What is seen.

OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR

My mirrors should read, "OBJECTS IN MIRROR APPEAR CLOSER THAN THEY ARE". And perhaps subscript that reads "you still have space dummy". Because with the way I parallel park, you could fit a whole other car behind me - and sometimes in front!

~~~
I'm a little behind on the movie review front. If you can even call them reviews.

Battle for Haditha - I didn't know what to expect when we started it. But I liked it a lot. It made me sad and upset. And it was good.

Body of Lies - Very good! The acting was excellent. This was fun, interesting, thrilling. Definitely watch it.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua - We rented it for the kids. It turned out to be better than I expected - I didn't expect much. For the kids, rent it I suppose - I think my kids were a little too young. For you? Pass.

Bedtime Stories - I liked it! It really was fun for the whole family. To all the people who are whining about no explanation for the magic, and why does the hamster have big eyes, and blah blah blah - shut up! Who cares! It was funny! Some movies suck when there is no explanation for certain events, but not this one. "What should I do now? Should I eat a gumball?" "...Yes."

Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties - I liked it. It was done well. But no need to watch it again. I don't think the kids were all that into it, but I think they liked it well enough.

The Spirit - James didn't like it. I guess cause he knows the comic and also he liked Sin City and was expecting something more like that. I don't know, I liked it. I wouldn't watch it again though. But I liked it more than Sin City. Samuel L. Jackson is great as usual.

Henry Poole is Here - I enjoyed it. Although I think some people might think the pace is a little slow at times. But it was nice, it was touching. Luke Wilson was definitely the right person for this movie. The entire cast was great.

Role Models - Funny movie! But man, the outtakes kept me laughing even longer! Rub a dub dub! Jingle jangle!

Punisher: War Zone - I mean, I watched it. But I liked this one better. Of course, James preferred War Zone. Again, he knows the comic. Apparently, from the imdb.com user comments, War Zone is the ultimate Punisher movie.

Wednesday What Is It?

What is it?

Here's how to play.

Wednesday What Is It? Results

The results of the last Wednesday What Is It?

Toilet!

5 points to Angelo!
Read his answer, cause he is correct.
2 points to SharShine.

Introducing

I feel like I should have something profound to say, but I can't think of anything blog launch worthy. So please just check out my new blog! www.ayorata.com! Subscribe to it even. Share it with your friends.

(I know the "About" page/post is pretty boring. I'll be adding pictures soon.)

28th Annual Flame Tree Arts Festival

To my dear people of Saipan,

Please do not flick your cigarette butts on the ground. Not only is it bad for the environment as they take forever to decompose, but also, and more importantly, because lit cigarette butts can cause fires. Especially during this dry season. On Sunday, there was a brush fire along the road to my house, my guess is that a cigarette caused it, but who really knows? Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, a brush fire was blazing on the hill by my office. Please, let's be more cautious of our actions and realize that the little things we do can have large and sustained impacts.

Thank you to our fire department for putting out the blazes!
~~

Two friends and I shared a booth at the Flame Tree Festival this past weekend. It was nice, but I enjoyed it more last year. Not because of the company! Because of the festival itself. It was, hmm, how do you say? Deader. Yeah, it was deader. At least during the day it was deader. At night it was packed like the World Health Organization conference rooms must be packed right now - but I wasn't at the festival at night. One thing I really liked this year was that there were more information and arts demonstration booths.

Here are some pictures of the items we had in our booth...

AjinoMOTO Racing Apparel, hand knit reggae beanies, Island Flavor jams and coconut syrup, hand sewn bags (including mama bags for all you chewers), and a few miscellaneous items:

Marianas Touch ylang ylang infused coconut oil, body scrubs, bath salts, and soaps:

At the end of the tables, on the right of this photo, are some silk and woodrose topiaries made by my talented friend Lyn. Also, hanging in the photo are some of my Nenin Marianas line:

My friends Lyn and Geraldine made these awesome items - bamboo candle holders, decorated candles, flowerpot pens, potpourri angels, decorated bulletin boards, and hand painted picture frames (the candle holders were a hit - they create beautiful displays when lit at night):

(Lyn also makes excellent cards, some of the best I've seen - greeting cards, invitations, etc. If you ever need some, hit me up and I'll put you in contact with her.)

Yes, we were next to the 670 Rock Steady Shop, so you can imagine how much attention my shirts got. Almost none, that's how much. They will be availble in my etsy shop later this week.

Peace out, yo!

Booth 40

I'm sorry I've been away. I don't even really have an excuse. I've been busy, sure. But not so busy that I couldn't steal 15 minutes to post now and then, since I just know you're all waiting with baited breath to read about my latest life developments. Wait. What?

What have I been busy with?

My kids. (And my new niece! Woo hoo!)

