Shelby flew down on New Years Day ... she came in on the same plane that Amy flew back on ... so talk about increasing my airport pick-up/drop-off efficiency by only having to make one trip for two friends! We met Lisa and Jeff for dinner that evening at Eat at Cane Bay ... one of the only restaurants open on the holiday (which felt strange, considering it was a Saturday). Shelby and Lisa are friends from nursing school, so it was fun to have Shelby visit two sets on friends on the island.
We were looking forward to having a nice relaxing day on the beach on Sunday. After lots of active visitors, Shelby promised me she just wanted to hang out on the beach, and I gladly accepted! We started with a nice long walk on Sandy Point, then planned on the typical Sunday funday activities - Rhythms at Rainbow Beach, Coconuts, and the Lost Dog. Well we hit two of three, as we left Rhythms when it started raining. We came back to my place and just hung out - again no complaints since it was nice to just sit around and catch up - and relax (though I was missing the sun)! We made it out for pizza at the Dog and just as we were leaving, Shelby ran back in the building and shouted "Hurry! We're going to get stuck in the parade!" It felt like a Seinfeld episode! Sure enough, my Jeep was parked right in between the police leading the parade and a line of cars / floats in what was our first parade of the week. Whew, thank goodness we avoided that one. Who knows how long we could have got stuck - and we had things to do. Came home and started baking, as Shelby, my superior when it comes to baking, assured me that muffins will retain more moisture a day after baking - so much for those 4:30 mornings - woo hoo!
Made my 7am delivery on Monday, then we had the rest of the day to ourselves. We walked downtown to check out all of the cruiseship festivities, drove to Christiansted for lunch and some window shopping, then over to the Buccaneer for pedicures. I am really enjoying her visit at this point! Even better, we stopped at the grocery store for wine and cheese and just enjoyed a night in - wow, I really needed more days like this!
Then when we got home, I received a note from the coffeeshop that they had completely sold out of EVERYTHING from Monday and needed an entire stock of goodies for Tuesday - ugh! I mean, it's a compliment that the items I'm baking are going over so well, but I was back to work full time for the Bank on Tuesday, had Shelby on island visiting (funny that I just replaced "in town" with "on island), and really can't afford spending 4 hours a day baking. But of course I did ... and for the first time, I had a bit of a breakdown since I DIDN'T WANT TO BAKE. What? Me? Not wanting to bake? Who had I become?!? I didn't want to spend the time and energy grocery shopping, baking, and cleaning ... especially when I had done it all the night before and I just wanted to enjoy ONE night off! So over the course of the rest of the week, the former "joy" of baking has officially turned into a "job" ... which I find myself no longer enjoying. I am quickly realizing that I love to bake when it is for my friends ... and on my time. And one item a week or so ... not 4 items 4 times a week! I am curious how I would feel if I did not already have a full-time job - or if I would still enjoy baking if it were my full-time job - or if it will always be something to enjoy as a hobby only.
So Monday night, we made everything again. Delivered on Tuesday, then back to work. Of course of all days, my internet connection was down, so I frantically made a few phone calls and was lucky to catch Kirby and Andy and be able to work from their place during the day. And back to work I was ... I hit their couch just in time for my first conference call ... and didn't move all day. Of course most of my co-workers had been off the past two weeks, so we all had a lot of catch up work to do. Kirby and Andy and their friends walked into their place at 6, to me still sitting on the couch working in the dark. What a welcome back! Luckily I was soon able to logoff, then 9 of us met for dinner at Rowdy Joes. Thankfully, Lisa had the day off, so I'm glad she and Shelby had the day to enjoy together, especially since I wouldn't have made a good host that day. I was definitely exhausted after an unexpected 4 hours of baking, then a non-stop day of work!
Wednesday we woke up to blaring music ... and I mean early. What kind of parades start at 5am? Well, all part of the Crucian Christmas festival we found out! Shelby spent some time walking and checking it all out, then I did take a break over lunch where the festivities were still going. On one hand, it was good to see some of the island culture, but on the other hand, I quickly realized how much I enjoyed the usual peace and quiet (once you get past the roosters at least). We ate from the street vendors - I had a roti (chick pea tortilla with chicken and potatoes in a Caribbean curry sauce - delicious!) and peanut punch (best drink ever - and a good add to coffee!), while Shelby had roasted goat. I tried a bite and it was good! Back to work for me, back to the beach for Shelby, then we ended up staying in again that night to bake. Shelby had been out and about for most of the day, but I did feel bad not "entertaining". We had another dinner of wine and cheese, but I almost didn't feel right about staying in again. Looking back, I wonder if maybe I'm so used to being out that too many nights in made me a little stir-crazy (Goal 1: Finding a happy medium so I don't have to be out all of the time, yet I don't go crazy by staying in - I guess it makes a difference working from home as well, since I enjoy the break from the apartment after being inside all day). The good news is, we got all the baking done again (and Shelby was an excellent assistant, taste-tester, cleaner, etc.), so at least it felt productive, but I was just afraid it did not feel like vacation for her.
