Home Sweet Home

This is where I live. I moved into this apartment this week living with Suzzy and Brandon. We've got two floors for a 2 bed/2.5 bath apartment. The top floor is the living area with a balcony over looking the view on the left here. I can't believe I live here, but it has finally hit me that this is my new residency: a tropical island. I am all out of temporary living and driving arrangements and am in the process of finally unpacking all of my things in the new place. I think I could get used to this, after all there are worse places I could be living. ;)

Weekends On Island

Every weekend is like another vacation. Work ends Friday and doesn't start again until Monday, and all the time in between I'm on a tropical island. Friends come and go so quickly. Friday night I went out to dinner with some nice friends I just made because they left island today or are leaving island this week. It's kind of a bummer but it was a fun time. In town (Christiansted) there are some fun bars and good restaurants to go to. Tavern 1844 has quite possibly the best burgers I've ever had the pleasure of eating. I had a fried goat cheese and caramelized onion burger and it was absolutely amazing. That's definitely an awesome factor of this island... we may be in the middle of nowhere, but the food is fantastic. The night got pretty crazy. Just to sum it up... "It's all fun and games till a girl randomly mayweathers you in the mouth..." was the Facebook status of a pal I was out with that night on Saturday morning. Woke up Saturday and bummed around all day and went out to eat with Suzzy and Brandon. Grabbed a beer on the boardwalk then headed over to the sports bar for some cheap beer and nachos. $1 Coors Lights during the game? Why thank you. 20 wings for 10 bucks? Absolutely! Loving it. As a result of people leaving island, there is a ton of booze they need to go through left in their house. So we met at our friend Lane's house and everyone powered through the party. It was a really great time. People spitting fire, peppermint patty shots, college football, and wings.... perfect.

Sunday Funday was pretty typical. We all got up and went for brunch up in Cane Bay at a place called Eat. I had a couple of Cane Bay Coffees (not your average frozen coffee drink) and Banana Foster crepes. Bananas, nutella, and powdered sugar... it's all I needed. Off to the beach it was, but it started to look like the rain was coming in, so after about an hour we packed it in and headed back home to do some homework. After an awesome nap and a little group project work, it was time to meet up with some people one last time.

We had a bon fire on the beach. It was so awesome. Wooden pallets piled high, the fire burning, the waves crashing, and good friends enjoying some drinks and quality time.

But the weekends end, reality continues, and it's back to the old grind bright and early Monday morning. Next weekend will be here soon enough. (:

My Island Car

I bought a car today. Well not officially, I haven't given him the money for it, but I gave him the final offer. My coworker and new friend on island is resigning and moving off island back to the states. Coincidentally enough, to LA. So I bought his Jeep Grand Cherokee. It's going to be a good "island car". The island infrastructure is nothing like that in the states. The roads are old, narrow, pot-holey, bumpy, and sometimes not even paved. Having a 4x4 vehicle is going to make driving around here just a little bit easier. Having a big off the ground car is also going to be easier.

So now I'm all settled up. I have a place to live and a car to drive. I have one more week in my temp place and with my temp car, so it's perfect timing. I'm moving into Suzzy's apartment with her and Brandon. It's a great life. Dinners, drinks, and homework together. We're all taking a class so doing homework is pretty normal around here. It's easier to do homework when others are doing it as well.

I've been here for 3 weeks now. Still loving it.

Here I Am, My New Life

So if you've read my old blog Philly Girl In A LA World, then you know I no longer am living in Los Angeles. I packed up my bags, went home for a little while, and moved myself out to the US Virgin Islands. I am now living on the island of St. Croix, 27 miles across and 8 miles wide, in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. I am absolutely loving it. I am currently living in a condo by myself temporarily provided by my company driving in a Ford Focus also temporarily provided. Over the next two weeks I will be moving into a condo with my best friend Suzzy as a relatively permanent life set-up. I'm also car shopping, and I found a couple of Jeep Wranglers that I'm pretty interested in. I really want a SUV type car, because the roads here are rough, and I really want a jeep because I've always wanted one.

I work for the big bad oil company, but I really do love it. I am a hydroprocessing engineer, and it is really exciting. The learning curve is steep, but the environment is fast paced and non-stop. My coworkers are really cool too. They're easy to get along with and work with, and everyone seems really willing to help me get into the groove of things. Outside of work, everyone is a lot of fun. The people are so nice and welcoming, that I don't feel out of place.

All in all, I'm really going to like it here. Island life is real life now. I am here for a while now, and I am really excited to see what happens. We'll see what happens now.