Ants, Ants, Ants!

Ants. Islands ants are not the same are regular ants. Island ants come in different forms. Some are translucent and others are much bigger than any ant should be. Then there are fire ants and those aren't really ants at all but the devil disguised as ants. Being bitten by a fire ant is worse than poison ivy. When I first moved to island I thought I had stepped into poison Ivy and it took me a few years to realize that what had actually happened was that I stepped into a fire ant mound and I was bitten several times, the effects of which I felt for about two weeks and it was extremely unpleasant. 

Today, we were dealing with non-biting ants but still a problem for sure. Usually when I see ants in the house, they are tiny and we have Terro liquid ant bait which I use to eradicate the problem within a few days. This has worked for the last ten years, until today. It has been extremely dry the last couple of months and I'm not sure if that's the reason why they have started appearing more and more, but there are a lot of ants. They prefer our dog's premium dog food as their target of choice but then they also spread out into our sink and our kitchen table. 

After lifting up our dog's ant infiltrated food dispenser by the wrong part and having all her food go all over the place for the third time too many, we realized we had more ants than is an acceptable amount inside our island home. I asked my husband to take care of the problem as soon as he came home. And he did, because that's the only way living on an island with island problems like these works. 

He was great and vacuumed absolutely everything first (if medals were given out for vacuuming, he'd get the Olympic gold). Then we took out the peppermint oil that we had gotten a few years ago to counter the fire ants in our back yard and our front porch, and sprayed every spot of ingress around the outside of our house and even some spots inside the house. Since peppermint is natural, our dog may lick it but it won't hurt her which is why we got the oil in the first place since poison is not an option with pets that lick absolutely everything.

As I write this, I have not seen an ant in hours and hopefully they stay away for good this time. Also, my husband is available for ant eradication consults. The dog is already writing letters to ASPCA because her food dispenser is in the sink and her food is on the other side of room now and not on the carpet in front of the television where she prefers. 

Island Hobbies

I've been trying to find a hobby recently and it has been very challenging. We probably have just as many interest groups here as in any other area. However, after work and getting everything that a seven year old needs (today's need were shorts for gym class but that's a different blog post), all I really want to do is watch This is Us (my husband hates this show with a passion for some reason). But watching television isn't really as satisfying as it was a million watching hours ago so the search goes on. 

There is a radio amateur club that my husband really wanted to join but it usually occurs at the same time as his MUFON meetings (if you're interested in MUFON, come see us at 1 p.m. on the first Saturday of every month at VI Coffee Roasters in Christiansted). There are also organizations concerning the environment, boating, clay, painting and pretty much anything. Last year we joined the Orchid Society which has been interesting but summertime means we don't really have meetings. Through the Orchid Society, I found out that there is a Bonsai Society. I've also recently heard about a cigar club and of course, we have a Rotary Club. There are also the Freemasons, and if you want to invite us, let me know!

So tons of clubs but so hard to decide on one or even two and make time for it. And obviously there are a ton of hobbies that don't even require joining a club but I can't decide on any of those either. So after a lot of consideration, I decided to reinstate my Mensa membership and see how many other members there may be here on island. This may be a failed restart but it's the first one that I have been semi-excited about so I am going to give it a try and see what happens. 

When the lights go out...

The power went out again this morning. It feels like it goes out at least once a week now, which is better than a few years ago when it happened at least three times as often. The nice thing is that we have an automatic switch generator. I don't know much about generators, but I do know that when our power used to go out, our lives would literally stop. It's a huge difference in a place that is extremely warm all the time when you don't have an AC or fan running.

When the local electric company shuts down all the power, often island-wide, it gets hot very quickly. Now we're lucky that the generator automatically goes on, so we don't really know that we don't have power except that the lights flicker a little and the loud generator noise is tough to miss, even though it's not that close by. There used to be a time that we couldn't even use the toilet because of how the cisterns and sump pumps are situated in most houses on this island, but not anymore. The worst was after the hurricane when the shower wouldn't even work unless a generator was running.

Life has gotten a lot more comfortable than it used to be here. A decade ago, everything was so new here, and we were so young, that we didn't mind the heat or having to leave the house during the day on the weekends because it was just so hot. Now, with the automatic generator and the ACs, it's not that different from living stateside as far as summer indoor temperature.

Yesterday I also realized that the sunsets and the moon on St. Croix look so much different than in the states. I don't remember seeing the moon in Chicago very often, but here it looks like it was painted anew almost every night. We can even see it during the day. It’s really magical, especially when it’s full. The sunsets are also something to write (or text) home about.

Winter weather is a completely different story. I haven't seen snow and I haven't felt my face freeze in over a decade. I hated the cold when I lived in Chicago. Of course, all my daughter wants now is to see snow, but snow is hard to order on demand. One day she'll see snow and probably ice and frost, and the excitement will be short-lived. Until then, we'll all enjoy the bright moon and the warmth of the sun all the time.

Back to School

When I was a kid, school always started the first week of September or somewhere pretty close. In the Virgin Islands, school starts August 13 this year for public school. I used to try to get all the school supplies by ordering early online because I didn't want to pay $7 for a box of colored pencils. But this year is different. I have seen great deals at local stores lately and for very reasonable prices. 

The local OfficeMax has all the essentials priced for a few dollars in the back of the store (there are no signs, just keep walking until you can go no more). Cost-U-Less also has some good deals and if we didn't already have a backpack, I know my daughter would want the Hello Kitty backpack I saw featured online in the circular. I actually may go there next weekend to check out a few more items. Both stores also have the primary journals that every public school requires on island and that I used to spend a fortune on in the past. They are all priced at a few dollars a piece and I purchased the basic primary journals for .50 at OfficeMax. 

