I'm in Orlando.

Sitting at the airport. There is a very slobbery baby coming dangerously close to me. GROSS! It's wobbling around near my leg. Make it stop!!! I hope they sit far far away from me. Dude there are like a hundred babies on this flight!!!! Time to plug my ipod in. I should be home in a little under 3 hours!!! yay! I already miss St. Thomas.... I am sure I will go back one day!

Here is the dance we were all doing on Friday when I took those pics of Jeff dancing. Can you believe he was in the middle of a crowd of people dancing this dance??? Obviously this is not a video of us... But it is the dance and the song. I have had the song stuck in my head for 5 days...

Tonight

The boys got some booty... fake gold coins that is....

A piratey night with the crew....

Today I took the boys snorkeling at Coki Beach, then over to St. John for happy hour and $1 dollar beers at Woody's. Then we met up with Meg and Killian at Island Time Pub and went on over to Jack's Pub where the band Barefoot Davis was having a CD release party. There were lots of pirates and We couldn't resist causing trouble... I tried to steal a pirates sword and meg actually succeded but got smacked in the face with a sword in the fight... we are tough. tomorrow is the going away party at Offshore bar... get ready...

yet again...

This is about the time I swoop in and say "Get away from my little brother you beer soaked skank!!!" just kidding... I didn't say that... wanted to... but I let him have his fun.

More....

Jeff dances the night away at the Fat Turtle!

Candid shots of my brother Jeff!

This is Jeff and Zach on the right, meeting my friends.... they all have man crushes on each other.

That's how I roll!

more animals

I sent the boys off on a kayak adventure to Hassle Island just across the channel from my house. They are going over to check out the ruins from the old days of pirates and tall ships from 1867. There is a trail that goes from the boat house up to the old yellow fever hospital and then on up to the top of the mountain where they recently uncovered a fort. I'm sure they will have fun dodging iguanas and coconuts.

While they are away I will be packing and doing laundry! I will somehow fit all my stuff into 2 bags. I think I can do it, I got rid of a lot of clothes I don't wear or wont wear anymore. I am dreading going shopping when I get home. All I really need is a couple pairs of jeans and some socks. I have my boots and stuff at home so thats good. I cant wait to wear boots again... I really hope the weather doesn't effect us in our travels on Wed. I bet I will have delays flying from Orlando to Dallas. Thanks Gustav.

The weather here is fine, hot, partly cloudy but very very still. Not so much as a breeze!

Just 3 more days till I am home!

OH MY GOSH!

So just to update ya'll on the itinerary... I will be home in Dallas on Wednesday (weather permitting), I fly to Seattle, Washington on the 15th where I will live in an apartment till the yacht goes back into the water, then we will all move aboard where I have my own cabin! We will stay in Seattle through October and then move the boat down to Marina Del Rey, California at the beginning of November. All I know is I am going to freeze my ass off! I just looked at the weather in Seattle and its 56 freakin degrees!!! Thats colder than I have been in a year and a half at least! I'm gonna have to wear shoes!

Oh... oh my.

I am hungover for the first time in ages!!! Last night I took my brother and his buddy out for a Friday Night Island Style! We tied one on... we "drank our faces off" as my brother said. We had to carry Zach up all the stairs at Villa Olga, you see Jeff and I were born with the tolerance of much older alcoholics, we maintained through the 10 Jagermeister shots and 14 beers. Wow. Now I have to wake them up so we can go sailing on Doubloon! I'm taking bets on how long it will take for Zach to throw up over the side, I give him 25 mins. Bye!

It's official!!!

I am the new Setwardess aboard the 125ft yacht So Taj! Woo hoooooooo! I am really excited! I fly from Dallas to Seattle on Sept. 15th and then a couple of weeks later we take the boat down to Marina Del Rey! Oh my gosh!!!! L.A. HERE I COME! Then we will spend the winter bee bopping between Cali and CABO SAN LUCAS MEXICO!!! Ta Daaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Maria, you must get back to your boat so we can meet up! I will only be like 300 miles away from San Carlos! Ok, I am so happy! My captain is a chick! And she sounds so badass. She is already giving me a hard time about having so much sea time and no license. She wants to help me get my ticket and my sea time letters processed. She sounds totally girl power, I can't wait to meet her. Well, I'm off to the pool!

I GOT A JOB!!!

More info to come soon....

Pretty boring around here.

