Last day of 2007

The year 2007

- The Man and I enjoyed five months in St. Thomas and learned the ways of the island
- We got married
- We mini-mooned in Anegada
- The Man turned 41
- We returned home in May
- My parents celebrated 40 years of marriage
- We had our reception
- I turned 33
- I learned how to drive a stick-shift
- I turned in my dying Mazda and got my Mini convertible (which I miss...)
- I got my old job back for five months
- The birds all turned a year older - I think they're 9 (grey), 6 (red) and 4 (yellow)
- We attended a wedding (Oct), celebrated friends having babies (in Jan, July and August) and toasted a newly engaged couple (Nov)
- We attended a handful of concerts, all in the 80's genre
- We celebrated ThanksMas with the family and jetted back to the island a few days after

Last year we had good friends fly down to celebrate New Year's with us on St. T. We went to a bar that has since closed down. This year we are celebrating with our group here - some light eats and cocktails at the house, then down to the waterfront for a disco-themed blockparty. I am PSYCHED for disco.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!~!~!

Bring on 2008!~!~!

So Sweet

A look at the 2007 New England Patriots

Team: 16-0 - NFL record

Team: 589 single season points - NFL record

Tom Brady: 50 touchdown passes - NFL record

Randy Moss: 23 touchdown receptions - NFL record

Ola

Happy Saturday :)

I haven't posted in a couple of days, we rented out our St. Thomas place and moved to a friend's house for a week. No big deal, but between waitressing and cleaning up/moving I was away from the computer. So sue me.

No picture today, I'm on the Man's laptop and he doesn't have any good ones. My laptop doesn't work at this place, no internet - and I broke the slot where a Sprint card would go, so you're all out of luck. Until I find a moment to put some pictures here. Blah.

Today I'm waitressing in the afternoon, and then we're busting out to watch NFL history. Woohoo!

I hope you're all enjoying your holidays and gearing up for New Year's!!

Dude, where's my energy?

The Man and I have been enjoying ourselves for the past 4-5 days. My last waitress shift was Friday, and since then it's been a blur of beach, booze and food. This morning I felt like a college kid after spring break.

It all ends today though, I work a double shift today, one shift tomorrow, another double shift Friday and one shift on Saturday. Yikes. I also need to start eating better, and by better I mean not shoving potato chips down my throat like I'm in a competition.

Let's get to today's entry. In St. Thomas please remember to Drive on the Left. This is easier to get used to than you might think. The only places I get tripped up on are when you're entering somewhere with an In and Out lane and I have to remember to enter on the left side when I'm so tempted to go in on the right.

Here's today's picture:

'Cuz without a picture you'd have no idea what driving on the left looks like, right?

I'm outta here, have to shower up and leave to serve frozen drinks to the tourists.

Merry Christmas!!!

I hope you're all enjoying your Christmas Day!

Just a few holiday pictures today, then the Man and I are headed to the beach.

My favorite island decoration, I love these froggies:






Our Christmas card from a few years back, you know I love these birdies:

...and the card we sent this year:

Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas Eve!

Today we'll take a quick photo trip down Christmas Eve memory lane.

I gotta worn ya, it ain't pretty.

A short story. Last C'mas Eve the Man and I were on Magen's Bay. Still new to the islands we were hanging by ourselves, having some drinks and calling friends/family. I started the day with a couple of Pina Coladas, but on a drink run to the bar I noticed a sign for tasty rum punches and decided to have those. We happened to know the bartender and she loaded my drinks up, and I mean LOADed. Fast forward a few hours and I was pretty much face in the sand. I don't remember much after ordering the drinks, but I guess I fell a few times and the Man decided I needed to go home. He packed me in the car, drove us home and that's where it happened. We live on a steep downgrade of scraggily concrete. As I opened the passenger door of the SUV it flung forward and I apparently went with it. And landed on the concrete. Hard. The Man got me inside, showered me off, bandaged me up and I didn't wake up until Christmas morn. We hit the beach the next day, and told our small group of people-we-had-basically-just-met what I did. Then I showed it off. I'd like to think it endeared me to people, or maybe not, but either way I got a lot of mileage off my scars and it's been a good story in the past year.

