**Must Do's** of STX -- for my Mel & Scott

In light of some very good friends friends of mine coming to St. Croix , USVI after we leave here... I decided to take the time to make a list of things that you must do while on island..
these are just a few of the favorites.. but after a week you should have a pretty good sense of what STX is all about and have a fulfilled trip!

most importantly-- remember.. just kick back, relax -- and go with the flow! that's what it's all about.. and drink plenty of the local rum.. don't work the ALC% is about 2% :o)

Love you both- and home you have a riot while you are down here!



***St. Croix Landmarks and History..
Google "St. Croix Sugar Mills" and click on images--gives you a pretty good idea of how cool they are :o)


***SCUBA -- St. Croix Scuba -- about $495.00 for your PADI scuba cert. Life long-- great diving here.. and a ton of fun! Ask for Erika Fisher (my roommate) or Clint Briggs for instructors...


***Fredricksted and Christiansted are the two city's on island.. Like I said earlier... C'sted is much larger and more shopping -- the boardwalk wraps around the 5 blocks of downtown and has some nice places to eat.. I recommend going to Angry Nate's for lunch sometimes and get the "Jerked Mahi Mahi wrap with mango aioli sauce" YUM YUM YUM!

***Brew pub is a nice place for drinks -- it's right next to The Mill that is also on the boardwalk.. normally live music playing.. not sure what will be open/playing during that time of year...



***Tide Pool review --- have not done it yet-- but have heard RAVE reviews!


***Point Udall - eastern most part of the US --- very cool.. I'll tag you in a photo of mine to see when we were there! very easy to get there!


***If nothing else-- you HAVE to leave with one of these.. both of you! Cruzan hook bracelet! - make sure you get it from Sonya's... its the original maker-- read the history.. she makes one for every hurricane too.. i have the basic hook..



***Crab races -- some local fun !


***Chenay Bay --- Mahi's is the little resturant on the beach there-- an they have .50$ buffalo wings on Thursday nights
here is there deals ---> Mahi's

***Rainforest-- kinda cool.. but just a rainforest.. STX Rainforest



***Cane Bay -- GREAT beach! my favorite on the island.. and when you are there.. you HAVE to order a "Lime in the Coconut" Carl is the bartender and he makes a great one.. if he is still there tell him Gloria "the passive aggressive Marine" sent you---



***Cruzan Rum Factory tour -- and last .. but CERTAINLY .. not least.. you must take a tour thru the Cruzan Rum factory.. for a mere 5$ or so-- you tour and sample as much as you want!

***I really hope this helps.. and feel free to call me if you need anything.. while preparing for this trip... or after you are already here... I'm only a phone call away

PS: AT&T works great down here... service almost everywhere.. Verizon charges you roaming fees...

Living w/in your means- but beyond your limits.

Ever catch yourself sitting there.... maybe on the living room floor, watching your child crawl around-- and your zoned in on the one piece of carpet... at work typing an email ---an ur gazing out the window.... sitting in a waiting room--- and the grout between the tiles captivates your stare....
and you can't help but feel this overwhelming desire of something more??? something bigger???
Limits that are supposed to be pushed.. walls that you should break down....
You know there is more to what you are doing...

I'm not talking about regretting where you are.. I'm talking about taking the next step into what's going to scare you.. because what we are unfamiliar with... does just that--- scare us.
but is that not the scare that we are missing-- as we zone out with that pit of your stomach burning with desire??

is this something that will always happen to us? or is it something we should follow?

do we ignore it? or do we stand up and start running...
but run to what? just run till you find a challenge??

I feel like there is something more....

I don't even know what it is??
Is it more school?? (i hope not)
is it my spa that i want to build someday????
weight i want to loose?
a body i want to tone??

is it a desire to take charge of the areas that i feel are out of control? or the desire to start somthing that i never thought i would have the guts to do...

I don't know what it is today...

but i think i am going to focus on this feeling...

maybe it will lead me to my next adventure...

I. FEEL. WONDERFUL!

I AM NOT SURE WHAT IT IS ABOUT TODAY-- BUT I AM JUST SO HAPPY!
...
ya know--- most of you know me... and if you are paying any attention... like i was trying to this morning...I seem to be really really really happy...
I dont know if it was the move... if its my marriage, family, life, freedom, the desire to do anything i want to do.. and do it???
maybe a mix of all of them.. but i have just been feeling very blessed in life..

