a classic case of Halloween costume procrastination

I am the worst Halloween costume procrastinator ever.

I think my most creative costume to date was junior year of college. Although, I'm pretty sure the costumes were not my idea. I was Marilyn Monroe and my bff was Marilyn Manson. Besides my defunct, tightly curled, unruly fro wig that made me look more like Dolly Parton and the fact that I forgot to draw on Marilyn's signature beauty mark, we had a pretty creative twosome.

Unfortunately, it seems at some point in my life my creativity has been stunted. I was always creative as a child and a teenager - taking art classes, making friendship bracelets, sewing sequins on EVERYTHING (I was the original bedazzler), making my own clothes- but I think my need to be a perfectionist killed my creativity.

I went to Kmart earlier tonight because their costumes are 75% off. As I'm searching through three rows of costumes and hoards of people, I finally settle on the zombie banana costume. "It will be funny," I think to myself. About that time someone comes on the loud speaker. "Attention Kmart shoppers, we are sorry for the inconvenience but all of our registers are experiencing technical difficulties." Augggghhhhh. You win, Kmart. You win.

So here it is the night before our friend's Halloween party and here I am Googling "costumes to make out of a cardboard box." (We still have a lot of boxes left over from the move). Luckily, as a backup, my husband loves Halloween and I have a few of his costumes that I can wear if all else fails.

typhoon francisco

Pretty huh?

Time to make t-shirts: I survived Typhoon Francisco.

Looks like the worst is passed us although I can still hear the wind whipping around outside. Winds were supposed to get up to 40 mph with the possibility of gusts up to 60 mph. Luckily the storm has been extremely mild and has been a great trial run in case a stronger storm hits in the future.

We've also been very lucky in that we haven't lost power. Although, besides the entertainment factor to cure the cabin fever, having power hasn't exactly been necessary because the news stations don't seem to make a big deal about a typhoon approaching the island. I don't even think the local news stations here even have weathermen on staff. Maybe I'm a little jaded being from the Ohio Valley because the meteorologists there would be on tv for hours predicting the path of the storm. I know island life is laid back but come on.

Maybe it's harder to predict the path of a typhoon because every time the local news interviewed someone from NOAA, they were not sure where the storm was headed. Thank goodness for Facebook otherwise I would have had no idea what was going on with the storm. Obviously, I would have figured it out on my own just by looking outside but it would have been nice to know that I should be shutting my storm shutters prior to 2am.

Yes, I've now also learned how to operate storm shutters. Although I'm not too savvy operating them in the dark, in the rain.

how to train your roaches

Now the roaches are taking it upon themselves to die in the dust pan. Super easy clean up!

And p.s. roaches here are usually double that size. And they fly. It's pretty much my nightmare come to life.

cutting the grass

This may come as a surprise to some of you (not likely) but I've never mowed grass before... until today.

First, let's talk about me actually getting the lawn mower out of our shed. Apparently, teeny tiny frogs live in our shed. So tiny in fact, you can't even see them until you start to move something around and then all hell breaks loose. I survived the frog attack and managed to get the mower out. I went back in very delicately for the gas can. After about five minutes of trying to pour gas into the mower, I realized the gas can is idiot proof and by that I mean I could not figure out how to work the spout on the gas can. FINALLY I managed to fill the tank and was ready to go.

I found out the hard way that it's pretty difficult to start a mower while the mower is sitting in tall grass. I moved the mower out of the grass and, thanks to Google, also realized that I had to pump the button to get gas into the fuel line. Eureka! I got the bastard started! What a great feeling of accomplishment.

As I started mowing, there were herds of geckos in front of the mower running for cover. They were fast but I was still as careful as I could be in six inch tall grass not to run them over. As I was about to finish the first section of the yard, with my head down looking for geckos, I looked up only to realize that I'm about half a foot from walking into a banana spider. The spider was hanging out in its web at about eye level. Heyyyy spider. Needless to say, the grass below the web did not get cut.