This was taken about a week after the fall:



I took about four layers off my left knee, it was the size of a credit card and it was the worst scab I've had in my entire 33 years. This sucker took forEVER to heal. Everytime I had to stand or sit it took me about 5 minutes to work the scab into a stretched or crunched position. If I went into the ocean it stung, and when I got it the salt stung even worse as it dried.

Here's how it looks one year later:

It's definitely hard to see in this pic, but the scar is (and will always be) visible. Even in my bike riding days of kidhood I never did damage like this.

What does this have to do with island life?

Don't get wasted on rum punch. Don't live on downgrades. Don't open your own door when you're wasted.

Really, the wisdom in this post is so valuable I shouldn't have to spell it out.

Sunday = Beach

Happy Christmas Eve eve!

I'm sure you're all breathlessly gathered around your computers waiting for your Sunday beach photo.

What? You're not? You're in the midst of holiday travel? or have already reached your destination and are enjoying family and friends?

Makes perfect sense. If the Man and I were home we'd be doing the same thing, but we're here - and everyone pretty much ends up on the beach during the holidays - so we'll put on a brave face and do the same :)

Sunday on St. Thomas is a big beach day for locals. Most people go to Magens Bay and drive all the way down to the left side (if you're on a boat looking at the beach that would be the right). This is where the locals hang out, far away from the beach bar and the cruising tourists. We bring coolers, grills, food, booze, frisbees, water floaties...you name it. Our group wavers between 8 and 20, and we've had pork loin, fajitas, breakfast, salmon, burgers - if you can grill it you can bring it. And we will eat it.

Here's a shot from two Sundays ago:


Sunday beach day is one of my most favorite things about living down here; even if you haven't been in touch with people during the week you know you'll see them on Sunday. I don't know about you but for the Man and I that didn't happen back home, there was no one day where people gathered like clockwork to catch up and have a few drinks.

Sunday is also where we learned how to play Polish Horseshoes (as Polish people everywhere groan...). It's pretty simple, you get two poles about chest height and poke them in the sand so many feet apart. You then fill a soda can or water bottle with sand and balance it on top of your pole. Teams are two people, and the object is to knock off the other team's bottle with a frisbee toss. The game is played to 21, you can score in 1 of 3 ways: if you throw the frisbee and the other team doesn't catch it that's 1 point. If you hit the pole and both frisbee and bottle hit the sand that's 2 points. If you score a direct hit on the bottle and both bottle and frisbee hit the sand that's 3 points. Once a team is halfway to 21 you switch sides.

Here are the rules: A) If you're on the receiving team you can't reach in front of the pole to catch the frisbee, that's called a 'frontal' and the other team gets a free throw. B) If you have a poor frisbee toss and it lands in the sand in the middle of the poles the receiving team gets to draw a line in the sand where it fell and throw from there, which is a big advantage. C) You must be holding a beverage in one hand during the entire game (there are time outs for refills).

I'm happy to say that last year myself and another chick became the First Ever Girl's Polish Horseshoes Team, and while we haven't won yet (our high score is 11) we are getting better. My partner is well endowed and I keep telling her to take her top off as a distraction, she just hasn't been drunk enough yet. And no, the guys don't take it easy on us, they throw as hard as ever.

Here's a game in progress:

Beach Sunday usually wraps up around 4:30-5ish and people either head home, to Sibs bar (for football games), or to our house (if we're having a Pats game party). There are those Sundays where you get into good chats and just hang until 6, but as dusk rolls around there are sand gnats that will come out and find you, so we usually just pack it in beforehand.

It's almost 11AM here, time to change into my suit, pack the cooler with beers and head out the door.

Peace.

I Think

I just decided that Saturday posts will be photo-less. Instead I'll run my mouth off on current events that caught my eye.