We recently (last week) moved from the little studio down here into a 2 BR apartment with a girl i met down here..( she was my scuba instructor.. and shes amazing.. not just amazing.. but the type of amazing that when you meet someone you know instantly that you should be friends with them.... ) and that's how it is...

so- we moved into this apartment.. on the boardwalk-- down town on the water... beautiful... love it...
Makes me wonder if we would have moved in here 1st, would my opinion of STX be different? would I be okay with staying down here for a year.... instead of leaving in June??? but when are we leaving?? Well- there are a few reasons..
the very 1st one was.. because I was scared.. something new and different and living where you have never been before, theres a slight amount of "movers remorse" as I call it. ...or maybe " bit of more then you can chew - remorse" so that was the enitial shock... and it was pretty stressfull.. then we relaxed and settled in a little bit..
then it came down to learning how the town / island shuts down in the summer time.. no one really travels down here after june/july and i thought-- well, i wont be able to make a living down here....
then there came the whole "family" thing... I want to start a family.. an be close to danny's family... well in order to have / start our family- there are things that I need to do 1st... I need to set up our retirement.. I need to settle in somewhere long enough to make enough money, that i can actually have insurance.. inorder to do that, i need to build a cliental... in order to do that , i have to sit still for a few years..
so- i am not sure what has to be done.. but I figure this was an AMAZING time in our life.. and a great adventure! I will never be 50 years old and say , "man- i wish i could have moved to the virgin islands when i had the chance..." actually- 90 % of the choices i make.. the deciding factor is just that..will i ever get another chance to do this??? yes/no?? doesnt frankly matter.. cuz.. IM DOING IT!
you are the sum total of all choices you make in life--- i cant preach this enough... if you dont like where you are... CHANGE IT! do something else! it takes nothing! nothing at all.. and as my father always says.. "if there's a will.. there's a man named Bill"..... so what that means to me-- is that you can make anything happen and the only challenging part is to leave you comfort zone- and if you look at it in that light-- that seems like a pretty silly reason not to do something...
even if you make the choice-- an decide its not what you wanted.. or expected.. there is no shame on trying something else..


I feel like the colors of my life are just a little bit brighter today....
The wind is a little more cooler...
and this coffee is... well, amazing.

I wonder how many people I actually impact????

really this is just a blog of my rants/raves... gabbing on about my life and how happy I am... some what of a personal journal that I let me exposed to anyone that really cares... hence the title... is there really people out there that read what nonsense I have to say and take it into consideration??? as if they will wake up tomorrow with an better out look on life??? with a desire to change their life....

i dunno... i guess we'll never know what kind of waves come from our ripples...


-glo

Honduras

Today I leave for my very 1st missions trip! I am meeting my church from Seattle @ the Houston airport, and we head out to Honduras! We are building a family of 5 ( I think) a new home! I'm very excited!
My best friend Kimberly Rowlands (now Howdyshell) first told me about mission trips YEARS ago, when she was in her youth group, and would travel all over the world helping people out who had very little.
I have always been interested in this, but never new much about it, and didn't belong to a church that I loved as much as I do this one.
Even tho my church is in Seattle, I can't wait till we move back and I can be apart of it again...
Last fall they had the sign ups for this trip and my other best friend Lynnie was all for it too! So, together we are going for very different reasons, but the base of it all is to work in the heart of the Lord and touch peoples lives whom may not have as much as we do... To give them a piece of Christ, and tell them what he's all about, and the love he has to give..

I will have more information after I get back, and can't wait to share with you all everything I'll have learned and had the wonderful opportunity to be apart of.

I may not have always lived the life of a good Christian... actually, I know I haven't!

I never, didn't- know who he was and what he did for me...
I always knew what I was doing was wrong, when i did it...

But now, I am so happy and proud to be making steps in the right direction. Living a life closer to him has been the biggest blessing of my life.
Each day as I lay my head down at night, I ask God for more guidance to live a more pure life that I am..
and each day, the Lord blesses me with the oxygen in my lungs, and the chance to follow in his ways..

I'm still not a "perfect Christian" --- but who is???
besides, Jesus Christ...
but I can tell you one thing.... I'm trying :o)
See y'all in 10 days!

Sunshine, and dreams...

So, here we are... Living in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands... The most far east island part of the United States.. only 1,200sum miles north of the equator.. and the sun is HOT!

