Christmas for two.

Christmas 2009 London.

Bull and I spent Christmas in London this year. Instead of flying home we decided to save our money and use some of it to take a trip while Brandon was on break from school. Christmas definitely wasn't the same without all of our family but we made it special in our own way.

We spent most of the week lounging around at home watching Christmas movies and enjoying just being lazy with each other. Christmas began with us waking up late and opening the gifts that we purchased for each other. After gifts Bull cooked us a big breakfast of eggs, bacon, and homemade cinnamon rolls that I had made the day before. After eating we played cards and Wii for the rest of the afternoon until it was time to start cooking dinner. I cooked a traditional dinner with turkey, green beans,

mac-n-chz, and sweet potatoes, and it was delicious!

After dinner we relaxed on the couch and watched a few of our favorite Christmas movies together. All in all the day was great. Spending Christmas just the two of us actually turned out to be a great experience. We really enjoyed our

quaint little Christmas but we look forward to spending the rest of our holidays with family! Holidays are meant to be spent surrounded by tons of family.

The money we saved from not flying home is being spent on a trip to

Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. We are staying in an all inclusive resort right on the beach, called Hauza Resort. We both are looking forward to being in warmer weather and just lounging on the beach. Can't wait!!

Revelations... or not.

Having a lot of extra time on your hands allows you to think a lot about what you want in your future. I love to travel and live the adventurous life that I live but it doesn't come without consequences. I have so many things to be grateful for and I absolutely am thankful for every opportunity that I've been given. I have experienced many things that most people will never have the chance to do in their lifetime and I have the Lord to thank for all my blessings.

But......like I said, it's not all perfect.

There are several things I've realized from living abroad the past several years.

1. Nothing! Absolutely NOTHING compares to being a home with friends and family!! The number one problem with living and traveling all throughout the world is that it can get extremely lonely at times. Most of my days are spent doing things by myself, whether it's just hanging out at home or site seeing around town, most of it is alone. Grant it there are many days that Brandon and I do things together but with his school and the future of his job, it is my reality that we won't be doing most things together.

2. Weather is everything! Warm weather definitely makes the difference in your ability to do a lot of things. I appreciate cold weather but I think 2 months is plenty for me. I'm a warm weather kind of person and would rather live in a place that doesn't have real winters, i.e. TEXAS!

3. I will never be a stay-at-home anything (mom, wife, girlfriend, etc.)!! I have this internal need to always be doing something productive. I need to feel like I'm making something of myself and doing something important. Now, I know that being a stay-at-home mom is extremely important and it can have many benefits for children but for my life I think it would actually be worse. I am happiest when I'm working and doing things I love. School keeps me occupied for now but it doesn't bring in the big bucks! LOL. I enjoy being a multi-tasker, the more stuff I have to do, the better! So I'm really looking forward to being back to a place where I can work and feel like I'm being productive. I want to feel like I'm making a contribution and not being able to make money makes me feel like I have no place.

With all that said, I still want to stress that I am so grateful to be where I am and to be able to do the things I get to do. I love traveling and seeing the world and being around to support Brandon. I miss my family, friends, warm weather, and working but I know those are all things that I can always go back to and will be there no matter what. I have my whole life to work and live in my favorite state with my favorite people but for now I'm content with the way things are. The saying is true, In order to truly appreciate what you have, you have to live without it first.

Swiss Cheese please!

This last weekend we decided to take a little weekend trip to Switzerland. Our adventure began by flying in to Zurich and meeting up with friends for dinner and drinks around the town. The next morning we got up a little early to catch the train to Interlaken. It took about two hours to get there but the scenery was amazing. Once we got into Interlaken we decided to just stroll around town to see what we could find. We stumbled upon a train station that (for a "small" price) would take you up to the top of a few of the Swiss Alps. 200 Francs later we were on our way up! We took two trains and two gondolas to finally get to the top. Of course we stopped a few places along the way to take pictures but once we were at the top the view was out of this world. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful it was up there, and the pictures don't do it justice. It was a view I will never forget and something I am very grateful I got to see. After tons of pictures, a snowball fight and soup at the revolving restaurant we headed back down the mountain. By the time we got to the bottom is was dinner time so we decided to try out some authentic Swiss cheese fondue for dinner. Lets just say it was an experience involving way too much cheese!

Day 3 was the day the boys planned to go skydiving in the morning, so the rest of us decided to stroll around town to see what we could find. After a little shopping and thinking we stumbled on a bike rental shop where we rented a few bikes and then made our way back through town. We stopped off at our hotel to drop a few things off and get some advise from the owner on where to go. After a little talking and instruction we headed out towards the lakes and mountains. For some reason "hills" never crossed my mind when I thought about going through the mountains. Hmm funny.

Anyway, the beginning of the ride was amazing, the views were gorgeous the ride was easy, and the weather was perfect. As we made our way further and further down the side of the lake the ride got a little more tough with every hill. It got so tough that eventually we just got off the bikes and walked them up the hills just so we could get a little further up the mountain. The owner of our hotel told us about this great waterfall that we needed to see but that we had to go up and down a few hills before we could get there. A few was an understatement! About 6 hills in and 2.5 hours later we still had not reached the town were the waterfall was located. With our rental time running out we decided to just turn around and enjoy the views on the way down the mountain. We stopped off along the way a few times to just relax by the giant lakes and take a few pictures as well. I can't even begin to tell you how beautiful this country is, it's something out of a movie!

After making it back to town and returning our bikes we decided to stop at a little pastry shop and get a coke and a snack. I have to admit that was the best coke I've ever had in my life! Not sure if it was the fact that we hadn't had anything to drink in four hours or that the coke cost almost $4 but it was amazing!

The rest of the trip consisted of strolling around town site-seeing and shopping and a little chocolate fondue as well as a few other Swiss foods.

This trip was one of the best trips I've ever been on. The views and experiences are something I'll never forget. If you ever get the chance, go to Switzerland, it was amazing!!

