success possible!

Anywho, just keeping it short today, got some other things to catch up on & hope to post more tomorrow...

a hui hou,
Tina

There's a giveaway going on...

2009-01-12T18:44:00.002-05:00

...over at Gahan girls, & hopefully I linked it properly :) Anywho, it's a blog that I lurk often & sometimes have made comments on ( which I usually feel stupid leaving remarks for people that I don't know...) but, I guess that's a part of blogging, huh? I have had so much inspiration from complete strangers...I can't even explain it, but it's addictive! Anywho, have a look around her blog!

Other than that, I have finally caught up on swaps over at swap-bot! (ABOUT TIME!!!) :) & now I sadly still have 2 Christmas presents to send out ( I am terrible, I know!) Hopefully, if all goes well, I'll have them out tomorrow before I have to go to Girl Scouts with my littlest monkey!

The weather is starting to dip down here, it was in the 30's this morning ( ok, I know that isn't too bad...& if any of my ohana is reading this, I'm sure they're ready to throw a brick at me or something...) but, for those who have been here for a while, or, for those FROM here, it's downright FREEZING!!! I believe our high was 50...anycrap, I'm not complaining, just letting y'all know, it CAN get chilly in Georgia :)

That's all I have for today, I'm sure I'll have more to babble about tomorrow. Hula starts up for us down here this Saturday, so I'm sure I'll have things to talk about there!
Til then..
a hui hou,
Tina

Finished projects...

2009-01-08T10:35:00.005-05:00

Here's some stuff I have been working on, over the holiday season...

this is a tiny dotee doll I did for a swap...

here's my first reconstructed t-shirt I did for my eldest & I'm rather shocked that it came out nice ( ...not trying to gloat or anything...she LOVES it!!)

this is a re-enactment of what it looked like, because I forgot to take a "before" picture, it had short plain black sleeves originally...but it was a freebie shirt I had gotten from buying Kiss cologne. On the front it says"you never forget your first..." & on the back it says "Kiss" & has a picture of a woman's face painted up like Paul Stanley (which is my daughter's LOVE of a lifetime...) anywho, she out grew it last summer, but I know she absolutely LOVED this shirt, so I hung onto it in hopes to turn it into a pillow or something, but I kept reading about how people reconstruct clothing, so I thought I'd give it a try so here's what it looks like now...

sorry these are kinda blurry, but here's a closeup of the sleeve...anywho, it was hard to match the black, cause it was so faded from use...but I thought I'd try to match the red from the face...she loves it & is happy to be able to wear it again...i added a red panel on the sides to blend it all in together ( also to make it fit...) & hopefully she'll be able to enjoy it for a little while longer...

some ornaments ... I made a BUNCH of other ornaments for a swap I did, but forgot to take pictures of them before I sent them out ( I know...bad habit!) they were little teddy bears made form wooden beads & pipe cleaners, they came out pretty cute, so I'm sure I'll make more of those...

& some fleece slipper socks, I used fabric paint to make the flowers on the bottom so they can be used like a non-slip sock...gave some of these away as presents this year...

I'm currently working on these pins for girl scouts....our "Thinking Day" is coming up & I guess everybody gets a country to represent & ours is China, so I was asked to come up with something to make for a swap, so I messed around with some felt scraps & made this little pin. They liked them, so next week I'll show the girlies how to make them & they will use them to swap with other troops...

I apologize for the blurry pictures, still using my camera phone, it works in a pinch...anywho, that's some of the stuff I've been working on for the past month...now onto Valentine's day things, etc....

Have a wonderful day!

A hui hou,

Tina

New Year's Resolutions

2009-01-07T15:24:00.002-05:00

HAPPY 2009!!!

OK, why do we do this to ourselves every year? I mean, I know we all have good intentions, when it comes to making resolutions, but I know, I tend to make them & sadly they fall apart as quickly as they were made! But this year, instead of making typical resolutions ( ya know, like, lose 50 pounds....lose 20 pounds....lose A POUND....) this time, I am trying to just make simple changes in my life ( A.K.A. baby steps...) so here's a list of things I will seriously attempt to do this year:

1. Blog more often...even if it's just dribble, I kinda liked babbling online (even though I took a few month break...it was rather fun to get things off my chest...kinda like keeping a diary I suppose....)

2. Keep in touch better with friends & family. This is a VERY hard one for me...I am horrible at calling people back in a timely manner, answering e-mails, etc. I don't know why, I just am. I might e-mail back & forth, or call & then , I tend to just fall off the face of the earth. No excuses, I'm just bad like that, but I hope to break that habit this year....Wish me luck!

3.Sign up for a Hawaiian language course...every time this opportunity has come, something would happen & I end up NOT signing up for it ( usually lack of money...) but for personal reasons, I really REALLY will sign up for one!

4. Take a REAL vacation with JUST my family. Sounds kinda bad, I know, but it has been YEARS since we've taken a real vacation, where it's just us, in a different place & no agendas, no having to worry if we have Internet connections, so hubby can work, no, an honest to goodness real vacation, where we don't have to spend all our time running here & there & everywhere to catch up with family, etc...

I'm sure I could think of HUNDREDS of things to add to this list, but "baby steps" first & hey, if I can accomplish some of these, then there's always room for more! It IS only January....

Anywho, tell me some of your resolutions ( if you like...) sometimes seeing them in print helps them to become REAL, if that makes any sense....

'til next time, A hui hou,
Tina

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!

2009-01-02T10:45:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year everybody! I hope you all had a joyous Christmas as well!!! Things were uneventful here...well, then again, I guess most days are uneventful here. Or at least, uneventful to most. Nah, we actually had a nice Christmas & a very calm New Year's Eve. The weather was beautiful, & I still can't believe how lucky we are to be in Georgia, as far as weather goes. My ohana up north has been dumped on a few times by snow, only to have a day or two of decent weather, then have is freeze over again....(MAN! I don't miss that crap!) but, then again, we missed our ohana as we often do, during the holidays. It was nice to go up during the Thanksgiving break & see everybody that we did, but it was very tempting to go back up for Christmas too ( until the snow hit...then we were kinda glad that we chose Thanksgiving over Christmas...) ok, ok, enough babble about the weather....cause what seems to be cold to one person, might be wonderful to another, so I guess it's really just a matter of what you like or can handle!

Anywho, some of us are battling a cold that has been a most "enjoyable gift" my eldest daughter has given me over this holiday break...which I am now sharing with my hubby & I think our middle child is showing signs of it too...so our youngest is trying her best to stay away from us "sickies" as we have been called!

Our daughters were SPOILED over Christmas & have been enjoying the buying power they have received from various family members (through gift cards they have gotten...) We decided to buy one "big" gift for all the girlies this year, & with the help of my mother-in-law (she went in halfsies with us on it...) we got them a Wii system ( now the girlies fell in LOVE with the Wii, after they played the one at Aunty Masae's house during Thanksgiving break....) so we knew we had to try our best to get them one! Well, I was able to do some volunteer work at the scholastic warehouse a few weeks ago & got them a couple games to go with the Wii & they have bought a couple more with their gift cards & have been playing it everyday since they opened it! They also got a plethora of books from scholastic too ( I mean literally BOX LOADS of books...) & so did all the little keiki's in our ohana. Books, klutz kits, stickers, pens & pencils, pretty much anything you could possibly get from a book sale at a school, I was able to earn from scholastic!!! (ok, actually, some of the little keiki's haven't gotten theirs yet, cause they're still sitting in boxes on our dining room table to be sent out.....but they'll get them soon!...I know, I know, BAD AUNTY!) The eldest also got a cell phone for Christmas ( we just added her onto ours...) & now thinks she's SOOOO cool!! (in fact it's rather scary...she carries the thing EVERYWHERE....) Anywho, the middle daughter got her promise FINALLY after about 5 years of BEGGING us for a puppy, my hubby broke down & is finally letting her get one, BUT!!!! she has to read up & get prepared on how to take care of it...so, (thanks to scholastic...once again....) I got her a book on how to pick, care for, feed, etc...a puppy. She (so far) used some of her buying power to get a dog bed, leash, & some other small toys for her puppy to be...(Santa also got her a bag load of doggie items for Christmas...) So she is in HEAVEN!!! The littlest monkey got an art easel, that has a chalkboard on one side, a wipe off board on the other & a roll of paper that attaches to it, so she can draw her heart out on it! She LOVES it!!! & they all got clothes, did I mention TONS of books??? :) & candy & all the usual junk...so like I said THEY WERE SPOILED ROTTEN!!!! Not to mention that even the neighbors, some of their classmates, the hula Aunties & of course the rest of the ohana added to all the SPOILING!!!! I mean these kids are too lucky!!!! So needless to say I think we had a very Wonderful Christmas.

ok, I think this seems to sound rather snob-ish to rant about what we got....but we kinda had a hard time for last Christmas. Without going into details, we didn't have such a wonderful one last year, so I guess I'm babbling so much about this year's one...but I also decided to kinda share the wealth this year (thanks again to scholastic....) with all the credit I earned, I was able to get things for my family, some of my extended family, our girl scout troop, & have gotten together 2 box loads of books for our school & public library ( which in my opinion, really needs to add more to their collection....) to kinda give back what I can. It may not be much, but it feels good to give to the school & to everybody else, through the library.

& did I mention Scholastic books??? Man, I wish I knew about this whole volunteer stuff YEARS ago....but if you go to their website ( I believe it's here ) you can find out more info on their warehouse book sales. They have locations pretty much everywhere. sign up for notices, & they also send you coupons for the warehouse sale. Plus this time, they asked for volunteers to help set up the sale & they offered credit to purchase stuff for giving up your time for working it! Oh MY GOODNESS can you say FREE BOOKS?!!!! That was enough for me, I think over all, I put in about 50 hours of work there. ( I even filled out an application for permanent work as well....who's it gonna hurt?) So if you didn't already know about it, check it out. Either way it's a great way to get books whether you volunteer to work & earn credit, or just flat out buy books ( most are at least 50% off cover price....some 80%-90%...)

Well, I think I am starting to make up for the lost time here...one of my new year resolutions is to get better at blogging, this year (another is to try to keep in touch with family & friends better....) I have a few reachable goals for this upcoming year, so I hope to fulfill them all (hmmm, maybe this could start my blog for tomorrow...???)

Anycrap...again, Hau'oli Makahiki Hou to all!!! Here's to the start of a WONDERFUL new year!
Peace & love to all!!
A hui hou,
Tina

I'm BACK!

2008-10-27T08:36:00.002-04:00

Hello all,

I know it's been a while since I've written anything here. What's my excuse? NOTHING!!! No, it's not that I haven't done anything since my last blog, quite the opposite, I've been crafting, going through TONS of pictures, that have been growing & growing for years now. I guess most of all, we've been finally finishing things round here, that have been put off for one reason or another. Oh & then there has been the usual, "oh, by the way mom, I've been invited to a birthday party & it's tomorrow, could you make a gift for my friend?"....oh, sure let me whip something up. (that something lately has been personalized tote bags, which have seemed to be a hit...)So now every little girl in the neighborhood has been inviting my daughters to their parties, in hopes to get a bag with their name on it.....YEA!!! :) So far 4 have been given & 2 others want one, (even though it 's not their birthday...) & other than that, hula is back in full swing ,we took a break for about a month, but we're back to normal ( kinda). Plus with my FAVORITE holiday that will take place on Friday, HALLOWEEN!!!! We're pretty much set for that as well. Oh yeah, & my youngest is now a girl scout, & the other 2 are flipping coins on whether or not they want to join ( my eldest has wanted to be a girl scout for YEARS, but now, she's not sure....AHHHHH) I guess she feels it's not as cool as it would have been a few years back....oh well, & my middle daughter is in the habit lately of doing & wanting the EXACT everything her eldest sister wants & does (why now???) So that's what has been going on over-by-here. I hope to add some pictures here soon ( gee, I seem to ALWAYS say that...) I'll get back into the swing of blogging again. Hope all is well on every body's end where ever that may be. A hui hou!!!

