2009 Island Girl Blog
Bunny Whaler in St. Thomas for New Year's Eve!
We have no shortage of holiday parties and this new year eve won't be the exception. The big bash that is planned for the island is at Yacht Haven Grande where the legenary Bunny Wailer will be performing on stage at 9pm for most of the island (seems like everyone is going to the big party!). » read more
Island Christmas wasn't white..
We wished for a white Christmas or at least a little cooler weather which we did get after all. We enjoyed the holiday Christmas winds and a temperature of about 75 which was a nice change of pace for us islanders. » read more
Happy Holidays in lights
As we approach the last day of the weekend for holiday shopping, I am amazed at how this year flew by but hey, I say that every year I guess. I also get a kick out of tourist and friends asking me if we celebrate Christmas (as well as other holidays) like we did in the states. » read more
Mahogany Run Golf Course
It was a lovely week to golf at our course here in Saint Thomas called Mahogany Run. I happened to be out there for a lunch birthday party and took some time to enjoy the view of the course and the golfers who were enjoying some relaxing time and sunshine. » read more
Larry Ellison's Yacht, The Rising Sun
You know it's the holidays when the big huge yachts start to make their way past our house to Yacht Haven Grande marina. This week we saw Eric Clapton's Yacht, the Blue Guitar getting provisions at the dock in town and yesterday both his yacht AND Larry Ellison's Yacht, the Rising Sun, sailed by our house on their way to Yacht Haven to hang out for the holidays. » read more
California wine country
Wine, wine and more wine was the theme this last week when we made our annual "let's get away in between the holidays" trip to Northern California. It was a perfect time to go to enjoy the chilly weather that California was having (a nice 40 degrees and cloudy) for those of us that get to enjoy the hotness of the season even thru Christmas living here on the island. » read more
A day in St. John
I love making deliveries on our boat to Saint John. The deliveries to Saint Thomas are easy because I live here and can get around the 13 mile island by car fairly fast but I either have to take the car ferry, people ferry or my own boat to deliver to Saint John. » read more
Shelling at the beach this weekend
When it's the weekend, it means time to spend outdoors at the beach or on the boat. This weekend we hit Hull Bay beach on the North side of the island to relax and yes, I had to look for sea glass and shells too. » read more
What is your inspiration?
There are things of beauty all over when we just take the time to look around our surroundings and see it. It doesn't matter if you live in the city or countryside or even on an island, there are things that are beautiful anywhere. » read more
The ships are here!
With no less than 14 major cruise ships in this week, St. Thomas is once again coming into "the season" of our downtown, beaches and charter boats full of tourists. » read more
Bling out your pets
Living on the island of St. Thomas is kind of like living on a farm because we have iguana that live in our cactus tree in the front yard, about 100 bananquit birds that I feed sugar water and give bath water to each day, a stray bush cat that adopted our house and wouldn't leave so now he is our cat and two big dogs that live with us as well. » read more
Custom Logos for clients
One of the favorite aspects of my job is talking to new clients either via the web or phone through orders they have placed on the site. I love to hear from them about why they chose a specific piece, what the special occasion is and just who they are buying it for. » read more
The Pros & Cons of Beach Weddings
Beach weddings are popular but they do present "special issues". Failing to consider these ahead of time could leave you unpleasantly surprised on your wedding day! There is certainly nothing that should dissuade you from your vision of a beautiful seaside ceremony. » read more
Blue Sea Glass
I have many jars and bowls filled with found sea glass as I love to collect, find and talk about the pieces I have plus where I found them. I have 6 pieces of blue sea glass in various shade that adorn my kitchen window so I can see them everyday and I know just where each piece was found too. » read more
Sea Glass Festival this weekend
Yes, I know it's only suppose to be 42 degrees today in Erie, PA but who the heck cares when the 4th annual North American Sea Glass festival in already underway this weekend at the Bayfront Convention Center! There will be 2 days of shopping, looking, gawking and talking about nothing but sea glass. Oh, I wish I was there, walking thru the vendors sporting a pair of jeans, a sweater and boots looking at it all (since it's about 90 degrees in St. » read more
Shelling in Sanibel, Florida
Where can you see beautiful shells covering most of the sand across a 13 mile shoreline? Probably more shells than you have ever seen in your lifetime in just one place? It's Sanibel Island in Florida, that's where! Sanibel Island is known around the world for it's fabulous beaches and shells and now I personally know just why. There are about 275 kinds of shells found in the shallow waters of Sanibel and Captiva Islands. » read more
Destination Weddings
