Have your hooter cake and eat it too!

Since my friends and I are all teachers, we head our separate ways for 2 months over the summer and end up missing out on celebrating some birthdays. In early September, a group got together to celebrate 3 summer birthdays. I decided to make and decorate some fun cakes for the event. We ended up with 4 desserts since we tried to accommodate all dietary restrictions of the 12 guests (gluten free, chocolate free, dairy free). I went with a gluten free banana cake with maple cream cheese frosting, yum yum!

Since my friend KB loves owls, I went with a hooter for her and for the two birthday boys, I went with hooters of another variety.

A ROCKIN' Quilt

At the end of the month, I will attend a baby shower for a friend/fellow book club member/my dance class teacher. Both the baby boy's mama and papa are in a local island band called the Insane Gecko Posse and are hip and rockin! The baby's mama rocks out with a pretty style pink electric guitar and took this as my lead when deciding what kind of quilt to make for their new little boy. This quilt had many moments of frustration and even though it is finished, I am not 100% happy with it. I had a very hard time with the quilting of it and the little puckers just JUMP out at me. In the third picture, the puckers are pretty noticeable:( I do know that I am the most critical of my work and she is going to love it, little puckers and all, so I will gift it upon the baby and work on ignoring what I think it wrong with it. I will say, that the template I used for the electric guitar came from the Betty Crocker website and was intended for use in cutting a cake in the shape of a guitar, but it fill the bill perfectly and was just the right size! I backed it with a deep, chocolate corduroy that is super soft and durable. I am looking forward to gifting it at the end of the month!

February Cook Off

It all started last month with a Creme Brulee Cook Off and a bunch of friends. We decided to have our own monthly cook off competitions and this month was pupus (appetizers). Boy did we have some amazing and delish foods to savor! We had many ties as prizes were being awarded at the end of the evening in the categories of Taste, Eatability, Presentation, and Best Overall.

Bacon Wrapped Mahi Mahi - It won best presentation and best eatability

Spring Rolls and Peanut Sauce - Best Taste

Sun Dried Tomato Hummus -Best Eatability



These are the Bacon Wrapped Dates sutffed with Goat Cheese and Almonds that I made and contributed to the party. They tied in 2 categories Best Eatability and Best Presentation and they took the big prize of Best Overall! They are super easy and amazingly delicious. Much to my enjoyment the complimenting bowl made of bacon as a tea light holder that I fashioned was the talk of the evening! Also I didn't have a platter that I thought we do justice, so I used a plain black picture frame and printed out a fun mustache paper to go in it. Only a couple people noticed the staches and were entertained by thier presence.

Snook City

I have been crafting up a storm and one of these days I will post more on here. This week I was inspired by April of Regretsy's guest post at on savings.com.

She crafted a Snooki mask that is to DIE for and I knew I had to make them for the weekly Jersey Shore watching party that invades my space each week.

Her version:


My version:



We laughed, we "oh yeah"ed, we WAAAH!'d.

I already have the next JS craft spinning in my head...

Week 33: Hoards of Food (Nov 21-27)

Yikes, a lot of food was consumed by me this week. I think I set a record for the number of Thanksgiving meals I have personally eaten. By the time the week was over I had downed 4 delicious dinners fully of yummy morsels.
Dinner 1: It all began with the Third Grade International Tasting Party on Wednesday. We had 23 dishes from countries around the world that included perogies, cheese curds, and coconut rice balls (my favorite!).
Dinner 2: On Thursday, I was invited to a Thanksgiving Feast fit for a King. It was in the backyard of someones home and even though it was raining it was quite to wonderful traditional Thanksgiving full of turkey, mashed potatoes and more.
Dinner 3: PDR on Friday (Kwaj Thanksgiving Day)- Every year I look forward to Thanksgiving with my Kwaj friends. We all crowd around tables at the chow hall and gorge on some of the best food the dining hall prepares all year long. There is copious amounts of consumption of turkey, crab legs and delicious desserts to tempt the pallet.
Dinner 4: Cafe Roi on Friday - For my second Thanksgiving Day meal, I dined at the chow hall on Roi with Kwaj friends and the boy, FS. I was full and really didn't need anymore food, but once I tasted the yummy sweet potatoes, I couldn't stop. They were AMAZINGLY delicious and I think I may have gone back for 3rds on them.
I think I spent the rest of the weekend eating pretty much nothing since I was stuffed to the brim and sleeping off a food hangover. Good thing Thanksgiving comes around only 1X a year!

