Home, Sweet Home!

Yes, I'm back on the rock! I've been meaning to blog about Australia since I got back this past Presidents' Day, but I haven't had the time to do so :( but I will definitely get a chance to do so soon. It will most likely just be of pictures and captions because we did A WHOLE FRIKKEN LOT!!

Ever since I got back, there was no time to recuperate or rest. We barely got any sleep on tour and we worked our booties off! When it was time to head home, I was just exhausted, but frustrated at the fact that I couldn't sleep comfortably :0( I was on a 13 hour flight from Sydney to San Francisco, then another 5 hour flight from San Francisco to Home, sweet home, HAWAII, and before I knew it, I was back to waking up to long days at work and going straight to dance gigs and dance practices. Uggh I've been exhausted, especially with having my period during the tour I just feel all sorts of strange things going on with my body. But it was definitely a fun trip and I will definitely blog about it sooner, if not later! Love you guys and I'm glad to be back :0)

A Few of My Favorite Things

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things" 

I'm sure you're familiar with that tune :0) With that in mind, I wanted to list a few of a dancer's favorite things.  They might be minor things to anyone else, but to a Polynesian dancer, these things are as good as GOLD!

• Bobby pins
• Hair berets 
• Safety pins
• Hook & eyes 
• Industrial velcro
• Fire-engine-red color lipstick
• False lashes (The Best Kine from Longs)
• Lash glue (Shiseido brand only from Japan direct)
• Bushy, bushy, BIG hair!
• Coconut bra
• Hula panty
• Angel Cake cutter (to shred them ti leaves)
• Dog grooming brush (to shred them tahitian grass skirts)
• Twine
• Scissors
• Extra black shoelace strings

Those are just a FEW things that are essential to have on hand as a dancer.  I have a huge tool box at home filled with "tools" that I need when it comes to costume making and show prepping!!  It's kind of ridiculous.  What I also think is ridiculous is the amount of space that my costumes take up.  It's bad enough that women, in general, keep a whole closet(s) and drawer(s) full of clothes!  So, can you imagine needing double that amount because your show costumes take up that same amount of space!  Hundreds of colors of show pareu's, practice pareu's, pau skirts, ahu purotu dresses, hula vignette dresses, cellophane skirts, pule tasi's, piu piu skirts, feathered outfits, headpieces, mother of pearl accessories, coconut accessories, rafia/lauhala outfits and accessories, muu muus [Yes, I do own and wear muu muus on occassion haha!], hula implements-uli uli's, pu'ili's, & ipu, headpieces... etc., etc.

Yes, this is just another thing you might want to consider if you ever decide to live with a dancer because chances are she'll probably ask for double the space just to house all of her "native attire" HAHAHA! Have a happy Thursday everyone!!  Weekend is almost here!

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Update: A few of my NEW favorite things :0)

Just a couple of outfits I picked up from a boutique, House of Aria, courtesy of the birthday gift certificate that I got from Marichris and Leilani!  Yeah, I'm so on a budget these days!  I only ended up spending $58 for these three items because I had that gift certificate :0)  **pat on the back for me**

Typical Hectic Day of a Dancer

Tonight's Main Event: 

MA'OHI NUI kicking off the ProBowl Party @ Waterfront, Aloha Tower.  

Live performances by T-Pain and JBoog 

You're probably thinking that I'm crazy to be blogging on a "show day," but trust me this one will be short, because I'm running on a tight schedule... tight like my pu........ Bahahahaah!  Okay so before working my 7 hour shift today [with no break, as usual], I got up early to work out, eat breakfast, pack my lunch, shower, brush my teeth, and then I had to scrounge for ti-leaves to make our fresh costumes for tonight's show.

You're probably asking, "Why did I procrastinate and not have my fresh costumes done earlier in the week?" Well, for two reasons, 1) I was working during the day and practicing nights to prepare for our upcoming tour.  2) Our clients don't hire dancers that dance with dead crap for costumes, thus we try to keep our costumes as fresh as possible... [Just like fresh ahi poke from Tanioka's].

So, if you don't own a farm or botanical garden, which most dancers don't, you're gonna have to go on a wild search to find the plants and resources you need for costume making....... et Voila!  Here is my secret spot for picking my red ti leaves.  I try to look conspicuous or pretend that I'm doing regular maintenance so that I don't get caught, busted, or arrested!  Yiiiikes!

I already have green ti leaves in my yard, so that's where these babies in the pic below came from.  Now I have to clean, strip and braid the leaves into material to make my costume, which for tonight will be a hip costume and a hei for my head.

Even if you're a pro at making these, finding the time out of a busy schedule to have your costumes done is still a hassle because it is time consuming.  Just like cooking, you want to make your costumes with love, otherwise the end result just comes out sh***y.  Preparing for shows and being a hardcore dancer in general gets really tiring :0( but the pay off is great, which is why I'm still die hard!

Anyways, the end result is shown below :0) Now all I have to do is throw some water on her, put her in a cooler, or a cool place in general, and I'll be ready to rock the sh** out of her at our show!!

Wish us luck at the event!  Hope you all have a HAPPY THURSDAY, a GREAT ALOHA FRIDAY, and an AMAZING WEEKEND to follow!  Xoxo!!