Other items that we always need throughout the school year are school snacks, especially for after school care time. We're trying to go healthier this year and avoiding the chips and cookies (ask me in a month how long this lasted). So far we have settled on assorted nuts like cashews, peanuts and almonds and crackers. We are also planning on sending loose fruit in a container. I found a great nut assortment pack and they were individually packed at Plaza East. I know it's more waste than just putting it into bags ourselves but if we're using our own plastic bags anyway, it does seem like a bit of a time saver and less of a chance that the nuts will go stale. 

I am still going strong on my quest not to order online so last week my husband and I drove the whole island while he entertained me with is jokes and went into every feed and grocery store in our search for a dog food feeder and dog vitamins. We did finally find a dog food feeder and glucosamine as well as other dog vitamins at Gallows Bay Hardware. They were very reasonably priced and the dog is very happy with both. She has an extra pep in her step since she started taking the vitamins. The utensils in the photo were my husband's idea but I have to agree that the Downton Abbey of it all is very fitting for her and she seemed to enjoy it. 

So it's August and that also means we're about to hit hurricane season pretty hard. On the calendar, the season goes from June to November but everyone who lives here knows that it's not really serious until end of August and through September. Then we hold our breaths for a few weeks and hope for the best. So here we are. Our propane tanks are filled for the generator and we have some canned food ready. Everything else is really up to the weather

I will try to make this blog a regular thing again and I will try to post every Sunday. See you next week!

I'm back!

It's been almost five years but I'm back. I still live on St. Croix. The baby I had is no longer a baby. She's seven. My husband and I are still happy here and we can't imagine living anywhere else.

Other things have changed though. I am now a partner at my law firm. I work a lot more and I spend a lot less time on the beach (the beach bum days are officially over). And my new island goal is to shop local. 

Ever since my daughter was born, we have been ordering a lot online, especially on Amazon. It's not as easy as in the states and we get nothing shipped same or next-day but it does work to a certain extent. However, I think I'm ordering a lot more than I need and I'm creating a huge carbon footprint by placing separate orders for each little thing. So here is my attempt to substitute all of my online purchases by only shopping at the stores we have on island.

So the first item we needed was a new Ring camera. The old one was okay but it wouldn't hold a charge anymore and taking it off and charging it every couple of days was no longer a fun activity. This one was pretty easy because we do have a Home Depot (even though our Kmart just closed... yes, you read that right, we still had a Kmart but it literally just closed less than a week ago). Home Depot was selling a doorbell Ring camera along with an indoor Ring camera for $99 which is actually less than what you would spend for a new one of these online. Also, if you want to review the video that your Ring camera captures (not mandatory for using this camera), once you have at least two devices, you can pay $99.99/year and you can install unlimited devices. The indoor camera is perfect for watching your dog when you go on vacation as well!

The next items on my list were paper towels. I had to do higher math for this one. I usually get Bounty 6=15 rolls (select-a-size always but I still will tear off at least two pieces so not helpful at all... but my husband will ask for three once in a while and then it's all worth it). I like this size because the rolls are thicker and I have to change them less often.  I go to Home Depot and they usually have these but sometimes they throw in a 12=24 and my husband buys them and then I don't have enough energy to return them so we just deal with it. But this time I went two weeks ago and they had 12=30 and they were only $10 more than the 6=15 which were about $21. Again, I had to really figure this one out because it's not obvious and they just do the paper towel people just do this to screw with you. But 6=15 is the same as 12=30 and while two 6=15s should cost $42, the 12=30 was only $31 so it definitely made sense to buy the 12=30. 

Liquid hand soap was next and Home Depot had Mrs. Meyer’s which is one of my favorites. They didn't have basil which is my favorite Mrs. Meyer’s scent but they did have lavendar (not a favorite but my husband loves it) and they also had lemon verbena scent which I can live with. They had a size that was double the size of the ones I usually buy online but cost exactly double what I pay online so it was pretty much the same price per ounce. I usually use mason jars with pumps for my soap dispensers and ever since my attempt to make liquid soap failed, we still use liquid soap that comes from plastic containers. This scenario doesn't help anything at all but at least we're not ordering the soap online anymore.

Next I went to Plaza Extra East because I needed to find detergent pods to substitute for the sensitive Dropps pods that I get online. I didn't think I'd find it but I found Seventh Generation Sensitive Skin pods. I had almost purchased these online years ago. The cost wasn't that much different from what I pay online now so it's all working out.

The last thing I needed was dog food that had no blueberries, corn or peas in it. It sounds easy but it's extremely difficult. My dog has developed allergies to the strangest things and apparently all dog food has one of these three ingredients in it. I picked up and turned over every single bag of dog food at Plaza. I found one and only one that didn't have any of these ingredients. It is Taste of the Wild Raw. It has very few ingredients and even though it only comes in an 8 lb bag, it's really our only option right now. 

While I was at Plaza, I also realized they have a whole Mrs. Meyer’s section at the end of the aisle in cleaning products and it's pretty reasonably priced. Something I will need in the future but didn't get yet was contact lens solution. I don't use it but I think my husband drinks it. I found a comparable one to the one he uses at the pharmacy at Plaza. It's a bit more expensive than online but I think if it prevents me from ordering things I don't need, I'll spend less overall and that makes it worth it. 

I can't make any promises and it may very well be five more years before I make another post but hopefully not! See you soon.

The shot of hope

My last post was about our magical life on St. Croix with our new baby who pooped a lot more than I thought was previously advertised about babies. Since then, 2020 happened, and just like the rest of the world, we have been shut down and dealing with the effects of Covid-19. But not even a week ago, there was a silver lining. My husband was one of the first individuals on the island and in the world to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. He's a behavioral health front line worker and last Wednesday when the territory received its first shipment of vaccines, he received his. 