Now for something completely different...

2008-08-29T09:04:00.007-04:00

Aloha All,

Well, I've decided to take a slight detour of the Orlando pictures today...why? well, just to give a break on the hula stuff (OK, really, because I forgot that I actually DID have a couple pictures of another recent event....)

I may have mentioned that we had some relatives come to visit us ( & if I failed to mention, then I'm saying it now....I can't remember who & when I said this stuff to half of the time...) :)

(Turner Field August 13, 2008)

Anycrap, we had some recent visitors. My brother-in-law & 2 of my husband's cousins came to town for a series of Cubs games that took place here in Atlanta 2 weeks ago..

(Uncles from L to R:Geico, Holly-Bear & Gus...some names MAY have been changed, not necessarily to protect ANYONE!) :)

(hubby has been DYING to see a Cubs game all season....) I guess last time we were up in Chicago the subject came up of how cool it would be for those guys to come down & see the Cubs play the Braves....well, who-da-thunk, it would actually come to fruition, but it did. Turns out hubby's work has season tickets to the Braves games, so somehow, he was granted them & we got to go to the whole series ( well, I got to go 2 cause there was a rain out & hubby had to work...Tues night game was now a Wed day game....), our ohana from up north went to all 3. The girlies got to go to the Wed night game as well...

(Da-Boo & Da-Maka-Bear)

( our youngest still chants "Fu-ku-do-me" & claps her hands while she see the games on TV cause that's what we were doing at the ballpark.....) Anywho, it was a blast, not only to see the Cubbies play, but to have family here & all go to the games together. I felt kinda bad, cause the guys really only got to see the games, time flew SO fast, we didn't have much time to go do anything else, & hubby was kinda bogged down at work, so they didn't really get to go out much, other than the games...oh & enjoy "Waffle House" after the games, cause that's about all that was open around here! ( I knew I should have taken a picture of that too...oh well, next time!) Anycrap, the guys flew in Tues, for the night game, it was delayed due to rain ( which we have finally been getting around here...) So the Tues game, turned into a Wednesday-DAY game, then they stayed 'til Friday ...actually Cousin "Gus" (...not his real name...LONG STORY!) :) had to leave Thursday, so he didn't go to the last game...the other 2 left Friday morning. So I guess there really wasn't much time for sight seeing, but I still felt kinda bad, that we weren't able to do much. But I believe they all had a good time, I know we had a BLAST!!! & Hopefully, they'll come to visit again sometime in the near future!

(Da Ohana)

Anycrap, hope you guys don't mind me posting the pics here on my blog (oops, kinda too late for that, huh?) :) Thank you nui loa, mahalo very much, for everything! Will be sending you a copy of these pics... ( hopefully they'll remember to e-mail some back too, I think my bro-in-law took a couple "good" ones) :)

so for today, "That's all folks"

Laters,

Tina

more pics.....

2008-08-26T09:15:00.003-04:00

Aloha,

Well it's another rainy day in Georgia (sounds like a song...) :) which is a good thing, we can always use the rain here. But I did promise to post more pictures & since the girlies are in school, & I'm gopped on coffee & there's not much else to do around the house today (caught up on swaps, everything clean, no dishes...yet, no dirty clothes...) I decided to go on the computer. so here it goes:

This was Friday morning, our 1st meeting with the musicians. We hired them through an e-mail, given to me by the people running the festival. I had contacted them once I found out that our Ohana in Hawaii couldn't come because of a family function that was taking place that same weekend (first obstacle we ran into...) Not a problem, cause the people running the competition, told me, they had a "house" band for hire, so that's how we found out about "Ulumau"! & what a find they are!! Lopaka was the one who contacted me back & we either e-mailed or called back & forth to figure out what was needed. They even sent us an MP3 of them singing so we could "practice" getting use to them. & on Friday morning, we were all together for the 1st time. All in one state, on the same floor, hearing the band for the 1st time in person....it was really happening!!!

We got to practice with them roughly for an hour, we got to use the stage roughly for an hour (kept getting interrupted though, but won't go into that rant....) Found a somewhat empty hallway in the hotel to use to practice a little more....figured it was time to start making our adornments...

(Here's a pic of Puamaeole, making her haku....one of the IL girls...) obstacle # 2... well, due to some miscommunication ( I totally take the blame for this one, just couldn't get a hold of the right ohana at the right time....even though I DID let them know ahead of time....) anywho, long story short, we were unable to get fauna from Hawaii, so figured we could use whatever we could find. Since most of the ladies were flying in, I tried to depend mostly on those of us who were driving down to Florida, but Kiakahi (MO girl) has a WHOLE PLETHORA of ivy & greens in her back yard ( she does outdoor photography...well, not that she takes pictures of the outdoors, she does most of her pictures outdoors....) so I begged (more so demanded...) :) her to bring whatever she could. Polinahe (one of my haumana here....or should I say, one of the GA girls...) :) also has ivy in her yard, so had her ( & hubby too...) bring whatever they could. GA girl Kalani & myself, ended up bringing bamboo leaves ( there's practically a wild forest of them near Kalani's house...) since I have nothing worthy of lei making in my yard & Kalani's maple leaves (yes, I said maple leaves...see how desperate we were getting....ever heard of using maple leaves to make leis?...It could happen....they do work rather well!) were too high to reach, we ended up bringing bag loads of bamboo leaves. Well, along with some (gasp, that I even admit this...) store bought flowers (& by-the-who, Lokelani, what were those flowers?...some kind of lily??...) anywho, we made due with what we had

our room looked like a forest threw up in it!!

I really felt bad about the staff at the hotel, I mean after all, we weren't the only halau doing this...I mean whatever floor you went on, there were others doing the same thing, making leis in lobbies, in hallways, it was too funny...I mean, we tried our best to clean up, I did put down paper first before we even started, but there were leaves EVERYWHERE!! & raffia & newspaper & floss & threads, you name it, we used it! Then as the night moved on, we wondered what to do for kupe'e, leis, etc ( we mostly used ivy & some leather leaf, that we got from another halau from Florida...) for our lei po'o (head leis) but we were quickly running out of time & of usable leaves for neck leis...Luckily we brought Kukui nut leis for our neck, Kiakahi brought enough kukui nui leis to breakdown for our kupe'e (wristlets & anklets) That covered it for kahiko (ancient) but what of our auana (modern, dance..)? Well earlier, Loke & I went on a search for flowers, which we ended up finding the lilies (at a Publix of all places...) & I had also brought white shell leis that we were going to use for our auana anyways...but we still needed something....That's when Loke decided to try to mess around with the bamboo leaves...what can we do with those? Well I suggested to try to haku them like our lei po'o...nah that didn't work, how about wili (braid...) them....nah didn't like how that was turning out....Loke : what about sewing them? ( ku'i), well....now that seemed to work...

so here's Loke ku'i-ing away....they really did turn out rather nice! & If there was a will, we'd find a way! & we certainly did! & this was just our first night!.....

I don't know for sure what time I finally went to bed ( roughly it had to been after 2am....) but little-by-little, whoever was done, we told them to try to go to bed...so as 1 would finish a lei, "ok, now go to bed..." was the next demand! Turns out none of us really got any sleep & for our 1st number we did kahiko ( & with no makeup on, which I'm sure the ladies STILL don't forgive me for that one.....long story....) :) we really did look like a bunch of pissed off volcano goddesses ready to BLOW! :) but it got better.....it really did!

'nuff for today, will continue the saga tomorrow....

a hui hou,

Tina

got some pictures...yea!!!!

2008-08-25T14:47:00.003-04:00

Mahalo nui loa to my haumana Kiakahi (the MO in GA-IL-MO.....) :) for sending me some pictures from our competition in Orlando this past July....I knew I could count on you...I hope to get some more from my other haumana as soon as possible....

...but so far, here's a couple of groups shots:

This was our Kahiko costume. We did a mele called "Aia La O Pele" it roughly describes a ranting & destruction rampage that Pele (the Fire, or Volcano Goddess...) had...

This was our auana costume. The ladies did a mele called "Poliahu" (Poliahu is the Snow Goddess...) It's a beautiful song that was written by Frank Hewett a very wonderful Kumu hula & composer. Anywho, we covered the "Big Island" of Hawaii by dancing about 2 of the most powerful entities on that Island (not to mention that my Ohana is from the Big Island, so that really had the most to do with my mele choices...)

These were the VERY talented gentlemen who played the music for our halau (they also played for other groups there too....the "house" band so to speak...) Their names are Lopaka (on the left) & Kaleo (on the right) collectively they are known in Orlando as Ulumau. These guys really were FANTASTIC I mean the harmony & sounds from these 2 guys, sounds like an entire choir of singers. The version of "Poliahu" we chose was from a group called Ho'okena ( there are 5 singers in Ho'okena...) & these 2 sounded like 5 ( I hope that made sense...) We were so impressed on how well they played for us, I mean, no matter how much we thanked them, it really wasn't enough. They really made the girls WANT to dance, they were THAT great!!!

& this is Kiakahi (also known as Debbie...) :) she is my haumana from Missouri. (please ignore the odd tan marks on the chick next to Kiakahi...I'll explain that in one of the next rants...)

As I have stated in past posts, I had haumana (students) there from 3 different states, Illinois, Georgia & Missouri & these ladies really worked their buns off to get to Orlando & compete! (In fact that Friday before the competition was the FIRST time we all were together in the same state!!!!) It was rough to practice & get everyone on the same sheet of music, but we did it! & any obstacle that got in our way, we overcame it & I am so PROUD of these wonderful students of mine!!

Kiakahi actually sent an entire disc of pictures, but I'm having a heck of a time downloading them onto blogger for some reason (this was my 3rd try...) so I will post some more tomorrow...(I know, I give up too easy...) but I'll babble some more of our adventure then too (besides, my little ones are back from school already & demanding some snacks....) :) again, I give in too easy there as well! Mahalo nui loa, Kiakahi, I can't wait to see what else the others took....

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

A hui hou,

Tina

...and by the who!

2008-08-17T17:45:00.002-04:00

Hau'oli la hanau o 'oe...

hau'oli la hanau o 'oe...

hau'oli la hanau o ko'u makuahine!

HAU'OLI LA HANAU O 'OE!!!!

Happy 74th Mama!!!

Love your ohana down in Georgia!!!

Hey, that's my Brother!!!

2008-08-17T16:50:00.004-04:00

well, can't remember if I had made mention in this blog about my brother Pat being in a film, or not, so, figured, I could talk about him today!

Back in June, he spent the month filming a movie in Chicago called "Fancypants" it's roughly about a washed up pro wrestler who (with the help of his biggest fan, a little boy...)decides to end his career in a big bang ( & he helps the kid & his family out in the end as well...) I think it's supposed to be a comedy, but it's also kinda a drama/love story/comedy type of film ( my brother's words...)

Anywho, last Wednesday he had an article in the local Chicago Tribune about him so I figured I'd try to put a link up about it (hope this works...)here this was an interview at a local pub that we usually hold some of our "family meetings" at :) it's a place called Mugsy's in Forest Park, IL

Anycrap, they filmed it in a month ( that happened to be the time we last headed up to Chicago, we were also there to help take care of mom & pop so he wouldn't have to worry about his filming schedule & our parents at the same time...)

