A Cardinals Fan in Cub Territory

This isn't the first time I've lived in Cubs territory- I spent 8 years in Chicago for goodness sake- but this is the first time (minus one tipsy purchase of a floppy Cubs hat) I'm conflicted about who to root for. Yesterday at the game I found myself unintentionally cheering for the dirty Cubs. Yep, you heard me right. Please just hear me out.

* For starters they aren't really the Cubs, they are the Iowa Cubs- referred to here as simply 'I-Cubs'. Yes, I understand they are part of the overall (evil) organization. Yes, I understand that I-Cubs generally become Cubs. But they are KIDS! I mean it- I referred to half the team as pint-sized. The other half was full sized boys or just full grown. You wouldn't root against kids, would you?

* Minor League stadiums are very intimate which means your voice carries loud and clear. If you're rooting for the other team it is BEYOND obvious. Trust me. It's not like big parks where just the people around you know you're rooting against the beloved home team, here everyone knows. And stares. With evil stares. Now, I'll have no problem rooting for the Memphis Cardinals when they are here. I'm also guessing there will be more people on our side for those games vs. yesterday when it was the Texas Ranger's AAA team. However, yesterday I found myself getting into it with the crowd. I actually had to turn to Tim a couple times and say I forget who I'm supposed to be cheering for...

* It's cheap. I mean cheaper than cheap. Not just tickets- EVERYTHING! And because of that we now have A LOT of tickets. Originally we had bought a Groupon of 10 tickets for $25- that's $2.50/ticket! We were able to upgrade our GA tickets to first row for $5 more. That made our tickets $7.50 - the SAME price as our 24 oz beer we bought! Which leads me to how we got our next group of 10 tickets...For $35 you can join the I-Cubs Beer Mug Club. Yep, I said Beer Mug Club. That buys you 5 tickets and a reusable 18 oz mug. The mug gets filled for $4 and, on Thursdays, your first beer is FREE! Don't even get me started on the cost of suites or the party deck...

* They serve beer until the end of the 9th inning. No joke. We heard last call when there were 2 outs in the 9th. I don't need to further elaborate on this.

* Seeing the kids get so excited to do all things Minor League parks offer is heartwarming- the games between innings, the t-shirts and hotdogs they shoot out of cannons (yes, I said hot dogs), the foul balls (there is actually a voiceover that says 'Give it to a kid' when an adult catches it) and getting balls from the guys in the bullpen. They all look so cute in their I-Cubs gear and it's the innocence that makes me feel bad if I root against them. Not to mention these kids will have a rude awakening if they ever get to go to Wrigley. Why kick 'em while they're down when they don't even know they are?!

* Tony LaRussa was an I-Cub! Yep, had to see it with my own eyes! I had no idea TLR was one not just once, but twice!

Maybe he'll come back to his old stomping grounds now that he's retired!

So that's my argument. What do you think? What if I solemnly swear to never purchase any I-Cubs gear? No matter how many times my mug is refilled..

Make New Friends but Keep the Old!

(If you were, at any point in time, a Girl Scout I bet you just sang 'One is silver and the other's gold' either outloud or to yourself. I know I did! Let's do it in rounds girls!!!)

Okay, now that we're past that... have you ever thought about HOW you make friends? I hadn't, it's always come pretty naturally to me. I think I'm pretty laid back and get along with most people so making friends has never been an issue. Let's look at major life changes in the Timeline of Mary where making new friends was necessary:

Kindergarten (1985): Making friends at this age is pretty natural. You borrow a red crayon or share your cookies and voila.

Move (1990): This one was a bit tougher. Luckily it was only 5th grade and that's generally before girls get catty. At least it was back then. I have a feeling, with the way the world is now, that might start in Kindergarten these days... You hang out on the playground, maybe play some foursquare (the game with the red ball, not the Ap) and make friends in your subdivision by riding bikes and playing freeze tag.