This year, I also had a year-long breast cancer scare that finally culminated in an excisional biopsy three weeks ago that thankfully resulted in a benign diagnosis. For being a small island with one hospital, my husband and I have really gotten a lot of use of all the doctors and medical facilities on island over the last five years, and this from two people that rarely needed medical care when living in the states. While the island is small, there are some exceptional physicians and nurses who have taken great care of us. This has allowed us to continue living here and rarely consider moving back to where we used to live.

Island life also makes social distancing a lot easier than in many other places. The population is under 50,000 sprawled over about 84 square miles. Masks are mandatory and tourism has significantly dropped off since March. Although in the beginning, working from home with no daycare was challenging. Now, we have settled in to eating at home and spending most of our time with each other.

Our baby has grown into a toddler and is now a very assertive and early-rising two-year old who loves to swim. She knows what she wants and along with her sidekick, our dog, knows exactly how to get it. They both share a love for cheese... one asks for it constantly with no intention of eating it and the other one eats it off her nightstand. Our baby also has the most unforgettable laugh. She laughs like the whole world is laughing with her, and she is completely ignorant of a global pandemic going on around her, which is the best part of this story.

I hope for a 2021 that sees the vaccine free the world to being what we once knew as normal. I want a future for my daughter where zoom isn't the only way to see the people that she cares about. I want us to remember what it was like during this year and to use that knowledge to work harder to avoid this happening in the future. I wish for many more memories that makes my life on a tiny island in the Caribbean the best life that my family can have, especially during this time.

A magical life

Babies take a lot of time and it has been a major life change since our baby has come into our lives. My husband and I used to have tons of free time- going to the beach, exploring our island and just doing absolutely nothing a lot of time the time. Now, that has all changed. We do baby, baby and dishes. The amount of dishes that we do now has increased exponentially. Any free time we have goes to doing dishes and we live on an island so using paper plates seems wasteful.

The baby part of our busy lives now is magical. She's like a mini version of my husband and I put together. She smiles and laughs and eats and poops (a lot more poops than they tell you), and it's all exhausting but really great. Every day brings a new experience for our daughter like sitting, standing, waffles; and she experiences it all like she was put here to do so, and she was. Watching her experience new things in life makes all the mis-steps and decisions that brought us to this point of our lives worth it.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the last four years. Four years ago, I came to St. Croix for the first time. I had never even heard about this island before then. When I came here for my nine day pre-move visit, I realized that the possibilities here for me were endless.  I had absolutely nothing to base this on but I can tell you from experience that this premonition was true. I got more from my move here than I could have ever imagined. 

I also thought about the things that happened on this island while I've lived here that I probably wouldn't have wanted to experience when I planned my move. My husband broke his arm in an unfortunate incident, which canceled his last boat trip and our trip to Spain; we got burglarized; and we went through a major category five hurricane, living without power or internet for months. I thought about what life would have been like if none of these unfortunate events ever happened. But then I realized what most people probably realize when they think of such things; that the life that we have now would not be what it is without all of those life experiences. It has led us to where we are  and who we are today.

We live on a beautiful island with the sweetest baby and the most magical views. I get to share my life with my best friend and our daughter and our dog. And while we may not agree on everything (especially when it comes to throwing stuff away- I'm trying to achieve a minimalist lifestyle while raising a baby which is impossible and my husband doesn’t love throwing things away), we do agree on our love for the life that we have and the experiences that have brought us here together.

Perfect little baby feet

I always thought babies had the perfect little baby feet. My daughter has perfect little baby feet. It has taken a while to write this because everything becomes so much busier when a baby needs absolutely every minute of your time and my baby is no exception. We had our daughter back in June and she’s perfect with perfect little baby toes.

When I first came to St. Croix, I joked that I had retired from the law and I was now a beach bum, hence the name of this blog. Since those first few months on the island, three years have passed, I fell in love, I got married (to the person I fell in love with), I got back into law (licensed and all the fun stuff) and I became a mother (the father is that guy I fell in love with and married earlier in this story).  I didn’t plan for any of it and it all worked out. We also moved into a bigger place after having the baby and that has been a challenge. We’re finally unpacked and ready to enjoy our time together.

Pregnancy was not easy for me at all. I was sick almost every day of it except the last two weeks. I also now know the location of every store’s island bathroom. My daughter was a few days late and she did not want to come out so I had her via c-section which was not the plan. I should have remembered that everything that happened after I moved to St. Croix was not really planned so why would that go according to my plan?

As soon as I saw her, all the sick mornings were worth it. She had the perfect everything. I wanted to exclusively breastfeed her but that didn’t go according to plan either. So we are mostly formula feeding now and I couldn’t have a happier baby. She smiles and makes the cutest baby sounds. Our dog (she's adopted) is enamored with our daughter (her little sister as we jokingly call her) and gently licks her and gives her the space that a baby needs.

And in the midst of a pregnancy (that did coincidently happen during a hurricane although it was definitely planned), I became an attorney again. Being an attorney on an island is a little different than being one in the states but there are a lot of similarities. There are still deadlines but I get to meet them in flip flops on most days, and the weather is always summer which I love.

My priorities have changed though.  I prioritize my daughter and my family. They are the most important to me. My work is also important but if my daughter needs something or if it’s between watching her smile or reviewing a pleading on a Friday night, I’m watching her smile instead.

We still have challenges on the island (like no Starbucks or dunkin donuts)  but everything is just a little bit better and we smile just a little bit more because she’s in this world.

It's a girl!!!

I'm so happy to share that we are pregnant and we're going to have a baby girl in June of this year. We also have power and some more connectivity to the outside world, just in time to stream the winter Olympics! Ironically, I started this blog with a post about the would-be olympics in Chicago which never happened.