Moving to London

It's official, we live in London. I've been here for about 2 weeks now and Bull's been here 4. I really love it here!! The weather has been beautiful lately, nothing like I expected! It's getting colder each week but its so different from the cold in Texas, it's kind of nice. Everyone kept telling me that it would be nothing but cold, rainy and foggy but it has actually been quite the opposite. Today was the first day that it rained for more than an hour and the sun has come out each day. One day it was so nice we took a run through the park without even needing any long sleeves.

Our apartment is all that I hoped it would be. It is taking a while to get all things together that we need but it is coming together and looking really cute. Our TV came today as well as the cable man to hook up the Internet, cable, and telephone lines. We having an amazing bay window in our living room that overlooks the neighborhood and roads outside of our flat. As soon as we get couch covers and a few other decorative things I'll post a few pictures for everyone to see.

Life is beginning to become normal again, now that we are getting situated. We joined the gym, only about a 10 minute walk from our place, which I love love love! It is so nice! Tons of different cardio machines, weight machines and classes to keep me occupied. It even has a spa and hair salon that I can't wait to tryout!

It's good to have our own place again and feel like our lives are back to normal. I love it here and I know Brandon will have a tough time convincing me to leave. I look forward to the upcoming adventures and sightseeing to come.

Valentines 2008 blog

Here's another! Valentines Day 2008

written February 16, 2008

So it's time to brag a little! I had the most wonderful Valentine's day ever. Brandon did all the planning himself, I am so proud to say that he is mine! He planned a dinner cruise for the two of us Thursday night. The cruise was so much fun. The food was awesome and the views were perfect. It was our first time getting to see the island from the water and it looked even more beautiful than on land. It made me so happy to be in such a wonderful place! Anyway, I knew he had something planned for the next day but he kept it a surprise till then. All he told me was that we needed to get up super early and pack a small bag with one pair of extra clothes. We got up at 6:30 Friday morning and left for the port in Marigot. We took a 30 minute ferry to one of the other islands around St. Maarten called Anguilla. Anguilla is even more beautiful than St. Maarten. It is so much more quiet and the beaches are much more private. The island isn't swarmed with tourists, which was a nice change. Once we got there we took a taxi to the lower half of the island where he had a horse back ride on the beach planned. I was so surprised, I had racked my brain trying to think of what he had planned and this never crossed my mind. We rode on the beaches for about 2 hours, it was soooo romantic! The beach was so beautiful and we were the only ones there. The views were awesome and it was really cool walking on the shore with the water splashing up on our legs. After we got back to the stables the taxi came back and took us to Shoel Bay where we had lunch on the beach. The sand was even more white than St. Maarten's beaches and the weather was perfect. We hung out on the beach the rest of the afternoon. I felt so special that he had planned all this for me without me even knowing anything. He really went above and beyond to show me how he felt this Valentine's day! It was so nice to spend some quality alone time together, especially since we don't get to do that very often because of his school! He is such a wonderful person and I am so thankful that he went through all this trouble just for me! It was the most perfect day ever!

Found an old blog from 2007... good to look back.

I found a blog that I had written back in December 2007. A lot has changed in the past two years but its funny that a few things are similar. This was written right after we moved to St. Maarten and I remember going through everything that is written in this blog like it was yesterday. Now I'm going through something similar with moving London. It's so exciting to see progress and to be able to look back and reminisce. Man if I had only known what was to come...

So here it is: Blog from December 2007

So this has been one crazy year! There have been so many ups and downs. The year started off with graduation in December and a new job in January. I loved my job in the beginning. It was great to be able to work with several girls who were such great friends, or so I thought. I lost one friend who I wish I never would have meet in the first place and gained two that I can never imagine living without. There was so much drama that came from that job that it became the thing I hated most in my entire life. Me and Brandon went through so much together and we came out stronger and better people because of it. Our relationship reached a new level of trust and commitment that I never thought possible.

In May we found out that he had been accepted to medical school in the Caribbean. It was an exciting and fearful time. It was a long planning process and so much thought went into the decision to move to St. Maarten. Many people think that we both dove right in and up rooted our lives to another country but it took so much thought, planning and discussing. I bet I talked to my mom everyday for about 3 months about the decision to move down there. I laughed about the excitement and cried about the fear. I discussed other possiblilites but nothing seemed to matter but being able to be with my one true love! I am so blessed to have meet someone who can take my breath away just by hearing their voice on the phone. I knew deep down in my heart that moving with him would be the best thing for the both of us and that it would be the experience of a lifetime.

As the time grew closer to the move it seemed even more sureal. I talked the decision to death with my friends and family trying to ease their worries and concerns and my own. It really made me feel special that I had so many people that were concerned about my well-being and safety. I knew that the move would be hard for me but I never imagined that it would effect my family and close friends. It is a great feeling to know that your friends are happy about your new life elsewhere but sad to see you go. Once the time came to begin packing it was more intense then I thought it would be. My mom and I worked together for several days to prepare and pack anything and everything that I would ever need or want and could fit into two 50 pound bags (which is more difficult than most would think). Of course nothing I ever do comes easy and without event. After going to the airport at 5am we find out that our plane has been cancelled because there were not enought employees to work the plane. We got transfered to another airline and instead of reaching our connection in Charollette, NC we got sent to Puerto Rico. We thought "okay one delay, no big deal we'll still make it within an hour or so of our original flight" but no that flight was cancelled as well due to a hurricane ripping through the Caribbean islands. After spending the night in the airport, lugging our luggage around all night and sitting for a few hours at the terminal we finally made it to ST. MAARTEN! It was absolutely beautiful, the weather was perfect and we were greeted by so many friendly people. Our apartment was more than we ever imagined, especially since we never saw one picture before we arrived! Everything seemed to be going perfect. Brandon's mom traveled with us and stayed for two weeks to help us settle in. It was a great beginning to the semester. We have so many pictures to look back on and cherish.