High School (1993): Living in St. Louis and going to Catholic grade school it was a natural choice for me to go to a all girls Catholic high school. In fact, I never thought twice about NOT going to one. So unlike my friends in public junior highs who would travel on to high school with the same group of friends, there were only two of us from my grade school that went to Nerinx. I remember meeting several girls at uniform fitting and when we had to buy our books- actually, that may have been the same day- but until those first days of school it's few and far between. Still, it's school and you find out who has the same interests as you through many channels- your classes, sports, extracurricular activities, mixers, etc.

College (1997): Who doesn't make friends in college? There's thousands of teenagers living on their own with newfound freedom! Making friends is natural- be it in the dorms, during rush, in class or at bars- there's a common ground that everyone is standing on.

Move to Chicago/First Job (2001): I moved with my best friend who I met in high school and lived with 3 of our 4 years at Mizzou plus another one of our friends. We knew a handful of people in Chicago including some family. This was an adventure! My first job was with Hyatt and I made some of my closest friends to date there. 3 of them were bridesmaids in my wedding! One came to visit me on St. Thomas THREE times all the way from San Diego. I'm Facebook friends with, I think, nearly all the people that were in the Sales Office during my two years there. I talk to quite a few of them on a regular basis. And the ones I don't talk to quite as often? I can pick up the phone or run into them and we fall right back into conversation like we just talked two weeks ago. Those friends made in the office also because the core group of friends I hung out with after work, on weekends, etc.

Move to St. Thomas (2009): We were lucky enough to have our friend Billy C. give us the names of his good friends before we moved and they quickly turned into some of our best friends. I honestly don't know what we would have done without Kate or Potter when we got there! Both of them took us under their wings and showed us the ropes which included me getting a job and making a circle of girlfriends that are second to none. I thank my lucky stars that we had the opportunity to experience what we did on the rock and I'll never forget the friendships I made there.

What do every one of those situations have in common? I was in a situation where meeting people was not only easy, it was unavoidable. It's not so much about making friends but having the opportunity to meet them. That brings us to where we are now- having just moved to Iowa. So what's the difference you ask? We're not in a situation where we are thrown in naturally to seeing people on a daily basis. For starters, neither Tim nor I go into an office on a daily basis. Tim has a great team (with great families) but it's always different when you spend 8 hours a day in an office with someone. We know about 3 people here and it's been challenging trying to get together with them- schedules, time, etc. just haven't meshed. Plus, you never want to feel like you're intruding on people's lives. Ironically, one of these people is a girl I worked with back at Hyatt in Chicago! Second, I have a lot of travel coming up with my freelancing. I'm gone end of April/early May, late May through mid-June and end of July/early August. Boo.

So this means we have to make a concerted effort to meet people so we can make friends! How? Well, this is what I've come up with so far:

The Gym: Everyone said joining a gym will help make friends and I get it. It's camaraderie, especially in classes. However, so far, I've found that while people are friendly at the gym and talk before/after classes this doesn't necessarily translate into hanging out outside the gym.

Young Professionals Connection: We joined this group last week and went to the New Member gathering the same day. Seems promising- people around our age who are professionals and active in the community. They have a ton of events planned and plenty of opportunities to get involved. It is whatever you want to make it. I'm looking forward to this one!

Meetup Groups: This one is new to me. I had never heard of Meet Ups before and I can't quite remember how I found them but they are basically groups of people that share common interests. There's one for singles, one for knitters, several for moms. There's one for JUST about everything it seems. The one that intrigued me was the Couples Meeting Couples. We've met several couples here that seem like a blast to hang out with- we have yet to meet one without kids. It is quite obvious that, here in Iowa, we are WAY behind in this area. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we don't want to hang out with our friends with kids but I can't just call them up on a whim and expect them to be able to hang out that night. So as long as this Couples Meeting Couples doesn't have a freaky deaky side to it we will be checking them out soon.