I can't believe I am already taking orders for the 2010 destination wedding season already but if you think about it, there are only 14 more weekend (when most folks like to get married in the states) left in the year 2009 so 2010 is really almost here. The destination wedding season in Saint Thomas is really year round and most brides and grooms that come here to get married also stay for the remainer of the week to have their honeymoon and the families also make it into a vacation along with the wedding. » read more
Hook, Line and Sinker
One of our favorite resturants on the island is this little boaty place called Hook, Line and Sinker in Frenchtown in Saint Thomas. It's a very casual place with a great view of the harbor, boats and the sea planes landing and taking off. » read more
Amalago Bay Resort/St. Croix
Even though we live on Saint Thomas, there are really 3 Virgin Islands that we like to visit and feel like they are part of our "big island" home. We mostly boat over to Saint John each week but Saint Croix is also a fabulous place to visit (via Sea Plane for us) for the day or even staying over at the Buccaneer Hotel. » read more
Video Shoot at Wyndham
I got a call from the Wyndam Spa manager last night, prior to my appointment at the spa today, asking me if I minded being filmed for an Internation Rotary DVD that was being made at the property. They were going to be filming the gym and spa shop but also the main hair salon too. » read more
Virgin Island T-shirts
Oh I just love when new Virgin Islands (non tourist) things come to the island. A company out of Jamaica called RepJa (put on yah accent is their tagline-Love it!) is now introducting a new t-shirt and a hat line at Urban Threadz here in Saint Thomas and Saint Croix too. » read more
Kenny Chesney in the islands 9/28/09
Living here in Saint Thomas almost 5 years now, it's amazing that I have not met Kenny Chesney yet. He owns 4 homes in Saint John AND is always over in Saint Thomas because he keeps his boat at American Yacht Harbor ("Soul Shine" is the name of his boat (A big Sea Ray)). » read more
Early morning photo shoot 9/26/09
It's time to start replacing some of my product pics on my website with more colorful scenery shots using the products. I LOVE to take pictures of scenery and hey, I live in a great place for that so this morning Dennis and I headed over to Bluebeard's Beach Club by our house and used the picture perfect backdrop of the resort and ocean to take some shots. » read more
Beacon's Celebrity Golf Tourney 9/25/09
We get share of Celebrity folks that love to come to the Virgin Islands for vacation and hey, why not, it's beautiful here!. Last year Barak Obama was here and my massage therapist even massaged him at the Ritz Carlton! She said he was the 5th most relaxed person she had ever massaged which is good to hear. » read more
Lattes in Paradise 9/23/09
I heard from my stateside friends that Starbucks was already serving up those yummy pumpkin lattes they do each fall. Oh sometimes I really miss those coffee drinks, but we have a little coffee cart place here in American Yacht Harbor that serves up a good one. » read more
We have fruit! 9/20/09
Remember my little papaya tree that we rescued from the side of the road months back? Well, it's growing up so big and tall these days with all the rain we have been having and then days of sun. When I went home to California, my mom got out the almanac because I was curious why it hadn't grown any papayas yet. » read more
Bumpa's for breakfast 9/18/09
Since the boat has one more day of mechanical work till we take it out we had our morning free to walk at Megan's Bay this morning. We like to get there before 6am so by the time we are done the sun is just coming up and we aren't walking directly into it. » read more
Packing heat today 9/15/09
After hearing my chiropractors story of how the DPNR and the Coast Guard boarded his sailboat about 2 years ago (on a training exercise) looking for anything illegal or anything expired (license, flairs, fire extinguisher), I decided to check out our stock on the boat today. Since the boat is out of the water and being worked on by our mechanic, I boarded her early this morning on the dry rack and had to crawl under the cover and get inside to the cabin and search away. » read more
A trip to STJ on the car ferry 9/13/09
Well, with the boat out of commission with some other issue now, we opted to take the car ferry over to Saint John to make a delivery and to hang out at the beach. I actually like having the car filled with our beach towels, ice chest with yummy snacks and chairs so we don't have to take a taxi to the beach. » read more
Caffeine from Barefoot Buddha 9/12/09
There is nothing better than visiting our favorite coffee house (to get our mojo on) for the weekend. We just love going to Barefoot Buddha, this funky, eclectic coffee joint across from the cruise ship dock across from Havensite mall that opened a few years ago now. » read more
Sushi, Sushi, Sushi 9/10/09
We have no shortage of sushi places on Saint Thomas even though our island is only 13 miles long. (we have 4 of them). » read more
Happy 09-09-09 day! 9/9/09
Boy, that is a ton of 9's for today huh? Someone today had a 9.9 pound baby at 9:09am on 09/09/09. » read more
Happy Labor Day 9/7/09
Labor Day is an annual holiday celebrated all over the world that resulted from the Labour Union movement to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers. We celebrate is on the 1st Monday of September here. » read more