The first month was rough, I have to admitt. It was lonely and hard to adjust to being in a new place practically all alone. After becoming more involved I meet several other girls that were so friendly and a blast to hang out with. I was greatful that I knew someone that moved from our same town, which made it a little easier to attend group functions. After several weeks a few of us girls formed a "Grey's night" where we brought food to munch on while we got to know each other better and of course watched Grey's Anatomy. Before we new it the group had grown from about 3-4 girls to almost 8-10 by the end of the semester. It is amazing how so many girls with different interests, backgrounds, and upbringings could become so close but that is exactly what happened. I have formed friendships with girls in 4 months that I know will last a lifetime. Our area around the school is like a little community of students where everyone knows everyone and where we all try to watch out for one another. It's great to be able to walk to almost everywhere we need to go.

Moving closer to the time to come home and visit, we both became extremely anxious. We were so ready to see all of our family. Once we arrived back in the states it felt almost as if we had never left. We were busy everyday visiting with family, friends and trying to eat at every restaurant that we had missed so much. The holidays came and went so fast. We tried to spend as much time as possible with everyone that we had missed. We spent the days stocking up on everything we thought we would need back on the island and the nights eating out with friends and family. Before I knew it, it was time for Brandon to head back to the island and our Holiday break was over. And that was it, the end of 2007.

I have to say that this year has been the most life changing and exciting years of my life yet. I have learned so much and matured so much in the past year. First, of all I learned to choose your friends wisely and don't believe everything you hear. Trust your instincts and don't let people get in your head that are just trying to hurt you. Second, I learned that although something may seem scary and intimidating it can be the one thing that changes your life for the better, so don't be afraid to try new things. Thirdly, I have gained so much more trust and love for Brandon. Everyone that I am close to knows that I have major trust issues with everyone even if they have done nothing wrong. I feel like since this big move I have learned to listen to my heart and believe the things I see not the things I hear. I feel like I have gotten to know Brandon on a whole new level and now I feel like I know more of who the true Brandon is. He is so soft hearted and thoughtful but in his own little way. He tries so hard to do things to make me happy and he has been very successful. I'm so blessed to have someone with such great ambition and drive, did I mention he made honors this last semester! He has a way of making me feel like the most beautiful person in the world and at the same time he makes me want to work harder to be better. I still have a long way to go with trust but I know that I'm moving in the right direction. There are so many people in this world that try so hard to tear you down and no matter what you do you can't control the things other people do to you but the one thing you can control is yourself and how you react to others actions. I have learned that prayer and family can get you through anything. Satan tries so hard to tear apart something that he knows is great but if you keep looking to the Lord for guidance you will be able to defeat those demons. I can honestly say that this has been one crazy, fun filled year. I can't believe I made it to 2008 but I am looking forward to what the future holds. If 2007 was this great just imagine 2008! The adventure has just begun and I am ready to embrace anything that the Lord has in store for me. On to the next chapter in my life!

Love,

Steph

Vegas, baby!

Amanda, Elizabeth and I decided to take a girls trip to Vegas! It was the best idea all summer, we had an absolute blast!!

Too many funny stories to tell :) !!

Best things included:

Ride at Stratosphere (thought I would die!!!)

Night club LAX - danced our butts off, meet a wannabe celebrity LOL, and stayed out waaayyyy too late.

Shopping at La Perla

Laughing at Amanda and her toothbrush remedy, that absolutely DID NOT work!! LOL.

Plus many many more . . .

Wish we would have had more time but I don't think our feet could have danced one more step!

Frustration!

We have begun the process of looking for a apartment (flat) in London. The process has been extremely frustrating!!!! Every time I find something we like, it's either already let out or it's way too expensive. I hate not being able to look at these places in person because I'm sure it would be much easier. I have found tons of beautiful, affordable flats no where near were we need to be. LOL!

Needless to say I'm growing more frustrated with every email and website. I guess the best thing to do is to stay positive because it always works out. Just needed to vent a little. :) Hopefully my next post will be an update stating we've found something wonderful!

Until then I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Wisconsin/Illinois

About 2 weeks ago my little sister and I traveled to Wisconsin on an impromptu trip to visit some of her extended family that she has never meet before. The circumstances were not exactly favorable but some very good things came from the trip.

Background: My little sister Cameron was raised by my father since age 1, she has never actually meet her real father but began talking with him on the phone around 4 years ago. There was tension, which is understood since he was never involved but she still wanted to get to know him a little bit. Unfortunately he passed away in

a car wreck about 3 weeks ago.

The plan for the weekend of the 25th was for me

to come down to Houston for my littlest sister Lura's birthday. I drove through Lovelady to pick up Cameron so we could ride together. As soon as I walked through the door and I saw the look on her face I knew she wanted to go to his funeral. I told her if she wanted, I would go with her. Needless to say 12 hours later we were on a plane headed to Wisconsin. (Remember, neither of us has meet any of the fam

ily we are headed to visit)

The entire weekend was happy and sad all at the same time. Cameron was so blessed to meet all of this extra family. One of the highlights was being able to meet Cameron's half sister and brother, all of who had never meet each other. It was extremely weird for the both of us because Cameron looked like the girl version of her older brother. I was so shocked at how quickly the clicked and how they became inseperable throughout the entire weekend.

The funeral was extremely sad. Even though I knew nothing about this man, I knew he had many people that love

d and respected him. He seemed like he had really changed his life since his younger years.

His family made us feel very comfortable and it was great to hear all the funny stories about his life. We spent our time visiting his work, home, and hangout place as well as getting to know friends and family. The weekend was such an eye-opener for the both of us.

All I kept thinking was how blessed we both were to have my dad in our lives. My dad has been such a wonderful father. Even though my sister and I don't always get along, I'm so greatful she's my little sister. I love her very much and I was thankful to get to go with her on such a life changing trip.

Lesson #1: Love your family with all your heart, soul, and mind because you never know when the good Lord will take them to be with him.

