Christmas in St. Thomas

Whelp, this might as well be a #TBT post because it has taken me a whole damn month to finally blog about it.  But cut me some slack, I mean I did go on another vacation 2 weeks later. 

I've mentioned before that I love the holidays especially the traditions.  If you're new feel free to catch up here.  Though it was hard to be away from home and my family it was a Christmas I will never forget.  I cannot thank Phil's family enough for everything they did for us.  

Phil and I flew down to St. Thomas on the 19th and his parents and sister were at the airport waiting for us.  Obviously, our first stop was to hit up a local bar for beers and burgers.  Actually, I think I had some sort of grapefruit and vodka drink but beers and burgers just sounded better.  

The young folks decided to stay out and celebrate since we were in flipping St. Thomas and everyone back home was freezing and bundled up. Mary, Phil's sister took us to Duffy's Love Shack and just straight up broke it down.  We of course just had to get the touristy cups and I don't even want to know how much those things cost us.  I chose the Whale and Phil chose the Parrot. And because we are such pup parents we thought that they looked like our dogs.  Mouse is Parrot because of those eyes and Dragon is Whale because she likes to open her mouth and smile.  I'm sure this is where you are shaking your head.  Go ahead.  I am too.  

 

There's no better way to start day two of your vacation than with a Bloody Mary.  I don't even like Bloody Mary's but the bf's Mom makes the best ones.  She puts pickle juice in them and I swear it makes all the difference. I had a few of those and went snorkeling.   Not sure who decided that those two things go together but I went with it.   I've actually never gone snorkeling, other than in a pool and the only thing I saw there was scum on the bottom of the pool.  So this was way cooler.  

After a few more Grapefruit Vodka and Tonic drinks we  headed out to Joust, which is part of the British Virgin Islands.  I got my passport stamped and everything.  Joust is known for the The Soggy Dollar Bar, home to the Original Painkiller, aka the best Caribbean rum drink ever.  I had one or two or three of those before the Photo Shoot happened. I think I one point I might of even had two drinks in my hand at one time.  We grilled out on the boat and I'm pretty sure I passed out soon after. 

Jane (Philip's Mom) and I went over to Megan's Bay to pick up Mary (Phil's Sister) and we went into town to do some shopping. Before we stopped at Mary's the rental car was having some issues so we went to get it looked at.  They said it was not safe to drive so we got a different one.  Oh great.  I mention this because this was not the only time we switched cars. Anyways, her view from her apartment is unbelievable.   I can't even imagine waking up every morning and having a cup of coffee to this.

The bf's family really close friends arrived to join us for Christmas.  This was my first time meeting them and just fell in love with the family.  To celebrate everyone being together we went out to eat.  The place was really up high on the island and was partially exposed to the outside.  It was basically one big deck.  They had a serve yourself bar.  I've never heard of such a thing but you can bet I made my drinks stroannggggg.

The kids were hyped up on sugar and thought they were zombies.  It was cute, so of course I took a picture of it.

Explored the beach.  Found a coconut but it ended up being rotten. I was sad because I really wanted to try a fresh coconut from the beach. I know #firstworldproblems

Phil and I ended up going into Red Hook (closet town) because we needed to do some Christmas shopping.  We went to a few places but a majority of them were closed because it was Sunday.  Luckily, we found this outdoor restaurant and bar, Fishtails, was open.  The best part was that they had bottomless pit mimosas.  Jackpot. We stayed there for a few hours. Ate and drank even more. I mean this is what vacation is about right?  We came home with zero gifts.  Fail.

The ladies made hooo-made veggie roll-ups.  I have consumed 8 of these in one sitting before.  That's how much I like these.  So I was of course really excited to eat these for dinner.  After dinner, we went to Jack Pots to get some ice cream.  I have to stay the store was strange.  It had 8 flavors of hard ice cream, coffee, and slot machines.  I'm serious.  It was strange.  

Afterwards the bf and I decided to stay out and have a few drinks.  It is vacation after all.  Nobody wanted to join us so the two of us ventured off by ourselves.  It was nice to spend some time with just the two us. We met a few different people at the bar and by the 3rd of 4th vodka drink it was time for me to go.  It was a nice evening though out and I always love getting to chat with new people and just hearing about there stories. 

