TGIF!!!

I blog to you now, at 7:30pm on a Friday night because of two things. 1.) the water has been turned off in our condo and surrounding buildings and neither Chris nor I (learning this only after I came back sweaty from the gym) can shower to go out to dinner as we were thinking and, 2.) because Chris has gone out on a mission with one of the condo board members to try to fix the problem. Apparently, after fixing many leaks in this condo, he's widening his territory. Hmmmm.... I just heard our faucet sprouting some water. Chris has saved the day again and we're off to dinner!!!! Ciao for now!!!! Blog more later!

Happy Thanksgiving Week!!!!

I hope everyone has recovered from stuffing themselves silly this Thanksgiving. I know everyone was full and happy when we talked to them. We were no exception. While we missed being around our families on this day of thanks, we made sure to enjoy the day by spending the early afternoon at Secret Harbor Beach, where Chris finally got to relax a bit (about time!) and we spent much of our time in the water, since it was hot, hot, hot out.

For an official Thanksgiving feast, we decided to go down to Craig & Sally’s, where they are well known for delicious food and have a traditional spread for Thanksgiving. The food was delicious and we had the comfort tastes of home. Of course, while scrumptious, it was not as good as homemade. ;) That’s for you, moms! Chris did go outside of the box a bit and ordered the oyster stuffing. I did not venture a try. He said it was interesting…

Chris’ relaxation was short-lived and around 4am that night/next morning, his servers went down and he was up trying to figure that out for the next few hours. I tried to stay up with him, but retreated to bed after an hour or two. Most of yesterday, he was trying to figure out what went wrong with his servers. But today, I am going to force him to relax.

Happily, we tried a pizza place last night for dinner that we have heard raves about but for some reason never made it to last year. The pizza was so very good and, if not as good as home, then better. We will be back, Pizza Amore! I think the 18 inch pizza will be feeding us for at least today and maybe tomorrow…

Well, that’s my summary for now. Chris is just working on the baseboards for the closet and then I hope to get him out and about. It’s a bit overcast here, but there is an arts and music festival in town that I hope to check out. Will let you know how it all turns out soon enough!

XOXO and miss you!



New picture for those of you who already saw this post. I think Chris wanted his whole head included....

Mid-Week Hello!

Just a couple of updates since we last touched base. Due to a leaky air conditioner, we noticed a damaged wall in the closet, as well as rusty tools. We first thought of it as an inconvenience, but soon realized it was more than that. With Chris and I both getting a bit sicker respiratory-wise throughout the week, Chris realized in the middle of the night that we might have a bit of a mold issue. Again. So, I woke up at 7am to “Sledge” ripping open a wall. Well, about 1/8 in. of black and florescent mold was living behind our closet wall. We got a new A/C and Chris cleared out the mold and bleached the area. We both started feeling remarkable better as the week winded down. Not saying our mold was toxic, since a cold was going around, but the timing of us getting sick and our recovery beginning after we got it all out, makes me wonder a bit…

I started “work” this week at Havana Blue. However, the reception desk is under construction, so we are able to take the phone home and take reservations from there. Soooo, I took my phone right up to the pool at our complex and got paid while sunbathing. I am so spoiled. I am going to have a big reality slap in my face someday, but until then I will certainly appreciate every minute of this.

That’s about it! The weekend was very low-key and kind of rainy. We finally made it to the cinema here. We were hoping for the beach, but the weather would not allow. We have a new beach we are looking forward to checking out and hope it’s a bit easier to find then the infamous Stumpy’s of last year. However, it is called Secret Harbor, so I am not holding my breath.

I have decided I am going to wait on the pictures, so that I can show a before and after of the living room/ kitchen area. No other new pics than what y’all saw last year, so you’ll have to wait a bit to see our smiling faces.

I hope all is well for everyone and look forward to touching base about this time next week.

Cheers!

We meet again, St. T!

Well, we are back on the island as of Saturday and are getting ourselves settled. Once landed, we found some quick sustenance at Iggy’s and then headed back to the condo to start some cleaning and laundry and putting our bed back in place, since it mysteriously moved itself to the center of our bedroom and was covered in some unidentified brown residue. Rumor has it that there was a leak here while we were gone, but we’ve yet to confirm it and see no other evidence of it except for the aforementioned issue.

The past couple of days have just been about putting some things to order and getting the necessary provisions. Good new is that the car started right away and without protest. It is in the shop today for a 30,000 mile check-up, as well as to make sure Slick Ricky made it through the months unscathed (minus some bruised emotions due to lack of attention).