It's hard to believe that it was just under three years ago that I made the choice to move to an island in the Caribbean that I had never heard of. I met a boy with a dog and my life hasn't been the same since. Then we got married and two hurricanes, life without power or internet or phones for a few months, and now we're having a baby. I have never been happier.

I'm in my 30s and being pregnant is the biggest change that I have ever gone through. Either I wasn't very interested in finding out the specifics or I never had any really close friends become pregnant, but I was not prepared for all that pregnancy entails. I thought it would be some morning sickness and a big belly, but it has been a lot of morning sickness, a lot of tire,d and my belly isn't even that big yet!

I wouldn't change this experience for anything but if you're thinking of having a baby, read some books, ask some friends how it really is and prepare for some of the biggest changes to take over your body physically. Everyone is different but oh my, I was not prepared for how it was really going to be.

My husband is the best though and being married is still the best thing ever. He does absolutely everything for me now that I cannot or feel too sick to do, and while I want to tell everyone out there that you can still do everything and be pregnant at the same time, you can't and that's okay. It's nice to have people around you that are willing to accommodate you when you're most in need.

Life Post-Irma and Maria

We've had two category 5 hurricanes hit the Virgin Islands (only one them directly on St. Croix) and we're still here. We don't have power or internet at home but we do have hot water so it's a start! Here's a picture of the water cooler from government house where we have found new careers as reporters short-term. Things are definitely getting better day by day but it will take some time to get back to what it was and make it even better.

Married life on an island... is the best thing ever

The wedding was a huge success! Being married is amazing, much better than what you hear from friends or on TV. It's the first time since we've gotten engaged we can just enjoy being with each other with nothing to do or plan. They don't mention this in the magazines but when you get engaged, it's great and all, but then you realize that you have to plan a wedding and becoming your own wedding planner is less than amazing.

We planned to have to family and friends arrive a few days before the wedding and we scheduled boat trips and bingo discos to make sure everyone had a good time while they were with us getting to know everyone else. Our families and friends loved each other, which was a relief and also an affirmation that we go well together as our friends and family seemed to mesh well.

The wedding day was everything we could have hoped. So many people said such nice things about us at the wedding, we were very humbled. And it went so so fast.

One moment we were walking down the aisle and forgetting our vows, then we had the first dance, there was cake and then it's over! It literally goes that fast. There are pictures that were taken that I don't remember posing for. We even had wedding crashers and someone did end up in the pool :). It was a perfect island wedding party.

Then came the honeymoon to a nearby island on a cruise which was pretty perfect and extremely relaxing. We can never go on a regular vacation again.

And then we came back to St. Croix and we got to be here for the first time as husband and wife. Now we had lived together for almost two years before we got married so we thought it would be all the same but it's not! Living together, being married and not having to plan a wedding is like the best thing ever. We come home and we can do whatever we want now! We spend lots and lots of time doing pretty much nothing and it feels really good. I think that's how you know that you married the right person.

As a wrap up: 

• I recommend getting married (to the right person).

• Cruise vacations are the best (get a cabin in the middle of the boat if you get seasick).

• Have your dog be the ringbearer (it's extremely cute and we had backup rings just in case).

• Get a cake that not only looks great but tastes great too (it was chocolate with pineapple filling and it was amazing).

• Don't leave the dog in a room alone with your jewelry (she may or may not have eaten it).

• Enjoy each and every day together (even if you don't live on an island).

Tears and Happy Endings

First, I have to tell you that this story has a happy ending (yep, that's where the title comes from). However, it's going to take us a little bit to get there so bear with me on this journey. Everyone knows I'm getting married and nothing takes a blushing bride to tears like someone telling her that "she cannot get married." Yep, in those exact words. And this phrase has no weight except when its spoken by the only people with the power to give you a wedding license. Yes, again.

So let's go back to a bright sunny day on June 1. I love the first day of the month. There is so much hope and promise that a new month brings with it. If you had a really bad month, it's so easy to put all your money on the greatness that the next month will have. It usually takes at least until the second day of the month to determine that things are still going downhill. Not in this case! Nope! June 1 was the day that my fiance and I decided we would go to to get our marriage license. There is a waiting period in the USVI before you get married so we left ourselves plenty of time.

I actually wanted to go later because we were coming up on my fiance's "birthday weekend," but we decided June 1 would be a great day to begin our journey of starting our lives together as husband and wife. My fiance has also apparently never heard of "birthday weekend" which was shocking to me so I made up "birthday month" as well and we had a really fun time making jokes about it. Well, "birthday weekend" actually entailed horseback riding and dinner and a boy scout camp open house so I really didn't want that ruined. I never thought anything bad could happen from a trip to get a marriage license. I've never heard of such a thing.

So we got to where we needed to be on the afternoon of June 1. It started raining a little bit and that may have been our first sign, but we live in the tropics and rain is usually a relief from the heat and rain does good things here. It took us about a half hour to get to where we were going and we had all our documents ready. My fiance even wore pants and real shoes (when it's this hot, shorts and flip flops are the usual uniform).

It took the office that grants marriage licenses no more than five minutes to proclaim that my fiance and I could not get married for at least two to three months. No kidding. Someone actually set us down in a very small space and told us point blank that we could not get married. Now, I know what you're thinking, you're an attorney (and I am still licensed to practice law in Illinois), couldn't you just say fancy attorney words and fix this? Yes, of course I tried, and I quickly realized that fancy attorney words would not work. In fact, even fancy things your favorite attorney actors on TV in these types of situations could do would not permit us to be legally married by our wedding date. So I tried the next best thing; I pleaded to have another option than just a solid no.

