Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

I'm not sure where September when, but today's date assures me that the month is pretty much over, despite my disbelief.  And with the close of September comes the close of my time here in St. Thomas.  I have made the extremely difficult decision to leave (despite several lucrative offers to stay) after completing a person budget and coming to terms with the fact that living here at this stage in my life is not a wise financial decision (damn you student loans!).  So, once again, it's home for a regroup and new plans coming soon.  This time, more than any other, I am seriously considering grad school as a possible option (because I obviously don't have enough student loans already...) and have even gone so far as to sing up for the GRE.  I'll be one of the very first lucky idiots to be taking the new revised test, so grad school admissions folks - if you are reading this keep in mind that scores ALWAYS go down after a major change in the test, I'm smarter than my score will most likely make me look.  Reassuring right?  Not.

So, here I am, as per my usual, standing at the precipice of some new big adventure, waiting for the fog to clear and show me just exactly what it will be.  For now it's memory sharing time, here are the things that St. Thomas allowed me to check off of my bucket list: 

1. Live on an island.  Self explanatory, awesome, enough said.
2. Take a picture of a lightning bolt.  We all know I'm a photography nerd so this was a very exciting development for me.
3. Snorkel in the Caribbean.  Spotted eagle rays, brain coral, sea turtles, starfish, tropical fish, urchins, and awesome-ness.  
4. Night Snorkel in the Caribbean.  Bio-luminescence is amazing, underwater flashlights are fun, and big shiny silver tarpin fish are not sharks.  Phew.  
5. Island Hop!  St. Thomas, St. John, Jost van Dyke, Tortola, and more.  Boats are fantastically fun toys in the islands.  
6. Enjoy fresh Coconuts, straight from the tree.  And watch very talented West Indian Rasta guys scale palm trees like they're playground toys.  
7. Experience a tropical storm/almost hurricane first hand.  Exciting, except not, when you work at a hotel these things usually mean canceled flights, equating to a very busy night in the office checking in disgruntled travelers in howling wind and pounding rain.  
8. Hiking to gorgeous views and plantation ruins, read about the history of the ruins and the islands.  Did you know that slavery was abolished in the USVI several years prior to it's abolition in the states, but several years after it was abolished in the BVI (British Virgin Islands).  Brave souls used to build rafts, steal away in boats, and some even swam the short distance from St. John to Tortola; anything for freedom.  
9. Share this adventure with my mom!  Very cool for my mom to get to come down here and experience this crazy place with me, it's the first time on of my immediate family members has been able to visit me on my travels and it was a really neat thing to share.  
10. Ride a ferris wheel on top of the world.  Or so it felt, swirling around on the edge of the steep hill that is paradise point.  
11. Night swimming; swimsuits optional.  Late night skinny dipping on secluded beaches with silly friends to cap off a fun night out?  Count me in!

I'm sure there's more but I'm too lazy to continue - the point is, I've had a very good run here.  Nothing sad about it ending, I'll come visit again someday and for now I have nothing but new and exciting things to look forward to.  I'm a lucky lucky girl.

 

 

gifting...

i made housewarming party presents tonight...i'm confident posting them on here because i don't think the person they're for reads this.  I made a cranberry almond scone recipe (based roughly on this one)and a double chocolate coconut butterscotch chip cookie mix (based on this one, but drop the chunks for chips and add butterscotch chips and shredded coconut too), all the dry ingredients and a card with how to finish them up, wrapped nicely in a tea towel and tucked in a basket.  i hope they like them!

Photos Posted: 126
Days Left: 239

coooooooooooookies

Today I got to spend my lunch break on the shores of beautiful Jenkinson Lake (aka drinking water reservoir) in Pollack Pines.  I had an apple and baby carrots and some tasty brie I got at a little cheese shop downtown, it was a pretty fabulous lunch.  Heres a little photo memory of my bright, sunshiney afternoon for photo numero one hundred and oneeeeee!

After my amazing afternoon at the park I decided the only way to end this Friday was with my new favorite evening activity, going to the baking/kitchen aisle in the nearest department store and letting myself pick something out.  Tonight I got a mixing bowl, a new cutting board (because my old one was cheap and made out of glass and it ruined my only knife....booo!), and a can opener.  Then I popped over to the grocery and got everything I needed to make one of my very favorite cookie recipes of all time, Chocolate-Butterscotch-Chip-Coconut-Cooooookies!  (Adapted from my Mom's old school Betty Crocker Cookbook recipe for "Sugar Jumbles") and lucky you, I'm going to share it with you here:

Mix thoroughly: 1/2 cup of butter, 3/4 cup sugar (half white and half brown), 1 egg, and 1 tsp vanilla. 

Sift together and stir in: 1 and 1/8 cup flour (i used whole wheat and they were still delicious), 1/4 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 a tsp salt.

Fold in: ~1/2 cup chocolate chips, ~1/2 cup butterscotch chips, ~1/2 cup shredded coconut

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto a lightly greased (or non-stick) cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 7-9 minutes, cool on sheet for 3 minutes, then move to wire rack and finish cooling, then enjoy...if you can wait that long!

okay, they don't photograph well, but they're still amazingggly tasty...try it, I dare you not to like them!

Photos Posted: 101
Days Left: 264