The Feis in the Desert January 15th, 2012 Chandler AZ

I am always torn about this feis.  I use to dance with the Bracken school, the host school and even though it is local (20min away) I always have that thought in my mind that Emma will be penalized because of the major conflicts I have with Thomas Bracken.  The results this time around should quiet all my fears.  Emma totally rocked it.  Maybe it was because she moved up an age group, to U7 or finally things are “clicking” for her, after 3 years.

U7 Novice Reel 1^st out of 4

U9 PW Light jig 6^th out of 10

U7 Beg 2 Slip Jig 1^st out of 6 (moved up to Novice, finally!)

U9 PW Single Jig 5^th out of 7

U7 Novice Treble Jig 2^nd out of 3

U7 Beg 2 Hornpipe 2^nd out of 5 (moved up to Novice)

U7 Beg 2 St. Pats 1^st out of 4 (moved up to Novice as we enacted the MP math)

U7 Beg1/2 Slip Jig special 1^st out of 5  She got a sash and was almost in tears, she was so excited!!

Comerford Feile na Nallaig Feis, Indian Wells, CA

Comerford Feile na Nallaig Feis, Indian Wells, CA

This was our first California feis and it came highly recommended as a “fun” feis.  It was a four hour and a true test of my Mom’s ability to handle long journeys.  When I was competitive I use to attend one California feis a year, to get my butt kicked and make me realize that I might be tops in Arizona but near the bottom in Cali.

Results wise Emma did not do very well, except for the reel special.  She was dancing against some of the girls that placed in the top 20 at the Oireachtas in U8s. 

U7 Novice Reel  5th out of 8

U7 PW light Jig  4^th out of 7

U7 Beg 2 Slip Jig 6^th out of 18

U7 PW Single Jig 3^rd out of 5

U7 Novice Treble Jig 6^th out of 9

U7 Beg 2 Hornpipe 3^rd out of 8

U7 Beg 2 St. Pat’s 6^th out of 6

U7 Nov/PW Reel special 6^th out of 12  The award was a glass diamond!

We had a great time at this feis and were sad to hear that it was the last one, as the Commerford school is pulling of Southern California.  At this feis Tony Commerford will call the kids over, in-between dances for a sing-song and the distribution of toys and candy.  The 1^st time it happened was right before the hornpipe and Emma didn’t get anything and was MAD!!!  She danced her HP with a pissed off look on her face but managed to dance well :-/ 

The Phoenix Halloween Feis October 2011

This feis was my very 1^st competition back in 1994.  It has always been a community feis, no school affiliation & volunteers came from not only all the local dance schools but also from the Irish community.  In recent years it has been run by the Celtic Dance Acadamy, now part of the Maguire Academy.  Tempe is a great location & the feis is held at the Tempe Palms Hotel, next to Rula Bula Irish Pub & Mill Ave.  This year was the 1^st time that the feis was a “Halloween” feis.  The medals & trophies were cool & costumed volunteers (some innappropriate for a family event) were handing out candy.

Here is how Emma did:

U7 Novice           Reel         3^rd out of 8

U9 PrizeWinner  Light Jig                 4^th out of 12

U7 Beg 2              SlipJig      4^th out of 11

U9 Novice           SingleJig  2^nd out of 18 (moved up to Prizewinner)

U7 Beg 2              TrebleJig  2^nd out of 6 (moved up to Novice)

U7 Beg 2              Hornpipe  7^th out of 8

U7 Beg 2              St. Pats      3^rd out of 8

U9 Beg 1/2          SJ Spcl       5^th out of 16

My biggest issue was that the Older dancers running the stage had a hard time counting the girls off in the Slip Jig.  It got to the point where the judge had to ring her bell to get the TCRG who was running the rooms attention.  It threw the poor U7s off!

Emma had a great time and enjoyed the time she could spend with her friend Garnet, from Albaquerque.  

Bale ‘em, Bale ‘em, Hay, Hay!!!

August 9th 830pm - We finished the packing & loaded up my brother’s car to head to the airport. All is well.

10 min later a call from an unknown number. It’s Mom, “I’m locked out of the house”. What?!?!?! Quick call to our neighbor and good friend Bob and a quick prayer that he still has a key, he does. All is well.

Arrive at the airport; get checked in, passed thru security with no problem, settle down to watch the second Nanny McPhea while waiting on the plane to arrive, all is well.

We board the plane, excited to have all 3 seats to ourselves, eye mask out, pillow sorted, Emma ready to sleep. All is well.

