FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE week 40 - a gratitude list

Me and Tea, our association's president, collecting food for homeless animals.

Mt T. and I went to see this exhibition of surrealist postcards from the early 20th century.
They had these "tinttamareski" (I don't know how they're called in english) things there
and of course we had to have a go :)

A necklace I'm making.  Beading makes me so happy.

Autumn!

the ticking of the Kit Cat clock, the scent of coffee and the playful look in the kitten's eyes,

Tiitta

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE week 39 - a gratitude list

We attended four workshops by Manca Pavli (Slovenia) in Turku. Wow, she really did kick our asses, in a very positive and constructive way. So much new information, new revelations, and pretty sore muscles, just how I like it! We also performed at What the Fu****!? show there with my flapper sister Ane.

Manca Pavli instructing me with the right dance posture

Ane and me and "Booty Swing", choreography by our teacher Laura Luna

Me and Ane, wearing flapper-ish beaded headdresses and bead belts by me.

Me, Manca Pavli and Ane after the show

The clicking of zils, sparkling beads and sore muscles, 

Tiitta

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE week 35 and 36 - a gratitude list

Friday I'm in love is my gratitude list.

I had a flu (AGAIN!) so this is a bit late.


I'm grateful for...

• My Love
• Our cats
• Dance
• Our Home
• Crocheting
• Birds
• Silver Moonstone Ring
• Beadwork
• My brothers
• My cousins
• Kaori shells
• Bronze nail polish
• Friends
• Licorice Tea
• Sewing
• Star Wars
• Spicy Noodles
• Henna hairdye
• Being healthy
• New shoes that are pretty AND practical
• My job
• Busy-ness of autumn
• Feeling important
• Making Things Happen

Beastie Boys, bananas and sunshine,

Tiitta

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE weeks 32, 33 and 34 - a gratitude list

Friday I'm in love is my gratitude list. Three weeks at a time, I can really only blame myself, but I try to blame it on the busy-ness I'm experiencing.

I'm thankful for..

• Roope, our baby kitty. We went to pick him up at the shelter a week ago. He is so brave and brisk! We kept him in the kitchen the first three days, and then let him to meet the other cats. 

Hexi tries really hard to see under the kitchen door who's this newcomer.

Roope takes a nap.

Roope and Hexi are already best buddies, playing and cuddling a lot. 

Tittis wasn't so sure of the kitten first, but she's loosening up as well.

•  Dance. I think I've gone to another level with my dancing. In September there's workshops by Manca Pavli (SVN)  and I'll be performing with Ane here: 

  

  https://www.facebook.com/events/579122412145370/?fref=ts
  

  and in October there's going to be this great show along with workshops by Deb Rubin: 

  

  https://www.facebook.com/events/686289851398683/?fref=ts
  

  And we'll have a candle dance performance with our AMCAB (American Cabaret Bellydance) group YIlan Cabilesi in November. So much wonderful dance related stuff happening this fall, makes Tiitta a very happy girl! I have two Tribal Fusion classes, one AMCAB class, one bellydance drill, stretch and tone class and one ballet class a week. Added to my 40 hours work week and quite employing volunteer work with the animal welfare organisation, it feels like I'm always going to dance practice.     I DON'T MIND! 

Painted toe nails, lemon beer and veil dances,

Tiitta

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE week 31 - a gratitude list

Friday I'm in love is my weekly gratitude list.


I'm grateful for...

• Health. you know there's always a chance that you'll fall ill, but you still don't believe it'll happen to you. You feel invincible, in a way. Until something happens. It happened to me last week. It scared me a lot. There were some uncomfortable tests and a very minor little operation, but I'm all good and healthy. And I feel like singing and dancing to praise the Universe for it. My mother died of cancer 3,5 years ago so there's always a small worry that what if it is my fate too. One never knows of tomorrow but today I'll celebrate my life <3

  

  me doing a cartwheel, photo by Tuukka Ahonen

• And in two weeks, the little kitty comes home! I can hardly wait. We've baby-proofed the windows with a net and have organised a car to pick the little fellow up.