The funniest part was, he's NEVER acted before, so to get the lead role, even though he's never done ANY kind of acting before, was really a pleasant surprise to the whole family! It's supposed to come out sometime next year ( so will keep up on that here as well....) There were some other (real) pro wrestlers & actors in the film as well: Rowdy Roddy Piper, Hollywood Yates ( I believe he's called WOLF???) & another person known as Venom ( now please don't laugh at me, I really don't know who the "Wolf" & "Venom" people are, cause I'm not into wrestling....but I've heard they are well known...) But some of the people I HAVE heard of is Robert Carradine, Richard Kind & Roddy Piper& they are all in this movie as well. Anywho, we're all proud of the lunkhead!!! ( & yes, I can still call him a lunkhead, cause even if he does get all "famous" on us I'm still his little sister & always will be... ) :)

Anywho...check out the links & by all means keep the film somewhere in the back of your memory & check it out when it comes to your neighborhood! CONGRATULATIONS BRO!!! & hope this becomes a career for you!

Love Ya ! Your Sis-Tina

School's started...

2008-08-07T10:50:00.002-04:00

Aloha to all,

Well, another school year has already started with my little ones. I still have mixed feelings about it all. Everyone ( & their mother...) :) has been telling me how GREAT & WONDERFUL it'll be when they start up ( cause now ALL 3 are in school...) well, I'm rather sad that my little shadow is gone! I know how selfish this all sounds, but I miss them terribly!! But the good news, they all LOVE their new schools!!! My eldest is now in middle school & already, she says she loves it more than grade school (which is very good news cause she was starting to get very discouraged with 5th grade, last year...) & My middle & youngest were excited to go to the "new" school (our borders were changed last year, so they are now in the brand new school that was just built last year....actually I think they JUST finished building it this year...) & the biggest change ( I sadly admit) is mine! My baby is in Kindergarten....WAHHHH! & it's ALL DAY kindergarten too, so no slow, gradual, change. Nope, it's a whole IN-YOUR-FACE change. I know I'll get over it ( I did with the first 2...but they were just in for half day up in Chicago...) but it'll take time, it always does.

I guess the worse part was how my hubby has been teasing me the closer it got to starting up again, on how the youngest isn't going to be here everyday. Last week he was pleasantly reminding me "oh, she won't be asking you what's for breakfast?" or "mommy can I watch Noggin?" or any of those things. But "HA-HA" to him, she still has asked every morning so far, what's for breakfast, but we just have it at 6:30 am instead of 9:00am, so that part hasn't changed :) & he now tells me every morning (so far..) how I can finally get some of my sewing done ( he hates when my projects start piling up around the house...) & how nice & quiet it'll be around the house & even went as far as to say "now you can go get a real job!" That last comment almost got him a black-eye, but I didn't give in to the stupidity! No, instead I have been catching up on some of the things I have been putting off lately (if at least to keep me busy to NOT remind me how quiet the house is...) so yes, some of the sewing is finally getting done. My swaps are getting packaged up & sent. (I actually have filled out some apps on-line for work...but don't tell the hubby that one...) :) so I am trying to stay busy.

Well that's all I have for today, I hope to start up an etsy shop online soon ( that's one of the things I have been putting off lately...) so maybe I CAN get some things done around here now.

Either way, I miss my little monkeys, but they have been coming home with some great stories everyday already. Man, how time flies!

Aloha Pumehana,
Tina

Aloha !

2008-07-28T22:09:00.005-04:00

Well, again I apologize for not blogging sooner! We have been back from Orlando for a week now & I'm FINALLY getting around to posting something about it. I was actually hoping for a few pictures (did I bother to take ANY while we were there? Of course not! I knew I wasn't going to remember to take out the phone even ONCE to take a picture...) but all my haumana did & we even purchased some from the photographer who was there taking pictures of the whole event, but I don't think we'll be getting those any time soon...Anycrap, once I get some from my haumana (or anybody)I PROMISE I will share them here!

Anywho, how did we do, you may ask?....well, we placed 3rd for our auana (modern) portion of the competition. Not too shabby for our 1st time! I was EXTREMELY PROUD of my girls ( & in my heart I KNOW they did WAYYYY better than 3rd place...) Even our kahiko was fantastic ( & I'm not just saying that because I'm their teacher. I mean on Friday morning (the event was the next day...) as we took our turn to practice on the stage, no one was able to tell it was the first time all the ladies were in the SAME STATE to dance together!!! After practicing in Missouri, Illinois & Georgia, it actually took us to gather in yet a different state (Florida) to finally get it all together UNREAL!!!! Now I highly recommend that people DON'T do this when trying to enter a hula competition, cause the stress factor IS enough to turn your hair grey, but it was SO worth it!!! We got so many nice comments from people in the crowd, as well as one of the Judges, so I know my girls did fantastic & all I can say is we'll knock 'em DEAD next year ( yup, I said "next year"...what can I say, I LOVE the challenge!!!)

Anywho, we are now taking a month off to recoup, relax, & re-charge the batteries, so now I can catch up on some of the things I've been neglecting around here (mainly my family...) :) My girlies will be starting back to school (already!!) & my baby is starting kindergarten too, (my little shadow is going to be GONE!!!!AHHHHH!!!) It's more of a shock to me than it will be for her!

Anywho, I have So many things I want to get started for next year (with hula & family & crafts & family...oops, I said that already...) That I feel kinda guilty taking a month off, but I also know if I don't take a break, I'll probably burn myself out ( & I know my ohana has been through enough already!) They need the break as much as I do, so do my haumana, they worked TOO HARD & need some time off from hula as well! TAKE A REST LADIES!!!! :)

Anycrap, we have some family that will be visiting soon. My Bro-in-law & hubby's cousins are coming to town to see a series of Cubs vs. Atlanta games (it'll be the 1st time we've ever gone to Turner field since we've been down here...) & I know we'll be getting ribbed cause we'll be attending in full Cubs garb (just asking for trouble...huh?) But it'll be nice to finally see the cubs play this year! My hubby has been besides himself cause he hasn't gone to a game this season & he'll finally be able to go! & as for me & the girlies, well, (don't tell my husband...) but I can take it or leave it, but it will be nice to take the girlies to a game. we haven't been to one in a LONG while so I know they're as excited as the hubby is.

Another first in a while, 2 of my haumana ( & one of the spouses...) treated us to a "date night" last Saturday! They took all 3 of our girlies to six flags ( another first for them since we've been down here...) & We got to go out sans girlies (first time in about 3 years now....kinda scary, huh?) I can't believe it's been 3 years since we went out just the 2 of us, but sadly it's true! Other than running to the store, even when family has come to visit here, we haven't gone out alone anywhere. I mean, when we're back up home in Chicago, especially this last time there, my sister in law helped out with watching the girlies, but that was mainly because my husband had to go back home for work & I was helping out at my parents, so it was helpful, but we didn't go anywhere. & usually I'm gone for the weekend, or Jeff is gone out of town so one of us was always home with the girls! So we went out to dinner (at Ruth's Chris...it was AWESOME...) & a movie (saw the X-Flies movie, was pretty good...) & then, well we went & did what any married couple would do, we went grocery shopping, sad huh? It was kinda nice not to have anyone complaining, but I DID miss them terribly. Jeff said I need to get out more....go fig! & how did the girls like Six Flags, well they're still bragging about it, even though they were too chicken to go on any of the rides! They did go on some, but not too many. It did rain, but I know they are rather chicken! :) well, maybe next time they'll ride more!

Anywho, that's what's been going on this past week! I will post pictures of Orlando once I get some & one of my haumana was trying to get our dances on "You Tube" so if that's successful I'll let everyone know. So until next time, Th-Th- That's all folks!!!

A hui hou,

Tina

Let the madness begin!

2008-07-14T10:09:00.001-04:00

Aloha everybody!

I know it's been a (LONG) while since I've posted anything here. This competition has taken all my time now (which I figured it would..) but just getting all the little last minute details ironed out before I leave for Orlando. Finally got all our costumes done here's one of the dancers modeling part of our Kahiko ( ancient ) costume:

this is our Pa'u skirts for Kahiko & ( at least for me...) took the longest to make. There are 4 panels of the black & grey in between the larger panel of red. It's about 4-4.5 yards in length ( which was fun getting the cording in for the waistband..) & has 8 casings in the waist band (corded every other row...) so the skirt is tied on ( ladies have red bloomers that go under so nothing shows...) & a red top to match ( which of course I haven't taken a picture of yet...go fig...) Plus there is a yellow lining for the skirt too, so when the ladies make their turns a flash of yellow will show...my purpose for the colors was to match the colors of lava ( we are doing a song about Pele, the volcano Goddess...) It's a pretty common type of outfit for kahiko, just a little more sewing to do because of the panels...but I LOVE how they came out ( don't think the ladies LOVED putting in the cording though....) :)

Anywho, I hope to take more pictures in Orlando ( as long as I remember too...I am terrible at remembering to take pictures anymore...) & now I have no excuse, I have the friggin camera on the phone & that's usually with me all the time...so I will make it a point to take pictures ( then getting them on here is another challenge...) :) We didn't make our dresses for the auwana or mordern dance ( if you've read past posts, we cheated & ordered them from Hawaii...) & my kahiko costume is rather simple. I have a pa'u dress with the same grey/black panel as the ladies skirts & a red & yellow kikepa ( a sort of wrap...) to go around the shoulders ( also to match their skirts...) so my costume is different since I won't be dancing, but it's a typical type of costume for the chanter ( to at least look like we belong together...) & I do not have the dress (again I'm the teacher now, so I won't be dancing...) but now kinda wish I did get one made for me too so I looked liked them ...oh well, maybe next time...had a misunderstanding with ohana back in Hawaii as far as flowers go, but that's ok, we figured out something to use here for our adornments & if anything it should be UNIQUE :) (love using that word for hula...) :)

But all in all, we're VERY excited & if anything, we'll have a blast! We are so much on track ( which is unusual for me...) it's scary! So wish us luck everybody! It's going to be a BLAST!!!

Will try post more (if I have time...) before we go, otherwise, will have loads to share when we get back!

Malama Pono to all,

Tina

Aloha from Hotlanta!

2008-06-20T13:29:00.002-04:00

Hello All,

ok, so it's not really THAT hot here, it's summer after all....just couldn't help myself I guess...

ANYCRAP! We're back from Chicago (actually got back Monday, but finally caught up enough to catch up on blogs & stuff...) Anywho, ohana is doing better, haumana is almost all caught up (still have to work with one in MO...but so far so good....) & am finally getting started on the costumes & all that rot! Already miss friends & family & students, but hope to see them all again soon!!! (in fact my eldest was begging to stay another week up there, but we had to come back & take care of stuff here...) otherwise...I WAS tempted....but , back to business ...

...anycrap, catching up on all the swaps & craft stuff today (also put off due to our extended stay...) I'm sure I've pissed off enough people out there on swap-bot, but am trying to make up for it!

Anywho, it's only a month now till our competition ( man time is FLYING!!!) It seems like I just started babbling about all this competition stuff & now it's almost here AHHH!!! (sorry, had to get that out of my system....) I'm sure everyone is SICK of me talking about Orlando, this & Orlando that, but I can't help it, I'm easily excited! But, it IS exciting for us. It's also a first for me leading the pack ( & knock on wood...) everything is working out pretty well! (not trying to jinx us or anything like that...) I mean, we've been in competitions before, but I've never done the chanting & stuff like this, so I am very excited ! Plus I really do have some of the BEST haumana a kumu could ever ask for, so it's a combined effort that will truly get us through all this! Wish us luck everyone!!!

ok, enough of the babble...

that's all for today, hope all is well for everyone out there...will be keeping in touch one way or another....until then...
malama pono,
Tina

Hey Remember me???