Week 31: Horrible looking deliciousness (Nov. 7-13)

I am not much for scary movies, in fact I flinch at previews of scary movies, but I was willing to give one a go to spend time with friends. A friend recently received his copy of The Human Centipede and we decided to have a themed party. The movie is quite graphic and I actually don't recommend it at all! But in an effort to make it a themed party a couple of us came across a recipe that looks intestine like, but modified it to make it healthier and gluten-free. We think ours turned out very realistic looking and I just couldn't get over how horrible it looked. Every guest that walked it was "wowed" but its disgusting appearance! We ended up coming up with our own filling (chicken, a bunch of veggies, sweet chili sauce and more) then overlapped spring roll wrappers and stuffed our intestine. I attempted to paint the blood (with food coloring) on the intestines, but realized I am not good at veins and so FS took over with some help from LC and they finished it out. I love the see through look of the spring roll wrappers and it was DELICIOUS!! I can't wait until our next themed party.

Our spring roll intestines. Stretched out it was 8 feet long.

Week 30: Rain, Rain, Go away (Oct. 31-Nov. 5)

This week encompassed Halloween, which was pretty uneventful for me. I had plans to go to Roi and celebrate with FS (formally blogged as "the boy"), but the poor guy was sick. I went up and spent the weekend keeping him company during the few hours he was awake each day and reading at night. We did manage to get out on both Sunday and Monday for a walk around the island. I had a great fairy costume that I had planned to wear out and was ready to leave him in bed and celebrate with friends, but ended up falling asleep pretty early. I woke up at 10-ish and my pajamas sounded more exciting than my costume! I was happy to be were I was and to just spend time with FS in the intermittent moments that he was awake and coherent.

The weather her has been wet, wet, and wet. The first week or so of November has brought 8 inches of rain and many wet clothes hanging in my shower. On the 5th, we had a 1/2 day of school and a bunch of us decided to head out to the beach since the sun was making a feeble attempt at showing itself. We got about a couple hours in before the rain starting dumping and we headed home. When we got back home, 4 of us decided that the rain wasn't going to ruin our party and we sat in gutter and kept the party going. While sitting there in the downpour and remember that I have some fabulous rain boots that I bought before I moved out here, but had never worn. I am pretty sure I looked a little silly in my bathing suit, shorts and striped rain boots. We took a slew of jumping pictures with umbrellas and made quite the spectacle. It was such a blast, I even had a phone message when I came inside from a couple friends watching us out their window and laughing at us jumping in the road. I love that my girls LC and KC are so spontaneous and always ready for a fun experience!!

Week 30: Battle on the Water and Arrgh Matey (October 24-30)

Sunday was all pirate, all day! The day started with a sailboat water balloon battle in the lagoon. The Boy had come down for the weekend and had his first sailing experiences ever and today's sail just might be my favorite sail yet. It involved 5 boats with an arsenal of water balloons trying to take out the other pirates and boats. It was a blast to throw water balloons and the boat I was on was well prepared with a balloon launching sling shot. We were able to take out the other boats pretty quickly and while other boats may deny our win, we are confident that we were the winners of the battle. I did take a direct hit to the face (OUCH!!) but recovered quickly and wasn't left with any lasting marks. (The guy who threw it did go out of his way to apologize the next day when he saw me.)

The evening involved the Swashbuckler's Pirate Ball at the Yacht Club. It was a great party with lots of homebrews and rum punch. The night involved some pirate games, lots of costumes and hanging with some of my favorite people on the globe. I had a great pirate costume from a co-worker that resulted in some wonderful compliments from a variety of friends. It was a great night shared with friends and The Boy.

