Every Day

So based on the title, y'all know this is going to be about a creepy, crawly, insect that everybody hates (except for maybe entomologists). I love my small little critters, and think they're quite fascinating, but the blattodea family has always given me the creeps if I meet them free-ranging in my own house. The small little guys gross me out but if they escape, my brain just automatically assumes that they have vanished from my house. The big guys however... They. Must. Die. So last night Im getting ready for bed in the bathroom. Im about to wash my face when I look onto my shelf and notice something that resembles a black hair sticking up and waving about behind some of my things. I change my view and notice that its the antennae of a large cockroach. This sucker was probably 2 inches long (not including antennae). Immediately I yell "eeeahhh! Help!" I run to the bedroom where Ty looks up at me with raised eyebrows from behind his iPad with a look on his face lik...

Bit of good news from the VI! I got an email yesterday about probably having a job for the summer in Milwaukee with my favorite company! It was such a wonderful surprise that made me extremely happy. Also, Ty got a promotion at his job! More money and more responsibility! Im so proud of him. Just a good couple of days. Lots of little things happened in the last couple days that have hopefully made me think that my bad streak is over... Except the ridiculous amount of flies in my house. Ty and I are getting really good at swatting them. And so are the cats.

Step one, be a mooch. Haha, just kidding, kind of... Because EVERYTHING is so damn expensive here, I've been looking into ways that I can save money while Im here. I really needed some face scrub and conditioner but have been putting them off because, what would be an 8 dollar face scrub in the states, is like 13 dollars here... no thank you. Today, I made my own face scrub. Ive never looked into doing that before because, well, Im lazy and I can buy good stuff for relatively cheap. I used coconut oil mixed with sugar and a little bit of cinnamon and honey. My face feels amazingly smooth and clean after using it! I may just be saving a ton of money for myself in the future! Also, a good body scrub? Just buy sea salt and take it in the shower with you. Ive been doing this for years and have noticed a positive change with my skin. Silky smooth softness. Having friends who live here is also a plus. Amber had a bunch of stuff that she inherited from friends who left the island ...

The day after our hike on St. John, my parents and I decided to visit Coral World, where Ty works. Amber joined us as well.  Ty was able to get us all in for free which was awesome and gave us a tour of the place. we got to watch him do a few of his animal talks. He is amazing at his job! In the afternoon we were able to do some fun stuff. Ty got us in to do Sea Trek which is where you wear a helmet underwater. It was pretty awesome and my parent loved it. At first it was really weird because I couldn't look around and move like I do in my snorkel gear, but after getting used to it, it was fun.  We weren't supposed to do anything fun, like try to swim or jump but at one point I turned around and I was looking at Ambers belly button cause she was jumping up and down! It was hilarious watching her do that because I could see her face but couldn't hear her, so I only imagined her giggles. Squating down and jumping was fun too. I turned to Amber and started mouthin...

My parents have been visiting since Tuesday which is why Ive had no time to post! I had to work during the week while they explored the area around Red Hook and enjoyed the warm weather. Then yesterday was my first full day off. The first thing we did that day was sleep in! I had been having to get up early to go to work the days I worked, so sleeping in a bit was necessary.  Then Ty came over for breakfast and surprised me with a ton of fair trade/organic chocolate! (That stuff is hard to find on island) I wondered why he bought all of it, I thought that he was just being an awesome boy until later he reminded me that it was Valentines day, haha! I had completely forgotten…  Then Ty drove us to the ferry and my parents and I were off on our adventure over on St John for the day. After we got off the ferry, we tried to see if we could rent a car for the next day to explore St. John a bit more. Its a beautiful island and I wanted to be able to drive around more b...

Just when I thought that my first month of hell on the Island was over... I moved into my new apartment a week ago and all was going really well. The place a was a bit dirty but I was just spending a little bit of time cleaning every day. It was starting to look really nice. Then, this morning when I was getting dressed, I went to pick up a pair of yoga capris. I couldn't quite decide which pair to wear so I picked up the whole stack and noticed something under my clothes. It looked like rice. Had the cats stashed something in my clothes?? I went to take a closer look and noticed they were maggots!!! I took a minute to collect myself. "Breathe," I told myself, "Just get a rag, wipe them up and all will be ok." All was not ok. In the half a minute it took me to grab a rag, the number of maggots had dwindled. "Am I crazy?" and then my eyes got wide as I realized... "They move... no... no no no..." They were about a quarter of an inch...

Ive been complaining a lot, and its not cause I dont like where I am or who Im with, its just different. There are a lot of things about my city life (or even just States living) that I miss. Whole foods or other natural foods stores is one of those things. I miss waking into a store and feeling good about my purchases. I miss walking into a grocery store and not feeling stressed out about what I can and cannot buy. I miss being able to buy all my grocery needs in one store. I miss having multiple choices of things. I miss not feeling bad or upset about buying something sort of expensive, its organic or its fair trade or its a reputable company. I miss enjoying wandering around a grocery store looking at all the good-for-you foods. I miss buying healthy. I miss not spending 50 dollars on shitty produce and average groceries. I miss having tons of options! I miss stateside pricing. My Jiff peanut butter costs an average of 1.30 in the states. Here it was 4.99. Thats an example...

I have the worst luck with the dingy. I haven’t completely gone overboard yet but its been close.  One time, in slow motion, lost my footing and fell into Ty. He grabbed the handle on my backpack and tried to hold me up but I ended up sitting awkwardly in the bottom of the dingy.  Another time I stepped into the boat, thought I had it all under control, then lost my balance. Again, in slow motion, I leaned over, grabbed onto the dock, put my foot onto a bouy that wasn't tied in tightly. It spun and my foot went right into the water. The new shoes that I bought were all wet. And before I went all the way in, Ty realized that my computer and his Ipad were in my backpack so he came to help, grabbing the loop on my pack. I joked that he was just going to let me go all the way in the water if I didn't have electronics in my bag.  Theres been other times that Ive lost my footing, but Im overly anxious about going overboard. Ive got pretty good balance but having a...

Now that Im officially off the boat, here is my compiled list of boat living: 1) You have to coordinate your pooping schedule. Gotta poop when you wake up? Well, you gotta wait till you either dingy into town or get to work. Butt cheek clenching is a daily normalcy. 2) You feel like you're on the boat even when you're not. Sitting down is hard sometimes cause your still waving back and forth in your seat. 3) Thinking of wearing a skirt? Probably not the best idea when you're going to be getting in and out of a dingy. You're going to flash someone… 4) Water is a luxury. Because you've got to put the water on the boat somehow, using water for things like washing your face and showering just doesn't happen. Washing hands is rare cause you've gotta turn on the water on in the back of the boat and in the middle of the night, you're just not going to do that… 5) Cooking? Nope, too much work, try again. 6) No fridge which means, you cant take lef...