2008-06-12T13:17:00.002-04:00

Aloha Kakou,

Hey! Howzit goin'? Long time, no post! Anywho, just to quickly catch up...I've been out of town for a couple weeks (actually still up in Chicagoland.....) Anywho, had a BIGGGGGG ohana scare with my mom. & even though she's not doing all THAT great, she's doing better than we first had thought & she'll be hopfully starting a new treatment soon...(long story short, my mom has been battling Pancreatic & Liver cancer for 5 years now & just the fact that she's survived this long with a very nasty type of cancer, has been on experimental treatments, since she has been diagnosed, she's still with us & has just been taking it day by day....) So, our 1 week trip has turned into 2+ weeks (since we're still here...) It has by NO means been a vacation, but it has been nice to see all my brothers & TONS of family ( & I think that has helped my mom recover as well as she has been doing...) we're just all worried how things will go once we all head home & my brothers who are still here, try to get back into their normal lives (whatever that has been..) :) For those of you who have been keeping track with mom, if I haven't gotten back to you yet, I will fill in all the details when I see you, or talk to you, so sorry I haven't returned all the calls & e-mails yet, but she is doing ok, they might start a new treatment, she is home, they are now running some tests for other reasons, & they are NOT starting hospice with her (her Dr. doesn't think we've tried all that we can yet, so there are still options for her...)

Anycrap, while I've been up here, have met with haumana twice to practice for Orlando (time's tickin' & I'm starting to go into "crazy-lady" mode...not "baby-Hannah" yet...& honestly hope I DON'T go that far....) will practice one more time on Saturday & then will be heading to Kansas City to meet up with the last haumana that I haven't seen in a while to FINALLY get everyone on the same sheet of music. & (Knock on wood!!!) we'll be good to go!!!!

Still, with all the family stuff & hula stuff, I am trying to not go too insane (like I was ever sane to begin with...) but thank GOD all is better than it could be! (ok, if that even made sense...) Anywho, I promise to try to keep up with all this & that & the other the best I can....I think I'm going to go jump in my bro-in-law's pool now & have a beer! I need to just chill-lax for today!

A hui hou & Malama Pono to all (keep the prayers going for mom, for those of you who know what has been going on all along...) & for those who are just tuned in, well, heck, it never hurts to send a prayer anyone's way who might need a little more help every now & then...Mahalo nui loa! Aloha pumehana,
Tina

Happy Monday!...

2008-05-19T12:25:00.002-04:00

Aloha y'all,

Well our garage sale was a success! We even made enough to pay off our musicians for Orlando! (& a wee bit extra...wish we made enough to pay for EVERYTHING in Orlando, but hey...it's a start!) It actually rained on the first day(Thursday), but we still opened up & kept everything IN the garage, but Friday & Saturday was nicer & had stuff in the garage & all down the driveway!! I have to really thank my hubby for putting up with all this, he was getting a little cranky with the takeover of all the crap that was accumulating in the garage, but it did pay off & he now can put his car back where it belongs!

& the best thing we did this time around was to list the sale on Craig's list....I'd say 99% of our customers found us on that & we will remember to list on it from now on...

Anywho, I have to keep the blogging short today, have a LOT of stuff to catch up on, but will be writing more tomorrow!

Have a wonderful day everybody!

A hui hou,

Tina

It's Been A While....

2008-05-14T13:14:00.004-04:00

Aloha y'all,

Sorry, things have been rather busy around here lately. We've already been getting the girlies all ready for next fall with school (our borders have been changed) so our middle daughter & now my youngest will be attending a new school! So that's been fun going to all these meetings for school & now our baby will be in Kindergarten & our eldest is off to "Middle School" WOW time's FLYING for us! That alone has been keeping us nicely insane...

...but don't worry yet, haumana, I realize we now roughly have about 2 months before our competition....not panic-ing yet....ready to just go get the friggin "country classics" cotton from Jo-Anns, cause that seems to have all the right colors I'm looking for, for our pa'u sets & regular price is $2.99 a yd, so that's do-able....looking to be up in Chicago roughly the 2nd week of June, so will be e-mailing soon about all that...

...& here in blog-land, well, I think I last left off to go see Iron-Man (which was AWESOME!!!!) but sadly we left while the credits were rolling & then found out later that it continued to show a possible sequel for Iron-Man....(hubby found out this info & he forgot the name of the character that they showed at the end.....so I'm going NUTS to see who it is....) So until I know someone else who sees the movie, or just go see it again (which I'm fine with....) It's driving me CRAZY!!!!
Stay for after the credits...don't make the same mistake we made!...

...so the next day was "free comic-book day" (I believe that was May 3rd!!! I can't believe I haven't typed ANYTHING for almost 2 WEEKS!!!! AHHHHH....where are my manners?) :)

Anycrap we picked up these:

& bought these

hubby found the "Dr. Who" one for me & I found the Avengers (my all time favorite comic...) & almost picked up another Dr.Who one, but will go back for that on another visit...

Anycrap, the girlies LOVE reading comics, well, they love reading anything, but any excuse to go to a comic book store & they're all over it!

Anywho, on a different note, I'm totally hooked on Swap-Bot I've signed up for quite a few swaps there & now am hosting one....A Dr.Who one (what was I thinking???) but so far so good! & you'd think by now I would have taken pictures of some of the stuff I've sent out but NOOOO, well, first off I didn't have a digital camera, & still don't really, so I've been using the phone camera (which isn't the best, but I'm getting the hang of it...) but now I'm FINALLY starting to remember to snap a shot BEFORE I send out my swaps so here's a couple pics of some of the stuff I have going out...

...well, actually this one was part of a swap I already sent, it was for a May birthday swap I joined, the person I had, LOVES Halloween & witches, so I made my first dotee-doll

she also likes coffee & candles, so I got her a Kona Coffee scented candle & put it in a coffee mug with a cute image of a moon on the front...stupidly, I was just so happy that my doll came out kinda cute, that I forgot to snap a shot of the entire package...oh well, maybe next time... :)

this is for a Hula Dottee swap that isn't supposed to go out until July I think, but it's my 2nd doll & I can see how people can get hooked making them, it's about the size of an ornament, but it's also a good way to use up some scraps you might have lying around...

this is for a "my partner in a jar" swap, you're supposed to fill a mason-type jar of things your swap partner might like (getting the ideas from their profile on the site...) but I found out you could use any kind of container as long as it could fit the same amount of stuff that could fit in a mason jar, well, I've been sitting on this tin for a while & LOVE it, but have never really found a good use for it, so I thought it would be perfect for the swap! Inside there are more candles (which I ended up wrapping like the rest of the stuff here...) a little trinket box (already wrapped in the shot...) some yardage of ribbon (most are at least 2 yard cuts...) a couple small spools of ribbon (turns out my partner LOVES fabric ribbon & I have TONS!! thanks to all the ribbon leis...& have been making more of those too for Orlando....) so anywho, I hope the partners I have like these packages....anywho, I've gotten all kinds of stuff so far on swap-bot: Books, comic-books, craft supplies, cards, stickers, fabric pieces, embroidery floss, threads, a little stuffie, all kinds of Hello Kitty stickers & letter sheets, I mean ALL KINDS of stuff, some are way too cute, some I can tell was just passed on cause the person didn't want it or need it, but all in all, I've gotten some really neat things from all over the world & it's just ADDICTIVE!!! I keep telling myself I won't sign up for anything new, but sure enough, I keep lurking on it & well, just find something to sign up for ( I gotta just not look for a while right?....RIGHT!) ;)

well, still making stuff for our halau to sell, still haven't finished all the curtains yet (& I'm sure we'll probably change things around, so we'll end up changing the choice of fabrics for the curtains....) just a funny feeling about all that....have been tying up all the loose ends for our competition, enrolling our girlies for school for next fall, trying to get things situated enough here, so we can go up to CHICAGO to visit ohana & practice with haumana, oh yeah & we're having a garage sale this weekend too ( more fund raising for the halau....) still trying to catch up on some graduation presents & birthday presents & all that rot....WOW, I guess things have been busy around here lately!

Oh well, I guess that's why I haven't posted much stuff lately ( that's my story & I'm sticking to it!) I'll try to do better in the future!
Have a wonderful day everybody!
Malama pono & a hui hou!
Tina

Happy Friday...

2008-05-02T17:02:00.003-04:00

Hello,

Well, we are off to go see IRON-MAN!!!! (woo-hoo!!!...ok, maybe I really DO need to get out more...) :) Anywho, we also have a little visitor for the weekend, My eldest asked to bring home the class guinea pig "oreo" for the weekend (which is AMAZING to us, cause the girl is afraid of her own shadow....) anywho, all the girlies have been begging for a family pet, so maybe this is a good way for them to see what it takes to care for an animal, even if it's only for the weekend....gotta start somewhere...

Anywho, will fill in on all the excitement & maybe even take a picture or 2 tomorrow...

just a reminder, for anyone who wants to "Pay it forward" read yesterdays post & hope to at least get 2 more people involved...it should be FUN!! so far Amanda wants in!Anywho, check out her blog if you get a chance too...

...well, see ya tomorrow in blog-land...laters & Have a MARVEL-ous night (ok, ok, bad pun, I know....)
A hui hou,
Tina

Happy Lei Day!

2008-05-01T12:30:00.004-04:00

Aloha Kakou & HAPPY LEI DAY to all!! May 1st is lei day in Hawaii & it's a rather well celebrated day there. Schools pick out a court to represent different islands or different districts of the island they are on & put on a pageant. Usually involves hula & stuff like that! They even drape the Kamehameha statue in downtown Honolulu with HUGE leis that hang from his arms....it's too cool!

(couldn't find one of the statue in Honolulu, but this is the original statue
in Kohala on the big Island...they also decorate both for Kamehameha day on June 11th...)

Anywho, just wanted to wish y'all a happy lei day, or just even Happy May Day wherever you are!

also something else I totally forgot about...I signed up on Sher's website about "Pay It Forward" it sounded really neat at the time, but sadly, I forgot all about it ( that's what I get for lurking on people's blogs...) Anywho, Sher pleasantly reminded me that I said I would do this, so I am ready to play ( EVEN IF I am a couple months late with it....better late than never & it is a neat idea....) ANYCRAP, I copied the explanation from her site & the person who inspired her to try this as well ( which both of these ladies' blogs are REALLY beautiful & hope you get a chance to check them both out as well....)

Anywho, here it goes:(from Sher's site...)

PAY IT FORWARD -
Here's an idea I picked up from Deena: Someone will have a chance to get a surprise from me, on a surprise date, in the next 365 days.
Here are the rules:
1.~Leave a comment on my blog that says you want to play. First three folks to comment will get a gift from ME. (If I don't know it already, let me know how I can contact you, an e-mail is fine.)
2.~Do the same thing on your blog!The first three folks who leave a comment and commit to doing this on their blog, too, will get a surprise from YOU at a surprise time in the next 365 days!
If you've yet to meet her, treat yourself by visiting this extraordinary woman. Click here to read her story.

so the first 3 people to leave a comment on my blog today, will get a surprise package from me! (so please leave your e-mail in your response as well, so I can contact you & get an address to send your gift....which is what I FORGOT to do with Sher which is why I forgot all about it....so don't so what I did & please send me your e-mail ASAP if you want to play along...)

Then post this on your blog & get 3 people to play, etc, etc, etc...seems pretty simple & if you have any questions just holler!

Anycrap, that's all for Lei Day, things are going rather well today (not panic-ing about hula or anything like that...) I realize there's so much more that others have to struggle with EVERYDAY, that my worries seem rather minuscule compared to everyone else's, so with that in mind, I'll just keep on doing what I do & take baby steps & everything will work out fine in the end!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!! A hui hou,

Tina

Daisy's Little Cottage: Banner Give-Away !!!

2008-04-29T15:26:00.000-04:00

Daisy's Little Cottage: Banner Give-Away !!! here's a sweet giveaway for anyone interested ( & her blog looks really nice as well...) Check it out & good luck to all!