Sports: It sounds like the YPC will coincide with this one. Unfortunately we got here too late for the indoor wiffleball season but YPC does soccer, volleyball, dodgeball, softball- just about anything you'd want to play! I'm looking forward to it!

Church: I know this one will take a good lot of you by surprise but it's true. It's certainly not a matter of whether or not you are a practicing Christian here but what kind. It's happened quite a bit and I'm okay with it. People ask if you're Catholic and tell you that you need to go to St. Francis. I'm anxious to check it out!

Bike Clubs: Biking is HUGE in Iowa. Trails (really nice paved trails) connect soooo much. Tim's boss is part of a group that bikes to a bar every Wednesday. They also bike to a Farmer's Market every weekend. You can bike from our new house all the way downtown without setting foot (wheel?) in traffic- awesome! My bike will be here Wednesday and we just have to purchase a new one for Tim. We kind of forgot it was stolen out of our garage in Chicago before we moved...

All in all we have a lot of options and I'm excited to explore Des Moines (did I mention there are 15 wineries with an hour!?!?) and all it has to offer. Of course, I'm always up for suggestions! And visitors from my 'old' friends :)

What a Workout!

I'm not talking about the gym but rather the workout our credit card got this weekend when we went shopping for a few things. By few I mean 3 rooms worth. Oops. (Sidenote: I did join Aspen Athletic Club here in West Des Moines and couldn't be happier. Yea for BodyPump, Zumba and More!!!) House shopping is slowly (wait, who am I kidding?) quickly becoming my favorite way to spend free time! There's nothing like picking out an appliance that is new and has all these features and buttons to play with! Or living room furniture and imagining the pillows, wall art and miscellaneous items that will pull the room together. Couple those things with the fact we have both a Homemaker's and a Nebraska Furniture Mart (the MECCA for home shopping) and I'm in heaven. Here are the results of our shopping extravaganza!!

FAMILY ROOM

We actually thought we had this stuff all picked out and were just stopping by Homemakers to look at it again before buying it. Turns out we, and by we I mean Tim, found something weliked more. The cool thing about the couch is that chaise lounge is reversible so we can put it on the left or the right. That pretty much sold Tim and he was so excited about it I couldn't say no. So this collection was purchased.


Luckily the stitching matches the ottomans on the coffee table we already purchased!

It got delivered today but the guys at our mailbox (Going Postal in West Glen) are SUPER nice and are storing that box along with our TV that was ordered off eBay and delivered in 4 days. I forget that things can make it places in under 10 days without going Priority!

KITCHEN

The kink that the above put in is that the kitchen table and chairs were part of the same collection as the original family room furniture. We decided we don't care.

Thank you, Julie Fromm, for being there to answer my urgent text about what color chairs to go with. I desperately needed advice for someone with an artistic flair of which I have zero. We went with two Stone and two Salsa. Luckily the Stone (the light tan to the right of the red (Salsa) colored chair) marches the ottomans under the coffee table which matches the stitching in the family room collection (kind of like 'Going To Grandma's House and I'm taking something that begins with...)

Next it was on to appliances which equals fun gadgets!!

This is our refrigerator. I don't really know what to say about it. It's a Frigidaire. It has a really

cool on-the-door water/ice dispenser that has all these digital options. I can't wait to use it! Oh, and the price tag was wrong so we got it for $300 less than we should of. Score! Takes so little to please me sometimes.

LAUNDRY ROOM

This might be what I was looking forward to the most. After living on St. Thomas and having an all in one washer/dryer that never really dried anything I can't wait to have a real grown up washer and dryer!! To be fair, I was lucky to have anything on STT. I should be grateful that I didn't have to drop off my laundry or waste days off at the laundrymat.