Lesson #2: Make sacrifices for the one's you love, even when you think they don't appreciate it.

Lesson #3: No situation is not working talking through. Never leave mad and always tell the one's you love what you mean to them.

Cameron I love you so much and I'm so glad that you got to meet a whole other side of your family. Dad I love you so much too, thank you for being such a wonderful dad and always staying involved in mine and my sister's lives. You are such an amazing role model and you mean the world to me!!

Shopping Adventures...to say the least

So of course anyone who knows me knows that I adore shopping. I mean truthfully if I could I would make it my profession, except I would want to keep everything for my self!!

Anyway, there have been a few shopping trips that I've been on the have proven to be unique to say the least.

The first one begins with the rumor that one of my favorite boutiques in Tyler was having a huge blowout sale at their warehouse. So after hearing this I knew I had to find it. Brandon was such a good sport and took me to search for this "hidden" warehouse. Finally after many failed attempts at the rumored location we finally find it about 5 miles on the outskirts of Tyler in an unmarked previously vacant store. Apparently this little sale only happens once a year so it's not something that is hugely advertised and they apparently don't pick the same location each year to have this warehouse sale. Anyway, we finally found the place and it took me no time at all to load Brandon's arms with designer threads that were about one-third of the retail price. The store was organized by price which is something that is hard for me to pay attention to when I can use the excuse "but it's like 80% off", even though it's still not super cheap. After rummaging through several of the racks Brandon convinces me that I should probably start eliminating things by trying them on. As I head towards the back of this not so large store, I notice a giant curtain covering the back wall of the store. I proceeded to ask the associate for a dressing room and she just points to the large curtain and says "Maim I hope you don't mind but it's a communal dressing room." My first thought was ummmm ok this can't be that bad, but as I walk through the curtain I realize it's not a dressing room at all, it's just a large room with a couple of empty racks to hang your "try-on" clothes on and a few large mirrors placed against the surrounding walls. Normally I'm not a shy person when in front of my friends but to be trying on clothes in front of complete strangers was a whole new experience. There was one other girl in the room at the time so I made sure I was on the complete opposite side of the room from her. Once I began trying on clothes the awkwardness of the situation went away and all I could think about was the amazing pieces that I was going to get! :) One thing that I was thankful for was that there was really only about 3 other people in the store at the same time. After finding several things that I knew I could not live without I would just take them out of the dressing area to Brandon and he would give me a thumbs up or down. During my last set of try-ons I again found myself in the dressing area with another lady. I don't know about everyone else but normally if I'm half naked in front of a complete stranger trying on clothes I don't really feel the need to ask advise or conversate with that person. I guess though this lady didn't feel the same way. She kept coming over and asking what I thought about her outfits and wanting me to help her choose, needless to say it was very awkward standing there in nothing but my undies trying to cover my bare top in an un-obvious way but eventually she just went away.

After all of this interesting shopping experience I walked away with a beautiful pea coat, a great pair of designer blue jeans and two absolutely gorgeous Diane Von Furstenburg dresses that I am madly in love with!!! I smile just thinking about the experience because it was so unusual yet very successful!! :)

Going to be an Aunt again...well kind of!

Well Brandon's middle sister, Amanda, is pregnant. We are both pretty excited about it, even though we won't be around for the birth and the first few months. 

Right now she is about 10 weeks along, and due in early January. 

I'm really really really hoping it's a girl!! 

Keep her in your prayers! 

Living for the weekends

We've been back in Texas now for a little over one month. Brandon is so busy studying over 10 hours a day preparing for his test on June 29th. He has been so devoted to making sure he gets the best possible grade on his boards. I miss him so much because we live about 40 minutes away from each other. Truthfully it's probably the best thing for him right now because I'm not around to distract him and he can study in peace and quiet. I've been working with my step dad during the week and staying busy on the weekends doing things with family and friends.

The first weekend I was home was my mom's big surprise 50th birthday party. It was sooo much fun! The DJ was a blast, the food was amazing, and my mom was totally surprised. It couldn't have turned out any better.

A few weekends later was one of my friend's wedding shower. We haven't seen each other since Christmas so it was good to catch up. Her wedding isn't far away and I couldn't be happier for her.

The weekend after that I planned a lingerie shower for her. I was so proud of myself for planning it all by myself. I never really realized how difficult it was to get things like this together but it was so much fun. We had great food and wine and had a blast watching her open her treasures for the honeymoon.

After the shower was over my sister and a few of her friends came over wanting to go out dancing. We decided to go to Electric Cowboy, which is one of the few fun clubs in Tyler. Since my sister and her friends are usually dressed in boots and jeans I decided to wear my cute little cowgirl boots too. We had so much fun dancing, joking around and having a few drinks. It was a great night out with the girls.

The next weekend was Memorial weekend which is traditionally the weekend we all go to the river. Although Brandon was not able to go I still decided to go with our friends. There were four of us girls who didn't have our boyfriend or husband there so we all stayed in a room together. The river was kind of low this year but it didn't stop us from having fun. It was a great weekend, the only thing that could have made it better was Brandon being able to be there.

The last weekend of May was my little sister Cameron's high school graduation. I went to Lovelady Friday night so I could spend some extra time with my dad and family. Her senior class was only about 35 people so the ceremony went by pretty quickly and we headed home for dinner and cake. My sister had a cake made from our awesome cake lady and it became the life of the party! My little sister really enjoys doing outdoorsy things with her boyfriend. They do a lot of hog hunting together so we decided to have her cake designed as a hog with a graduation hat on. It came out so amazing. The best part was that the inside cake part was red velvet so when you cut into it, it looked like blood. (Which was kind of disgusting!!)

The next day I spend the day riding around with my dad looking at all his deer blinds, refilling deer feeders and shooting his new gun. We also road four-wheelers and just spent the day visiting and munching on good food. It was an all around relaxing, fun weekend. I love spending time in the country with my dad.