Hau'oli La Hanau...

2008-04-27T18:03:00.003-04:00

Hau'oli La Hanau...

DUH!!! Forgot to shout out some "Happy Birthday "wishes out there...

Hau'oli La Hanau to :

My Niece Jessica (Friday April, 25th)

My OLDEST Brother John (Yesterday April 26th)

other April birthdays (in case I get senile again...)

My Nephew Adam, April 29th

One of my best friends Dawn (Kopstain) Bintz, also April 29th

My Eldest Jasmine turned 11 on the 4th of April so happy belated girlie (she had a blast on her birthday, my youngest & I made her a birthday cake made up of her favorite cookies, because she didn't want a birthday cake....she was spoiled & went out to lunch with daddy too...JUST daddy, she didn't want ANY of us to go....how SPOILED is that?)

Anywho, sorry about that ohana, but hope all your birthday wishes come true!!!

Aloha Pumehana & Malama Pono,
Tina

Sunday....

2008-04-27T17:37:00.002-04:00

Aloha everybody,

well another weekend has come & gone. Not too much new over-by-here. Got some things done around the house (in fact, still doing stuff around the house...)

...but a commercial about the new Iron Man movie came on the telly & reminded me that the annual "Free Comic Book Day" should be right around the corner & sure enough, my memory finally has served me well. I know Marvel comics likes to come out with their new movies around this time of the year (heard it was because of Stan Lee's birthday, don't remember where I heard that, or if it's really true...) but anywho, ever since all the Spiderman & X-Men movies came out, it has started a new found love of comic books with my daughters ( & given me reasons to dig out my old ones over the years too...well, that & signing up for swaps at swap-bot pertaining to comic books...) Anycrap, once we found out about free comic book day, my daughters & I try to go to whatever store is celebrating it! Turns out there's a store not too far from home, so will be hitting that one on Saturday! (Saturday May 3rd is this year's date....I think it's the first Saturday of May every year....) Anywho just wanted to share that tidbit with whomever may be interested....

Again not much else new, finally getting my sewing corner back to normal (whatever normal was...) thanks to hubby's help. He made a shelf above my sewing table & a small bookcase for me to have a place to put some of my junk so it doesn't clutter up my table. (Poor guy will do anything to help me fix all my clutter! )

I'm also hoping to download some more pictures (hope to have some new ones up tomorrow...) to put on the blog...

Had Hula yesterday & we ended up playing ukulele for most of class time ( which the ladies did enjoy, so will be adding that into class every now & then...)

well that's all for now!! Hope everyone had a great weekend & hope your week is full of possibilities as well....

A hui hou,
Tina

Oh Those Hula Blues.....

2008-04-22T19:17:00.008-04:00

....tell me have you ever heard those hula blues... oops sorry 'bout that, just had that song in my head for some odd reason!

(ok, not the same song here, but the sheet music cover was cool....)

...well, it's been a while since I've written anything here, I mean when I first started this blog, I was trying to write SOMETHING, ANYTHING everyday....man, seems now if I remember to write anything, I'm a happy puppy! :)

Anycrap, things are getting busy with our halau for the competition in Florida. It seemed not so long ago, we had PLENTY of time to work on things & now...heck, it's almost 3 months until the competition! AAAHHHHH!!!!! (no, don't worry ladies, I won't panic just yet....I'll let it brew a while longer.....) at least this time around ( & for the 1st time...) it's just OUR halau entering! It was way worse when we had combined groups together, then you had to deal with everyones methods of dancing, costume making, playing all "nicey-nice" in front of everyone, just to get your teeth knocked out when you turned your back, so already, there's NONE of that kind of CRAP to deal with, so it's a WAYYYY better feeling this time around....it is Pono!!

(an image of Pele,found on the internet.... the fire goddess, or Goddess of the volcano, she resides in Halema'uma'u crater near Mauna Loa....one of the Goddess' we are dancing about in Orlando....)

...I think it's just nerves & wanting everything to go just right, so that's the stage I am at right now....but things are going right, we got our music to practice with, when we found out ohana couldn't play music for us, well then we were able to hire the house band....when we had a hard time with the costumes, we worked all that out as well. It seems like everyone was getting the dances down great, even though we are physically in 3 different states, everyone is on the same sheet of music now, so it's all good! We are all in this together for the same reason, to finally do it RIGHT! To finally be a part of something like this, with our hula ohana who share the same love for hula that each of us have! IT'S ALL GOOD! It IS pono!!!!

(an image of Poliahu I found on the internet...the other goddess we are dancing about in Orlando...she is the Snow goddess of Mauna Kea....)

just needed to get that off my chest today! Sorry for the babble....

Anywho, will try to keep up with the blogging best I can...

a hui hou,

Tina

Spring break is OVER!

2008-04-15T12:01:00.011-04:00

Aloha Y'all :)

Well, my eldest two are (finally) back in school & we are playing catch up on all the stuff we put off all week long! Ya know stuff like sewing, hula, yard work, all the things we THOUGHT we could still do while all the kiddies were home....yeah. RIGHT! But we did manage to get away for the weekend, so we went to Savannah! Let's rewind a week, shall we?

Well the last time I wrote, we were hitting some of our favorite thrift stores, stuff like that ( I really can't complain, cause the girlies DID let me shop a wee bit & I WAS able to add to my fabric stash, without going into debt, stuff like that...) & got in some library time,that was Mon & Tues. Wed I had hula, so we didn't go anywhere. Thurs took the girlies to Monkey Joes, I assume this is a chain-type of establishment, kinda like "where a kid can be a kid" place (you know what I'm talking about....) anywho, instead of coin operated-type rides, this place is FILLED with giant inflatable slides, at first my eldest said "this is a little baby place, I'm not going on ANY of these STUPID slides" so the other two, QUICKLY took off their shoes & couldn't get on a slide quick enough. My middle daughter,even told my eldest "sucks to be you" which I would have told her to watch her tongue, but sadly, she was right, my eldest was being downright pissy before she even gave it a chance....anycrap, she changed her tune & finally decided, ok, "I'll TRY one, but it won't be fun" Well, 3 hours later, lots of hooting & hollering & sweat, they ALL had a blast!

& my middle daughter figured out the HARD way, that it's not a wise choice to wear a dress to a place like this...

but that didn't stop them & they had a BLAST!!!

Then, my hubby had some work to do Friday morning & we left for Savannah...

we headed to Tybee Island first...

Now, the kids & I have never been in this part of Georgia before (hubby had gone there a couple times for work...) So we didn't know what to expect, I figured we'd go to the beach, but I wasn't completely sure how "the beach" would be here in the South ( I know that sounds stupid, but I'm use to beaches in Hawaii, so I didn't know if the Atlantic coast would be the same...I've seen some beaches in Florida & vowed I'd never swim in them, cause you couldn't see through the water....) Anycrap, the girlies asked how come we didn't bring bathing suits, I said cause I didn't know what to expect (thinking in the back of my mind, we wouldn't be swimming there...) Boy was I wrong, it was BEAUTIFUL! The weather was beautiful, the beach was beautiful, & even though we didn't bring suits, that didn't stop us from jumping on in & enjoying the beach!

spent a couple hours there, found LOTS of shells, girlies got to make their sand castles, swim, all the good stuff you do at the beach...

hubby, doesn't really care for the beach, so he decided to guard our junk...

but all in all, it was good!

Then we checked into our room ( stayed overnight there, cause we got in kinda late, but we were planning on staying a night anyways..) washed off all the sand & went down to River street for dinner & despite the fact that I had the camera on me the WHOLE time, I didn't take any pictures that night ( which I could just KICK myself for doing...) saw a couple HUGE ships going underneath this HUGE bridge...all the time thinking to myself, there's NO WAY that's going under, but DUH of course it can otherwise it wouldn't be going that way now would it? Didn't really know where we were going, but ended up in a pub-type place for dinner & it was pretty good (do I remember the name of the place? of course not, can't even remember my name sometimes & ya expect me to remember the name of an establishment???) anycrap, went thought a couple stores down there too, ended up going through a candy place & this guy was making taffy & tossing out little wrapped pieces to people passing by ( which of course would make anyone in my family just LOVE Savannah even more! I mean Free candy, can we live here? You can even walk around with drinks outside as long as they are in plastic cups, now add a slim Jim & a twinkie & a bathroom, my ENTIRE family would move there in a heartbeat!) Anycrap, we were just walking through little shops ,of course ended up buying some more taffy...it was excellent! & a few chocolates....the little ones were thrilled to have their little glass coke bottles ( it always did taste better in glass bottles if ya ask me...I know you didn't, but pretend ya did!) Anycrap, it was getting late & we were all tired from driving & going to the beach & all so we went back to the room to get some shut eye.

The next morning we decided ( with the advice of a co-worker of hubby's..) to take a trolley tour of Savannah. Now I'm not usually one to do touristy type stuff like that, but I didn't really know the area, & there was so much to see so we didn't really know where to start, so a tour sounded pretty good! & we were glad we did, we learned quite a bit about the area in a short period of time, were able to get off & back on for some of the places that we decided to spend a little more time ( & actually look inside some of the homes instead of just the outer parts...) My eldest daughter wanted to go to the Juliette Gordon Low birthplace ( she was the founder of the Girls Scouts of America) & it was pretty awesome, I never knew much about the woman, but she was a truly talented artist besides just what she was known for... there were all kinds of portraits, busts, & woodwork things she had made throughout the house that really should be in an art museum somewhere ( which is why they probably show then there at the house...)& her parents were envolved with founding Chicago, which I never knew that...anywho, learned quite a bit there!
They don't allow picture taking inside the house, but there was a beautiful garden outside, that ( & I DID ask first..) I took some pictures of...

everyone was kinda camera shy, but I wish someone stood in front of this plant, IT WAS HUGE!!! I mean I'm roughly 5'5" & this thing was taller than me! It looked like a huge aloe vera plant, but not sure, since I've never seen one get THAT big! It was definitely a cactus if some sort but it DID look like an aloe vera plant to me...

& this was a close up of a potted plant out in the front, kinda blurry, but it was what the Hawaiians call "Kika" flowers (cigar flowers, I don't know the REAL name, but that's what we call them....) they were beautiful, but not nearly enough of them to make a lei....not that I was going to :) the flowers are very tiny, but they were pretty...

Anywho, by then we were all getting a little hungry & thirsty so we hopped back on the next trolley & went to a shopping area that had some restaurants & went to an open cafe type place had a slice of pizza (sadly, New York style....MAN do we miss Pizza.....) It was ok, though, walked around to a few shops, saw some carriage tours go by...

it was starting to get a little grey out & the wind was starting to kick up. so we hopped back on the trolley, just rode the rest of the tour out (the girlies were getting a little tired anyways...) so we marked off a few more places to visit next time & just enjoyed the ride...

after the tour was over, we decided to head for home, but before we left the area we wanted to see Fort Pulaski...

sadly we got there kinda late (about 20 minutes before they were closing the gate..) so we didn't get to go inside, but we will next time...

by now it was starting to drizzle , so it was a good time to go.

So for a day & a half ( we got there roughly Friday afternoon & left early Saturday evening..) we got to see quite a bit of Savannah & one thing is for sure, we'll be going back again soon!!!

Everyone had a blast & wants to go back so all in all, it was a great weekend adventure!

So quite a good spring break was had by all, even if it wasn't really planned out, we had a nice mini vacation & the girls didn't end up staying home & saying "WE'RE BORED" everyday!
Sometimes things work out better if you don't plan them!

But now, back to life, back to work,etc, etc, etc...

Malama pono & a hui hou to all!

Spring break!!!