It's a gray day but no rain! 9/6/09
We haven't had ships in to port for 4 days which is a good thing considering this freaky rain we have been having for the last 3 days. Finally the marinas are open and the spider lines and anchors are down so boats can go out today. » read more
Rain, Rain go away 9/5/09
We headed out for our walk around the neighborhood this morning with dark skies so we (thank goodness) took our big umbrellas just in case. it was a good thing because on the way back we got caught in a heavy downpour and had black skies all around us. » read more
Getting ready for Erika to pass us with rain 9/2/09
Well, it's that time of year again when at 10 till the hour, we watch the weather channel for storm updates. As I type, Mexico is going threw their own issues with a hurrican that is fastly approaching them and now we have a tropical depression that seems to be wanting to make it's way over us (named Erika). » read more
It's baby time again 8/31/09
I seems like it is always baby time here on the island. We have been seeing baby hummingbirds and baby banaquits but just recently, we have seen a baby "pearl eyed" thrasher hanging around the bird feeders and water source. » read more
Favorite new clothing 8/29/09
I got this shirt in Virgin Gorda at the Bitter End Yacht Club last month while visiting Biras Creek Resort and I just love it. I own way too many girly shirts but usually after about a month, I spill something on it. » read more
Fungi's on the beach 8/28/09
You would think that we would have tried each and every possible restaurant here on our 13 mile island but we have a few that are still on the list (after almost 5 years) to eat at. Yesterday we searched our brains to think of a place that we hadn't eaten at yet to try out, good or bad. » read more
Where do you want to go? 8/27/09
A short while after we moved to the island, we thought it would be fun to make a directional sign at our house including the places we had gone (or wanted to go) with the miles on how far away it was from our Caribbean home. My parents happened to be visiting from California and my dad made the arrows for me to paint (using the matching gracious green house paint that our house trim is painted with). » read more
It's that time of year again 8/26/09
It always shocked me at how early the stores here get out school supplies to sell for the upcoming school year. The kids just seem to get out of school and are enjoying their summer at the beach and are quickly reminded that school will be starting in September. » read more
Boat is coming out of the water 8/23/09
There are only like 5 places to store your boat on the island of Saint Thomas (real marinas and boat yards), 2 that are dry storage (meaning they have your boat in on a big rack out of the water until you want to use it) or a few marinas that have slips for your boat to sit in the water. Of course there are different things about all the places; how close they are to your home, cost, proximity to getting gas, how good it is for you boat to sit in the water vs. » read more
Surprise! 8/20/09
So my trip home to throw my dad a surprise 76th birthday party went off without a flaw and he was so surprised which was the best party about the party. I had help from my mom, best gal friend Tracy from sacramento and my cousin (on my dad's side), Donna. » read more
ABC storms 8/19/09
I am now used to watching the weather channel at 10 minutes before the hour during the storm season to get an update if anything is forming off the African coast. This week, we had 3 to watch: Ana, Claudette and Bill (who is still churning along). » read more
Feeling crabby 8/11/09
The great thing about the islands it's wildlife, creatures and insects (oh and the weather and water color too aren't too shabby). I am use to seeing iguanas by now and lizards everywhere but when I saw a hermit crab in the middle of our apartment living-room, I must admit, I was a bit taken back. » read more
Sick doggie 8/10/09
I feel like a mom of children who have to stay home with their kids to help them when they are sick, only with a dog. Our dog buddy, apparently ate something that he wasn't suppose to in the dog run (could be cat or iquana poop-gross!) and was sick all weekend long. » read more
A day on Cinnamon Bay 8/8/09
We took our friends in from NJ to Cinnamon Bay, via the people ferry (since our boat is being worked on now). it was a nice HOT day to visit the beach and we stopped at the Deli Grotto first to pick up sandwiches and drinks, loaded up the cooler we brought, and took a taxi to the beach. » read more
Biras Creek in Virgin Gorda 8/6/09
The cool thing about living in the islands is that other cool islands are so close to visit. Dennis and I hopped over to Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands for a long 4 day weekend. » read more
VI Eco Tour with the family 7/28/09
Having your family in from the states is a good thing, of course, for visiting and catching up, but also because you tend to do all the tourist things that you wouldn't do otherwise, just being here by yourself. This year on their visit we decided that the VI Eco tour, which goes kayaking through miles of mangroves, has a snorkel tour and hike tour too, was the thing to do. » read more
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