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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!!!! The big 2-3 has arrived!

Im sad that i cant be home celebrating my birthday with my friends and family, but dont fret because i WILL be celebrating here with some of the bestest new friends i have made. Thank you all for the support of the last 4 months, it has meant the world to me!!!

Side note: I need to make an amazing shout out to Ashley Parsons and her family for sending a box full of school supplies, games and treats. I can NEVER repay you guys for the two boxes and i know the children of Grenada will benefit so much from this stuff. Again...THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

Baking: Mack Style

I walked into the grocery store this afternoon and BAM, a beautiful wall of vegetables and fruits. Availability of these items are sporadic and never guaranteed, so when i walked in the store today to a wall filled with veggies i was so excited. I was honestly only there for carrots and green peppers but walked out with string beans, lettuce, cabbage and CHERRIES! yes cherries, my favorite fruit. I wasn't sure what i was going to do with them, but i knew if all else fails i will just eat them like they are, as i know my baking abilities are nowhere near Rachel Ray.

I reached home and cooked a wonderful veggie quesadilla and felt a need to bake. Now this sentence might only be funny to my mother and sister, but Mackenzie and baking should never be put in the same sentence. I can cook like no other, Paula Dean has nothing on my cooking abilities. But when it comes to baking, Betty Crocker and I never really got along. I think its because with baking you have to do all this prep work and then wait....wait....wait....Im not so good with the waiting. I move on to my next task and COMPLETELY forget about the things in the oven. Then WHAM, i have charcoal cookies. I can rarely remember to set a timer, so that's not an alternative either.

So tonight i set my mind that i was going to make cherry muffins. I follow alot of cooking/baking blogs in hope that i can train myself to bake just by reading good blogs. This was my first attempt with the theory. I'm mixing and mixing and mixing. Then i go to find a muffin pan....DAMN! Now one would of thought you would look for the pan BEFORE baking...not me. I had a cookie sheet and a pan, I decided to make due. I figured i could just plop the muffin mix on the cookie sheet like cookies and they will turn out fine. My first failure...



So after those failed miserably in the oven i decided just putting the remainder of the mix in a pan and baking it like a cake was my only option. Thankfully they turned out alright and they actually taste just like muffins, they just aren't round. haha. Who ever made up the rule that muffins had to be round anyways? I'm breaking stereotypes people! Hope you got a good laugh out of this but until then i will stick with cooking.

Moments of Gratitude

I look so forward to 5-6 pm every night when i get to see one of my most favorite parts of Grenada...The sunset. The colors are so beautiful and i find such solitude when i look up and see the ocean in the distance.

I have had alot of time to myself the past week. Often down time brings thoughts of homesickness, loneliness and frustration. But when i begin to feel these emotions i know the one place i need to be is on my veranda enjoying the view and beauty of the tropics. My neighbors sometimes ask if i ever leave that seat because every time they see me I'm there in dream land. I find myself looking to the sky remembering all the people that are up there looking down on me and probably creating that beautiful sunset. My great grandma Doherty who was such inspiration, my hard nosed Grandfather who told me to follow my dreams and my dear friend Janet whose life ended to soon. Its moments like these you realize how short life can be, but also how fulfilling and wonderful the memories can become. I hope one day when I'm up in those beautiful clouds someone remembers me as the person that never was to quick to appreciate the small things, did everything she could for her country, lived life as a hardworking humanitarian and was never to busy to laugh.

Carnival Launch Party!

Hello all! I haven't had much to update on so i apologize for the lack of blog posts recently. BUT, i have something very interesting to update you on today. Yesterday i went with about 4 other volunteers to the SpiceMas 2010 Carnival Launch Party held at the old National Stadium. Carnival is the largest celebration of Caribbean culture and travels throughout the islands over the course of a year. Here in Grenada, Carnival is held August 9-10. The Caribbean's Carnivals all have several common themes all originating from Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, based on folklore, culture, religion,and tradition, not on amusement rides. Carnival tradition is based on a number of disciplines including: "Playing Mas"/Masquerade; Calypso Music and crowning a Calypso King or Monarch; Panorama (Steel Band Competition); Jouvert morning. In anticipation of the upcoming Carnival celebrations the island held a launch party to get people excited and officially open up the Carnival season. I'm very excited to see such an integral cultural experience for the first time in Grenada and i hope it is a blast!

One of the highlights of the Launch Party last night was the Jab Jab. Jab Jab is a devilish carnival character of the Caribbean islands that is more mischievous than evil. Like many other masqueraders at carnival time, they smear themselves with black oil, and wear horns to play at being the “diable” (French for devil). They often carry around pieces of meat in their mouths, dead animal heads, chains and plenty of USED motor oil. Disgusting right? The minute they reached our area the smell of a mechanics shop filled the air. After the initial shock of bloody meat in their mouths and motor oil all over the place, me and the other volunteers started to ponder the cultural significance of the Jab Jab and after some research i found it fits right into the cultural history of Grenada.

I have attached some pictures of the day. If you have a weak stomach please scroll really fast. haha.