This last weekend was my family reunion. Every year we have our reunion at the same place, Whispering Pines in Red Springs. Every year this place gets better and better. I really enjoyed seeing everyone and spending time with family. We spent most our day hanging out by one of the pools watching the kids play. The food was very yummy and the company was even better. I always look forward to this weekend each year. It was a great day!

The next several weekends will be jam packing with traveling and plans. I am having such a blast this summer but I am more than ready for Brandon to be done with his test so he can join in on all the fun activities. This weekend he is tarring himself away from the books to go to a Ranger's game on Friday. The following weekend my mom and I are driving to Dallas for a shopping trip. And only one week later my friend is getting married and I get to be part of her special day. 

Brandon takes his test only two days later, June 29th and I can't wait!!

Home at Last

Tuesday we had our last day in St. Maarten. We had lunch with friends at Sunset Beach bar one last time. It was a beautiful day and great to get to see our friends our last day on the island. It was very sad to say goodbye. After lunch we boarded a small bus to the airport. Our plane took off from St. Maarten at 4:20pm. We had several other students on our flight. Once to Charlotte, NC we decided to have Mexican food for dinner. Sina, one of Brandon's friends joined us for dinner and afterward we headed our separate ways. Our second flight boarded at 10:10, we lost track of time a little bit at dinner and barely boarded our flight in time.
We arrived in Houston at 11:35, where Dad and Grandaddy where there to pick us up.
The next day while Dad went to work I had Brandon drop me off at the closest mall. Brandon studied of course. I spent the entire day shopping at all the stores I had missed while gone. I have to admit that I did not exhibit much self-control during my shopping spree. The day ended with a dinner out with family at one of our favorite Mexican food restaurants. It feels so great to be around family again and back home to Texas. I look forward to a great summer!

Cooper with our suitcases, he's excited for his Aunt and Uncle to be home!! :)

Days like this...

Today was one of those days you just thank the Lord for all the things you are blessed with. Yesterday Brandon took his final comp to finish his fifth and final semester at AUC, so this weekend we decided to spend it celebrating and enjoying our last few days in St. Maarten. Some of our friends were telling us about a place near the airport that you can rent small boats for full or half days, so we decided today was the perfect day for riding around the island. The boat was small but perfect for two, with plenty of extra room for our cooler and snorkel gear. We began our drive towards the Marigot bridge and continued around Friar's Bay, Happy Bay, and stopped at Creole Rock for a little snorkeling. We saw some amazing fish and beautiful coral. After snorkeling we continued on to Anes Marcel and even further to a beach we had never even heard of. We stopped there and just lounged in our boat and enjoyed the rays. We did a little swimming and took tons of pictures. After exploring a little we decided to go back towards Marigot to have lunch among all the sailboats and yachts. We parked our little boat right in the middle of the bay and enjoyed our little boat picnic. After lunch we went back through the channel across the lagoon and to get a great view of all the mega yachts and hidden resorts that you can't see from the roads. We continued on to the dutch side, through the Simpson Bay bridge and over to Sunset Beach, where the planes take off. The water was a little more rough on this side since it was actual open water but it was worth seeing from the ocean. We sat right in front of the beach by the airport to try to get a video of planes landing and taking off from an ocean point of view. As I was filming a plane coming right over our heads my video camera died and I wasn't able to get it. I was so disappointed because it is very rare that planes take off in the opposite direction. It felt like the plane was coming right AT US! It was a scary feeling but also so neat! By this point our time on the boat was dwindling and it was time to return to the dock. On the way back we had to head back into the waves, which seemed kind of scary because they felt bigger than before. As we were rounding our last turn to head back into Simpson Bay beach we kept having the feeling like the boat was raising up in the front. It felt as though we were going nowhere fast! I asked Brandon if he thought something was wrong so he decided to stop for a second to check if seaweed had possibly rapped around the propeller or something. As I turned around to look at the engine I was shocked to see a large rope tied around the propeller that we had been dragging for who knows how long. I don't even want to know what was attached to the other side of the rope. I became very concerned because all I could think was "we are going to be stranded in open ocean, in a tiny boat, with no paddle or way to contact anyone to come get us!!" Needless to say we carefully untangled the rope and headed back to the dock as quickly as possible.
We had such a blast enjoying a different side of the island than we normally get to experience. I have to say that nothing is better than being on a boat, on a beautiful island with the person you love. We both agree that one day we would love to own some type of boat and live near a beach. We loved just exploring the island freely and getting to see things we haven't seen before. This was probably one of the best things we have ever done since we have been here. This is one day that I will be able to look back on and smile and think we are so blessed. It's days like these that I can look back and think, thank you Lord for moving us all the way to the Caribbean for medical school. I wish we would have figured out this little treasure sooner because we definitely would have done this several more times.

Farewell Lunch

Today was the 5th semester farewell lunch for all the spouses. Every semester the lunch is held at Pineapple Pete's. This isn't exactly my favorite restaurant but it still has pretty good food and the service is one of the best on the island. It's still a little sureal that we are leaving the island for good in less than a week. I've been to plenty of these lunches but it is really weird to think this one is our turn. It was good to have one last lunch with all the girls before its time for us to leave. Some girls I had to say good bye to for the last time and others I know I'll see at least one more time before I leave. And some girls decided not to say anything at all, which is okay because I didn't expect them to anyway. I guess that's something you have to expect coming to a place where everyone is forced to try to be friends, not everyone is going to like everyone but that's okay. I'm really going to miss a lot of these girls. I feel like we have become kind of a little family of sisters. The build up of this leave has been really weird and something like I've never experienced before. I'm excited to move on but very sad to leave my little family. It is truly bitter-sweat.

4 years!

Happy 4 year anniversary to us!
April 10th marks the 4 year anniversary of our first date. Our first date was a little cliche but definitely memorable. We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse and then went to the movies to see Miss Congeniality II. I remember the both of us being so nervous but still having such a wonderful time getting to know each other. He was a perfect gentleman; picking me up at my house, paying for the date, and not even attempting a good night kiss.
4 years later he still brings butterflies to my stomach when I see him smile.
Normally we don't really do much for our anniversary, mainly because it comes after a long series of holidays (Christmas, New Year's, Valentines Day, and my birthday), but this year we decided to do something a little more special.