Pilot “Sorry Ladies and Gentlemen, we are getting a warning light. We will get maintenance out to take a look and we will be on our way”. An hour later problem fixed, pulled away from the gate and it’s the pilot once again, “we are experiencing engine trouble. Will get maintenance out again and hopefully get things sorted quickly.” An hour and a half later, “Ladies and Gentlemen we are ready to go.” 5 minutes later “We are getting another warning light; customer service will be at the door of the plane if you need to talk to them or make other flight arrangements.” 30 minutes later we are finally in the air. All is well.

Aug 10th 930am

We landed safely at Boston-Logan to a nice cloudy, humid day. We hit the Dunkin Donuts for much needed food & coffee. All is well.

We made it to the Cape, by way of the Sagamore Bridge. We checked into the hotel & then went in search of a beach. All is well.

Beach, dinner, showers, calls to see who is Whale Watching with us. All is well.

Aug 11th

No watching of the Whales for us! Little One woke up with a sore neck. All is not well.

One hour of calling chiropractors and we found one that will fix her. All is well.

Downtown Hyannis for the Duck Tour (Quack, Quack), lunch, the Kandy Korner for sweets and ice cream. All is well.

Time for sound check at the Melody Tent. Hellos and hugs all around. Mr. B did not list us but gave us an all-access pass. All is well.

Back to the hotel for quick swim and then to meet with Sharon & Shel. Dinner, Gig, Wine, Laughs. All is well.

Aug 12th

Little One wants to go to a beach and swim in the ocean. We say our hellos to Nana and Jackie, gather our things and head to the beach. All is well.

Back to the hotel for a shower, sound check thru the open window, trying to figure out the tunes. Dinner, beer, gig, wine, Little One & DC laughter ringing thru the house, good-byes, packing up the belongings. All is well.

Car packed, sleeping child in the car, SatNav set for Worcester for the feis. All is well.

Cruising on the highway, bale of hay from the truck ahead comes tumbling across the road. No time to stop, must get to the feis! All is not well!

Find the feis, park, check-in, dress, shoes, quick stretch & off she goes. Results posted, medals collected. All is well.

Removed the hay from the bumper, bumper pushed back into place, arrive at Sharon’s house, off to the farm and market, home to BBQ, S’mores made and eaten, kids bathed, fairy lights on. All is well.

Good byes said, car returned, flight checked in, plane loaded, homeward bound we go. Picked up, home, hugs all around to Mamer, unpacked, clothes washed, Emma to bed, school in the morning. All is well!

Another feis in the books!!!

Arizona State Championships and Feis   August 2011

Reel      Novice  U8 9th out of 10
Lt Jig     PW       U9 6th out of 9
Slip Jig  Beg II   U7 9th (last as she forgot the 2nd step)
Hop Jig  Novice U9 5th out of 13
T-Jig      Beg II   U7 4th out of 13
Hornpipe Beg II U7 3rd out of 5
St. Pat's Beg II   U7 6th out of 8 as she just learned the set!
Slip Jig Special Beg 1/2 U9 1st out 11. Very Promising! was the judges comment!
Also 1st place in the visual arts competition with the Fairy Reel and 2nd with me in the Parent/Child competition!

This was a rough feis for us. Well, more for me then Emma! I get more stressed out then she does! She had no classes for the month of July and one class Thursday and a semi-private on Friday! Emma is dancing at a feis in Worcester, MA next weekend so hopefully a few more classes and no dance friends to distract her will help her do a bit better!

Our school has just moved to a new location, a mile up the road and it has taken Michael Pat, his brother Barry John and loads of other parents helping out to get it ready for full classes. The flooring took the longest as BJ built a spring floor. I can't wait to dance on it tomorrow night!

Summer Holidays

Well, we are half way thru the summer holidays and a week without dance classes! It's not as if Emma hasn't been dancing around the house like a mad child. We did watch the live feeds, as much as we could, from the North American Irish Dance Championships, which helped us to keep on the roll of practicing. Our school, Tir Conaill Academy, had 3 top 10 finishers. It was a good run for our school. The next feis is the 1st weekend of August & I'm starting to stress out. There will only be 1 class before & I really want Emma to move up in the Slip Jig & her heavy dances. It would be nice to not have to do a quick change from the solo dress to the school jumper & back again for the lights & I'm not taking both costumes to Boston with us for the feis the following weekend! Emma has the Treble/double jig & Hornpipe down & all we need to work on is the set of St. Patrick's Day. I don't want to push or overwhelm her (as she will shortly be "just 6") but she loves it & she has the potential & her teachers see that as well. We are off to see some improv & then maybe 30min of practice with the promise of a swim later on when the sun isn't beating down on us!