Same kind of day on Thursday, and we broke for lunch at Polly's. I will say everything I have ever had there is delicious (of course I refuse to buy any of my own stuff!). So I do think it is a great little shop (though overpriced ... especially seeing how much they charge for items, knowing what they pay me!), but I guess it is also teaching me a lesson in the industry. That evening we were finally in for a nice sunset, so I forced myself away from the computer to walk down to Sandcastles to enjoy the view - again, another little reminder of why I moved down here and that I need to take time to stop and smell the roses. We all then headed to Rhythms for what was our closest taste of trivia victory yet! Shelby ... or as she was nicknamed my "Know It All Wildcard" ... has quite a talent when it comes to Trivial Pursuit ... and we ended up getting beat by one point! So disappointing that we were so close ... but we did have a lot of fun.
Our gameplan for Friday was for me to get up and do a few hours of work, take a mid-day 4 hours of vacation, then I needed to be back for a 3pm meeting. I woke up with some time to spare and thought getting the grocery store trip out of the way first thing would be a good start, but before we left I checked my email and had a last minute request for desserts at Polly's. I frantically looked around the kitchen to see what I could make since I was out of eggs ... scotcheroos it was. When Shelby woke up and I was already worked up, she was like "why are you all stressed out already this morning?" I told her I had to bake for Polly's ... and she reminded me that "NO", I did not have to do anything (when it is usually an every other day schedule - with a few day before requests in recent weeks - definitely nothing day of). So of course I ran out of corn syrup and was unable to make the scotcheroos ... I debated going to the grocery store then to get supplies ... and again, she reminded me of all the other plans and obligations I had already made for the day ... which really did not give me any time to make any desserts. She also reminded me that I couldn't just drop everything else anytime they made a last minute request and let them expect I would always have the flexibility and willingness to do so. I struggled back and forth, but finally responded that I unfortunately did not have the time or any ingredients to make desserts that day. Instead of feeling like it was their fault since I had no advance warning, I still felt like I let them down (Goal 2: Not to feel bad about saying no).
So after the first "no" in a long time, we made a mad dash to the grocery store ... and that's when we got stuck in Parade #2 traffic. The children's parade was on Friday, and I sure didn't expect half of the roads closing down, again especially so early in the morning! Of course this just added to my already stressful morning, since I needed to be back for work, wasn't sure of my way around on the backroads in some not so nice parts of the island, etc. I finally got done what needed to be done in the morning, then Shelby and I headed to Carambola Resort to hike to the tide pools. What a great few hours hiking and sitting down for lunch on a beautiful day with a gorgeous view. Again, it is amazing when I appreciate the opportunities I have for living here and need to take advantage of more often! We were sitting at lunch, and I enjoyed the feeling that I was on vacation for once. We had just enough time for what should have been making it back for my meeting ... not envisioning that the roads would still be closed ...ugh! Luckily we finally made it home, I was able to finish my work and get a head start on Saturday's baking assignment, then we met up with Lisa and Jeff for an awesome Greek dinner and live Blue Grass music.
After this morning's delivery (with an extra dessert to make up for missing yesterday), we had a nice relaxing morning. Sat on the balcony as we drank our coffee (which one of us made every morning ... the first time I had even used the coffee pot ... and thanks Dport for the coffee!) - again, something I need to do more often, when I look at the amazing view I have and have so quickly taken for granted. We had been hearing all week about the adults' parade, so all we really thought about were additional road closures, leaving early for the airport, etc. We walked downtown to check it out as it was just starting ... talk about the slowest moving parade ever! Instead of sticking around for more of the parade (which I caught on tv a good 6 hours later ... and WOW, when I sent Shelby pictures her response of "Sweet Jesus" was absolutely appropriate - pretty much all of the local women wearing as little clothing as possible having a booty-shake competition throughout the streets), we decided to hit the beach for one last hour before she had to head back. It was crazy how it hit me on the drive to the airport how quickly the week flew past. How I wasn't ready for her to leave. How I felt that we still needed to do more "vacation" like things, since it felt like I worked all week. I mean, I anticipated the tears when she dropped me off at the CLT airport when I was moving down here, but they came as more of a surprise today. Shelby assured me that she had a nice, relaxing vacation (which is the purpose of a beach trip), but I'm just bummed that we didn't have the type of week I envisioned. I guess God sent Shelby down this week since she is one of my absolute best friends - to have someone I love and trust remind me that I came down here for a reason and I'm not fulfilling that purpose - that I live in paradise and I have the ability to make my own choices that determine my happiness, and shouldn't have the bank or the coffeeshop or anything or anyone else to blame.
I made a pitstop at the store on my way home from the airport and realized how exhausted I was, so a night in was definitely in store. I need to stop running myself ragged to the point where when I finally have some free time, I am so tired that all I want to do is sleep and take a social-hiatus from the rest of the world (back to Goal 1 of finding that happy medium) ... though, all my CLT friends could say that's what I've done the past two years as well ... go go go, then need a complete break by myself to re-charge.
Interesting that if you would have asked me a few weeks ago how long I would be down here, I definitely would have said a lot longer than the 6 months I planned ... I was already making plans for "next year's" boat parade, Christmas cards, etc. (speaking of, thanks to all of you who sent me Christmas cards. I ordered mine and knew they would be late a few days late, but now the company can't even track the shipment!). But something has happened lately where I feel that I've lost a lot of the clarity that I thought I was on track to find ...
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