A U S T R-maa'fuckin'-A L I A Baaaabyyyy!

I want to start off with a quote from my dear friend, Madea!  Haha!  Also known as, Tyler Perry :)

Nobody said it was gonna be easy! But it’ll get easier when you learn how to love yourself. When you get to a point in your life when you look at people and go: “okay, wait a minute. You? Or me?” You will make a decision. Look, I’ve never just thrown nobody away. I’ve never in my life just thrown somebody away, just say: “don’t bother me. Don’t talk to me no more.” I have never done that. What I do is, I tell them: “look here, this thing you’re doing right here? That’s gonna cause a problem; you need to fix that. ‘Cause if we gonna be friends, you gotta fix it. If you don’t, we gonna have an issue.” Now, if you see someone fix it, or they even trying to fix it, that’s someone that cares. Keep them around. That’s a leaf that’s trying to grow up and be something else. You understand? But if you tell somebody that what they’re doing is hurting and they need to stop it, and they keep doing it? They don’t care; move on. Let them go. No matter how much it hurts, let them go. And it’ll get easier, I promise you . Everyday it will get easier and easier and easier. You just got to make it through. You hear me honey?

I looooooove wise ole Madea!  Reflecting upon that quote makes me realize and be all the more thankful of the wonderful people--my family and friends--that I have in my life!  This past week was so difficult for me to get through.  I'm not sure if it was just a menstrual or hormonal imbalance kind of jive, but I felt super fat, unmotivated, lonely, a bit suicidal... haha don't take the latter seriously, I think the suicidal part was probably just me taking the "F*** My Life" perspective to a whole new, majorly melodramatic level.

But anyways, there are definitely times where I look forward to having restful days, peace and quiet, not having to deal with work, gigs, dance practices, chores, errands etc. etc.  Days where I can just have absolute "Me" time.  Yes, those kinds of days do exist for me.  I make it happen, otherwise, I probably go crazy, gouge my eyes out or jump on broken pieces of glass or something.  On the contrary, I have my moments where I look forward to my life where I am so busy that I am not able to indulge in "Me" time at all!!!  [Not to say that I enjoy every minute of being bussst-ass-busy, but there are stolen moments where I do enjoy "gettin' busy."]  Yes, those days exist too, and unfortunately, they unjustly outnumber the peaceful and restful days... by a landslide :(  I don't know if you recall reading my blog about our dance group's Christmas Show, but just as an example, during that time, it was caaah-ca-ca-caaa-raaaay-zzzeeee busy!  And the next couple of weeks will be the same because in the middle of February, a select few dancers from Maohi Nui are going on tour to.....

A U S T [mother fuckin'] R A L I A !!! Yeah, Australia!!

I'm super duper excited!  I still didn't ask for leave from work yet, and I haven't even prepared my student's substitute plan either.  I haven't thought about packing.  We haven't learned any of the dance numbers we're supposed to perform.  And we haven't prepared/sewn any of our costumes!  Ohhh what joy will the next couple of weeks bring!  Ugggghhhh!  I'm not looking forward to the stress that comes with preparing for these kinds of dance events, but HE surely does plan my life accordingly.  And I say that because my sister is leaving, and I've been having more bad days than good days, so I know HE knows that the stress will help to get my mind off of things and help me get through the emptiness I've been feeling and focus on life and the better things ahead :)

To help brighten the mood of my sister leaving for New York, my mom, Tine, and I went shopping today at Ala Moana.  It was more for my mom than anything and Tine and I were just there to support her decisions [No that material looks cheapy! Oh yea, go with that one, you look so Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy] but hey she deserves it :) Oh, I also scored myself two cute pairs of shoes that I plan on rocking in Australia... and I'll probably rock them out for the next 10 years of my life as they become "so last season" and then slowly make their comeback into the fashion world... like bell bottoms!  I don't ever buy anything stylish.  Meaning to say that I am the epitome of "ghetto" haha kinda sorta so I'm very happy with the shoes :) Okay have a great week in Hawaii Nei all!

Oh yeah **CHEEEERS** for starting the New Year off with a new blackberry phone :) Ohhh how I loooove her soooo :)

Pill Boxes!

First Hike of 2011!  Kailua, Hawaii, Pill Boxes :)

Let's see how long I can keep this up... too tired to write so enjoy the pics! ...I had pics on here...then I don't know where they went lol. Must've had something to do with my phone upgrade. YIKES! Technology these days!

Switching Gears into 2011

So the last time that I blogged would have to have been right before Maohi Nui's Christmas Show.  Things started to pick up and I started to get suuuper busy!!  The Holidays have been sooooo busy indeed!!  All the long late night practices, rehearsals, costume picking (as in picking fresh leaves), costume making, and costume prepping took up so much time within that one week.  As if that was not enough to drain the energy out of me.  Little did I know the remaining three weeks would get worse!  Ugghh!  So many parties to celebrate the Holidays, to celebrate another year of success and hard work, to celebrate graduations, to celebrate another year of friendship and many more to come, to celebrate birthdays, and wedding engagements!!  It is truly, "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" for me :)

The highlight of the past two months would be seeing my family reunited under the same roof again since Thanksgiving 2007.  That's a little over 3 years!  I finally got to meet my youngest nephew and we got to throw them both a big birthday bash at our hale like my mom has always dreamt of doing.