We went to dinner at a 5 star restaurant called Le Santal. The atmosphere is what really drew me to the place but the food was amazing as well. Le Santal is located on the french side of the island tucked away behind an old neighborhood and is located right on the ocean edge. We were practically the only people there which made it feel like our own private restaurant. It was 5 course meal with each course being better than the last. I was really impressed and enjoyed every bite!
We also had a little entertainment while waiting for our main course, sting rays feeding on the ocean shore! It was one of the coolest things I've seen on the island. They are such beautiful creatures and it was so exciting to watch them feed.
The view was the best part, hands down!! We arrived just in time to watch the last 30 minutes of the sunset and it was amazing. All I can say is only in the Caribbean!
We always have a great time no matter where we go together but it was nice to do something extra special for our anniversary. Thank you baby for a wonderful 4 years and a wonderful anniversary night!
Love Love Love!

Changes to come...soon!

Today marks the two week countdown till we leave the island for good. I can honestly say that I really do love it here and have become used to calling this home. On the other hand, I am so excited to go home to my family and actually get to see them for more than a week at a time. I am mostly excited about spending the summer with my beautiful nephews. This will be a great summer for so many reasons. First of all I will in one of my best friend's weddings and I am planning a lingerie party for her as well. Secondly my best friend and I are planning a trip for late summer, possibly Las Vegas or California, haven't decided yet. Thirdly my little nephew CoyWayne is playing T-ball and I am super excited to attend as many games as possible. And lastly, I will be working 4 days a week with my step-dad and spending the 3 day weekend hanging out with the rest of my family. I am also excited to be able to go to my family reunion again this year and hopefully the river with friends.

I plan on living it up and spending as much time with family and close friends as I can during the summer, since we will be moving off again in late August. We have narrowed our clinical sites to either Kingston or Epsom, London.

Yesterday we started researching apartments, or as they call them in England flats, for the first time. We were both excited to find so many adorable places for surprisingly decent prices. The uncertainty of our next move reminds me of how I felt preparing for our move to St. Maarten. I was very nervous and anxious about what the new country would be like but this time I am surprisingly more calm. Don't get me wrong, I'm still anxious but this time it's more of an excited anxiety instead of a nervous anxiety. One thing that I learned from moving to St. Maarten is that no matter how much you think you have prepared, it will always work out for the best if you have confidence in yourself and in the Lord. This Sunday our sermon was partly about having faith in the Lord and giving up being worried all the time and just turning your uncertainty over to the Lord. I feel like this is something that really relates to me because I tend to "sweat the small stuff" a little too much. I need to be more confident that the Lord will guide us and keep us safe and happy, and not try to do everything myself. Brandon is so good about being carefree and just letting things happen, so for this move I'm going to try to be more like him and just relax, let things happen and just enjoy the ride.

Although I'm still unsure about how I feel about leaving in two weeks, I know that I am very excited for the next step. I never realized how many friends I would become so close to and how attached I would become to this little community that we live in. It's so nice to be around people that are going through the same things as you and that understand your excitement and frustrations. I have truly enjoyed our time here on the island and I know that I will really miss it when we are gone.

5th Semester Party

Last weekend was the 5th semester going away party. The party was located at Sonesta Great Bay Hotel in Philipsburg. This was our first time to go to this hotel and it was beautiful. We arrived at the hotel around 3pm to have time to check-in and relax before the party. The view and beach area were very nice and we really enjoyed lounging around on the beach before the party.

At around 6pm we began getting ready for the evening, although the cocktail hour began at 6:30, we were in no hurry and just enjoyed our room and the nice A/C. Around 7:15 we walked up to the party area to begin our night of friends, food, and dancing. The food was amazing, especially considering it was a buffet. I think we even ate a little more than we should have because we were stuffed!

We really enjoyed taking time to eat and visit with friends, but after about an hour it was time to dance. One of my favorite songs came on "At Last" so Brandon and I wasted no time getting out on the dance floor for a little slow dancing. We were the first to walk out there, but soon several others followed. After a few slow songs the real fun began. One of the 5th semester students is also a really great DJ, so he volunteered to be the DJ for the party. The music was great and we had a blast dancing the night away. I thought I was shocked at the way Brandon had danced the week before after wine and cheese but it was nothing compared to the fun I had watching him dance at the 5th semester party. Let me just say that the pictures don't do it justice, it was hilarious. Even thinking back I can't help but smile and laugh. We had so much fun and I can't wait for another excuse to get out and dance together.

The next day we slept in and enjoyed the huge comfy bed and nice "free" A/C! We walked around Philipsburg front street all afternoon and had lunch at the Greenhouse. It was an overall great weekend and a great way to say goodbye to the past 5 semesters on this beautiful island.

Perfect Mom!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Mooommmmm! Happy Birthday day to you!

Today my wonderful mother is 50 years old! I am very sad that I wasn't able to be home to help her celebrate but I know her day was made special by the family that was there. My sister was so thoughtful and helped plan a birthday surprise dinner for her at one of her favorite restaurants.

My sister shoe polished her car so everyone would know it was her birthday. (I'm not sure how excited about that she will be but she always has a good sense of humor.) And tonight she is having a girls night out to one of the best Latin restaurants in Tyler Villa Montez for dinner and drinks with friends.

