Post #205827 by LavaLounger on Thu, Jan 5, 2006 11:07 AM

Hello all. Another newbie here. I hope I'm posting this correctly as I don't have a clue what I'm doing, wasn't sure if I should hit "new topic" or "reply", but did want to try to introduce myself. First off, I talk too much.

Second, I live in Kansas, talk about tiki deprived! People look at me like I have rocks for brains when I tell them I have a tiki bar in my basement.

I'm a semi-writer that writes humor columns for a teensy weensy local, bi-monthly neighborhood paper. I also work for a refrigeration company because they pay me.

I started my tiki bar because back in 1966 my parents took me to Trader Vic's at the St. Louis Bellaire East Hotel for my 16th birthday and I was hooked on the mood and eye candy of tiki stuff......and the floating gardenia. That information should tell you that I'm a senior citizen (and I get discounts!).

I started my tiki bar about six years ago and most of my tiki bar is silly stuff because authentic tiki is a tough find around here. What I couldn't find, I'd make. Even stole a Trader Vic's coconut mug from my mom and made my own slip-cast mold out of it so I could make a set of ceramic coconut mugs (I do ceramics for a hobby) because when I started my bar getting mugs was impossible and I didn't know about all the internet connections and hadn't heard of eBay....yet.

This tiki stuff has gotten so out of hand that we threw a tiki bar/luau for my son's wedding rehersal dinner and we decorated a hotel conference room that was way over the top to the point where the GM came to see it. Whoohoo! We even built a little wedding hut out of bamboo tomato stakes and grass mats. It was a lot of work, but an awful lot of fun.

I also enjoy piddling with my camera and have made my own tiki drink calendars because the ones I've bought the past few years have been pretty lame. I haven't had time to create a 2006 calendar though because we've spent the past year building a new house. Rats.

On a tender note: Awhile back I was disheartened when we showed our tiki bar at the old house to a guy that is into tiki and he said my bar wasn't tiki at all, it was only "tropical". So my feelings were crushed for awhile after all the work I did in it and I sort of lost my enjoyment of it.

Well, we just moved to the new house and baloney with the "tiki expert" guy, I'm resurrecting my tiki bar in all it's tackiness, junky as it might be, and I'm doing what I like. I'm working in my bar today even though I should be unpacking other stuff. My current project is on making a "lava lounge" in a tornado shelter/closet off the main tiki bar area and am trying to figure out how to build a wall that looks like a molten lava flow. I'll let you know if it turns out decent or if it'll be another tear-out. (two tear-outs already)

I thought I was alone in my obsessive tiki bar thoughts so I was glad to find you guys. Whew.

I've enjoyed lurking the past few weeks and have learned a lot of fun stuff and you guys make me laugh a lot. And as I mentioned, I talk too much so if my posts go on too long, hit the delete key.

LavaLounger
Cindy D (yeah, a girl, and old one)