Week 29: I'm on a Boat, Phosphorescences, and Whale Bone Jenga (October 17-23)

I sailed with 3 friends (LC, TF, and TR) for a weekend to an island about 15 miles away called Mann. It started out great, the sail up was full of great conversation and a beautiful sunset. Just as we reached the pass to go ocean side, I started upchucking. My poor stomach got the best of me and I ended up curled up in a ball with a wet washcloth on my neck for a good chunk of the night. As I my head was hanging over the side of the boat, I was privied the the amazing sight of green phosphorescence. It is a little strange to think that my stomach contents hitting the water were causing this amazing sight, but I was just entranced by the green glow that occurred on the surface of the water. I think I could watch the glow for hours and not get bored of it. This was followed up with a night of sleeping on a rocking boat (I got smart by bed time and pumped myself full of dramamine). The night started on deck with me sleeping in 15-20 minute spurts and watching the movement of the boat in relation to the island and realizing that the winds were starting to shift. Sometime in the night it started raining and we all ended up in the cabin, where I continued to sleep in short spurts as the sound of the anchor pulling was amplified. About 4:30 am we all awoke abruptly to the anchor line be let out at a rapid pace. The line shortening the anchor chain had snapped, resulting in the 300 feet of chain attaching us to the anchor being let out in a short amount of time. No longer in the shadow of the island the boat was bobbing around and the winds were moving us quite a bit. We were able to get the chain pulled in with me holding lights, TF motoring the boat in, TR pulling the chain in little by little and LC sleeping her butt off down below. This was all compounded by the heavy rain going on and the air going from warm to cold. Shortly after day break we awoke to the boat on coral because the winds had shifted even more. We reanchored the boat and rewarded ourselves yummy breakfast burritos. It was decided at breakfast to move to the other side of the island to be in the shadow of the wind. All the while it is still raining and raining and raining (all said there were 5 inches of rain this day).

Once on the other side, we ventured onto the island to play a little game of Whale Bone Jenga. About a year ago a sperm whale was beached and all that is left is a pile of bones and mushy mass of blubber (it felt DISGUSTING!). Whale Bone Jenga consists of stacking the vertebrae one at a time a making a tower until it falls. The last person to touch a bone before it tumbles over loses.

LC, myself and TF with our Whale Bone Jenga Tower.

We ended up calling the trip a day early because of the crummy weather and crazy winds. The sail back was beautiful and the sunset had an amazing orange glow that I couldn't take my eyes off of. Not the ideal situation for my first over night sail, but most definitely one that I will never forget!

Week 27: Airplanes in the deep sea (Oct 3 - 9)

What an exciting weekend!! I was able to dive down into the deep blue sea and there at the bottom was a large collection airplanes. I lost count at 6, but would guess that we saw about 10+. It was such a surreal feeling seeing all the planes nestled in the sand and covered with life. One of the wings must have had a large anemone living inside because every little hole had pink anemone peaking out and a couple of Nemo's friend darting in and out. The same wing had a large crown of thorns starfish camped out on it and looking content as could be. I am always in awe of how quietly beautiful it is underwater and how grounded I become when I am focused on what is around me and my steady breathing. Sometimes I think diving is so much work when I have to pull all the gear out of the closet, make sure that it is work, haul it and tanks down at the dock, but the moment I hit the water I know that it was worth it.

This same weekend also involved a Roi Oktoberfest Party and some good fun with friends. I am so thankful that the life I am blessed with allows for such wonderful and exciting experiences. I am excited to see what each new day brings and the challenges and triumph that I will encounter in the years to come!

Week 25: Cheesecake and New Friends (September 19-25)

Early in the week there was a dinner party to celebrate some dear friends who are moving far, far away to California. I jumped at the chance to make a yummy dessert that would be gluten free and a big hit with all. After looking at bunches of recipes, I settled on a cheesecake with a macadamia nut crust. It was scrumptious and many went back for seconds. I never realized how easy it was to make a cheesecake and can see myself making them for many other dinners and celebrations in the future. I have a couple tweaks to make, but over all would change very little.