Guess we'll have to think of a fun way to celebrate when I come home! (I vote shopping at Northpark!!!)
So since I couldn't be there I thought I would write the top 50 reasons why my Mom is so great!
1) She's my mom of course! :)
2) She has unconditional love for entire family
3) She loves the Lord and lives her life through him
4) She is very involved in many aspects of church and her community
5) She always has a smile on her face
6) She supports me and my sister in any choices we make
7) She is always there for advise or just a listening ear
8) She never makes a promise she can't keep
9) She has a wonderful marriage
10) She is the best friend
11) She is always optimistic
12) She pushes the ones she loves to be better
13) She would let me move back in if I wanted! :) lol
14) A day never goes by that she doesn't say "I love you"
15) She almost never raises her voice
16) She would go out of her way to help anyone; family, friend or stranger
17) She is beautiful and loves to get pampered
18) Although she doesn't cook very often, she is great at it!
19) She's very understanding
20) She loves to laugh
21) She loves to get the family together for no reason at all
22) She works hard for everything she has
23) She's creative and a great decorator
24) We both love love love to shop
25) She enjoys trying new things
26) She thinks family is the most important thing in life
27) She's always encouraging
28) She likes to do things herself
29) She is a great dresser and always knows what's in fashion
30) She knows how to make every occasion special
31) She is a wonderful Nana
32) She is one of those people you can talk to for the first time and think, "She is just so nice!"
33) She is easy to be around and even easier to talk to
34) She's a great motivator
35) She makes good choices in her own life and leads a good example for her family
36) She's a great dancer!
37) She is always thinking of ways to make people feel special
38) She gets excited over the small things in life
39) She is very protective of her children and grandchildren
40) You can always count on her to be there when you need her
41) She always shows her appreciation
42) We have so much in common and she takes interest in the hobbies of her family
43) She knows the importance of having a relationship with the Lord.
44) She loves to help others
45) The Lord blessed her with a kind heart
46) She will always take the initiative
47) She is very affectionate
48) She stays healthy and encourages us to stay that way as well
49) She can push through any hardship and come out better than before
50) She is a wonderful gift from God that I would be lost without!

Happy 50th Birthday Mom!! Have a great day because you deserve it! I love you tons and miss you more! See you in three weeks!

Wine and Cheese

One of my favorite events hosted by AUC is the Wine and Cheese Party. It's basically a party designed to give people the chance to sample dozens of different wines from all over the world, as well as different types of cheese and dishes that include cheese. The party is held at a professor's home, which is located right on the lagoon. The view and house are amazing and a perfect place to hold such an event.

The best part is getting dressed up in cocktail attire. We had such a great time eating, drinking and visiting with friends. The food was great and the wine was even better!

After the party a few of our friends went out to one of the piano bars on the island to continue the celebration. It's been a while since Brandon has been able to cut loose since he has been having several waves of tests and no down time. He definitely took advantage of our time out of the house. We had a great time dancing and just cutting loose. I have to say in all four years of being together I've never seen dance moves from him that I saw that night. I love to dance so I'm so thankful that I'm with someone that enjoys it just as much as I do. I have never laughed so hard in my entire life!! It was a blast!!

Reasons to Celebrate

March 17th has two great reasons to celebrate. One is of course because it's St. Patty's Day and two is because it's my parents anniversary.

My Mom and Dave have been happily married for 8 years now. They are such a wonderful couple and I pray everyday that I can have half the love and respect for my future husband as they have for each other.

Sometimes the love of your life comes when you least expect it and that is exactly what happened to the both of them. They seem to fall more in love with each other as the days go by. I feel so blessed to be in the presence of such a wonderful couple, that not only loves each other but loves the Lord. I know that their relationship is so wonderful because they make God the center of their marriage. What a great example they lead!

Thanks Mom for being not only a wonderful mother and friend but a great example to live by for being such a great wife to Dave.

This year St. Patty's day came at the same time my friend Tricia was visiting. We decided to spend the day at Mullet Beach since it was one of the first day's since they had been here that it was sunny all day. After spending the day at the beach we walked to Maho for Tricia's friend Amber to get her hair done and for me and Tricia to shop. After a few hours of shopping and waiting on Amber we walked home and rushed to get ready to meet our reservation time for dinner with all my girl friends that live on the island.

Dinner a Bamboo Bernie's was so fun, not to mention the festive food coloring that Jill brought to add to all of our drinks. After dinner we headed over to Sopranos Piano Bar for drinks and music. I had such a great time hanging out with all the girls. Thanks to all my island girls for welcoming my friends from home and showing them a great girl's night out!

I always love any reason to celebrate and St. Patty's Day is no exception. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dave and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Water is WHAT?!

So we all know that utilities on the island are kind of expensive. So because of this there are several major rules while living on the island.

1) The only time the A/C can be turned on is at night while sleeping.

2) Keep as many lights off as possible.

3) When you leave on break turn off as many breakers as you can.

4) Take quick showers (only one per day) and wash dishes as fast as possible.



Over Christmas break the breaker to our fridge blew and all of the meat in our freezer went bad and ruined our fridge and stunk up our entire house. Needless to say it was a horrifying experience. But our landlord was very helpful and bought us a new fridge the very next week. We've been pretty lucky thus far and hadn't had any incidents related to living on an island, so we thought, "ok it was our turn, this is our big incident."

Actually, that's when the troubles started. Our A/C unit stopped working not long after. After informing our landlord a maintance man came to fix it the next day without us here. Later that afternoon I came home from work and Brandon came home from school to find a note stating that they had been there and that the A/C was fixed now. I was pretty upset to find out that they had not informed us that they were coming and even more upset when I discovered that my I pod was missing. Of course no one would admit to anything so it became a lost cause. Strike #2.

The latest incident is the water. It seems as if the water going in and out all over the island is a never ending thing that we have come to expect. Knowing that we had been gone most of the month of December we looked forward to having a small utilities bill. Of course we prepared for this by turning off some of our breakers before we left. But the only thing you can look forward to on the island is the unexpected. Come the end of January when we recieved our utilities bill and was extremely surprised.

Electric was $167, which was a nice surprise and fairly low to what we are used to.

Water was $273!!!! Which is outragous considering we live in a studio apartment with no washer, dishwasher and a sink that is 12 inches by 12 inches!!



