Beach Days

Don't grow up too quickly, lest you forget how much you love the beach.

- Michelle Held

Mr & Mrs Smyth

We said "I do"! Sky and I are officially man and wife! We said our vows, just the two of us, on Hawsknest Beach on March 23, 2012. Our friend Dru preformed the ceremony on that beautiful afternoon. Our friend Yelena Rogers did a wonderful job capturing our special day with gorgeous photographs! We spent the weekend relaxing and enjoying the beauty of our St John. We are currently finalizing our honeymoon plans, to be taken later this year! 

Since we eloped and couldn't have our family and friends join us, we are in the process of planning a huge celebration! We will have a vow renewal and reception next year on our 1st anniversary and we look forward to celebrating with everyone!!! Invites will be sent out in the next couple of months.

Thank you friends and family for all of the love, support, congratulations, and well wishes! We are so happy, so in love, and looking forward to a life full of adventures and joy!

xoxo,

Mr & Mrs Smyth

Friday Mind Musings

* I feel like December just started, and already it's 2 DAYS until Christmas!!!!! How did that happen?! I swear my life is flying by right before my eyes! But I've finished my shopping and all my Christmas cards went out, everything is wrapped, and we've been baking like crazy so I'm feeling pretty accomplished as far as Christmas spirit goes!

* My laptop is broken, AGAIN. I hate Gateway with a passion, and I will never, never, never, EVER buy an Acer product again. This makes 7 repairs on a laptop that's under 2 years old. So very frustrated...

* Sky got me a new engagement ring! To make a long story short we found out through a jeweler that blue topaz (the stone in my first e-ring) isn't suitable for everyday wear. So when we found that out I was a little sad and disappointed, but then Sky pointed out that it means I can have more than one ring, since they suggested I rotate it with another ring! And now I love the idea of having more than one ring! The second ring is a white topaz solitaire, and I love it! Yay for sparkly things:)

* The island seems to be so cold lately! And I should clarify that it seems cold to those of us with island blood now! It got down to the low 70s the other night and people on island were walking around in sweats and jeans and jackets and long sleeves (including me!). It was hilarious! And if you think I'm joking that people were calling it "cold" you can ask anyone who lives here how the weather has been lately and see what words they use to describe it!

* I'm currently reading The Radleys by Matt Haig. It's about vampires, although I didn't know that when I picked it up. But so far (about 100 pages in) it's funny and dark and takes a slightly different view of vampires than the norm. Very interesting!

* Not having access to my bank down here has got to be one of the most frustrating things about living here. It takes way too much time and effort to do business with Wells Fargo from St John. But the alternative is banking locally, which for many reasons I just won't do.

* Christmas and Hanukkah music has been playing non-stop in our home, much to Sky's chagrin. But we only listen to it once a year for 3 weeks, so really I'm going to keep playing holiday music until Christmas is here, and maybe even until New Year's! I just can't get enough!

* I am one slacker of a bride. Less than 9 months until the wedding and Save the Dates are still not out! Ahhhh! I need a kick in the pants, or maybe just some inspiration. It seems like every time I decide on a detail of the wedding, I change my mind! The joys of indecision!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day! Happy Friday, Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

Halloween 2011

My 1st Halloween on St John was a blast! An entertaining time was had by all! I didn't get any good pictures of us, but here are the few we did manage to capture...

Helping Hand

When I lived in Atlanta I did a lot of volunteer work with just about any and every organization I could find that needed help. The work, time, and occasionally money that I put into my volunteering was always well worth it and made me feel connected to the community and to people in general. And to be super honest, it makes me feel good to volunteer! Unfortunately I have fallen out of volunteering and community service since moving to St John. But that's going to change next week! Through my job at St John Catering I have met a very sweet women on island who heads the St John Community Foundation. I have a meeting with her next week to sign up for volunteer opportunities and I'm very excited about it! I'm not sure what I'll wind up doing, but I will blog about it next week and share what's going in my life volunteer-wise. Wish me luck!

Tuesday Mind Dump

* I am rocking the hippie look today. Colorful scarf in my hair, long white flowy skirt, and bangles. I love it!!!

* I have a surfing date with a friend on Wednesday and Friday! I'm super excited about it. I love surfing so much I've been dreaming about it. Did I mention that Sky and I plan on getting surf boards for Christmas?! Super excited!! We plan on getting boards that we can both ride so Sky has suggested getting a pink and blue board that says His & Hers. How cute?!

* I was doing so well reading real books the last few months! You know biographies, self-help, educational books, NYT Best Sellers, and whatnot. But the last two weeks I find myself devouring trashy romance novels at a very rapid pace. It makes me feel a little guilty, but reading is reading, right?!

