Social life is picking up!

Hello, everyone! Well, we are starting to get to know more and more neighbors and had a fun time hanging out the last two weekends. I met a nice new woman who is a traveling nurse and will be here until May. She seems really sweet and I look forward to getting to know her more. We also went out to dinner and drinks the weekend before last on Saturday night with some neighbors and then on Sunday, Chris and I provided bbq and fixin’s at the pool for the same neighbors and another couple. Then, that other couple invited us to a pork dinner at their place the next night. Yes- pork roast. And I ate it. And I liked it. It will take a while for me to make that a norm in my dinners, but it was good. We played Cranium and had a great time and Chris even ended up with a guitar, since our neighbor never used it and was planning on getting rid of it. Win/win! This past weekend, we socialized some more. We went on over to Iggy’s on Saturday night with a few of the same people from the weekend before and then on Sunday, we had some chicken wings smoked up for us from one of our (tall) friend’s special southern recipe. It was delicious!

Getting to know people here makes a world of difference, as well as being 99.9% complete with the condo. Woo-hoo!!!! All we need is to get the tile backsplash for the kitchen and we are GOOD TO GO! I have been cookin’ some yummy food up and just thriving on not living in clutter. Even if the tile is not here for when our first visitors come, we can fully function comfortably without it.

This weekend we are taking a weekend to ourselves and heading on over to St. John for a hike, some beach and a new Mexican restaurant we’ve heard about and then perhaps some diving on Sunday. A full weekend!

On a more somber note, we would like you to put in your thoughts and prayers for Chris’ grandmother, Lillian, and my nana, Barbara. While they have both proved themselves tough cookies and pretty resilient in the past, it now looks as though they both may be ready for the end (or a brand new beginning- depending on how you look at it). Every person’s time must come and we can be very grateful that they have both lived very long and full lives. Of course, it’s not over yet for either of them- both have pulled through some rough patches in the past, but we just can’t be too sure. I think of them often.

So, as not to end on a sad note, I will post some pictures. Sorry- none of the kitchen. Not until it’s done. Be patient, my friends!


Love you!

LIVING ROOM BEFORE:



Wow- I sure miss that safari-themed painting!



LIVING ROOM AFTER:



"Holmes on Homes" on in the background- Chris' favorite show besides American Idol and Cake Boss. He's a multi-dimensional man, that love of mine!






Look at how happy Chris is now that he's got a guitar!!! I get serenaded often. It's quite nice. :)

A Thoughtful Prayer

In lieu of my weekly update, which at this point seems petty and superficial, I want to say a prayer for all of the people and families affected, endangered, and killed by the earthquake in Haiti. This is a terrible tragedy and words cannot express how deeply sorry I feel for all those involved. I pray that the healing and recovery begin immediately for Haiti as a whole and that humanity can come together and help them get through this as quickly as possible.

Happy 2010!!!!

Well, we have been settled back into the island from our whirlwind, but extremely enjoyable, trip home. We came home to an internet that is still slow and is very frustrating for Chris and knowledge of our condo being the cause of another leak- this time encroaching on not one, but two of our neighbors. But, 2010 is starting to look pretty good. I think they finally found and fixed the source of all leaks here, although we might owe an apology or two to those neighbors of ours. I’m thinking a home cooked meal, maybe, when the kitchen is done. The counters will be put in tomorrow. After that, just sink, dishwasher and tile need to go in and we are DONE! Yay! And, internet should be taken care of this week. Woo-hoo!

I have been a bit M.I.A, but we haven’t really had too much to report on. Right before we came home for Christmas, Chris and I went to Blackbeard’s Castle since I thought he would enjoy it. And we did. They have changed things a bit and we missed the place where the rum tasting was, but I think we can survive with a little less rum in our life. We had fun hamming it up for the camera, so I will post some of those pictures.

NYE was a fun time! We met up with our new friends (as Chris calls them, our tall friends) and went on to Yacht Haven Grande for the outdoor concert. We ran into some other friends there, Trish and Mark, and had a rocking good time despite the rain and the fact that the main attraction, Bunny Wailer of the famous Bob Marley Wailers, never made it to the island. His band made it. Here’s the rumor: apparently there were a couple of rocky landing attempts on his flight that were not able to be completed and they had to land in Puerto Rico. Bunny got shook up and refused to fly in the next morning. Alas, no Bunny.

This weekend we returned to one of our favorite beaches on Water Island- Honeymoon Beach. It was a lovely few hours and beautiful weather. Coincidentally, Joe Biden was (is?) staying on Water Island this week, but we did not catch a view of him.

This morning we went diving. I am still trying to have it become second nature to me, but my body is trying to make it as difficult as possible. We first went to French Cap Island, since today’s glassy, smooth ocean allowed us to go to this mostly inaccessible dive site. It was 80-90 feet and I got kind of anxious going down, but was fine once I was down there. However, coming up, I got a nose bleed. Thank goodness we were on our safety stop when it was noticed. Chris saw it before I did, so I think he was a bit more traumatized by seeing the blood in my mask then I was. But, when I saw him signaling the dive leader to go up and then pointed to me, I looked down in my mask and saw blood. However, I knew I felt fine and the surface was very close, so we got up there and I washed myself off.