The washer has some new-to-me technology that incorporates a fan so if you forget you washed the clothes and they sit there a 'fresh fan' comes on and keeps them from getting musty. Awesome! The dryer has steam so I'm confident I'll be doing MUCH less ironing. Or, at the very least, a lot less dropping-the-clothes-off-at-the-dry-cleaner-just-so-they'll-press-them runs. Oh- and it has a shoe rack. A SHOE RACK! Why you ask? And I did because I had no idea what it was- to put your tennis shoes on so they don't whack around the dryer! Or sweaters or delicates you don't want tossed around. Again, awesome.

Delivery is scheduled for all of this for the 12th and I cannot wait!! Of course, since the truck is coming on the 11th I guess I'll have to make a path for the delivery guys... Now, off to convince Tim our yard is not big enough for a riding mower, Again, a battle I'm quite prepared to lose. Not that I'm going to put up much of a fight. I'm picking my battles- mama wants some wall art!

Overwhelmed... With Convenience!

Okay, I'm not sure what I expected out of Des Moines or what I truly pictured it being like here. Fine, yes, I do know what I pictured- a small town feel with older houses and lots of fields everywhere.

I understand it's the state capital but, let's be honest, so is Jeff City, MO and there ain't much there... Sue me for being stereotypical!

I didn't expect a beautiful downtown much less one filled with people out having a good time on St. Patrick's Day. I didn't expect an AWESOME parade that was over 2 hours long and had one float HANDING OUT BACON! I'm told by my friend Kara, who grew up here, we are about 5 minutes away from the HQ of the Pork Society of Iowa AND they serve a pork chop on a stick at the State Fair in August. Wow. No more turkey bacon for the Byrnes! Which is fine, I read it's one of the things making Americans fat anyways....

We've been here a week now and I'm absolutely in love with the city of West Des Moines (yes, Des Moines is big enough to have a West designation thank you very much). It's an amazing city (mmm hmm, I said CITY) with SO much to offer. Coming from St. Thomas I am literally overwhelmed with all it has to offer! I've tried to go grocery shopping but I'm not sure where to start- Walmart? Target? Dahl? Hyvee? Trader Joes? Costco? I HAVE OPTIONS!!! And I can use COUPONS! I've found myself going multiple times because I keep forgetting things and it's an easy in and out experience. This is very exciting to me and I've actually had to upgrade my Shopping List Ap on my iPhone in order to help me get organized (ListPro in case you are wondering)!

Everything here is so new... and nice! I mean NICE. Right around us is everything anyone could want- bars, restaurants and the nicest mall I have ever, I mean ever, been in. There's several gyms to choose from and they all offer amazing things- pools, new equipment, group fitness, tanning- at a pretty ridiculous price.

Even the gas stations are nice, new, all-brick buildings!

We've even found a house! It is actually the first one we looked at. The real estate agent thought we were nuts (actually 'people who just wanted to look around a new development and waste her time' to be exact) as we called from the driveway and asked her to come open it for us to look at. She clearly was happy with us when we signed our offer letter 24 hours later though! We know it's crazy to buy the first place you look at so we did our due dilligence and looked at 10 more and toured 3 more but we kept coming back to the first place we saw. I have a rule when I shop- if I find something, look around and keep coming back to it buy what I caught my eye first... so we did and we close April 11th (sooner if our loan officer can get thru the red tape that is the IRB, poor lady is getting a lesson in how the VI operates).

Now it is time for the fun stuff to begin- the shopping for the house! I've relegated most of our Chicago furniture to be basement worthy so there's lots to do and the possibilities are endless! There's an awesome store called Homemakers that is the mecca of furntiture stores. We found basically our entire living room set and kitchen table & chairs there in under an hour. My list of things to buy just keeps growing and growing and soon we will be playing 'item survivor' in order to prioritize things. We ordered our first item on line last night- a SUPER COOL coffee table with fun ottomans that double as storage and seating underneath.

Trust me, it rocks.

Well, now we are off to St. Louis for a quick trip in and out. Tim has some training at AB HQ and I have some movers to meet and miscellaneous items to pack! During that oh-so-exciting drive I'll be figuring out what to do with this blog. Obviously it's time to change the background and update the bio but I'm thinking I'll keep the name. Cornfield Telegraph just doesn't have that ring to it... nor is it even true!