  

  Little kitty, by me

• Work starts on Monday. I love holidays but I also need a little routine, otherwise I end up just drifting and I don't like it in the long run. And I cherish my work, after 8(!) weeks' holiday I welcome the early morning wake-ups with a well rested body and mind. 

  

  hard at work, self portrait

Wind in the trees, orange-coconut tea and the sound of zils,

Tiitta

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE week 30 - a gratitude list

Friday I'm in Love is my weekly gratitude list


I'm grateful for...

• Real Life, you know, the one (gasp) outside the mighty Internet. As great as the World Wide Web is, it's the real things "out there" that are more important. LIFE, that's in pages of a book, deep conversations with friends, having lunch in that adorable thai place just around the corner, your godmother's 60th birthday, long bike rides with your loved one, your stabilo pens and your journal, cats' purring, dance classes.. 

my daily planner, notebook, stabilos and make-up

Our kitten-to-be, here 7 weeks old, in my arms. Photo by Tuukka Ahonen

Us as sailors, inspired by the Tall Ship Races Helsinki 2013. Photo by Tuukka Ahonen

Me as a tribal princess. Photo by Tuukka Ahonen

Us at my godmother's 60th birthday cruise. Photo by Petteri Pasanen.

The sound of a skateboard on the street, warm summer nights and the scent of coconut,

Tiitta

         

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE week 29 - a gratitude list

Friday I'm in love is my gratitude list.

I'm grateful for.. 

• Friends. Old and new, those yet to come to my life and even those who I've parted ways with. Thank you. 

(found from the internetz)

• (Oh, and also the TV-series Friends. We've watched almost all 10 seasons this summer, it's great.)

Butterflies, old wooden boxes and the smell of tar,

Tiitta

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE weeks 24, 25 and 26 - a gratitude list

I've been on a vacation and thus I've neglected this blog. Sorry! I love you all the same!

I'm grateful for...

• Summer. A real, proper, hot, sunny summer. With mosquito bites, unintentional sunburns, sweaty dance practices, nightless nights, time off from work, just lazying around, eating watermelon all day.
  
  

  

  enjoying the sunshine at my family's cottage 

  
  
• Watermelon. I'm obsessed with it. Here in Finland you can get decent ones only in the summer. 
• Dance. I attended a wonderful Tribal Summer Camp two weeks ago, it organised by my teacher Laura Luna. 6 workshops with teachers from Estonia: Jaana Hansman (Yahna) and Sweden: Pernilla Sund and Gita Vinlander. Oh how much fun and hard work there was! Brainwork too! I'm glad my Yogi tea gave me a good advice beforehand: LET EVERYONE BE BETTER THAN YOU. There was also a show called Underground Cabaret, with a lot of performers, including the teachers and our very own Kaira Tribe. 

  

  Ane, me and Laura Luna
  photo by Mintti Raassina

  (I only have this photo yet, hopefully there'll be more!) I can't wait for the Tribal Fusion classes to begin after the summer break! Luckily my other teacher Alli Ruth has the American Cabaret Bellydance and Drill, Strech and Tone classes going during the summer. Yesterday at the AMCAB class we practiced balancing cups of water on our heads and in our hands. Fun! 
• Midsummer at my family's cottage. I love it there, but it's such a long way away and nearly impossible to go to without a car (which we don't have). This year we went with my cousin and my godmother. The weather was perfect, lots of great food was had and white wine was cold. We visited our grandma and grandpa's grave and just WERE. It was needed, though I'm not very good at it, you know, just being. I relax by doing, so my "just being" is reading, crocheting, drawing, practicing my zils, etc. 

  

  my family's cottage

  
  

  

  lake Huuhtjärvi at our family's cottage

• Reading. I'm used to being a real bookworm but for the past few years my reading has been really slow, just a few books per year. (Though I listen to tens and tens of audio books per year, but it's different than reading). I haven't been able to concentrate at all. It's been troubling me a lot. But now it seems I'm getting my reading zest back. I couldn't be happier about it! Books <3

Watermelon, red bling and the letters of the alphabet, 

Tiitta

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE week 22 - a gratitude list

Friday I'm in love is my weekly gratitude list.

