Doggy Paddle/Rooster Fight

A few videos from Markus:

How to NOT walk on the coral reef. Go doggio!


This next one illustrates how inundated we are with chickens. People back home always ask when I am on the phone with them and they hear the cockadoodle-do in the background, "Is that a chicken I hear?" Yes, yes it is. And more than one. I think this video also might illustrate that my husband has too much time on his hands.

Un-bottled

I am going to vent my bottled up bottle frustration. We have a problem here in American Samoa (and worldwide of course). Though the local tap water is completely safe, and bottled water expensive, almost everyone drinks bottled water (Fiji water being the water of choice) or bottled Gatorade (don't get me started on that one-everyone thinks it's "healthy" (see Idiocracy for reference). There is (virtually) no recycling on island so these all go in the trash (if we are lucky) or in the streams, oceans or roadside vegetation if we and the planet are not so lucky.

Here is the beach with some great documentation as to this fact:

So if you don't like what you see here, how about you pledge to Break the Bottled Water Habit with New American Dream. It's easy and free and not a request for $ (in fact there are prizes involved so sign up on my page please!)

Whack Out

I know, I know, this comic strip is too small and hard to read, but if you click on it, it will enlarge. I couldn't figure out how to make it bigger. That's how I've been feeling a lot lately. Yes, yes , poor me. My life is soooo hard living . . . on a beautiful tropical island with a great set of friends, a great husband and a laid back job.

But here's something I've discovered about myself lately . . . I like change. On the rotation of about 1 1/2 to 2 years something needs to happen! With my amazing wedding in the past and all the planning and activities related to it, I've been struggling to keep sane. I've started a Dinner Club which, so far, has meet with great success. And we have a book club that is resurrecting itself. And there's always a TON of parties/happenings. But I think I just need a change of scenery. I've started counting down the days left on-island (see countdown counter on the right) and we are talking the big "where are we going to move" conversation. We are leaning hard towards Hawaii, but it's all on Markus on this one, so well wishes are welcome for him landing some great job that we can actually survive on in Hawaii.

In the mean time here are a few photos of the many, many parties we have had lately:

First Dinner Club at my house (Thai food). Twenty guests. Waaaay too many, but it was great fun.

Oscar's first (documented) partaking of boxed wine (courtesy Aaron)-or so he says . . .

The best part of Dinner Club-clean up crew! Maybe I had a little too much boxed wine, this photo is a little crooked.Oscar was the second Dinner Club host.

Oscar is Peruvian and hosted a FABULOUS dinner with china, actual wine glasses to drink our wine out of and linen! Of course he's lived here for years so he can accumulate such things. He made us Peruvian dishes.

He also has a great house with an actual dining room!

Our friend Sam had a going away party where we were supposed to dress like Sam, either in a very tight t-shirt with camo khaki shorts or pjs (as he is known as Sleepy Sam taking random naps at any given moment).
Naomi took it the extra mile with her Sam Stubble-apparently he is a scratchy cheek kisser. Matt just looks like Sam that's all there is to it.
Sam is also known for being a little hairy-thus Einstein, dressed up as hairy Sam. This is one for the books because Markus hates dressing up the dog and he did this.

And then there was Oscar's 70's/Toga party. The Italian dressed as a Greek in the kitchen:

Naomi, getting down. What's missing from this picture are her knee high crew socks and Converse sneakers.

The hippies and their hippy baby show up:

There is so much wrong with this picture I don't know where to start:

Jim in his crazy cop helmet and glasses. Very CHIPS.

And then there is Gnocchi night. Apparently this is a tradition in Argentina to have gnocchi on the 29th of the month. Barbara is the hostess with mostest and serves a slew off folks on this night (even though she is indeed not Argentinian, but Italian). This was my first Gnocchi night. We had fresh pasta lasagne, gnocchi, and polenta. All homemade!

Naomi made most of these darlings:

Michael is enjoying some Fresno State vino (only the best at our parties) contributed by SamoanSteve and Barbara bemoans her choice of seasonings at Michael's house (Pizza Hut red pepper flakes).

I made a lot of the pasta that was in this puppy:

Yes, my life is sooo hard with all these great times. Yet still there are times when I feel like I'm going to Whack Out.

Things Are Not Right in Paradise

I know I haven't discussed too much the downsides of American Samoa. Sometimes, it's just too painful for such a beautiful place with great people to harbor such blatant corruption and systemic problems. Today, however, has pushed me to the edge. I am so furious I am at a loss for words so I'll just let it speak for itself:

http://samoanews.com/thursday.09042008/story16.html
http://samoanews.com/friday.09052008/story6.html
http://samoanews.com/saturday.09202008/story15.html
http://samoanews.com/tuesday.09302008/story12.html
Without a healthy justice system there can not be a healthy culture.

Wedding: The Other Stuff

Cutting the cake!

Feeding each other.

Mmmm...caaaake.

Can you tell we are all faking this shot? Really the only person that had to sign this was Jim as the officiant (you can read about that here), they made us sign at the clerks office. Joe's doing a good job as the witness though.