Like Britney's sister. My god.

Like Roger Clemens. Who needs to just step up to the mike and get it over with. Admit it. Apologize. Move on. The longer you have your attorneys proclaim your innocence the more tired the public will grow.

Like Jessica Simpson vs. Dallas fans. Really? Although, I remember back in Tom Brady's 1st or 2nd year there were rumors he was hanging around with the trashtastic Tara Reid, and I do remember the radio sports shows being full of debate and phone calls going something like 'Get that skank away from our quarterback!!!'. So I can't be a hypocrite on this one.

Like the Natalie Holloway case closing up and going cold. Man, what a disappointment. How did those kids get away with murder? We'll never know. So sad for her parents, and so frustrating for everyone else.

That's it for now. I'm out. Happy weekend.

TGIF

Meet Web:

For the past few Friday nights he's been the entertainment at the place I waitress. Here's a brief description:

Fridays: Web from 104.3 The Buzz. Web and his guitar gear up for a night of puns and fun, some of the best original music including all the local favorites

Web is your typical surfer dude. We met him last year through my friend K, she brought him down on a Sunday beach day. With his unwashed locks flying hat-free and his strong face the Man and I immediately dubbed him Mr. Lee Roth, and I think at the time Web had mentioned something about Van Halen and that's why it came about. I don't think we've ever learned his real name.

Web DJ's on our favorite island radio station the Buzz, he's on in the AM - but when I say 'on' I mean he drops in, does some talking, then plugs in his tape and leaves - most likely to find some 'sick waves dude'. When he's not DJ-ing he's surfing, when he's not surfing he's making up songs and singing them and when he's not doing that he's sleeping (and by sleeping I mean getting stoned). Being a single guy he does make time for the ladies as well and will happily teach them some moves on his board. Surfing or otherwise.

His songs have an Adam Sandler quality to them and they poke fun at island nonsense, like our extreme electric bills by WAPA (Water and Power Assoc), the ghetto supermarket Pueblo (Where can you find year old meat? Pueblo) and the cruise ship passengers (The Overfed, Lobster-red, Newlywed and Nearly Dead).

His latest song is the 12 Days of Christmas island-style...ending with an Iguana in a Palm Tree.

Cheers to keeping it real dude~

While we're on the subject of food...

The Frenchtown Deli (located in, um, Frenchtown) has the best deli sandwiches on the island (in my opinion). I asked the Man if he could think of another deli place, and we really can't. Then he mentioned Subway, but that doesn't count.

The menu:

My favorite is the Mafioso (2nd column, 2nd one down); ham, salami, tomato, lettuce, cheese, vinagrette on french bread. I add a little extra mayo, extra salami and get a side of the vinagrette for dipping. Holy shit it's good. The Man loves their 1/2 roasted chicken.

They have a room with tables so you can sit and eat, we usually go there after a post office run, about once a week.

Oh, I just thought of another place - Marina Market, located in Red Hook (opposite side of the island from us). They're another grocer, tres expensive. I worked next to them last year for about a month and had a sandwich almost everyday. My favorite there, if I recall, was the melted brie and ham sandwich on french bread. Holy shit. Wicked good stuff.

One of the many questions

The Man and I get a lot of questions about life on the island. 'Is food more expensive?' is a popular one, and the answer is yes - everything is flown in from Miami, and that hikes the price. There are a few places to do your grocery shopping here: FoodCenter (your basic grocery store), Cost-U-Less (price club), Pueblo (ghetto supermarket) and the Gourmet Gallery (wicked expensive, located at one of the yacht harbors).

Cost-U-Less is where we shop the most, we don't mind bulk and the prices are reasonable. However it's not a place we can just run out to if we need something; it's about 25 mins away so when we go it's a planned trip.