I'm grateful for..

receiving woolly socks from my ballet teacher as an award for having good extension in my foot :) 

nice things said to me this week: that I'm cute today -and everyday, that I have a really nice way of dancing, the accents are so visible and that my idea was good. It's sometimes a bit difficult to receive compliments but I try to say thank you instead of putting myself down (you know "oh this, it's nothing really").

getting things done at Home, we've been so busy that our Home is maybe 60% "done", things finding their places, putting pictures on the wall etc. 

summer holiday being just around the corner!

Seurasaari, Helsinki

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE week 21 - a gratitude list

Friday I'm in love is my weekly gratitude list.


I'm grateful for..

• Art. We went to see an exhibition called Firebird and Snow Maiden, classic Russian paintings about stories and fairy tales. I was especially impressed by paintings by Ivan Bilibin, who's art my fiancé has admired since his childhood. 

Ivan Bilibin; Vasilisa the beautiful

• Volunteer work. Our animal welfare association attended a huge festival in Helsinki called World Village. It was touching to see hundreds of different kinds of organisations and associations and the people who are willing to volunteer their precious time. And it was so interesting to see so many different causes that people do volunteer work for. We all have to choose our battles, I've chosen animal welfare, but it doesn't mean that I don't find human rights or nature conservation important (just to name a couple of causes). Luckily there are people who care.

The clippety-clop of ballet shoes, the taste of ginger and the scent of chinese insence, 

Tiitta

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE week 19 and 20 - a gratitude list

Friday I'm in love is my weekly gratitude list. Though this time it's bi-weekly, since last week I was away in Holland.


I'm grateful for..

• The chance to travel. We are not rich, but we manage to save a bit to travel somewhere once or twice a year. It's so amazing to experience new (or familiar) places, people, cultures, foods, atmospheres. Traveling broadens your mind. It gives you so much new ideas. It makes you appreciate things at home. This time we were in Holland; Amsterdam, Houten, Utrecht and Rotterdam.

Amsterdam

Houten

Rotterdam; Jean-Paul Gaultier's exhibition

fabulous veggie food at De Boelhoed, Amsterdam

• Dance. Always, always, always. Today I had my first Tribal Fusion performance, I loved it so much. And it fills my heart with bubbles of joy that there will be more performances for me. 

Laura Luna in the front, from left to right Ane, me, Pinja and Jenny, a part of Laura Luna & Kaira Tribe
photo by Tuukka Ahonen

Ane and me
photo by Hanna Erkinjuntti

• Friends <3

The jingle of tiny bells, the scent of jasmine and the taste of Clipper's Detox- tea,

Tiitta

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE week 17 - a gratitude list

Friday I'm in love is my weekly gratitude list


I'm grateful for...

• Spring! The trees are budding, the huge piles of snow are almost not there anymore, the weather is getting warmer, the migrating birds are starting to come to Helsinki. 
• Dance. I'm so grateful to have a healthy body. Dancing gives me so much joy, I can't express it in words. Also the feeling of getting better at it all the time. All that effort pays off.
• Friends. We are all so very busy that I don't get to meet my friends as much as I'd want to but if I reach out, there's always a response. I'm not alone. 
• My fiancé. He's so funny, handsome, caring, skillful and creative. 
• People who volunteer. People who care. People who give without asking for something back.

Frozen strawberries, travel guide books and the sound of bird song,

Tiitta

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE week 16 - a gratitude list

Friday I'm in Love is my weekly gratitude list

I'm grateful for...

• Finishing a difficult, time-consuming project and being quite happy about the result.
• Our new/old sofa set; a bit dusty, broken and smelling of storage, but out sofa nevertheless.
• Who needs a television when you have animals! The best entertainment ever! 
• Getting healthier every day.

Dark chocolate, springy scents and love for all sentient beings,

Tiitta

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE week 14 - a gratitude list

Friday I'm in Love is my weekly gratitude list


I'm grateful for...

