I Love You Mama Sook...

I just got an e-mail from a former Branch President that I served under in Canada - he delivered one of the most heartbreaking news I could have received today - and yet, I know it's good news.

His wife, Heather McKee... aka Mama Sook, passed away Wednesday afternoon.

My heart hurts...

I love you McKee! I guess you'll make it to my wedding afterall...

Congratulations to Keoki!!!!

Well, what kind of a sister would I be without a little bragging of the awesomeness of my family!
Tonight my brother Keoki received a CD from a friend of his who, by-the-way is a recording artist, came by to pay a quick visit. My brother - Keoki Baclayon, has one of his songs recorded on a CD by Natalie Ai Kamauu!

In the acknowledgements, Keoki is addressed and on the song area - there is a description of what the song is about. Keoki did his little happy dance as we listened to his song. It was amazing! I told Keoki that I could definitely see people dancing hula to his mele (song). It's an upbeat Hawaiian song that Keoki wrote about for his Kaua'i 'Ohana.

What a great evening!

If you'd like to hear an excerpt, the song is "He Hali'a Aloha" and can be found at:
http://www.mele.com/music/artist/natalie+ai+kamauu/%60a++%2812-12-2011%29/

Also, I'm sorry I haven't kept up on my blog - just going through a bunch of stuff that needs to be settled before reconnecting.

Much love and light!

Na Lima Ke Ola

"Na Lima Ke Ola" - has been a phrase that has been on my mind for some time. Basically, it means "The Hands of Life". Now, I'm sure most of you are wondering what that means. Well, it means that I am attending Massage Therapy School in Hawai'i!

Is that crazy? Absolutely.

I came to Hawai'i on a vacation with a carry on full of clothes and another carry on with my computer and books, and now BAM! here I am going to school here now. It's pretty intense. Because I don't have a lot of time to tell you the story, I'll have to make sure I put that in a later blog. It's quite the story.

AND, I'm very sorry to anyone and everyone who has to read that I am in school in Hawai'i rather than me telling you in person, via e-mail, or on the phone. Oh, and another funny odd story - I washed my cell phone last week when I was doing laundry. SOOOOOO I don't have a cell phone anymore. (At least not at the moment.) I will see what I can do about getting another one. And although it probably won't have text messaging etc... hearing a friendly voice at the other end is always nice. :)

I'll keep you updated on my adventures.

Oh, and for those who are in Idaho, I'll be there the first weekend of November for military stuff.

Miss and love to all who still read this! Wish me luck in school!!!

Massage anyone? ;)

Back in the U.S.A.

It's weird to finally be able to post things on here. Since July, my "publish" button on my blog was not allowing me to post anything. However, now... I'm back!

Well, here I am in the good 'ole U.S. of A. It's been a few days now and I think I am adjusting a little better than I was the first few days I was here. It was really depressing. I'll be honest, it's still a little weird to be back, but I have to remember that life moves on. It's onward and upward.

My plans after deployment?

I have no idea.

I thought I had things figured out, and of course... I don't. Apparently the Lord has different things for me. I don't quite understand or see how these things will unfold, but I am looking forward to finding out what it will be. For now, it looks like I will be looking for work after my travels, if I don't get back into school right away.

All I know is that my travels will consist of the following:

- Back to Idaho tomorrow, 17 September 2011. :)  (Exactly one year since activating.)
- Utah, California, Hawai'i, Arizona, (possibly New Mexico), Okinawa, Italy or Greece, New York, Canada, or maybe just renting a vehicle and travelling across the US before winter hits (probably not going to happen.)

Anyway, life has been quite the adventure this past year, and one that I am so very thankful for. I can't thank my Heavenly Father enough for the love and kindness He has shown me during my time of deployment. What a blessing it was to serve my brothers and sisters overseas.

If anyone still reads this, you are more than welcome to also e-mail me at stupidfairy@hotmail.com or hpbaclayon@gmail.com.

Thank you for following my adventures with me and for supporting me in my choices, life and deployment.

Hopefully I will fly to Idaho tomorrow and not tonight. That way, my dad can be there when I get in.  I'll post photos on here when I can.

One love to all~

P.S. A random note: I am typing at the computer lab on a laptop, Fort Lewis, Washington for demobilization, and I LOVE the keyboard on this thing! I types smooth and the keys don't stick or are hard to press. God bless smooth typing keyboards! ha ha ha... paz.

R.I.P.

Rest in Peace Uncle Chad.