We tried to dispute it with our landlord but he was adament that we had to have used all of the 70 cubic meters of water in 10 days. With nothing left to do we just paid the bill and moved on.

But the water issue was not over, around noon two days ago the water went out again. I just thought it was an ordinary outage that occurs from time to time so I didnt think much about it. We went about our daily activites and when it came time for dinner and showers the water was still out. I became curious because the water is rarely out more than a few hours, so I began skyping friends to see how long their's had been out as well. I was surprised to find out that no one else's water was out, including our next door neighbors. Brandon encouraged me to investigate the situation (he was at school studying so he couldn't) so I took a flash light and walked outside to our water meter and found that the nozel to our water pipe was turned off. I started racking my brain of why it would be turned off and attempted to call our landlord which of course didn't answer. Well I decided to go ahead and turn on the nozel and do the things in the house I needed to do and then I would turn it off afterward. About midnight our landlord finally returned our phone call just to inform us that workers had turned off our water to do some work on the pipes and must have just forgotten to turn it back on.
So it was safe to leave on.



Sometimes it's hard not to feel like we are being taken a little advantage of when you can't really control what goes on in your own home. We have been blessed with such a great apartment at such a great price so I always feel guility complaining about little things like water and A/C that can be fixed pretty easily. It's hard to remember that these are luxuries and that most people around the world don't have such advantages. Sometimes I just wonder if the utilities company just picks a number amount to charge us each month but I need to keep in mind that we are so blessed to have clean water and cold air.

The end of our time on the island is coming quicker and quicker and although I look forward to not having to deal with situations like these, I still feel sad to leave such a wonderful place. We have been so blessed to be able to be part of such a beautiful island and have truly enjoyed our time here regardless of the little bumps in the road.

Days to remember

So I guess I can say that I'm officially getting old. J/K I am now in my mid-twenties!! I can remember being sixteen and thinking "Man, I wonder what my life will be like when I'm like 24!" It seemed like such a long way away, but time has flown by and I still feel like that same 16 year old.
I can say that one thing is certain, I am truly blessed with a wonderful family, great friends and a boyfriend that I could never have dreamed would have been so perfect for me. Last semester my best friend Jessica kept saying that she wanted to come back to St. Maarten for another visit. We talked about it and decided that the best time would be around my birthday. As the holidays rolled around she came to the conclusion that tickets were too expensive and that she would rather save her money to come visit us at our next adventurous location. I was disappointed but definitely understood and I left it at that, for the time being anyway.
Ok so everyone who was around me my birthday weekend knows how the next part of this story goes. I'm not sure how much they believe of it though, because most people know that I'm a nosey person and I can't control my urge to ruin a good surprise. I think I just hate the not being in the part of the secret. Crazy huh?!
Anyway, here goes... About 3 weeks into our last semester I was playing with Brandon's new I pod touch. Going through his music, then looking on his facebook (it's automatically logged in when you click the icon), and then looking on myspace. So as soon as I clicked on his myspace icon his mail popped up and I saw a message from Jessica. So not thinking anything about it I just opened the message and proceeded to read what I thought would just be normal chit-chat about what's been going on lately. But instead it was a message stating that she had bought her plane tickets to come visit for my birthday and that she wanted it to be a surprise. As soon as I read the message I couldn't help but smile and become extremely excited, yet I couldn't tell anyone which drove me crazy for a while. The fact that I couldn't hold it in anymore forced me to began telling my girl friends, which made me even more excited and antsy.
I was pretty good at hiding that I knew for about all of 2 days...After that I think they figured out that I knew, mainly because I kept whining about how I wished she was able to come and how I missed her so much. Brandon said it was over kill.
Anyway, neither one of us would admit that the other knew so we both kept the secret going. I began wondering if it was actually true because the day he was supposed to go get her (or at least the day I thought he was) Brandon decided he didn't need the car after all and he went on with his studies. Being overwhelmed with anxiety and excitement that I couldn't hold in anymore I began talking with friends about it again. One mentioned maybe I should check his mail again just to see if they had sent any messages back and forth, so that is exactly what I did. Peer pressure will get you every time!
After getting on his myspace and checking his mail I noticed an old message in his trash box from Jessica stating that she wouldn't be able to come after all because her grandfather died and she was going to use the tickets to fly to Alabama for his funeral. I was soooo upset after reading this message. I couldn't believe that I had ruined my own birthday surprise and on top of that I had built myself up and got so excited over nothing after all. I cried and instantly messaged one of my friends venting about how upset I was at myself and how disappointed I was that she wasn't coming after all.
To cut this short the message was a whole fake out just to trick me into thinking that she wasn't coming after all, since they said they knew that I knew about it all along.
She arrived on Wednesday afternoon and stayed for 5 days. It was such a great birthday weekend. I couldn't ask for a better best friend! She made my 24th birthday the best ever, with the help of Brandon of course.
I love my life and all the special people in it!!
Here is the list of things we did for my birthday weekend:
Day 1.) Dinner and drinks at Greenhouse
Day 2.) Pinel Island and dinner at Uncle Harry's (yummy lobster)

Day 3.) Lotterie Farm zip-linning, lunch at sunset and drinks at the yacht club followed by dinner with all my friends at La California in Grand Case and dancing at Tantra for their Mardi Gras party
Day 4.) Day trip to St. Barths. Beach hopping from St. Jean to Guanahani where we had a $18 6oz margarita. Dinner at Le Chalet, yummy fondue! and Drinks at Soggy Dollar
Day 5.) Slept in and had lunch at Lee's grill and shopping in Maho before her plane left.
What a wonderful weekend!!

Jumping on the band wagon

Well I guess it's time that I start writing a blog. I've always wanted to start but never had enough initiative to get it going. It's definitely long overdue since there is so much going on in my life that I should be writing down anyway.
I'm currently taking a class that required I make a blog and post comments about a certain topic related to the class. Since that part of the class is over, I figured I would keep the blog going for personal use. So here I am jumping on the band wagon...

Over looking the beach next to our apartments.