We packed up and headed out for a journey of dreams. Well, just a dream of mine, but fortunately enough I have a husband whom loves me a whole lot and agreed to my plans.. which all couldn't have been possible with out his love and support ..

Let me start off my telling you all that living in paradise is WAY different then visiting, paradise...

the first week was more of a shock than anything else. Filled with anxiety and nervousness, I was worried everyday as to if I made the right choice or not...

After the first week past, and we are not settling nicely into week number three, I feel much better and comfortable with our surroundings. Danny has been more helpful and comforting then I could have ever imagined, and the love he has for me, as I sat there having a nervous break down, he calmed and soothed my nerves, reminding me that the Lord will never leave us.. And if this was my life dream to live here for a bit, then I should stop panicing and just enjoy the time while we are here...

Short term goals are how I've lived my life. I don't know how my experience in the Marine Corps would have gone if I didn't live leave date to leave date...

I also never wanted to be a woman that said, "I'm going to go here, I'm going to do that, I am gunna blah blah blah ... " and ends up sitting on her rump at home just imagining of what it would be like... Even if we are here for 2 mths, I still did it.. I still followed thru...

I feel as tho you never really know what a dream would be like, until you set out and did it.. Sometimes, it's not what you expected, and it's a great thing that you did it... So you know! So you know that's not what you want.. So you don't grow old saying "couldda ,shouldda, wouldda..." You grow old an say... Well , we planned accordingly and did everything we wanted to, when the time permitted us to!

Along this short little trip, I've been hearing a few good words to live by...

"I'd rather regret something I did, rather then something I never tried to do..."

a lot of people dont want to have any regrets in life... but sometimes there are periods of time where you go, "crap--- rewind!" --- an in those cases, you gotta tell yourself... at least i did it! at least i know, now!

and the other one, my wonderful mother-in-law told me in response to an email i sent her, where I was worried and scared about this journey... she said..

"could you imagine what the world would be like, if everyone had these really good ideas, and plans, but never pursued them?

How true is that??? where would we be?

Even tho it's still young in this move, I am so happy and blessed for the choice we made.. for the adventure we took, for the lessons we are learning... everyday brings a new lesson...

I know now, that I love Seattle! that i can't wait to go back! and I am planning on settling.. For this was my last big adventure I wanted to do before we had babies... Not to say that life ends at children, but all who has them.. can you agree it's a little more difficult???

SO, I wanna stick it out for a few more months.. maybe till June... life thru the winter season and work while it's busy.. and maybe head on back home to Seattle, to really start to settle down..maybe.. only Lord knows what we are doing next :o)

But we are starting our big list of all the things we wanna do before we leave!

What a wonderful life the Lord has given us...

pS- my advice to anyone reading.... may a list of short term goals... something feasible, or maybe not feasible... and find away to make that goal...

Our next big adventure! Is going to be a back backing trip thru Ireland... or Europe.. somewhere over there!

ta- ta for now, guys!

I'll try to keep you updated!

<3>

A moment to yourself...

I just had the nicest bath-a woman's bath- the one where you wait for the warm water to open all your pours, exfoliate your skin real well-- then you shave using actual shave cream, and shave your legs three times to make them as smooth as possible...

then you cleansed your face, put a masque on -- lay back an let it do it's magic..

then exfoliated .

.... shampooed my hair twice and conditioned it three times.. then you get out..

and apply a series of night time solutions to prevent wrinkles, deminision my dark circles, rejuvinate and moisturize... *BIG SIGH* I feel GREAT!

It was time to take a bath... The tension of pure excitement building needed to be relieved...

I laid there day dreaming about laying on the beach....

Walking to work...

taking a bicycle ride thru the little island...

Dancing under the stars in the warm tropic night, w/ my husband...

Sipping a cocktail, an feeling the warm sun on your face..

Especially days like today... damp, cold and just gloomy...

tonight...was for sure a moment to myself...

Random thoughts, By Jack Hand... Gloria Gilli.... Sherer

I like Washington state for their beautiful lush scenery , big mountains that surround the perimeter of this big city.. and the fact that you can see Bald Eagles flying freely here....

Gizmo goes to a knew how this week... that makes me sad

but, she'll be a farm cat.. that makes me happy..

we need to get busy with the packing... that gives me anxiety....

i'm pretty happy where i am in life.. that makes me happy...

as my father always says...

You are the sum of all choices you've made in life...

that is all for now.