Challenge Me.
In the beginning of 2011, I decided I needed a challenge instead of another resolution. WordPress presented a couple of ideas and I decided to go with a Post A Week Challenge. Boy, am I glad I did that. It challenged my writing skills, it improved my writing skills, it increased my traffic, my followers and held me accountable.
I considered it a challenge in my own right because I would go a few weeks with nothing. Sort of bloggers block. Although, many a night (early morning) I am awake thinking of crap in my island life…and think: I Need To Blog That.
So- I did it. 2011 was My Best Year Ever in so many ways and blogging was one of them. You cheered me on, you sent me topics, you asked me questsions, you challenged me. And I thank You From The Bottom Of My Beating heart.
All I ask for 2012 is: Please. Don’t. Stop. You help me keep going. So, if you you haven’t already, GO Ahead! Sign up on the left sidebar to recieve an email update when I post new stuff. COMMENT all over the place. Challenge me. Aske me questions, send me an email. You neva’ know what or WHO might come up. And, if you didn’t know, all the cool people are doing it. Its like a little dose of paradise right in your in box.
xo
bfm
Good Morning Anna,
Yes, I was the charter that “busted the fisherman’s balls” about (hopefully) your own dryer. Terri and I have been on island since December 10th. It’s been a busy month, still working on the condo (not sold yet) and a wedding at the Palms for some good stateside friends.
We’re heading back to New York tomorrow, but your blog always keeps STX fresh in my mine.
Have a great day!!!
Joe
I LOVE IT! One of my most FAVORITE clients from goto….and you are still keeping in touch! So glad to hear you are doing well and having fun! Well, our back (beer) fridge went out and honestly, I think I might need to replace the fridge before I get a dryer. I have now decided it is my landlord’s responsibility to install one. Because the issue it not buying one, it is all the hassle that goes into getting the damn thing!
So glad you guys went fishing with Carl. I know you had a blast. Please keep in touch! Good luck selling @ Reef!
xo
bfm
Okay, this seems like a good place for me to start. I have spent the last few days catching up on all your posts. I first landed here in my desperate search to find reasons why I should *not* sell everything I own, pack up my kids and move to Stx. It is the same thought process I go thru every year, the week before and the many weeks after I visit Frederiksted.
So far you are not helping. Most of the things that drive you crazy, don’t or imo wouldn’t bother me. The flooding caught my attention… but compared to month after month of snow and below zero temps, eh.
There was nothing on your list of supplies that you gathered on your visit to Texas that I would buy, so I wouldn’t miss those.
The standard reasons for staying in a horrible place like Wisconsin are… family, friends, job. I did learn the first time we left that people feel abandoned and it takes a long time for them to get over that. Other than that though, my family is not close and I like making new friends
So, I guess my challenge to you, is to talk me out of it!
WOW! Great challenge. But why do you need to be talked out of it? This is gonna take a post. I thought about this last night. Stay tuned.
xo
bfm
Why? I’m not sure. I guess because I am afraid of being broke on an island. Of being no where near my support network. Of not being near people who have known me all my life. Of not being near my children. 2 will be 18 soon and they will not come with, I am sure.
I am afraid there will be some things I can not get there, that are important to me… like grass fed meats and organic butter.
I wonder what we will do with my husbands business and the thousands of tools we could never afford to ship there, some that were owned or made by a blacksmith 100 yrs ago, a man very important to our city’s heritage.
My personality is not to care about any of these things. I lost most of my belongings in storage during katrina and again in Wisconsin due to a house fire. I would sell or walk away from everything and live in a tent. But, history and things are very important to the man I have loved for 21 years. I have to find the balance….
btw, so far… none of the above reasons are working and I still want to move…
Ok…I have read every word and look at every picture on here…I am totally caught up and ready for more! Write, write, write. I love it and miss you!
Kali
Thanks Kali! You’ll soon have 2 more reasons to keep up. Crazy cusins packing up and moving to an island in the middle of nowhere. What are they thinking????
Given that food is less uh varietal there, what is an average weekly meal-plan in your house? Feel free to add recipes…(yes in no way is this a shameless request for suggestions from a non-chef!)
Hello bfm,
Thank you for all your time and effort! I have (almost) totally stopped what I should be doing and have been reading your blog. Oh well – I am enjoying reading about this life of yours!
I’m a mom, wife, and nurse in northwest Wisconsin. We came to STX for the first time last February – stayed at Chenay Bay – celebrated our kids birthdays – who are now 11 and 6 – a boy and girl. We had a great time and a hard time! As is expected, I see. My husband who’s a farm kid/road construction foreman/always lived here/we live on the home farm/deer hunter/fisherman/NEVER THOUGHT WE’D EVER MOVE/LEAVE?? our home area – (I know I’m going long here) anyway we stayed a week and he was driving around looking at real estate and real estate publications. I was very surprised. We decided we were some of those people who might need to live down there. Although we have barely traveled – I do not like to fly – especially Puerto Rico to STX scary!! and understood right away we would not be able to afford to fly home often – maybe not even annually. My new hobby (which I didn’t need since we have been forever building our own house and all the mom and work stuff) became reading about life on, and moving to, St Croix (we decided maybe Gulf Coast FL, too). We are both around 40 and have considered selling the house and all – uprooting our kids and leaving everybody behind.
We are used to working our butts off at stupid jobs – but we are paid well/have plenty of work – for our area and all that. Husband and I are used to being apart and working opposite shifts. I have a hard time believing our costs for consumables for our small family – here, let alone there! – and I have wally world and every other store just off the flat-excellent-road-bypass. (We shopped at Plaza – mid island I think. was something else!)
