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!

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…