Aloha !

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!

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!

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???

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!...

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....

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...

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