Wedding Reception: Guests

I loved having our dinner outside with a view of the mountain.
I think everyone really enjoyed it, too

Michael and Kelly try to think of something witty for the guest book.

Reed and her Pops.

The kids had goodie bags to keep them occupied.

Scarlett seemed to think the party was Number One!

Jessica and David got engaged the day of the wedding, though we didn't find out about it until later. Aaaah!

These guys look like they are really enjoying themselves and their Newcastle.

Wedding: Put on Your Boogie Shoes

I really had fun dancing. We used our laptop and a $75 sound system. We had playlists for everything. Markus got his jazz for cocktail hour and dinner and I got some dancin' music for the evening.

Our first dance was Madeleine Peyroux-Dance Me to the End of Love

Our guests actually came out and danced with us!

Reed wanted to dance with Markus and Pearl was swinging with her Pops.
I made my sisters dance with me to Sister Sledge's We Are Family

Mia, Chris & Brian's baby, was a party animal and danced the entire party.

Emily had a daddy dance, too.
Leanne and Greg had a good time.

Jodi and Nick got down!

Even my nephew danced with me!

Markus was a good sport and danced with me a lot. Though there was some complaining because he was so sore from the Fourth of July race a few days earlier.

Wedding Reception: Speech! Speech!

I was truly surprised at how fun the toasting was. I always think of this part as a painful process of a wedding but I guess when it's me being toasted I must not mind too much!

Markus' parents give us a speech!

Joe thinks Markus' love for me has something to do with his hairstyling!

Hope out's my gift of pie as subversive flirting!

Jim refuses to take credit for our meeting!

Reed's speech! This was the most surprising event of the wedding. Reed spontaneously decided to toast us and tell us that our marriage "made her heart happy." I hope someone got this on video. It's going to be one of my favorite lifelong memories.I toast my husband and tell about our five lake Fourth of July weekend.

Another unforgettable event was the re-vamp of Feist's Mushaboom by Leanne and Hope for the Reception modified for the island Lifestyle. Lyrics follow. Toasting their fabulous performance!

Unpacking the gear and setting up
Living with roosters and coconuts oh
She's catching babies at LBJ
And he's in the water all damn day, oh

But in the meantime Valima's here,
Island living, and no good beer.
Only two years until the day
Iceberg won't cost all our pay.

Old dirt road,
Smells like mold
Walking with Einstein as we grow
o-o-o-o-old

They got a plan to stick it out
And make a home from a concrete house oh
They'll collect the moments one by one
Guess thet's how the future's done oh

How many acres, how much light
Tucked in the jungle and out of sight
Talk to the locals and tip my cap
On a little rock barely on the map

Old dirt road
Pisoupo
Wathing the palm trees as we grow
o-o-o-o-old


Cheers!!!!

Wedding Reception: Details

Instead of the traditional wedding cake we went with cupcakes. I found my baker via my florist. They happened to be from Weed and had been students of my Dad's when he taught biology. I never met my baker. All our communication was via email! The cake was fantastic. Hope made gluten free cupcakes for the GF people and the baker frosted them. Everyone was happy!

Besides the Samoa fans we had little plantable wildflower dragonflys that were custom made from a crafts person on Etsy. I love Etsy. I got all my jewelry, Joe's cufflinks, Dragonfly brooches for the women instead of corsages and these guys from artists off that website.

Centerpieces by yours truly and the Dollar Store, assembled by my wedding coordinator. Unfortunately, the candles wouldn't stay lit because of the wind, they were still cool in my book.

Dinner was catered by the resort. I would have loved to have a restaurant cater but it wasn't an option. I think the resort did ok. I don't remember too much so I suppose what I was able to scarf down was ok.

Joe's cufflinks were from Etsy. Joe's a computer geek-they were crafted from old circuit board!

Markus' dive flag cufflinks. I think this was his absolute favorite detail of the wedding.

We had New Castle beer and for us beer starved island folk it was heaven! It was more economical to get a keg for the wedding, though there was no way to drink it all by the evening. The bartender poured out as much as she could at the end of the evening for the after party.

Wedding: Reception Posie Photos

The reception was outside at the Mount Shasta Resort. The weather was perfect. There was a bit of wind but it kept the smoke from the forest fires out of the valley and the mountain visible so it was fine by me. My fancy hair mostly stayed in place. It was a great place to have kids present because they could run around and play and be happy.

We had more posed portraits at the resort with family and guests.

The flower girls! Finally a smile from Pearl. That's my dress behind them.

Me with Grand Niece Scarlett.

The wedding party with mountain in the background.

We had a lot of kids at the wedding and they were all girls!

Front Row: Mia Laurent, Pearl McNames, Emily Laurent, Lucy Holscher

Back Row: Chloe and Juniper Darrow and Reed McNames
In Arms: Scarlett Meier

Da Boys! They did this all spontaneously!
Back Row: Michael, Duane , Eugen, John , Markus, Greg, Danny,Frank, Brian
Front Row: Moudy, Joe, Jim, Nick, Joe, Ben, David, Brian

Me and the Newphews

Back Row: Cathy, Greer, Hope, Lis
Front: Kelly, Me, Chris, Leanne, Jessica and Erin
I don't know where all the lady counterparts are to the guys. There should be a lot more girls in this picture, but I had turned over the organization to the photographer.