Yesterday we ran out of CoffeeMate (and yes, it's tragic, we NEED it) and we also needed parmesan cheese. Additionally the Man was out of Diet Coke (tragic again), so I decided I would go up the hill and gather these things and fill the tank at the same time. There's a place called Friendly's, it's a gas station/small grocey store. The food is the biggest ripoff ever, so we only use this place in extreme emergencies (which apparently include soda and creamer).

I went into the store and picked out the items that we needed, the whole time trying to forget how awesome the bang for my buck would be at Cost-U-Less. The photos today detail just how much of a ripoff Friendly's can be - and you have to laugh about it.

I purchased two of these tiny little parmesan cheese tubes (it's the only size they carry):







Here's the size:








...and the price:


If I've done my math correctly that's $1.33 per ounce of precious parmesan cheese. Makes you want to cry a little right?

So yes, food is more expensive here but you have to know where to go to avoid that kind of ridiculous cost. Our lesson today? Only buy gas at Friendly's.

The answer to your next question? Yep, gas is more expensive here. But more on that later.

Any Island Life questions? My camera is ready :)

Home Office

My 'desk', where I'm sitting right now. Photo is in Sepia for your viewing pleasure. One laptop, balanced on top of a pool party casino blow-up floaty box so the keyboard is at a comfortable height. Next to that is my coffee mug on top of the dish that held my english muffin (toasted with cream cheese). There's also a phone, some paperwork, a Diet coke can from last night, some empty photo albums, tv remotes, a Soduko book and a pair of earrings. Behind the coffee table is a chair holding my purse, a roll of wrapping paper and some other clutter.

Back to work I go. Hi Ho Hi Ho.

A bar like Cheers

Welcome to Sibs on the Mountain, a bar in St. Thomas that we pass almost everytime we go anywhere. As a result we find ourselves here a couple times a week including most Sundays after the beach. On Friday or Saturday nights we'll stop in around 10-11pm and we can name at least five people that we're guaranteed to see.

When you walk into Sibs you find yourself on one side of a big bar that fills the room. It's dark in there, save for the light from the doors and from the four big TV's the put a glow on everyone's face. When you walk into the next room there are gambling machines and a couple of dart boards. Walk through this room and you find a couple of pool tables. There is also a deck with seating, but I've never made it past the pool tables.

If there's a game Sibs will have it on, so it's a convenient place to stop on a Sunday to catch the 4pm NFL games and grab a bite. Fans from every team flock here and debates can get loud and rowdy. There's always a healthy amount of New England fans on hand. We know the bartenders by name and they treat us well. Jessie is the chick we go to the most, she'll charge us $12 for countless drinks, in turn we tip her well - we'd prefer she get our money than the establishment.

Sibs is one of those places that runs itself. The first time we walked in there I could tell it was a cool local place, and that we would have to become regulars to really enjoy it. These days I feel like we're part of the Sibs crowd. Case in point: last week we went to the Hooters VIP party and the beers were free. When we left Hooters I had three 'roadies', one beer I was working on and two full ones. We decided to stop at Sibs and I walked in the bar with two beers. Sean was bartending and he took one of the beers and put it on ice for me. Where else does that happen?

Yeah, we love Sibs.

Rain Rain Go away...kinda...sorta

Rain rocks on the island. We have a cistern under the house, where the basement would be, and it collects the water we use for everything: showers, dishwasher, filling the pool, etc. It's heavily filtered so it's completely drinkable. When you run out you get your water delivered, 5000 gallons for $300. That's where rain is good, it collects and runs right into our cistern, therefore delaying any need for delivery.

Rain also rocks for all of our palms and flowers that we've planted.

But rain is also bad. For all of the obvious reasons. If people are vacationing this week they've had some sun and a lot of shady wet days. Not fun when you're trying to enjoy your tropical vacation. And yes, I know, island showers are supposed to last for 5, 10 mins. Most of them do. However the Man and I live on the rainforesty side of the island, which means are downpours last much longer.

Here is a picture of our pool basically overflowing from two days of downpour last May:

And that, students, concludes today's lesson on rain.