• HOME. Home, Home, Home. 
• The kitties being well and very curious about the new Home, even the old kitty who's been mostly sleeping before is now jumping on cardboard boxes and looking out of the window.
• Sunshine. 
• Soup. All kinds of vegetarian and vegan soup. Yum. Light, easy, cheap, nourishing. 
• The people in my life, new and old.
• The power of smile.

Smile, smile, smile. Smiling even when you don't feel like it, tells your brain you're happy and you'll start to feel happier. Try it! 

Tiitta

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE week 13 - a gratitude list

Friday I’m in love is weekly gratitude list. (though not on Friday this time, but better late than never, right?)

I’m grateful for…

• Spring, spring, spring! After such a long time of dark, snow and cold, I’m welcoming spring with open arms. Also, with the sun appear freckles. I love my freckles!
• The opportunities I get at work. I know I am very privileged to be working at a place like the National Opera’s Wardrobe.
• One of my dreams is coming true. Not to jinx it, I won’t tell it here yet. Patience, persistance and perspiration.
• The new Home is only a few nights away. And though packing all our things feels a bit straining, it’s still refreshing and a new start. I’m looking forward to that last night at the old Home when everything is packed except the essentials and you realize that those essentials are pretty much all you need. It’s liberating as a thought. Of course you still bring all those 30 boxes of books and 15 sacks of clothes to the new Home..

Watercolours, soy latte and clean sheets,

Tiitta

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE week 12 - a gratitude list

Friday I'm in love is my weekly gratitude list


I'm grateful for...

• making a huge plan for the future and getting engaged on Spring Equinox / Ostara <3

 me and him as pirates

pic by Tuukka Ahonen

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE week 11- a gratitude list

Friday I'm in love is my weekly gratitude list

I'm grateful for...

• Most of all, this week, I'm grateful for not being ill anymore. I caught a nasty bug and was ill from Saturday to Thursday, missing six dance classes, four days of work and my appetite. 
• Nevertheless, dance! Last weekend I attended four bellydance workshops in Tallinn, by the amazing dancer April Rose (USA) and tried my best to absorb all I could despite being ill already. And on Saturday night we went to Infusion Show to watch bellydancers, tribalistas, ATS dancers etc perform, oh my how beautiful shows! I was quite dizzy and probably had fever so I wasn't very sociable but I enjoyed it tremendously. 
• Things working out so greatly for my Love as well.
• Having such amazing work projects.

Bunny tracks in snow, hot ginger tea and belly-rolls,

Tiitta

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE week 10 - a gratitude list

Friday I'm in love is my weekly gratitude list.

I'm grateful for...

• Dance, dance, dance. This week there's a lot of it.
• Things going smoothly, even the ones that felt like they might not go too smoothly.
• Believing in Good Things.
• New (used) furniture for the new Home.
• NYX's "Slide on, glide on, stay on & definitely a turn on waterproof, extreme shine eye liner (this eye liner is so good the name had to be this long!)" eye liners. Cruelty free and superb! I'm in love! I already have four different shades.
• All the good things yet to manifest.

Exotic turquoise drink, winks and the sound of a kitty snoring,

Tiitta

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE week 9 - a gratitude list

Friday I'm in love is my weekly gratitude list.

I'm grateful for...

• Getting a new Home, that's already familiar, great location, bigger than what we have now.
• Trip to Amsterdam in May.
• Plans *rubbing hands together and laughing ominously mwahahaa*.
• Dreams coming true.
• Love.
• Fruit smoothies in the mornings.
• Leopard print.

My Love made me a toe tattoo (he's a professional tattoist).

Belly-laughter, orange juice and curly hair, 

Tiitta

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE week 8 - a gratitude list

Friday I'm in love is my weekly gratitude list


I'm grateful for...

• Helping others.
• Having a work that truly inspires me, challenges me and  pushes me to my creativeness' limits.
• Being healthy.
• Feeling Loved.
• My prince <3
• The returning of the Light.
• The tinkle of my bracelets

some of my beads

Pink bubbles, diamantes and red high heel shoes,

Tiitta