FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE week 42 - a gratitude list

It was all about Tribal Fusion dancing:

Kaira Tribe: Smokey Taboo

Deb Rubin's workshops

Mr T and me at Finnish Burlesque Gala

FRIDAY I'M IN LOVE week 41 - a gratitude list

New shoes and pretty autumnal colours

On my way home from work, the view can be breathtaking! 

the big Tribal Fusion gig is approaching.
The outfit is only partly finished.

Sewing, sewing, sewing,

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

KAIRA TRIBE: Allure

Ane, Eeva, Laura Luna, me, Hanna
photo by Asko Rantanen

back: Hanna, Laura Luna, Ane
front: Eeva and me
photo by Asko Rantanen

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

Tribal princess by Asko Rantanen

photos by Asko Rantanen
outfit by me, except the skirt by Moonalia

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 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 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