Breaking up with Kwaj

I haven't even been off the rock for a day, but I already feel some healing in the gaping hole in my heart. I keep trying to equate the feelings of leaving that magical little island for good and the only comparison I can come up with is it feels like breaking up with your first love. When I would travel off island I would find myself longing for my little paradise and counting the days and hours until we would be reunited. I was able to look past its flaws and see all the great things it had to offer. I got so attached that to Kwaj that I couldn't imagine life without. My little island and I lived happily for a few years; it provided me with more memories and experiences in 4 years than most people have in a lifetime. Then one day an opportunity presented itself to me and helped me realize that even though I loved my little island and it had always been great to me, it could never give me everything I desired in life. It was a fairly quick, but extremely painful parting of ways. Even though I initiated the break up, many tears fell and my heart was shattered when the airport door was locked behind me and I knew there was no turning back. I cried for over 2 hours straight trying to rationalize how I could get my little island to take me back, but knowing it was too late. In those emotional moments I felt lost and alone for the first time in 4 years. As I was about to start panicking a friend appeared and wrapped his arms around me; he just held held me and let me stain his shirt with tears for a few minutes until I boarded the plane. I must have look pretty pitiful, three strangers gave me hugs and the flight attendants kept bringing me extra water and checking in with me. In the few moments after the plane took off all I could think about was leaving behind the safety and security I had felt for 4 years and the second family that I didn't know how I could live without. Tears continued to streak my face until the plane reached Kosrae. As the plane sat on the ground, I made no eye contact and spoke nothing for fear it would set me on another downward spiral of tears and emotions. The flight continued on from stop to stop; my brain lost in memories of Kwaj and trying to force myself to be excited for my future. I tried to focus on what I was gaining, but was overwhelmed with what I was losing. By the time I landed in Guam I was physically and emotionally exhausted. One of the flight attendants left me with some encouraging words, "You will always have the island blood running through you. It is something special and you take it with you wherever you go." Then he gave me a hug and wished me the best in Japan. In that moment I realized that even though I am no longer on Kwaj, it will always be with me in my heart, my memories, and in the lifelong friends it gave me. While I am still broken from the events of the day and know it will take me a while to fully grasp everything, I am starting to anticipate my future and be hopeful that I might love place again like I love Kwaj.

Moral of my story: Breaking up is hard to do and ultimately every person on Kwaj will leave the island and have thier own break up story, but remember you have island blood running through you.

Waterproof iPad Case

My favorite purchase of the summer was my iPad with pink smart cover. I use it daily to keep my schedule, record grades, and even play a few games. Once the school year started, I realized that putting it directly in my work bag wasn't the best idea and I ran the risk of it getting soaked if it was pouring on my bike ride to work. A waterproof case was in order, but living on an island in the middle of nowhere leaves few options for sewing materials.

I had some ugly blue oil cloth, but wasn't thrilled about the idea of carrying a case made from it around every day. I went through my stash and found a great piece of decorate weight fabric that I bought 2 years ago in Tokyo and knew that I would be perfect. I thought about ironing with a waterproofing layer, but remembered I had saved the plastic zippered pouches my new pillows came in. I just started cutting, sewing and ended up quilting the decorate weight fabric then covered it with the cut up clear plastic from the zippered pouches. I didn't really have a plan in mind, but it all came together. The back isn't the prettiest thing, but I learned a couple things to avoid that in the future. Also for the closure, I thought about velcro, but attaching it to the plastic was proving to be a challenge, so I used a new no-slip head band that I cut down to size and sewed on. I love my iPad case because it is not only functional, but I love the look of the fabric that I used.

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 classy room

This year since I had more than 5 days to plan for decorating my classroom, I had time to put in more effort and thought while decorating my classroom. My focus over the year with students will be keyboarding skills, so I made a large keyboard on the wall with square dessert plates. I think it turned out quite nice and it will be a great tool for helping students as they are working on their hand placement on the keyboard.

Aside from the couple bulletin boards in my classroom, there are concrete walls that make it a challenge to decorate. Since there seem to be an excess amount of CD's from outdated software, I used them to create swirls and spirals around the room.

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.

Grown up Pants!

This week I am working on putting on my grown up pants and dealing with the future. 5 months ago, I started dating an amazing guy and in the last week he put in his 90 days at work and is beginning to talk more about his impending move back to the real world 7,000 miles away from here. I have gone through the gamet of emotions from being excited for him to begin this next chapter in his life and start accomplishing a life long goal that he has to being heartbroken that I won't get to see him and that it could mean the end of us. We have begun to talk about what the future holds for us and it has basically been me breaking down in tears everytime I think about it. Although we knew 5 months ago this was coming, I think we avoided the topic for so long, that now it is pretty painful for me to discuss, but he is convinced the more we talk about what will happen in 3 months the better it will be. I have always said that long distance relationships don't work, but he has me second guessing everything else that I know about relationships, so I would be willing to give it a go for him...if he is willing to as well.