Our yard is huge. Not only is it huge, it's lined with about 100 yards of cinder block. You know, to make it fancy. So not only is the cinder block ugly as heck, it's impossible to mow up to it, around it, above it, next to it. J does a much better job managing it but since it was my first time, my maneuvering wasn't very good. We also have quite a few snails that live in the cinder blocks.

Unlike the geckos, the snails have a hard time avoiding the mower. About halfway through my mowing, out in the middle of the grass, I stepped on something and felt a crunch. Yep, snail. Bleeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I found another one in the grass and threw it to safety. I had to press on because I still had about half of the yard to mow but I was freaked out about mowing over and/or stepping on snails. I had to keep repeating to myself "circle of life, circle of life."

I am a mess but the yard is mowed... except for that one patch under the spider web. It can wait.

things I miss

I miss feeling a chill in the air. I miss people whose job it is to patch potholes. I miss the smell of Great American Ballpark... I miss sports venues in general. I miss being able to watch a football game at 1:00 pm as opposed to 3:00 am. I miss people that know how to drive - people that don't turn right from the far left lane. I miss Target, Starbucks and Chipotle. I miss knowing where to go to buy a cheap handbag. I miss previews at the movies. I miss being able to skip pedicures and being able to wear boots. I miss getting dressed up to go out - it's not even normal to get dressed up for a job interview here. I miss businesses that have up to date websites. I miss being able to drink water from the tap without it having to be filtered 18 different ways. I miss people that know my heart.

UPDATE 10/15/13: Guess what happened today?! They patched the potholes on our street! What's next? A Starbucks?! I'm looking at you, Guam!

pea crabs

A few weeks ago, J and I made a run to the grocery store. We purchased a variety of meats, poultry, fish and shellfish. One night, J decided to make mussels for dinner. He steamed the mussels and made a delicious spicy sauce to go with it. About halfway through our romantic dinner, I noticed that one of the sides of the mussel that I was about to consume was split open and something didn't look right. I start to get a little panicky and asked J to come look it at. He knows that I tend to freak out over nothing so, without looking it at, he said it's fine and to just eat the mussel. That did not put me at ease so I began probing at this little alien looking thing that was hanging out in my dinner.

Turns out it was a pea crab all curled up like this:

Yea, I know. I was freaking out because I had already eaten 7 or 8 mussels at that point. Guh. I thought for sure it was just a fluke and decided to continue eating. That was until I found another pea crab all spread out and comfy like so:

And I was done.

two lovers point

My summary of the legend of Two Lovers Point - Daughter from a wealthy family. Dad arranges marriage to powerful Spanish captain. Daughter gets mad & runs to beach. Daughter meets modest warrior on beach, they fall in love. Dad finds out and is all "you're getting married to this captain right now." Daughter runs away again to meet her lover. Father, captain & Spanish soldiers pursue the lovers to the edge of a cliff.  

Then, according to legend, "the lovers tied their long black hair into a single knot.  And acting as if they were entirely alone, they looked deeply into each other's eyes and kissed for the final time.  Then they leaped over the long, deep cliff into the roaring waters below."

Here are some photos from our trip to Two Lovers Point: 

This was the drive up. J kept saying that it looked like we were driving through Jurassic Park. 

This is the overlook on the edge of a cliff

Another view of the overlook. Pics from the overlook will be coming up!

There were many, many love locks 

Exhibit A

view from left of the overlook

view from the overlook.

I didn't realize this when I took the picture but do you see the face?

my favorite pic of the day

There was also a random 9/11 memorial. The World Trade Center Towers are represented in the top of the frame, with the Pentagon in the forefront, and then trees in the middle representing Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania. 

There was also a chapel on the grounds which I'm assuming had the same view as the overlook. It was gated so this was the closest we could get. 

We took the Jeep off road on the way home :)