We went to eat plantains and chicken while we waited for the results of my pleading. I don't think anyone at that chicken place saw anyone more sad trying to eat a plantain. It was plantain de tears, a new menu item for them. I love plantains, I have never been so sad eating one in my life. Of all the things that I thought could possibly go wrong with the wedding (and up until now, my fiance and I just said we'd go along with anything that happened), I never thought someone would tell us we couldn't do the one thing we just spent a year planning.

So we got the call and the answer was "no but maybe if... and we won't know the answer until tomorrow morning." We drove back really dazed. We tried to do everything we could to take our mind off what was really happening even though we couldn't really wrap our heads around it (I will save everyone from the boring details). We hugged a lot of dogs that night. Then morning came and I told my fiance to have his pants and shoes ready in case we had to go back to get our license again. I was hopeful. I got the call pretty early that morning and it was a "no." I pleaded again. I was told again that "maybe."

We were really close to "birthday weekend" now. I spent the day without plantains or much of an appetite. Nobody gave me an answer either way and the day ended. I came home and I broke down. I was not a fan of anything that night. We came up with some plans, one of which was to go to Vegas where we knew we could get married without any problems (their license offices are open 365 days/year and until midnight and pretty much anyone can get married there, fyi). We both love Vegas so why not have a really expensive party in St. Croix, go on our honeymoon and then get married! This was an option.

Now that we had options, it was time for birthday weekend and we started with touring the boy scout camp. It was great. Then we went horseback riding in the ocean! Yep, you read that right, in the ocean! The horses took us up to our waist fully clothed and we went through the rainforest. It was amazing and for about two hours we focused on nothing but not falling off those horses. It was a "magical" experience as we call it here. Even my fiance thought it was "magical" and he has never been on a horse before. Then we had dinner and it was a nice day.

On Sunday, we mostly worked and finished some wedding things that we needed to do because were still having our really expensive party no matter what, we weren't going to ruin this for our family and friends who had non-refundable tickets and reservations. We also realized that going to Vegas may not be the right option for us but we live really close to Miami so we had a day trip planned as a plan B. We would get married before our wedding and then walk down aisle and renew our vows. It seemed like a better option. I researched tickets, we were set. I still held out hope that maybe Monday would come and this small little nightmare would be over somehow.

On Monday, I woke up super early. Even the dog didn't want to get up yet (but she laid out on a pillow in the cutest way possible so it became a great picture opportunity). I got dressed and it was still super early so I decided to go to work early. As I was driving into town, I got a call from the licensing office. They "found a way" to give us a license. Now granted, this "way" was one I suggested in the beginning but we weren't going to delve into the details, we were too tired. I rushed back, got my fiance up and into pants and we were off. Everyone was super nice to us and we got it done... or so we thought. I got back to work and everyone was hugs and smiles. Then I get a call again... we had to resign something. But that was okay because what's another hour and some more pants wearing time. So we went and we did whatever we were asked and we came back.

Monday night, we ate some soup and we went to sleep. We were emotionally done. Up until June 1, the hardest thing we had to still finish for the wedding was clean our rings. My fiance thought this would make for a great blog post. I thought otherwise but I was also really emotionally exhausted.

This whole twilight of an experience made me realize something... up until someone told us we could't do it, I didn't realize how important it was to us to be legally married on our wedding day. I know that people actually get legally married before or after all time for various reasons but we didn't have any of those reasons. We're older so we're way past the age where we think that we have to be married. At our age, we get married because we actually want to, because we found the person who makes everyday better and who doesn't annoy us to the point of craziness. It's amazing when you find this, it's like everything any fairy tale you've ever watched tried to show you it could be with a glimpse of what it's like two years down the road when everyone is still alive and well and still talking nicely to each other. And we really wanted to share that real "I do" moment with our family and friends and not tell them we were married when were not or vice versa (otherwise we'd avoid the really expensive party and just rent a boat for a few hour, which is actually my advice to anyone who doesn't want to do the whole party thing).

So when someone tells you can't do something that you think is a basic right that you have, especially if you comply with all the rules that are writing, it becomes a really sad tear-filled plantain experience when someone tells you that you cannot do that. It doesn't make any sense and it isn't fair. I didn't go into details because those aren't important here. What is important is that we're getting married on June 20 (we will not be married before or after that date for sure now) and we are so excited for everyone who is coming from the states to join us next week, and we're equally excited to have our friends here join us as well. See you soon :)

Lying under the stars

In the midst of everyday life, there are those special moments that stay with you forever, and we had one of those this past weekend. Last Saturday, we went to Sandy Point (the beach featured at the end of Shawshank Redemption) on an organized tour to see leatherback turtles nest. I honestly did not think we would see any turtles (although it's one of the most popular beaches for leatherback turtle nesting). The beach is closed from now until September for turtle nesting so it was just our group and a few others who were researching the turtles.

While we were waiting, we laid out on the sand looking straight up at the sky. It was dusk and somewhat cloudy but one by one the stars started coming out. It felt a little like a movie where the main characters have this incredibly romantic and private moment. We were with a group but it felt like we were the only ones there. It was really magical. And then our group leader got the call that a turtle was coming up to nest.

We saw this pretty large turtle lay her eggs and now the whole sky was filled with the most magical looking stars. It was one of the most magical moments I have had on this island. Not only was seeing a gigantic turtle lay eggs amazing to witness, but being in that place at that moment was one of those times in life where you realize that life is really special and being in the moment and being able to really enjoy what is happening is a gift. It's times like Saturday that I realize how much I love living here.

Happy 100 years U.S. Virgin Islands!