My Mini Rock N Roll Vacation March 2011

It’s been 1 week now since my Mini-Me, Rock–N-Roll Vacation and I am stuck back in the real world of school runs, work, laundry, shopping, dance classes and the likes. Before it fades too much, I would just like to say “Thank You” to the Saw Doctors for providing me, once again, with an enjoyable experience and a Mighty fine time. Thursday-Hollywood My day started as usual, getting myself and Emma up, ready to head out the door to school. Only this time I didn’t stay and help out in her classroom. I gave her extra hugs and kisses, followed by a “Be good for Mamer’s and I love you”. I grabbed food and coffee from Wendy’s. I know - crap food, but if you add enough sugar to the coffee, it’s not that bad. With only a few pit stops along the way, I made it to Hollywood at around 2pm. It took a while to get to the hotel, in which time it started to rain! The Hotel Grafton was atop a hill, I don’t like driving up or down hills. I handed the car over to the valet, really the only way to park in Hollywood, and checked in. I made a brief call to Mr. Barrett per a request to let him know I had made it and took a nap. I headed to the venue around 5, just in time for sound check and caught DC as he was going in. After we hiked up 3 flights of stairs, my presence was announced to everyone by DC with a “look I found a bird”. Thanks very much! Sound check commenced, dinner eaten, and the show started. I was off duty as Merch Girl as the HOB provided that service, so I took a stool behind Tig and Keego in the sound/lighting area. It was great to see the smile on OJ’s face as they played “Indian Summer” and hear the “Thank You’s” for calling various people during their favourite songs! The evening ended with a hike down the hill to go back up the hill to have a glass of wine. Friday I met my friend Mark for lunch at the Olde King’s Head in Santa Monica. I made the mistake of going into the shop next door. If I had a cooler and lotto winnings, I would have bought one of everything in the shop. I forgot about the Easter Eggs that are produced in the UK - the lovely hollow ones filled with your favourite sweets! I managed to control myself and I walked out with only 2 bags. Lunch was lovely, Bangers and Mash, but the company was even better. I left sunny Santa Monica around 2, and once I cleared San Bernadino, sailed home. Emma was SO excited to see me and didn’t want to let go of me. I down/uploaded pics and videos and promptly went to bed. Saturday-Vegas I managed to get myself up and made the much-promised cinnamon rolls before once again heading out. This time leaving with lots of hugs & kisses for Emma & promises to be good for Regina and Olivia, my wonderful Emma minders for the next 2 days. I made Vegas by 2 and found the hotel quick enough. I was there an hour before check-in and so I took a walk to try to find the venue. I mistakenly went the wrong way and ended up on the back side of the MGM in a not-so-nice area of Vegas. I managed to get back to the hotel unscathed and ran into Niall as he was checking in as well. Room sorted and the actual venue, The Hard Rock Café location, figured out, so I once again took a nap. Well, kinda. I was watching the friendly between the US National team and Argentina. One day I will see Messi score! I was late to sound check but just in time for food. Not the best experience in that department, so Leo, Eimhin and I needed to walk it off. We were in search of who-knows-what and walked a good bit of the strip. Finally, after going up and down many people bridges by couples getting married and girls in mini-dresses and platform, high-heeled shoes, we arrived back at the venue just as AM Taxi was taking the stage. The crowd was small but enthusiastic, especially the group from Phoenix! The gig ended, the Merch sorted, and a little wine consumed. The Lads all had early flights to catch, so a low key night and early to the bed was in order. Well, except for Mr. Moran. As you all probably know by now, he managed to fall asleep at the gate and missed his flight. There has yet to be word on if he made it back OK but if he’s not at the gig in Dublin on Saturday, start worrying. Sunday I managed to not get road-ragey trying to drive home. Could they not have devised a different road system near Hoover Dam? I picked my sleeping Emma up at the Celtica concert in Sun City where some of the Championship dancers from TCA were dancing during the performance. We came home and I promptly fell asleep. What a whirlwind adventure and I’m a bit sad it’s over but plans for the Cape have already been started! So once again, I would like to thank the Lads for being so generous with their friendship, for taking care of and watching out for me, and providing a much-needed relief from my crazy life. I would also like to thank my Mum for doing the school runs for me and to Regina and Olivia for taking Em for me for the weekend.