* It seems like everything online is constantly changing! New Facebook, new Blogger, new 20 Something, new Yahoo... I never realized how much I am annoyed by change until all of my favorite sites started updating. The positive side to this? Every time something new does change, I bitch a little less about it. I figure the internet is helping to make me a better, less irritable person in a roundabout way.

* I am happy (finally!) on the work front here on St John. During the day I work as a receptionist at a catering company, and I work in a little gift shop on nights and weekends. This means I work 7 days a week, but I love it! I'm busy and it helps to relieve my boredom, since I have something to do every day. I think I'll eventually get burned out so I don't plan on doing this schedule for long, but for now it's awesome. And my bosses are great, and so is the pay! Love my jobs!

* Life is sooooo slow on island these days. It's slow season here, which means that about half of the restaurants have closed for about a month, very few tourists are visiting, lots of the locals are on summer vacation and there seems to be NOTHING going on event-wise. If it weren't for work, I would be stir crazy. I am so glad October is almost here.

* Speaking of October, WHERE has this year gone?! I swear I was just celebrating my birthday (February) and now it's the end of September. I feel like life is flying by and I'm in slow motion or something. Crazy!

* Almost finished with work for the day. I have a date with the beach this afternoon:)

Happy Tuesday!!!
xoxo

Life is Good

I haven't blogged in some time! One reason is that my laptop has been broken and I've yet to have it fixed. The other reason is that I haven't had too much to say lately! Life, for the most part, has been good and happy and fulfilling recently. I've had a few bad days sprinkled in here and there, but I'll take that over constant sadness any day! Sky and I have been spending a lot of time together with just the two of us. We've put a lot of energy and work into our relationship and things are good for us! Our little island (and our livers) are recovering from Carnival which just ended. Summertime is hitting St John full force. The crowds of tourists have visibly thinned, the weather is scorching and the whole town just seems lazy and sleepy. I'm looking forward to doing more of what we've been up to recently: lots of beach days, dinner with friends, movie nights, going sailing, and just hanging out and being happy! Life is good these days:)

Island

I Fell in Love

Sky and I have been looking around for a new place to settle into (again!). Yesterday we looked at a house described as a "Shackteau" and I absolutely fell head over heels in love with it. It was such a bright, open, adorable house. And super affordable. Everything we've been looking for! It's the kind of place I imagined living in here on the islands. The only downside was that it's only available as a short term rental. So we're passing on it to keep looking. I'm a tiny bit heartbroken over not being able to rent that house. All I can hope it that something perfect is going to find us, and very soon!!

Work, Work, Work

I have accumulated dozens of work horror stories since living here on St John. And to be fair (and not bad mouth anyone) I will just say this:

I would LOVE to find a job where I actually work, get paid, get the hours I'm promised, not have to do anything illegal and get treated like a human being. I don't think any of these are too much to ask of a job. But it's been hard to find a job fitting these standards.

Back to job hunting, again. Oh the joys of island life:)

Out of the Sea

I finally made it to the beach!!!!! And it was much needed. I had so much fun splashing and swimming and snorkeling!!! Some time in the ocean was exactly what I needed:) And some time goofing off in front of the camera of course!

Beach

Cinnamon Bay. I wish I was there right now!!!! Surprisingly this photo was taken by my iPhone! Sorry it's crooked; I was a bit tipsy at the time:)

Bleeding to Death

* Just a TMI warning!!!! Everything surrounding my hospitalization and surgery is pretty gross, so if you don't want to know really inappropriate details about my body, I would stop reading!


My misadventure began around Tuesday, March 8th. I noticed that every time I went to the bathroom, there was a scary amount of blood in the toilet. I think most people at that point would assume something was wrong and would make an appointment to see the doctor. I was not that smart. I knew I had a doctor's appointment the following Monday, so I figured that I would wait until then to bring up my concerns.  As the days went by I felt more and more sluggish, tired and light-headed. I asked Sky what he thought about it, and he brushed it off saying there was no way the two things were connected. He confirmed aloud what I thought in my head: that I was (as usual) being dramatic and that I was just a little under the weather.

Fast forward to Saturday. It was our only day off together so I was determined to do something fun, despite not feeling well. We drove out to Salt Pond to have a beach day. I was feeling dizzier and more nauseas than I had ever felt, but I kept telling myself that it would pass. Walking towards the trail for the beach, I became so dizzy that I had no choice but to stop and sit on the ground. After waiting for more than 10 minutes for it to pass, I realized that there was no way I could make it the beach, which was only about 1/3 of a mile away. Sky wound up carrying me back to the car because I couldn't find the strength to even stand up. We drove back home where, again, I was too weak to even get out of the car. So Sky carried me into the house and put me on the couch, which I couldn't find the energy to leave, for the rest of the day.