Last week we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the United States purchasing the U.S. Virgin Islands from Denmark. The day was a territorial holiday and the Prime Minister of Denmark as well as the Secretary of Interior were on St. Croix to commemorate the event. We even had fireworks, and it's always an event here when fireworks are involved. Overall, it was a nice celebration with parades and lots of people filling the usual spots. It was nice to see everyone come together and celebrate. Not everyone was happy but you can't make everyone happy all the time and that's okay, especially here.

We're happy when our electricity is working and when our internet is on; everything else is a huge bonus. There are days on this island where everything works out and everyone says yes and those days are amazing. Then there are those "no" days when nothing is possible and you have two flat tires all at once. Thankfully, the "no" days are far fewer than the amazing days, and all days include amazing views of the ocean and really good people always ready to help.

When I moved here, I lived alone and I handled most of my island issues alone as well. My days were filled with endless trips to the gas station to get air for my tires (I haven't met a pothole I didn't want to know on an intimate level yet). Then I met my fiance and life became so different and in such a great way. I was so used to doing everything on my own that I never really thought about how life changes when there is someone else in it to go through everyday challenges with me. We now go through every day together and it's nice not to have to get my air all by myself all the time. I know I still can but it's nice to know someone else wants to do it for me.

It's nice not to have to do everything by myself anymore. Especially living on an island, when there are certain challenges that go way above what I can handle sometimes, it's nice to know there is someone next to me that can do those things that I cannot, and that we can get through everything together. I do think that my overall island experience would be so much different if I was still on my own here. It doesn't mean that I wouldn't live here anymore but it would definitely be a lot more challenging and I would be full of a lot more frustrating tire stories. My fiance makes my life easier and more fun, and it's better than I ever thought being with someone forever would be.

Recently, I've been thinking about the things I miss since moving here. I really miss water slides. There aren't any here and we can't just drive to a water park or hotel that has them. We also don't have Starbucks or any coffee location that is open past 5 pm. I remember going to these places to decompress on a bad day with friends. Here, we have to find different ways of filling these voids. One of them is to go to our brand new movie theater or taking really long walks on the beach. I still miss the slides though...

Just like the states!

This weekend was so busy. On Friday, I had my hair and makeup trial for the wedding and then we went to do our engagement pictures at the beach where we got engaged. I had a ton of make up and I don't think my fiance recognized me, but I felt like a Disney princess and the pictures that we took turned out great. We'll have to see what the actual professional pictures look like when they come, but hopefully they look even better than ours.  For the first time, I looked older than a teenager and I really liked it.

After pictures, we went to dinner, which was a new experience for us on St. Croix because we got to cook our own dinner at a restaurant (more on that in the restaurant review below). And then we went to our brand new 8-screen movie theater! You probably take your movie theater for granted because you have a few others within driving distance and some are bigger and nicer than some others. On St. Croix, we had only one movie theater. It was very small and did not have stadium seating. Now, we have a gigantic movie theater with huge screens and stadium seating, and it still has that new car smell. We went on opening night and we were the first ones to sit in our seats. We got fancy popcorn and it was a really great experience. The best part about this theater is that while we have to pay outrageous prices for almost everything here, our movie tickets are only $8.50. This is about a $1 more than we used to pay for our not so great theater but it's definitely worth it.

On Saturday, I had my first island facial and I also met some very nice people from Wisconsin at the grocery store who were here on vacation (shout out to them, sorry I didn't get your names). Getting back to the facial, when you first move to an island, every time you go to the beach feels like getting a facial.  After two years, the beach facial wears off and dry skin comes back in full swing. I got the facial at the Buccaneer Hotel Spa and it felt amazing. All in all, this weekend reminded me of being in the states. When I lived there, I went to huge movie theaters, got facials and went to all kinds of do it yourself restaurants. Living on an island is very different on a daily basis but doing things that remind you of the states is good sometimes. I'll take these fun parts of living there minus the traffic, sub-zero temperatures and massive crowds any day. That's what makes living in our island bubble so magical sometimes. We get the best of both worlds.

Restaurant Review:

Starlite Grille at Divi Carina Bay Resort

On Friday, after our engagement pictures, my fiance and I were really hungry. Divi Carina Bay Resort is a stone-throw from our house so we decided to go there for dinner. We figured this is an all inclusive resort so they would probably have some good dinner options. We went into the hotel, saw the Starlite Grille and decided we'd try it out. We saw some people having meals brought to them on a hot lava rock and we just figured that was some sizzling skillet dinner choice. We sat down and ordered (btw, we had the option of dining inside which is somewhat rare here) and then it hit us; We realized that all the food served in this restaurant was served on a hot lava rock where the guests get the privilege of cooking the food themselves! We had a laugh about sending the food back as it was way underdone, but when our raw food did come out, we cooked it, seasoned it and proceeded to eat it.

Now a little bit of back story before I proceed with the review. My fiance is a chef so he cooks while at work and also when we eat at home. I am not a chef and I think that hot pockets are perfectly suitable meals when out of time or ingredients with which to cook (apparently my chef fiance does not agree with my adoration of hot pockets but we agree to disagree on such important issues which is what makes our relationship amazing), so cooking my own food at a restaurant comes as a unique experience while out to dinner. To my fiance, this is just another opportunity for him to cook which apparently he doesn't necessarily enjoy if he's going out to eat.

Once we finished cooking our food and it took probably not more than 10-15 minutes, our food was pretty tasty. The ingredients were really fresh and plentiful (he had the lamb, I had the veggie dinner) and the mashed potatoes, corn on the cob and steamed vegetables did come out already done. I looked at Divi's web site after we came home and it says "this is stone age cooking with a modern flair." I think it's a unique experience and the food tastes good. I'm not sure if I would order the chicken and try to cook it myself on a lava rock but I would definitely come back here again, and I may invite visiting guests for a "different" island experience as all island experience are sometimes.