Today is my last waitressing shift for the week. It wasn't my intention to go four days straight, and today is my longest yet: 10:30 - 4:30. I'm weary just thinking about it, so here's hoping it flies.

I tired...!

I completed my second night of waitressing a few hours ago, and it's been going really well! I had no idea how I would do with a ten year gap since my last server job, but after I got the first few tables out of the way on Wed night I found my rythym - so yay me! *clapping* Although I have to say, my back hurts and my dogs is barkin'!

Moving onto the photo(s) of the day...my new blog-thing (you likey?). St. Thomas welcomed a new restaurant on Monday night, a little place called Hooters.


They had a VIP eat/drink for free party and we snagged tickets through a friend of ours. I've actually never been in a Hooters before - no real reason. The one in Boston closed down, and the one in Pittsburgh (where I schooled) was a place we just didn't find ourselves as there are many other places to get your drink on in that city.

With that said I thought it was a pretty cool place! Sure, it's full of cheese and drooling guys, but the wings were tasty, the beer was cold and you can't argue with a place that has a TV set every five inches. I can see us hitting it for a football or baseball game, or the odd night out. We had fun, and our waitress was super nice (I know, I'm sure they all are...!). Here she is on the right, next to me and another couple:

Another tidbit? I applied there a week ago. I'm no fool. This place is located right where people spill off the cruise ships, and before the novelty wears off the tips are going to be killer. All I need is a good bra, and someone to say 'You're Hired!'

Oh, and I need more cheerleader in my personality. Um, go team.

Everyone out of the pool!!!

Things you don't see in Boston?

Tarantulas.

What fell in and died in our pool the other night?

A fucking tarantula. Holy shit. I just about wet myself when the Man fished it out. And we're pretty sure it's a baby, which means mom-ula is wandering around somewhere.

It took all my willpower to lean over and shove a teaspoon next to it for it's photo, I fully expected it to jump up and attach itself to my face.

Enjoy the ickiness that is today's photo:

Correction

I did not start waitressing yesterday, I start today at 4:30. Last week I picked yesterday to start, and completely forgot that I had a friend coming in on a cruise ship. She's someone I worked with a few years ago. She was with her boyfriend, sister and sister's boyfriend - along with other family members, but she decided that only those four would hang out with the Man and I.

She called me around 10 when they were through customs, I directed them to walk to a nearby bar/restaurant and headed down to grab them. They had just started drinking a round when I got there, and I told them to pay the bill and take the drinks with them...'cuz yeah, you can drink and drive in St. Thomas. Crazy right? Wicked cool right? As long as you're responsible of course.

We got back to our place and the Man had the outside speakers playing some reggae as we all settled down to some boozing. Here's a pic of the cruisers at our bar (my friend is in the pink):


They didn't have to be back at the ship until 6:30, and I had to work at 4:30 which cramped our plans. It wasn't a great beach day but I really wanted to take them to the other side of the island to hang at this cool bar: Duffy's Love Shack. So I made the decision to call the restaurant and see if I could work Wed instead of Tues. The owner called another girl, made the switch, so I am working tonight, tomorrow, Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Originally I was working Tues night, Friday and Saturday...so I gained some shifts! Not bad for someone who hasn't yet worked a minute there.

The Man thought I was foolish for bagging out on my first day, but how often do friends cruise in?! (Answer: not often). After getting them a little sauced on some bad ass rum we headed out to Duffy's and ordered up some drinks and boogied out to some good tunes. The Man definitely pours with a heavy hand, and seeing as how they only had to roll out of our car onto the boat we figured why not get them to the happy place.

My friend's boyfriend basically hit the floor sometime at Duffy's (oops) and we packed it up -getting them to the ship around 5:45. They definitely had a kick ass time, as did the Man and I, and I'm glad I was able to switch around the job.

Here's the shark tank drink at Duffy's that pretty much put the guy in green over the edge - it comes with a double shot of rum in a plastic shark that you have to shoot with your mouth (no hands mom!):

I'm pretty sure they were cursing us out late last night when they came out of their rum coma...