I woke up feeling a tad bit on the hungover side.  I had promised lil T (the boy zombie) that I would go for a run with him and search for coconuts.  This was before the 4 vodka drinks I had of course.  He dragged me out of bed and totally made me feel guilty.  I'm pretty sure the adults were telling him things to say to try to get me to feel bad.  Guess what, it worked.  Thankfully, I didn't hack up anything on the run.  It was a success in my book.  But we didn't find any coconuts.  That was a bummer for the both of us. 

The rest of the day Phil and I spent with Jane.  We went to all the touristy shops because this time we actually needed to buy some gifts.  Then we walked around Yacht Haven Marina where all the huge mo'fo mega yachts are.  It's just insane how big some of those ships boats are.  We stopped for a drink at the Fat Turtle.  It over looked the marina.  I took 2 sips of my beer and then realized that it just wasn't going to happen. Girl, can't hang.  We did successfully find gifts for everyone.  Phew.

Christmas Eve.  I'm still not used to all the decorations and the palms tree.  Just something about it seems off.  But I'm 100 percent okay with it.  I'll keep it short here and let the pictures do the talking.

A Caribbean Christmas eve is not complete without leaving Santa letters, cookies, ginger snaps, olives, and vodka.  The kids totally came up with this.  I swear it wasn't me. :)

Merry Christmas!  Woke up, had some Turkish coffee, which if you never had, its like bomb.com but make sure not to drink the last sip, its just pure coffee grounds, opened presents and headed off to the beach. 

One of my favorite parts of vacation was laying on the beach and seeing everyone in bathing suits and santa hats. Of course I didn't manage to get any pictures of it.  Buy the way, I bought a hat.  Another item to cross off my list.  It's not my favorite but it's a huge step for me to even buy one in the first place. We did the norms on the beach of building sandcastles, swimming, tanning, reading and writing our names in the sand.  Cheese fest.  :)

When we went back to the boat everyone decided that we wanted to take the boat out since it was finally calm. It had been pretty wavy the previous days.  We went over to St. John and found Mary and her bf.  They both charter the boat Take it Easy, previously owned by Kenny Chesney and had to work so they weren't able to come with us.  We found another spot to snorkel. 

I sat out on the bow of the bout with Jane, we chatted away and watched the sun go down. Parker (the dog) even came to enjoy it too. For the rest of the night we played the board game Ticket To Ride.  It's seriously one of my favorite games of all time.  I discovered it two years ago when I was and Outdoor Educator. I won.  That's expected though, because I mean it is my favorite game.  A game isn't fun unless you win.  

This had to have been one of my favorite times.  We ended up sleeping out in the middle of the ocean.  No joke, I had the best sleep of my entire life.  I woke up so rested.  That rarely happens especially with my thyroid condition.  There is literally something about the boat rocking you to sleep.  It was peaceful.    

This was our last full day on the island.  We woke up, played two more rounds of Ticket to Ride, which I lost because everyone figured out my strategy.  I hate this game now.  I'm a sore loser.  I don't really hate it, just joshin around.  We spent the rest of the day taking the dingy out to this lil private beach. We were the only ones there.  Yup.  Phil and I made chairs out of noodles in the water and  floated for hours, drinking beers and talking about the future.  It was perfect.  It was a moment I never want to forget.  

It also happened to be Jane and Greg's 32nd Anniversary.  I caught them smooching.  It was cute.  Later in the afternoon we headed back to the marina to get ready for dinner.  Not going to lie I was a lil love drunk and drunk off cider beer.  Dinner was at this place called, Room with a View. Solid, Italian Restaurant.  Actually, it was really flipping good.  I ate my weight in food, I think.  I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to do that. 

Our last day in paradise.  I soaked every last moment cheese smiling.  Who's the super tourist?  Oh hey, it's just me.  Before our flight we had lunch at Duffy's Love shack.  As you can see I got laid. Also, the menus were on bamboo sticks and it was a must to get a picture of them. 