A new year on St. Croix

It's been a while since my last post and some people have emailed me and have asked if we still live on St. Croix. The good news is we are still here and we are still in love with a lot of our island experience. The less great news is the reason that I haven't posted in a while is that a few months ago we got robbed. It was hard to come back here and keep writing, not really knowing how to explain how I felt still being here after that experience. We were in our home unfortunately when it happened but we were asleep and we didn't see anything and nobody was hurt, which is most important.

Since then, we have moved to a different part of the island and we have started over, renewing our relationship with a place we really do love. It has felt like a long journey but we are in a really good place now where we can start to see everything that is great here once again.

While we did consider moving off island, there are so many reasons we want to stay. We love the way of life, our friends, the beautiful views and of course, the perfect weather. I have spent the last several months repairing my relationship with this island and I'm in a really good place now. We have a new beautiful view and an amazing outlook on the future. I'm also really happy that our wedding planning is almost now complete and we still have about 4 months to spare.

Life is definitely a lot busier than it was when I first moved here, from repairing car tires to going to dentist and vet appointments, but it's a good busy because our lives have transitioned from just being on a temporary hiatus from our old lives to our new long-term lives on a small tropical island in the Caribbean.

Wedding Planning on St. Croix

Who knew that this blog would go from losing the Olympic Games to moving to an island to Wedding Planning! If you're still reading this, I'm very lucky to have such loyal readers.

So if you've ever met me, you'd think I'd have binders and Pinterest boards full of planned ideas for any event, especially for a future wedding. But somehow I never really thought of any plans involving my own wedding. I've seen my friends get married, and I've been in their bridal parties, but I was so focused on them that I never really thought of anything that I would do for when the time came. I never knew how much really goes into planning your own wedding and how expensive it gets. It makes you want to elope... a lot of times during the course of any given day post-engagement and pre-wedding.

But we're making it work and we're doing traditional/island/modern and our guests are going to have an amazing time. When you live on a island, you start wanting to waste less paper, use less plastic bags and go as organic as possible. When that dream fades and reality sets in, you try to get at least a balance of these things in your life, moreso than when you lived stateside.

So when it comes to wedding planning, the island lacks in a lot of the things you would need for the "details" of the wedding. There aren't really many bridal stores (just one) or party favor stores (maybe two). So two weeks ago I went dress shopping in the only store that has wedding dresses here. And I found my dress! It's absolutely not the kind of dress I thought I would wear at my wedding (I did think about it a little bit before and I always envisioned this huge dress that doesn't really exist and is probably extremely impractical for a beach wedding). And I already have plans to shorten it after the wedding because I really want to be able to use everything I have here, including the dress that I am only supposed to wear once. My mother is horrified at this idea because after all, it's a wedding dress, but in my mind it's a really pretty dress that I will wear at my wedding that would look amazing when shortened so I can wear it again and again because I love this dress (especially the back).

This brings me to what I love about living here. There is a way that things are "supposed to be" when you live in the states or probably in most places. But here, it feels like I can make my own rules for how things are supposed to be, especially with something like this which back in the states we make such a big deal about but in reality, is just one big party with our family and friends. Would we still get married without this "party" that for some reason has to be perfect and white and without one hair out of place?" Of course we would, so instead of trying to please absolutely every tradition that has ever existed, we are going to plan our party our way and we're going to be happy regardless of whether it works out exactly as we planned or not or whether there are an equal number of bridesmaids and groomsman or whether it rains during the ceremony which is going to be very much outside on the beach in the sand with no real Plan B because we're on an island and it rains sometimes and that's okay (back in Chicago, there would be a tent ready and a plan C location in case of Apocalypse, and I would make sure that all the guests knew about both the tent and plan C
).

So since we decided we can do whatever we want, we did want to add some tradition into this experience and that's a good thing, because being on an island and trying to gather your wedding necessities means you have to be creative. For the veil, when I didn't find exactly the one I wanted from the four I had available as my options here, I asked if anyone on the island had a veil that they loved. Someone answered and now I have my something borrowed and I love it! I would never have thought to do that stateside, but here, it feels wrong not to do this and it's all working out when I do.

Another necessity of weddings... trinkets!!! It's really easy to go online and find all these trinket things that every wedding should have. And I am not against wedding trinkets (although I am somewhat against trinkets in general since I moved here). I think trinkets that make other people feel good are great and I've ordered some for our guests because I think they'll feel really special when I give it to them when they're here. But then there are things from the island that we really want to incorporate into this big party that we're throwing. We're having friends make our card box and signs from wood they find here on the beach and we're keeping those to pass on in the future, and I love the idea of that. I love finding the balance of blending the island with modern ideals and some stateside values. This lets us retain all the good that comes from stateside living and incorporate them into what makes us love living here as well.

More party planning posts to come! It's funny because I used to have so many lovely island pictures on my phone that have now been replaced by engagement rings, wedding dresses, homemade pizzas and veils. I can't show these here (except for the homemade pizza my fiance made) because I do want my dress to be a surprise on the actual day of our big party to a certain person who always reads my blogs and is my biggest fan, but I will be sure to take some cool landscape pics for the next post!

My fairy tale and an island

I'm still on St. Croix but I haven't written in a while. A lot has been going on and the blog took a back seat. In the last three months, my then boyfriend broke his arm, we both went to see one of my best friend's get married in Chicago, and he asked me to marry him (thus the "then" boyfriend and now fiance)! That's a lot to digest, even here, and I honestly couldn't be happier.

