Community in Wonderland: What would you do?

Imagine being asked by the military if they could survey your family's land and perform EPA studies on it.

What would you do if the military was preparing to aquire land that has been in your family for almost a hundred years?

This is pristine land. This is the land that your ancestors farmed on. This is the land that holds memories in every blade of grass, every pebble, every grain of sand.

Find out what Lourdes Sgambelluri did, in this article.

Crafting in Wonderland: This one was a Christmas hit

Allan got the hang of bottle cutting just in time for Christmas! We gave out some Corona and Guinness glasses as gifts. Allan even made one out of a wine bottle for my mom.

We're hoping to perfect this and get into etching and painting so we can produce a bunch. I need to get rid of my glass bottle collection. I'm running out of space, but feel guilty throwing them away.

Celebrate in Wonderland: Xmas '09 - part 2

Recessions presents = gifts from the Japanese $1.50 stores. :D

We also encouraged creative recycled wrapping.

Thats a rolling pin. :P

perfect for a single egg

Clara is a teacher. Nel got her chalk and red pens.

The pink thing in his hand is a giant pen. lol

Shauna handed out mini christmas trees, sugar scrub, and candy!

Sharon is an animal lover. :)

Marchell loves strawberries.

It's not in this pic, but I got Mark a flat tire kit and head lamp for his bike!

some of the other $1.50 gifts included:

resin key chains w/ bugs! chopsticks! reusable grocery bags! origami paper! Japanese flash cards! nail polish! notebooks! Pot holders! and so many more awesome things.

All night people were saying, "You got THAT at the $1.50 store." You'd be surprised at the many neat things you miss when browsing those places.

Celebrate in Wonderland: Xmas '09 - part 1

Retro Recession Christmas Cocktail Party!!!

We invited our friends over for drinks and appetizers to celebrate the holidays. Allan and Quincy served up takoyaki, sashimi, veggie spring rolls, meat balls and gravy, hummus w/ toasted pitas, and spinach rolls. Sharon brought cookies. Nella made a punch bowl of Sangria and everyone else brought beer. The food, drinks, and the company was absolutely festive and perfect.

He doesn't hate me. He just refuses to smile for pictures. :P

Viva was so excited!

I have awesome friends, the gifts that keep on giving.

Nella and Michele. I love them!

No party is complete without some hooping.

So exhausted!!!

Celebrating in Wonderland: Oh, Christmas tree . . .

Our tree!!!

Complete with an Archie comic chain and Betty Boop ornaments.

Life in Wonderland: Oh Christmas Tree

I keep having to remind myself, this holiday season, to relax and not expect so much. If I could just slow down maybe I could actually enjoy the holidays rather than spending it worrying about budgeting for presents, fitting a stupid skirt, and the big one . . . the perfect tree.

I'm not sure why I'm so caught up in this tree thing. I struggle with it every once in a while though. I'm not really interested in buying a real tree. Christmas trees don't grow here so any tree I would buy would've had to have been shipped thousands of miles and could possibly be harboring a stowaway species. I don't judge people who do buy real Christmas trees though. They smell so good and a lot of the time the profits from the trees go to a good cause.

So why not just purchase a fake tree, that can be used year after year? I'm not really in to those either. I want something completely funky! I want something different. We own a wicker tree that I spray painted black. That one is in our bedroom this year. I need a new tree for the living room. I thought that making a tree out of plastic bag garland would be fun and funky. So in early October I started working on it. Then early November I realized that would take forever and was no longer fun. So early December we tried making a tree with aluminum cans. Then we ran out of cans and realized that wasn't the best idea ever. So last week we bought a bunch of green balloons and I attempted to make a balloon tree. I got frustrated after a couple hours so Allan took over. But by then I had already decided, out of disappointment in myself, that I didn't want a silly balloon tree.

I'm pretty sure we will just end up getting an artificial tree. Maybe I'll spray paint it some funky color. I'm not sure yet. I'll be sure to post pics once we finally get a tree up in the living room. In the mean time I'll continue cursing the contents of my closet and kitchen cabinets, for not getting along. Hopefully I'll find some time between to just breath and soak up the spirit of the holidays.