Chaz, our contractor extraordinaire, has been called to duty to put up some drywall and to do some remaining misc. stuff in order for us to be able to put our order in for cabinets. We were very fortunate that he was willing and able to start yesterday and will be finished this week. We should have a good idea by the end of this week about when to expect our cabinets and to know how long we’ll be Without Kitchen. We are managing well, but it makes you realize how much you take for granted having all the modern conveniences at your fingertips.

I’m having technical difficulties with the camera, so once I can figure out my issues, I will post pictures of our “kitchen” area…

Until Next Time, St. T!!!!

Well, we have been making our last few days here a little bit of fun and a little bit of tying up loose ends. St. Thomas has decided to make our departure a bit easier by being mostly rainy 7 out of the past 8 days, but we’ve still managed to catch a few rays and enjoy our last days on the island. We haven’t done anything too exciting, just sitting on our patio and trying to finish up the last of our Presidentes and margarita fixin’s. I run to the sun when it graces us with its presence and have snagged a couple of good hours. Today, it’s mostly wrapping up household things, since it is overcast again. If I get enough done today, hopefully I can make it to the beach one last time tomorrow.

For a final blog, I wanted to post the latest and greatest of our newly, mostly painted condo. Chris finished his painting sometime last week and finally felt like he deserved to cash in the gift certificate for a massage that I gave him 5 MONTHS AGO. Even with all the hard work he’s done, he wouldn’t let himself use it until he finished his condo goals.

I think that’s it for now! I look forward to catching up face to face with all of you from here on out! Tune in around fall of next year for more caribbean encounters...XOXOXO....


Our new, actually working, sliding doors


Tile finished on the patio


Chris hard at work, as usual. Loves his new island map and it does seem to go with the colors! Win/Win!


Notice something missing? No more crazy safari portrait. Whew!


Our two toned condo...

Happy Birthday, Chris! Happy Healing, Mom!

The Birthday Boy


We're thinking of you and wishing for a speedy recovery mom!!

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This has been an exciting week. First, my mom had her big knee replacement operation on Thursday (all went well and now it will be, hopefully, a quick road to recovery) and then today is Chris’ birthday. Woo-hoo!

This weekend we are staying close to home. It is Carnival here and we might just brave the masses to get a taste of the celebrations. As for the big 34th birthday, I started it with Chris’ favorite breakfast, pancakes, and tried to hold out on giving him his presents, but I am not very good at that. So, by 9:30am, I already gave him both. His “small” gift was just a t-shirt he’s been eyeing. If you knew the state of most of his t-shirts and his pickiness in finding ones he likes, you would understand why I jumped at the chance to get this one.

His main gift was a framed “accurately portrayed” map of the Virgin Islands. He’s been wanting one for when “we” finish painting the living room, but it had to be “accurate”. Which, no biggee, right? Wouldn’t maps be accurate, you say? Answer: No. Most ones we ran across were more for show and, for some reason, that means taking artistic license in portraying the sizes and placements of the islands. Now, I’ll let you in on a secret. Chris doesn’t know this (well, unless he reads this), that what makes this gift even more special is that there were a gazillion “inaccurate maps” that would go PERFECTLY with our colors here and would match everything and looked really cool. But this “accurate” map that he had at one point mentioned was exactly the kind he wanted, does not go with the color scheme and that practically kills me. But it is so worth it because he was very happy when he opened it this morning and declared it the “perfect map”.

As for the rest of the day, Chris is painting right now. I need to go make him stop. I told him no housework on his bday, but he overruled me by saying that since it’s his birthday, he gets to do what he wants. But he promised only a little. Soooo, I am off now to rip that brush out of his hand and insist he relax. Wish me luck. As for birthday dinner, tonight, I cook him oscar-style filet, and it sounds like he’s excited.

If we make it to Carnival, I promise photos sometime this week!!! Only a couple of more posts and I’ll be able to keep you up to date in person. Until then, much love and hugs!!!!!

Finally- Virgin Gorda

Last Saturday, we went to the Baths at Virgin Gorda. This was a trip that we had been intending to go on the whole time here, but we never quite made it. This, we both think, is a must-do if you are ever in the islands for more than a few days. A little info on the Baths- “The name "baths" comes from the warm sheltered pools of water in and around the rocks which flood at high tide. Large caves and a huge tunnel through one of the boulders is a result of erosion. These features can be explored by visitors clambering inside and underneath the massive granite boulders. The oldest rocks were thrown together as a result of volcanic eruptions. Newly formed volcanic larva on the seabed over 70 million years ago eventually turned to granite and around 20 million years ago a fault occurred on the seabed and the rocks which we see today were lifted up. The boulders would have been much larger and worn down and rounded by millions of years of erosion from rain, wind and the sea.” Long story short- very cool and BEAUTIFUL.


En route to the Baths


No descriptions necessary