Anyway I think you get a lot of mail so here are my questions for you:
1 – Are any of your friends nurses at the hospital? Would they be willing to email me their opinion of things/turnover in medical area there (I’m an orthopedic/medical/surgical floor RN with 2+years experience) I only speak this also
2 – Any home-schooling families in your circle of friends? No way we could afford private school (I must tell you, sorry, its funny though, I hope for you, – our little-town-Catholic-school tuition is $1,000/year for both kids – that’s paying a little extra and helping with fundraisers (we are down to only about 35 students K-8th). Eventually it will close, but we have appreciated it for our ADD inattention – fine, happy, strong boy and our shy, pretty, happy girl. (I’ve spent a lot of time with you in the last 24 hours – I wish you well in your mothering/surviving/thriving). I think our kids would do pretty well with a lot of work from us and on-line learning. Sitting in a traditional classroom is tooo hard for kids with ADD – but our boy – the 11 year old – is trying damn hard.
3 – We sure couldn’t live on the beach or probably even a speck of water view, but I was pretty scared of the terrain and town – wow dark nights!!! Awesome, actually trying to get home from work and have kids in the car – and it’s raining!! Wow. I also would be afraid t o wash away! or live on a cliff! Do you all live up high out of town on flat ground?? I know you can’t disclose where, just I’m currious what setting you all chose.
4- How do you feel about raising your kids as they get older and freedom they’ll eventually need – can be a scary place – do you have friends with older or teenage children?? Does it seem to be hard to get and keep a trustworthy sitter/helper? Seems like there would be retired women down there for part time help – have you seen any of that?
5 – Do you want to stay in St Croix? Do you hope to live half-time in Texas?
6 – Do you keep some of your financing in the states or is that too hard to maintain?
I wish you and yours all good things.
Jen W jjwundrow@gmail.com
I love these types of comments an emails. I will try to answer as much as I can with out neglecting my children or my crafting habit and usually turn them into blog posts because I know you probably are not the only one with these questions! For starters, try going on vimovingcenter.com. They have a very active message board with ALL sorts of opinions. You are certainly at an advantage because you have been here. Did you see the post about GIve it A Month? A mom movedd here for a onth ( a luxury for most people) because she had an idealistic view of paradise. She found it to be quite different to live here than to vacation. She still loved it, but t was not for her, and she realized that. Thankfully, before she uprooted her entire life. Stay tuned….xo bfm
Hi
LOVE your blog and have become totally addicted.Now when I am supposed to be working I now read your posts, instead of just looking at STX. homes for sale! Last time we went we came back with a dog to add to our menagerie up here on the Cape. Had a blast spending a week with Donna from the Animal Welfare Center visiting fostered dogs at various island locales…using well meaning and well appointed rich folks who can afford to foster stray dogs. Great way to sight see I must say.
You asked for some blog ideas so I came up with the following
Blog topic idea1: Pony Club
We usually stay out at Kiko and Valeria Gasperi’s place “Longford Hideaway” on the South Shore and last time we were lucky enough to go to Pony Club with Christine and Marina Gasperi. My daughter and husband (I am terrified of horses for some reason but this visit helped me start to get used to them) had a great time, and I got to meet other mom’s from STX and it really made me feel like home. I would love to read your take on Melissa and Tempe if you ever get up there.
Blog topic idea 2: What the hell is it like going thru a hurricane there. During and after.
Blog idea 3: Every time I mention we vacation on STX the response is “Oh My God-it is so dangerous there! ”
Having lived in NYC in the 80′s I don’t think of it as all that dangerous but then again I am not out and about drunk off my a** walking home late at night from the Times Square Bar ( the one in Xsted, not NYC, unfortunately I have done just that in my youth). Is it that more dangerous than most Caribbean islands or is people who are too scared to leave the condo?
Welcome to my paradistic world! I love to hear people are reading my blog when they should be working. That is what I imagine people doing. You raise some excellet topics that I have not address before. I have added them to my “post ideas” list running in my head. Pony Club is fantastic, though Ihave only been to the one out west. Unfortunately, Melissa is no longer on island. Keep checking in and I LOVE COMMENTS!!xo bfm
Hi-
Bummed to hear Melissa is gone-she was great with the kids. Just found a bunch of your old posts to read ( oh is that what the back button is for…) but I am now avoiding TWO deadlines so must must must go back to work. Bye!
Another random thought for you…How long into living on STX did you ( if you do in fact) start wearing long pants during the winter months? I always think that is a sign of a long timer/native born person. That and wearing PANTYHOSE-aaargh!
Besides the obvious ones, what are the dead give-aways someone is a tourist?
L O V E This! It is soooooo cold and windy right now with the Christmas winds. I bet it was just a year or so to become acclimated to the warmer temps, makeing the cooler temps REALLY cooler to us. Tourists are toursits no mater what vacation land you might be living in. Sunburned. Camera around their neck. Socks and sandals for the older generation. The cool hip crowd you can tell they spent a lot of time planning their outfits. Like they just walked out of a J. Crew photo shoot, minus the good looks usually!
For a while, we would go to the cruise ship dock and take pictures of people….then I decided that wasn’t very nice. Sorry peeps.
xo
LOL!!! What a great idea!!!!
My friend and I play the game “Ironic or Moronic?” when faced with (usually college aged) hipsters wearing incredible outfits.She’ll appreciate the cruise ship photo idea!
Pony Club out West is great! We moved here at the end of August and joined right away. The members have gone out of their way to help us acclimate and have become part of our family.
Happy New Year! It was fun going thru your links and reading the old posts.
I liked when you said ( in the CT&L article) on weekends we take road trips to the West End. I always thought it funny when we stay on the East End we tell people we went over to the West End for lunch or dinner and they looked at us like we just flew to PR and back!
Thank you for yr great blog!