So - today at 4:30 I will officially be a waitress on St. Thomas! Woohoo! No party excuse this time.

I'll let y'all know how it goes.

Another post? So soon?

I'm getting back to my blogging form, with this - my second post in as many days :) I do miss the blogging world, and I'm coming by to visit y'all this morning.

So - to catch you up - as you've figured, we all made it here safely, exactly two weeks ago yesterday. In the past two weeks we've had two beach days, a bunch of dinners with our friends here, one tiki bar party, about five days of errands (which means MAAAAANY hours in island traffic - sad). I've completed forty hours of virtual work, dropped in five or six restaurants to put my name in as waitress, done a couple loads of laundry, and re-embraced all of the summer clothes I left here last year.

Tonight, at 5pm I will begin my St. Thomas waitress career - woohoo! It's a local restaurant that does a pretty good business. We were there last Friday night to see our friend sing (funny dude, more on him another time) and I asked the owner if he was looking for any servers. He was, and tonight I will shadow the staff, and this Friday I will be on my own - yikes!

Between you and me I haven't waitressed since college, but I'm pretty sure it's like riding a bike. A busy, fast-paced, 'where's my drink!', 'i'm sorry what did you want on your salad??', 'this is all they fcking tipped me?!' bike, but I'm up for the challenge. Plus, our waitress BLEW on Friday night, and I'm positive I can do a better job.

I'll let you know how it goes - if it works out I'll be scheduled for Friday nights and Saturday days. He asked about bartending too, so hopefully I'll move into that.

That's it for today-

GO PATS GO!!!

It's a WINDY Sunday on St. Thomas today. I'm getting ready to work out and do the hated lunges before we head to the beach. Tonight we're opening up our Tiki bar for the big Pats/Steelers game with our buds - GO PATS!!

Last Monday we watched the awesome Pats/Ravens game at a sports bar, and it was rowdy. If you're a football fan you KNOW that game went back and forth so much that if we weren't cheering we were pissing at the people who were cheering - at the end we all left the bar friends, but I was getting heated as the game came down to the wire. I still don't know how we came out with a win.

I can't believe we've only been here for two weeks, it feels like much longer as we settled in much faster than last year. I do plan to post daily, but at the moment I just haven't been a good blogger. That will all change though - and my plan is to share a photo a day of our time in St. T. So stay tuned.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Happy Sunday :)

So, it has to be said. My peeps in New England are getting SACKED with a snowstorm right now. Maybe not sacked by our standards...but they're getting some nonsense of the weather-kind, and for sure I will be a beeyotch tomorrow by emailing my work buds to bust them on their commute. That's my right as a now-islander right?

Whatever.

So, on the job front here's where I stand: we spent our day on Magen's Bay, as we will every Sunday...and it RAINED all farging day. But that was fine, I'll take rain at 70 degrees over snow at 25. So we boozed and chowed, and the Man and I took a walk to the bar to check in on my job status. Apparently there's a chick working there until Jan, and then there's a spot open. I'll take it thanks! Hopefully it will fall my way. I'll let you know.

In the meantime I completed my virtual 20 hour week, and will be started on the next 20 hour week tomorrow. I also have another interview tomorrow, at noon, at a place called Paradise Point. It's high on top of a mountain by the cruise ships, and you can tram up to a restaurant/bar, buy a drink and check out the view. Plus they have 3 bird shows a day. WHAT?? BIRDS??? Hell yeah, they gots some parrots, and you KNOW I'm down with that. My interview is at noon...so cross your fingers.

That's all my news...I'm way buzzed on Coronas, and am looking to hit the sack soon. My Pats play tomorrow night...and I'm looking for a HUGE game against Baltimore.

I owe all of you blog-visits, so keep an eye out for me, I'm coming by.

GO PATS!

GO WAITRESS JOBS!!

Later you sexy peeps :)