Wedding: Posie Pics

Both families.

Us with Markus' parents.

Jim, our officiant (Jim, Hope and I went to High School together and he was Markus' teacher in the Master's program), Markus and Bestman, Joe.

The girls! The Mountain Azalea hadn't been blooming a week before the wedding. It complied with my prayers and popped out and graced us with an amazing smell and beautiful blossoms. They were a million times more beautiful than any florist flowers could be.

Trying to keep Pearl out of the water!

The Bridal Party "fun" shot.

Purty pictures.

Markus' GQ moments.

"Us" Photos

Casual portrait after ceremony.

Up on the boulder! Yes I climbed up there in my dress.

Photo in front of Mount Shasta on way down the mountain (the sun was a little bright).

Wedding party leaving ceremony.

Leaving the ceremony.

Wedding: Ceremony Guests

Ceremony decor.

Lara cools herself off with the fans we brought all the way from Samoa!

Nephew Joe hamming it up as he gets his boutonniere.

Jodi pins on Nick's boutonniere.

My sister, Rebecca, pins on Ben's boutonniere.

The guests were off to the side of a fallen tree.

Markus' parents Elisabeth and Eugen.

My friend Sara, all the way from San Diego!

My step-mother Carolyn and her husband, Dave.

My sister, Michelle, with our grand-niece, Scarlett. Michelle is wearing the handmade dragonfly brooch I got the women instead of corsages from Etsy.

Bestman, Joe Lotz and his wife, Erin. What a handsome couple!

The nephews, Joe, Nick and Ben with my sister, Rebecca.

Post ceremony big hug from the big sis.

Jessica in her fabulous hat.

Reed was really adorable and sweet on our wedding day. She seemed enamored of Markus!

Pearl and her Samoan fan.

Greeting guests after the ceremony.

Wedding: Ceremony

The ceremony was at Castle Lake up in the mountains outside Mount Shasta, in very northern California, where I grew up. It's a beautiful, pristine spot. I would say it's my favorite place on earth (of course, there are many close seconds).

Walking to the ceremony in my Dragonfly sandals (we used dragonflies for lots of stuff related to the wedding because of the beautiful dragonflies that inhabit the lakeshore). I put on my dancing shoes for the reception, but no way was I going to try to navigate the woods in heels. I had to go off-trail to sneak behind the giant boulder without anyone seeing me. I was so proud I didn't bite it on my way over the branches and bushes in my silk wedding dress.My great musicians. They played Pachabel's Canon in D classically and then picked it up and played it bluegrass uptempo like these guys (pick "Listen", then select Pachabel's Canon at the bottom) for us to walk down. They also played Rainbow Connection, Walking after Midnight, and the Theme to Prince Bride on special request.

Resting my dress in the wheelbarrow while I'm hiding behind the big boulder.

The girls sprinkled sweet pea petals that we picked from the side of the road in the morning.

Pearl wasn't too sure of this whole thing so she walked down with her mom, Hope, my Matron of Honor.

Walking down the "aisle" from behind the big boulder.

I had to hold my dress up so it wouldn't end up full of pine needles.

Don't you just love the people floating in the water watching the wedding?

Hope sings Mushaboom for us.

Jim reads Love in the Larger Sense by Kay

Greg reads Falling in love is like owning a dog by Taylor Mali.

Which makes us laugh.
Rebecca, my sister, reads Love is a Temporary Madness from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
by Louis de Berniers.

We do a Buddhist walking ceremony.

The rings of course.
The girls try not to be too bored.

Vows

Kissin'

We are pronounced husband and wife.
Yeah!!!!

Wedding: Getting Ready

I was really relaxed the morning of the wedding. Maybe too relaxed . . . I didn't leave enough time for getting my hair done and was running a little behind. It worked out fine though. I mean they weren't going to start without me right?

Markus was supposed to have a "nap" before hand but it looks like he had a beer or two instead. Hmmmm. . .

Pearl and Reed had their hair done by their grandma and auntie. Updoes no less! Who would have thought you could get a 9 and 4 year old's hair into a French Twist. Thank god for hair spray!

Rehearsal/Dinner

Ahhh, cute flower girls and Matron of Honor.
You wouldn't think from this photo that there'd been a major crying breakdown minutes before, would you?

Markus' Samoan side coming out.

uuuuhhhhh . . . what do we do? where do we go? what's going on?

I guess it goes something like this . . .
Jim, you're going to loose the computer tomorrow, right?

Jim loooooves pie. Aren't those pies adorable? They all had hearts on the top.

Jim asked for a whole pie for himself, thinking there was no way I'd let him have it.
But as our officiant the man deserved a pie of his own.
Of course, he could only finish half!
Baby Scarlett, Michelle, Me and Rebecca

Nick, Ben and Joe, the nephews
Family Photo!