The Ultimate Island Bucket List

Well, the time has come for us to say goodbye. As I've watched friends come and go over the last 2.5 years I've also watched them scramble to try and complete their bucket list in time. Guess who's on the other end of that now?? We are down to less than 4 days to get a whole bunch of things done and food eaten!!! Here are the things that we've found to be essential to do before you leave this island! Anything in bold has been completed. I tried to do this last week with parentheses and X's but apparently that screws with HTML!

ST. THOMAS BUCKET LIST

ISLAND HOPPING 101

Anegada

Anguilla

Antigua (I get to check this one off 4/26 at least!)

Culebra

Dominica

Hans Lollick

Hassle Island (now that the Real World is over there, I don't care to go anymore)

Jost Van Dyke

Norman Island

Puerto Rico

Saba Rock

St. Barths

St. Croix

St. John

St. Kitts/Nevis

St. Lucia

St. Maarten

Tortola

Vieques

Virgin Gorda

Water Island

Special thanks to Cameron and his amazing catamaran, Heron, for taking me out on my very first boat trip and getting me addicted to being on the water; Adrian Hale for putting up with our drunk butts many, many Sunday Fundays and Nicolini for flying us all over the Caribbean. Without you guys we never would have seen so many things!!

JUST ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE

18 Holes at Mahogany Run

8 Tuff Miles

99 Steps

Bar Wars

Baths at Virgin Gorda

Botanical Gardens at the Great House

Bowling at VI Christian Ministries

Butterfly Farm

Buy a Lottery Ticket

Circumference the island on a boat

Coral World

Day Pass at Sugar Bay

Dinghy Rental on St. John

Drake's Seat

Drink at the Car Wash Bar

Duffy's Ladies Night

Eco Kayak Tour

Experience the BMV

Fed the Pigs Beer on St. Croix

Have a Banana Dacquiri at Mountaintop

Hike all the trails on St. John (have 4 left, I WILL get this done before Friday)

Hike Paradise Point hill

Jumped off of Willy T

Kontiki Party Barge

Napped in a Hammock on Jost

New Horizon's Boat Trip

New Year's Eve at Foxy's

Night Snorkeling

Obtain Health Card

Parasailing

Parrot Club

Red Hook 500

Ride the Ferris Wheel at Paradise Point

Ride the Tram to Paradise Point

Ritz Pool

Santo Bar

SCUBA Certification

Seaplane

Skydiving in Puerto Rico

Sibs for One (not actually the bar but physically having one at Sibs)

Sleep on a boat

Slide on the abandoned boat off Wyndham

Snorkeled the Indians

St. Thomas Caribbean Cinema

Sunday Funday on Jost

Sunrise on the East End

Sunset at Mafolie Hotel

Sunset at Paradise Point

Swim With a Stingray

Swim Up Bar at Limetree

Tortola Full Moon Party
Vegas Night

Walk From One End of an Island to the Other

Walked Peterborg Point

Water Island Movie Night

Whale Watching

EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY

13

Amigo's ($25 AYCE and AYCD? Duh.)

Banana Tree Grille

Barefoot Buddha (I can get my PB/Chocolate Frozen Cafe & my mail? Yes, please!)

Beachcomber

Bella Blue

Beni Iguana

Betsy's Bar

Blue Orchid at the Great House

Brook's Bar

Buddha Sushi (Pre-8 Tuff Carb Loading host 2011)

Cafe Amalia

Cafe Amici

Cafe Roma

Caribbean Fish Market

Caribbean Saloon (specifically Terry Fries!!)