2008-04-09T00:05:00.004-04:00

Aloha kakou,

Well the girlies are on spring break now, so my blogging as been neglected lately..tried to get up early & get a head start on things today...

so needed my "GO-GO" juice as my girlies like to call my coffee...hubby & I were able to enjoy a cup before he left for work ( girlies were still asleep cause they can this week!)

anywho me & the girls hit one of our favorite thrift store yesterday & of course I found some fabric...

these were just some scrap pieces ( that will most likely become some more tote bags...)

but these lovely cuts are at least 4 yards each...

then my middle daughter ( the dog lover...) found this amongst the fabric (I think it might have been an outdoor flag or something like that...it has a casing at the top & is made from a nylon-type of fabric..) anywho, she wanted it to hang on her bedroom door....

then found a couple baggies of these keychains...

which inspired me to make this for my best friend who happens to be a Mickey Mouse NUT!!!...

here's an inside shot of the bag....

Anywho, my eldest found a little baby doll ( a new friend for her American Girl doll...) & my youngest found a new little puppy who just "had to come home with us"... She feels the need to "adopt" a new doll or stuffed animal every time we go there...

plus we all found quite a few books ( they sell all paperbacks for a quarter & ALL hardcovers for fifty cents...ya CAN'T go wrong with prices like that....)

Anycrap, all in all, we spent $12 for the whole hoard...( $4 for all the fabric....which of course my husband called me a nut for getting MORE, but at that price, how could I NOT get any???) I mean I got OVER 20 YARDS of fabric for only $4....ya can't possibly go wrong!

Anywho, all the fabric was washed yesterday & I thought I'd be able to do some sewing today, but sadly, we got side tracked (as always..) & ended up going to the post office (AGAIN) for more swap bot stuff, ran & got gas, ended up going to the commerce place to pick up some brochures on places to go for a possible weekend getaway with the girlies ( since they ARE on break...) headed to the library ( our other FAVORITE place to go...) I mean , by the time we got back, had lunch, cleaned all the dishes from breakfast & lunch, started making dinner & then the rest of the night kinda just slipped away...Jeff even came home early to mow the lawn & then we started doing other yard work, the girlies wanted to go to a friends house to play for a little bit before dinner...I mean WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DAY??? Next thing ya know, we're sitting down to eat dinner & the girlies are taking their baths & getting ready for bed & I still feel like I haven't gotten anything done!!!

oh well, tomorrow's another day...maybe I better try to get a head start again & see what really gets done....

Anycrap, just another day down south for me & my ohana!

Have a wonderful day! I know I will sooner or later....

Aloha Everybody!

2008-04-02T12:16:00.002-04:00

Aloha kakou,

I'm back from yet another weekend of hula, this time practice with my haumana up in Chicago ( & KC was represented too...) But it was a great relief to know you ladies are practicing & yes we ALL have to keep practicing :) but it's coming along well! We'll knock their socks off in Orlando this summer!

I have my homework (getting the dresses ordered, looking for fabric for kahiko, etc) & you ladies have your homework as well ( kahea's & now the ka'i & ho'i...stuff like that..) but it's all good!

I will keep everyone updated as things happen on my end & will be mailing out our practice cds by the end of the week...

Heard from Linda, she's on the Big Island now ( guess she was one of the Aloha Airline travelers...Aloha shut down business this week & of all weeks MERRIE MONARCH WEEK!!!) so halaus are having troubles getting to Hilo for the competition, stuff like that... Linda & Walter were able to switch to Hawaiian Airlines, but I'm sure EVERYONE is trying to get around on Hawaiian now too....what a mess! Anywho, Linda is getting her Poliahu & Pele fix ( & it's great timing since we're dancing about those two goddesses, so what better time to be on the Big Island...) I know we all just wish we were there too.....oh well, there's always next year! :)

anycrap, Mahalo goes out to Masae for having Debbie & me stay over this weekend. I appreciate it very much & mahalo to Corinna for taking Sunday at your house as well. I was so glad everybody was able to get together for the entire weekend, cause we only had 1 weekend together since last November ( & even then, we weren't ALL able to make it...) but working on getting EVERYBODY together for one last practice before Orlando as well ( our 1st & last practice together, so we'll have to make it a good one!!) :) As I have stated in other posts, I know it's a chaotic way to practice for our halau (being split into 3 different states...) but so far (knock on wood!) It's working!!! If there were anyone who could pull all this off smoothly it's you ladies & I am SOOOO proud to be your kumu & have such wonderful talents in our halau!

Sorry there's no pictures to share on this post, but will try to keep up on my blogging too....

That's all for today, just wanted to let all know we made it home safely (even if I didn't get out on the 1st flight..) but got on the 2nd one & Jeff still was able to put in a half day on Monday ( so keeping hubby happy= me getting to travel around more!) Besides costumes, we will start fund raising on our end as well ( trying to keep costs low from our pockets...so GA girls are helping out with that one....)

So a hui hou GA-IL-MO girls & keep practicing!
Laters,
Tina

Hau'oli la hanau (Happy Birthday)....

2008-03-26T14:43:00.003-04:00

By the who, forgot to wish Grandma Sillitti & ( my niece)Tonilynn a very happy birthday today!!!

& some happy belated wishes to :

(my bro-in-law) Steve who's 38th b-day was March 3rd
(my niece, Steve's daughter) Nicole who turned 9 on March 10th
( my nephew) Josh who turned 18 (woo-hoo, you gettin OLD boyeee) also on the 10th
(my niece) Nina who turned 25 on March 16th

then my youngest daughter Jade will be the big 5 on Friday March 28th & she shares her birthday with my #2 brother Ira (who will be older than dirt) also on Friday the 28th...

...hope I got everyone, LOTS of birthdays this month, so

HAU'OLI LA HANAU TO ALL!!!!

love,
Tina

Aloha e haumana...

2008-03-26T13:45:00.006-04:00

...just sending out a quick message to my students out there ( you know who you are) :) anywho, I am not bringing my laptop this weekend ( just more junk to lug on a plane...) so thought I'd post the picture of the mu'u mu'u & sizes available so we can view them from where ever we'll be... so here goes:

the mu'u mu'u I am hoping to get though is a white on white print ( will show you what I mean about that, if you're not sure what I mean by white-on-white...) so it looks just like the one we already have in green...style-wise that is....

Sizes are as follows:

S M L XL 2X 3X

Bust: 32" 34" 36" 38" 40" 42"

waist:30" 32" 34" 36" 38" 40"

Hip: 36" 38" 40" 42" 44" 46"

Length: 51" 52" 53" 54" 55" 56"

anywho, will talk more about everything when I get there, hope everyone either drives safely, (or for those of us flying...) hope your flight goes well, can't wait to see everyone...

other than that, hope everyone had a wonderful Easter as well, things were nice here, no rush to go anywhere, didn't have to cook for an army ( kinda sad about that though...) I mean, ended up making a ham, & some potato-mac salad, veggies, dessert & then thought, wow this can't be enough, but then Jeff tells me "hey, there's only 5 of us...who are you cooking for?" I guess I will eventually learn I don't have to make tons of food for just us...(if that made any sense..) just miss all my garbage dispossal ohana ( & you know who YOU are....) Just kidding, but we have been missing all the ohana especially during the holidays....anywho, mahalo to Barb for introducing us to the "plastic" Easter egg hunt....we use to dye all the hard boiled eggs, then try to get up before the kiddies do & have the "Easter Bunny" hide all the eggs & all that rot....well this time, we used your plastic egg method & man it was SOOO much easier to hide everything the night before while the little monkeys were asleep....that way they just went nuts the next morning & we didn't have to worry about not waking them up the night before....& the girlies liked having eggs to open with little goodies inside, I mean they still love hard boiled eggs, but finding little toys, jewelery, & money was WAYYYY better to them...normally whoever found the most eggs, got to open their baskets first, but they all made sure they found the same amount & then Jazzi & Jade decided that Boo should get her basket first ( it was shockingly cute...no fights or anything...) I was wondering what happened to my REAL kids!

Anywho, enough babble about Easter...have to go pack & round up everything for the weekend....malama pono to all & see you soon!

me ke aloha,

Tina

Happy Easter!

2008-03-22T23:03:00.002-04:00

Happy Easter Everyone!!!

Wishing you & yours a most joyous holiday!
Me ke aloha,
Tina

sew crazy...

2008-03-20T10:19:00.005-04:00

'ello....'ello....''ello,

well, finally started to take some pictures of the stuff I've been making lately (sorry if some of these are blurry...still figuring out the camera phone....)

Anycrap, here are some honu (turtles)

the smaller ones are about 3 inches in diameter & the larger ones roughly 5. So far I finished 18 of these little buggers ( 3 have been given away as swaps or gifts...) but have 7 more in the makings...

here's some of the pueos (owls)

These are the little stuffie guys:

& these are pins:

ok, need to take better pics of these, but the stuffies are about 3 inches in diameter ( the bottoms are round so they can sit...) & the pins are roughly about 3X3 inches ( & are much more bright in person than they came out in the picture...)

anywho, the pins are felt with either gold or silver pin backs ( have been using whatever I have for these...) the other owls & the turtles are scraps of anything I have around too....

Besides these little guys ( which I can say I am sadly hooked on making...) I have been trying to still finish the curtains for the rest of the house ( gotta keep the hubby happy too...) :) & making more pa'us, & bags too (mostly tote bags, small purses stuff like that...) & every now & then making earrings & bracelets ( was making some over Christmas season as gifts, but the girlies LOVED those, so have been making more for friends birthdays & just trying to keep some on hand in case any other surprise birthday pops up...which happens quite often around here "oh, mom, I was invited to a birthday party & it's today...do we have a gift?"...YEAH! LOVE when that happens.....)

anywho, that's what I've been making lately...soon to be featured at your next hula event or possibly soon online....let me know what you think!

Mahalo & a hui hou

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2008-03-17T14:46:00.014-04:00

Happy St. Patty's Day everyone!!

well, it was a rather crazy weekend here with the weather. We were lucky enough to only get some rain & a beautiful lightning storm, but the downtown Atlanta area wasn't so lucky...sadly a tornado DID touchdown right in the heart of the city. The Georgia dome, Centennial Park, convention center (which a home show was supposed to be taking place this weekend) the CNN building, as well as anything else in between, was struck. I mean if you've seen the news, I'm sure you've heard all about it already.

Clean up crews are still trying to pick up the broken pieces ( literally...) still lots of broken windows, glass everywhere & other debris.....definitely a mess....but again, VERY lucky that it didn't go much further south! Also it's very fortunate that not too many people were seriously injured!!!

It rained on & off on Saturday too. Still had hula class & after class we went out to dinner with one of my hubby's co-worker & his family & right as we got to the place, it down poured for a few minutes (there was a wedding party taking pictures outside before the rain came down...) we sat in the car until it cleared & then the sun came right out & this appeared right in front of us

It's a country club & has a nice restaurant & bar, turns out to be probably the closest restaurant near our house & we never even knew it existed ( it's surrounded by homes so never knew it was there...) Food was average, but found out they have karaoke there on Friday nights (woo-whoo!!) might have to go try that sometime.... anywho, our kids & his older daughter seemed to be kinda quiet( kinda shocking for my girls...) I think maybe they felt a little awkward having a meal with people they didn't know... but it was nice to go somewhere for a change.

Anycrap, things are pretty quiet down here for St. Patty's day, I guess there was supposed to be a parade & of course that was cancelled, but even despite the freak weather, I don't think it's a well celebrated event down here anyways...

Well, other than a stormy weekend, it has been pretty nice since Sunday. Started to do stuff in the yard, brought the plants outside to get some sun, kids have been out playing & enjoying the weather, started some spring cleaning...stuff like that ( yes, it's been sunny for the past 2 days now...) but we are supposed to get some more storms tomorrow ( again on a hula day....go fig...)

have been working on hula stuff all day today (mostly competition stuff...) sending out e-mails to the people running it about ticket info, a practice schedule ( which they were supposed to send me already...) plus contacting the musicians about questions I had...stuff like that, follow ups on questions that have been out there for a while now....guess I'm not the only one who runs on Hawaiian time....

oh yeah finally got the camera phone working, so hopefully (knocking on wood as I type..) I'll be able to start putting up current pictures (like the rainbows above....)