After my declaring that I would sit out the second dive, I was talked into it by the crew and the husband and decided that if I let my shakiness get the best of me, it would get harder to get out there the next time. And that ain’t my style. I was glad I went. We did a dive site called Cow and Calf at Cow Rock, which I guess has been mentioned in dive magazines. We saw a barracuda, a sea turtle, an octopus (and saw him change color many times!), as well as swam through a few rock formations. Don’t worry, mom, I could see light on both ends of the tunnels.

So, that’s it for now! Check out the pictures and we’ll talk to you soon enough.



Oddly enough, this big guy happens to be on our Blackbeard tour. I've yet to figure that out.




Chris asked this guy to "pull his finger".




I totally thought "finder's keepers" on that bag of gold I found. The authorities disagree.




This, too, could be considered one of our "tall friends"




And our NYE crew- Susan, Bill, Chris (clearly a different one), Mark and Trish

Sick Ricky, Internet Meltdown and CABINETS!!!!

Okay, where do we begin? Maybe a weekend re-cap, although nothing too crazy. We spent a lot of the day on Saturday at Home Depot and other stores trying to tie up some loose ends. We enjoyed the last hour or two of sun drinking boat drinks by the pool and then headed down to Iggy’s for some drinks and dinner. We received a warm welcome by both the hostess, who I used to work with when I was at the Marriott last year and whom I like very much, and by our waitress who we’ve known for a long time LOVES Chris. She’s a local islander who seems no-nonsense and intimidating at first, but she’s got a soft spot for Chris and now, due to association, I think she’s warming up to me!

Sunday was lovely- we hung out by the pool and met a very sweet woman who lives in our villas with her husband and 2 ½ year old. We were introduced because she mentioned re-doing their condo and she was happy to quiz us on many things. We shared some tips and troubles we’ve had and exchanged contact info, so hopefully new friends we have made! We ended the day having some drinks and appetizers down at Iggy’s (again) with a neighbor and a local couple he is friends with. We had a great time and might even have people to hang out with on New Years! We sure felt popular this weekend.

The rest of the week has had its ups and downs. I will get the downs over with first. Our internet has been shoddy for about a week and you can’t rely on it to send out what you are trying to, so Chris has been very frustrated. We found out this morning that the problem lies somewhere in the wiring of the building, so it is not up to the DSL company to find the problem, but for the condo association. Other than the goodness of their hearts (and they are nice people), they really have no incentive to light a fire under their butts and fix the problem, since it really only affects us right now. We’re hoping they will take pity on us. Also, yesterday, our trusty Slick Ricky (our car) went kaputz on us and didn’t want to start. So, Slick Ricky is a Sick Ricky and has been towed to get fixed today.

On the upside, our cabinets went up in 4 short hours on Tuesday and look fantastic! The countertop people came in first thing on Wednesday to measure things, so we hope to get those in soon enough, too. We are excited that this chapter is coming to a close. After this, we just need some plumbing and a tile backsplash and we are DONE!

Well, this is probably my last blog until after the holidays and I will be seeing some of you soon enough. I look forward to seeing familiar faces and am excited to be sharing Christmas with our families.

Happy Holidays!!!!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!!

And another shout out for a wonderful birthday!!! We're thinking of you and love you. Wish we could have been around to celebrate both birthdays, since you both mean so much to us.

XOXO,

Kasey and Chris

Happy Birthday Jenny!!!!

This is a big week for birthdays! A special birthday shout out goes to Jenny Beauchesne (A.K.A Super Sister-in-Law)- we’re thinking of you today and wishing you a lovely day for celebration.

So, where was I when we last checked in? Oh yea, Chris had just saved the day with fixing the plumbing for our buildings. Turns out the pool guys never shut off the water while refilling the pool, so it was overflowing for hours. Nice! Anyway, we had a lovely night out with our first dinner of Mexican food since we got here and then went to the Caribbean Saloon to check out a Pearl Jam cover band called “Once”. They were pretty good, but they came on about an 1 and ½ late at 11:30pm and, with us not being the night owls we used to be, we left pretty early in. Red Bulls couldn’t even give us wings that night! We had a pretty lazy Saturday and finally made it to one of our favorite beaches in the afternoon (Lindquist Beach).

On Sunday, we took the ferry over to St. John and meandered around the island for a while, ending up at Cinnamon Bay Beach. Such a lovely beach and a beautiful place to spend the afternoon! The homeless person that was camped out behind us seemed to agree. We think he was homeless, but he had quite the nice set up on the beach nestled in some palms. With his airplane nips, suspicious smelling “cigarettes” and his snorkel gear, this potentially residentially challenged individual seemed to truly be living the “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” lifestyle.

Other than that, there is not too much new to report. We had our second weekend in a row of ordering Pizza Amore and my waistline has acknowledged it. But it’s soooo good. Our appliances came in last week and we have narrowed down our countertops, so things are moving right along.

I apologize about the photos getting fewer and fewer, but it’s only because we want to feel more like locals than tourists, so the camera has been staying at home more often. However, when we get outside of the norm, we’ll be sure to take it with us.

Have a great week!!!!

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!