Castaway's Happy Hour

Chopstix

Coco Blue

Coconuts (best hot dogs on island)

Craig & Sally's

Delly Deck

Dog House Pub

Duffy's

Enkai

Epernay

Fat Turtle (specifically Fat Turtle Fridays)

Fatty's (specifically Texassippi Rib Night)

Fishtails (bottomless hibiscus, 'nough said. Pre-8 Tuff Carb Loading host 2010)

Foxy's

Grand Cru

Greenhouse

Grille Room at Mahogany Run (wild mushroom risotto... tear)

Havana Blue

Heidi's Honeymoon Grill

Hooter's

Hospital Cafeteria

Hubby Bubbly

Hull Bay Hideaway

Iggie's

Iguana

Island Time Pub (not sure how to survive without that pizza)

Ivan's

Jack's

Jewel's

Kokapelli (Pre-8 Tuff Carb Loading host 2012)

La Tapa

Latitude 18

Life's a Breeze Pool Bar

Lotus (thanks, James, for PB&J/Fruity Pebbles sushi!)

Mim's

Mojo's

Molly Malones (where Penny was ALWAYS our waitress)

Morgan's Mango

North Side Bistro

Oceana (best. chef. ever. Jen Litwin)

Old Stone Farmhouse (going tonight, I'm crossing it off)

Pesce

Pie Whole

Pizza Amore

Quiet Mon

Romano's

Room With a View Happy Hour

Schnitzel House

Shipwreck

Skinny Leg's (Mmmm... GTO...)

Soggy Dollar Bar

Starz

St. Thomas Dairy

Sydney's Peace and Love

Taco Hell

Tap Room

Texas Pit BBQ

The Cellar

The Rock

Tickles (thanks for the golf balls, Lou!)

Uncle Joe's BBQ

Wikked

Woody's

XO (gosh I am SO going to miss that grilled cheese)

Zozo's

Wow. Just when I feel like we've accomplished a lot I realize there's a lot to come back to do/see/eat/drink! Thank you to Ashely Armitage for sharing her bucket list to help jog my memory! It's hard to believe our time here is almost over. I hope to be able to cross a good lot of these off the next few days, wish me luck!

It Was Supposed to be a 3 Hour Tour!

Okay, so maybe not 3 hours but New Year's on Jost van Dyke was definitely NOT supposed to be an overnight adventure this year. Tim, myself and our friends Rachel, Coco and Josh headed over to Jost via Dolphin Water Taxi's round trip (ha!) boat transfer. Miller & Cruzan sponsored the free drinks on board and Greg was kind enough to give us 4 free spots. I like to think that was in honor of Coco's birthday but whatever! Anyways, we went over early- 1:00 PM- so we could spend the day on White Bay before heading over to Foxy's for their party. They were super organized with wristbands telling you what time you were coming home, drink tickets, etc. He also said if we had any questions he'd be standing by the Jost Van Dyke sign starting at 9:00PM. I was highly impressed- just not used to that kind of thing on STT!

We were on our own private transfer and I think this is where the day started to get interesting! Because we had all of our stuff with us (read coolers, clothes, cameras, phones, etc) we really didn't want to take a taxi from customs by Foxy's to White Bay so our Captain agreed to let us out over in White Bay. Problem was the water was so rough he wasn't able to get us close enough to shore for us to get out and touch to keep our stuff out of the water. What to do, what to do. Oh, I know! Drop us off on the trampoline set up in the middle of the bay! Honestly, whomever said it, it was a great idea except for the fact we were then no better off than we were on the boat. But at least our Captain was hightailing it back to St. Thomas to get the next group over, right? Oh, and did I mention he left us with NO instruction on where to pick up the ferry back at 2:30 AM?

The man that runs the trampoline was quite confused to see 5 people literally throw their crap on his livlihood and jump out of a boat onto it. And we were quite confused as to how to get our stuff to shore. I've never seen a West Indian move so fast as he did to swim out and yell at us to pay our $5 for jumping on the trampoline. We explained we didn't want to jump, we wanted off and could he help us. Somehow, someone convinced him (god knows how much money we actually ended up giving him) to go get his kayak and kayak our stuff in. Obstacle overcome!