ANYCRAP, just catching up on this blog stuff too, in case anyone IS reading this stuff out there...

Hope to start posting my "aumakua"s & projects that I've been making so far too...

'tis all for now....

Hope everyone had a happy & safe St. Patty's Day ( we did....we stayed home & did nothing....) :) There's always next year!

A hui hou!

...more Ohana

2008-03-14T09:31:00.004-04:00

well, I was supposed to be in Phoenix this weekend, but sadly Spring-Break & standby passes just don't seem to mix well....soooo, sadly won't be able to meet up with my Aunty Charlene :( Sorry Aunty.....I mean, getting out of Atlanta was no problem, but having to go through any of the connection choices FUGGETTABOUDIT! :( oh well, maybe next time.

There's a big Aloha Festival that is going on there this weekend (never even knew about it, even though others have told me of it....just never put 2 & 2 together.....) Anycrap, once I found out how big this fest was & that they have continuous entertainment & plate lunch & vendors, then I got REAL upset on what I was missing out on (who'da thunk this kind of stuff went on in Arizona of all places?...) Oh well, hopefully next year!

So since I am (still) home & since I was writing about Ohana & all that stuffs, I figured, I'd keep on the subject & let you know of my "other" ohana....

These are some of my haumana (HOW-MA-NAH=student) from our Halau (HA-LAOW=school) & hopefully they won't mind me sharing this picture of our 2006 Christmas gathering (hard to believe it's already been almost 2 years since this picture...seems like yesterday....anywho...) From L to R you have (upper row) Kiakahi, who resides in the Kansas City area of Missouri, Me , new Georgia girl ( & I was told by other locals, that I'm not really a Georgia girl until I've lived here for at least 5 years.....WHATEVER, then, I'm a transplanted Chicagoan...) & Polinahe (ok, she's lived here now for way more than 5 years....so I guess she's a Georgia girl...via East Coast) & (lower row) L to R: Mililani (Chicago girl via Japan....), Puamaeole (Chicago girl!!), & Kalani (Georgia girl via Chicago too....) Quick funny story about Kalani, we actually went to the same High School in the Suburbs of Chicago (different grades, but we WERE there during the same times....) & we never met each other, never knew each other...but she called one day about hula classes, we looked each other up in our PROVI's (yearbooks) & she came to hula & has been with us ever since!!!

Anywho, these are some of my Hula Ohana. In Hula, you get so close with one another, you tend to treat each other as family ( good & or bad as that can be...) :) There's more to a halau than just learning how to dance. You really do become as close as family. There are a few more people in our "hula ohana" they might not always come to class ( heck they may NEVER come for classes...) but they have always been there for support or helping out when we REALLY needed it & will always be a part of our halau one way or another. Some of these ladies actually took hula from my mother (so, some have literally known me since baby time...) & some have found us on different Internet listings for hula, over the years some have come & gone, some have moved, or passed away,but however they did find us, they have become OHANA!

So this is just yet another type of ohana, whether you are literally related, or so close you practically CAN be related...it's All in the Ohana to me....

Malama Pono to you & your ohana!

A hui hou...

Ha, Ha, Funny....

2008-03-06T15:24:00.006-05:00

alrighty funny guy...ya got me! (of course I got even...) But I'm not posting this to start anything, just to show I DO have a sense of humor....

but anywho, speaking of a sense of humor...I was also Tagged a while back & completely forgot about it, so figured, there's no better time than now to answer it back. ( & by the who, the picture monger & the tagger, are two different people....so really nothing to do with each other, just didn't feel like typing another entry.....) :)

Anycrap here goes:

Kim at still meadow quilts tagged me a while back & I'm finally listing the 7 random/weird things about me:

Here are the rules:
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

gee ONLY 7 huh? Well, I'll try to narrow it down....

1. I have 2 tattoos...( & plan on getting more in the near future....) & unless you were with me when I got them, or happen to see me in hula costumes, or WITHOUT a costume :) you'd probably never know I have them (even my mother didn't know about the first one for a couple of years, until one day when I forgot to get some theater makeup to cover it up when we had a hula show...well...need I say more?)

2. I play the ukulele....some of my haumana know this one already. I'm not ready to cut a CD or anything like that, but have played for some shows (to kill time...) & if I was unable to find a decent recording of a song I wanted to teach, I have played it for classes....maybe not very well, but good enough to practice, But I have been practicing here & getting somewhat better at it ( at least Jeff doesn't snicker out loud anymore....)

3. have also been teaching myself how to play guitar (ok, even Jeff didn't know this one....so posting it here, cause, who really reads this stuff?) :)

4. I actually did record a CD....ok, the whole mess started with my brother David. He wanted to go & cut a CD & I honestly can't remember why....but he asked if I'd go for support, well support came in the form of..."well, you're gonna sing too...aren't you?" So we went to a studio & made a stupid disc & sadly the only people who really heard it has been friends & family ( & anybody else, my brother, father & husband made copies for...) But mysteriously they have disappeared here & there & I hope to someday find the original so it won't just show up at anymore family gatherings!

5. Hello, my name is Tina & I am a coffee-a-holic...I know, neither random, or weird....just the plain truth! I have at least a pot a day (REALLY!)

6. I still cannot stand the color Pink....I don't know why? Thought I'd get over it especially after having 3 daughters...BUT NOOOOO, whenever somebody gave us something pink...well, we MIGHT have used it...we might not have....who's to say for sure?

7. I LOVE Family Guy!!! I mean, who doesn't? in fact Family Guy & Doctor Who are probably the only 2 shows I really watch anymore.

ok Kim, hope that works for this tag & instead of tagging 7 people, I'll just go & "TAG" whoever wants to be tagged. If you feel like writing about 7 random/weird things on your blog...then consider yourself tagged...if not, well, it's not like you'll get 7 years of bad luck or anything like that (besides, I know people have been tagging you back, so how many more random things can ya possibly type? ) :)

Well, gotta finish making dinner & get ready for hula class ( usually have class on Wednesday nights, but it was switched to today this week....) Anywho, have a wonderful day!

Aloha Y'all

2008-03-04T10:45:00.005-05:00

Howdy,

I'm baaaaaacccckkkk! Did ya miss me? :) I am back from DC & before I go any further, Just want to send out a HUGE Mahalo nui loa to my cousin Paul & all his haumana up there.

MAHALO!

Thank you all for everything ( & hope to see y'all again soon, like next month....hint....hint....)

It was so nice to recharge the old hula batteries ( & man, do mine need recharging....) There is something VERY exciting that will take place up by those guys in 2 years & hopefully soon I can tell you ALL about it, but for now it is kinda hush, hush..... (oooooo.....secrets.....don't they just bug the hell outta ya?) :) But trust me it's a GOOD one!

& just wanted to ask,cuz, since when did you get so tough? Cause I am BEAT!!! Good thing I'm on pain medication cause I NEEDED it!!! I mean, I know we were kidding about the Advil, but I was poppin my naproxin like mentos! :) Ok, I didn't pop them like mentos, but I am glad I had them with.....maybe you aren't getting tougher, maybe I'm just getting OLD!!!! :) (yeah, we all hate to admit it, but it happens...like I tell my girlies "see the hill over there?.....GET OVER IT!!!") I guess I just needed to see that in print to tell myself the same thing :)

Anycrap, will be getting in touch with my own haumana ( you gals know who you are...) to catch you up on the weekend & to make arrangements for our own events coming up.

As I have mentioned on other posts we will be going to compete at the Hoike Hawaii festival ( I guess you can call it a festival....) In Orlando in July! I am TOTALLY excited because this is the first time that our whole halau will be entering on our own. ( we have been in other competitions, but always combined with another halau.....so I am frightend-terrified- excited! for this one....not to worry it's ALL GOOD!) :) There are 6 dancers (3 from the Chicago halau, 1 from Kansas City area, & 2 from here in Georgia...) that will partake in this. It's kinda wild, cause I have taught these ladies in their own areas & then we will all get together to finalize all the details (I know sounds kinda chaotic...but that's how I like to run things here...) :) No matter what though, we will have a blast!

That's about all for today, just catching up from the weekend stuff, kinda sore, kinda tired, but it's all worth it! Can't believe it's already March.....got to get things rolling here, so bye for now!

A hui hou,

Tina

Hawaiian word of the day

2008-02-28T21:51:00.004-05:00

Just a quick post for today, getting my last minute stuff packed for my trip tomorrow....but I still wanted to write a little bit today....

instead of just a word, I am picking a phrase that I use ALL the time ( as well as pretty much every Hawaiian or local person uses), so not taking the credit for this one, just sharing for those who might not know it...

The phrase is:

a hui hou (ah-who-ee-ho) pretty much means until next time, or until we meet again.

hui -can mean a gathering

hou- means again

so if you break it down it means to gather again....or in plain English, until we see each other, or meet again...

pretty simple phrase (& one I use ALL the time...) I end most of my e-mails with this (even to my non-Hawaiian friends...)

Anywho, don't think I'll get a chance to blog this weekend, so I'll share my DC adventures when I get back!

A hui hou!!!!-Tina

hey check this out....

2008-02-28T00:27:00.005-05:00

Kim from Daisy Cottage posted the heart I sent her. She had posted that she wanted some hearts to have in her home & I said I wanted to send her one & she got it & has put them into a bowl (with many others who have sent her some too...) It just kinda neat to see them all together, so many different kinds , but all having the same meaning to add some love & warmth to her home! I think it was a great idea (& glad she liked it too....) Anywho, go check out her blog if you get a chance....

Other than that, going to go visit my cousin in DC this weekend. He is a kumu hula from Keaukaha Hawaii ( my mom's home town...) He has a halau there & also has one in the San Fransico Area & Washington DC area. He has been doing some workshops in DC & I was supposed to go visit last month, but the weather was terrible & it was impossible to make it there ( at least impossible while trying to fly standby with employee tickets that is...) So needless to say, I'm going to try to make it up there this weekend (knocking on wood as I type this...) So hopefully there'll be no freak snowstorm or anything like that to make flying miserable again. His name is Paul Neves and this is the link to his halau's website. He's actually married to my cousin Wanda, so we're related through marriage, but I still think of him as my cousin too! Wanda & I have been very close since I first met her (when I was 9 years old...) I know that sounds odd, what do you mean met your cousin when you were 9?...but that was the first time I went to Hawaii & we (my brother's & I ) finally got to meet my mother's side of the family. She started working for United Air Lines when I was 9 & before that, we knew she was from a small Hawaiian homestead on the Big Island of Hawaii, but never really met any of her side of the family ( well, other than my cousin Thomas...whom I am still very close to as well...he came to Chicago when I was 7 for my brother's wedding....)anycrap, I grew very attached to Thomas & Wanda, because we all danced hula & even though we all had different teachers, with different styles, we always managed to dance well together (as if we have done so since we were born...) Wanda married Paul & the rest is history! Anywho, Paul also came from a different school of hula, yet one of his first teachers was my mom's Aunty, so it's all just a big circle that seems to connect back together.

Didn't mean to go into a rant, but it is what I do best....

Anycrap, don't know how I went from showing off a heart I sent to another blogger to talking about hula with my cousins, but it probably doesn't surprise any of you who know me :) everything leads back to hula with me & it's all good!

Anywho, that's enough babble for today! Have a wonderful day & a hui hou

....oh, and another thing

2008-02-26T10:38:00.005-05:00

I almost for got to mention a big

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Hau'oli La Hanau-(how-oh-lee-la-ha-now)

to my niece Gianna!