It was at this moment that I am pretty sure I had some tears rolling down my eyes.  It was such an amazing trip and I always enjoy spending time with Phil's family.  Honestly, I cant thank them enough for everything.   How do you thank someone for an unforgettable trip?  

The worst part about vacations is how fast they go by.  I swear you blink and all of a sudden you are on a plane home.  The only good thing was we were going to spend the night in Cincinnati and spend the morning in Ikea. Our Christmas gift's to one another was to get things for the home.  Yea I feel old.  But walking into Ikea is equivalent to a kid having a bouncy house on their birthday. 

If you are still reading this, bless you.  I know it was a lot and heck i'm exhausted after writing this post. I just didn't want to leave out any parts.  I'll be glad I did this so one day I can look back on it.   And now i'm even more depressed because it's in the negative temps and I just wanna go back.  

Going Unplugged

I’ve often been told that I am an old soul.  I am not even sure what that entirely means.  Is it a good or bad thing?  Does it mean that my soul is hundreds of years old?  Anyways, I think I am just old fashioned.  I like to have dinners at the table completely unplugged.  No tv, no cell phone, no iPad, no computer.  Just simply, being.  I don’t even mind if it’s silent and no one is talking.  I just like having some part of my day without all the distractions.  Just enjoying time with the bf.   

The man though doesn’t get where I am coming from with this.  He is 100% attached to his phone and iPad.  He’s always checking e-mails for work and I get it, the dude runs three businesses and  of course he needs to be on top of everything.  And I am not saying that I don’t enjoy electronics because I totally do but I also don’t want it to run my life and my relationship.  There needs to be line drawn. 

The first few months after I moved in we would sit at our lil table in the kitchen at least a couple times a week.  Now, I can’t remember the last time we weren’t sitting on the couch in front of the TV.  Granted Dragon, our pup kind of took over that section of the kitchen because of her large kennel and our lack of space for it.  We had to move the table and it is not in a very convenient location.  I don’t like it one bit. 

While we were on the cruise it was great because we weren't able to use phone or internet, unless we wanted to shell out some cash money, which I did not.  It was so nice not to have my phone attached to my hip.  We weren't worried about what celeb was getting arrested or what someone was eating that they just had to post on Instagram.  Guilty as charged of this.  We were living in the moment and sometimes I forget to do that. 

So the other night I was thinking about it and suggested to the bf what if we have an unplugged bed time.  I mean who doesn’t love pillow talk?  For now, this could be our time to talk about the day, our dreams, goof off and just be together without distractions.  I think it’s healthy for relationships.  

The hard part in this whole thing is getting Philly on board.  I don’t want to say that he doesn’t respect the idea because he does but I don’t think he takes the idea seriously either.  Maybe it’s the old soul in me that just can’t keep up with the times.  But then again it could just be my need to feel close and to stay connected in my relationship. 

Do you have an unplugged time in your relationship?  How has it helped yours if you do?  I need some convincing points to win the bf’s heart on going uplugged.  

I guess I kind of went deep for a friday morning but I just couldn't resist.  

HAPPY FRIDAY!

What I Am Currently Loving

Whelp I am back from another week in the Caribbean and I’ll be honest, I am not happy about it.  I am happy to be back in the blog land though because I missed everyone.  A week without a phone and social media has got my lil butt way behind on what is going on in everyone’s lives.  And if you know anything about me I’m in bed before 8:30.  I’m pretty sure on Monday night I crawled into bed around 7:15pm from pure exhaustion.  I plan to catch up this weekend so if you see me leaving a million comments just don’t be creeped out. 

On top of everything I’m having those winter blues.  I’m way over winter and it’s not even the end of January.  This is not good my friends.  Fort Wayne, which is where my office is located, is on the Top Ten List of Coldest Cities in America.  I’m not okay with this.  To think 4 days ago I was in a bikini turning into an over-cooked tomato. 