Watching an adult break his arm and watching him go through everything that comes after was not fun at all. The good news is that St. Croix has all the facilities needed to treat broken bones and all the physical therapy facilities needed to slowly get those bones working again. It was honestly no different to go through that here than anywhere else stateside. The main difference was that we were able to go to the hospital, get medications, see a specialist and take the dog to the vet all before noon because everything is so close to everything else here. Did I mention that Bill Clinton was giving a speech and my aunt and uncle were coming to visit the day after this all happened? Well, all worked out and my aunt and uncle seemed to have a really nice time visiting.


And then after everything calmed down a bit, my fiance and I took a trip to my hometown of Chicago and we watched two really nice people get married. It was so sweet and nice, and Chicago was actually pretty nice from a visitors point of view. Then we came back to St. Croix and we went for a walk on the beach with our dog. And then my life changed forever.

It was really like a fairy tale. A lot of what I've seen and experienced on this island has been pretty magical (apart from seeing actual fairy dust in the bioilluminescence bay) but this was pretty much what every woman dreams of when thinking of someone asking to marry her. When I first came to St. Croix, I was so relieved to have less stress and to just be happy that I didn't really think about getting married any time soon. It was such a stressful thought back in Chicago that I was just happy to be happy and I accepted the fact that it may not really be in the cards for me. Then I met my boyfriend and it has been exactly like I dreamed it could be someday ever since. It was like once I didn't need it, I got exactly what I always wanted.

We went for a walk on the beach. The tide was high and there was a voyeur sea turtle nearby. Everyone loves sea turtles so it was a great day already. Then my boyfriend pointed out a piece of sea glass in the water and I went around it as I was almost certain tetanus would be imminent if I touched it. He told me to not to touch it so I obviously haaaaad to pick it up then. I saw that it said "Mar..." through the sand and I picked it up and it said "Marry me." I thought it was so sweet that someone had asked someone else to marry them in that same spot so I turned around to show my boyfriend and he was on his knee in the water with the ring and the sun setting behind us. I'm pretty sure that turtle was nearby watching everything as all voyeur sea turtles do. I was shocked and my hands were shaking and it was the best feeling I have ever had. It just felt right just like everything since I met him has felt right. You really do know when it's the right person because it feels so different with anyone else.

So now we're in the midst of planning a wedding. They don't tell you this if you're not engaged yet, but after the engagement comes this not so fun part of actually planning every minute detail of your upcoming wedding. This is especially tricky on an island because while we have every facility necessary for a broken bone, we do not have ever store necessary for everything that goes into a wedding. Thus, we are now going to become very creative in order to make this work because like everything else since I've come here, it's definitely going to work and it's going to be amazing.

I gave up everything and I moved to an island, and I found the perfect person to spend the rest of eternity with. The best part of this is that this isn't just a story, it's my life and it's real and I couldn't be happier.

1 year

Two Roads, and I took the one less traveled by

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

In 1995, my seventh grade teacher, Mr. Palmisano (who I had a huge crush on) handed out poems to our English class. One of these was written by a guy named Robert Frost. It was called The Road Not Taken. I never really enjoyed poetry very much but Mr. Palmisano had this effect of making me fall in love with this one. And as I was grew up, I firmly believed that by becoming an attorney, I actually had taken the road less traveled. This was a popular thought because by the time I was a licensed attorney, there were way too many attorneys available for the demand necessary in our society. Along with the invention of the smartphone, being an attorney became a 24/7 hijacking situation of which in 2015, I decided I no longer wanted to be a member.

This road to St. Croix is definitely the road less traveled and many times, not taken (and I think my parents still wish I hadn't taken it although they love the beach at Hotel on the Cay so that's something :)).  It's been almost a year since I set out on my big move that I dubbed "New Beginnings" and while I can't believe I actually did this, I'm so glad I did. In the last year, I learned that you know you live on St. Croix when you have no water when the electricity goes out, and when killing a 4 inch gigantic cockroach is no longer worthy of a Facebook post. In the last year, I found a job in management that I really wanted, I made many new friends and I found someone to have a relationship with who loves me even though "Ancient Aliens" is one of my favorite shows on TV.

I started writing this blog because I wanted to keep in touch with my friends and family back home, but I have received so much more from all the people who ready it everyday. Last month we broke 10,000 page views and I have made friendships with many of my readers and I have even had the cool opportunity to meet some of you who will be moving to the island very soon! During this whole experience, I began to really appreciate the world around me. I can be driving down the road and see piggies on the side of the road and cows in the pasture, and I can go into a very indoor type of store and see wild birds going up and down the aisles looking for their favorite products. I can also see goats, horses and chickens everywhere. And my favorite part is that I am almost devoid of having advertisements shoved in my face. St. Croix isn't Little House on the Prairie and we still do very much live in the 21st Century with plenty of online advertisements (I live with someone who really had to have the new Samsung Galaxy s7 and I get woken up to a literal "Mooooooo" sound every time a new text message is received) but we select when we're exposed to them and it's nice to have that kind of control.

After a year, I'm not really sure what the future holds but I know that there is a really happy future ahead. When I made this move I read a lot of blogs about attorneys who gave up very successful careers because they wanted a better quality of life. I needed the support of others like me to be able to know that taking this leap didn't make me completely crazy. It made me think back to that first year after law school when I quit my job and became a magazine editor. I went back to a law firm after the relationship I was in lead me into that direction again. The irony about my current move professionally and location-wise is that I would have stayed in the law profession for a relationship again but my life didn't have that plan for me and I'm so glad I didn't stay because I found exactly what I needed here. Every day is a new adventure here and I can't wait to get to know my new friends better and to make amazing memories because I took the road less traveled by and that has made all the difference.

And for all of you who have been asking for a picture of our dog, here she is. She's the sweetest and the first thing I see in the morning (literally, as she pushes her wet nose into my face to wake me up for a walk) and the giver of endless hugs and licks.