Thank you for your service in this life. May you always be remembered in our hearts and in the hearts of your beautiful daughters. To my cousins - I love you. To Auntie Nae - it's okay to mourn. Take the time to mourn.

Love to one and all, Pili girl~

Salsa Dancing and other things...

Just wanted to say that I miss salsa dancing and my salsa buddy at Prosperity. My little ray of sunshine is gone - but I pray he has an eternal life of happiness...

So - with all new things, I just have to "adjust and shift fire" or rather, go with the flow and do the best with what I've got. Besides, I think I'm developing my own little ray of sunshine over here... (Don't ask questions, because I'm not going to tell you. You all can make your own assumptions on anything and everything I just typed.)

An update on the new area in bullet form:
- We get more people everyday... breakfast this morning was a chore to find a seat for four people.
- I found out I'm staying in the S1 shop (Human Resources) as the assistant S1. (At least I now know I have a place, a function and a purpose.)
- I am also now our point of contact and webmaster for our unit's secure networking side. I get to manage the web page, update information, post documents and up coming meetings etc.
- I have been farmed out to the Battalion to work on our Yearbook for the deployment.
- Tomorrow (27 July), I have a years worth of photos and write ups due. Yay me! (sarcasm, sarcasm, sarcasm)
- I bought bread and jelly to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the times I'm either too busy to go to chow, or when I'm feeling a little anti-social. :)
- I've stopped wearing mascara (the only war paint I wear anyway) because of the dust, etc. I have to admit, it's been SUPER GREAT not to have to worry about that. Yet, at the same time, I sometimes see myself in the mirror and have to do a double take because my eyelashes are so light and thin that at times it seems that I don't have any eyelashes at all! ha ha!
- I have narrowed my school choices to two: Idaho or Utah

Okay - that's all for now. Love you all heaps!

Missing Prosperity...

I miss my old duty station.

Moved to a new area. I feel like I've gone from little country town to the big city. As if I've gone from Kaua'i to San Francisco. So strange.

Anyway, I really am having a hard time being here. There were a few times I wanted to cry. (I know - I'm strange.) I think it also has something to do with not having a place in my unit any more. I'm not assigned to a job and I feel like I'm in limbo. Not knowing where you belong kind of stinks!

Well - here's to driving on...

Choices to Make

Alright - I've narrowed it down to three areas:

- Idaho State University, Pocatello, Idaho
- Utah College of Massage Therapy, SLC, Utah
- Hawaii Healing Arts College, Kailua O'ahu, Hawai'i

I will be attending massage therapy school at one of these schools. That is - unless the Lord tells me other wise.


Side note:

PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANY MORE MAIL. I WON'T GET IT.

Thank you.

On the Road Again...

My dearest family and friends.... please forgive my absence.

I don't have much time to type, however, I would ask that you NOT send any more mail. I won't get it.

Thank you! Love you! Hope you are well.

Much love from the Land of Father Abraham.

New Changes

Well, with it being nearly the end of June - all I can say is: WHERE DID IT GO?!?

The past two weeks or so I have been training to work in the Human Resources area. And, today, being day one that I am absolutely working by myself - my brain is fried. Over the last 2days, I've filed over 1,000 pages, created checklists documents for ever member in the unit, prepared for 2Soldiers to come back from leave, checked out 2 more to go on leave tomorrow, attended a meeting, gave a briefing to the Commander and 1SG, sent documents to our higher ups, found out that I have to submit 30 photos with information on them before the 10th of July, and still complete the 3 months (that our unit XO lost) and this past month's photos and write up by the end of the month.... phew - I'm exhausted!

I'm forcing myself to get on my computer so I can update this thing, and send out a few much need-to-be-sent e-mails, providing my Internet holds out.

Not to mention, tomorrow will be a new day and most of that stuff will begin again - then again, a lot of new and different things will happen as well.

To add to the stress of it - they are serving Quesadilla's tonight for dinner and I want one sooooo bad! However, I can't. I have my height/weight/tape tomorrow. Meaning, I have to find out how much I weigh and since I obviously don't weigh 158 pounds, I have to be taped. (They take the measurements from my neck, smallest part of my waist, and then the largest part of my "bottom", calculate it, and then ... [drum roll please] ... we see how "fat" I am.) Ugh, the curse of having "plump" genes. But, what can I do. I think I'll get a Quesadilla anyway and eat half of it tonight, and the other half tomorrow for lunch! :) (Not going to lie - left overs in Iraq are not that great.)

Okay - I'm going to rest my brain before I head to chow in 15 minutes. Hope all is well!