Chaos in Paradise

This weekend we have officially decided to begin fixin’ up the apartment so that we can get a head start before our first visitors in February. “We” have started with the bedroom and Chris has been caulking baseboards, sanding and doing general fix-it prep work. “The secret to a good paint job is good prep work”, so he says. While I am known for my excellent taping skills during prep, I am not as highly regarded in painting skills and therefore banned from painting. However, I am the on-call apprentice, available when needed. Am contemplating being available closer to the pool, though.

Along with all things moved out of the closets in the bedroom and the supplies for this job, we have also started getting the materials we need for the bathroom. On the islands, you grab things when they are here on the island, if you think you might need it in the future. Once they run out, you never know when the next shipment comes in. As you can see from the pictures, the result is utter chaos!

Christmas in the Caribbean

Yesterday was an untraditional Christmas for the two of us. While we did miss our families very much, we had a lovely day in St. John. We took the ferry over in time for lunch outdoors, and then we checked out some of the shops, and hung out at the Beach Bar- a place Chris has been wanting to take me to for a while. We hung out on the beach for a while, visited another of the local bars on the beach and then ended our day with a brie burger at Morgan's Mango. Yummy!

The view from the ferry going into St. John.

Yay- a real Christmas Tree!



























The view from the Beach Bar. They had Trivial Pursuit cards at the bar. Chris kicked my butt in Trivia. I once again prove that I am not smarter than a 5th grader.


Cruz Bay










One of the beach bars









Morgan's Mango- Christmas Dinner

Playing catch up- Our home...

Hi Again!


People have asked to see pictures of where we live, so here are some photos. I have to say, we have to pinch ourselves several times a day to believe we aren't dreaming. We can't get over our location. This first photo is the pool that is about 30 seconds from our door. We live in the buildings to the right of this pool. This is where the iguanas love to sun themselves all day long.

This here is Slick Ricky- our car we got here on the island. It's a 2001 Oldsmobile Alero. We were very luck to find this car in our price range. Everything else we were shown were so very questionable and quite a piece of junk!

This photo was taken at Bolongo Bay, which is probably a bit less than a 10 minute walk from where we live.











Iggy’s- this is one of the local restaurant right on the beach. This place, Mim’s and the Lobster Grill are all within walking distance, so we plan to frequent these places.

I'm a Blogger!!!!

Well, I never thought it would happen, but I'm blogging. I figured it's the easiest way to ease curious minds about our life in St. Thomas- especially with the spotty internet and cell service from the condo. I will try to catch up these past couple of weeks, but we haven't been up to too much excitement. We've been low key, getting to know the island, while also trying to get our condo put together a bit.

After a couple of weeks of settling in and shopping, I think we've got most everything we need for a fully functional home. We've gotten to know which stores are a bit less costly and where we can get everything we need in one shot.

Contrary to what I have heard about local islanders not being terribly friendly to transplants, I have met many friendly islanders and locals. People are quick to say good morning and greet you.

I've been getting to know the island a bit and looking for jobs. Starting in January, I will be splitting my schedule between being one of the onsite wedding coordinators for cruise ships (we work with 11 cruise companies) and being one of the on-site logistics coordinator (and glorified "hostess" and "babysitter") for a company that works as hosts to other companies who choose St. Thomas as their "get away" trip for top sales people and such. I'll be the one who makes sure things go smoothly from arrival to send off, and will be accompanying the groups on tours and excursions. So, I will get to see the island of St. Thomas and the local islands. That will be a perk!

Chris has not had such a great couple of weeks. The high speed internet that we are supposed to have (and he needs in order to run the business) has been very poor quality and verrrrrrrrry slow. Therefore, he's been working longer hours and getting less done. I feel bad for the poor chap, but he's still remaining upbeat and has not given up hope yet. Today has been a good internet day, so we remain optimistic.

So, with him stuck in the house, I will try my best to document our time here. Fortunately, Chris is able to spend some time on the weekends not working, and we get around to enjoy the island. So, on that note, I am going to wrestle him away from the computer right now and head to the beach. Since I am new to this blogging, I am not sure how it all works, but am going to try to upload some other photos I've taken....