Of course us sisters always dread these big gatherings because that's when mom's fuse is like that of FIREWORKS and when one little thing sets her off... oh truuuust!  She does explode like one!!  So we did our best to clean and help her cook and set up, but still no bueno!  When guests were arriving before the actual call time, she lost it, and went into PRACK-TACKK-TACKK-mode [that's supposed to be the sound of a fire cracker or fireworks haha].  Anyways, the Holidays were amaaaazing, fun-filled, busy, stressful at times, but I wouldn't trade that to have anything ordinary.  I would post up pictures to highlight the many joyous events that took place, but I'm feeling under the weather... it's mostly due to my body working overtime and not getting adequate amounts of rest!  Ugghh!  Damn you anemia!

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION 

1. Do my best to save money by doing more "Free" things.  I guess this all rooted from last year.  I wanted to try new things and be open to whatever, which included going out to clubs, paying cover, buying rounds of drinks, not allowing myself enough time to make a potluck dish so I'd end up buying one, gallivanting too much causing me to buy MORE gas than I actually need.  So to achieve this I intend to:
• Cut down my alcohol intake & try to drink only wine because less alcohol = less $ spent.
• Limit the late night festivities to weekends only or on very special occasions & only to places that have "no cover" or somewhere that I can get on a guestlist e.g. MaiTais and The Shack.
• Utilize and appreciate what Mother Nature has given = a FREE gym :)
2. Going hand in hand with number 1 is to live an even more healthier lifestyle.  It's kind of contradicting because I'm already in the midst of catching a damn cold, but it's because I haven't given my body a break during the holiday season, but I would definitely go about achieving this by: 
• Limiting the late night festivities to also allow me to have more me time and family time.  I already spend enough time working and dancing that often times I forget about myself... forget that I need to take care of myself first!
• Cut down my alcohol and to consume only wine because a glass of red a day is supposed to be healthy.  And hey, if the French drink wine all the time and maintain gorgeous figures, then I can too ;)
3. In past years, I spent A LOT of time and created soooo many wonderful memories with my friends.  So, this year, I want to rekindle the relationship with my family and extended family by talking more and spending more quality time with them as well.

Buuuut in the end, whatever happens, happens!  If I don't succeed in achieving these things, then I would hope that it was for a purpose to achieve something better.  I leave it all in HIS hands for he has a wonderful plan for me, I just got to believe it and stop thinking that I'm a worthless piece of crap!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE :))

dancing: love | hate | LOVE!

We are down to the final week in preparing for our, Maohi Nui's, Christmas Show :0)  This morning was our first practice together as a group--talented musicians, singers, male dancers, female dancers, keiki dancers, and our faithful supporters gathered today for an intense 5 hour practice!  I love feeding off of everyone's energy and excitement every time we are putting on a big production or going into competition.

On Facebook, I posted a status, which read: This morning was nothing short of a PURE BLESSING!! Sometimes I get caught up w/ stress from the daily grind that I tend to go through the motions in life, but today was a great reminder that when I put my HEART into everything I do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING can bring me down. I have so much ♥ & RESPECT for my passion and the AWESOME, TALENTED people that I am blessed to share it with! *Manuia* 

I always refer to tahitian dancing as my constant and throughout the entire time it has always been a love/hate relationship!!  To call it my passion would be an understatement!  I work 8 hours a day, the other 16 hours of the day, I am practicing to be better, I am dancing to help others get better, I am sharing the dance at a performance, I dream of dance, I am drinking to celebrate the completion of the hard work spent to execute the dance, I work out to be a stronger dancer, I eat at certain hours of the day to make sure I don't puke my guts out at dance practice, I refuel my body not to have energy for work, but energy to dance, I think Tahitian thoughts, I listen to Tahitian music, I replay Tahitian dance moves in my head.  When I am not dancing, I crave to dance! I am so in love with this cultural art form, that when I hear the live music I get chicken skin, almost being brought to tears! 

Like in any relationship, whether it be with another person or hobby, sometimes it gets too life consuming and the hundreds of hours, blood, sweat, tears and dedication you put in can put a heavy burden on your shoulders and cause sleepless nights, and stress.  Sometimes I wish to get away from dancing, to lower what's expected from me as a dancer just to ease the stress burden.... but in the end, I always find myself loving and appreciating all the stress and hard work that was spent for the final outcome because it is always PRICELESS!!  To feel the music, the adrenaline rush, to know that you worked so hard for something so beautiful is a feeling that I cannot even put into words.

This week has been stressful indeed trying to keep up with my diet, exercises, retaining choreography for our Christmas show, attempting to manage work, household chores, Christmas shopping, and I just got my period--so I'm trying extra hard to be patient, fight the menstruation fatigue and bloatedness hahaha!  It's been a task, but I am sure that our supporters will not be disappointed by our performance next week Saturday! "Maohi Nui e! IMUA!"