Side Note:  Back in college, tanning was the best thing ever and actually looked good.  Now it’s all splotchy, tight, gross and I feel like a snake shedding its skin.  Nobody told me that once you hit 24 everything goes downhill.   As much as I love being kissed by the sun I think in the future more sunscreen is necessary.  Can’t believe I just wrote those words. 

So naturally I haven’t recapped about the cruise or even recap on my Christmas vacation.  I am not off to a good start this year.  I’ll get there.

But I have been wasting my time on Pinterest.  As much as I have been on that thing these past couple of days I could of had like 10 posts by now.   Priorities, Meghan!   I go through Pinterest phases.  Right now I’m on a Pinterest high.  My name is Meghan and I am addicted to Pinterest.  It has been 2 hours since my last pin.  

I can't seem to stop pinning craft ideas.  I've been begging the bf to bring me home a wood pallet from his office but I think I will be making that my weekend project to paint it.  I love the idea of using that in my entry way.  That peach head band would have been so flippin useful while on the cruise for those flyways.  Anyways hopefully I will have some craft or DIY project to share with you next Monday! Craft Board

I love dogs period.  Recently though I've become obsessed with Pitbull puppies.  I admit, I used to be afraid of them because society gives them such a bad name.  The problem with these dogs is that they often get interbred.  Mom getting action with the grandpa.  It's just not right.  Of course the animal is going to be straight up fucked up.  Or they can be selectively breed to be fighting dogs and have aggressive traits. I love Pitbulls because they are loyal, frigging hilarious (I swear I laugh at my Dragon 24-7), they are beaming with personality,  love love people (my dog will lick anyone all day if she could), the best snuggle buddies, super playful, require minimal grooming, and I mean I could go on and on. One of my goals for this year is to get involved more with Pitbulls, and spreading positive awareness.  I guess I am doing that in this post. Wahoo, good job Meghan. I don't think the boyfriend will let us get another puppy at the moment but in the future I will for sure be getting another Pitbull.   Puppy Board 

Lastly I just can't get enough of looking at things to do with the house.  We are slowly and surly making some progress but we have got a long way my friends.  I don't know if you can tell but I am currently obsessed and loving all things gray. I do like adding in punches of color but all in all gray is my go to.   All About the Home Board
If you love pinning as much as I do go ahead and follow me, or don't.  But I promise I will keep your home feed busy.  

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Cheers to a New Year

At 10am I started my NYE day with a solo cup of wine while doing the dishes.  Do you know how much wine actually fits in a solo cup?  It’s a lot.  I later would regret this decision.  A group of friends and I were going to a Purdue vs. Ohio State game, which is about an hour and a half away so I wanted to pregame before the game.  Had I known we were going to be in the nose bleed section I probably would have passed on the whole thing all together but oh well.  It still ended up being a fun time even though Purdue lost.  I have become a Purdue fan because the bf went to school there and it just makes me feel more like a Hoosier. 

It wasn’t until the ride home that the wine had started to hit my brain with a giant pounding.  I was not pleased.  My mistake in all this was not continuing drinking but because hours had passed and the headache had already formed it was too late.  So I spend the remaining of the ride fast asleep in the backseat. 

Philly couldn’t make it to the game because he had to work.  So when I got home he was ready to start the NYE.  All I could think was why are the lights on and shhhhhh.  I crawled into bed with an ice pack on my head and went back to sleep.  Headaches ruin lives!  The bf went off to the party while I slept away my headache. 

I woke up about an hour later, got dressed, put on some makeup and felt like a million bucks.  The bf came back to get me and we headed over to a friend’s house, which is right down the street.  It was a perfect NYE with friends.  We played some board games, Ticket To Ride to be exact which is my all time fav, ate a lot, drank Champaign, and danced the night away.  Really it couldn’t have been better.  No it wasn’t some crazy Chicago or Times Square NYE but I’m not about that sort of thing these days.  I enjoy the simple things and laughing with friends at home.

 

The best part was kissing my man at midnight!  Go ahead and barf.  But it just all seams symbolic and I wouldn’t have wanted to spend the first minute of 2014 any other way.  I have a feeling that this year is going to bring many great things and lots of changes.  Cheers to everyone and lets all have a kickass 2014!