We truly enjoyed our day in White Bay. This here is Coco trying to persuade this guy to give her his crown since it was his birthday. He let her pose for a picture but wouldn't let her keep it. I hope he struck out.



There was plenty of drinking and dancing and fun had by all. We ran into plenty of people and joined in a big group photo of everyone on Jost. Wonder what happened to that?

And then we saw this girl:

I'm sorry, are you 19 years old and wearing mom jean shorts over a tank suit??? This girl truly confuses me. She was young, would have looked just fine in a bikini but, the mom jean shorts? Really??

Moving on. Day quickly turned to night and we realized we needed to get our butts over to the other end of the island and have some dinner. Hmmm... no taxis to be seen and we weren't walking (by this point we had shed most of our gear by consuming it). Being the ever creative people we are Tim flags down the first local we see and we shove 5 of us into his Suzuki. I'm not 100% sure if he agreed or we just got in but regardless he took us over to the Foxy's side of the island and we gave him some cash. Turned out he had showed up at Soggy Dollar to pick up his girlfriend who was getting off work. Hope she wasn't mad that we kidnapped him...

We had a great time at Foxy's doing some more dancing and playing with friends. Here are some of our favorite St. Thomas bartenders imported to England for the night. I'm guessing the Jager was flowing behind the bar as well as on the other side from this pic :)

As we were on the 2:30AM ferry we started heading towards the ferry dock at 2:15. Now, I know we were a bit tipsy but there was NO boat there. This is a big yellow and black and white ferry that holds hundreds of people and was supposed to take 75 people back to St. Thomas and we CANNOT find it. We don't even see anyone walking towards the dock! It starts to rain so we go back to the customs dock and try to see if maybe we were misinformed or if we can find anyone. Remember Greg who said he'd be at the sign beginning at 9:00PM? Yeah... guessing he got on the 2:30AM ferry 'cuz he ain't there! It's official, we are stuck on Jost. We hung out on the dock with some friends whose engine stopped working and were stuck as well. Leigh Goldman fed me a hot dog- god bless you Leigh- and we chilled under some plastic tarps in the rain. One of our friends showed up for his last pick up of the night around 4:30AM and said he'd take us back... for $60/head. Yeah, thanks but no thanks. I understand this is your business and you're probably grouchy for being sober and taking drunks back and forth all night but a little sympathy or a deal would have been nice... Eventually all of our dock friends went home and we were left by ourselves. It's close to 5AM at this point. We are defeated. See the defeat in Coco here? Happy birthday lady!!

We decide to sleep in the ferry terminal. Now, if you've never been to Jost on the ferry the terminal is no more than a shack. The below picture shows the corner Tim and I slept in :) The sun woke us up around 8:00AM and we wait, with a large group of other people mind you, for the 9:00AM ferry. We pay our $5 departure fee and sit on the dock until the big boat comes. This time we found it. We try to board the ferry and apparently it's more than $5 and we are missing tickets even though we are on the manifest. It's not just us, it's about 1/2 the group. In the chaos of it all Tim at least is able to sneak on the ferry, the rest of us pay $50. Guess we should have just sucked it up and paid the $60 4 hours earlier huh?



All in all it was a great New Year's Eve and I enjoyed the adventure. However, the next day when Dolphin Water Taxi proudly posted they moved 220 people successfully to and from Jost on New Year's Eve I couldn't help but laugh and think, nope, you moved 215 successfully and clearly the other 70 people that were travelling with us at 2:30AM had no problem finding the big ferry...

She's Baaaaa-aaaack!!!

Has it really almost 11 months since I've updated this blog? Wow, what the heck happened to me? I'm sorry!! Well, the important thing is- guess who's back? Mary's back! Back again! In many senses of the word. Not only did I take 11 months off from the blog, I took a 3 month hiatus from St. Thomas period. That time away gave me a lot of perspective. It's one thing to move here and take the good and take the bad (sing it with me everyone, you take 'em both and there you have... the facts of life) but it's another to go back to America, get all Americanized again and then reimmerse yourself in island living. So what am I feeling? Here goes...

