I JUST noticed my picture that I took of myself in a mirror... My shirt is a "NOTW" (Not Of This World) shirt. You should take a look at their website for some great apparel. Anyway, it looks like it says "WTF" instead. Thanks, reflection.

Claudia Finn In and Out of the Studio: Tuesday Inspiration

Claudia Finn In and Out of the Studio: Tuesday Inspiration

Kawika by Kumu Keith

Hula Seminar w/ Kumu Keith Awai!

We left for NOVA pretty early in the morning. I mean, we met at Aunty's at 5:30am..whew...Ok, I was the only one there that made it at that time, but hey..I was excited! I had to consolidate my bags or stuff: Uli uli's, camera, etc oh and the ever important brownies! We hit the road in Juana's van, a fancy thing that I want now! ha! It has a DVD player (we watched a hula dvd) and the ever important GPS! Shavonn, her mommy, Melissa as well as Aunty, Suzie and I hopped in and we were on the road. Many hilarious stories kept us in tears..the more Suzie talked, the harder it was for Juana to drive!! Juana was still on Hawaii time, too! You go, girl!!

We got turned around a tiny bit but made it to the center...early! What?! What kind of Filipino/Aloha time is that? We grabbed a couple of munchies that the Hosting Halau had laid out for everyone and were greeted with the sweetest smiles and aloha's ever!

Kumu Keith was ready for us and we began our day in prayer. Yes, Jesus we surely needed it, but he already blessed us with this wonderful ride up and awesome weather!


Then Kumu said his hello's and warmed us up...for 40 mintues!!! At one point he had us going in circles, literally. I saw the room spinning faster than I was, praise God he stopped us when he did. I woulda been looking at sky w/ my back flat on the ground!! It was fun warming up to Funky Town (my personal favorite and #1 song I want played at my funeral: hey it'll be a celebration where I'm going! haha!) and other great disco tunes!

We learned some awesome songs, some songs we knew, but, the choreography was fun and new, too! Anyways, the ladies are all a riot to be around and the atmosphere of this was a blessing to all of us...ok, it didn't hurt that there was a good looking man teaching us to hula either-there, I said it! You know what? It turns out that Melissa and Shavonn are related to Kumu Keith! Woohooo!! This was the best first seminar experience ever! Thank you Aunty and thank you Kumu Keith and Halau O 'Aulani! What a blessing you all are! Praise Jesus!

www.myspace.com/hawaiianstyleva

http://www.halauoaulani.org/

Keoni's Bowling Birthday Party

Dec 1, 2008 is actually Keoni's b'day, but he wanted to have a Bowling Birthday party complete w/ really cool buds from his class as well as a cousin or three, 3 uncles, a ninang an Auntie..etc etc...so, on Dec 7 we went bowling! Keoni's classmates were the most well behaved, most respectful (of each other and adults), most polite and had the best manners I'd ever seen of children in a long time! They were the best and it seemed like they all had a great time! I sure had a great time myself and we didn't even get to finish the one game we adults decided to play! Lani, Zoe, Chris and Sierra played w/ the bumpers up (cheaters!) while we adults just moseyed on over whenever it was our turn to bowl! It was great to see Juju and Bushka who enjoyed themselves tremendously despite the minor accident w/ Juju's big box of Sixlets that Auntie Charlotte accidentally spilled..There were still a few left in his box and Juju wasn't terribly torn up about it esp when all the boys got their goody bags and got to shoot off their little missiles..That was the biggest hit! :) Keoni got to unwrap gifts at home after they shut down the entire bowling alley (they turned off everything so we couldn't finish our games-boooooo!!!) Well, we were still on our first game and the teens and the little ones had just started their 2nd game. Keoni got the best gifts ever! Keoni and mommy were particularly impressed by the extra large b'day card from his friend Michael. Both of them said, "WHOA!" as soon as Keoni pulled it out of the bag! hahaha!! What a great birthday for Keoni!!




You should be able to click on the pictures to see the album of photos!! Yes, there are 3 albums...Enjoy!!

December 7 2008 I

December 7, 2008 part 2

December 7 2008 part 3

Spicy!!!

Be sure to click on the picture to hear El Toro speak to you!

Busy Weekend

What a blessing to be able to do things! We went out to dinner at this new fangled place in Chesapeake Friday night, Sat morning I took the girls to a stamping party where we all chanted my name at a drawing and- I WON!! We headed out to play with my nephews, then go to the movies..Sun we went to church, had lunch, went to the movies, went to the movies again (Sneak Preview of Star Wars Clone wars!!!) then ran to the hula show...whew!!

Huki Lau..again!

After one loooonnnngggg marathon weekend for me, it ended with a very fun fun show at a church luau. It turns out I had connections to this church and didn't even know it! haha!! Oh man was that plate dinner ONO!!!

Click on the last couple of pictures, they are actually videos of our very enthusiastic Tahitian volunteers!

Let's Bowl!!

Sunday, we wished Ms. Donna a fond Aloha! Ahhh..the opportunity to be with family and get a whole new perspective on life, to start it all over again: such things are priceless to begin with..but then on top of that to be in Hawaii!?!? Woohoo!!

Huki Lau!

We had a great hula show last Saturday night in Norfolk..We seemed to wake up the crowd from their food induced comas! We always come mentally prepared as to where we will be standing, how we will enter and exit the stage (or "stage area" if there isn't a "real stage")..Then we get to the venue and we're like: Errr?! But we make do: Hey you ladies that are more experienced, you are up front and the rest of us will be in the back! No Sweat!

So, we performed w/o a hitch and the audience participation went really well, too. We finished our hour long performance and went out for what I realize is Auntie's traditional "Let's go eat after a great performance" meal! :) Haha! We ended up at the new Plaza Azteca...We got to hear really great and funny stories about Donna. Sniff..this was her last performance and then we'd have a bowling party on Sunday wishing her a fairwell..she was heading to Maui to start her new life with her youngest son and with her family...sigh, how awesome is that?

Oh, the last picture..beware what you wear when you have a white dress on! Hahaha!! That's one way to make sure we all have a smile on our faces while we are performing!!!