I have spent alot, I mean ALOT of time online the past few days. I have been searching for crew resources, new websites, networking sites all that, as well as shopping for a few things I really needed to buy online that I can't get here on island and that I won't have time to look for when I get to TX. Things like Julie Perry's book, The Insider's Guide to Becoming a Yacht Stewardess. You can check her out by clicking HERE. Not that I have never worked on yachts or anything but reading her exerpts and actually talking to her online for the past year I think she has lots of good tips for anyone in the business. Can't wait to read it! I also bought a new power cord for my Mac online for half the price it was at the mac store here on island.
In other news, I have really enjoyed getting to know the new Dockwalk.com. It really seems like a great site for yachties. I guess the agenda for today will include, picking up my paycheck, going to the bank (which will take 4 hours), and coming home to finish blowing up this giant air mattress for my brother and his buddy who are coming to visit tomorrow for a week. They better love that mattress because I spent 5 hours blowing that thing up by mouth and I came really close to passing out like 4 times. You would think someone would have an air pump around here with all the RIB's and dingys. It's almost blown up all the way, I just couldn't blow anymore air in it last night.
This time next week I will be at home in Allen, TX probably making lunch for my dad. It's probably gonna be grilled cheese sandwiches with a pickle and an oreo on the side. Thats what he used to make me and Jeff when we were little. :)
That sounds so good right now. Too bad I had to throw a half a loaf of bread away yesterday because it was moldy. I hate that about living here! Everything molds so fast! I bought that bread 2 days before I had to trash it. Sometimes you buy bread and its ALREADY moldy! Oh only 6 more days....
I will miss it here, but only the good stuff, like the people and the water.
I will not miss the PUEBLO GROCERY STORE!

Time to heat up some leftover BBQ from last night! Woo Hoo!

I found a cool new website!

It's called Dockwalk. You can go there by clicking HERE! It's cool, you can see other yachts and crew and their itineraries. I figure this will be a good way to do a little research on whatever yachts I apply with... tee hee!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

I JUST HAD AN EPIPHANY! I am gonna be sooooooooooooooo freakin aaaawwwwesome at my new job! (Wherever it may be,whenever I get it.) I have been thinking about nothing much the past week or so and damnit! I am tired of it! I am always looking for something better, because I strongly believe that something different is always something better. Coglan's law rings true for me. Be that as it may, anytime a job starts getting tough I start looking for a new one. I'm not one to soldier on too long before running for the hills. Is this a real problem? I don't think so. I refuse to be unhappy in my job even though lord knows I have been. When it gets sucky I get froggy. Hip hop hooray and I am outta there! Even now, I am thinking about the new yacht adventure I am setting out on and I have already started planning my escape route at the 6 month "run for your life" mark. Why do I do that? Am I afraid that I will be good at something? I am good at everything I do! (wow do I sound conceited) I think on this next adventure I will go into it with an open mind and an open calendar. ;) I will do my very best at whatever I need to do, and just ride it out as long as I can, for pete's sake the money is good and there are health benefits!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! So I'm getting prepared for this, it's a little different than what I'm used to, thank goodness I spent a month or so on Francine last year, gave me a lil taste of the life. AHHHHHHHHHHH to be inspired again! I'm gonna give my guitar to Carlos this weekend, he tried to say goodbye to me today like I was leaving tomorrow! Haha poor lil feller! Did I tell yall about the time he told me I had a "bad genius" hahah I think so. Anyway. Oh mom, there should be a few packages coming in the mail for me, one small one from Geelizzie, and 2 that look like books cuz thats what they are! Keep an eye out! Love ya!

Smile for the day!!!

I posted this about a year ago but no one was reading my blog then, I thought all you schoonie sailors would enjoy this. It's aboard the Stavros S Niacros or something like that I believe. What a great video!

More Chili Cookoff

A little squall to cool us off!


Alex decides to juggle! He went to clown school after all...


Jim Steph and me


Dana Me and Alex... ahhh i love my life.


The Betsy's bar chili crew accepting First Place! Yaaaaaaaay!

The Chili Cookoff!

There were nothing but Texas flags and Texas people all over the beach!


Capt Jim and Mango brought Bones over so we could play on the pirate ship in between chili tastings.
Mango Swings


Even old Jim gives it a shot!


Alex and Dave with the Can People! Later that day it got so hot that they "condensated" their marriage! lol


A view down Brewers Bay Beach at the Chili Booths

Finally uploaded pics from when the fam visited.

Me and the Fam on the "big" island of Jost Van Dyke



Me and the Fam at Marina Cay, off the coast of Tortola

Tee hee!!!

Quickly! Before my power cord melts through!!

I electrical taped my cord together so I could get some power to check email and give a little update! I am totally bored and broke! I got to work one day this week, got food poisoning on monday and was down for 2 days, down to my last 25 bucks till my card gets here, probably gonna spend half of it on hair color because my roots are OUT OF CONTROL! Hey, just cuz im poor doesn't mean I have to look like it. Other than that I have given lots of old clothes to Jill to pass out to the local crackheads and I have already seen them sporting their new duds around Frenchtown. hahah! I'm like, those are my shorts, shirts... at least someone is using them. I am trying to fit all my stuff into 2 suitcases and a huge backpack so today I am doing a mock pack to see just how much I need to get rid of. Its gonna suck. In other news, Jeff and Zack will be here on Thurdsay and we will have sooooo much fun! Jeff wants to get SCUBA certified while he is here so I'm gonna call in the favor to my buddy Toby who I met at the airport while waiting for my Mom and Aunt to fly in a month or so ago. He is a SCUBA instructor. Honestly nothing is going on here, I hang out in my apt all day because I can't do anything else. I should at least be hanging by the pool and soaking up the sun. Hmmmmm that sounds nice, gotta go!

Bye!