This week I also flew to Roi for a W&D Girl's Night with KC, LC, and MJ. We flew up Saturday after work and returned late Sunday afternoon. It is funny how I build expectations and thoughts of how things will go in my head and then it is all thrown out the window and my expectations are exceeded. Us 4 girls, we like to think that we are an entertaining and fun bunch and that was confirmed this weekend. We started playing some card games and before we knew it had 4 new freinds from Roi that joined us for the fun and ended up in mass quantities of booze flowing. I know that you are thinking, wait didn't you and KC decided to go dry for 30 days, well we modified it to only cover Kwaj. We figured that since it was our challenge we could change the terms:) Well the night ended with me hanging out with one of our new friends for 12 hours. It has been a long time since I talked that long to someone that I just met, and it felt good to let the guard down, well not all the way down, but just a little.

Week 23: Going Overboard (Sept 5-11)

I have been back on Kwaj for about a month and am looking back realizing how much I have overindulged since returning. I normally pride myself of maintaining a sense of composure and control, but with the ups and downs of the last month I have allowed myself to imbibe more than I would normally allow and even drinking on school nights. Well Saturday of this week there was a band at the Vet's Hall, one of two bars on island, and I ended up there with a crowd of friends. Throughout the evening they slowly trickled away, but I stayed on and hung out with the parents of several students. We danced, we drank, I even got a proposal from a Coast Guard fella just passing through. I was ready to go and then someone suggested that we head to the Snake Pit (the other bar on island). The night ended with me and 5 elementary school parents with a round of drinks and shots in front of us. I could only hang with them until about 2am and then ended up leaving them all still at the bar drinking away.

The next day I spent a fair amount of time pondering this scenario and how it would likely never happen anywhere else the world. I think back and can't picture myself in a Fort Collins bar with parents and drinks abounding. I think that is one of the reasons I LOVE life out here; it all overlaps and I have some of the strongest teacher-parent relationships because I am also friends with them.

I will say that the weekend led to a decision to go dry for 30 days. My friend KC and I have challenged each other to not drink for 30 days. I will keep you posted on my progress!

Week 9: Sing for the Crowd (June 6-12)

Can you say Karaoke? I have always (and will likely continue to) shy away from Karaoke. But on the 11th, it was the last day of school, I was celebrating with friends and some how was convinced that Karaoke was the thing to do. I got up and sang at the bar, not just once, but twice. Song #1 was a personal favorite "Don't Stop Believin'" and song #2 was vacation inspired "Summer Lovin'". We had hoped for "School's Out for Summer" but sadly the local karaoke guy didn't have it in his repretoire.

Week 7: My tour was just a little longer than Gilligan's (May 23-29)

I got my check for the week done early on and now I can relax and think about the 3 day weekend ahead. On Sunday, I flew 45 miles(20 min) to an island at the other end of the atoll, Roi. Sunday was spent hanging out in the water at the beach, yummy sunset dinner, and great conversation that kept me up most of the night. Monday, tired and weary, I climbed on deck "Down East Trader" and sailed 7.5 hours from Roi back home to Kwaj across the largest atoll in the world. It was a great day, I was able to take a little nap, managed to not get sunburned despite the sun bearing down at full force and a little bought of queasiness brought on towards the end. I was hesitant to go, having never sailed for more than a couple hours at a time, but knew that I may never have the chance again if I said no. I am so thankful that I went and had the chance to interact with new friends and just be in the moment, not feeling the need to stress about life or work since there was nothing I could do about it. I must say, I live in a specatularly beautiful part of the world and when I leave here to move on, I will have a very hard time saying goodbe. Sun, drinking, staying up way too late, and exhaustion got the better of me, I was in bed at 8:15 last night and slept straight through (quite a feat for me) until 6:15 this morning. I am hoping tonight will be just as restful.