Celebrating in Wonderland: Autumn Festival

This was the first year in a few that I've been able to go to the Autumn Festival. For 30 years the Japanese community on Guam has hosted this celebration of harvest. I'm so glad we were able to go. Parking is crazy and sometimes it rains and gets muddy, but the music and food always make up for it. There were booths and booths of food, toys and drinks. Allan was in heaven. He had okonomiyaki, squid rings, and karage. He was dissapointed that there was no takoyaki, but he got over it. We got there later in the evening so Nella and I were unable to get light up ears that many of the kids were wearing. Many people were dressed in kimono, yukatas, and happi coats. I even saw a puppy in a happi coat. There was also a fireworks show, dancing, and the shrine procession.

All together it was a great way to get out of the apartment after a day of rain and vegging out.

Karage!!

I think this is the children's shrine. :)

Celebrate in Wonderland: Party Animals

Celebrating Nella's 25th!

Album in Wonderland: The pupppet.

feeling playful

My friend, Tess, took this picture after I got giddy and decided I wanted to be a puppet for the evening.

Celebrate in Wonderland: Birthday love!

Happy Birthday NELLA!

It is my very talented, beautiful, and sweet sister's birthday today. She's turning 25!

This picture was taken at her Rock and Bowl birthday party last year.

If you have some time head over to her blog and wish her a Happy Birthday. Every one loves birthday greetings. :D

Life in Wonderland: 2 months until 2010

Another year has gone speeding by. I feel like I'm sitting in the exact same spot I was last year only now I have a cold. Maybe I had a cold last year too.

A couple things have changed though. Allan and I are going back to school next semester. We're in the enrollment process right now. I actually exhibited in a show other than the Guma Mami art auction. Our eating habits have also changed. We eat out less and we eat less meat. Allan has started playing a gig again and he's really happy about that.

I'm proud and excited about all of that, but I wouldn't mind adding some other things on to that list before 2009 has gone. This idea was actually inspired by a conversation I had with my friends, Nella and Michele. So here are a few things I'd like to see on that list before the year is through. They may not all make it up there, but it'll be fun to see how many I can get up there.

• have Viva spayed. :( I procrastinate.
• plant a small edible garden (2 herbs and 3 veggies at least)
• get fit :P (the girls and I are considering joining a gym)
• volunteer at G.A.I.N.
• paint something to send to grandpa
• put together a free art project-ish like thingy.
• Learn to hoop at the knees. :P
• Get the art/craft room set up nicely
• Fix up our bedroom. I still haven't painted some of the furniture.

This list will keep me busy for the next couple months and I'll blog whenever I complete something on the list.

Life in Wonderland: Some people are just rude

And some are oblivious!

Last night I went with my friends Nella and Tessa to watch Allan and Mark play. We were having a good night listening to the music and catching bits of whatever was on the t.v. screens.

Then this chick in the crowd decides she wants to sing, but Allan and Mark don't know any of the songs she wants to sing. So she asks if she can sing a Capella. I don't know what song it was that she sang, but she said it was Aretha Franklin. That's pretty ambitious. Then she starts and it wasn't so bad. But it got worse and Tessa, Nella, and I were trying to figure out what the hell she was singing about. For the love of . . . it was a capella. And it sounded like she was singing about a woman being a man and I definitely heard the word dude a couple times. Maybe she forgot some lyrics and had to improvise. Whatever.

We go on enjoying our night. lalalala. Then Allan and Mark start playing "Say It Ain't So", by Weezer. Allan is singing and all of a sudden that chick is on stage singing in Allan's mic. Keep in mind There is a mic in front of Mark not being used at the moment. And so I spent the rest of that song watching that chick's face half an inch from Allan's. I left after that and told him I won't be going to his gigs anymore. He doesn't understand, but he's oblivious and the fact is there are a lot of crazy chicks out there who are going to get disturbingly close to my boyfriend. I'm not insecure either. Mostly I'm just annoyed. And I don't have enough control to deal with this again.

annoyed in Wonderland: are you serious?

K-Mart sells cordless phones.

K-Mart sells batteries for cordless phones.

The cordless phone batteries K-Mart cells don't match the cordless phones they sell.

So if you buy a cordless from them you'll need to find somewhere else to get batteries if yours ever dies. Are these things supposed to be disposable? I know they're getting cheaper and cheaper every year, but what a waste of resources.