"If we want to do something, we just have to ask our parents. And if we want to jump in the mud, it's ok! We can take a shower! And we know that we love you. And even though we can't see you, we know that you are always there." ~from Katelyn's prayer the other night

"Susu me momma. Susu me a little bit. Only a little bit. Not big." ~Jacob Seth*

And also? I've made a few things...you know, for the Flame Tree Festival.

...of course I did some sewing

...a little bit of knitting


...and I made some fantastically fragrant Marianas Touch bath and body items






...and something new - Nenin Marianas - hand painted children's clothes.

I've also been jamming. So please come check us out. We are booth 40 - in the butt part again. I feel sorry for whoever the sucker is in booth 31 this year. They should have been reading my blog. I had a great time with Missy last year, but since my dear friend has moved to Alaska, I am sharing a booth with two other awesome friends. You'll have to come by to see who they are and what they make. And since my sister just gave birth to an amazing baby girl a week ago, she won't be at the festival making her beautiful and beautifully smelling fresh leis that she made last year that lured so many people to our booth by the scent alone. But! It will still be awesome.

And one more thing! Well, it will have to wait until after the festival. But it's pretty big stuff. It's still being worked on, all I can tell you for now is Ayorátá.

Peace out, yo!

*Susu - for all my non-Saipaneseish friends, "susu" means breast, also brestfeed, breastfed, basically anything to do with boobs and nursing.

Triflin!

Saturday was a triflin' day! Not because it was trifling, but because I made three trifles! You know, the dessert?

Here is a list of foodstuffs I made on Saturday:

1. Eggs and rice for breakfast
2. 2 blueberry lemon trifles
3. Strawberry birthday cake
4. Strawberry banana trifle
5. Lunch - whatever that was
6. Pasta casserole
7. The most amazing soup ever

Dad: You're gonna stop susuing when you turn 2, boy. No more susu ok?
Jacob: Yeah, ok.
Dad: (turns to me) He thinks he can quit.

Me: (singing) ...if that diamond ring turns brass...
Katelyn: What does brass mean?
Me: (confuses brass with bronze) Hmm...it's like a gold color. It's a little darker than gold.
Me: (resumes song) ...if that diamond ring turns brass...
Katelyn: Oh! Now I know what you mean! The gold ring turns brass.
Me: That's right! My brilliant girl!

It was my sister's birthday on Sunday so I made her a cake on Saturday cause there'd be no time to make it on Sunday.

This is when we ate it on Sunday.

I also made soup. And it. was. delicious!


In the late afternoon we colored eggs.






And on Sunday morning, Katelyn and Jacob had an Easter egg hunt with their cousins.


But Jake seemed to prefer the swings.

Wednesday What Is It?

What is it?

Here's how to play.

Wednesday What Is It? Results

The results of the last Wednesday What Is It?

Fire Extinguisher!

5 points to rh!

2 points each to honey, Plumeria, Shar, bigsoxfan, and Bon

Because reptiles and amphibians are cool!

This guy, let's call him Jerry, was hanging out in the carport after work one day last week.

I spied this guy, let's call him Greg, on a coconut tree outside of my office this morning.


Greg is cool!


This dude, let's call him Marv, was outside of our house one sunny afternoon late last year.

I've got eating on my mind.

For dinner tonight, I made a pork stir fry with carrots, sugar snap peas, and napa cabbage. I used a ton of garlic, some ginger, and sliced onions. I flavored it with hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, just a tiny splash of soy sauce, a bit of sesame oil, and black pepper. It was so good!

I also made a side of asparagus and cherry tomatoes. Oh man was that delicious! The cherry tomatoes were grown locally and picked fresh today. This is really simple and so tasty. I sauteed the asparagus in butter and olive oil. Then I added salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and dried onion bits. I added the tomatoes toward the end. And that's it!

A great island breakfast: corned beef hash and eggs on rice.


If you follow me, you may know that I put the kabash on baking some time ago when our power rates were out of control. But since they've come down a bit and I'm just so sick of being bake-deprived, I've decided that we can cook/bake using the oven once a month. Last month it was for baked chicken with biscuits and gravy (it's not really gravy, I didn't have time to make real gravy - and also, all my previous attempts at making gravy from scratch have failed miserably - this is just cream of mushroom soup)...


...and zucchini and carrots (biscuits not pictured).


Sometimes a bologna sandwich is just what you need to wind down from a hectic day at work. It's even better on fresh french style wheat bread.

Before...

Three years ago I wrote about my mask.

Two years ago we had a great Easter, my son was born (and here's how), and I asked my daughter a question.

One year ago Alana'ia put on an awesome concert, I became an adult, Jacob turned one, I overheard the hilarity of awkward silence, Missy and I had a booth at the Flame Tree Festival - where no one could believe I was local.

That's me, the kid in the dark t-shirt on the left. Yeah, that's me, before