Around 8pm on Saturday evening I felt worse, not better. We finally decided to go to the ER. I don't remember the car ride there, but Sky says that I was completely unresponsive to his questions. I guess I passed out.

When we arrived at the ER they wheeled me in, asked a few questions and did some blood work. Very quickly they came back with the results which were shocking to me. My hemoglobin levels were dangerously low and I would need to be transported to St Thomas immediately for a blood transfusion. They told me it was a good thing that I came in that evening, because losing blood at the rate I was would have caused organ failure, coma, or even death in just another day or two. I was bleeding to death. I was so shocked to hear this! A huge part of me was lying in the ER feeling silly for even being there. So to hear that there was something seriously wrong with me was almost surreal. And scary. And that's how this all started...

Island = Fatty

After my miscarriage I lost about 15 pounds between my depression medication and general lack of appetite. But now I'm used to my meds, so my appetite is back. And since moving back to St John I have put 10 pounds back on. Not cool.

Living on this island makes me such a fatty. And here's why:

- I drink waaaay more here than I did in the states. Can you say "empty calories"?! Unfortunately liquor is one of the only inexpensive things on the island. Sometimes I skip dinner and have a Sex on the Beach instead...

- It's too hot, and let's be honest, I'm too lazy, to go for a run.

- Why don't I just join a gym you ask? Well because they are hellishly expensive here. There's one gym on the island and it costs $150 a month to be a member, plus a $500 yearly fee. No thank you.

- Fresh and healthy produce is hard to come by. And when I can find it, it is also hellishly expensive. $10 for a pound of strawberries anyone? No? Me either. And a lot of other fruits, veggies, lean cuts of meat and fish are just as expensive. Salmon is $20 by the pound here. Outrageous.

- All of that plus the fact that I have a chef as a boyfriend, who cooks food full of fat and butter and cholesterol and salt and other yummy goodness.

The good news is that 10 pounds isn't the end of the world. And even when I feel like a fatty, I've never been bigger than a size 8. So I do take some comfort in the fact that I have awesome genes. Thanks mom! But I do need to figure something out, and soon. Because another 10 pounds is not acceptable!

Surprise?!

I know this is going to come as a surprise and even a shock to some people, but I've moved back to St. John, USVI. I was surprised and shocked too! It was a decision and a move that was made and done very quickly. I am sure there are lots of you who will disagree, or even be disappointed by my decision. And all I can say is that I did what I thought would make me happy.

Thank you for your support. And if supportive is not what you feel, then thank you for refraining from saying anything awful! I really do appreciate it:)

Happy Thursday all!!

Lost and Found Some More

More pictures found from St John. I have a sneaking suspicion I will find my way back one day, just not to reside:)

Lost and Found

Some pictures I never posted of life in St. John.

If at first you don't suceed...

I'm heading back to St John. This "move" to Atlanta has, needless to say, been a really rough one. So, my plan? Or should I say Sky's persistent suggestion? That I come back to St John to recuperate, regroup, and try this whole thing one more time after things settle a bit. After fighting tooth and nail about it with him (I don't wanna leave!!) I've agreed that he has rather valid points. It has been very hard to deal with this tragedy without my fiance and father of my child by my side. And it's been just as hard for him. Plus the holidays are quickly approaching. Between the miscarriage and Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, this is definitely not the time for either of us to be alone. So back I go. But it won't be forever!

I'm not the happiest about leaving my friends and family so soon after getting reconnected, but it's what I have to do for now. I was really hoping to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas in a traditional way this year, complete with sweaters and fires and lots of family around! I'll have to settle for 85 degree weather and bikinis and rum drinks. But when I put it that way it doesn't sound so bad! So on that note I'm going to stop my bitching and enjoy the fact that in just a couple of days I'll be back in the arms of the man I love, on a tropical island in paradise!!! How about that for a silver lining?

So Productive!!

I'm so proud of myself!! These last few days have been so productive for me. I have a to do list a mile long but I'm slowly checking it off. I've been to the doctor for my final visit, thank God! I've had my car in two different auto repair shops getting various (and expensive!) things fixed on it. I've had to do my emissions, and get my tags updated. I've found a storage unit that I have to start moving my things into tomorrow. And I have to yet to see any of my friends since coming back! So this weekend is dedicated to quality time for my friends and family. Especially since I'm heading back to St John for a few weeks. I just need time to recuperate and be with Sky. And after the holidays are over, we'll be back on track with our plans for moving to Atlanta.

Today has been a good day. Since all of my errands for the day are done I'm hanging out with my favorite girls (Denise & Sadie) and feeling like life is pretty okay. I hope it only gets better from here on out!!