Happy 14th girlie & hope all you birthday wishes come true today & always!!!
Love,
Your family down in Georgia

Yucky Rainy Morning to all...

2008-02-26T10:13:00.003-05:00

Hi-diddly-ho everyone, Just a rather yucky day outside. I can't complain of the temp.It's still supposed to be in the 60's today, but we had a slight thunderstorm early on & when I wake up to that, I tend to want to stay in & find things to catch up on (like all the sewing I've promised to do for months now....) :) But then holidays & birthdays get in the way, then darling sweet hubby comes up with an idea to turn pictures from a calendar into wall art..."honey to we have any odd-sized frames to put up these odd-sized pictures?" Odd-sized frames, how odd are these sizes? Ya know, 7 1/2 by 12 3/4....Gee honey, I don't think they make that size....could we cut down the picture?....No that would ruin it...ok how about mod podge it to something....(oops...there I go & open my BIG mouth!) Hubby then asks "what's Mod-podge?" as if I made up this crazy sounding thingy because I'm the crafty one in the house AHHHHH!!!! So all the sewing gets put on the back burner while I'm modpodging 12 months worth of pictures for our home! Must say they do fit our tropical theme, but as if I didn't have a hundred things to catch up on already, without the snowball of things that have been going downhill since before Christmas...oh & have I mentioned that our Hula Halau is going to compete this year? If I haven't already, yes, our Halau is going to compete this year in Orlando...just thought I'd throw that in to simplify my life :)

Sorry, just had to get some of that out of my system. i think I'll go have some coffee now! Have a wonderful day all!

P.S. Still no real pictures I need a REAL camera to do that....ok, I'm REALLY going to go have my coffee now.....Laters!

It's All Good

2008-02-22T01:09:00.004-05:00

Ever have one of those days, where you're not quite sure how things are going to turn out? Then little by little everything seems to fall in place? Well, today was one of those days (or should I say yesterday, since it's actually already Friday...) Anywho, the day started kinda grey, kinda rainy, kids bored to tears cause they've been on vacation all week & have nothing to show from it other than driving each other crazy....then , out of nowhere, I started to get all kinds of good news (knocking on wood as I type..) Answers to questions that have been asked long ago....people getting packages sent a while back ( & them actually liking what they got...)stuff like that! Things that might be no big whoop to anybody else, but made my grey skies turn blue ( guess it doesn't take much to make my day...) Anycrap, just wanted to share my little YEA! I know this all seems like babble, but if you know me ( which some of you do...) Then this somehow makes sense....

Today's Hawaiian word of the day:

Pono (poh-noh) To make right (good)

Today was Pono for me, so hope it was just as good ( if not better..) for you as well!

A hui hou (until next time....)

Happy Anniversary Mom & Pop

2008-02-19T12:54:00.005-05:00

Not much to write today, so just want to wish my parents a Happy 53rd Anniversary!!!

Hau'oli La Ho'omana'o-Happy Anniversary!

so 53 years ago when this man....

met this woman.....

they decided to get hitched!

Then seven kids (I being the youngest & only daughter....), & 13 grandkids later...& they're still going strong!

Hope you had a wonderful day mom & pop (even if it was rather cold up in Chicago!)
Love you & miss you lots!
Malama Pono & a hui hou,
Your Ohana down in Georgia

Swap bot

2008-02-15T11:30:00.003-05:00

Hello again, don't know if any of you crafty people out there already know about this site, but just in case you don't, I'm writing about it today. It's called Swap-Bot

now, in case you haven't read from the begining, I'm rather new to all this "blogging" stuff, so I guess you can say, I'm a little overwhelmed by it all. There's all these cool blogs out there, where peple share all kinds of ideas (for crafting, cooking, etc, etc) so that's kinda what as gotten me to give it a try....anycrap, I found out about this swap-bot & it's where quite alot of people like to swap stuff (stuff, they've made, found at thrift stores, got on clearence....just a bunch of sick people JUST LIKE ME!!!!no offense, I say it in jest....) :) I have just started & I'm already addicted (easy for me to get addicted to craft stuff....) anywho, I guess not all swaps go through, whether people just don't send them or whatever the reason, I'm not quite sure ( like I said, I just started...) but so far, I got this:

I swap with Swap-bot!

it's my very first package I got from the woman who ran this particular swap (which was to make a stuffie & send it to your partner....) I sent out a honu to my partner (sadly forgot to take a picture of the honu I sent...I did say I'm new to all this & that my excuse & I'm sticking to it....) . The one running the swap decides who sends to who & then you get your swap partners address (there's also a bio on each person so you can see what kinds of stuff they like...) or sometimes there might be certain requirements to follow, pretty easy if ya ask me ( I know you didn't ask, but just saying it to be nice..) :)

Anycrap, if you're itching to make stuff & don't have a reason & are looking for a good excuse, give it a try. Ya never know, you might make a friend, get ideas to get those creative juices flowing, stuff like that!

Well, hope to one day figure out how to download the pictures I've been taking with my camera phone ( I know I should just go & get a REAL digital camera....) but for now I'll keep pluggin' away at this....Baby Steps, Baby Steps! Have a wonderful day everybody!

Laters,
Tina

Happy Valentine's Day....

2008-02-13T23:31:00.004-05:00

Here are some Hawaiian words that might be helpful for today:

Aloha-(ah-loh-ha) A greeting or farewell, can also mean love
Honi-(hoh-nee) a kiss
Ku'uipo- (coo-oo-ee-poh) sweetheart, sweetie
pu'uwai-(poo-oo-vai) heart

Whatever you & yours do today, hope you have a most enjoyable Valentine's Day!
Malama Pono,
Tina

Today's Hawaiian Word...

2008-02-12T14:36:00.000-05:00

Hana lima (ha-nah-lee-mah) Handmade, manual labor, to make with the hands.

in other words, pretty much what every crafter does (or hopes to do ) everyday. Working with the hands. Whether it be sewing, cooking, scrapbooking...you know who you are & what you're addicted to :) but you all Hana Lima.

I never really thought of myself as an actual "crafter" I love to make things, I sew (not as well as some of my haumana, but the things I have made so far, doesn't fall apart or anything like that...) But I usually look at others (like, people at craft fairs) & think of "them" as being a crafter...but if you've ever seen my closet, you'd think I just robbed a Jo-Ann's or Michael's, I mean I have stuff that I've never even dabbled in yet, but I got it just-in-case! I have cross stitch stuff ( which I do..) Glass etching stuff (which I have tried) beading ( do that too) have all kinds of yarn & knitting needles & crochet hooks ( haven't even started that yet) & let's not even bring up the fabric ( my husband thinks I'm a dragon guarding my horde when it comes to fabric...sad thing is he's right about that one...) so I guess I really am a crafter! This past Christmas was the first time that I actually made about 90% of my gifts ( & surprisingly, the receivers seemed to like them...at least what I have heard so far...) So I guess what my babble is about today, is it so wrong to be called a crafter? Nah, I think it's a complement & I feel honored to be in such ranks! So go make something today & be proud of what you can do. My wish for you all is that you never lose your abilities to use your talents! Have a wonderful day & go "Hana Lima"

Laters-Tina

Hawaiian word for today...

2008-02-09T00:36:00.000-05:00

Well my intention was to post a new word for each day ( at least for this month...) but already life got in the way & I have been unable to post for the last couple of days (how rude for life to just take over like that...) Anycrap...finally getting around to posting today! (I know, about time...) but here is my word for today (freshly borrowed from Ulukau-hawaiian online dictionary)

au.makua
1. nvt. Family or personal gods, deified ancestors who might assume the shape of sharks (all islands except Kauai), owls (as at Mānoa, O'ahu and Kaū and Puna, Hawaii), hawks (Hawaii), elepaio, iwi, mudhens, octopuses, eels, mice, rats, dogs, caterpillars, rocks, cowries, clouds, or plants. A symbiotic relationship existed; mortals did not harm or eat aumākua (they fed sharks), and aumākua warned and reprimanded mortals in dreams, visions, and calls. (Beckwith, 1970, pp. 124–43, 559; Nānā 38.) Fig.., a trustworthy person. (Probably lit.., au 4, group, + makua, parent.) See pulapula 2. hō.au.makua To acquire or contact aumākua.

Ok, so roughly an aumakua (ah-ma-coo-ah) is what you could call a guardian of sorts. (linked to the gods naturally) I was always told each aumakua had a specific way to help the ones they are guarding (like, I know on my grandmother's side of the family, the owl (pueo) is our aumakua, & the pueo protects you in your journeys...so they could help you to not get lost, to have safe trips, etc. & on my grandfather's side it is the shark (mano) & the shark is supposed to protect you in the water, stuff like that)they can appear in dreams, literally appear & they could also do harm to those who would try to hurt you as well...a very handy spirit to have on your side! So, I bet you're wondering why I chose this as the word of the day, well, that will have to wait for tomorrow (or actually later on today... will post a picture to answer that...) Till then you'll just have to trust me on that one....

Well the last couple of days have been a wee bit chaotic over here ( in a good way) with catching up on some projects that I've been putting off since the holidays, like finishing the curtains that I was supposed to make BEFORE the holidays started ( only got the front room, kitchen & family room done...still need to do the dining room & the girls bedrooms, so have been getting that all together...) Also finally stripped the desk we picked up for the little queen of the house (found a REAL cute old fashioned school desk for Jade on one of our thrifting adventures ...)it needs a good painting, so finally got around to stripping the old paint off & will hopefully get to painting tomorrow, went to see a doctor (long story on that one, will fill in laters ) :) finally cleared up my craft area, put all the like items together (fabrics all washed & sorted in clear zip bags, beads with the beads, sewing notions all in reach...stuff like that) Got a new sewing table in my little corner, so actually have room to work on stuff...& have just been running around like a nutter...so now at 1am, I'm finally getting caught up on my blog!

Anywho, sorry for all the babble, I promise this will make more sense once I'm fully awake & post pictures to match all the babble!

Till then, hope your aumakuas help (kokua) you out today & always ( see how nicely this is all starting to fit?) Have a great day!

Hawaiian word of the day....

2008-02-05T18:19:00.000-05:00

Kokua (koh-ku-ah) help

& who doesn't need help every now & then ( mentally, physically, etc...) whether it be to help tie a shoe, help set the table, help getting a link to appear on a blog (hint, hint), help is often needed & sometimes even granted. But for now, try to kokua whomever may need it whenever they may need it. Sometimes the one granting the kokua is such a wonderful feeling to themself as it is to the one they are helping! If that made any sence.

Laters!

My First Ramblings

2008-02-04T14:04:00.000-05:00

Aloha Y'all,

Well, I'm giving it a go. For those who do not know what I mean, I promised myself I would try to do something different this year. Instead of making a list of resolutions (which I knew I wouldn't be able to keep...) I promised to "try" new things. ( that way if I didn't get them done, I wouldn't be so down on myself for making promises I couldn't keep....) No, this year I decided to take "baby steps" & just try to do something different. So I wanted to start a web site, but didn't really know where to start ( & really didn't want to bug my nieces & nephews, who know WAYYYY more about computers than their old fart Aunty....) So, after lurking at other people's blogs, I figured, "HEY, maybe I could do that!" So here's my first "baby step" I'm trying out this whole blog thingy to see if it'll work for my way of keeping in contact with those far away (mainly family, friends & haumana...) & keeping in touch with new friends & haumana & trying to make this whole "wonderful world of Aloha" type of vibe.

Still in the process of setting up my blog, so have LOADS to write about ( & for those who know me best, this probably is a great way to let out all that babble that I have stored inside...)

So get ready, get set & let's GO! Here's a start to a new year!

Malama Pono to all