I missed my amazing island family. I am SO lucky to have made the friends that I did. They were nothing but supportive when I left and I was a little nervous it wouldn't be the same when I came back. But in their amazing selves, it's been great. I haven't gotten a chance to see everyone I've wanted to yet but know that I will see each and every one and get/give an wholehearted hug!!

Right now I'm missing Starbucks. Hi, my name is Mary, and I'm addicted to Skinny Peppermint Mochas. For a girl who hoarded her Starbucks gift cards from Abbott suppliers for 5 years they certainly disappeared quickly once I discovered Skinny Lattes and Mochas! (Quick shout out to Fred Johnsen and Todd Minske with Advanced Media Solutions for keeping me properly caffeinated lately!!) I also miss their internet. I'm currently sitting at a coffee shop where I had to order a beer to get an internet code...

I missed hiking on St. John. For some crazy reason I got it in my head that part of my St. Thomas bucket list included completing all the trails on STJ. I had done a fair amount but have a LOT to do still. So Tim and I went over and did a bunch in one day- including Johnny Horn (Kate Atwell, if you're reading this, you are right- it's a bitch. I was actually thinking for awhile you were losing it, it was easy, then came the up part). Thank god Tara and I did Reef Bay already...

I miss Club Fitness. I never in my life thought I'd miss a gym but now that I'm here, I really miss my classes!! And the constant 65 degrees that place is kept. I'm not working out nearly as hard here at the gym and sweating twice as much!

I missed flip flops!!! You should never need to put those suckers away and I'm super happy to have them back in my life. One of my biggest adjustments to STL was putting on socks. I'm not kidding.

I'm already missing live sports but, given the time of year, that shouldn't matter. I was home when it counted- when my Cardinals won the World Series! I had never been to a playoff game before and suddenly found myself cheering on the Redbirds at the NLDS, NLCS and World Series live and in person. Heck, I even watched my Rams beat the Saints at the Dome before the Cardinals Victory parade. Yep, I was there for one of their two wins. What do you think STL, am I good luck? Not only did the weather hold on to unseasonable warmth from the MINUTE I got home (PS- the bottom dropped out New Years Day, coincidence I left three days earlier??? I think not...) but the Cardinals hung on to do the unthinkable this year! Just sayin'...

I missed running into people I know everywhere. Now, STL is pretty small and I ran into a lot of people during the post season and even now at Corner Pub, it's not the same as here! I'm wondering if this is a novelty though and will run off sooner rather than later? This also applies to word of mouth and helping people out (thanks Jessica Hume for getting me a bartending gig for your holiday party!!).

I'm sort of missing the reliability of the states and the little conveniences. I KNEW I should have ordered a glare screen for my Kindle before I left... and I've already grown tired of crappy internet service (see Starbucks paragraph, I'm here b/c Sprint BLOWS), dropped AT&T phonecalls and no water pressure. I've been lucky (pause, knock on wood) to not have experienced a WAPA blackout yet. I'm honestly not sure how...

I missed the water. I missed how it was so easy to go out on it or go to it. It was one thing I never took for granted and I certainly still don't. The views, the options, the good times had on it can never be erased or replaced.

I miss my stateside friends!! I'm lucky to have them in my life too! What another amazing group of people. I'm seriously such a blessed girl to have so many incredible people in my life. I miss my family. Nothing replaces your family and I am lucky to have such a large, crazy, welcoming one. My parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins- you are all part of the reason I am the person I am today and I can't express my gratitude enough!

Okay, now I'm getting sappy so it's time to end this post. Once I get my freaking Sony Cybershot software downloaded stay tuned for the big NYE on Jost post. Trust me, it's a laugh and a half!